TurdBurglar
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Posts posted by TurdBurglar
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Hope to see the Habs strike early and begin to plant the seed of doubt in Boston.
This.
Once the seed is planted Boston will respond with goon play to physically dominate Montreal, causing penalties and their own demise.
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It looks like he never lived on the reserve at all, he's non-status native according to wiki.
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Eastern Conference
(1) Washington vs. (8) New York (4-3 Rangers)
(2) Philadelphia vs. (7) Buffalo (4-1 Flyers)
(3) Boston vs. (6) Montreal (4-3 Canadiens)
(4) Pittsburgh vs. (5) Tampa Bay (4-3 Lightening)
Western Conference
(1) Vancouver vs. (8) Chicago (4-2 Canucks)
(2) San Jose vs. (7) Los Angeles (4-3 Kings)
(3) Detroit vs. (6) Phoenix (4-0 Red Wings)
(4) Anaheim vs. (5) Nashville (4-2 Ducks)
For the East:
New York will beat Washington in 7, going to be close but I don't think Varlamov can out play Lunquist, going to be a come from behind win for the Ranger.
Philly will beat Buffalo quick, Miller is great, but I don't the the Sabers can deal with Philly's physical play style.
Montreal will beat Boston in overtime of game 7, everntually their speed will wear out Boston and their power play will provide the bulk of their offense.
Tampa will beat Pittsburg, but it will go to 7 because Fleury will keep the Penguins in it.
My team to watch to make the surprising run this year is the Montreal Canadiens, they had a taste of success last season.
For the West:
Vancouver will beat the Hawks, but the 2 losses will be high scoring games, I don't think Luongo will be as rock steady as people believe he will be.
LA will beat San Jose in 7, I don't think Niemi is the new Chris Osgood, doubt he'll repeat his playoff performance of last year.
Detroit will sweep Phoenix, their Detroit and that what they do, even without Zetterberg too much talent up front for Phoenix to handle.
Anaheim will beat Nashville, they can all buy Getzlaf a steak for leading the offense in the series and Hiller will play excellent.
My team to watch to make the surprising run is the Los Angeles Kings, they have the young talent that can step up and take them far.
Finals will be:
Montreal/Phily vs. Detroit/ Los Angeles
Watch how wrong I'll be. lol
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His vision is going to be alot better, so I would imagine he will be getting the puck more in the offensive end again.
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Every team has a player like Kostitsyn. A streaky player. These players steal games. The problem in this situation is Montreal doesn't have the 3 or 4 consistent players to make Kostitsyn acceptable to be streaky. If you have 3 or 4 consistent point producers they can keep games close for players like Kostitsyn to make a difference. This year even the consistent players are streaky. Games are won and lost if they are hot together or not. Best example I can think of is March 20th against Minnesota. Montreal with 8-1, next 3 games they can't buy a goal. One game hot together, next 3 games everyone gets cold.
Kostitsyn would be alot more valuable if Montreal had at least 1 consistent line to stabilize their offense. Remember '07-'08 when Plekanec, Kovalev and Kostitsyn were producing consistently? Ryder and Higgins weren't consistent but won 7 games between them. Seven games is a big jump in the standings.
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I'm thrilled by this matchu for sheer entertainment purposes. It's going to be great hockey, until Boston starts it's nonsense. The series will come down to the referring and power plays IMHO.
We all know Boston will be physical, but I'm afraid the refs will have a loose attitude and let too much go. There will be too many after the whistle scrums started by Boston that the refs will take one from each team. I just hope the refereeing isn't as bad as the Washington / Montreal series last year. Sure they overcame it, but it was disgraceful.
If Montreal gets their legs moving early in games, I honestly think they have a chance to win because they will quickly tire Boston out. It's hard to check a player you can't catch. This will force Boston to take penalties and the real key is the power play from Montreal.
Let's just hope CBC doesn't have to play bad non-call montages in this year's playoffs like they did last year. One montage was after the first period where Washington had 2 power plays and Montreal had none, yet there were 7 blatant penalties including an intentional elbow to the head of Andrei Kostitsyn, 3 feet from a ref.
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Gomez is an obvious problem, hope he turns it around in the playoffs.
Montreal's power play stinks as of late because it looks like everyone is scared to grind for the puck down low, making it impossible to setup at the point. I seriously hope this is addressed before the first round because the power play is going to be what makes or breaks Montreal against Boston. If Boston plays clean hockey, they can't beat Montreal, but if Montreal can't capitalize on the power play, it's lights out.
I think Price will exercise his playoffs demons, but he needs a strong team support in the first 2 games. They can't get blown out or not score. Mark my words, if in the first game if they lose by 3-4 goals or get shutout, Price's confidence will be shot, why give 150% for a team that is only giving 50%? If they lose by a goal in a 3-2 or 2-1 loss, the series will be interesting. If they win by 3-4 goals the first game, Boston won't make it out of the first round.
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What I find misleading about that statistic is Carey Price is playing taxes. He's a member of the first nations, therefore tax exempt in Canada.
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It is simple. Zero tolerance.
You contact the head, you get tossed from the game and an automatic suspension. I don't understand why this is not an option.
That will never work. Easy example of why. Chara is 6'9" and he goes to check, say a 4th line player like Weber tonight. Weber sees Chara coming ducks and leads into the check with his head. By your solution Chara has to be suspended because contact was made with the head. The worse part of this example is, players will do it especially in the playoffs when teams meet each other every game. A player playing too good against you? Head-butt his elbow and they get suspended. Hell, at that rate players will be skating around with their head down on purpose, especially if it guarantees a suspension. Do you really want to see that? I don't, the same as I'm sick of players always turning their back to the play to avoid checks. Which was my point all along, players putting themselves is dangerous situations because if they get hit in those situations, their team gets a power play, so there's nothing bad about it until someone gets hurt, then "that type of hit" needs to be taken out of the game.
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Id this federal and provincial tax?
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Can' see how that hit could be interpreted as being Eberle's fault.
Not to be jerk about this but by your logic, it's Patches fault for trying to go around Chara and putting himself in a potentially dangerous situation.
Don't buy it bud.
Is it that you didn't understand my point or you actually wanted to be a jerk about it? What did Patches do to put himself in danger? Nothing, he skated to open boards with his head up and front to the play, then Chara checked him, pushing his head into the stanchion. My point was players turning their back to oncoming hits and putting their head down skating into a dangerous situations.
If you watch a reply of the Eberle hit, Eberle was crouched to about half his normal height, going head-first to the puck and was hit by a clean hit that made contact with his head. If he was skating upright, like he does 99% of the time, it would have been a clean hit. The problem was because he put himself in the position where his head contacted Torres' elbow, not because the elbow is high or targeting the head, but because the head is at elbow level. It's the same thing if you get called for high-sticking if someone falls and their face hits your stick on the ice. Does the stick contact the face? Yes, therefore by this suspension's logic, this would be a high-sticking penalty. In reality the stick isn't high therefore it's not a penalty. Eberle's head wasn't targeted by an elbow, it was at elbow height on Eberle's behalf, not Torres. It's like Gionta skating towards Pronger and headbutting him in the arm, that is a headshot, therefore it's suspendable, right? Pronger's arm made contact with Gionta's head, and Gionta is shorter so the contact was around the elbow region of Pronger, so there's no other explanation, Pronger must be suspended. What if Eberle had his skate caught in the ice and went head on into the boards. Does the boards get a suspension because he hurt himself? I can come up with a dozen hypothetical situations similar to the Eberle hit and none are the other team's fault.
The rules are there to keep players from getting hurt when other players are intentionally attempting to injure, not so players can buy time with the puck by turning their back to oncoming players or lead with their head to get the extra reach. The hitting from behind rule was added to stop players from finishing a check on an icing call when they knew they lost the race to the puck. The headshot rule was added to keep players from targeting the head on a hit. Both to reduce injuries, both being abused so players can buy time with the puck or try to win a lost battle to the puck. When do these players have to take responsibility for their actions?
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Raffi Torres suspended 4 games.
Link the the NHL.com report;
http://www.nhl.com/i...s.htm?id=558613
Is it just me or is anyone else tired of players deliberately putting themselves in dangerous situations like Eberle put himself in for the hit? Fifteen years ago a smart player never turned their back on the play when going in a corner, I had that drilled in my head when I was playing. Why? because it's dangerous and you were getting hit, so make sure you were in position to take the hit safely. Fifteen years ago player knew skating with their head down was an invitation to get crushed. Now the rules have changed to address serious injuries caused by these plays and players are abusing them. You watch any game and at least 10 times a game now players go in the corner with their head down and back to oncoming players.
I think it's time the NHL address the issue of players putting themselves in dangerous situations on purpose. If they can't address that issue then take hitting out of the game altogether. What is the point of having a contact sport when rules are narrowing down good contact and players are abusing it because they can't take a hit anymore? In a few years everyone is going to be skating backwards anyway so they can't be hit. It's ridiculous.
Instead of suspending Torres, Colin Campbell should go to Eberle, ask him, "Did it hurt? Bet your not going to do that again anytime soon, are you?" (all, Oilers not making the playoffs, jokes aside)
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I was watching the last couple of games and found myself wondering the same things about how they were playing. When their on the power play, their bread and butter is from the point, we all know that, but the other team pressures the point too much to pass it around to get a good shot off. This causes turn overs in the high zone and they spend most of the power play either retrieving the puck from their zone or defending on the power play. Now, in the New Jersey game on Saturday after their first power play, I was thinking they need to work the puck low to close the defensive box and open up the points, but when they work it low they need to outnumber the opposition. I've seen many games where they get the puck in deep and their being outnumbered or even numbers digging for the puck. The very next power play they shot the puck deep, it was picked up behind the net, New Jersey's box close, the puck was cycled to the point and Subban scored. If I could change one thing it would be on the power play getting them to shoot the puck deep use the extra man to outnumber the defending team on the boards to recover the puck, close the box and open the point.
If you could make 1 adjustment to the Habs game, what would it be?
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3-1 Canadiens
or
4-2 Blackhawks
It'll all come down to shutting down Toews, if that can be done then we have a fighting chance.
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All this number crunching can be solved one way, and I hope for our sake Gauthier can pull it off. Get Gomez traded. It's almost to the point with him a buyout is looking good. Sure you lose around 3m a year but you also gain around 3m a year, year depending. Would be ideal if Eller stepped up to 2nd center form, but he may be a couple of years away from that. Pouliot can go at the end of the season in my opinion, he's not worth 2m a year. He plays like he is Gionta's size when he should be playing more like Darche. I know it's too much to hope for but I'd love to see Gomez traded and a top 6 big winger be brought in. Gionta and Cammalleri would thrive with a big physical winger each and Eller would grow fast centering either of them. Also the money would be there for Wisniewski.
P.S. I don't see Wisniewski getting 5m a season from anyone, he doesn't have enough defensive upside for a top pair defenseman. I'm not saying he's bad in his zone by any means, I'm just saying he's not the guy you want out there against the other team's top line. I could be wrong, but that is how I see it.
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Not to go too far off topic, but I think you guys are short-changing Gill. Personally I think hes a great shut down defenseman and the Canadiens can probably retain him for cheap. Hamrlik is good an all, but if Wisniewski re-signs with Montreal, what exactly is the point of paying more for Hamrlik for a roll Gill can fill? With Wisniewski, Markov, Spacek and Subban there is no need for Hamrlik on the power play. Also with Markov, Subban and Gorges it`s not feasible to pay 3m+ for Hamrlik to kill penalties when you can get Gill to do a better job at it for 2m or under.
The Chicoutimi Cucumber said it, the team needs that shot Wisniewski possesses. If Montreal doesn`t re-sign Hamrlik they have 5.5m to play with for Wisniewski, who is currently getting 3.25m, so re-signing him for 3.5m or 4m isn`t really a stretch. Then they can take the 1.5m-2m for Gorges contract.
The beginning of the season Montreal had 19.3m tied up for their defense. If we can get Wisniewski for 4m, Markov for 5.5m, Georges for 3m and Gill for 2m, the cost of our defense will be nearly what it was at the beginning of the season. The only thing I have got figured in is Weber and Picard which are difficult calls if they won`t accept 2-way contracts. This would leave us with;
Markov Gorges
Subban Wisniewski
Spacek Gill
You can play with the lines as you want, but that would be one of the best defense cores in the league, both offensively and defensively. They could also put Weber on the 4th line so he is available for the power play.
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Add Gorges in your top 3 and you have a solid top 4. Gorges has proven himself to be a solid shut down defenseman. Maybe Wisniewski would be a better 2nd pair defenseman for the future, Markov / Subban and Gorges / Wisniewski going forward? With or without Wisniewski, Subban would get more chances to shoot with Markov on the power play and he does possess a great shot.
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I think they have a better chance of beating a Malkinless and Crosbyless Pittsburg, but I would love to see Boston and Montreal. Even if it's a sweep the games would be amazing to watch. A 7 game series would be awesome to watch between these 2 teams. That being said, the last time montreal went on a scoring slump before the playoffs, they met Boston in the first round and was swept in less than dramatic fashion.
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I'm new here but from reading the thread and from my own thoughts on the situation I have this to add.
If the Canadiens decide to re-sign Markov, and I think they should, it need to be a short term "test" deal, like 1 - 2 years at less than he's making now. My gut feeling is it should be 1yr @ 5m or 2yrs @ 4.5 or less. We all know what he's capable of, but after 2 years of injury plagued seasons we've spent more time without him than with him. Also we can't afford more money being tied up in another player that is not playing (Gomez, he's on the ice, but is essentially wasted money).
That being said now we have to look at the other defensemen Montreal will have.
Gorges, Subban, and Spacek will be returning next season. Throw Markov in that mix and you have your top 4 defensemen for next year, barring Gill resigning which for a cheap price they could potentially do it and his size is something Montreal needs. Now, in my opinion Montreal's Defense potentially looks like this;
Markov / Gorges
Subban / Gill (Let's face it, their playing great together this year and Gill's influence on Subban is well worth the extra year of pay)
Spacek / ???
I honestly believe if Montreal resigns Gill and pairs him with Subban again next year, it will go a long way in preparing Subban for a great career. Gorges can also benefit from a solid defensive defenseman as well, as he showed in last year's playoffs. The question now is is it worth resigning Hamrlik or Wisniewski? Upwards of 3m a season for a 3rd pair defenseman? I'm loving Wisniewski's play with Montreal this season, I just don't see it fitting in cap-wise, and if this was a situation where one of them has to be signed, I would pick Wisniewski. Younger and adds more presence on the blue line. Montreal would have a devastating back-end on the power play (Markov / Wisniewski and Spacek / Subban, 4 potential bombs from the point), but desperately needs to address it's size issue up front. Honestly I think if Montreal retains Markov, Wisniewski and Hamrlik are gone, and Weber or Picard will be the 6th defenseman. AK47 will also be gone, hopefully being replaced with a winger with size or center if they can manage to trade Gomez away (crossing fingers even though it will never happen).
GDT: Game 1, Habs vs Bruins
in Habs & Hockey Talk
Posted
There's a difference between how Boston and Pittsburg, when things aren't going Pittsburg's way, they don't ignore play to pick fights. Why? because normally that gets you in penalty trouble. Look at the 4-1 win when Patches got hurt. What did Lucic and Horton do in the 3rd period? When the puck was cleared from the Montreal zone they would, pull, punch, hook and slash any Montreal player near them instead of establishing a back-check. Which normal teams get penalized for, but somehow, Boston didn't. They were hoping to start a fight to stop the play so they didn't need to skate back anyway. Boston has a bunch of clowns that believe physical play is dirty play, and the problem is they are getting away with that attitude.