72 replies to this topic

[The Napkin]

Dreger is reporting that the Leafs have fired Ron Wilson.

Carlyle "very likely" to become next coach

[TheShynessClinic]

Carlyle confirmed as new head coach by many sources.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[AMcGhie]

Burke just basically did a "we wish him the best in his future endeavors" set of tweets.

[MiracleOfO2704]

Burke may want to watch his own back. The man did turn a great young center, a great young offensive defenseman, and a gymrat forward into Phil Kessel, among other duds.

[FelixMantilla]

http://www.sportsnet..._firing_wilson/

[scotian1]

Burke may want to watch his own back. The man did turn a great young center, a great young offensive defenseman, and a gymrat forward into Phil Kessel, among other duds.

Your right the spotlight is now solely on his back.

[jsinger121]

Bob McKenzie ‏ @TSNBobMcKenzie

Mikhail Grabovski's contract extension with TOR is five years with AAV of $5.5M.

[Dummy Hoy]

Umm...ok. I don't follow the NHL as close as some of you, but that is ridiculous, no?

[TheShynessClinic]

Umm...ok. I don't follow the NHL as close as some of you, but that is ridiculous, no?

It's an overpay, but not drastically. Realistically 4.75 - 5 over 5 years would be in line with what he'd get as a UFA. You'd think though he'd give a bit of a hometown discount to stay in Toronto, but apparently not.

Edited by TheShynessClinic, 06 March 2012 - 10:50 AM.

[PedroSpecialK]

Yup. That's out there if you ask me. Especially for a guy who's shown he's about a 55 point/year player if he stays healthy. To be fair he was about to be a UFA, as opposed to Krejci (62 points/year average, Conn Smythe-caliber playoff run for 3/$5.25m AAV), but looking at this v. Plekanec's contract makes me laugh. How can he be getting more AAV at about the same term as Plekanec?

To clarify, at 3 years I'd say a $5.5m cap hit is fair for Grabovski. Here, you're locking into 5 years at near-#1 center money for a guy whose career high in ES goals is 19.

Edited by PedroSpecialK, 06 March 2012 - 05:33 PM.

[Jed Zeppelin]

Probably a tough pill for a fan to swallow watching guys on your bad team get overpaid. Lupul's probably cursing his luck that he isn't a UFA this year, but I bet his agent will be pestering Burke all summer. Sure, as a GM you want to keep your guys since the UFA market is so tough but at some point your team has to become elite, and a contract like this doesn't seem like the way to do it.

I wonder if the noose is tightening for Burke. Looking at their cap situation, they figure to have mostly the same mediocre team next season unless they can move some dead money like Connolly and Komisarek and make a splash...but who knows if Toronto is considered much of a destination these days.

[MiracleOfO2704]

Maybe Burke's just trying to set the bar high for the Bruins when they have to negotiate Seguin's next contract.

I'm in the Theo mold where I don't like contracts past 3-4 years unless you have a generational talent. Grabovski doesn't qualify, and when you add the overpay of about a million AAV, the logic behind this almost has to be "we didn't trade him when we had the chance, so we have to keep him at all costs."

[TheShynessClinic]

This isn't new news, but Ryan Miller continues to be a huge douche:

"He drove the net hard and kinda bailed on the play, put it in my pads. He got a nice bounce back to him. So it looked like a sick toe-drag … he dumped it off my pad when he thought he was going to cut off and — poof — it's straight back on his tape. I'll give him credit for driving the net and making a pretty goal, but I don't want him to get too cocky, that greasy kid. I don't want him talking about how he toe-dragged everyone."

http://sports.yahoo....-034756644.html

Edited by TheShynessClinic, 06 March 2012 - 12:20 PM.

[erfus]

This isn't new news, but Ryan Miller continues to be a huge douche:

http://sports.yahoo....-034756644.html

Thorburn is a former teammate, so I think Miller's just messing around.

[kenneycb]

And he was right. It kinda annoyed me that they called it that last night even after the replay showed that he clearly shot it off his pad and the puck went right back to his stick.

[kenneycb]

Sid's been cleared for contact. The Penguins just got that much better.

[Jed Zeppelin]

Until the next time he's out.

[PedroSpecialK]

Keep him away from any player who's turning and has puck possession.

[kenneycb]

I guess there's rumors he could come back for the B's game. Guess it's time for Krejci to, ahem, accidentally throw an elbow out there.

[Curtis_Lesspanic]

Can the B's still trade for Dave Steckel?

[kenneycb]

Not sure where exactly to put this but Laraque was on Marek Vs. Wyshynski today and it was a fantastic interview. Touches on the mental aspects of fighting, PEDs in hockey and other such topics. Interview runs about 25-30 minutes in the middle of the podcast and he is an awesome interview and very candid.

[mikeford]

Devils up 1-0 early because McDonaugh fell down.

2 scraps already. Devils 2-0 in them, IMHO. Killa Cam vs John Scott was close. Ryan Carter beating the piss out of Dubinsky was not.

[mikeford]

Jakub Voracek is dead

Edited by mikeford, 06 March 2012 - 08:58 PM.

[cshea]

1. That's a shoulder through the head. That should be a suspension, and a lengthy one at that.

2. Incredibly weak stuff by Kronwall to turn down Brayden Schenn afterwards. I thought he was better than that.

[MiracleOfO2704]

1. That's a shoulder through the head. That should be a suspension, and a lengthy one at that.

2. Incredibly weak stuff by Kronwall to turn down Brayden Schenn afterwards. I thought he was better than that.

That's system to me. The Wings just don't fight.

[AMcGhie]

After watching that clip 10x, that's completely on Voracek. He was skating with his head down and was not looking up. Standing up that hits him in the chest. Also part of the issue was that they hit midsection to midsection first causing Voracek's head to come down more prior to contact that rocked his head back. Really bad angles + good check = injury, unfortunately.

[kenneycb]

Yeah the onus has to be on the player to keep his head up, especially when it's a straight on hit. He's had scores of similar hits so I'd be very surprised to see a suspension or anything if that nature.

[mikeford]

After watching that clip 10x, that's completely on Voracek. He was skating with his head down and was not looking up. Standing up that hits him in the chest. Also part of the issue was that they hit midsection to midsection first causing Voracek's head to come down more prior to contact that rocked his head back. Really bad angles + good check = injury, unfortunately.

Completely agree. The victim of the hits HAVE TO TAKE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for putting themselves in dangerous positions.

The principle point of contact is Voracek's head because Voracek is leaning forward with his head down.

Given that I think it's a clean hit, I don't blame Kronwall for not fighting Schenn. You lay a clean hit, you don't have to answer anyone's bell.

[ForceAtHome]

That's textbook Kronwall. I see nothing wrong with the hit (despite the fact that I picked Kronwall for longest suspension of the season because eventually I am convinced he's just actually going to kill someone). Hopefully Voracek is okay.

[Blacken]

Nothing wrong with that hit. If Voracek hadn't dropped his head, that goes through his chest (and I mean "through", I'm pretty sure there would have been a Kronwall-sized hole through his chest cavity).

[PedroSpecialK]

Voracek even looks up and sees Kronwall coming, puts his head down with one hand on his stick, and tries to maneuver out of his own zone.

I'm all for taking headshots out of the game, but this isn't a headshot - this is a clean hit targeting the chest that hit the head of a player negligent enough to be skating head-down through that part of the ice.

[Curtis_Lesspanic]

Voracek has to know better. You put your head down like that and your going to get caught in the trolly tracks. You put your head down coming out of your zone with Nik Kronwall on the ice and your asking for a collapsed lung and short term memory. This is what he is known for. When your playing the Red Wings you have to know that he's looking to light up people in this exact way.

I am all for getting dirty hits out of the game. But not at the expense of tough physical play. This is old time hockey. Voracek will probably keep his head up next time. The boxing/MMA mantra of "protect yourself at all times" needs to be re-emphisized in Hockey.

I agree with the Philly announcers however, the refs needed to stop the game right away. When a guy gets flash KO'ed and goes stiff, even for a second or two, its a pretty good indicator of some kind of head trauma.

[veritas]

That was a clean hit by Kronwall, definitely not targeting the head. If anything, he led with his lower half. Voracek was just leaning so far forward it didn't matter.

Completely agree with Curt Lesspanic, guys need to start protecting themselves better and stop being so careless when they should know contact is coming. If you have the puck, assume someone is going to try to hit you. Eliminating dirty hits is only half the battle, plenty of clean hits can be extremely dangerous, especially when guys are skating around like they're on the frog pond. We saw that with this hit and the Neil vs Boychuk one a few games ago.

And speaking of Johnny Rocket, I think he did Vanek a huge favor tonight by not destroying him in the 3rd period with that hit near the blueline. Looked like he actually led with his gloves to the chest to avoid a borderline hit, although I haven't seen a great replay of it yet.

[PedroSpecialK]

4 guys from the Leafs' last roster that made the playoffs are now in the HHoF: Mats Sundin, Joe Nieuwendyk, Brian Leetch, and Ron Francis

[Greg29fan]

I guess there's rumors he could come back for the B's game.

not playing tomorrow - probably Thursday against NY

[scotian1]

Interesting note; last night Michael Ryder scored his 30th goal of the season

[Pumpsie]

Geez, Louise. The Devils now have more points than the B's. How did THIS happen? Kovalchuk is a one-man wrecking crew on the attack. Marty Brodeur is steady again between the pipes. All of Lou's moves are paying off. This team is playing well both ways. Pinch me.

[mikeford]

Sean Avery retired today.

I am sad.

[Hendu's Gait]

Sean Avery retired today.

I am sad.

The black sheep of the Red wings development machine. What could have been. If he only focused more on hockey, and less on assholeness.

[cshea]

There's been an interesting story developing over the past few weeks in the Western Conference. Alexander Radulov has expressed an interest in potentially returning to the Predators this year, which has cause a bit of a stir up in the West. The league and players association got together and have ruled that Radulov would be allowed to join the Predators without passing through waivers, and he would be playoff eligible. His KHL season is over, and he's supposed to make a decision sooner rather than later.

http://espn.go.com/n...ankles-some-gms

Radulov's Kontinental Hockey League team has been eliminated from the playoffs, and the NHL has ruled that Radulov can return directly to the Predators without having to pass waivers and can play in the playoffs. His return would also burn off the end of Radulov's entry level contract making him a restricted free agent this summer and in line for a healthy pay raise.

It's an interesting debate. I can see why the NHL would not subject him to waivers, as he's already Predators property. Making him playoff eligible seems to be more of a problem, in my opinion.

Edit: After reading a bit more, I think the easy solution to this is to simply state that a player activated off the suspended list post-deadline is not eligible for the playoffs.

Edited by cshea, 13 March 2012 - 06:02 PM.

[PedroSpecialK]

I have no idea why he is eligible for postseason play when a guy like Turco isn't.

[mikeford]

I have no idea why he is eligible for postseason play when a guy like Turco isn't.

Judging from tonight, the NHL is doing you guys a favor there.

[veritas]

The black sheep of the Red wings development machine. What could have been. If he only focused more on hockey, and less on assholeness.

I've always been thoroughly entertained by Avery and will miss him. Maybe the greatest agitator of his generation. Always managed to push the envelope and get under peoples' skin without endangering careers (i.e. Cooke, Marchand, Torres, etc.). And with 70+ NHL fights in his career, he answered the bell when he needed to. Would have loved to see him on the B's 4th line back when he still cared about hockey.

[Greg29fan]

Since I haven't seen it on here other than the talk last week, Sid is returning Thursday in New York. He'll be playing on the 3rd line and on the power play.

[PedroSpecialK]

Judging from tonight, the NHL is doing you guys a favor there.

Not say they aren't, but Turco is worthy of an NHL contract to prove his worth. Radulov is returning from neglecting his NHL contract to further his own career.

Yet the latter gets to play in the postseason?

[ForceAtHome]

According to Slava Malamud on Twitter, Radulov is officially heading back to Nashville.

Radulov and Salavat appear to have reached a deal allowing A-Rad to leave for Nashville now. Salavat to keep his KHL rights (Sport-Express)

Win-win for Nashville and Radulov. Nashville gets their dynamic forward back for the playoff run and also has a chance to make some extra cash in the playoffs to put towards keeping Suter and Weber... and Radulov finishes his ELC. The rest of the NHL, of course, loses. Nashville could be a very scary team this spring.

[veritas]

I wonder how much Nashville knew about this back at the trade deadline when they were very aggressive in trading away future assets to help themselves this season. It would make their trades a little more rational if they knew there was a good chance they had Radulov for the playoff run. Small market teams just can't succeed in sports trading prospects and picks for rentals on a regular basis, but maybe the Predators front office knew their cup chances were a little better than everyone else knew when they made those deals.

[PedroSpecialK]

Perhaps this is more V&N, but Graham James, the former junior hockey coach who abused Theoren Fleury and dozens of other players in their pubescent yaers, was sentenced to two years in prison today. As many have noted on Twitter, had he held up a retail establishment at gunpoint but not hurt anyone, he would have received a mandatory minimum of four years.


And I thought the U.S. justice system was fucked.

Edited by PedroSpecialK, 21 March 2012 - 01:40 AM.

[TheStoryofYourRedRightAnkle]

Hopefully someone shanks his ass.

I mean that both literally and figuratively.

[j44thor]

One more reason to hate the PIT Penguins, the local writers nominated Matt Fking Cooke for the Masterton.

http://www.pittsburg...g/s_787158.html

Enough bad things can't happen to that team.