alanschu

If you listen to the latest discussion with Kevin Lowe, before even Kariya was 100% confirmed, he mentions that budget wise he's probably right around where he'd like to be, and that his priorities had shifted to getting Ryan Smyth penned for a deal. It's possible we still might do something, but I'm not holding my breath, nor am I overwhelmingly concerned. It's still possible the Reasoner/Handzus trade rumour may materialize, which would be nice and give us a little bit more size up front. I think Josef Stumpel is still available, but I honestly have little idea of what type of player he is. I think it can sometimes be hit and miss. The big thing about the Pronger and Peca acquistions is that it has the players (and also the fans) very excited. I don't think it's impossible for new players to find their niche in the team and if things are a bit lucky, start clicking relatively quickly. Peca and Pronger both seem very enthusiastic as well, and there was a great crowd out to welcome them. It was really neat because when Pronger put his jersey on and waved at the crowd, and people just started cheering, you could see he was trying to be modest and "professional" and stuff with a little smile on his face, but as the crowds cheering just kept getting louder, you could see he couldn't help but break into a big grin. It's flattering to receive such a warm reception (from fans and the organization alike...he mentioned a big thing about going to Edmonton was how much interest Lowe was expressing in him). Also important, is that the current group of players seem eager to want to integrate the new guys into the line up. Peca was joking about a PPV event with Georges Laraque for #27, as long as he could bring in a big stick :D (for the record Peca said he didn't care a whole lot, and will be wearing 37). There's definitely a buzz of excitement, and that excitement can be motivating which can help a team do great things. Having said that, I'm not going to be upset if the Oilers don't win the Stanley Cup, and nor do I demand them to get deep into the playoffs. I think the acquistions help fill up some of our previous weak spots on our team, as well as provide additional experience to a relatively young team, and having said that I wouldn't be surprised if the Oilers were able to do quite well this season. EDIT: I wonder if there's any chance of him bringing back Moose for a last hurrah Lowe mentioned that he hadn't even spoken with Messier so he's not sure what Messier's plans are, but he did say that he felt Messier could be a solid contributor to the team as it is now. I also notice Mario Lemieux is an UFA "

Hahahaha, I was at TSN.ca reading up about Nash's signing, and some guy post: Don't take this the wrong way Mkreku, as you seem sane, but I've been having a barrel of laughs with some of the bizarre postings that Leafs fans have made. Apparently they also had Forsberg and Naslund stolen from them, in addition to the Bulin wall.

I'd probably hesitate about picking either. Lemieux is another year older and he's always had nagging injuries throughout his entire career. Crosby is talented, but he also does have a lot of pressure on him, and it is a whole new level. I don't think he'll do horrible, and I have every confidence he's going to have a stellar career, but the guy is still 17

I wouldn't consider Edmonton to be a team that has just thrown together a team and expected to be succesful. They have a solid core that they've been working with and developing for years (aside from the guys that got really good and went elsewhere because the Oilers could no longer afford them). Pronger and Peca are additions to a fairly close knit team, in order to provide a more well rounded team as well as a bit more experience and leadership. Pronger is going to be another guy for the young defense players that Edmonton has to look up to. He may not officially wear the 'C' (or even an 'A'), but when Bergeron and Semenov look at the way the former Norris and Hart trophy winner (and Olympic Gold Medalist) prepares for games and practices and in the gym, it's going to rub off. As for Palffy to Pitts, I like the move. The more pressure you can take off Crosby the better, and he now has 3 very talented players to help him along in Recchi, Lemieux, and Palffy. I can imagine that Powerplay of Lemieux, Palffy, Recchi, Crosby, and Gonchar. Even if Crosby struggles it's still gonna do ok

I've only downloaded it, but I'll be going out for a bit. I'll post my impressions some time tomorrow probably.

There was a pretty good turnout. I felt kind of bad for Fernando Pisani who was there, but didn't have quite the mob that Peca and Pronger had for autographs, so I got one from him. It was cool though, because I was actually able to very briefly chat with him though. Nice guy! :D As for free agents Droma, Ray Whitney would still be a good addition. Rumor mill has Reasoner and a third round pick for Handzus, which wouldn't be too bad. It'd certainly go more with the scoring by committee philosophy Palffy is still out there, but even with 5 million I don't think he'd want to play in Edmonton. Josef Stumpel is out there too, and might allow for Stoll to have a bit more development time.

Allison to Toronto, and Kariya to Nashville! As stated, Bulin Wall to Chicago.

I think many of the Toronto trade rumours are bunk coming from Toronto fans with wishful thinking. Apparently many of them see Lindros and Allison signing for mere change and bonuses (which they say aren't governed by the cap), STILL think a wierd three way deal with Thornton to Toronto, Daze to Boston, and Belfour to Chicago (despite the Khabibulin acquisition). At which point they also expect Kariya and Selanne to play for about a million each. No offense mkreku, but many of your fellow Leafs fans are smoking too much ganja! On a side note, I went to the Oilers rally for Mike Peca and Chris Pronger.....Pronger is a giant! Looking forward to seeing what happens here and what sort of deals Lowe can swing with the remainder of his budget. Rumours still have Kariya for a one year deal for 2.5-3 million :D

Kariya is in talks with Edmonton. And apparently Edmonton just penned deals with Ulanov and Markkanen. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=132522

Physics Engines already are separate from Graphics engines.

At first I was a bit disappointed when I saw that there was only 4 missions for coop mode. However, after playing the first mission for two hours I realized that it's still a decent amount of gameplay. It's not perfect, but hot damn is it fun. I like going through trying to be the super spy that no one knows was even there, as well as the more assassin type.

They are well polished. The first two games have decent narratives, had virtually flawless releases for the XBOX and PC, and secured excellent voice talent and had interesting gameplay. Pandora Tomorrow created one of the most ingenious ideas for its multiplayer. Chaos Theory is built on a fantastic engine, with a superb narrative, fantastic voice acting on the parts of all players. It also eliminated the flaws from the other games, gave Sam his knife, and provided coop. They also evolved the competitive multiplayer by adding coop moves and all in all trying to address the weak points of the game.

Here's hoping Ubisoft releases mountains of revolutionary RPGs. And yes, the Splinter Cell games (particularly Chaos Theory) are exceptionally polished and well done games.

For the record, I just said "Good luck, you're gonna need it" to squeeze in a Star Wars quote, and to wish the dude luck because ambitious campaigns with teams formed over the internet can sometimes be...questionable at best.

It is a nice looking engine, and would greatly speed up development time. If they want to get Halo out for the PS3 launch, they wouldn't have much of a choice IMO, unless they went with a different engine license.

Read up on it here Not a big deal for me personally, but I remember other people mentioning the game so I figured I'd bring it up.

I agree with my roommate that Edmonton would probably benefit from a decent offensive centerman...but those are becoming scarce. The only ones I can think of that are remaining are Allison and Lindros. And the rumors have Allison going to Toronto, as well as possibly Lindros (although I think I'd have mixed feelings about Lindros personally). But perhaps it will be the Maple Laffs this year?

Word on the street (or in the papers) is, after signing our RFAs, Edmonton is still expected to have around $5 million to shop around with. I believe they're hoping for a $33 million payroll this season.

Only if they weren't planning anything particularly impressive with Halo 3. I suspect they weren't working on Halo 3 while working on Halo 2. Unless they license an engine, they're probably going to build a new one. I can't see them using the same engine.

Well stukas were designed for bombing, and a few well placed bomb hits could be devastating. Although I would think that most battleship bombings from dive bombers would have required a larger amount of dive bombers...so much so that you couldn't really credit a single guy with the kill. Now a torpedo bomber on the other hand...

Hehe, goooo Domi.

Why?

I never thought I'd ever see a Resonance cascade...let alone create one!

They're waiting for you Bungie....in the tessssst chamberrrrr.

Well then Bungie better get their asses in gear. I wonder if this is what Bungie expected when Microsoft acquired them.