2014 / 2015 Official NHL Thread

[Doc Holliday]

Will Edmonton trade Hall? Yakupov?

On a slightly different note, I was listening to my favorite radio sports talk show yesterday & Georges Laracque was saying that he expects Taylor Hall to be dealt away during the off-season. Supposedly he has tons of off-ice issues that he refused to disclosed & added that he & Craig MacTavish have never got along. He said that Edmonton is fed up with having to deal with his off-ice issues (again refusing to name them) and would be happy to trade him if a decent offer came along.

Laracques also mentionned that Nail Yakupov has never been happy in Edmonton & would welcome a trade. He added that it wouldn't surprise him to see him wind up in Montreal. He's very close to former OHL teammate Alex Galchenyuk. But Laracques pointed out that the main reason why he wants out of Edmonton is that he's a muslim & Edmonton hasn't provided him with enough opportunities to practice his faith. Yakupov would welcome a trade to a city with a large muslim community (Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, etc).

Laracques is still close to the Edmonton hockey scene since his two children still reside in that city & he goes there often.

 

[november]

If the price is right Yakupov might be interesting, only 21 and a high upside if he's well supported. Hall gets hurt often and if he has off ice issues I would not be interested and the price would be much higher.

 

[wolfie7]

Let's go Red Wings!!!! To all the pundits who said the Lightning would finish off the Wings in 5, EAT IT.

Oh, and Babs loves coaching the Wings, so he's not coming to frickin' Toronto!!!

 

[joelcairo]

Let's go Red Wings!!!! To all the pundits who said the Lightning would finish off the Wings in 5, EAT IT.

Great game by the Wings tonight...although they need to take a few less penalties.

Good to have Abdelkader back!

The usual heroes: Mrazek and Datsyuk of course...but a lot of Wings were pretty good (Tatar as expected, Helm, even Smith!)

Just hope Petr again shines in game 4.

 

[joelcairo]

Finalists for the Lady Byng:

Datsyuk, Hudler, Kopitar.

Would love to see Pav win his 5th but unfortunately he missed 19 games so I think he'll come 2nd to Hudler. Kopitar is obviously a good player but isn't as deserving as the other 2 for this award this year.

 

[wolfie7]

Would be great to see either Pav or Huds win it. As far as I'm concerned, Huds is a Red Wing, always will be. Classy players from a classy organization.

 

[anon_vlad]

To all the pundits who said the Lightning would finish off the Wings in 5, EAT IT. p

I am glad to be wrong. The way that Howard was playing recently at the end of the season, I thought that they had no chance. I didn't realize that Mrazek would be put in and perform so well.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Oh, and Babs loves coaching the Wings, so he's not coming to frickin' Toronto!!!

Quite true. He does love coaching the Wings. However, he also loves money & he's quite aware that he's regarded as being the best coach in the game. Therefore, he knows that this is a rare opportunity to dictate what he wants: he wants to be the highest-paid coach in hockey with a big say in player personnel. His GM doesn't want to make him the league's highest-paid coach since it'll mean that he himself will be paid less than Babcock (by a reasonable amount) and many aren't so certain that Holland would be willing to give Babcock the kind of managerial power he seeks.

Babcock will go where the money & opportunities are. Sadly for Detroit fans, it means that he likely won't be coaching the team next season. However, don't be surprised if he signs with another team soon after the Red Wings get eliminated, which will give Detroit the chance to sign a quality coach (e.g. Todd McLellan) as soon as possible in order to avoid a team like Toronto, Philly, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, San Jose & possibly Boston to jump the gun and steal one of the top coaches in the game under their nose.

p.s. I doubt a top coaching candidate will want to move to Edmonton.

 

[Sol Tee Nutz]

Will Edmonton trade Hall? Yakupov?

I can see Hall being traded due to his constant injuries and off ice issues, Yakopov was disgruntled with the previous coach but with the new coach he is more content to stay in Edmonton ( never knew Yak was a Muslim, may affect things ).
Edmonton will be trading for veteran defense & goal ( I hope ) and they will need to give a calibre player(s) to get them. I would like to see Eberlie stay as he stated that he would like to stay in Edmonton during the last trade rumors.
I am not a Hopkins fan so if he were to be traded I would lose no sleep and we could get someone good for him.
As for coaches it would be good to see an upper tier coach and I can see them getting one, taking away the fact that it is Edmonton what coach would not want to be the one to turn things around there. With all the potential there it would look good on your resume if you made it work.
I still have that voice in my head saying the Oilers are going to fuck up again next year.

 

[wolfie7]

I am glad to be wrong. The way that Howard was playing recently at the end of the season, I thought that they had no chance. I didn't realize that Mrazek would put in and perform so well.

Lol, just to be clear, the 'eat it' comment was not directed to MERBites and their predictions. More to all of ESPN's and even Detroit's local press (all predicted Tampa to win, except for one lone staff member on the Free Press who picked the home team to win the series in 7). I still think the series will go the distance, or at least to 6. My point was more the Wings aren't roadkill, and Tampa is not that good, yet.

As for the second part of my post, that was directed towards some lovers of the least successful (in terms of winning) franchise in pro sports!! All in fun and jest, of course!

 

[G1GBallday]

I can see Hall being traded due to his constant injuries and off ice issues

Tyler Seguin had off ice issues in Boston too.

He would have led the league is scoring this year if he wasn't injured and Boston is now playing golf.

 

[wolfie7]

Tyler Seguin had off ice issues in Boston too.

He would have led the league is scoring this year if he wasn't injured and Boston is now playing golf.

So is Seguin, no?

In the mold of Sergei Samsonov and Phil Kessel... Cherrypicker, irresponsible in his own zone, not a team player, stats guy on loser teams...

 

[smuler]

Sergei Samsonov

He was the second coming of Petr Klima

Best Regards

Smuler

 

[G1GBallday]

So is Seguin, no?

In the mold of Sergei Samsonov and Phil Kessel... Cherrypicker, irresponsible in his own zone, not a team player, stats guy on loser teams...

I disagree, I find he's a much more versatile and talented player than those two. In fact I'd bet he'll be part of Team Canada at the World Cup of Hockey next year.

As a lifelong Hab fan I saw them too often get rid of players prematurely (hall of famers Roy & Chelios come to mind) and greatly regret it afterwards. So when it comes to Hall, Edmonton just needs to be patient and better surround him and his young teammates with a couple of quality veterans. They should have tried for Josh Gorges last year for example.

 

[wolfie7]

Seguin, Kessel and Samsonov are all talented, in that they have/had fantastic skill and speed. But it's the will, mindset and intellect that separate the great from the good - the money players from those that get 'pretty' stats every year. That's what makes Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kane, Joe Pavelski, heck Tyler Johnson (danger, danger), similarly sized smallish players, more successful. I'd much rather build around those pieces, than Seguin, Kessel and Samsonov. (I still remember Don Cherry predicting Joe Thornton being more valuable in the long run than Samsonov, despite a slower start out of the gate, in those two players' first year. Questionable the value of Big Joe, but still, he is clearly better than Samsonov in hindsight.)

Those players named above I would take any day over a line of Seguin, Kessel and Samsonov. Heck, I'd even take lesser talented players like Helm, Glendening, Dominic Moore and others over that 3some, because I know in a playoff series, my scrappy players would lock down the pretty boys. Maybe Seguin will change - would be great if Dallas can become relevant again, that's a fantastic hockey market (as weird as that may sound) - but nothing from the few games I've seen him play the last two years suggests that's the case. I'm not sure I've ever seen Seguin on a backcheck... Teams emulate their stars, and Dallas was one of the most porous, defensively inattentive teams I watched this past regular season. Surprising it was a Lindy Ruff-coached team. But I pin that on Seguin and Benn.

 

[joelcairo]

But I pin that on Seguin and Benn.

Good players no doubt, but punks! Evidence: the two of them yukking it up with their witless comments about the Sedins, and then Benn sucker punching Zetterberg of all people.

 

[wolfie7]

Good players no doubt, but punks! Evidence: the two of them yukking it up with their witless comments about the Sedins, and then Benn sucker punching Zetterberg of all people.

Damn, I forgot all about that!! Z was out with a concussion too for a few games because of that sucker punch. Benn is absolutely a punk. And those two and their bromance... gay punks.

 

[joelcairo]

Finalists for the Selke:

Bergeron, Kopitar, Toews

I'd like to see Bergeron win for the 3rd time but I think in a very close race it'll be Toews winning his second Selke with Bergy the runner-up and Kopitar a distant 3rd.

 

[marc7]

Ottawa played a good game ... Habs dint find the way to score ! It was nonsense that the glorious could do the clean sweep .
The sens faught hard !

 

[smuler]

3 games against 1

One more

Go Rangers

Best Regards

Smuler