Nobody here likes hockey anymore? Really liking how the Bruins are playing. That first line of Krejci-Lucic-Iginla is dominant on the puck. Penguins-Bruins tonight should be good. Overall though, the West is just dominating the East this year. Guide to watching NHL games for free, in HD. Standings: Spoiler
I know there are a few other hockey fans around here besides the two of us. As a Canadiens fan, I am hating the acquisition of Douglas "Crankshaft" Murray. His skating is awful and he is worthless for the most part. I would rather they bring up Tinordi than have this guy taking up a roster spot. I'm stunned by the Avalanche. With the exception of Eric Johnson, it's like looking at an AHL roster. I thought they would be the garbage they have been for the past few years but they've managed to have the second best record in the NHL as of today. We'll see how long this lasts. Thoughts on the recent Vanek/Moulson trade?
Fucking Oilers. Thought we'd at least be respectable this year. Maybe start looking like the rebuild was working, but no. When's the draft again?
Uhh...Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly, Landeskog, Parenau, Stastny, and Tanguay makes up a really good top 6. Not to mention Nathan Mackinnon. I watched them play the Bruins and they're definitely a good team. How they'll fair with Varlamov being possibly suspended (whatever may come out of his situation) will be interesting. The Bruins look pretty freaking good. Rask is proving to be the real deal, something which I always believed, but alas he had his doubters. The top line as mentioned looks dominant on the puck. I'm really impressed with Jordan Caron this year, I think he may finally be figuring it out, and Spooner looked like a top 6 center on the ice tonight. They're the favorite to win the East.
Provided they use the picks well I think Buffalo have come out well in front. Islanders haven't finished rebuilding so throwing away draft picks for someone who is a free agent at the end of the year and holds a decent cap hit to boot wasn't the smartest for me when they're definitely not contenders yet. Buffalo got a couple of nice picks for the trade to add to their little stash of first and second rounders not too mention if Moulson keeps scoring then towards the deadline they could trade him for another high pick. Hopefully the win over Vancouver means the Wings have stopped playing like idiots and gone back to what they were doing a few weeks ago.
My mistake. After rereading my comment I realized how ridiculous that statement was. I meant to say the defense is an AHL defense. The top six is good. Stastny is having a nice season and I'm glad that he appears to be turning his career around after failing to live up to expectations the past few seasons. Giggy has been good so far and with the way they have been playing, I think they will be fine. I would like to see the Avs go out and get a legit #1 Dman before I consider them a true contender. God knows why they gave that pylon, Cody Mccloud, an "A". As far as the Oilers go, good God. They're awful. They are in desperate need of a goalie and defense. Why they named Andrew Ference captain is beyond me. That is mistake number 1. They don't need high draft picks they need to win. Trading Yak for a goalie or a top Dman would be a good move.
Completely agree on the Av's D. Not good. As for the Oilers naming Ference captain, we're on a completely different page. He and Chris Kelly shared the second A in Boston for the past few years, and he was amazing in that role. He's the type of player that can and will change the culture of a locker room for the better. Ference was pivotal in two Cup runs with the B's, and his goal (and subsequent celebration) in 2011 against Montreal turned everything around for the B's. I was shocked that he wasn't named the Oiler's captain earlier. What's your beef with Ference being named captain? Who would you have preferred?
As a Montreal fan, I absolutely loathe Andrew Ference and I openly acknowledge my bias. So, in no way can what I'm saying about him be viewed as absolutely objective. That said, I can imagine few other NHL teams on which he would be the captain. He's a locker room guy. I get it. Players similar to him have worn A's for years. Something about him having the C seems wrong. He's only a top line blueliner in Edmonton because of the horrible defense in Edmonton. There is no cup contender on which Ference would he be on the top defensive pairing. As I think this through, I understand why he has the C in this situation. Hall or Eberle are not ready for it. Therefore, Ference almost received it by default. I'm comfortable with him having an A and that's a decision I would support. I'm not a huge fan of giving young kids, such as Landeskog the C, as I think that is something that is earned with more than talent. It should be the combination of talent and leadership. I think the lack of on-ice production is what bothers me most about the Ference captaincy, although I understand that he contributes in other ways. As much as I dislike this captain pick, this is not even close to the level the Sabres have sunk by naming Steve fucking Ott captain.
And that was the division that so many thought would be so strong. So Brian Burke had a column in USA Today about his continued support for fighting to remain hockey. Given the injury to George Parros and the line brawl in Philly tonight there is bound to be more debate. What do you think? Is there a place for fighting in the modern game? Is the justification simply based on tradition an nothing more? Does it add or detract from the game?
Fighting is awesome, both from an entertainment perspective and a 'culture of the sport' perspective. The thing that sucks is when you get guys who have no other purpose than to skate around cheap-shotting stars and getting into fights. Can't skate, can't pass, can't shoot, can't defend, but they're still out there. IMO they should focus on getting those kinds of guys out of the league. You ban fighting, and I think you get a lot more rats running around throwing elbows at people and getting away with it. Brendan Shanahan isn't exactly all-seeing up in the NHL offices. Shout-outs to the ridiculous goalie fight started by the Flyers' Ray Emery. The Flyers are getting blown out 7-0, so Emery skates to the other side of the ice and challenges the opposing goalie to a fight, just cause he's mad. Guy says no, Emery proceeds to drop the gloves and wail on the back of the dude's head for a full minute with the refs doing nothing. It's the most unwarranted fight in recent memory. No disciplinary action.
That fight was absolutely insane and unnecessary. I couldn't believe that the ref waived off the linesman while Emery was hitting Holtby in the back of the head. Even in fight sports shots to the back of the head are illegal because of the risk of injury. Because of this, the ref should have stopped it right then. I really like Ray Emery, but damn did I lose some respect for him.
Fighting is archaic and the people who think its necessary to police the game are short sighted. Its old time hockey, and know what, old time hockey isn't always better. Back in the day guys didn't wear helmets, there were 7 players on the ice, and goalies couldn't go down. Things change. I'm sure when they made helmets mandatory people thought players would be more reckless because they were better protected, didn't shape up that way. In the same light, the league is better able to police a game then hired thugs who put their long term health at risk to enforce some sort of players code. Hold coaches, organizations and players accountable financially and things will change. Fighting is unnecessary, I have complete sympathy for retired fighters who live a life full of drug abuse and chronic health problems because of the problems and repercussions associated with that role. I sincerely don't want one more person to experience CTE and associated problems because the only way they could get/stay in the league is to fight. Its dam tragic to see.
I think there are two different issues there. Guys whose only way into the league is to be a goon, and guys who can skate but also drop the gloves. Milan Lucic is an example of the latter. I don't think guys like that should have to remove that part of their game because of the guys in column A. I mean, it's not like it should be legal to run around sucker-punching superstars. If you're dealing with two consenting adults, so to speak, then it's a different story. Sean McIndoe suggests escalating suspensions above a certain threshold of fighting penalties per season. I like this idea, it reminds me of yellow card accumulation in soccer.
Just finished watching the Red Wings - Oilers game and damn it's good to see Darren Helm back playing after 18 months of almost being there and injuries and the rest. One of the quickest guys in the league. Also keep an eye on Petr Mrazek. Outstanding young goalie, will most likely be Howard's replacement in a few years.
Updated instructions for getting HD hockey streams on your computer. Spoiler Uninstall your current version of VLC Get: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.videolan.org/vlc/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.videolan.org/vlc/</a> Download: <a class="postlink" href="http://breadwinka.com/hockey.luac" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://breadwinka.com/hockey.luac</a> Put the file you downloaded in: NSFCMC Windows (all users): %ProgramFiles%\VideoLAN\VLC\lua\sd\ Windows (current user): %APPDATA%\VLC\lua\sd\ Linux (all users): /usr/share/vlc/lua/sd/ Linux (current user): ~/.local/share/vlc/lua/sd/ Mac OS X (all users): VLC.app/Contents/MacOS/share/lua/sd/ (right click VLC.app and Show Package Contents) Then just open VLC, click view and playlists and look for /r/hockey in internet and you have the games.
Boston is goon hockey, no different then the old Flyers teams, thing is though, its still hard to beat them even if you have more talent because defensively they're solid. Also they have enough talent offensively to keep things interesting. Kind of reminds me of the ducks teams from around '07.
I wouldn't call it goon hockey. John Scott is goon hockey. Every Bruins fighter, sans Thornton, is a pretty high level hockey player, and in some cases (Lucic, Iginla, Chara) an elite player.
Three Bolts injured, including Stamkos with a broken tibia that requires surgery. Cue cries of goonery.