pi2000

That's a fact. Good thing our GM is investing heavily in them.

Most Hyped: Toronto. A. Matthews begins his fall from grace after a lengthy contract dispute and losing minutes to Tavares. Still no answers on defense. Goaltending comes back down to earth. Biggest Flop: Anaheim. Team completely implodes and finishes near the basement with overage stars Getzlaf and Perry coming under scrutiny with 3 years left on their $8.5m/yr contracts. Best Team: Winnipeg. With their young core hitting their prime, they'll take it to another level earning their first Stanley Cup Finals appearance in franchise history. Biggest Surprise: Arizona. With Vegas, Anaheim and LA all taking big steps backwars, Arizona will find it's way into the playoffs for the first time in 84 years.

This is getting ridiculous. Out of the Top 50 scorers in the NHL last season, 4 were Swedish.

Josh Allen singed

off the top of my head.... J. Brodzinski, Virtanen, Sissons, T. Motte, Reid Boucher.... guys like that kinda, but it's not my job to spend days and weeks trying to find these guys. I'll leave that to the experts.

It got us to the playoffs and a win from the Cup finals.... better than this shiit show.

They need to make a move for a Satan or Briere or the like. They have a bunch of prospects and picks, time to turn some of that collateral into an actual roster spot. You'd think their pro scouts would have their eyes on a few guys who other teams may under value or just generally give up on. Trade a Nylander for somebody else's Nylander... often a change of scenery is all it takes.

Sheary is the only NHL LW in the entire organization. And I'd argue he rode the coattails of Sid, so my expectations for him are small... in fact, I'll be surprised if he sticks in the top 6.

Sorry, I don't believe he improved enough in any of those areas to warrant the captaincy. His line changes are egregious... and it permeates throughout the team, thanks to lack of accountability by the coaching staff with these young players who simply don't get it yet.

You're welcome, Phil.

That seems to be the JBOT strategy.... throw enough s h i t at the wall and some if it will stick.

A bona-fide LW. I expect some prospects to be moved in the deal, and picks.

Don't care about his PPG. Only care about his work ethic and what the coaches are saying about him. If his PPG improves significantly but he's still a lazy bum, then I don't want him anywhere near this big club.

I hate the early trip out West. Used to be in Feb most years, now back to back early in the season... no bueno.

I hope they don't just gift Eichel the "C". There's still important parts of his game that need show significant improvement to consider him Captain material.... line changes, body language, interviews, face-offs, etc..

Major downgrade in all the above categories. Berglund is a decent 3rd line guy, but if nothing else changes I see him playing top 6 minutes because he's simply their best option. The more I think about this, the more I think they'll be 31st again. Again, a huge step in the wrong direction. Hughes tho.

Such a money grab these days.... Constant tinkering and adjustments. It's not like ownership doesn't know what the fans want. They do something every year to get folks to buy new merchandise.... Eichel switching to #9 the latest greedy move by the organization.

I'm expecting a trade.

thanks, I hate it.

"Beggars can't be choosers"

Really? Did you try Netscape, AltaVista or AskJeeves? You'd expect there to be something on MySpace, GeoCities, IRC, or at least a discussion on some UseNet newsgroups.

How about they get creative and ice a winning hockey team.

Bogo makes some terrible decisions with the puck (and his feet) in the d-zone. While he has the tools to contribute offensively, he's a liability in his own zone no matter how you look at it.

Every time I see this I can't help but think how much better this team would've been with Eichel/ROR/Mittlestadt down the middle, instead of just Eichel/Mittlestadt. ROR would be the premiere 3rd line center in the league... face-off master, PK, etc.. the guy can do it all... leave the scoring for Eichel and MIttlestadt, then having the ability to rollout ROR in a 3rd line role to win draws and shut down other team's top lines would be outstanding. We'll never know.

I, for one, thought he played extremely well in the weeks just before his injury. First half of the season he was putrid, but he really came around just before his injury. He's a huge piece of the puzzle.