The Great Canadian 2011-2012 NHL season discussion thread

[Xelebes]

Actually looking at the Bourque-Seabrook hit, that's definitely a boarding. It is quite the dangerous hit to decide to make. Bourque saw his head was down and so he decided to lift his arms to make the check? Instead of choosing to rub Seabrook into the boards to force the puck? There was ample time for Bourque to decide and manoeuvre to not an ill-timed hit. That would have been safer but I guess it wouldn't make it more "exciting."

[Yume-sama]

Well, I'll hand it to Rinaldo for not playing dead, and saying he doesn't think Lucic should have been suspended or gotten 5 minutes for it.

I suppose he knows as a player that plays on the edge that it could have easily been him.

WRT hooking and holding eliminating scoring chances, just ask Plekanec how much that's untrue It set up his goal.

Of course, Plekanec *not* scoring on the Bruins would have been more noteworthy.

And with Bourque's suspension I'm willing to play in to the Gary Bettman Chicago loving conspiracy!

[The_Architect]

Pictured: NOT Offiside?



Bullshit That game shouldn't have even gone into overtime let alone a shootout.. Even Doughty stopped because he KNEW it was offiside!

Fucking linesman.. you have ONE job to do!
You know it's bad when even the Kings broadcast shows the replay and says it was offside.

Funny enough, Reimer had a great game. The only goals he let in were on a bad bounce and this bullshit. Still had a .952 Save % with the loss.

Whatever. Leafs are still ahead of where they were last season.. and they always have a better finish so once the better half of the season comes they already have the points and position banked. I'm not worried.

But Phillipe Dupuis needs to be loaded onto a catapult and fired into Lake Ontario. The guy is beyond useless.. He's a penalty kill specialist who doesn't kill penalties, causes more goals than he saves, has ZERO POINTS, and takes stupid penalties. Why the hell isn't he in the minors??

[Flamesrule]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Actually looking at the Bourque-Seabrook hit, that's definitely a boarding. It is quite the dangerous hit to decide to make. Bourque saw his head was down and so he decided to lift his arms to make the check? Instead of choosing to rub Seabrook into the boards to force the puck? There was ample time for Bourque to decide and manoeuvre to not an ill-timed hit. That would have been safer but I guess it wouldn't make it more "exciting."

The puck hit the refs skate, there was barely any time that Bourque could have changed his positioning. Also, why was the ref in the way? It changed the whole play, since Seabrook has to adjust, and Bourque doesn't have any time to adjust himself.

Either way, I think it is not worthy of a suspension. How did Marchand only get one game? ()

[yaletown_fella]

Im VERY worried. The mediocre defence & Phaneuf are ruining everything for the top quality offense. Not to mention Wilson is a big question mark.
I'd also pass on a playoff seed against Boston. No thanks.

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

Im VERY worried. The mediocre defence & Phaneuf are ruining everything for the top quality offense. Not to mention Wilson is a big question mark.
I'd also pass on a playoff seed against Boston. No thanks.

Schenn is playing reasonably well, Phaneuf hasn't been playing as well defensively, Gardiner is really showing his rookie status, Gunnarson seems to be invisible, Liles I am VERY happy with still.

If they even had a mediocre penalty kill they would be in a solid position. The fact that it is so unbearably atrocious is what is causing them to lose.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Actually looking at the Bourque-Seabrook hit, that's definitely a boarding. It is quite the dangerous hit to decide to make. Bourque saw his head was down and so he decided to lift his arms to make the check? Instead of choosing to rub Seabrook into the boards to force the puck? There was ample time for Bourque to decide and manoeuvre to not an ill-timed hit. That would have been safer but I guess it wouldn't make it more "exciting."

I'm not sure how you can say that he had time to decide here - he was clearly going in for a perfectly legal (and safe) check, and Seabrook's head only turned at literally the last second. Yes, I've timed this video Seabrook was in a fully legal position until he turned to fish the puck out of the ref's skates. If anything, Borque lifted his hands in a defensive "oh fuck" gesture when he realized what was about to happen - at the last possible second.

The only reason this was even called a major penalty in the first place was Seabrook laying down for so long. If he had gotten right back up, the ref would have called 2 minutes *at most* (which would still be a bad call, but understandable given the speed at which things transpired on the ice) and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Which of course is why we're seeing so much diving and other forms of embellishment lately. Players are being coached to stay down after any hit, no matter how minor, in order to draw a penalty or make it into a worse penalty. Some teams excel at this but I won't point fingers west.

Yeah it sucks that he's injured, but guys get injured from completely legal plays all the time. Hell, most of the major "star player" concussions right now are from players being injured by their own teammates. Using injury as a determination of legality of play is complete bullshit.

Maybe you had to watch the game as broadcast, because they showed a lot more angles on the play and it was very obviously a legal hit right until the very last second. The commentators were more than a little floored at the calls.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

Im VERY worried. The mediocre defence & Phaneuf are ruining everything for the top quality offense. Not to mention Wilson is a big question mark.
I'd also pass on a playoff seed against Boston. No thanks.

So long as Phaneuf doesn't start sleeping with his teammates' wives, you guys should still be ok for a while.

[Flamesrule]

I'm also getting tired of Shanahan basing the suspensions if the player was injured or not. (On previous videos)


Shanahan is making too many suspension on "iffy" situations.


Good thing is, Seabrook is traveling with the Hawks to their next game.

[HomeInMyShoes]

^Agreed. Suspensions shouldn't be based on injury. They always have been, but if the NHL is going to stop injuries the suspension has to be based on the play and not the outcome. Haha, I got lucky that he got up and only got 1 game when player X got 20 because player Y is out indefinitely.

[freeweed]

Players will start faking injuries if this continues. OK fine, some teams do this already, but it will get much worse. I'd gladly give up some 4th line grinder if I can get a top forward/D-man suspended from a divisional rival. Especially towards/during the playoffs.

And with our stupid new conference system next year, it will be much, much worse.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by freeweed

I'm not sure how you can say that he had time to decide here - he was clearly going in for a perfectly legal (and safe) check, and Seabrook's head only turned at literally the last second. Yes, I've timed this video Seabrook was in a fully legal position until he turned to fish the puck out of the ref's skates. If anything, Borque lifted his hands in a defensive "oh fuck" gesture when he realized what was about to happen - at the last possible second.

The only reason this was even called a major penalty in the first place was Seabrook laying down for so long. If he had gotten right back up, the ref would have called 2 minutes *at most* (which would still be a bad call, but understandable given the speed at which things transpired on the ice) and we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Which of course is why we're seeing so much diving and other forms of embellishment lately. Players are being coached to stay down after any hit, no matter how minor, in order to draw a penalty or make it into a worse penalty. Some teams excel at this but I won't point fingers west.

Yeah it sucks that he's injured, but guys get injured from completely legal plays all the time. Hell, most of the major "star player" concussions right now are from players being injured by their own teammates. Using injury as a determination of legality of play is complete bullshit.

Maybe you had to watch the game as broadcast, because they showed a lot more angles on the play and it was very obviously a legal hit right until the very last second. The commentators were more than a little floored at the calls.

Bourque had more than five metres to make the right decision. He should have went for the rub. The fact that Seabrook stepped back only makes it more obvious.

[Nicko999]

"How many power-play goals did Erik Cole score last year? You should do your research before you ask that question." — Canadiens coach Jacques Martin, when asked why Mathieu Darche was on the power play ahead of Erik Cole. For the record, Martin needs to do his research. Cole had three power-play goals last season with Carolina. Darche has three power-play goals in his career, including two last season.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/hocke...iens/notes.htm

This was a quote when Cole had 0 goals after 6 games. Since he started playing on the PP and more than 12-13 minutes per game (the game after that quote), he has recorded 22 pts and 13 goals in 28 games.
He's also been one of the most consistent goal scorer this season, having a goal in 13 different games.


He's on pace for a career year without Eric Staal.

As you can see from my avatar, my favorite player this year (with Price).

[Nicko999]

Originally Posted by logan5

Just looking at the standings, with Toronto spiraling, there looks to be a half decent chance that only 1 Canadian team will make the play-offs. I'm not a big Canada booster when it comes to NHL, but that would be ridiculous. Has that ever happened before?

Probably won't happen because if Toronto falls to 9th or worse, another Canadian team will likely take their place.

[yaletown_fella]

Originally Posted by Nicko999

Probably won't happen because if Toronto falls to 9th or worse, another Canadian team will likely take their place.

Wishful thinking but it dosen't mean much when you're gonna play Boston. In fact I think the Leafs purposley spiraling to get a decent grinder pick for D would be quite reasonable plan at this point.

[Elmira Guy]

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

Im VERY worried. The mediocre defence & Phaneuf are ruining everything for the top quality offense. Not to mention Wilson is a big question mark.
I'd also pass on a playoff seed against Boston. No thanks.

Don't be! We're just over a 3rd of the way through the season. We're in the midst of a bit of a losing streak, but every team goes through one or more every season.

Unlike last season, we've had a fantastic start! First 25 games were superb! And unlike a lot of seasons, we have a team that doesn't give up, and isn't made up of league relics and wash-ups.

I am quite confident we will make the playoffs this year. I refuse to predict what would happen then, as I have no idea, but once you're in, anything si possible. But whatever happens, and barring any significant changes for the worse, the team should be even better next season.

Keep the faith!

[Mister F]

I agree too that the suspension should have nothing to do with the player's injury. If a player gets hit illegally and he's fine it should be the same punishment as if he were badly injured.

Is anyone else annoyed at how whenever commentators start talking about the concussion issue the conversation inevitably leads to banning fighting? None of the high profile concussed players got their injuries in a fight. The focus on banning fighting because of the recent concussions makes about as much sense as George Bush invading Iraq because of Bin Laden.


http://www.worldofbadger.co.uk/2003/...iraq-cartoons/

[Nicko999]

Mainly because of injuries (Crosby not dominating, Giroux and Malkin all missed a few games), the scoring races are as exciting as I can remember.

Kessel, Giroux, Malkin, H.Sedin all have 39 pts... even someone who's in 15th place(Pominville with 35 pts) can potentially take the lead with a big night.
Crazy!!!


Same thing for goals... Stamkos is at 20 but he's followed by Kessel, Toews, Neal, Gaborik and Michalek at 19.

If he stays healthy I think Malkin should win the Art Ross.

[feepa]

^ how about 18 year old Nugent-Hopkins only 5 pts back of the lead!!!

[yaletown_fella]

^^ Impressive, no doubt.

However, I doubt Hossa can keep it up.