NHL Thread

[Tony]

GP W L OT PTS GF GA Home Away Streak
1. San Jose 28 18 6 4 40 96 75 7-1-2 11-5-2 Won 2
2. Washington 26 15 5 6 36 91 76 8-2-3 7-3-3 Won 2
3. Pittsburgh 27 18 9 0 36 87 75 9-4-0 9-5-0 Won 1
4. New Jersey 24 17 6 1 35 69 51 7-4-0 10-2-1 Won 3
5. Calgary 25 16 6 3 35 78 66 7-5-0 9-1-3 Won 3
6. Chicago 25 16 6 3 35 78 56 10-2-1 6-4-2 Lost 2
7. Colorado 27 14 8 5 33 82 83 7-2-2 7-6-3 Lost 3
8. Los Angeles 27 15 10 2 32 79 81 6-4-1 9-6-1 Won 1
9. Nashville 25 15 9 1 31 62 64 9-4-0 6-5-1 Won 1
10. Boston 26 13 8 5 31 64 64 7-5-3 6-3-2 Won 1
11. Dallas 26 12 7 7 31 79 77 6-3-4 6-4-3 Won 1
12. Phoenix 27 15 11 1 31 68 65 8-5-0 7-6-1 Won 2
13. Buffalo 23 14 7 2 30 63 55 8-3-2 6-4-0 Won 2
14. Ottawa 24 13 7 4 30 72 70 10-3-3 3-4-1 Lost 1
15. Atlanta 23 13 7 3 29 80 65 5-5-2 8-2-1 Won 3
16. Tampa Bay 24 10 6 8 28 67 72 6-1-4 4-5-4 Lost 1
17. Columbus 25 12 9 4 28 76 90 6-2-3 6-7-1 Lost 5
18. Detroit 25 12 9 4 28 72 72 7-4-2 5-5-2 Won 1
19. Vancouver 26 14 12 0 28 80 68 10-4-0 4-8-0 Lost 1
20. Philadelphia 24 13 10 1 27 77 65 8-4-1 5-6-0 Lost 2
21. NY Rangers 26 13 12 1 27 78 79 7-5-0 6-7-1 Lost 2
22. NY Islanders 27 10 10 7 27 72 84 6-3-2 4-7-5 Lost 1
23. Montreal 26 12 12 2 26 66 76 7-5-2 5-7-0 Lost 2
24. St. Louis 24 10 9 5 25 60 62 5-8-2 5-1-3 Lost 1
25. Anaheim 25 10 11 4 24 71 80 8-7-1 2-4-3 Lost 1
26. Florida 25 10 11 4 24 68 83 3-6-3 7-5-1 Lost 4
27. Edmonton 27 10 13 4 24 80 90 8-5-2 2-8-2 Lost 3
28. Minnesota 25 10 12 3 23 63 75 7-3-1 3-9-2 Won 2
29. Toronto 24 6 11 7 19 67 89 2-6-3 4-5-4 Won 2
30. Carolina 26 5 16 5 15 60 97 5-6-2 0-10-3 Lost 4

[Greig]

Pretty grim, will still make the playoffs :xmasbiggrin:

[Tony]

Might want to put that on your Christmas wishlist

[Greig]

HABS aint much better

[AP_]

Go Ducks Go...

Definitely playoff team and might be even Stanley-cup winner :xmasbiggrin:

[Tony]

Going to be a tough year for the Ducks too.... I think a certain person that shall remain nameless shot too many of them during hunting season

[Tony]

HABS aint much better

You weren't supposed to look that high

[AP_]

Going to be a tough year for the Ducks too.... I think a certain person that shall remain nameless shot too many of them during hunting season

I trust Saku Koivu. When he recovers his injury he will help Ducks and his second line (particularly Teemu) to be top shape again. Former HABS captain is still hard bone with his accurate passes which Teemu needs to score some goals to pass Jari Kurri's Finnish NHL goal record (601).

If Ducks bought Hagman (Leafs) then their second line will be perfect, first line is already of course :xmasbiggrin:

[Tony]

Koivu is still my favourite player.... was totally gutted when we didn't sign him back.... we seriously lack his leadership right now :(

[Greig]

Ducks suck :xmasbiggrin:

Go Leafs

[AP_]

Ducks suck :xmasbiggrin:

Go Leafs

They have very long way to GO :xmasbiggrin:

Ron Wilson (ex. Mighty Ducks coach) must be "miracleman" if we see Leafs in playoffs this season...

[AP_]

Koivu is still my favourite player.... was totally gutted when we didn't sign him back.... we seriously lack his leadership right now :(

Saku is/was "small man with big heart". Many doubt that he was too small to play NHL hockey but evidences are against those doubts for sure. He made fine career with HABS and was very proud of it always in Finnish interviews. Particularly of his long lasting Captain career.

178cm/85kg is too little thought ? Of course if the "towers" next to you are sizes 190-200cm/90-110kg. You have to be fast and clever to survive. And team must have good "polices" also...

[Nik_I]

leafs aren't going anywhere this year. i'm predicting a pittsburgh vs. chicago final with the hawks winning it in 6.

[Tifoso]

We play the Leafs tonight. Going for our third win against them this season

[Tony]

Saku is/was "small man with big heart". Many doubt that he was too small to play NHL hockey but evidences are against those doubts for sure. He made fine career with HABS and was very proud of it always in Finnish interviews. Particularly of his long lasting Captain career.

178cm/85kg is too little thought ? Of course if the "towers" next to you are sizes 190-200cm/90-110kg. You have to be fast and clever to survive. And team must have good "polices" also...

It's really too bad what happened to Koivu in his rookie season.... he was leading the league in points and was destined for greatness until he blew out his knee.... was never able to turn as well after that.... then he had the cancer.... then he had the eye injury....

I wish he would have finished his career in Montreal.... he was the only player i have seen in my lifetime bleed the bleu, blanc, rouge of the Canadiens.... I really dislike our GM for not re-signing him....

Koivu is and forever will be my favourite hab of all time....

We play the Leafs tonight. Going for our third win against them this season

[Greig]

We play the Leafs tonight. Going for our third win against them this season

ooops :xmasbiggrin:

[AP_]

It's really too bad what happened to Koivu in his rookie season.... he was leading the league in points and was destined for greatness until he blew out his knee.... was never able to turn as well after that....

That knee injury I didn't remember but you're right. 1996-97 season he missed 32 games because of that. And similar kind of injuries teased him afterwards and knee was operated sometime 2000-2001.

He still managed to do his best scoring season after the operation 2002-2003.

By the way who is the present HABS Captain?

[AP_]

ooops :xmasbiggrin:

Leafs-HABS 3-0 suprising...

Kings-Ducks 4-3 no way... :xmasbiggrin:

[Tony]

That knee injury I didn't remember but you're right. 1996-97 season he missed 32 games because of that. And similar kind of injuries teased him afterwards and knee was operated sometime 2000-2001.

He still managed to do his best scoring season after the operation 2002-2003.

By the way who is the present HABS Captain?

We don't have on this year, we have 3 Assistant Captains.... Gionta/Gomez/Camallerri.... this was done because we allowed 11 players from last years roster to go into unrestricted free agency.... we then signed 7 players as UFA's.... and traded for one other....

From last years 23 man roster we only have 13 players returning... of those 13 players 2 are goalies which can't be named captain.... of the remaining group, none of them were really fit to be captain except Markov and he refused it at the beginning of the year... which doesn't say much about him, but it wouldn't have mattered, he got injured the first game of the season and hasn't played a game since lol....

Wish we had last years team over this one's to be honest... :(

[AP_]

We don't have on this year, we have 3 Assistant Captains.... Gionta/Gomez/Camallerri.

I'm surprised that any of them isn't ready to take the "C"...

Isn't it biggest honour what you can achieve inside the team?

Or maybe pressure that comes with nomination is too much in a big hockey city like
Montreal where the press follows almost your every move? I think it is pretty much the same in Toronto too?

[Tony]

I'm sure the 3 of them would have loved to have the C, but the organization didn't feel it was right to give it to them since they were new to the team.... next year it will probably be either Gomez or Gionta taking the C

There is a lot of pressure with accepting the C, Quebec is a political hotspot in Canada, in 95 we came to within half a percent of voting to separate from Canada (language issue, Quebec is French speaking, the rest of Canada speaks mainly only English).... they tend to be very traditional in their ways to put it politely.... so a lot of them were upset with Koivu because he never learned to speak French and basically started a crusade to get him out of Montreal.... they were not successful because the GM didn't care much for political issues and the owner was an American and didn't care about internal provincial issues either.... thankfully!!!

Toronto is also like Montreal, but without the political issues

[AP_]

Thanks for backround info Tony

So it was new owners then (Molson family led group) who finally decided to let Saku go.

If I look your current roster there seems to be quite a few players who actually speak French? And if new leader group is keen to have French speaking "C" (or are they) then they are in trouble...

3 of your "A" are from USA, 1 from Russia and only 1 from Canada (Ontario).

HABS -Bruins 5-1
Wild-Ducks 5-4 SO (Saku's "little" brother Mikko 2+1)

[Tony]

They are mainly ok with an English speaking Captain, but they want him to learn some French.... However rumours continue to mount that we are putting together a package deal to acquire Lecavalier.... who in my honest opinion is very overrated.... he has only been a point per game player twice in his career if I am not mistaken and has a cap hit of 7.7m a year until he turns 40 (the last 3-5 years of his career will definitely not be worth that cap hit).... For Koivu, it was very hard for him, he already spoke 2 languages and to learn a 3rd would have been very difficult.... he was not treated fairly at all in the end.... however it was mainly the French media that disliked him and not so much the fans.... A significant percentage of the fans loved the guy and with good reason....

It's unclear right now if Molson told our GM to let Koivu go, or if it was Gainey's idea.... the sale of the team was just finalized a few days ago with Gillett finally transferring the team to the Molson's....

One thing is for sure, we could have definitely used Koivu this year....

[AP_]

They are mainly ok with an English speaking Captain, but they want him to learn some French.... However rumours continue to mount that we are putting together a package deal to acquire Lecavalier.... who in my honest opinion is very overrated.... he has only been a point per game player twice in his career if I am not mistaken and has a cap hit of 7.7m a year until he turns 40 (the last 3-5 years of his career will definitely not be worth that cap hit).

First of all, congratulations 100-year old HABS

You beat Bruins in your jubilee game, great

My thoughts about Lecavalier... He's your "own" boy from Quebec. Speak French as his native language I think? Big and strong center forward. Everything suits...

He is good scorer and creative playmaker but I don't know how his mental strength and attitude is? Do you think he wants to be HABS captain?

About your jubilee movie "Pour Toujours - les Canadiens!", is it out yet?
I like to see that one also. I'll have to wait DVD-release I'm afraid...

[Greig]

LeCavalier was my fav player, but we don't get NHL anymore on normal TV so aint seen it since before the strike season

[Tony]

First of all, congratulations 100-year old HABS

You beat Bruins in your jubilee game, great

My thoughts about Lecavalier... He's your "own" boy from Quebec. Speak French as his native language I think? Big and strong center forward. Everything suits...

He is good scorer and creative playmaker but I don't know how his mental strength and attitude is? Do you think he wants to be HABS captain?

About your jubilee movie "Pour Toujours - les Canadiens!", is it out yet?
I like to see that one also. I'll have to wait DVD-release I'm afraid...

Yeah it was a fantastic game, completely destroyed the Bruins.... good fun after losing 9 straight to them last year.... we're now 2-0 against them this year.... to be fair though, we won like 11 straight against them the year before lol so it balances out....

Yes Sir, Lecavalier is from Quebec.... they love him here even though he has only had 2 good seasons, has struggled the last 2 years and just started making $10m a year this year (not worth it if you ask me :xmasbiggrin:).... Sometimes I think the fans here would rather have a team full of local boys than a winning one :xmasmad:

Myself, I'm English, I speak and read French (writing is not the greatest and some would say neither is my spoken language lol).... so for me, I just want a team that wins lol....

The movie is out, haven't seen it yet, I think it's more about a boy that wants to be a hockey player and that idolizes the Canadiens more than it is about the Canadiens though so I'm probably not going to watch it? A really good movie about Maurice Richard came out a few years back but even that movie dealt more with the politics of hockey (English vs French) than with the hockey team itself....

LeCavalier was my fav player, but we don't get NHL anymore on normal TV so aint seen it since before the strike season

There are a few sites that host online games for free.... I can find the link if you would like....

[AP_]

LeCavalier was my fav player, but we don't get NHL anymore on normal TV so aint seen it since before the strike season

Same here Greig, even our own Finnish hockey league went to pay channel

[AP_]

Yeah it was a fantastic game, completely destroyed the Bruins.... good fun after losing 9 straight to them last year.... we're now 2-0 against them this year.... to be fair though, we won like 11 straight against them the year before lol so it balances out....

Yes Sir, Lecavalier is from Quebec.... they love him here even though he has only had 2 good seasons, has struggled the last 2 years and just started making $10m a year this year (not worth it if you ask me :xmasbiggrin:).... Sometimes I think the fans here would rather have a team full of local boys than a winning one :xmasmad:

Myself, I'm English, I speak and read French (writing is not the greatest and some would say neither is my spoken language lol).... so for me, I just want a team that wins lol....

The movie is out, haven't seen it yet, I think it's more about a boy that wants to be a hockey player and that idolizes the Canadiens more than it is about the Canadiens though so I'm probably not going to watch it? A really good movie about Maurice Richard came out a few years back but even that movie dealt more with the politics of hockey (English vs French) than with the hockey team itself....

There are a few sites that host online games for free.... I can find the link if you would like....

And now you beat Senators 4-1

Your position seems good, you just pass Lecavalier's Lightning...

Ducks-Stars 4-3, Saku was strong and made winnig score overtime, great.

I've read somewhere that Saku has almost lead role? If thats true I have to buy DVD-version when it come out... Hopefully with Finnish text or at least with English ones...

[Tony]

Yeah we won yesterday, it was a bit of a boring game though.... and we lost another defenceman....one defenceman the night before when we beat Philadelphia (Mara) and another one last night (Spacek).... plus we've played more games than the teams below us, I'm not sure how long we'll hold on to that last playoff spot :(

Good to hear that Koivu is heating up! hopefully he comes back to the Canadiens next year!

I heard he had a cameo in the film, but I thought he was only in it for a few clips? but again, I'm really not sure though....

I found this review on the film from a local newspaper:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sport...260/story.html

If you'd like, when the movie comes out on DVD I can send you a copy!

[AP_]

Yeah we won yesterday, it was a bit of a boring game though.... and we lost another defenceman....one defenceman the night before when we beat Philadelphia (Mara) and another one last night (Spacek).... plus we've played more games than the teams below us, I'm not sure how long we'll hold on to that last playoff spot :(

Good to hear that Koivu is heating up! hopefully he comes back to the Canadiens next year!

I heard he had a cameo in the film, but I thought he was only in it for a few clips? but again, I'm really not sure though....

I found this review on the film from a local newspaper:

http://www.montrealgazette.com/sport...260/story.html

If you'd like, when the movie comes out on DVD I can send you a copy!

Your situation is still little better than Ducks or Leafs at the moment... Let's see how it develops.

OK, you're right Tony, Saku has only quite minor role in the film like it says in review but I still like to see it.
I'll send you e-mail when DVD comes out

Leafs-Islanders 3-2, Leafs are starting to wake up :xmassmile:

Are you waiting Vancouver Olympic Games already? I'll have to stay up this time when time difference is so massive :xmassmile: