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

They cut out the cancer... right now is rehab for the Sens.

they are definitely more fun to watch post-spezza. It's probably a mixture of the kids being excited being up here but there's a lot of compete in this team. I just wish it would translate into more W. i'm hoping they come more often as the season continues. I'm hoping as other teams start having more injuries(while we have a certain level of depth to make up if we have our own) we might start to take over. that and the built up experience of our youth.

NEELY wrote:

spader wrote:

wprager wrote:

NEELY wrote:A guy who is going to continue to regress, get paid millions over 6, 7 years, and the team that signs him will regret it instantly.

Except he's in a contract year and not with 5 years left on his contract, and there's no "DidSpezzaScore" website because he's actually getting *some* points.  Right now he's not scoring at a $6-7M rate, not even close.  Couple that with his -7 and you're not going to convince me he's getting anything long-term at any cap hit worth mentioning.  If neither his production nor his play improve he's not going to get more than $4-5M on a one-year deal from a GM who fancies himself a gambler.

When you wrote this Spezza had 13 points in 14 games. That isn't even close to a $6-7 mil rate? I disagree.

Playing with Benn and Seguin, just like Ottawa he is making his money on the back of two players that are better than he is.  Spezza is a pretender and always has been.  

To be fair, he started out with Cole and Hemsky. Probably half his games at this point. That said, the 13 points is misleading due to the unusually large number of secondary assists. I believe he was another -2 last night? If this continues, he'll be worse than last season.

Flo The Action wrote:they are definitely more fun to watch post-spezza. It's probably a mixture of the kids being excited being up here but there's a lot of compete in this team. I just wish it would translate into more W. i'm hoping they come more often as the season continues. I'm hoping as other teams start having more injuries(while we have a certain level of depth to make up if we have our own) we might start to take over. that and the built up experience of our youth.

I challenge that statement. Name me one played (who also played last year) who is competing harder than they did last year? Turris and MacArthur have not changed except that Turris is not doing as well offensively. Ryan is doing less than he did last October/early November. Stone is just getting more consistent ice time but I haven't seen a change in his level of compete. Phillips is struggling, Neil is struggling, Michalek is really struggling, Zibanejad is struggling, Karlsson is struggling and so on down the line.

We have the infusion of "compete" from the so-called kid line (they will be broken up) but all the players that didn't play balls-to-the-wall hockey last year are doing the exact same thing this year (except one of them is in a different city).

My point is that a lot of people here were not just saying it would be addition by subtraction, but that by not having a lazy Captain and #1 center everyone would suddenly start putting more effort into their game, and listen to the coach better.

I don't think that's happened.

wprager wrote:My point is that a lot of people here were not just saying it would be addition by subtraction, but that by not having a lazy Captain and #1 center everyone would suddenly start putting more effort into their game, and listen to the coach better.

I don't think that's happened.  

i think what most people said is you remove your #1 centre who played like Dung,the team would be better. And it has. The work ethic improved even if nobody else improved their work ethic.

Kessel is a stud. What a steal of a contract they have

Ev wrote:Kessel is a stud. What a steal of a contract they have

I hate Kessel just because he's so good. He's fast and his shot is ridiculous. Imagine if he actually trained to be in shape! He only played 15 minutes last night which doesn't seem that high for a first liner, but it looks like Carlyle balanced out the ice time.

Tyler Toffoli only got 10:43 of ice time versus the Ducks last night as LA lost 6-5. He has 17 pts in 16 games.

The Gonch will make his debut for Montreal tonight vs the Bruins.

the decline of That 70's line (awful) was inevitable

tim1_2 wrote:The Gonch will make his debut for Montreal tonight vs the Bruins.

Good to see The Gonch finally get a shot.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:The Gonch will make his debut for Montreal tonight vs the Bruins.

Good to see The Gonch finally get a shot.

i feel bad for gonchar. He's probably going to become the new wipping boy for habs fans. i'm not sure how much they expect him to play, probably bottom pairing with second PP unit but i hope that is all and not be a regular top 4.

Flo The Action wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:The Gonch will make his debut for Montreal tonight vs the Bruins.

Good to see The Gonch finally get a shot.

i feel bad for gonchar. He's probably going to become the new wipping boy for habs fans. i'm not sure how much they expect him to play, probably bottom pairing with second PP unit but i hope that is all and not be a regular top 4.

He's paired with Gilbert at even strength, and Markov on their horrible PP.

so where would Subban be?

Ev wrote:so where would Subban be?

Sitting on the bench counting his money?

I think he forms the other PP d-pairing, likely with a forward.

tim1_2 wrote:

Ev wrote:so where would Subban be?

Sitting on the bench counting his money?

I think he forms the other PP d-pairing, likely with a forward.

PK Subban has been pretty quiet since "The Goal of the Century" and having his people tell everyone on the team and in management and ownership to call him "The Real Show."

Justin Faulk is unreal. His offense is Karlsson esque

Léopold for a 5th round pick? Am i missing something? He's a verry serviceable d man