NHL 2010/2011 Season

[tjung0831]

Great trade by Burke today. Beauchemin goes back to the Ducks for Lupul, prospect Jake Gardiner who is highly rated, and a draft pick.

Lupul is overrated. He is softer than cotton candy, and he plays during the regular season only when motivated and healthy -- which isn't often. Lupul was good in the playoffs for Anaheim and the Flyers, but there will be no hockey past early April this year in Toronto.

The Leafs better hope Gardiner pans out.

This trade has nothing to do with Lupul. Burke is just renting the cap space to the Ducks and the price was a 1st round pick in Jake Gardiner. Even the draft pick is conditional. If Lupul plays less than 40 games for the Leafs next year, it's a 4th rounder. If he plays more than 40 games, it becomes a 6th rounder. To get a prospect like Jake Gardiner for Beauchemin by himself is an overpayment and reeks of desperation on the Ducks part. It shows just how much they wanted Lupul's cap hit off their roster 2 years from now and they were willing to surrender one of their top prospects in order to do so. This is a huge win for Burke today.

[pk500]

Thanks for the background. Enlightening.

[toonarmy]

Montreal/boston game is ridiculous right now. 8 goals alone in the second period, a brawl that ended up with 6 bos players in the box at the same time and 5 Habs. A goalie fight between Thomas and Price. And constant big hits, chirping, and bad blood. Subban appears to have an X on his back tonight bigger than ever. The second pd just ended after that superlong pd. Refs didnt know how to sort out the mess from the brawl so it took forever to get the game going again. Man, Versus has to be happy with this game.

[10spro]

At this rate Canucks won't have any regular defensemen left once the playoffs begin in April. Dan Hamhuis is the latest casualty as he left the ice woozy after a cheap boarding hit from R. Getzlaf who was making his own comeback from injury. It wasn't a dirty hit but when you're already a hulking 6'4" you don't need to leap off your skates to nail someone along the boards. Hamhuis head hit hard against the plexiglass and was laid motionless on the ice for awhile.

Bobby Ryan had a big game for the Ducks, but overall VAN just didn't execute well the many chances they had for scoring. Rookie C. Schneider was in place of a sick Luongo and was left out to dry with the odd man rushes which ANA converted.

The amazing race for the 8th and final spot in the West will go the the very last day.

[10spro]

BOS-MON was a crazy game indeed. At one point there were more players in the sin bin than their respective benches. It was old time Hockey at its best (if you like fists and blood) and I think T. Thomas just invited C. Price for the dance just for the sake of it. Both goalies had a good chuckle after their non-event.

But this old heated rivalry will resume no doubt when they see each other again and they're will be no love lost between both teams and Habs better beef up a bit for that match up.

[pk500]

Montreal/boston game is ridiculous right now. 8 goals alone in the second period, a brawl that ended up with 6 bos players in the box at the same time and 5 Habs. A goalie fight between Thomas and Price. And constant big hits, chirping, and bad blood. Subban appears to have an X on his back tonight bigger than ever. The second pd just ended after that superlong pd. Refs didnt know how to sort out the mess from the brawl so it took forever to get the game going again. Man, Versus has to be happy with this game.

The game received a longer highlights package this morning on "SportsCenter" than I've seen for any NHL game this season except for the Winter Classic.

Bettman and Campbell are lapping up this sh*t.

[Naples39]

Not that I ever watch sportscenter anymore, but more fights, goals, and more exposure is win, win, win IMO.

[pk500]

Not that I ever watch sportscenter anymore, but more fights, goals, and more exposure is win, win, win IMO.

Yeah, but it's sad that exposure is seen as a victory for the NHL, considering ESPN used to televise NHL games and a 30-minute nightly NHL highlights show -- the late, great "NHL2Night."

[Naples39]

Not that I ever watch sportscenter anymore, but more fights, goals, and more exposure is win, win, win IMO.

Yeah, but it's sad that exposure is seen as a victory for the NHL, considering ESPN used to televise NHL games and a 30-minute nightly NHL highlights show -- the late, great "NHL2Night."

Oh I remember. When I was in high school, some of my baseball teammates used to call me and a buddy Bill Pidto and Barry Melrose.

[XXXIV]

But this old heated rivalry will resume no doubt when they see each other again and they're will be no love lost between both teams and Habs better beef up a bit for that match up.

I dont know how they will beef up exactly. How many 7 foot goons who can skate and play good hockey are available?

The Price Thomas fight was embaressing. First that the idiot ref let them at each other and then when they did meet up they didnt actually fight and looked like they wanted to make love instead.
Kreici going to fight was pretty sad too. Hes lucky he picked a good hearted guy.
Not that all the disruptions were bad. There were some good fights but the Bruins won most of em .

As for the actual hockey. Not so good overall. Great game for the Bruin offense and terrible game for the Habs defensive coverage.
C. Price?..... The Price was wrong!

As for future match ups. I am not so worried about the Bruins as that was the first time they beat the Habs in six games.
The team Im most worried about is the Flyers and thats only IF they make the playoffs.
THATS A BIG IF.
Number one concern is making the playoffs cause the way they covereed their zone and played goal last night I dont see that as a done deal at all.

[ScoopBrady]

Saw a tweet the other day that Versus (or whatever it will be called) has renewed their NHL contract for another 4-7 years, meaning no ESPN. Haven't seen anything official on it but the tweet was from somebody who covers the NHL. Anyone hear anything about it? Thoughts?

[pk500]

Scoop:

I'm not sure if it's official. But I know Flyers' owner Ed Snider is putting heavy pressure on the NHL to stick with VERSUS. It's a blatant conflict of interest for Snider, as Comcast owns VERSUS. But I don't think Bettman ever let such conflicts interfere with his business.

The NHL would be better served to move back to ESPN because ESPN has greater household and institutional penetration -- how many bars, hotels and hospitals get VERSUS? -- and MUCH greater brand equity and crossover promotional ability. But I think you'll see much more aggressive promotion of VERSUS by Comcast now that it has NBC to use as a promotional engine for its cable properties.

Comcast-NBC executives also have made noise about spending more money in an aggressive pursuit of bigger sports properties for VERSUS.

So while ESPN still would be a better home for the NHL, I think the league will see more gains in the future with VERSUS than it has for the last five years with that network.

[ScoopBrady]

Fisher to Preds for 2011 1st-round pick and 2012 conditional pick.

[10spro]

Fisher to Preds for 2011 1st-round pick and 2012 conditional pick.

His sweetie will love this move.

[Zlax45]

Montreal/boston game is ridiculous right now. 8 goals alone in the second period, a brawl that ended up with 6 bos players in the box at the same time and 5 Habs. A goalie fight between Thomas and Price. And constant big hits, chirping, and bad blood. Subban appears to have an X on his back tonight bigger than ever. The second pd just ended after that superlong pd. Refs didnt know how to sort out the mess from the brawl so it took forever to get the game going again. Man, Versus has to be happy with this game.

Subban lit up Marchand up in Montreal earlier this season...He tried to light him up again last night but Marchand ducked under it....Bruins were probably pissed about it that is why he had a big X on his back.

[toonarmy]

Montreal/boston game is ridiculous right now. 8 goals alone in the second period, a brawl that ended up with 6 bos players in the box at the same time and 5 Habs. A goalie fight between Thomas and Price. And constant big hits, chirping, and bad blood. Subban appears to have an X on his back tonight bigger than ever. The second pd just ended after that superlong pd. Refs didnt know how to sort out the mess from the brawl so it took forever to get the game going again. Man, Versus has to be happy with this game.

Subban lit up Marchand up in Montreal earlier this season...He tried to light him up again last night but Marchand ducked under it....Bruins were probably pissed about it that is why he had a big X on his back.

Marchand clearly had a vendetta against Subban last night over the hit earlier in the season, but Subban has slashed at and taken runs at other Bruins during the year, so I'm sure that was another part of the reason everyone was going at him. The Habs have the reputation of being divers and taking little cheap shots, then not wanting to fight, therefore much of the league hates them with a passion. Subban appears to be fast-becoming an pest of elite status with his antics. I think the guy is great for the game and adds energy, but I can see how other teams are not impressed.

[XXXIV]

The Habs have the reputation of being divers and taking little cheap shots, then not wanting to fight, therefore much of the league hates them with a passion.

Maybe. Maybe not on the diver thing since I have never seen a bruin dive. The league has hated the Canadiens for only about 90 years...Besides it was clearly the bruins taking the cheap shots last night.

[Naples39]

Would be it completely naive to hope for both ESPN and VS to get non-exclusive agreements with the NHL to each televise games?

Probably....

[toonarmy]

The Habs have the reputation of being divers and taking little cheap shots, then not wanting to fight, therefore much of the league hates them with a passion.

Maybe. Maybe not on the diver thing since I have never seen a bruin dive. The league has hated the Canadiens for only about 90 years...Besides it was clearly the bruins taking the cheap shots last night.

The Habs are by far the worst bunch of divers I have ever seen in the NHL. Hamrlik's stunt last night was laughably bad. The first few games of Bos vs Habs saw the Habs taking all sorts of cheap shots and slashes without wanting to fight. I think it got into the heads of the Bruins and got them off-balance, resulting in losing every game to the Habs until last night. Last night it appeared as if the Bruins had seen enough and decided to revert to the Big Bad Bruins years. It worked. I see quite a few Habs games and they generally play a cheaper brand of hockey than other teams I see. There is no question Montreal is the greatest hockey tradition in the NHL, so it's ashamed that in recent years they have developed a reputation of being divers and cheap shot artists who refuse to fight. To me they lack a lot of honor.

[XXXIV]

The Habs are by far the worst bunch of divers I have ever seen in the NHL.

I cannot argue with a professional diving judge which you must clearly be....

Honor? Really? Anyone NOT a bruin fan who watched last nights game saw that the other way. I am sure.

What was with that USA chant last night? I never thought much of bruin fans but are they really that f***in stupid not to know that they have more Canadians on their team than the Canadiens do?
Answer: Yes. Ofcourse they are that f***in stupid.

[toonarmy]

Scoop:

I'm not sure if it's official. But I know Flyers' owner Ed Snider is putting heavy pressure on the NHL to stick with VERSUS. It's a blatant conflict of interest for Snider, as Comcast owns VERSUS. But I don't think Bettman ever let such conflicts interfere with his business.

The NHL would be better served to move back to ESPN because ESPN has greater household and institutional penetration -- how many bars, hotels and hospitals get VERSUS? -- and MUCH greater brand equity and crossover promotional ability. But I think you'll see much more aggressive promotion of VERSUS by Comcast now that it has NBC to use as a promotional engine for its cable properties.

Comcast-NBC executives also have made noise about spending more money in an aggressive pursuit of bigger sports properties for VERSUS.

So while ESPN still would be a better home for the NHL, I think the league will see more gains in the future with VERSUS than it has for the last five years with that network.

Conflict of interest is an understatement. ESPN on the surface might seem like the better choice for the NHL, but I have to question how devoted ESPN would be to the NHL. How many NHL games would be on ESPN each week? Would most games be on ESPN2 or its lesser channels? Would ESPN only show the same few teams like it does with baseball? ESPN already has contracts to show a ton of college football and basketball games during hockey season, not to mention baseball once MLB kicks in, and of course its NFL coverage. I have a feeling that that the NHL would take a big time backseat if ESPN got the rights. Versus, on the other hand, can show about as much NHL as it wants to show since the NHL is a huge property for them. I think Versus could be a better fit if a couple things take place. First, NBC gets satellite and cable providers to make Versus part of lower-tier programming packages much like ESPN. That would make NHL games available to everyone with satellite and cable. Second, Versus shows more games each week. The NHL is an exciting league that lacks exposure in non-traditional markets. It's the second-fastest growing sport in popularity since 1985 (NFL first) for a reason -- once people get into hockey a little bit they love it.

[toonarmy]

The Habs are by far the worst bunch of divers I have ever seen in the NHL.

I cannot argue with a professional diving judge which you must clearly be....

Honor? Really? Anyone NOT a bruin fan who watched last nights game saw that the other way. I am sure.

What was with that USA chant last night? I never thought much of bruin fans but are they really that f***in stupid not to know that they have more Canadians on their team than the Canadiens do?
Answer: Yes. Ofcourse they are that f***in stupid.

I'm not even going to argue about the diving issue. I'm sure if HF Boards did a poll of who the biggest divers are the Habs would win without any real competition. I can give you a pass on the USA chant since you probably do not know what was going on with that. First off, the Montreal fans booed the US National Anthem at their place last year which already made for some bad feelings. But last night there were several Habs fans waving a big Canadian flag and the arena cameraman put them on the big screen a few times, which led to the USA chant. It was nothing more than a playful reaction to that. Boston plays teams from Canada many times each year and does not do a USA chant every time lol. It was the obnoxious nationalistic Habs fans last night to who they were reacting.

[XXXIV]

If you want to tell me the Bruins are a better or tougher team I wont argue much ( a little yes! ) especially after a comfy bruin win ...but ...this whole worst divers in history and lack honor crap...thats just idiot fan bullshit....

[toonarmy]

If you want to tell me the Bruins are a better or tougher team I wont argue much ( a little yes! ) especially after a comfy bruin win ...but ...this whole worst divers in history and lack honor crap...thats just idiot fan bullshit....

My favorite player of all-time is a Hab -- Rocket Richard. I admire Habs fans more than any other fan base. Subban is my pick for most exciting young player in the league. In my post I pointed out the Habs are the best tradition in the NHL and that recent years have sullied that proud tradition somewhat with all their antics. I do think diving and cheap-shotting then running away without fighting lacks honor. Just making observations here -- no fan bullshit involved. In fact, I'd love to see the Habs become an elite team again. I think it would be great for the league. Nothing more than a neutral observer in this case, and if anything lean toward the Habs more than most teams in the NHL.

[XXXIV]

In fact, I'd love to see the Habs become an elite team again. I think it would be great for the league. Nothing more than a neutral observer in this case, and if anything lean toward the Habs more than most teams in the NHL.

Cool. Very cool....Then you can join me in the chorus...

LETS GO HABS!!!