Peter Puck

You don't have to offer max money. If the RFA comes from a team, like the Senators, with cap problems they can't easily match the offer. Plus it doesn't hurt the offering team if the offer is matched and the player stays with his old club. This is one of the reasons I like the idea of pursuing Spezza. If no other team makes Spezza an offer he might resign with Ottawa for say 4.5 million per year. But if we offer him 6 million per year (and he accepts), either we get him or else Ottawa has to give him 6 million per year and that makes it very very difficult to sign their UFA's. I think Spezza may be worth the 5 picks - after all none of them will be top 5 picks nor even top 10. I am sure that he is worth 6 million per year.

Okay here is an idea. I don't think I really like it but you can tell me (and all of HW) what you think of it. We could offer Spezza 6 million this summer. He will be an RFA . I think if we sign him that would mean that we forfeit our next 5 number 1 picks which probably makes the cost too steep. Still he is just what we need. On the other hand I think Ottawa would still match that offer. Paying Spezza 6 million would force Ottawa to give up either Chara or Redden.

Actually, Plex lost his stick. Rivet used his own stick to flick Plekanec's back to him. A player on the Bruin bench reached over the boards and either caught it or just blocked it from going toward Plex (I couldn't tell which). Then Rivet reached out and took ahold of it and tossed it toward Plex. Definitely a penalty to Rivet for having 2 sticks at once. But there should have been a Bruin bench penalty too.

Gainey as GM has certainly improved the team. They may be struggling now but they are much better than they were before he was hired. More importantly, the current team has a bright future and clearly will be better and better for next couple of years. Before Gainey, no one could make such a statement. As coach he has done something great that a lot of people were screaming for: he has played the rookies and young players. For the past couple of games we've had Ryder, Plex, and Higgins all on the top 2 lines. I am much happier seeing this as these guys need to develop into top line players and anyhow they have been out performing Zednek, Bonk, Ribeiro, and to a lesser extent Bullis for quite a while now. We won't win the cup this year (and without Theo playing well we won't go very far) but there is no need to panic. We may even miss the playoffs this year but that is no reason to trade away our young stars.

Yup but you posted it while I was composing my guess.

I'm going to guess Brodeur.

Yeah, sorry. 3 or 4 people called them "ties", I randomly picked your post to quote.

Actually these were not ties. If I remember correctly, for a while the Vezina was given to the goalie for the team with the lowest goals against average. (I think the Jennings is given for this now.) To qualify a goaltender had to play a minimum number of games. For a couple of years we would put our backup (or 2nd backup) into the last minute of a game that had already been decided in order to get his games played total high enough to qualify.

Pull Huet!

We can't afford to trade Theodore. We'll get nothing for him and probably have to take some overpaid player to make up for his salary. His problem is that he hasn't adjusted to the new rules. He may be struggling with his smaller pads and new glove but I don't think that is the problem. His problem is his positioning. He is often not in the right spot to cut down angles. This saps his confidence and leads him to drop to his knees constantly. I think he has not learned where to position himself since they moved the net back closer to the boards. The good news is that this is something he can learn. I believe that given time (say by next year) he will have overcome this problem. This should boost his confidence and get him back to a being a top 5 goalie. Trading him now is a complete waste. He still has a big upside. I do think Huet has been playing well enough for us to finish the season with Theodore playing backup. I am not sure if Theo is willing to return to being a backup but the way he has been playing he should be.

Okay we do need to keep Theo on the bench for a while. But you cannot call the third goal soft. Cole hammers the puck from right in front of the net at the top of the circles. Its hits the inside of the post about 6 inches below the cross bar and bounces in off the opposite post. No goalie in the world stops that shot. Its fine to say come out and challenge but he would have to be 15 feet in front to get that and then Cole just passes to one of the wingers,

Notice Staal used his stick to tug at Theo's arm and prevent him from clearing the puck up the boards.

Hi, TSN is conducting a href="w"w.tsn.ca">a poll on whether we (and/or the leafs) will make the playoffs. So far we're winning. Go vote. Go Habs Go!

For some reason Adam Oates comes to mind.

Matt and Sergei are playing each other right now on Soprtsnet Ontario.

I meant the record for assists in 1 game. I said "an all-star game" but I should have been clearer. Yup, playing wing on Mario Lemieux's line in 1988. Adam Oates holds the career record with 12.

Sorry no.

Very good guess (hint) but no. Nope.

What about Glen Wesley? edit: whoops I see I already got it right. Okay here is my question? Who holds the record for assists in an allstar game? This should be easy to look up so try to guess (if you don't know). Don't forget we are still trying to find the 5th player to win the cup as both a Leaf and a habs.

No idea who the extra Leaf/habs is. Has Scott Mellanby ever won the cup. Maybe with Edmonton? He's been around for a long time?

I'm watching Quinn's post game interview. He is having trouble because he can't blame the refs for tonight's loss without being laughed at.

Look at Koivu's reaction on the ice after he scored the game winner tonight against the Leaf's. I don't think anyone can question his heart after seeing that.

The last Leaf goal was questionable but Theo didn't have any chance on the other two goals. Plus he made 4 or 5 huge saves in the 1st and a couple in the second. I think he had a great game in total. On the whole though I am afraid this game had the look of a battle between two teams that are not playoff quality. The Leaf's have some injured players and will improve when Lindros and Macabe return. We need to get some confidence and play with more speed. Our level of play tonight will not get us a playoff spot.

Actually on the hotstove they said that this incident occured (at practice?) in front of the entire team.

Vindication!