General Hockey Talk - Injuries, signings, factoids + other news from around the league

SpezDispenser wrote:How badly is Ovechkin hurt? Yikes if long.

Markov, Gonchar, Volchenkov, Malkin, Kovalchuk, Ovechkin...Russians are dropping like flies!

Somebody warn Kovalev.

davetherave wrote:

wprager wrote: As for the Caps, they are 8-2-3 but that's not going to help them much in the playoffs. They remind me of the Sens all those years.

@Prager> so playoff predictions are already on your menu, are they?

One team and I'm not really predicting other than to say they will find it very different in the post-season. Who have they got on D that will do what is necessary to win in the playoffs?

Oh, and AO is hurt now? Maybe I was just being prophetic

wprager wrote:

davetherave wrote:

wprager wrote: As for the Caps, they are 8-2-3 but that's not going to help them much in the playoffs. They remind me of the Sens all those years.

@Prager> so playoff predictions are already on your menu, are they?

One team and I'm not really predicting other than to say they will find it very different in the post-season. Who have they got on D that will do what is necessary to win in the playoffs?

Oh, and AO is hurt now? Maybe I was just being prophetic

The implications of your prophetic gifts are frightening.

Simon Gagne has apparently finally had the surgery that the Flyers medical staff have been asking him to get for a while now.

Flyers left wing Simon Gagne finally agreed to have surgery on Tuesday to repair two small hernias on his right side and will miss 6-8 weeks.

Additionally, according to general manager Paul Holmgren, Gagne will have his rectus abdominis repaired on both sides. So, it’s two surgeries.

The surgery will performed by William Meyers at Hahnemann University Hospital.

There's a back story here where Gagne said no initially to the Flyers medical staff's pleas and went to two doctors in Quebec who said no, no surgery was needed. This was obviously pretty frustrating to the Flyers medical staff, but they seem to have won the day when he agreed to do the surgeries.

Don't be surprised if at some point this year the Flyers ask Gagne to waive his NTC to be moved. This latest move is annoying on his part as he'll miss more time now than if he had just had the work done when they suggested - and he's always injured - to the point where I think this might be his second last year in the NHL before he's forced into retirement. If the Flyers can moved him out for depth on D (you can never have enough) - or even for another goalie to back-up Emery and provide insurance should he falter - I can't imagine they'd say no to that.

He said rectus.

wprager wrote:He said rectus.

Stamkos with another insane goal. What a friggin shot.

N4L wrote:Stamkos with another insane goal. What a friggin shot.

Kid's disgusting good. Can't help feeling he might be a little on the small side though.

Annnnd on te other side of things, every time I watch Meszaros play I love that trade more and more. He is the most over paid D man in the entire NHL. He's a 5, 6 guy at best.

SpezDispenser wrote:

N4L wrote:Stamkos with another insane goal. What a friggin shot.

Kid's disgusting good. Can't help feeling he might be a little on the small side though.

He's got 2 inches on Crosby. He'll gain more mass in his 20s.

Nothing wrong with the kid. The 2008 draft is just amazing. Still waiting on Filatov, though (despite the fact that he's got a hattrick in the NHL to his name already).

N4L wrote:Annnnd on te other side of things, every time I watch Meszaros play I love that trade more and more. He is the most over paid D man in the entire NHL. He's a 5, 6 guy at best.

Hands down, he sucks now. No idea what the issue is, but he's nowhere near a 4 million dollar player. He wasn't at the time and he certainly isn't now. In fact, I'd be hard-pressed to pay him 2 million for his services. I've watched him enough to know for a fact that Murray completely fleeced the young GM Lawton. Sure, Murray could have had Hedman, but he got the best available deal without causing friction within the conference.

Lawton should have been fired for many, many things. The Kuba, Picard, 1st rounder for Meszaros should be right there at the top.

asq2 wrote:
He's got 2 inches on Crosby. He'll gain more mass in his 20s.

Nothing wrong with the kid. The 2008 draft is just amazing. Still waiting on Filatov, though (despite the fact that he's got a hattrick in the NHL to his name already).

Does he? I find that surprising. He looks like a string-bean little man out there.

However, I'm not dissing him, I just thought he looked weak and small. He'll be just fine.

He's always sucked. The second he was given more responsibility in Ottawa he was a -15. He was beyond lucky to make his name in his rookie year behind, Redden, Chara, and Phillips... still living off it.

Thanks Tampa.

Wow, and now the Flyers are savaging the Lightning 6-2. Hopefully we can lay the smackdown against them on Thursday as well.

Mike Smith is having a woeful year. The concussion must have really set him back.

SpezDispenser wrote:

asq2 wrote:
He's got 2 inches on Crosby. He'll gain more mass in his 20s.

Nothing wrong with the kid. The 2008 draft is just amazing. Still waiting on Filatov, though (despite the fact that he's got a hattrick in the NHL to his name already).

Does he? I find that surprising. He looks like a string-bean little man out there.

However, I'm not dissing him, I just thought he looked weak and small. He'll be just fine.

His height is comparable to Kovalchuk's or Ovechkin's. I don't think he'll be at their weight levels (both are over 225 lbs, and Ovie's probably closer to 235 lbs) but he's not going to have any size issues once he fills out.

2008 might end up eventually being compared to 2003. It's a testament to a draft when a team can get a player the calibre of Zach Bogosian third over-all and you can't call it a steal. It's certainly the best first round for defencemen in the past 25 years, and maybe more.

2009 and 2010 are progressively more shallow, but we've had/we have a few picks in the early portions of the draft, so we've done really well.

I am so jealous of the Flyers forward and Defense corps

And they could probably trade one of them for a great goaltender prospect.

Leafs are gonna play a tired and angry Bolts team tomorrow... they got whipped 6-2 tonight by Philly.

shabbs wrote:Leafs are gonna play a tired and angry Bolts team tomorrow... they got whipped 6-2 tonight by Philly.

...and Spez-D's favourite Angry Bolt, Steve "Skinny" Stamkos, has *only* eleven goals in twelve games.