One crucial aspect to success that can't be overlooked: The Bulin Wall must stay healthy, out of jail and playing to his potential. That's a VERY big if. The thought of Deslauriers or Dubnyk as the Oil's No. 1 goalie should give you piss shivers.
SI rated the Oilers' goalies as the worst in the league, with the Flyers' goalies ranked just ahead of them.
October is usually not a good month for R. Luongo to show off his leather but he was very sharp again tonight against the Panthers who threw 42 shots at him. Without he pressure of being the captain and shaving off 8 pounds over his large frame, so far he's looked very strong in the early going.
Dirty, senseless boarding hit from Hjamarsson to Pominville in the BUF-CHI game, who suffered a concussion after hitting the glass and took several stitches to his eye area. We'll see how the league reacts this season with the blindside hits.
First close call for the new headshot rules? I'm guessing no because initial contact was shoulder-to-shoulder.
Claude Giroux also looks like he may be ready for a big year. Probably the best passer on the Flyers already, and he's showing some razzle dazzle in front of the net this season.
In Gary Bettman's warped world, James Wisniewski probably will receive more discipline for this than Hjalmarsson will for his behind-the-back hit on Pominville:
"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
I don't think Hjalmarsson is a dirty player. But anytime a player can read an opponent's number from that close needs to ease up on the hit, especially against the boards. It was a mistake obviously, but with the new rules the league ought to suspend the Hawk player for at least a couple of games.
10spro wrote:I don't think Hjalmarsson is a dirty player. But anytime a player can read an opponent's number from that close needs to ease up on the hit, especially against the boards. It was a mistake obviously, but with the new rules the league ought to suspend the Hawk player for at least a couple of games.
The NHL has put itself into a serious Pandora's box with the new rules about blindside hits because it only provides guidelines for blindside hits to the head. Hjalmarsson did not hit Pominville's head. The hit was shoulder-to-shoulder, which is legal in the NHL.
But I agree with you. You simply can't run a guy from behind through the boards, even if the hit involves no direct head contact.
In a perfect world, all hits from behind and all hits to the head will be illegal. The NHL will realize that by about 2030.
"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
10spro wrote:Both Hjalmarsson and Wisniewski got two games each for their transgressions. Works for me.
It's preposterous that a player who makes an innocuous pantomime of a sexual act to an opponent gets the same number of games as a guy who planted a player from behind, causing an injury that knocks that opponent out of the lineup.
This is a perfect example of how we Americans live in a strange sphere. We're one of the most Puritanical nations in Western society regarding sex, yet we relish our violence.
Seriously, a guy who mimics a blow job gets as many games as a guy who runs another player from behind and sloshes his brain against the inside of his skull?
"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
The NHL is close...Needs to just do this one thing...ONE THING...Get rid of, gut, or just bury somewhere that no one will find the disgusting body....Get rid of this pathetic waste of oxygen called bettman.
XXXIV wrote:The NHL is close...Needs to just do this one thing...ONE THING...Get rid of, gut, or just bury somewhere that no one will find the disgusting body....Get rid of this pathetic waste of oxygen called bettman.
Hard to find a more worthy snuff pig.
LoL i was just thinking im ok with Bettman after seeing some of his pre season apearances he handles himself well.
XXXIV wrote:The NHL is close...Needs to just do this one thing...ONE THING...Get rid of, gut, or just bury somewhere that no one will find the disgusting body....Get rid of this pathetic waste of oxygen called bettman.
Hard to find a more worthy snuff pig.
LoL i was just thinking im ok with Bettman after seeing some of his pre season apearances he handles himself well.
Seriously? He's so socially awkward that it's pathetic. He always seems nervous, always twitching, always trying to answer even the most direct questions before they're finished.
As a PR man, Bettman would be a tough chore because I bet he's one of those guys who thinks his public personna is just fine and won't take any PR advice.
Stern is the smoothest PR operator among the "Big Four" commissioners, but Goodell isn't far behind. Selig and Bettman trail far, far behind those two.
"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
Bettman, the human bobblehead, has made plenty of mistakes and has the PR skills of a slab of granite, but I will have to say the product on the ice in 2010 is more exciting than it was before Bettman took over. Don't know how much that has to do with Bettman, but I think he has made an honest attempt at growing the popularity of a league that for all intents and purposes is hamstrung by regional appeal due to having a history of being a niche sport in the US compared to the other big three sports. I'm far from being a big fan of Bettman, however I think he takes more grief than he deserves, in some part because he does come off as being so awkward in public.
Aside from coming across like a smarmy troll, I think people's major issue with Bettman is that he's not a hockey guy. People resent him for the whole southern expansion and anti-fighting movement in the 90s. Teams out of Canada and into places like Atlanta and Phoenix, and what sports video game fan can forget how the mid-90s NHL genesis games were forced to restrict the number of fights per game to 1.6 or lower or the NHL would take away their license.
I think the game is just now getting back to its mid-90s level of excitement, although there were a lot of factors that caused the general decline aside from Bettman being a tool.
I don't think Bettman is the one holding up the safety rules. That would be the old guard of GMs and other powers that be, you know the idiots like Milbury talking up 'pansification' and other nonsense.
Granted an ideal commish might actually show a little leadership on the issue. That's what Goodell or Stern would do I think.
toonarmy wrote:Bettman, the human bobblehead, has made plenty of mistakes and has the PR skills of a slab of granite, but I will have to say the product on the ice in 2010 is more exciting than it was before Bettman took over. Don't know how much that has to do with Bettman, but I think he has made an honest attempt at growing the popularity of a league that for all intents and purposes is hamstrung by regional appeal due to having a history of being a niche sport in the US compared to the other big three sports. I'm far from being a big fan of Bettman, however I think he takes more grief than he deserves, in some part because he does come off as being so awkward in public.
Well said. He's still a f*cking boob, though.
"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
Naples39 wrote:I don't think Bettman is the one holding up the safety rules. That would be the old guard of GMs and other powers that be, you know the idiots like Milbury talking up 'pansification' and other nonsense.
Granted an ideal commish might actually show a little leadership on the issue. That's what Goodell or Stern would do I think.
Goodell and the NFL have taken forever to do anything meaningful about concussions in their sport.
Naples39 wrote:I don't think Bettman is the one holding up the safety rules. That would be the old guard of GMs and other powers that be, you know the idiots like Milbury talking up 'pansification' and other nonsense.
Granted an ideal commish might actually show a little leadership on the issue. That's what Goodell or Stern would do I think.
Goodell and the NFL have taken forever to do anything meaningful about concussions in their sport.
Apples and oranges. .....but you know that already dont ya?
Tyler Seguin seems like the real deal with a couple of good plays in his first three games. He had a sick first goal in his career and had a pretty nice assist tonight for the Bruins.
Naples39 wrote:I don't think Bettman is the one holding up the safety rules. That would be the old guard of GMs and other powers that be, you know the idiots like Milbury talking up 'pansification' and other nonsense.
Granted an ideal commish might actually show a little leadership on the issue. That's what Goodell or Stern would do I think.
Goodell and the NFL have taken forever to do anything meaningful about concussions in their sport.
Apples and oranges. .....but you know that already dont ya?
No, they way both leagues have avoided taking responsibility for the long term health of their players' brains is very similar.
