NHL is back

[Laozi]

Well, I used to be a big Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford fan, but alas they have gone the way of the buffalo.

 

I guess now its pretty much Philly, Chicago, and the Canucks

[mkreku]

I am dreaming of Sundin centering Allison and Lindros. Now that would be 700 pounds of pure hockey mayhem (unless someone tackles the wingers and makes it pure hospital mayhem)! It would be a huge line at least. I know Sundin used to play on a wing once, but I think he prefers to be center.

 

Anyhow, I'm pretty pleased with the Lindros deal. He may not be in his prime anymore, but still, the guy has like 800 points in 700 games. If he finds the fun in hockey again I am sure he'll be a huge asset.

 

I, for one, would not miss Mogilny if (when?) he left Toronto. He's got some awesome skill but his work ethics.. man. And he's injury prone too, and heaven knows we got plenty of those to go around in Toronto.

[Kor Qel Droma]

Well, I used to be a big Winnipeg Jets, and Hartford fan, but alas they have gone the way of the buffalo.

 

I guess now its pretty much Philly, Chicago, and the Canucks

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I used to be a Whalers fan back in the day. Those damn cool green jerseys with the the big 'W' on the front. That's probably a subconsious factor when I buy all of my Weezer shirts.

 

I'm rooting for the Hawks as well this year. I think Tuomo Ruutu is going to have a breakout year playing with a hopefully healthy Eric Daze.

 

Your response made me try to remember the last time I saw Mogilny try to check someone, Mkreku.

[mkreku]

Your response made me try to remember the last time I saw Mogilny try to check someone, Mkreku.

I remember when that was! It was in the playoffs of 2002-2003! He actually hit a guy hard along the boards, a real thundering hit that was heard throughout the arena. But noone cheered, everyone was so surprised the whole arena fell silent

[Laozi]

I find it interesting that in most everyother sport, if someone had substained as many concussions as Lindros, it would be impossible to get a doctor to clear them to play, but theres Eric again with that funny noise his skates make when he moves

[Kor Qel Droma]

I must of blinked and missed it, Mkreku. Then again , watching Ottawa and Toronto play each other time and again in the post season makes me switch channels.

 

Your line idea was cool, but who is going to be doing the hitting?

 

As much as I dislike the Rangers, they do show a few of their preseason games on tv. Which gets the hockey jones going. Weirder still, for some reason the Rangers look like champs in the preseason.

[alanschu]

I doubt that you'd get Allison/Sundin/Lindros on a single line. The best thing about signing Allison and Lindros is that it can give your team some depth.

 

Loading it up on one line means the other team only needs to have one defensive line and can have a field day with the rest of the lines.

[Deraldin]

According to TSN the Lindros deal is one year for $1.55 million. "

[mkreku]

According to TSN the Lindros deal is one year for $1.55 million. "

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

And Lindros is still an almost-a-point-per-game player, so he's definitely worth it. Let him play on the Sundin line together with O'Neill (or perhaps Tucker for grit?) and I bet Lindros could become an 80-points man again.

[Laozi]

Ya and then getting an injury just before the playoffs that keeps him out for the rest of the year and a good chunk of next year. It just never gets old with Lindros

[alanschu]

I can understand Leafs fans getting excited.

 

But I wonder if his injuries will start to catch up with him. I know Eric wanted to play in Toronto which could explain the lower salary, but I wonder if there wasn't a stunning lack of offers that were substantially higher.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I didn't read that Lindros' contract was bonus laden like Allisons. Has anyone heard different. And how many times have you watched him play and say "Lift your damn head up!" . He seems to have brain farts whenever he tries to carry the puck over the blue line.

[alanschu]

It's not. Lindros fell just short of qualifying for performance bonuses.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I know I'm off topic , but the Cubs broke their eight game losing streak and beat the Cardinals 11-4 this afternoon. There is a god.

[Laozi]

It don't matter, none of this matters.

 

The Astros are winning the division and losing in the World Series to whichever 150+ million dollar payroll team they face

[Hurlshort]

Hockey seems to be the opposite of Baseball in terms of regular season and playoffs. In baseball, quite a few small market teams like Houston and the A's can perform well and even dominate the regular season, but they can't seem to put it together in the playoffs.

 

In hockey, the small market teams sometimes barely squeeze into the playoffs, but then manage to ride all the way to the cup. Of course in hockey, if a team has been dominant during the regular season, many players are probably thoroughly beaten up.

[Laozi]

You know its crazy that Houston the third largest city in the U.S. is considered small market in baseball. In every other sport they're considered a major market, infact Nike and Adidas give players who are in the market its highest tier on the payscale, equal to that of New York and L.A.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I don't comprehend why Mike Keenan would take Roberto Luongo to arbitration. If you want to talk about a one player team, Florida is it. Didn't he face more pucks than any other netminder in the league last time around? And his SPP is still .933. Just pay the man, already.

[alanschu]

Luongo is amazing. The only reason why he did poorly when awards came around is that his team is garbage and didn't do well.

[Kor Qel Droma]

Textbook definition of porous defense. Are you planning on hitting any of the pre season games Alanschu?

[Cantousent]

Just a thought. I don't mind the fact that you've turned to baseball a bit. Still, if you want to have a longer baseball discussion, folks might go for that. We don't have a sports section in these fora, so it's simply a matter of creating a new thread. At any rate, I don't want the hard core NHL fans to get steamed if the baseball chatter takes over the thread. If no-one has a beef with it, I'm fine. If anyone finds it irksome, PM me and I'll create a baseball thread, move the posts, and never mention a single name.

[alanschu]

Meh, no beef with baseball. It was just a sideshot related to the discussion.

 

 

In any case, I was considering the Edmonton-Calgary confrontation in the preseason.

[EnderAndrew]

You know its crazy that Houston the third largest city in the U.S. is considered small market in baseball. In every other sport they're considered a major market, infact Nike and Adidas give players who are in the market its highest tier on the payscale, equal to that of New York and L.A.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

http://www.mongabay.com/cities_pop_01.htm

 

Chicago is the third largest city in the US. And Phoenix is on par with Houston really, but the Cardinals might as well be a small-market in team there.

[mkreku]

Swedish newspapers today report that Lindros and Sundin will play together on the first line! I must say that even though Lindros is a high-risk player, that duo sure sounds awesome for my troubled Leafs heart. Imagine the damage a healthy Lindros and Sundin could do together! Lindros as the unstoppable bulldozer going to the net and Sundin the unstoppable playmaker lining up the passes (or driving to the net in Lindros' wake). The Leafs might not look too strong this year but I still think it's going to be a very interesting season.

 

 

The Big E does look good in classic blue..

[Kor Qel Droma]

And if Jeff O'Neil finds his hands again you could have pretty decent top line. Now who do you see supporting Allison?

 

BTW I thought Lindros' press conference was a little weird. He kept staring into a camera that was just a bit to the side which made him look like he dozing off into space.