tjung0831 wrote:Well Ovechkin is going to earn everybit of that -25 playing on that sub par Capitals team. Ovechkin is however going to do something in his rookie year that Forsberg has NEVER done....put up over 40 goals in a season.
And he'll do it in a league that is optimized for offense and speed, something Forsberg didn't have.
Hey, I agree the kid is special, but I think it's f*cking hilarious that people are calling him the best player in the league after his first game. The ultimate knee-jerk kiosk impression.
Sully wrote:Wow, the guy has played one game and you're already comparing him to Peter Forsberg...
Nobody is saying that Ovechkin will flop, he's going to be a damn good player, but are all of these accolades neccesary after just one game?
Sully wrote:Wow, the guy has played one game and you're already comparing him to Peter Forsberg...
Nobody is saying that Ovechkin will flop, he's going to be a damn good player, but are all of these accolades neccesary after just one game?
PK brought up Forsberg's name not me.
Right, because you were the one who saw Ovechkin play for 15 minutes last night and hung up the kiosk impression that he's already the best player in the league.
And I brought up Forsberg because the argument over the best all-around player in the NHL usually starts with Forsberg with most hockey fans.
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
Zlax45 wrote:Funny thing is that Crosby gets all the press but this kid was better last night and in the WJC.
I've noticed that too. Every time you see Ovejkin play it really is exciting. Crosby is damn good, but doesn't get me all nervous every time he touches the puck like Ovejkin does.
The only thing I can think of is the marketability differences. Crosby is Canadian, so being from North America he's the favourite and will get more press.
Other issues besides nationality are market and "hook."
Washington is not a good hockey market and has no legacy of success. Pittsburgh is a good hockey market with Cup banners hanging in the rafters of the Igloo.
Crosby also has a "hook" in that he's playing with Lemieux, living with Lemieux's family, is Lemieux's protegee. Who is Ovechkin living with or playing under? Andrew Cassels? Brendan Witt?
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
At least Lindros was banging guys around - he knocked over two Senators on one hit, including Neil; that got Neil pretty pissed off. He had a couple of other nice hits too. At least he's not afraid to hit and he doesn't seem to be going around recklessly either. A goal to put the Leafs ahead in the third period helped my opinion of him too (too bad they blew the lead, two times).
O'Neil and Allison also impressed decently, although Allison and Lindros didn't convert on the shoot out.
Belfour was quite solid in net, although wasn't the tightest in the shootout.
A solid showing by the Leafs overall but sad that they could've been 1-0 instead of 0-0-0-1.
I give Lindros 50 to 60 games this season before he's out with a significant injury.
It's only fitting that he's in Toronto, as he's the second coming of Wendel Clark. Not in terms of talent, as Lindros has more skill and a more well-rounded game than Wendel. But in terms of a guy who simply cannot adjust his playing style to spare his body and still be effective, just like Wendel.
Clark was an excellent player. But he could have been a GREAT player if he ever learned that he didn't have to hit every person with a pulse and a different-colored sweater than his on the ice. It's a lesson Lindros never has learned, either, almost as if Carl and Bonnie still call Eric after games and scream: "You P*SSY! You didn't get 15 hits last game! You're ERIC F*CKING LINDROS, DAMN IT!"
Lindros could have followed Messier's example into immortality. Mess was just like Lindros and Clark in his first few years in Edmonton. Hit everyone in sight, fought quite a bit. Then either a light clicked on or a coach told him that he can be just as effective with measured, heavy doses of hits, saving his body and letting his offensive skills flourish.
Lindros never has learned that message, and I don't think he ever will. And with the increased speed of the game this year, it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt either hitting someone or getting leveled by someone. At least Stevens retired, so that's one less potential menace for Lindros!
Take care,
PK
"You know why I love boxers? I love them because they face fear. And they face it alone." - Nick Charles
"First on the throttle, last on the brakes." - @MotoGP Twitter signature
At least Lindros was banging guys around - he knocked over two Senators on one hit, including Neil; that got Neil pretty pissed off. He had a couple of other nice hits too. At least he's not afraid to hit and he doesn't seem to be going around recklessly either. A goal to put the Leafs ahead in the third period helped my opinion of him too (too bad they blew the lead, two times).
O'Neil and Allison also impressed decently, although Allison and Lindros didn't convert on the shoot out.
Belfour was quite solid in net, although wasn't the tightest in the shootout.
A solid showing by the Leafs overall but sad that they could've been 1-0 instead of 0-0-0-1.
I'm a sens fan so I'm happy, even though for the most part they played poorly last night. Belfour looked bad in the shootout if you ask me.
But the key here was that I liked how the game was called. Both Havlat and O'Neill (for the leafs) made nice rushes up the wing, used speed to get around the defender and towards the net to get a scoring chance.. and DIDN'T GET HUGGED. Before the decision to enforce the new rules... those plays would not have occurred, they would have been hugged or hooked or slashed so bad there's no way they could get to the net. I loved it.
Those two plays were the best examples of how actually calling the rules adds excitement. There were other times, but I think those summed it up.
I wasn't impressed with Heatley last night. He looked slow. Only one night though so I can't judge yet. First impressions are that he's no Marion Hossa (regular season Marion Hossa that is...) , but I know that was not the best of Heatley last night.
pk500 wrote:I give Lindros 50 to 60 games this season before he's out with a significant injury.
It's only fitting that he's in Toronto, as he's the second coming of Wendel Clark. Not in terms of talent, as Lindros has more skill and a more well-rounded game than Wendel. But in terms of a guy who simply cannot adjust his playing style to spare his body and still be effective, just like Wendel.
Clark was an excellent player. But he could have been a GREAT player if he ever learned that he didn't have to hit every person with a pulse and a different-colored sweater than his on the ice. It's a lesson Lindros never has learned, either, almost as if Carl and Bonnie still call Eric after games and scream: "You P*SSY! You didn't get 15 hits last game! You're ERIC F*CKING LINDROS, DAMN IT!"
Lindros could have followed Messier's example into immortality. Mess was just like Lindros and Clark in his first few years in Edmonton. Hit everyone in sight, fought quite a bit. Then either a light clicked on or a coach told him that he can be just as effective with measured, heavy doses of hits, saving his body and letting his offensive skills flourish.
Lindros never has learned that message, and I don't think he ever will. And with the increased speed of the game this year, it's only a matter of time before he gets hurt either hitting someone or getting leveled by someone. At least Stevens retired, so that's one less potential menace for Lindros!
Take care,
PK
Man I loved Wendel Clark...what a friggin player. One of my all time favorite NHL players
Watching the Wings/Blues games last night was as much enjoyment as I've gotten from hockey in a long time. If they continue to call the game like that then it's going to be a much better product on the ice this year. Watching guys actually skate through the neutral zone without having to submit to a security check and full body inspection is going to make a difference difference in letting skilled players move witht he puck. I don't remember the last time I saw most of the players skating with their sticks on the ice (instead of being held up and used to hold up other players).
If this continues through the season, I think it's also going to finally kill the notion that less talented teams can hang in games just by gooning it up. The Blues look awful this year and with the new rules against using the stick to impede players and all the clutching/grabbing in the neutral zone it made it impossible for them to keep up with the faster players on the Wings. Guys like Pavel Datsyuk are going to thrive this year if they're allowed to actually skate like Pavel could last night.
It was only one game, of course, but certainly it was the kind of start I was hoping to see (wins and losses aside). I'm ordering Insight's HD Pak this afternoon so I can watch the Wings/Blues rematch on HDNet tonight. My first HD hockey game. Woot!
---Todd
ubrakto wrote:
If this continues through the season, I think it's also going to finally kill the notion that less talented teams can hang in games just by gooning it up. The Blues look awful this year
---Todd
Thanks for pointing that out!! The Blues are playing for the Phil Kessel sweepstakes...
For the record (to any Blues fans here), that comment wasn't meant to infer the Blues are a goonie team. I actually root for 'em when they're not playing the Wings. They're just weak this year and I'm glad that it finally looks like a team with less talent can't just clutch and grab their way to winning hockey games.
---Todd
Ovechkin-Crosby, the debate will go and only one thing for sure is that the FANS will win on this one. Way too early to call one better than the other one but one thing for sure is that the Russian all of the sudden is getting everyone's attention that Crosby got early.
Great flow on the games last night, watched the battle of Ontario and Phoenix-Vancouver. How the SENS came back was exciting especially during the SO and even though #88 was throwing bodies around I also saw him flopping like a fish in the third period a lot as players were throwing their bodies at him too. There's this feeling I have that when he's about to hit someone he doesn't give his 100% because of his concussion history.
Freaky accident with Sundin, you wonder when these guys are going to learn to play with a visor. A rule I liked :The no-change of lines when you ice the puck, you could see some guys sticking their tongue out of exhaustion. Only one night but you can definitely see more north-south action in the games.
The only thing I'm worried about with the new rules is players taking a dive. With them calling penalties for touching a player without the puck how long will it take for players to start throwing themselves on the ice for a call.
I guess maybe they won't now that I think about it. players used to take a dive because the penelties were not being called and now they are before they have a chance to dive.
laurenskye wrote:The only thing I'm worried about with the new rules is players taking a dive. With them calling penalties for touching a player without the puck how long will it take for players to start throwing themselves on the ice for a call.
I guess maybe they won't now that I think about it. players used to take a dive because the penelties were not being called and now they are before they have a chance to dive.
Nevermind .
Dino Cicarelli would be out of business in the new NHL.
I definitely liked the flow of the games I saw last night. I watched a bit of all the games on NHL Center Ice and alot of the Rangers-Flyers on OLN.
Well, at least the Rangers won't go 0-82 this year! Man, they looked like crap for the better part of the first 35 minutes. Totally undisciplined and reckless...they're lucky they were only down 3-1. Then, a light switch must have gone off in their heads and they started to play much better and dominated most of the second half of the game. Maybe they won't be as bad as a lot of people thought. Then again...
And Jagr is someone who should thrive in this new open ice. I'm looking for a big season from him.
laurenskye wrote:The only thing I'm worried about with the new rules is players taking a dive. With them calling penalties for touching a player without the puck how long will it take for players to start throwing themselves on the ice for a call.
I guess maybe they won't now that I think about it. players used to take a dive because the penelties were not being called and now they are before they have a chance to dive.
Nevermind .
There was at least two diving penalties during the Leafs-Sens game last night, and I missed the entire second period and some of the third due to Lost (sorry, just can't miss it).
James_E wrote:
Belfour looked bad in the shootout if you ask me.
Agreed.
James_E wrote:
But the key here was that I liked how the game was called. Both Havlat and O'Neill (for the leafs) made nice rushes up the wing, used speed to get around the defender and towards the net to get a scoring chance.. and DIDN'T GET HUGGED.
The one play in the third period where O'Neil came off the wing and ended up head first into the net was pretty amazing (sad that I think that was, but it's super rare to see stuff like that without clutch/grabbing), but would've been nice if he got his stick on the puck It was classy of Hasek to give him a tap on the shoulder with his glove instead of going nuts on him as you might expect from many goaltenders. Although if Hasek was in any position other than lying directly on the ice he probably wouldn't have been in the right mental state to be tapping anybody.
Sundin is out indefinitely with a fractured orbital bone and O'Neil missed practice today because of a shoulder injury suffered during the face first Superman dive over Hasek.
This could mean big big big big big big trouble in Hogtown.
EDIT: Speculating 4-6 weeks of non-Sundiness in Toronto. The cry emoticon is definitely neccessary here.
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