Chicago Vs Philadelphia for the Stanley Cup

I personally think that Philly won't be able to insulate Leighton with the depth and speed Chicago has and it will require Halak/Niemi style net-minding for Leighton to continue his unlikely run in order to win the Cup.

I picked Chi-town because I really believe that Leighton will crack and Philly won't be able to contain Chicago's attack. Niemi has already shown he can steal games so I have more faith in Niemi holding it together as compared to Leighton.

I took Chicago based on the teams they faced to get to the Cup. No offense to MTL but they dont' have the quality of players that the Sharks have.

Chicago in 3

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I personally think that Philly won't be able to insulate Leighton with the depth and speed Chicago has and it will require Halak/Niemi style net-minding for Leighton to continue his unlikely run in order to win the Cup.

I picked Chi-town because I really believe that Leighton will crack and Philly won't be able to contain Chicago's attack. Niemi has already shown he can steal games so I have more faith in Niemi holding it together as compared to Leighton.

Pronger will have to play 60 minutes a night if Philly has any chance. Chicago essentially has two first lines and a really good second line (their third), not to mention a bunch of Olympians on the blueline. Philly will have to crash the net hard and play really disciplined hockey, which, they won't...

Kovalfie wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I personally think that Philly won't be able to insulate Leighton with the depth and speed Chicago has and it will require Halak/Niemi style net-minding for Leighton to continue his unlikely run in order to win the Cup.

I picked Chi-town because I really believe that Leighton will crack and Philly won't be able to contain Chicago's attack. Niemi has already shown he can steal games so I have more faith in Niemi holding it together as compared to Leighton.

Pronger will have to play 60 minutes a night if Philly has any chance. Chicago essentially has two first lines and a really good second line (their third), not to mention a bunch of Olympians on the blueline. Philly will have to crash the net hard and play really disciplined hockey, which, they won't...

Will this be the series where a D-man (Pronger) plays 40+ minutes a game? Diddle he's awesome, I hate him, but he's amazing. Better than 99.99% of all other D-men in the league.

Anyone else think it would be funny if chicago lost and Hossa wtched the cup go to the team across the ice?

I'd like to see Giroux raise the cup

Emery has 29 starts this season, and looking at Boucher's starts in October, November and January, I'd say he had another 6 games or so as backup. I think he was injured for much of December, where Boucher got a lot of starts. You have to have 41 games (for goalies I'm guessing it's either as starter or backup) to be eligible to have your name on the Cup. I doubt that Emery got another 6 backup games in December and the little bit of February before getting surgery in March.

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:Anyone else think it would be funny if chicago lost and Hossa wtched the cup go to the team across the ice?

Only after Chi-Town gets dismantled and the window of opportunity is closed while Hossa twiddles away the rest of his career in Chicago having thought he'd be able to pick his Cup team.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:Anyone else think it would be funny if chicago lost and Hossa wtched the cup go to the team across the ice?

Only after Chi-Town gets dismantled and the window of opportunity is closed while Hossa twiddles away the rest of his career in Chicago having thought he'd be able to pick his Cup team.

He could still get traded. If (and that's still a huge *if*) Chicago loses, they have some serious cap issues in the off-season, and they will have to trade assets. Hossa is a trade-able asset and, since he's not a home-grown talent, they may prioritize trading him ahead of some others. What they *need* to do is trade Campbell, but that may be nearly impossible. $5.2M cap hit for Hossa is still a bargain.

There definitely could be some takers for Hossa on that cap hit but it's 12 years isn't it? Not sure teams will be jumping on that one.

I think Philly wins this series. Chicago has lost both Game 1's at home in this year's playoffs.

wprager wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:Anyone else think it would be funny if chicago lost and Hossa wtched the cup go to the team across the ice?

Only after Chi-Town gets dismantled and the window of opportunity is closed while Hossa twiddles away the rest of his career in Chicago having thought he'd be able to pick his Cup team.

He could still get traded. If (and that's still a huge *if*) Chicago loses, they have some serious cap issues in the off-season, and they will have to trade assets. Hossa is a trade-able asset and, since he's not a home-grown talent, they may prioritize trading him ahead of some others. What they *need* to do is trade Campbell, but that may be nearly impossible. $5.2M cap hit for Hossa is still a bargain.

All of Chi-Town's cap issues are resolved by trading Campbell and taking prospects and/or lower paid roster players back. For instance, a trade such as Kuba and Foligno for Campbell addresses their cap and roster issues as they save money (about $2 million) and they replace one roster player with two. They already have their #1 and #2 guys in Keith and Seabrook so a guy like Kuba fits their needs perfectly.

While Chicago does have cap 'issues' no one on their team is really signed to an untradable contract (aside from maybe Hossa). They have a lot of RFAs that can be traded for picks and a half-decent prospect pool with Beech, Aliu, and Skille leading the way. They also have five UFAs this summer, all 3rd and 4th line guys, and one defenceman. They can plug prospects in their places, and hope to draft a defenceman in this year's draft.

I really don't think Chicago has anything to worry about. Their depth won't be as good next year, but I mean their team now is sick.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:There definitely could be some takers for Hossa on that cap hit but it's 12 years isn't it? Not sure teams will be jumping on that one.

He'll retire before it's over, though. It was structured like that.

Kovalfie wrote:

wprager wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Hockeyhero22000 wrote:Anyone else think it would be funny if chicago lost and Hossa wtched the cup go to the team across the ice?

Only after Chi-Town gets dismantled and the window of opportunity is closed while Hossa twiddles away the rest of his career in Chicago having thought he'd be able to pick his Cup team.

He could still get traded. If (and that's still a huge *if*) Chicago loses, they have some serious cap issues in the off-season, and they will have to trade assets. Hossa is a trade-able asset and, since he's not a home-grown talent, they may prioritize trading him ahead of some others. What they *need* to do is trade Campbell, but that may be nearly impossible. $5.2M cap hit for Hossa is still a bargain.

All of Chi-Town's cap issues are resolved by trading Campbell and taking prospects and/or lower paid roster players back. For instance, a trade such as Kuba and Foligno for Campbell addresses their cap and roster issues as they save money (about $2 million) and they replace one roster player with two. They already have their #1 and #2 guys in Keith and Seabrook so a guy like Kuba fits their needs perfectly.

While Chicago does have cap 'issues' no one on their team is really signed to an untradable contract (aside from maybe Hossa). They have a lot of RFAs that can be traded for picks and a half-decent prospect pool with Beech, Aliu, and Skille leading the way. They also have five UFAs this summer, all 3rd and 4th line guys, and one defenceman. They can plug prospects in their places, and hope to draft a defenceman in this year's draft.

I really don't think Chicago has anything to worry about. Their depth won't be as good next year, but I mean their team now is sick.

Not many teams can afford the contract (they'd be putting themselves into the same predicament that Chicago is trying to escape). And freeing up $2M doesn't even begin to cut it.

I read somewhere that the Hawks are $800K over with just 14 players signed. That trade (assuming your numbers are good) gets them 15 players with $1.2M left -- that's $200K per, which is 1/3 of the minimum salary (give or take, leaving some injury money).

Oh, how much do you think Niemi will ask for (his contract is over)? They need to move Campbell and Huet's salaries. If I was Stan I'd go to the boss and say -- it's not my mess to clean up, but we need to bury him in the minors. That still is not enough, but then they could trade Campbell for 3 players totaling around $5M, giving them around $6M to add 5. They would still have to replace 2-3 of their top-9 with rookies, though, because Niemi is going to get $2M+.

Game 1

What a defensive battle last night, eh? Boucher stops 11 of 12 and gets the loss. Neimi has to be better than that. Pronger (and company) have to be better, too. If the first game is any indication, this should go 7. On the other hand, how many more games can you expect the Flyers to *not* get any penalties?

Boucher or Leighton for game 2? Boucher I think would be someone to rally around I think