Carolina @ Ottawa - April 16, 2013 - The Return of Cowen!!

So our team points leader is...Sergei Gonchar with 24.

wprager wrote:

Michallica wrote:Can someone explain how or why in the blue hell Michalek got an extra penalty in his fight but the other guy who clearly instigated got nothing? Almost cost us the game

Instigator would have been 2+2+5+10. We know very well how that works. But the guy wasn't picking a fight. He just went after Milo, and got a slash in return. Michalek has to keep his tempers in check.

He got an elbowing penalty that I think was earlier but the hurricane player went after milo and dropped his gloves first before Michalek. Elbowing makes no sense to me

Michallica wrote:

Ev wrote:Anyone who thought they could deal Cowen and be better off should feel shame.

Not anyone...ONLY one person on this board suggested as such...

I would still trade Cowen if the right deal came along. The guy is fantastic but he's not untradeable.

With that said above, Cowen was beyond great in his first game back... amazing how ready he was. Next couple of games might be a little bit of a downer for him but he will be hitting his stride when the playoffs come around.

Zibanejad, another great game. Gryba is about as solid as you would ever want a D man t be, same with Methot. Michalek looked real good. Anderson was Anderson.

I was at the game..while it was certainly a little sloppy and we need to tighten things up here in the next week, it sure was entertaining!

Cowen's first couple of shifts were a bit shaky, but then he was right in his groove. Too bad about Skinner. I guess the NHL will review that based on the criteria that the "principle point of contact" was the head. Tough to avoid when there's such a size difference. The hit wasn't even that hard, but there was an injury on the play, which I guess Shanaban likes to consider too.

really was great again...very few rebounds, and that pad stack/glove save he made on the scramble was terrific. As Neely said, that's being .

Methot continues to amaze me. He protects the puck with ease in the D zone, and breaks up plays consistently. He will be here for a long time.

tim1_2 wrote:I was at the game..while it was certainly a little sloppy and we need to tighten things up here in the next week, it sure was entertaining!

Cowen's first couple of shifts were a bit shaky, but then he was right in his groove. Too bad about Skinner. I guess the NHL will review that based on the criteria that the "principle point of contact" was the head. Tough to avoid when there's such a size difference. The hit wasn't even that hard, but there was an injury on the play, which I guess Shanaban likes to consider too.

really was great again...very few rebounds, and that pad stack/glove save he made on the scramble was terrific. As Neely said, that's being .

Methot continues to amaze me. He protects the puck with ease in the D zone, and breaks up plays consistently. He will be here for a long time.

still continues to amaze me how he can draw to attackers away from the play on the boards to get the puck from him and he still skates away with the puck like nothing just happened. solid, solid D-man. still can't figure out how we ended up trading a fringe top 6 forward for a top 4 D-man that can play with ease in the first pairing.

Yeah, bit of a sloppy game but fun to watch for sure. We always seem to have issues with Carolina. Not sure why. Nice to see Cowen come back and be a force. Hopefully there's no suspension for him. We'll see I guess. 9mm and Methot were awesome. Anderson was Anderson. Turris needs to get his head back in the game.

Big test on Thursday vs the Caps. They are on fire, having won 8 in a row. Crazy. And then the Leafs on Saturday.

GO SENS GO!!!

Foligno is not a fringe top 6 forward. He's a flat out third line player, that's it. He's a guy that will probably end up playing for 5 or 6 teams when teams are looking for depth on their 3rd and 4th lines.

Methot is a legit top pairing D man who has way more offensive instincts than I ever thought he did and is as good as you can possibly be in his own zone. I thought 3 mil was a bit much for him when I saw the contract... He could very well be making close to double that next time around.

shabbs wrote:Yeah, bit of a sloppy game but fun to watch for sure. We always seem to have issues with Carolina. Not sure why. Nice to see Cowen come back and be a force. Hopefully there's no suspension for him. We'll see I guess. 9mm and Methot were awesome. Anderson was Anderson. Turris needs to get his head back in the game.

Big test on Thursday vs the Caps. They are on fire, having won 8 in a row. Crazy. And then the Leafs on Saturday.

GO SENS GO!!!

Why would there be? Because Skinner got leveled with his head down? No chance. That was a PERFECT hit.

NEELY wrote:

shabbs wrote:Yeah, bit of a sloppy game but fun to watch for sure. We always seem to have issues with Carolina. Not sure why. Nice to see Cowen come back and be a force. Hopefully there's no suspension for him. We'll see I guess. 9mm and Methot were awesome. Anderson was Anderson. Turris needs to get his head back in the game.

Big test on Thursday vs the Caps. They are on fire, having won 8 in a row. Crazy. And then the Leafs on Saturday.

GO SENS GO!!!

Why would there be? Because Skinner got leveled with his head down? No chance. That was a PERFECT hit.

Oh, I totally agree. Just worried Shanaban won't see it the same way.

No way that hit is even looked at for more than a microsecond.

Another thing I thought I'd mention is I thought Pageau was good. I don't think he saw a lot of ice, but he's strong on the forecheck, and has tenacity. He might need some more time in the AHL to really get the scoring part figured out, but the tools are there!

tim1_2 wrote:Another thing I thought I'd mention is I thought Pageau was good. I don't think he saw a lot of ice, but he's strong on the forecheck, and has tenacity. He might need some more time in the AHL to really get the scoring part figured out, but the tools are there!

Prob a little bigger and faster but that goes for a lot of guys. Fact is they picked another NHLer out of the 4th round.

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:

Ev wrote:Anyone who thought they could deal Cowen and be better off should feel shame.

Not anyone...ONLY one person on this board suggested as such...

I would still trade Cowen if the right deal came along. The guy is fantastic but he's not untradeable.

We can all have our opinions on this and nobody would be wrong, but he is untradeable in my eyes because no one else in the org brings what he brings and has his lowside as Marc Staal upside as Shea Weber (IMO). Nobody else is as intimidating and impactful on the back-end.

Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:

Ev wrote:Anyone who thought they could deal Cowen and be better off should feel shame.

Not anyone...ONLY one person on this board suggested as such...

I would still trade Cowen if the right deal came along. The guy is fantastic but he's not untradeable.

We can all have our opinions on this and nobody would be wrong, but he is untradeable in my eyes because no one else in the org brings what he brings and has his lowside as Marc Staal upside as Shea Weber (IMO). Nobody else is as intimidating and impactful on the back-end.

The point remains that we are pretty stacked on the left side of our D, tho'... Methot, Cowen, Phillips, Wiercioch, Boro in the wings. Not that that's why you trade him, but OTT is poised to trade from that left side, is all. Wiercioch is the only one among that bunch who brings real offense, so not sure you can replace him as easily as the others.

rooneypoo wrote:

Ev wrote:

NEELY wrote:

Michallica wrote:

Ev wrote:Anyone who thought they could deal Cowen and be better off should feel shame.

Not anyone...ONLY one person on this board suggested as such...

I would still trade Cowen if the right deal came along. The guy is fantastic but he's not untradeable.

We can all have our opinions on this and nobody would be wrong, but he is untradeable in my eyes because no one else in the org brings what he brings and has his lowside as Marc Staal upside as Shea Weber (IMO). Nobody else is as intimidating and impactful on the back-end.

The point remains that we are pretty stacked on the left side of our D, tho'... Methot, Cowen, Phillips, Wiercioch, Boro in the wings. Not that that's why you trade him, but OTT is poised to trade from that left side, is all. Wiercioch is the only one among that bunch who brings real offense, so not sure you can replace him as easily as the others.

Agreed, but I think Wiercioch is more expendable because of Karlsson and potentially Ceci, and Phillips will be seeing a reduced role or retire in a few years. I think Cowen will bring just as much offense as Wiercioch down the road and feel he is really underrated there. He showed what he could do when Karlsson was out last year. IMO Cowen will be their best d-man overall down the road.

I don't think that there's much doubt our 3 LD going forward should be Methot, Cowen, and Phillips. If we can hang on to Wiercioch and/or Borocop to replace Phillips in a couple years, that'd be dandy.

I agree with Ev, that Cowen's offensive game is underrated.

and nice to see you posting rooneypoo!