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brobin

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Posts posted by brobin

  1. LOL...

    I certainly agree with the sentiment that they should be supporting Canadian hockey, not Toronto hockey, but I no longer hold out any hope that it will happen. HNIT is the only real money maker for the CBC and that is its mandate.

    I personally believe that they would be better off cultivating all the hockey teams and being less dependant on the Leafs to make the playoffs, but that would take effort and a long range view, something most companies including the CBC are useless at.

  2. You are dreaming JMMR.. they won't give up on the leafs just because they suck. :)

    My buddies all watched the game last night even though they all agreed the leafs suck. They will still watch. We all watched the habs a few years ago too. :)

    The sad fact is that for the last 10 years the CBC has been cultivating the Leafs as "Canada's team". They have been pretty successful. Most people outside of local team areas only see the Leafs. They don't see Ottawa, the Habs, Calgary or Edmonton. The CBC has two teams, the leafs and the Canucks.

    Marketing works, even if the product sucks. :)

  3. Did you really expect anything less. The worse part is that they are going to force some horrible hockey on everyone this year. The least they could do is drive the HD truck down to Ottawa and leave it there.

    The CBC clearly took a strategy decision some years ago to promote a single team to drive market share. Their other option was to promote "Canadian Hockey" which would imply that they show are fairly balanced schedule. Clearly they felt that they could make more money rallying around a single team. Eventually, Toronto will have the most fans because outside of Quebec, that is who you see every week. They want to make it "Canada's team".

    I think it backfired somewhat last year when the leafs failed to make the playoffs. Still, I hope they do lose the TV rights, but I don't really expect TSN to be any different.

  4. They did bring up Ward, but most of the time, they were talking about the 6 Canadian teams. Of them, they questioned Raycroft and Huet.

    I tend to agree, those are the two question mark guys in Canada. I think Rolo, Gerber, Luongo, and Kipper are far more predictable as they have longer and better track records.

  5. And yet Ribs, who has had 51 and 65 point seasons and makes half of what Kovy gets paid, is called useless.

    I don't know why Kovy gets a free ride. He does underperform, consistently. He floats, is lazy, and is always trying for the pretty play. He causes turn overs all the time too.

    Ribs has issues that prevent him from reaching his potential, and so does Kovalev. Worse, I think Kovalev has way more potential then Ribs, and yet does not really do much better, most seasons. He really needs to step up to reach his potential.

    On the other hand, perhaps we should just resign ourselves to the fact that he is a 70 point guy and pay him accordingly. :)

  6. I agree too. A point a game in the new NHL for a guy of his talent is not good enough.

    He needs to pull a Jagr and start playing like he wants to again. Look at how well Jagr did last year after coasting for so long.

  7. As usually, there is a lot of "I hate TSN", even from people who either admit, or obviously didn't watch it. Hence, you are guilty of just what you accuse them of. Bias, basing an opinion on last year, and not having a clue.

    For the record, they viewed Toronto far worse then the Habs. They also said that the habs have a chance at making it, but would need to surprise to do it. (like last year, Huet was a surprise and the only reason they made it in).

    They knocked many of the teams, not just the Habs. They also raised doubts about the Boston pick being too high. They fully admitted that the Habs were better then the leafs and going in the right direction. They just felt they need a bit more to get there. They also higlighted that Koivu needs help at center and Pleks is not the solution, as Ribs was not the solution.

    The felt the depth of montreal was suspect. Lots of young potential, but not much proven performance. Same at D. They touted Markov as highly underrated, but that Niinaama was clearly a gamble.

    I didn't find much to complain about. Sure, I predict us at 8 and they picked 10, but they stated that 7 to 12 were a crap shoot and depended on injuries, surprises, and dissapointments.

  8. I don't think Plex has more skill than Ribs, but he has heart where Ribs had none. And his speed, if nothing else, is a massive improvement. Just the fact that he'll be in the attacking zone where Ribeiro would be lugging himself past centre ice during an attack is a massive bonus. And his opportunities on the upper lines were at least on a par with Ribeiro.

    The only place we'll miss the little puke is on the power play when he'd have the extra time for his ponderous pace to make a difference - where the extra space made his vision worthwhile. :P

    LOL, ribs was not a great skater, but he was not that bad. Besides, Pleks will be stopping at the blue line waiting for Kovy to stop screwing around and actually enter the offensive zone.

    I rarely noticed a problem last year with Ribs and speed. He seemed to do fine with Kovy.

  9. Apparently they forgot this is the new NHL where speed and skill matter. Not size, and hooking and grabbing

    Actually, they did suggest that. The question was "are they too small". The consensus seemed to be, yes, but it is not as bad as it used to be due to the new nhl.

    This board often debates the same issues with much the same conclusion. :)

    Perhaps. But we're 10 times better off now than we were a few days ago. Plex is an upgrade if only because he'll bring it every night. Niinimaa is a massive upgrade defensively if he even plays half as well as his Edm/NYI days.

    Well, if Niinimaa plays like last year, he will make no difference.

    I don't think Pleks is ten time better. I am not convinced he is better. He didn't manage to do better then Ribs last season. At best, it is a wash, imo. He certainly is not going to massively improve this team.

    I know people hate ribs around here and there are issues with his game for sure, but lets be realistic. If Pleks was so good, he would have been better last year when he was given several opportunities on the first and second lines. He didn't impress much, compared to Higgins, who really grabbed his opportunity.

  10. To be fair, they did say Montreal might make the playoffs and have a better chance to do it then the leafs.

    They have a right to their opinions, but they can't predict the future. They even made fun of themselves and suggested that the Stanley cup winner is probably one of the teams they said would not make the playoffs. :)

    Still, I do agree with them about our lack of depth at Center. Koivu is a number 2 center and we need another center to compliment him. Ribs was not it, neither is Pleks.

    We need to be realistic. There are a lot of question marks about this team and they certainly could miss the playoffs. They are still a bubble team, not a lock on a spot.

  11. Seems that the Devils just got a free gift. They signed two vets for dumb amounts and it didn't work out. They buy their way out of the Malakov screw up with a pick, now the league gives them relief on Mogilny.

    Personally, I think this is a mistake. They took a risk on Mogilny and they should pay the consequences.

    The other GMs must be really ticked off with this.

  12. I think a trade will happen eventually to get another forward, hopefully a center. Gainey must feel that Niinaama will have a comeback year or he would not have taken the gamble. He gave up a decent center (despite people's opinions on ribs, he was not useless).

    If Niinaama works out, we have some trade bait on defense and some spare parts up front (perez). We could give a team a decent defenseman plus a young winger in trade for a center. Of course, if Pleks works out and Niinaama doesn't, we can always stand pat and just let Niinaama go away after the season.

    Oh, we also have a spare goaltender for trade bait. :)

  13. Well, I just watched them on sportsnet and Nick was the ONLY one that thought the leafs would make it. Many of them felt that the Habs would do better, with Bill Waters of all people convinced the Habs will make 7th, the leafs a miss.

    They basically said the Habs season will depend on the goaltending, which did not look good in the preseason. I agree with that totally.

    One guy said we were in trouble based on his view that we don't have much depth up front and Samsonov has a history of not quite delivering.

    I agree. I don't think the playoffs are a lock for the Habs. We are above Toronto but positions 7 to 13 are up for grabs and we are in that zone. We need the young guns to have great seasons, the goaltending to be above average, and injuries to be minimal.

    I don't think this team has enough depth to survive much adversity this year. On the other hand, we have potential to be 5 -6 in the conference if we get some pleasant surprises.

  14. I actually agree with most of their points, on the face of it. (ribeiro being french is irrelevant to me).

    I can only think of two things that make this trade make sense:

    1. There is another trade in the works for a center.

    2. Gainey truely believes that Niinaama is going to have a strong comeback year and he is counting on him being a top 4 defenseman.

    Time will tell, but I think we can safely assume that Gainey is neither crazy nor a moron. He might be proved wrong on occassion, but everyone makes mistakes. I hope this is not one of them.

  15. There are two kinds of goats..

    Guys who underperform and take some scorn (Bonk, Zeddy, etc).

    Guys who seem to draw bizarre levels of personal venom (Theo, Dags, Ribs).

    Personally, I hope this site can avoid the second type from now on and just focus on the play on the ice. :)

    I predict Huet will be a goat if he doesn't play well (he is on a pretty high pedestal right now).

  16. Well, I was being modest. I started watching the Habs in the early seventies. I just didn't think it mattered much to the modern game.

    My favs were Dryden and the road runne, for what its worth. :)

    So.. basically, we both just proved we are old. :LOL

    I don't think I know more then everyone else, I just am waiting for some reasonable arguement besides hope and he works hard to get all excited about him taking the 2nd line spot. I too hope he steps up and is awesome, but I wouldn't put money on it. :)

    I think we should be realistic about the prospects on the team, otherwise we will turn into Leaf fans. :)

    Oh by the way, the Hurricanes top three centers were Eric Staal, Rod Brindamour, and Doug Weight.

    That is balanced scoring alright; all three are better then Ribs, let alone Pleks. Two are arguably better then Koivu. If we had that embarrassment of riches at center, ... well, you get the picture. :)

  17. Why do you keep saying the same thing over and over and over? What proof do you have the Plekanec is a worse center than Ribero or anyone else? Also did you watch every game this guy has played since he was a kid?

    Time to actually watch how much he does in the games that he plays in. Not every #2 center in the league is the most offensively gifted forward. The days of having a Forsberg/Sakic one two punch is long over. Plekanec is young so he has room to improve and given the fact that he now has guys that are actually good on offense will take any pressure there is for him to score. Most important for him to be on this line is to responsible on the defensive side of things as Samsonov and Kovalev are not known for defensive prowess. I like how easily you write off a second year player before he even has a chance.

    I watched every single Habs game the last 5 years or so, plus most games the last 15.

    I never wrote off Pleks, if you read my posts, I think very highly of him as a third line center. Third line is not worse then 2nd line. It is a differrent role, one in which I think Pleks has a great future in.

    As for my "proof" about him. I don't need to prove anything. He does. All I am pointing out is you guys have far less proof for your "hopes" about pleks then I have for his role on the third line. Please, go read his stats. Compare them to Bonk, Ribs, Koivu, etc. Go read the TSN take on Pleks.

    What did Pleks do last year to say he is going to be a great number 2 center (whose job it is to generate offense). He was given a shot last year when Ribs was "benched" and he did nothing. He was eventually put back to his old role.

    Yes, he is going to get to play between Kovy and sammy to start the season, because there is no one better. That does not mean that he should. In my opinion, we need to get another center.

    As for why I keep saying this, well, there are about 100 posts here raving about how this is such a great move, that Pleks is going to rock as the 2nd center, etc. Call me the voice of reason. :)

    And again, I like Pleks a lot. I like Begin too, but I would not make him our number 2 center either. :)

  18. If he gets Gomez I will be so happy. Gomez is a real top two center. It would allow Pleks to go back to number 3 (where I think he is awesome) and Bonk to go on waivers. :)

    Imagine Koivu, Gomez, Pleks, Begin... that is sweet.

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