NHL, 2006-2007 season

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An interesting note: If Anaheim wins, then that will be the first time the cup has gone to a team in California. The LA kings have been in the league since 1967 IIRC...

 

Given Ottawa's pathetic showing in the second and third periods on Monday I would have to say that I will be amazed if the Ducks don't win the cup tonight. Ducks in 5, yet another year where the cup stays out of Canada, and Ottawa's tradition of folding in the playoffs continues - how sad. Oh well, due to the Toronto-Ottawa rivalry almost everyone around here has been cheering for the Ducks anyway.

 

Well, the Ducks did win the cup tonight. Yet another choke job for the Senators. Will it be Vancouver, Montreal or Toronto that gets the chance next year?

 

The Habs will win the cup next year, you'll see!!

lol, seriously, what changes you think your teams will bring so it's more competitive next year? For Toronto, they already signed Kronwall and Antropov. Is it a good deal?

In Montreal, they signed Markov in a 4 year, 23 million deal. Personnally, I think it's too much money for too long, but hockey journalists seem to think it was a good move. Let's just hope the habs also sign Souray (which has a 2% chance of success). The habs really need to get a good center. Something like Brière ou Lecavalier...

 

I don't think Toronto has a hope of winning the cup any time soon. They will have mostly the same line up next year and the results will be pretty much the same. They have a potential future star goalie but the rest of their young talent shows no signs of ever developing into anything better than third or fourth line material for a winning team.

 

Toronto lacks the Shut down pairing. Hal Gill is half of one, but he needs that partner in such situations, and Kaberle, McCabe and Kubina are all offensive Defencemen, while Coliacovo and White are still developing. I like Kornwall, and he could be the best bet for such a roll. They did sign a kid named Strahlman I think, who is compared to Lidstrom in Detroit...

Up front, Again, they don't have the defensive centre. Pohl or Stajan is the closest they have. No word yet on Sundin, but they still don't have linemates for him. They could have the cap space for Ryan Smith, giving them the following lines for openning day:

Sundin, Smyth*, Tucker
Stajan, Steen, Wellwood
Antropov, Ponikarovsky, Kilger
Pohl, Battaglia, Devereuax

*assuming he does end up in Toronto. Wellwood or Steen would move up to the front line while Tlusty would slide in with Stajan and Wellwood.

Spare: Belak

Pushing: Tlusty, Williams, Nash

In goal, they need a better back-up, who can challenge Raycroft, and take more of the action. I think that Aebischer, if available, would be a good fit, as Huet and Halak look to be set in Montreal. Pogge is likely 3 to 4 years away yet.

In the longer run, the team still has a few young defencemen that could step up (if they don't get traded waiting for Kubina's contract to expire), but they may not have that franchise D-man in their system.

I still say that Ferguson needs to be fired for the contracts he's signed. All those No-Trade clauses are going to stagnate the team.

 

I was away on a road trip during for the last 2 games of the Cup finals. That was my first time watching hockey on American television compared to CBC. And what's with the baseball they keep showing in their sports bars - who cares about game 47 out of 162 when there's hockey finals to watch?!

Congrats to the Ducks for winning it all! I suppose I should be happy for Vancouver's former GM Brian Burke for winning with the Ducks... nah I wouldn't say Ottawa choked this year, I think the Ducks were just that good. Although, I was thinking maybe after reviewing the tapes, the coaches in Detroit or Ottawa would be clever enough to devise a better offensive strategy, but I guess not.

I ranted about the changes that the Canucks need to make last page, and since then, they've re-signed Pyatt which is a good start to the offseason.

 

The NHL Entry draft has come and gone. Two members of the London Knights in the OHL were selected in the top 10 (number 1, Patrick Kane to Chicago and number 6, Sam Gagne to Edmonton).

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded three draft picks to San Jose for Vesa Toskala and Mark Bell. If that works out, they have a number one goalie to hold them until Pogge is ready and a young power forward that might be able to play with Mats Sundin...

Two big names, at various times suggested as candidates for Number 1, Alexi Cheriponov and Angelo Esposito went much later in the first round. Cheriponov number 17 to the Rangers, and Esposito number 20 to Pittsburgh...

 

No comment on the draftees. I really don't follow which prospects are good or not. I know the Vancouver Giants minor league team had some good players this year since they went to the finals and Memorial Cup. But that's only 3 names I vaguely recognized... turns out one was picked in the 1st round, and one in the second, two more in the third round.

What should be more exciting is free agency and trades starting in July.

 

Word is that the Salary Cap could be as high as 50 million next year. With that, there could be a real bidding war for the covetted free agents and a nice payoff for the second tier guys...

I'd still like to see Ryan Smyth in Toronto...

 

I must say that I was a floored to see just about all of the big names signing deals on the first day of free agency. I guess they were worried about no one having any cap room left if they waited.

If Blake can keep playing like he did last year he should finally give Sundin the scoring winger that he has so badly been missing but I don't think they are going to see any significant improvement in the standings. I predict that for a third year in a row they will be fighting it out for the final playoff spots up until pretty much the last game of the season.

 

Ryan Smyth to Colorado is going to make playing against them even more of a pain. Poor Northwest division, especially Edmonton, to have to play against their former captain eight times next season.

Philly has been giving out some long term, expensive contracts eh?

 

Philly did what they had to do to land the marquee free agent.

Toronto I think will do better. Remember that it was injuries that hurt them worst.

I think that adding Blake, Bell and Toskala will put them in the playoffs and they won't be waiting until the last weekend to find out either.

There's also talk that JFJ is still working the phones trying to deal (Raycroft named for sure, I think that Stajan could be dealt, and I'd like to see Kubina dealt, but I'm not holding my breath...) and rumour has it that they would like to get another free agent or two...

 

This is yesterday's news, but nobody said anything here. The Edmonton Oilers signed Tomas Vanek of the Buffalo Sabres to a 7 year, 50 million dollar offer sheet. The Sabres promptly matched. Is this the new Cutthroat move in the Salary Cap era? Offer a restricted Free Agent an obscene amount of money to either poach them away from their current team or push the salary of the team higher than they plan on? Yet another thing that shows that Bettman screwed up getting the Salary Cap in place...