NHL is back

[Volourn]

Normally, I'd agree but I'm simply over hyped by his media blitz (true; not completely his fualt). It's just that everyone made it seem he was the only noteworthy rookie in the league this year. Not to mention the brgaging of how he 9and Lemiux) were gonna kick butt this year. LOL

 

I didn't really hear about Ovechkin or even Lundqvist despite him being a Rnager. Not to mention the handful of other rookies in the league.

 

Heck, the Rangers have another rookie in Prucha who has more goals than Crosby (though he seems to suck at assists lol:P).

 

Remember, I;m saying he's overrated not that he sucks. He's obviously a good, young player.

Edited January 24, 2006 by Volourn

[GhostofAnakin]

Ovechkin was as highly touted as Crosby. In fact, most of the sports analysists I remember watching at the beginning of the year pegged him to have a better year than Crosby, mostly due to his age (he's 20, Crosby 18) and physical maturity.

 

I think what's hurt Crosby has been the turmoil in Pittsburgh. That team was supposed to be quite offensively gifted, but with Gonchar playing like crap, Lemieux being hurt and never really 100%, LeClair and Recchi looking like they should retire, and Palffy losing his goal scoring touch (he had decent points, but only a lousy 11 goals), it took a lot out of Crosby's so called high powered linemates.

 

Lundqvist has been a huge surprise. The only thing that I thought might go against him in Calder voting was sharing duty with Weekes. But now that he's the undisputed number one he's got a good shot at winning it.

 

Other rookie notables include Prucha and Marek Svatos in Colorado, but I think it'll come down to Ovechkin and Crosby, with Lundqvist being the darkhorse.

[Delta Truth]

Well the way the rookies are all playing is quite exciting this year . No question Crosby has been very good but Ovechin has been better then everyone thought he would be he number 7 in overall scoring and on one hell of a goal scoring pace.. My node goes to him for rookie of the year .. Other notable mentions go to

Lundqvist, Svatos, and MR. PHANEUF. Why does everyone seem to forget about him he is a defenceman which is a harder position to play .. On Calgary he is playing in all postions and logs lots of time on the powerplay.. and has played alot without his regular partner Hamrlik - He will get second place votes

he is 16th in defensive scoring with 30 point not bad and he is a plus three

 

and on that note Phaneuf got an assist on the first Calgary goal ..

[Jedihuh?]

 

90 points in general isn't that impressive. 90 points by an 18 year old? How many 90 point 18 year olds have there been in NHL history? A handful at most.

 

I think he's lived up to his hype. Don't forget that Mario Lemieux got 100 points as a rookie, playing in a much higher scoring generation.

 

That's not to say I think he should win the Calder over Ovechkin. Or that Lundqvist isn't having an outstanding rookie season. But I think Crosby's numbers are VERY impressive for an 18 year old.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

A higher scoring generation??? I do hope your talking about the NHL this year. becuase the changes to the NHL have opened the game up quite abit, Crosby is a good player who has numerous other good players on his team and his team still blows. Ovechkin is better and the only reason why his team has any wins is because of him. Ovechkin will win it unless crosby has a uber good second half.

[GhostofAnakin]

A higher scoring generation??? I do hope your talking about the NHL this year. becuase the changes to the NHL have opened the game up quite abit, Crosby is a good player who has numerous other good players on his team and his team still blows. Ovechkin is better and the only reason why his team has any wins is because of him. Ovechkin will win it unless crosby has a uber good second half.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Um? Have you looked at the stats? True, this year's NHL is higher scoring than the past decade, but when Lemieux came in to the league (mid 80's) it was the run and gun generation.

 

Goals Per Game link

 

As the above link shows, this year the offense is producing (league average) at a 3.16 goals per game pace, which would be Crosby's "generation".

 

Lemieux's rookie season, which is what I was comparing, was in the mid 80's. The above shows that during the 1981-1990 era (Lemieux's generation), the goals scored per game, per team was 3.82, which is MUCH higher than the offense this year.

 

So yeah, you might want to look at that link I provided to confirm that I was correct about Lemieux's generation being higher scoring than Crosby's.

[alanschu]

The 80s were insanely higher in scoring.

 

Though Lemieux didn't have players like Palffy playing on his wing.

 

Or a Lemieux.

Edited January 24, 2006 by alanschu

[GhostofAnakin]

Lemieux's not exactly the same player he was. He's been hurt most of the time, so I think it's unfair to say Crosby's benefited from him.

 

Especially since even when Lemieux was healthy he wasn't on Crosby's line.

 

btw, I'm not comparing Lemieux to Crosby. I was comparing the eras each played in.

 

I'll be the first to say Lemieux is one of the, if not the, most dominant scorers in NHL history.

 

The only reason I brought him up was to compare their stats, and then the only reason I further talked about it is because one poster (forget his usernam) suggested I was wrong about Lemieux's generation being higher scoring than this year.

Edited January 24, 2006 by GhostofAnakin

[alanschu]

I know.

 

But I see Ovechkin's performance being similar to Mario's, rather than Sid's. Even if Crosby has similar point totals.

 

And even if Lemieux isn't playing on the same line, he's still going to require defensive focus (well, until people realize he's sucking...but even then he'll always get respect).

 

Crosby and Lemieux have shared icetime though, as they've assisted on each other's goals. It's probably not very common (mostly PP IIRC).

 

Though I wouldn't expect otherwise, as Lemieux's QMJHL stats still blew Crosby's out of the water.

 

 

I just brought it up because I don't think it's that good of a comparison.

[GhostofAnakin]

Though I wouldn't expect otherwise, as Lemieux's QMJHL stats still blew Crosby's out of the water.

 

 

I just brought it up because I don't think it's that good of a comparison.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

You might want to double check that comment about their stats in the "Q"

 

Again, you're taking my comment out of context. It all started with Volourn's "90 points aren't anything special". That's when I commented about they are special coming from a 18 year old rookie, and just mentioned as a comparison (since they're on the same team) what Lemieux got as a rookie.

 

Lemieux:

(at 16) 64 GP 30 G 66 A 96 P

(at 17) 66 GP 84 G 100 A 184 P

 

Crosby:

(at 16) 59 GP 54 G 81 A 135 P

(at 17) 62 GP 66 G 102 A 168 P

 

Crosby's points per game was much better in his rookie season, and their points per game worked out to very similar thing in year two (Crosby was on pace for 179 points if he played 66 GP)

 

Lemieux's next season is when he had his 144 goal season, but it's impossible to compare that to Crosby since Crosby is in the NHL now at 18.

 

edit: corrected a stat calculation

Edited January 24, 2006 by GhostofAnakin

[mkreku]

Ovechkin was as highly touted as Crosby.

In Europe Ovechkin was much more highly regarded than Crosby before their NHL debut. In fact, I had never heard about Crosby until about a few months before the draft lottery! Ovechkin has played in several international tournaments and his insane intensity kind of created the hype around him by itself. When you see a kid of 18 years of age turn the sdwedish national team into either crash test dummies (crushing hits) or traffic cones (that you just skate around in 100 mph), you kind of notice him.

 

I still think it's a tight game for the Calder. Crosby is only 18 and he's putting up numbers far above 1 point per game. When he is 20 years old (and has more experience of playing with the big boys) he'll put up insane stats. I've seen him play and he will become an unstoppable force when he adds on a few pounds of muscle (like most men do in the age 18-20). Everyone has to remember that Ovechkin has played in the russian elite league before making his NHL debut. The russian elite league is extremely good (they probably have the best coaches and hockey systems in the world), they only lack the resources to keep the best players playing in their teams. This will change in a few years as Russia will become a threat to the NHL. Anyhow, he already has the experience to play against and with the best, which is a big reason as to why he's been such a success already.

 

I wish Lundquist would be in the race for the Calder, but unless he wins like.. 35-40 games, I don't see that happening.

 

I have not seen Phaneuf play.

[mkreku]

[fanboi]

 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=37...q=Alex+Ovechkin

 

[/fanboi]

[alanschu]

Alexander Daigle scored more goals his rookie season in the QMJHL than Mario did (and total points).

 

If anything, I'd say Mario's rookie season in the QMJHL is the anamoly. It's quite clear he was just starting to tap what was his game, as indicated in his next two seasons.

 

 

I don't know enough about minor hockey, but the people I know that do "claim" to know about the CHL feel that the QMJHL isn't as strong of a league as it once was.

Edited January 24, 2006 by alanschu

[snowcat]

The Predators are back in business with a 3-2 win over Detroit last night. (w00t)

 

If they can just win tonight in game 2, they can finally take the Western Conference lead. It just seems like every time they are in this postion, they lose the game. But at least the Preds finally beat a team with a winning record. I was beginning to get worried.

 

I was at the Preds-Blue Jackets game on Saturday, and it was a blast as the Preds won 7-2. This is a tough road trip for the team, so it was important to get a big win at home.

[Hurlshort]

Watching that Ovechkin video made me realize that I really need to figure a way to shoot the puck like that...it's amazing how quick it comes off his stick. And how does he always get it back on his stick after a deke? Seriously, it looks like magnets.

[Deraldin]

It looks like Super Mario is retiring!

 

TSN story

[Kor Qel Droma]

I think its sad to see Mario go , again. But if the guy has got a bum ticker, hockey should be the least of his concerns.

[Hurlshort]

It looks like Super Mario is retiring!

 

TSN story

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I'm pretty bummed to hear that. I was hoping he could make it to 1,000 games. Currently he's played 915, but at his pace he'd need 4 or 5 seasons to get 85 games.

 

There goes another legend.

[Kor Qel Droma]

I'll refuse to bring up the Oilers' latest woes on account of I don't want to depress myself.

[GhostofAnakin]

Alexander Daigle scored more goals his rookie season in the QMJHL than Mario did (and total points).

 

If anything, I'd say Mario's rookie season in the QMJHL is the anamoly.  It's quite clear he was just starting to tap what was his game, as indicated in his next two seasons.

 

 

I don't know enough about minor hockey, but the people I know that do "claim" to know about the CHL feel that the QMJHL isn't as strong of a league as it once was.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Again, I repeat, I'm not comparing Crosby to Lemieux or suggesting Crosby is, or will be, better than Lemieux.

 

I posted the stats, like before, comparing Lemieux and Crosby's junior careers ONLY because you said that Lemieux's stats in the "Q" blew Crosby's away, when in fact that was a GROSS mistake.

 

And I follow all three CHL leagues (QMJHL, OHL, WHL) quite extensively, and have viewed many games live (including some "Q" games involving both Mario and Sid in their respective day). So I'm not making an uneducated comment about them.

[Fionavar]

Well @ 45 pages, I think we'll move on over to the newly renovated Stadium: http://forums.obsidianent.com/index.php?showtopic=39605