Kor Qel Droma

Through the miracle of BellExpressVu and NHL center ice, I watched more Pittsburgh games than I would have liked to in the last campaign. There are some talented kids in their system already, like Ryan Malone. And Marc Andre Fleury can only get better, I think. The team is a little soft of the defensive side , but if you can score enough goals that doesn't really matter. And forgotten is the pens pick from the year before, Evengi Malkin. Apparantley quite gifted himself, if he signs with the club it could be a long season for New Jersey, but probably not for Philly.

Like I said before, its good to see greed is still alive, and for every player that takes less money to play with a certain team, there will be knobs like Owen Nolan to make them look bad. And Hurlshot, you can rip/praise whoever you want. This isn't Russia, and you are entitled to your opinion. Whitney to the Canes? I see Kevin Lowe signing Chris Gratton in return...

At least they managed to sell a boatload of copies of that first one. And since we're talking Public Enemy, I'll choose the classic Bring the Noise with Anthrax.

Even more entertaining are the text messages sent in on 'primetime sports with Bob McCowan' on sportsnet. You can text in whatever you want , pretty much, and it rotates between 'Oilers suck, Flames rule', "Leafs suck, habs rule' and 'forget the rest, its the canucks year' and you can't forget the constant requests for Fergusons' head...

That second picture makes him look a little too much like 80s Canadian pop star Corey Hart ( sunglasses at night)

Is that some of the new stuff from them? I thought they dropped off the map after one headlight

Frank Black- I don't want to hurt you ( every single time)

And Rick Nash resigned with Columbus for 27 million or five years. I'm not sure how that is going to break down on a yearly scale, but that seems like a whole heck of a lot money for a kid new to the league, even if he did tie for the RR trophy. Now Kovalchuk is probably going to cost Atlanta an arm and a leg. And I wonder how much Heatley will be asking for. A scary thought about all these teams signing people to huge contracts is that the salary cap is based on league revenue, is it not? If things don't go so well for the NHL this season, there could be a lot of contracts that teams will not be able to keep if the cap goes down. It just seems a little weird that Holik would sign for 4 million a year ( ok so I don't know the exact number but its up there) after he made 6 or 7 in his buyout from the Rangers. Its good to see that greed is still alive and kicking...

NOw I have to choose who to put in the write in box on my hockey pool. Mario or Sidney. I stay away from the Pens as a rule, normally, but this could be a dynamite season for a few players in their club.

And Palffy to the Penguins!! Holy ****e Mario is putting together himself a nice little team this year. Recchi, Lemieux, Palfs, Crosby, Gonchar, Fleury in net. I hate to say it, but this could be the Pens year to shine...

I tend to see some members' names and just skip to the next post. MOD EDIT: Please don't target individual members when commenting in a thread. If someone is really irritating, report it to a mod. I try to respond quickly. Nashville has every right to be in the league. They have built a solid following with basically hand me downs from other teams. I think teams that can't put more than 7-8000 people in their seats are the ones that should be out of the league. And I agree with Mkreku, the new CBA is effective. Its the GMs and owners who weren't prepared for this that are in trouble now. Hey, it was obvious there was going to be a labor stoppage in 03/04, and now teams that actually have developmental systems in place are being rewarded. Other clubs that like to snatch up talent for draft picks are paying the price now. Look at Toronto. Or the Islanders. Or the Rangers, who still managed to have a fire sale at the end of the year and are still pretty much screwed. I would say the new economics of the NHL rewards teams that have smart management, not just a pile of cash to throw around.

I think the Leafs are in for a long haul this year too. And how do you think Allison is going to like being the #2 pivot? I realize he hasn't played in ages, but he's still a top line centre in my book. And Toronto has their GMs of the past few years to thank for their lack of up an comers...

Wow! I rated your pic as an 8, by the way.

Thrush Hermit- From the Back of the Film. The only thing I like about the Canadian maritimes is this song. the Kinks - all day and all of the night

I had some comp tickets to the RBC cup in town here a few years ago. I wore the sweater in my avatar, and can you guess who was there to drop the puck. Fernando Pisani. He looked really solid. My friend and I were in a rush to get to our seats and hit the liquor wagon, and we stood beside him in the lineup. My buddy had no clue who he was, but I started to hum the song by Abba under my breath, but loud enough for him to hear. I caught a little glare... And I saw him recognize my jersey when he was on the ice and it was hard to tell from my vantage point but I think I was the recipient of the classic crook eye. But back to hockey, I think Marty Reasoner is the epitome of an Edmonton Oiler. Except for his numbers, of course. And the RPM line seems like a decent replacement for the Marchant, Grier , Moreau defensive line. I would rather see Whitney as an Oiler than Handzus, though. Although Handzus is a rather big motha trucka and is finally showing some consistancy, Ray seems to be more of the Oiler player, small and speedy. Saying that makes me think Handzus is the more likely candidate. Anyhoo glad to hear you had a good time at the welcoming party, I'll watch Sportsnet tonight to look for any Spider Man lookalikes...

He just seems to be the kind of guy who needs 18+ minutes a night to put up decent numbers. He was the big fish in a little pond in San Jose, and more so in Winnepeg. I'm sad to see Brad May go to the Avs. He was a gritty role player for the 'Nucks. And maybe 'bulin going to Chi-town will open up the door for the Canucks to trade Cloutier and bring in Thibeault.

the pixies-la la love you

At this point, I would say Sullivan>Selanne

The thought of he and Steve Sullivan on a line together fills me with absolute dread for their opponents.

See, George Ferguson isn't dead!! Were there a lot of people at Oiler HQ, Alanschu? ( hey that rhymes). Every time I drive through Edmonton I go past that building and think, it must be so cool to work there. I'm glad we have Uly and Jussi (rebounds) back for another year. With Kariya going to Nashville, I can't possibly see who we can sign ( aside from the Moose of course) here's my idea for an opening day lineup. Smyth-Peca-Dvorak Torres-Horcoff-Hemsky Moreau-Reasoner-Pisani Laraque-Stoll-whoever fits the bill Pronger-Semenov Smith-Ulanov Staios-Bergeron And as great as Chicago may seem, they totally made a step backwards by signing Martin Lapointe...

Hey, someone must have hit GFjr with a stick. Toronto made international news today by signing one of the most sought after RFAs on the market for a steal of a deal. Oh no wait, it was Tie Domi...

the Dwight Twilley Band- I'm on fire Cypress Hill - How I could just kill a man the replacements - Alex Chilton

I saw on theScore that Scott Ferguson has signed with Minnesota. I hope he has a great year for them.

Who knows how it will turn out. I bet a pack of smokes with a guy at work that Amonte doesn't hit 20 goals this year. I lump him in with Pierre Turgeon and Brian Savage as older players who can still contribute modest numbers, but aren't the force they once were.

Thats a good point. But Vader redeeming himself makes him a softy in my book.