Mile High Hockey: FanPosts

Sakic will return!

Americanario — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:13:02 -0000

[Americanario gets the honors of announcing the news! More to come. -Joe]

It has been announced that Sakic will be back for another season. He has signed for 1yr and will be paid $6 million (roughly $750,000 less than 07-08).

Good to have you back Joe.

So now we'll really wonder what that press conference tomorrow is all about?

From the Denver Post

Sakic will return to the Avs

From Rocky Mountain

Sakic to return for another season

NHL 09 AVS. Who are the best?

Tommelot — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 17:30:35 -0000

Totally ripped from Die By The Blade, I figured I'd have a look which Avalanche player will have the best personal stat, according to the ever trustworthy EA Sports NHL 09, Keep in mind they assume Foppa and Sakic will resign* re-sign:

	Player	Rating
Offensive Awareness	Forsberg, Sakic	95
Deking	Forsberg	91
Checking	Hannan	91
Agility	Smyth	93
Passing	Forsberg	95
Discipline	Hejduk, Wolski	91
Toughness	Parker	97
Acceleration	Svatos	90
Slap Shot Accuracy	Forsberg	90
Slap Shot Power	Parker	90
Endurance	Foote, Hannan	90
Wrist Shot Accuracy	Forsberg	90
Wrist Shot Power	Sakic	89
Puck Control	Forsberg	96
Defensive Awareness	Forsberg	95
Poise	Sakic	99
Shot Blocking	Smyth	93
Deflections	Smyth	98
Speed	Forsberg, Liles	88
Faceoffs	Lappy	80
Aggression	Parker, Hannan	90
Balance	Forsberg, Smyth	93
Durability	Hannan	95

Other notables are:

Svatos receiving 80 for passing

Foppa receiving 95 for toughness (Footer only had 90, and Lappy 86)

Arny only getting 82 for speed. Don't they know he can run like the wind?

Foppa having a better (more accurate) wrister than Uncle Joey

The Face-off Statistic in general

Kyle Cumiskey not being in the mix.

I'm not doing the goalie stats, cus they paint a VERY bleak picture, which makes me wonder wether the EA Sports team has ever watched Budaj play. I seem to remember that, for NHL08 they gave Budaj and Theo pretty much the same ratings. That all changed....

I can add some actual statistics in the mix if anyone is bothered, but I don't have any more time today.

What do you all think of this? I know we're pretty gonna have a high mountain to climb if our 2 old vets, together with Mats "why haven't EA added him to the Avs roster yet" Sundin don't return, but is it as bad as EA makes it out to be? Is Liles really that much slower than Jay Bouwmeester (7 points difference)? Is Phadouche's slapshot that much harder than Sakic's (93 vs. 85)? Is Hemsky a better deker (96) than Paul Stastny (86)??

Let's start moaning about the fact the general public thinks the Avs are dead in the water...

*Update 1: That was bad.

The Worst Sakic Gossip of the Offseason

texacogirl — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:16:43 -0000

Ok, I've said it many a times this offseason, but this truly has to be the biggest load of crap I have read - about Cap'n Joe all season.

The idea of Sakic wanting attention as much as Avery for gawd sake? Only playing for money? Man, this guy is way off... and it must be a very boring offseason to have to dish on Roy to boot. Bash away, Avs fans...

Gossip While Mats Sundin and Joe Sakic have kept half the civilized hockey world holding its breath over their play-or-not-to-play decision, we’ll unequivocally assert that each will return to the NHL for 2008-09. The reason is as obvious as a $6 million contract. Who’s kidding whom? These guys love the moolah – and attention – as much as Sean Avery and Alley Oop Ovechkin. If either of them packs it in, it’ll be the upset of the half-century; roughly equivalent to the shrinking of Patrick Roy’s ego. …

Crawford Throws Big Bertha Under the Bus

Mike @ MHH — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:03:21 -0000

The star has a new story up regarding the ongoing civil lawsuit between the Steve Moore camp and the 'Nucks, Big Bertha, Crawford, etc.

According to Crawford:

"Just prior to the attack on Moore, Bertuzzi had been on a shift to kill a penalty, had missed the shift change and had remained on the ice for longer than the rest of his line," states Crawford's third-party defence.

"After being directed to get off the ice, Bertuzzi was on his way back to the bench when, suddenly and without warning, he turned around and skated back in the direction of Moore ... and attacked Moore. This was not done under any specific or general direction or encouragement from Crawford, was a direct disobedience of the instruction that Bertuzzi had been given from the bench to get off the ice, and was a violation of Bertuzzi's duties which Crawford could not be expected to have reasonably anticipated, let alone control."

All of that was in response to Bertuzzi's claim that he acted the way he did out of negligence on Crawford's part. Is anybody really surprised that this has turned into a case of finger-point by two of the biggest douchebags in the history of the sport?

Another sign of the Avpocalypse?

Bob in Boulder — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 15:40:55 -0000

As an Av season ticket holder, I received this form via regular mail last week to order individual game tickets before they go on sale to the general public. I have received similar forms and offers in the past, but there was a new twist to this form. In addition to the different price range columns on the form with rows for each home game, there was a "Free Game" column, with only 3 games (both Detroit games and Pittsburgh) blacked out. The Avs are offering season ticket holders 8 free tickets this season, with an option to take them as follows:

8 tickets to one game
4 tickets each to two games
2 tickets each to four games

I'm not sure if everyone is going to get what they request, but I found this whole thing rather alarming. Do the Avs already know Super Joe isn't coming back and that they'll be sitting on a payroll well below the salary cap this season? And this is only a preemptive move to fill seats they know will be empty otherwise? Crap. Hopefully I'm reading too much into it.

Wanna live in Detroit?

TheRed — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:20:12 -0000

I didn't think so. Neither does anybody else. Found this quote in the print version of the rocky mountain news, but couldn't find it online to post a link. Since its been boring lately I figured I'd just write it in since it was short and I wanted to rip on Detroit a little bit.

"$1. Thats what a house in Detroit sold for recently. The home, located close to the Detroit City Airport, was foreclosed upon last summer, after it was purchased for $65,000 in 2006, according to The Detroit News.

The bank was so eager to sell the foreclosed property, it lowered the price to $1 in a final attempt to find a buyer. According to the newspaper, 14 days after the property was listed for $1, a woman purchased the house as 'an investment property'. The property taxes will run the new owner $3,900 in 2009."

Even for a dollar no one actually wants to live there. At $1 it still took two weeks for someone to buy it. Wish I woulda known. Hell, for a dollar I'd have bought it, just to paint it in avs colors and decorate it in avs merchandise. Maybe have a few effigies hanging in the front yard. Then, when the a-hole Wings fans burnt it down I could have collected a nice insurance check!

NHL 09 rankings out

InYoFace — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 22:57:23 -0000

IGN has posted the NHL09 rankings for all NHL players. (Just click on the captain to see the teams rankings.) There are few items that caught my eye though for anyone interested.

1. There is no overall ranking. According to Bill Barnwell at IGN....

...at this stage of the game, EA's still tweaking the game and its AI, which affects the overall ratings to the point where they're not ready to be confirmed.

2. I guess they assume Sakic and Forsberg will be back since they are on the team. They both have the highest offensive awareness at 95. Of course, Forsberg as an atrocious durability rating of 63.

3. Stastny is ranked 87 on offensive awareness. Seems low for the team leader in points last year.

4. Svatos is the most accurate shooter on the team with a 90 ranking. His passing? 80.

5. Raycroft is ranked HIGHER than Budaj in almost every category. Budaj beats him in only recovery and durability. I guess that Calder trophy is still carrying him. And why is everybody, even game makers, so down on Boots?

6. And just out of curiosity, Ovechkin's offensive awareness is 95 while Crosby is 99. I thought they would be even.

Stay Classy, Detroit

Joe @ MHH — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:36:45 -0000

In just another example of why Detroit should be bulldozed (completely, not just the inner city), I present to you this classy comment from an apparent Red Wangs fan over at Puck Daddy, in response to the five suggestions made by Ross McKeon on how to improve the NHL:

8.

The solution to #5 (and to so many other similar problem) - Get rid of Bettman. #5b: Maybe try a non-Jew for a change as commish?! Between him and Stein's performance, and in spite of traditional ice hockey hotbeds like Israel, maybe it's time for a change?

hockeytown blood posted on Wednesday, Aug 13, 2008 12:28 pm EDT

I mean, I'm no fan of Bettman, but I hardly think his religious background has anything to do with his mismanagement of the National Hockey League. But, then again, I'm not a moronic bigot from Detroit. I could be wrong.

Some one over at ESPN may actually have been paying attention to Hockey

Americanario — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:46:25 -0000

As many Avs fans are looking toward the new season with suspect and bewilderment, Scott Burnside thinks the San Jose Sharks might be heading in the same direction as the Avs. Back in early July, Burnside looked at the free agent signings and other moves of the Sharks and compared them to the Avalanche organization of not so many years past: Boyle trade creates questions for both Sharks and Lightning.

All of a sudden, the San Jose Sharks look like the old Colorado Avalanche, filled to the brim with aging stars ready to hunt down the Stanley Cup and with warning flags going up all over the place for the future.

Though the Avs still have some of those aging stars and did actually find some success on 2001, we have seen the so called fruits of acquiring playoff rental players in exchange for young talent. San Jose has yet to hoist the Holy Grail of Hockey getting knocked out of the playoffs in the second round in each of the last three seasons.

The moves are reminiscent of the path followed by Blake's old team in Colorado, a franchise that damned the torpedoes and assembled a talented, veteran squad that won a Stanley Cup in 2001. Since the lockout, though, the Avs have struggled to replenish their reserve of young talent and have yet to return to contender status.

The Avs do have some good youth in the program, but the distance between veteran players; Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, and Milan Hejduk; and young future stars like Paul Stastny, Wojtec Wolski and Marek Svatos may be to big of a gap to keep the Avs among the elite organizations of the league. Are these young stars ready to take over the reigns for the Avalanche? Will San Jose learn from the Avs mistakes before it's too late?

Setting The Record Straight: Andrew Raycroft

PPP — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 02:28:01 -0000

via www.sportsnet.ca

[Every once in a while a FanPost makes me wish I'd done the research myself and posted the information first. This is one such FanPost. Pension Plan Puppets takes time to share with us the Leafs' fan experience (and some stats) of new Avalanche backup goaltender Andrew Raycroft. Read it and weep. -Joe]

Joe brought up this Adrian Dater blog post last week and I meant to post this then but real-life intervened so bear with me as I proceed to create the same sense of dread in Avs fans as my fellow Leaf fans felt all last season knowing that Mr. Raycroft could go in net at any moment. All you need to know to make you pucker up at the thought of seeing "Starting Goalie - A. Raycroft" on a game sheet can be found in the archives at my site...

Adrian Dater:
Basically, the former Calder Trophy winner is excited to be coming to the Avs and glad to be out of Toronto. Raycroft ripped the Toronto media some, for taking comments he made about not watching much hockey away from the rink and branding him as a guy who isn’t dedicated to the game. "I made it to the NHL and have spent the last 20 years of my life dedicated to hockey. I think that shows some commitment," Raycroft said.

Koopa Kid:
To be fair to Raycroft in regards to what’s being quoted, he’s correct, the reason he sucked wasn’t because he didn’t watch enough hockey. He sucks because he is terrible at hockey.

Adrian Dater:
He said he’s looking forward to working with a full-time goalie coach in Jeff Hackett, instead of just a part-timer like the Leafs had, in Bob Essensa. He said he’s working out hard this summer, and is currently in Denver looking for a place for the coming year.

Down Goes Brown:
I found one reference to Essensa having a stint as the Bruins goalie coach. Maybe the reporter is confused.
Wait… is it possible that Raycroft thought a guy who worked for the Bruins was still his goalie coach? Shit, that would explain so much!

"Andrew, on those high shots, you really need to work on keeping your glove hand down by your side."
"OK coach!"

Turns out that either Dater or Raycroft had no clue what he was talking about as Raycroft did have a full-time goalie coach during his time in Toronto and it was not Bob Essensa but Steve McKichan. Of course, maybe Andrew wanted to fudge the facts to make it seem like he might have a chance to improve on his 3.92 GAA, .876 Sv% and 2-9-5 record.

Adrian Dater:
His overall assessment of his future: "I know I still have it."

That wouldn't be so funny if he had actually just had one down year. However, courtesy of JavaGeek, here are a couple of graphs that illustrate just how bad the 2006-2007 season was for Andy. Remember, this was the year that he set the Leafs' record for wins in a season with 37 and it certainly helps to fight the argument that he sucked because the Leafs were terrible (they were but Raycroft's crappiness came independent of the Leafs').

via assets.sbnation.com

.791 Sv% on his glove hand? Maybe DGB's theory was right. Here's another looking at shots from different areas on the ice:

via assets.sbnation.com

Basically, Raycroft has trouble stopping any shots that came from prime scoring areas on the ice. How much trouble? Well, a look at expected GAA and Sv% shows that Raycroft was the worst in the league before Christmas last season. He gave up almost 1 goal more per game than should be expected based on where he faced the shots. Sure, it's just 10 games but I promise you nothing happened over the second half of the season that would have improved that stat. The weird stat from Behind The Net? He was better than expected 5 on 4. Then again, Andy Wozniewski was a +5 last year so sometimes stats run counter-intuitive to reality.

And how were the end days of the Raycroft era in Toronto received?

Alternately well...

Andrew Raycroft, seen here doing the only thing he's good at (staring incredulously at pucks in the net), was waived by the Leafs today. Let's all join hands, look up at the sky and say "thank you God, or Cliff, or the spirit of Conn Smythe or whoever".

and with a hearty chuckle

In the "write-your-own-punch line" category the Avalanche have signed Andrew "exploding glove" Raycroft to a one-year deal. I can only conclude they can't get Centre Ice TV, the Internet, radio or newspapers in Denver.

So make sure that you pray/sacrifice/hope every night to ensure that Peter Budaj remains healthy and that Andrew Raycroft's shadow does not darken the Avalanche's crease because I would hate to see another fan base fall victim to his special brand of laissez-in goaltending and "could not care less" approach to hockey.

This is ridiculous

Savage33 — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:22:28 -0000

The Hockey News has just published their NHL logo rankings and like everything to do with logo's it's completely screwed up. The top 10 is as follows

1. Chicago

2. Detroit

3. Montreal

4. Boston

5. St. Louis

6. Philadelphia

7. Minnesota

8. San Jose

9. Pittsburgh

10. Toronto

Meanwhile the Avs, widely regarded as one of the best looking logo's is down at 19. The reason,

Much like New Jersey, it’s fairly right-on-the-nose; it’s an Avalanche coming down an ‘A.’

Yes, it is. It's also a simple yet complex logo, on first look it is just an avalanche coming down an A, but if you look closer you'll notice the puck leading it and what appears to be the profile of a face in the snow at the bottom.

How this logo is worse than the Flyers i'll never know, It's a fucking P, how is that worthy of 6th best.

Don't even get me started on the Dead Wings, thats been beaten to death. The Blackhawks logo isn't that good either, neither is St Louis, or the Bruins.

If you're going to rank team logos on look then rank only on look, not how old it is or it's heritage or any other crap that doesn't matter.

Mirtle's 'Nucks Fans

Tommelot — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 09:22:23 -0000

Hey, I made 1 comment on a James Mirtle post, and apperently sparked quite a Colorado - Vancouver feud on Mirtle's site .

My comments were on D, and about the fact that I didn't consider Sauer nor Finger "Top 6 D" material. I refrained from stating that I personally thought Finger was the better of the 2, because apparently around the league, only The Maple Leafs seem to agree. (The signing still has me laughing to the point of pain in my stomach though).

In the comments section the 'Nucks D was compared with the Avs D, and Selanne (maybe the same one as the SB poster) wrote:

Ohlund < Foote
Mitchell = Hannan
Salo > Clark
Bieksa < Salei
Edler < Liles
Krajicek < Leopold (if he plays)

The comment recieved on that was on Mitchell and Salo. this is where it starts to get odd. I would trade Mitchell and Salo for Hannan and Clark in a heartbeat, if I was 'Nucks GM.
And I personally also don't buy the whole Salo > Clark thing.

Commenter Ian Walker stated that he thought Bieksa was a better defenseman than Salei.

Then there's the Krajicek < Leopold comment, which I must admit, know nothing much about. But according to the blogs I read, Krajicek was quite a good player, and he seemed better than Leopold in the descriptions.

Does anyone here have anything to say about how the 2 defenses would stack up? Also, what is your opinion on the Salo, Salei and Krajicek comments?

How do you think the Avs defense stacks up against other NW division Teams?

And Joe, because I'm referring to Mirtle, should I ask for his permission or tell him that I did that? I know it's only a fanpost, but what's the policy on that?

Calgary just wants to be hated

Tommelot — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:41:26 -0000

Roy Signs with Flames

Roy, one of the many crazy players in the NHL decided to go to the meccah of Douchery, so he can see what being a REAL douche is about. And don't worry, he'll learn from the best. Where I don't quite understand why the Avs 'tough up' quite a bit since hockey season ended (May 1st), the flames are doing all they can to turn their 'Hockey team' into a fistfight gang.

The only thing I'd like to see is for them to all start kicking each other's face in.

In the link it says they're hiring LW like crazy, because they miss Owen Nolan. I don't believe that. In my book, "Owen Nolan crazy" doesn't compare to "Andre Roy crazy". They must really miss Eric Godard with the signings they made this off-season.

Saturday Development Camp Thoughts

thedoctor — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:58:24 -0000

[promoted. thanks Doc! - Joe]

I'm certainly not as qualified or in the know as Jori is about the Avs' system, but I was at the development camp today (Saturday). Honestly, I was a little disappointed. There wasn't much actual play occurring, just drills, so it was difficult to really get a feel for some of the players. Rookie camp is much better in this regard -- they run drills then just scrimmage. On the other hand, there's no college prospects at rookie camp, so it's your only real chance to see them with the Avs.

- As Jori says, the 2 prospects expected to outshine the others did, for certain. Hensick was head and shoulders above most of his group on all drills, and Jones made pretty much everyone around him look silly, even though he still can't finish consistently. They're both ready. Hensick lost an edge on one drill and went hard into the boards, which clearly hurt him a lot...but he didn't miss a drill. Good man.

- Two of the guys I most wanted to see were Shattenkirk and Mercier -- I've heard a lot about them various places. Well, they're both for real. Shattenkirk is on the smaller side for sure, but he was aggressive and well-positioned on D, and a smooth skater with great puck-handling and passing skills. He ate up just about everyone on the 1 on 1 drills. I'd guess he's about 2-3 years out, but he looks like a good bet on the main squad.

- Mercier was a little more raw than Shattenkirk -- for example, he didn't look to be as smooth a skater as the top forward prospects -- but he's an intriguing prospect still. He's got a great shot, did every drill like a maniac and has good wheels. He really tore it up on the shooting drills. I don't know that he's a lock for the main squad, but he might be a good 3rd liner. A member of my party commented on his pass receipt ability, that the puck just stuck to his stick -- and once I looked for it, I was stunned. Even on bad passes, he got great shots off.

- Some of the other college guys I noticed were Cohen and Carey. Both are raw, but there's certainly potential there. Cohen especially has the right body type for the NHL. Cohen got yapped at a couple times on the skating drills, he's got some work to do there. Tessier was there, he's like a mini-Mercier...and Mercier is pretty small already. Good skills though.

- Our goalies...well, our goalies. Granato and Hackett were on one side of the ice with much of the rest of the staff working with the goalies for about a third of the time. Some drills looked pretty basic -- shot from the point, followed by someone rushing from a corner -- others were pretty crazy. The craziest was a little half-moon of 20ish pucks around the crease, with some coach just snatching them at random and throwing them at the unfortunate goalie.

Trevor Cann looked pretty good, but not great. Sauer, Patterson and Keserich aren't very good imo. Delmas was up and down -- during one drill, the goalies had to move to one of 5 positions in the crease at a coach's rapid fire calls. Most of the goalies handled it ok (Sauer is slow :( ), but Delmas inspired murmuring from the crowd with his speed and quickness (exclamations from my loud-ass self). But later, during a relatively simple drill involving slap shots from around the blue line, he REALLY struggled with his blocker, letting in a lot of really simple shots. His body language was not good after either...but Hackett handled it well, pulling him aside. Hackett looked to be doing lots of good coaching (but how can you really tell). He's really skinny too, looked kind of like a pyramid with giant pads, no torso, and a mask on top. tall though. he'll probably fill out. I hope.

- JD Corbin got pulled aside for almost the entire drill time to work on his skating with whoever does the skating stuff (holy crap can he skate, whoever he is). He actually looked pretty decent out there, as did Rob Drummond. Both caught my eye more than once.

- Chris Stewart looked significantly faster out there, and his touch around the net was unrivaled. But even though you could tell he'd worked on it, his skating was AWFUL. About Wes O'Neil level. Most of the players could handle some of the nasty skating drills, even if they were hard...he couldn't at all. At one point he fell over and wiped out someone else in a nasty collision. They looked pissed. He was sheepish about anything involving skating.

He looked like someone that didn't grow up skating like everyone else -- but he's functional in games and drills enough to enable his incredible hands. I just can't figure out whether holding him in the AHL is the right thing to do or not -- he could score in the NHL, no doubt, but would his skating be too much of a liability?

- FG was there, just sitting with the fans. I almost went up to him and asked him to trade Arnason (a member of my group offered me $10 to)...but I decided it would be a little too redneck, and he was there with one of his kids. I'm regretting it now, it would have been hilarious.

- I was bummed Nigel Williams and TJ Galiardi weren't on the ice (Williams was there in street clothes presumably hurt, Jori informed me Galiardi was hurt). Davey Jones ran all over our tiny D, a couple people sitting near me commented that Nigel had prevented him from doing it the day before by putting him on his ass.

- Cloutier runs a tight ship man, he was all over the D during drills. If they didn't outlet pass correctly he stopped everything until they got it right. He was very vocal.

- Final anecdote -- Jones and Shattenkirk were on the same side of the ice for one on one drills. Jones was smushing everyone and getting to the net with ease, no one could get past Shattenkirk even slightly (no shots even). Finally they matched up...and Jones got Shattenkirk to bite, slipped the puck right between his legs and shouldered past him for a wide open shot just above the crease...which he shot right into the goalie's chest as usual. Shocking. A cool moment though -- and welcome to the big leagues, Kevin.

That's all I got! I snapped some pics and took some video, maybe I'll stick it up later if it turned out...but my batteries died so I have to go get some from the store to see it, so maybe later tomorrow. If you have questions about any other players or whatever, ask away and I'll try to remember. Nice to meet you again Jori!

What a joke

Savage33 — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 04:48:04 -0000

Over at some Inventor spot website they have named the Top 10 sports logos.

I don't quite know what criteria they used but it seems more based on the team's reputation and history and not about the best logo. The top ten are:

10. Toronto Maple Leafs

9. Green Bay Packers

8. NY Mets

7. Miami Dolphins

6. Chicago Bulls

5. Chicago Bears

4. Montreal Canadiens

3. LA Lakers

2. NY Yankees

1. Detroit Red Wings

While the fact that they have 3 NHL logos in the top ten is good i have to dispute the teams and their logos. The leafs logo is good but i wouldn't rank it in the top 5 of the NHL, let alone 10th in all sports. The Canadiens deserves to be in 3rd but the Dead Wings the #1 sports logo of all time is a complete joke. I can think of a few NHL logos that are better, how about the Avs(slight bias) the Panthers(I've always liked the panthers jersey, it was actually the first team jersey i ever bought. One of the cheap ones they sell, the Avs one was too big otherwise it would have been the Avs i got.) the Sharks and the Sabres(I always liked the black goathead one, it's actually my practise jersey, and even the current one i don't mind.)

Clearly the list should read top 10 sports franchises and even thats wrong but this is clearly not about the 10 best logos.

Fun Fact- over at NHLTOL's they had a tournament of logos(surprising, huh) that had the Canadiens as the best NHL logo of all time.

Development Camp

Jori — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:30:05 -0000

Don't bother going until Friday. They wont begin the on-ice sessions until the 11th. I called Family Sports yesterday and the players will be on the ice around 9:30 AM. I believe the sessions run through Tuesday, but others say it's only through Sunday. At any rate, I'll be out there Friday, Saturday and Sunday. So, say hello if you see me (trust me....I'm not that hard to spot :-) )!!!

Henrick Zetterberg still wants to fight the Avs

Tommelot — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 08:14:53 -0000

Henrick Zetterberg spent a lot of time promoting his Easton products. He can do this, because he's so good at Hockey, he doesn't need to practice. Good for him.

He also likes getting payed only 2.9M, working for an evil organization. It's not like he does so, because he has any personal grudge against the Avs, right?

My Name Is Henk

Wait, what now?

We have a goalie that wears No. 31.

I know the Avs haven't showed up, playing against the Wings, this year but now they're poking us with sticks! Thank god this year we finally have a team capable of not only defeating the Wings, but also humiliating them.

Ho$$a? Sakic?

ouch.

Winter Classic -Looks like Blackhawks vs. Red Wings at Wrigley

JDunman — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:13:29 -0000

While this may not be Avs-based news, I saw earlier how much Joe despised the idea of hosting a Winter Classic on Wrigley Field - so it looks like the NHL is out to spite him once again.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=3476329

There hasn't been an official announcement, and I know how much some of you looooove ESPN, so take it as you will, but keep your ears open for a possible announcement next week.

I'm glad they're not putting the Penguins in the game again as some of the mumblings had said. While I love the Pens, the Winter Classic should use its rather high profile to show off everything the league has to offer, not just the poster child.

Line and Pairing Combos

thedoctor — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:01:15 -0000

The roster seems about set. Joe is leaving for a week. So let's talk line/pairing combos, eh? Reply with your lines and pairings -- with/without Joey, pipe dream lines, lines you think will actually happen -- whatever you want.

I'll start:

D Pairings:

Foote / Clark

Hannan / Liles

Salei / Leopold

I think these is a really good bet. We saw 2 of these pairings for extended periods of time already and they worked well in Hannan/Liles and Salei / Leopold. The team seems to love spreading out its puckmovers. Clark and Foote may work really well together, they compliment each other's shortcomings well.

With Joey (realistic):

Smyth / Stastny / Hejduk

Wolski / Sakic / Svatos

Tucker / Arny / Jones

McLeod / Guite / Lappy

If Sakic and Arny come back, I just don't see how Hensick makes the team.

Without Joey (realistic):

Smyth / Stastny / Hejduk

Hensick / Wolski / Svatos

Tucker / Arny / Jones

McLeod / Guite / Lappy

Hensick can play LW (he did last preseason to great effect), and Sakic leaving creates that top 6 spot for him.

thedoctor's pipedream (Arny traded):

Smyth / Sakic / Jones

Tucker / Stastny / Hejduk

Hensick / Wolski / Svatos // swap hensick and wolski if you care to

McLeod / Guite / Lappy

Shoot, I LOVE this lineup. We all know how well the Stastny / Hejduk pairing works with random grinders (*cough* May?)...and Tucker is one with scoring touch! Smyth and Sakic finally get to play together, and Jones adds size, speed, and nice passing (hopefully someday some finishing ability too :p). And the 3rd...mmm, the 3rd -- speed galore, and offensive ability like you wouldn't believe. Imagine Svatos and Hensick tearing up the ice on breakouts. Yummy.

Bertuzzi to Flames

TheRed — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 17:25:43 -0000

The title says it all. No word on money yet, just a one year deal. We're gonna see this guy a lot next year, assuming he doesn't get hurt or scratched. I personally hope parker pounds the crap out him in the first game we play, and injures him for the rest of the year. And i don't like seeing guys hurt, even phadouche. Speaking of phadouche, it looks as though he's no longer public enemy no. 1 on the flames.