It's the best of the 2 seasons in Canada starting up with rookie camps mostly start and training camps on the way for the vets. Who are you looking forward to seeing this year? How will the Pens do in their defense of Lord Stanley's Cup? Who will be the fornt runners to take the Cup this year? Will Detroit finally be overthrown in the central now that the division has improved significantly?

What are your thoughts?

Let the road to the Cup begin!

I think Anaheim will be tough this year; Im really looking forward to seeing Selänne - Koivu playing together.

Ofcourse, also Penguins, Red Wings and Washington will go far. But we'll see.

I'm Pens will get the chance to defend it of course but the team I'm pretty worried about is the Blackhawks lol

Canucks have a good chance after they raped SJS in that trade recently, defence is looking nice and covers any impact ohlund had. Luongo extended until hes 42 or so was the big finish to the summer for them imo. Now to get the Sedin sisters a goal scorer......

Montreal will be the most unpredictable team this year, given the munchkin line for a top line and the team being blown up, will be interesting to see if Carey Price gets back his game.

Calgary looks good just needs phaneuf etc to play to full potential. They will finish 2nd in their division once again behind the Nucks.

Ottawa has fuck all for defence but if they can get over the heatley bullshit and Leclaire recovers, they are playoff bound for sure.

Edmonton, just plain suck balls, IDK what it is about these cock suckers but i can't watch an Oilers game even if it was the only thing i could watch they are the epitomy of boring as fuck.

Leafs, we suck, this will just be a progression year to see where we're at in terms of goaltending & 3rd liners.

Hamilton Coyotes will suck more then anything






Pens don't repeat, second round exit.

East top 8:

Boston
Washington
NJD
Pens
Flyers
NYR
Carolina
Ottawa/Montreal



West Playoff teams

Detroit
Chicago
Vancouver
SJS
Calgary
Anaheim
St Louis
Dallas



Vancouver vs NJD

NJD wins cup



See how wrong i am in april L

P.S. anyone else buying NHL 10 for xbox360 at all???????????? I wanna make a Be a Pro team for online FFS!

This is the first year of my life I've had a good feeling about the Canucks going into a season that they could actually do something beyond the second round. Raped SJ in the trade Gillis pulled, extended Luongo at a discount cap price (it's really an 8 year deal with an early retirement at 38) giving them a great future. Looking like Vancouver might start attracting players to play for discounts like they do in Detroit. The big question is "Can they score?" If Vignault can change to a more offensive system I can see a great year/run happening. Hopefully Hodgson makes the team and can pitch in with some offense. Looking for the Presidents trophy this year.

Calgary will be right there with the Canucks at the top of the NW division this year. I would say they need Kippersuck to be on his game more than Phaneuf as he cost the Flames more games last year than anyone else. He was the most inconsistant "elite 3" goalie last year and it cost the Flames dearly (Luongo, Brodeur being the others). Looking for them to finish 2nd in NW, 4th in the conference.

Edmonton will be in rebuild mode once again and will improve leaps and bounds this year with their abundance of young talent. In 2-3 years I could see this team in the running for a Cup if management can keep the young guns in Edmonton which has earned a reputation for a shitty place to live since the Pronger fiasco. They'll miss the playoffs and finish 10th in the west.

Ottawa will have a rebound year. Haven't heard much this off-season other than the Heatly mess. But if they can get beyond that look for them to exit in the first round after a decent rebound season from last year.

Montreal, even the so-called "experts" have no clue what to expect. I hope they crash and burn becuase I hate their bandwagon almost as much as Toronto's. They will need Price to be on his top game all year if they want to go anywhere this year. I expect him to shut up all the critics though and have the great year he has the potential for.

The Leafs will suck again. They might be good in 3-4 years after getting top 3 picks in the next few drafts and turning into a Pittsburgh start off. It will be interesting if Leafs Nation has the patience to put up with their team actually trying to rebuild for the first time in their history. I doubt they will. but they will still show up in hoards to watch sub-par hockey for top dollar once again. I've started hating Leafs fans a little less lately because some have actually shown sign of intelligence by finally admitting their team sucks after the past 4-5 years.

Hamilton... well lets just not jinx it. C'mon Balsillie, fuck you Bettman..

There's the HNIC line-up.

The Bruins will take the East overall, led by ex-Giant Milan Lucic who brought toughness and physicality to an otherwise extremely light Eastern conference. Pens will come second.

West:
Vancouver
Chicago
San Jose
Calgary
Detroit (thier division got a lot tougher, less free wins)
Anaheim
Nashville
St Louis

East:
Boston
Washington
Pittsburgh
New Jersey
Philadelphia
New York
Ottawa
Florida

i have high expectations but not presidents trophy expectations.

Im hoping for 3rd round or better

and hodgson to make the team

dammit i was gonna make this when it got closer to the sched beginning.
o well.
ok well first off
montreal - no fucking clue really i mean the added top players have potential but how will they co-exist.price will hopefully show the promise he had back in his rookie year if we hope to go anywhere.not much more i can say about us except im really gonna miss and not looknig foward to seeing kovalev and koviu on different teams.

ottawa - heatley needs to shut up and play.leclaire is a 60/40 goalie he can be good sometimes, but mostly moderate enough to win.with kovalev now i hope they move heater down to the 2nd line to teach him a lesson and put kovie with alfie and spezza to see what happens. power to score defense is like shooting an ant with a bazooka and net is moderate. they will make the playoffs though.

vancouver - i seriously hope not but im predicting luongo swan diving this year to 15-20 wins.not purposely but with his new deal he has stability and it takes a toll on your mentality.hope he can get past it and be great as normal.they need to score though straight D cant do jack shit.

calgary - what everyone else said

edmonton - they were an ok .500 team but im thinking the bulan wall may give them a slight chance to reach postseason as long as he doesnt let it go to his head cause he's a money grubbing cocky tard.

toronto - who fucking cares.
but no seriously there gonna be tough to play against i think this year.they got pretty good D and a load of tough guys and that new swede? sensation goalie, but like vancouver they will need offense to get anywhere.



since i hate giving round predictions and what not cause its foolish cause anything can happen *cough* sharks? lmao i'll do this instead.
east
1.islanders
2.craplanta
3.rangers
4.boston
5.toronto farm team
6.montreal
7.jim balsille
8.referees

fuck the west.


finals - montreal vs toronto cause every other team had the swine flu.

toronto wins cause montreals plane crashed

Such a tough loss against the Wing's in game 7 last year for the Duck's.

Anaheim '10!

shouldnt of even gone 7 but yea it was a tough loss

Depending on how well our new players go, I can see all our new players getting 50 or more points(The forwards, apart from Moen,lloll)

Detroit and Pittsburgh again in the finals.

never been one to follow pre-season.
very rarely do teams do as well as people hoped from paper.


anyways, im hoping to see a good season from montreal, not like last years playoffs. ill watch a few season games but nothing much, more near the end of the season, i think everyone here knows my thoughts on NHL seasons.


i have a feeling pengs wont make playoffs this year though.

Hopefully my Bruins can pull a longer playoff run and can re-sign some key players (Kessel and Krejci). I really can't predict how well they will do until the season starts and they've played a few games. The Pens are gonna be dangerous, they really didn't lose anyone so they're going to be a strong team, aswell as the Capitals. I'm not too sure about who's going to be the best of the west but maybe Anaheim as they had a really good playoff run, and Detroit will be dangerous again.

"BLOCKBUSTER" trade reportedly in

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=498189


basically a 3 way deal(if it happens)
Ottawa loses Heatley
San Jose loses Marleau
L.A loses Stoll and Frolov

Ottawa gains Stoll and frolov
San Jose gains Heatley
L.A gains Marleau


thoughts?

L.A imo got the better deal

LEAFS in 10! Good joke right ROFL.

More importantly,

just seen that about Theo on TSN
pretty cool, wonder who will pick him up/give him a shot

I see philly with giroux going deep this season and Carolina making playoffs for sure. Other than that east will be the same minus montreal.

don't really give a shit about the west, but st.louis will be contender.

I can't see anybody risking giving Fleury a chance. He blew $55million since retiring and needs some more money so he's hoping to cash in on his name. But with rumours that Calgary might take him I wouldn't be too unhappy because he would be sent to the farm to play first, which is now in Abbotsford... so I could take an hour drive an go out an watch a nutcase play hockey for $15.

my previous post was right about the trade but wrong of the players(its what happens when people report false trades in hopes of getting the first exclusive)
heatley and a 5th round pick goes to the sharks while ottawa gets Milan Michalek, Jonathon Cheechoo and a 2nd round pick in 2010.

Interesting deal. i would say Ottawa got the best of it simply because they got rid of a pissed off player brought in two impact players (assuming Cheechoo can refind himself - which I believe he can in the more open east). Also a second rounder could be quite valuable as the 2010 draft is looking pretty deep right now.

What is up with SJ cleaning house this off-season. Will be very interesting to see how they do this year with so many top unit changes.

just had a good laugh at a brief interview of Iginla on Theo's return if he makes Calgary.
best line was when he said im not sure why he wants to come back, maybe its to reclaim his scoring records?
haha i thought it was funny(he wasnt serious as he laughed as he said it)
great fun

Haha. Saw that too and thought it was pretty funny.

IMO Sharks won that trade, ottawa got players who play what they need but they arent the quality you can get in heatley regardless of his attitude or the shit that went down.

Heatley and Thornton will be interesting to see how it pans out. Sharks lost depth in Michalek though.

2-0 to start the meaningless pre-season game and Lui looked great in his first appearance.

Does everything else think they need to cut the pre-season in half and have the regular season start around Sept. 10th? I'm tired of watching hockey come June and just don't care at that point anymore.

i think they should cut the season in half also. i don't like watching first round playoffs after Easter :\

whats up with the canucks doing good in pre season? There like 11-0 last 11 pre season games lol.

I'm pretty excited about my Nucks' this year, 3-0 in preseason and they're looking good. Bobby Lou looked prefect in his first game and the Sedins piled up 7 pts in their first game last night

Hope Hodgson makes the team and im really liking Shirokov, hope he makes the team too.

The Defence is looking deep as fuck this year.


Canucks, Calgary, Ottawa make the playoffs.
Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal miss the playoffs.

Leafs just traded for kessel + signed him for 5 years. They had to give up two first round picks and a second but i think it's worth it, just because of the talent they picked up for basicly nothing. I think this move def puts the leafs in playoff spot
http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=291601

The new season started so I'm back from the dead.

MTL is looking good so far with 2 pre-season home wins and the main newcomers scored already. Gomez and Camalleri scored great goals and Gionta's goal was a fluke but oh well, it counts. The East is getting bigger and more competitive so it should be a great season.

leafs and philly got some bad blood going, i know pre season is known for alot of fights but we had 6 fights in the first period alone lol

1st Period
02:30
TOR
Colton Orr : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
02:30
PHI
Riley Cote : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
02:30
PHI
Riley Cote served by Danny Briere : Roughing - 2 min
05:23
PHI
Braydon Coburn : Tripping - 2 min
07:32
TOR
Colton Orr : Interference - 2 min
14:23
PHI
Darroll Powe : Roughing - 2 min
14:23
TOR
Garnet Exelby : Roughing - 2 min
14:23
PHI
Ian Laperriere : Charging - 2 min
14:23
TOR
Lee Stempniak : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
14:23
PHI
Daniel Carcillo : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
14:23
TOR
15:09
PHI
Danny Briere : Interference on goalkeeper - 2 min
18:13
PHI
Ian Laperriere : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
18:15
TOR
Garnet Exelby : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
18:31
PHI
Darroll Powe : Roughing - 2 min
19:21
TOR
Francois Beauchemin : Slashing - 2 min
19:21
PHI
Mike Richards : Cross checking - 2 min
2nd Period
03:46
TOR
Jay Rosehill : Roughing - 2 min
03:46
TOR
Jay Rosehill : Roughing - 2 min
06:36
TOR
Francois Beauchemin : Tripping - 2 min
14:05
TOR
Mike Komisarek : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
14:05
PHI
Riley Cote : Unsportsmanlike conduct - 2 min
14:05
TOR
Jay Rosehill : Charging - 2 min
14:05
PHI
Darroll Powe : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
19:01
TOR
John Mitchell : Roughing - 2 min
19:01
PHI
Danny Briere : Roughing - 2 min
19:01
TOR
Luke Schenn : Roughing - 2 min
20:00
PHI
Matt Carle : Boarding - 2 min




Toskala still a pile of shit, this sucks L, gustavvson better turn into the swedish sensation

just got home from our home opener of the Saint John Seadogs in the QMJHL.
was a great fucking game had wicked seats we won 5-4 on a OT goal 2.5sec remaining in OT


still dont give 2 shits about preseason cant wait to see how the new boys do in our first game that matters and vs the leafs. gonna be interesting to say the least

Definitely not worth two 1st rounders and a second. Especially considering at least the 2010 pick will be a top-10 because the Leafs are still looking like they will suck this year. But Toronto, and Burke also have some of the shittiest drafting records/player developement in the league so it could work out better for them. Kessel will have a huge impact on the Leafs though because he is already their best player by several strides. It's too bad he's a leaf now though, I really liked the guy as a player.

i thought kanye could only be truthful in thous?

























































ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

lol'd

and the canucks improve to 6-0 now? 14-0 in there last 14 pre season games. I lol'd

...


no offense, i actually like vancover lol, but u cant judge a team by pre-season games :\

12-0-1 - in last two years.

Haha, I find it more funny than anything. I don't even pay attention to the game results, how guys are playing is more important. But winning makes you feel good and it's always nice to start the year on a high.

alright lol, your right about how players are playing.
i just hate it when people are like
"LEAFS 4-1-0 FUCKING PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR! WHOOOW" and it happens to every teams fans, and its serious too.

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOOOOOL

Trying to downplay this move is retarded and I fail to see how you can possibly do so. Kessel is 21 years old, and I'm sure he's going to be more than capable of potting 35 goal average over the next 5 years. You know how many 35 goal scorers were there were last year? 15, meaning that Toronto has picked up an asset only half the league has.

Who but the leafs can the 13th highest scorer in the league have a huge impact on?

As far as him not being worth two 1sts and a second, just lol. A 21 year old star with superstar potential is worth that and more.

edit: The pick this year will be in the mid teens, seeing as Toronto is a borderline playoff team in the east and thats assuming that the Monster is a complete bust at the NHL level.

Kessel is a good player but he did have Savard along side him last year who is a great setup guy.

Going to be interesting this year for sure to see what type numbers he can put up in Toronto with basically no one there to help him.

Probably about the same as he put up playing with a torn rotator cuff and hip labrum.

Kessel was playing with very good players surrouding him last year. This year he is playing on Toronto. He will still make an impact.

The picks wont be mid-teens. They will be top-10 picks. The Leafs are not a border-line playoff team even this year making those picks huge. Also, the talent level coming out of junior these days is rediculous. Any first rounder has a legitimate shot of cracking the lineup as an 18-19 year old and to make huge impacts like so many young guys are these days.

No point really arguing the deal because only time will tell who got the better end.

You always pick Toronto finish in the bottom 3, why not just make an ass of yourself again? Bottom 10 is a bit of a cop out lad.

I could easily list off 5 teams in the East that Toronto WILL DEFINATELY finish ahead of, and I see them finishing ahead of the likes of Ottawa, and NYR. Throw in the bottom feeders in the West and you have 9-10 teams that Toronto will definately finish ahead of.

So many 18-19 year olds making an impact? First off this statement made me laugh coming from you, as I'm pretty sure I remember you giving the Leafs shit for playing Schenn last year instead of letting him develop in the minors then adding in the fact that only 12 players from the 2008 draft even played ONE GAME insures that I'll be laughing for awhile.

Its incredibly difficult for an 18 year old to make an NHL roster, and the talent coming out of junior is top heavy. Any 18 year olds you can think of that stepped onto a nhl roster and made a huge impact that weren't drafted top 3?

Only 7 rookies finished with more than 40 points last year. Most of those are 22+, with the exceptions of Stamkos (19) and Berglund (21). Stamkos was the only player with 29+ points from the 2008 draft class.

Also, considering that only 3 players from the 2006 draft class have 100 career points I have to wonder what NHL you are watching to believe that so many young guys make instant impacts on their teams. Most first round picks are a bust. ONly 30 first round picks between 2000-2003 have even amassed 100 points, meaning that only 33% of first round picks are going to average more than 10points/year over the first 10 years of their career. You can bitch all you want about how you believe the talent coming out of junior is superior, but I honesly dont see a difference in their performance on the ice compared to the guys from 10 years ago. The numbers are eerily similiar in Rookie scoring.

Star players are few and far between, and trying to pretend that there are dozens drafted every year is absurd. Boston needs to hit homeruns with those picks or they lost the deal.

So yes, in 5 years we can debate whether Toronto having a star player playing with them or Boston having Patrick Stefan and Kyle Turris playing in the AHL is having a greater impact on their franchises.

Oh, and the draft is top heavy again this year.
______________________________________________________
The top 4 in each conference are a lock, and from there on down its a bit of a wildcard for the picks. Depending on how hungry Pittsburg is early on I give Phi a pretty good chance to claim the division but I'm not going to pick against the champs. Ive put alot of faith in Montreal since their new big 3 seem to be playing really well together but look for Price to play like shit and make look like a tool.I dont really feel that Carolina and Buffalo are strong teams in any sense, but Ive ranked them ahead of everyone below them because of goal tending. Haven't seen enough of the sens yet to get an idea of where they are at but I feel they still aren't a playoff team with no defenceman or goalie. The Monster is looking good for Toronto, who saw that 2 on 0 save? Fucking legendary lol. But once again, I'm assuming that he's going to be shit so I've placed Toronto here. Lack of depth of front is going to be a concern unless Toskala can step it up. I've placed the Rangers pretty low because I have a terrible feeling about that team lol. Not sold on Smith for Tampa, and not sure about their depth up front outside of their big four. Florida, Atl and NYI have problems at every position and they figure to be in the hunt for a lottery pick this year. Not sold on Tavares at the professional level, his skating is pretty pediastrian. He scored 8(?) goals at the WJ, 6 on the powerplay, 1 empty net and one on a partial break(against a guy with no stick lol) he got because the defenceman broke his stick making the outlet pass. Which did nothing to convince me that he's going to be able to create time and space to score at the nhl level. On a related note, Hodgeson got hosed for the MVP.

In the west I dont think there is any question as to who the conference winners are going to be. I dont believe Detroit is done as so many talking heads like to think, but they have lost a step and I dont see them winning the division this year but it is possible. Anaheim will always be around, they're a tough team to play against and dont think they lost any impact players this year. Stl should be real good if they all stay healthy this year, I like their future. Columbus should be there aswell. Calgary and Dallas will fight it out for the last spot but I gave the edge to Dallas because Calgary doesn't have enough depth up front. Everyone below has major issues at every position and LA,EDM,PHX and COL are all lottery contenders.

Boston | SJS
Washington | Chi
Pitt | Van
Phi | Det
Mon |Ana
NJ |Stl
Carolina |Columbus
Buffalo | Dallas
Toronto |Calgary
Ottawa | Min
NYR | Nash
TB | La
Florida | Edm
NYI | Phx
ATL | Col

Ya, I always pick Toronto to suck. Part bias, mostly because they do not have a good team. How have I made an ass of myself? They still havn't made the playoffs since 03-04, and although point-wise they came close in a couple of those years, talent-wise they weren't even close.

I'm not sure on the Schenn thing, pretty sure I was just choked I didn't get to see another year of him in Kelowna. Also, it was either he develope in the NHL or get sent back to Junior, and there wasn't much he could improve on by playing another year and dominating the back end there. This year, last years "failure" for Schenn will look like a great move because he'll have had a season under his belt now.




Who says points are the only way to make an impact? Just because only 3 guys hit 100 points in their careers doesn't mean a thing. Look at the Sedins (I'm not a big fan of them), they are 80 point guys at the top of the league. Impact can take so many forms for a team, be it in the locker room, in physicality, on the scoreboard or in a grinder role. Don't look too much into stats because you can make any stat say what you want it to say to make your point seem valid. Milan Lucic had great rookie/sophmore seasons and he doesn't put up big points. But every knows who he is.
----


Very interesting comment about Detroit. It don't think they've lost it. But for the first time in a long time their division will actually be competitive and there will be a lot fewer free points as they've had in years past from feasting on 3 bottom feeders. Interesting how you have Calgary missing the playoffs. I see them as the only competition for Vancouver in the NW. I don't think depth will be a problem for them too much because their back-end is one of the tops in the league.

FOUR MORE DAYS!

When I say 100 points, I mean over a career. The Sedins have alot more than 100 points over the course of their career, and no points aren't the only way to measure impact but it is the least subjective way to do so. It doesn't matter what role you play on a team if you haven't gotten 100 points in 10 years in the league you shouldn't be there. Milan Lucic averages more than 10 points a year and Lucic is known by everyone because he plays a style that makes him a fan favourite. Fame is probably a far worse way to judge impact than points, or is George Laroque some sort of Nhl superstar? and if we're going to hone in on 2006 class and not every other one in the history of the nhl, 100 points in 3 years equals out to the statistics of a third line player. You willing to trade 2 third liners for a guy like Kessel? Probably not.

I have calgary missing the playoffs because I'm giving the benefit of the doubt to Stl and Columbus for staying healthy and if both teams do so they should finish ahead of the flames. Though I wouldn't be surprised to see them there at the end of the year, I dont feel that they are better on paper than any of the ones ranked above them. Detroit is in trouble, they'll never go away but I dont see them being cup favourites year in and year out anymore. Though they have the best drafting and development in the league so I wouldn't be overally surprised if they return to dominating in the near future, but not this year.

Never heard off it lol

stfu