1st Round Opponents

I'm not predicting or guaranteeing anything, but maybe we get a surprise next year with a guy like Mike Hoffman coming in and scoring 22 goals and 41 points like Jamie Benn did in his rookie season with Dallas.

shabbs wrote:Bring on the Penguins...

Finally! Its been decided. I'm excited for this matchup, both teams are pretty even. Plus I don't have to change my avatar now haha

SDH89 wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Look's like it's the Penguins for sure now

Hope you don't hurt your feet jumping off the bandwagon.

I'm not jumping off the bandwagon, I just don't think we have it this year. Still cheering, obviously.

shabbs wrote:

wprager wrote:

shabbs wrote:Cap relief for Kovalev? What are you guys talking about? We won't need any relief as the players that are called up to replace him won't have a salary that is more than Kovalev's.

I'm talking about next season. We don't have *anyone* down on the farm, or anyone in the locker room to replace 50 points. And given how our season went down, we probably need a 60-65 points player (that is what many here were expecting from Kovalev). If we have cap relief we could get a $3M player (assuming Kovalev will eventually suit up).

You think he won't be ready to go next season?

I guess it all depends on where our cap situation is (that determines if we get relief or not) and how long he's expected to be out.

I don't know what Kovalev's recuperative powers are like, but I have a feeling they aren't exactly Alfie-like. His age is not going to help him either. Four months after surgery brings him to the end of August. And by that point all he's done is some deep knee bends and stationary bike workouts. It will take a bit longer to get his leg muscles back in shape. I suppose his skill is not restricted to his legs, and leg speed was never a big part of his game (quickness, especially stopping and turning will be a problem). It's possible he could be somewhat ready for October, but I have my doubts.

Big Ev wrote:

SDH89 wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Look's like it's the Penguins for sure now

Hope you don't hurt your feet jumping off the bandwagon.

I'm not jumping off the bandwagon, I just don't think we have it this year. Still cheering, obviously.

I'm in the same boat as you. We both hope we're wrong.

Dash wrote:I'm not predicting or guaranteeing anything, but maybe we get a surprise next year with a guy like Mike Hoffman coming in and scoring 22 goals and 41 points like Jamie Benn did in his rookie season with Dallas.

That would be nice, but very, very doubtful. Cowen may be the only new addition next year. With Kovalev out we need Fisher as a RW, so our depth chart looks like this:

LW: Michalek, Regin, Foligno, Ruutu
C: Spezza, Cullen, Kelly, Winchester
RW: Alfredsson, Fisher, Neil, Butler?

Does Hoffman is a left winger. How does he stack up against, for example, Danserau, who was pretty good in pre-season, IIRC. Then there's Cowick, Daugavins (what's going on with him?), Costello, Slifvererg. I think we'll see all of those here in September but I am not holding out much hope of any of them sticking around unless they are a 4th winger type player. I don't see any of them going ahead of Foligno or Ruutu.

dennycrane wrote:

Big Ev wrote:

SDH89 wrote:

Big Ev wrote:Look's like it's the Penguins for sure now

Hope you don't hurt your feet jumping off the bandwagon.

I'm not jumping off the bandwagon, I just don't think we have it this year. Still cheering, obviously.

I'm in the same boat as you. We both hope we're wrong.

It should be a good series. Sticking up the white flag now is a bit presumptions.

I definately think it's way too early to consider Kovalev out for next year. As for Pittsburgh, it's going to be a tight 7 game series.

SDH89 wrote:I definately think it's way too early to consider Kovalev out for next year. As for Pittsburgh, it's going to be a tight 7 game series.

I've read too many comments from people (regular people, mind you, not top athletes) about recovery times. A lot of them are saying it takes a year to get back to close to 100%.

Prags, check you PM, sent you two new gfx. In case you didnt get them, here they are:

GMH Playoff Tree


Sid vs. Stamkos vs. Ovechkin - Race for the Rocket

[quote="SDH89"]

Big Ev wrote:Look's like it's the Penguins for sure now

Hope you don't hurt your feet jumping off the bandwagon.[/quote

The new daily banner is up. I've also move the All Things Playoffs category to the top and added the bracket logo to it (you only see it on the Home page where all categories are shown).

I've also unstickied last year's Final Series thread. It's about time

I think the other playoff pool (players/points) also has a thread but it's not in the Playoffs category. If I can find it I'll move it and make it sticky.

wprager wrote:

SDH89 wrote:I definately think it's way too early to consider Kovalev out for next year. As for Pittsburgh, it's going to be a tight 7 game series.

I've read too many comments from people (regular people, mind you, not top athletes) about recovery times. A lot of them are saying it takes a year to get back to close to 100%.

Yeah, it'll be his age that does him in if anything. However it's not uncommon for 4 months to be the timeframe, just look at Franzen.

PuckDaddy has posted a story with pics of the new Pittsburgh arena. Nice. Sadly, not yet this year.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Photo-Expedition-Consol-Energy-Center-new-home?urn=nhl,233424

Flyers and Rangers tied at 1, 10+ left to play inthe game. Crazy

Where's the game televised? Can't find it on Bell.

Dash wrote:Where's the game televised? Can't find it on Bell.

wathicng on stream on atdhe

OT now

EDIT: shootout