***The Official NHL Thread 2008/2009***

It was GREAT being behind the bench. It really gives you a unique perspective of the game although, it was a little tough to follow the play at times from so close. I felt like I was watching tennis at times. Found myself focusing on certain players instead of the play.

 

...and are still 9 points behind my Bruins.

 

7 points clear of the Rangers with 3 games in hand....to call me pleased would be the under statement of the decade, they are unreal right now.

Phil Kessel has arrived. Dude is a game breaker who is learning the small things it takes to be a superstar. Everytime I see him score again I have to apologize out loud for all the bad things I said about him during his draft year....Pinky was VERY right.

Dennis Wideman is a LEGIT #2 defenseman now...no question. The guy logs a ton of minutes.

Matt Hunwick? 2nd in goals and assists for rookie D-men, 1st in +/- and is playing 18:00 a night. Who knew the puck moving defenseman they needed was already in the organization?

Blake Wheeler? 11 goals and 20 points and he is a +19 (6th in the whole league). I wonder if Pinky still thinks I'm off my rocker saying he is a "Calder candidate"...

The goaltending has been superb. Stunning actually.

Injuries have/are starting to mount though. Andrew Ference was playing out of his mind when he broke his leg. Aaron Ward is in and out. Marco Sturm missed a bunch of games, came back for 1 period and is back in IR.

The worst was Patrice Bergeron. He'll be back early in January since all his tests after his concussion came back as normal That said, having 2 concussions in 18 months is never something you hope for. I hope it does not linger He's my favorite Bruin, which leads us to the guy that has QUICKLY become my 2nd favorite Bruin. A player who no one really knows anything about, accept Pinky...

David Krejci is ridiculous right now. He is Adam Oates with better wheels and that, in my opinion, is not even an exaggeration. He makes anyone he plays with better. Blake Wheeler starts to struggle a little bit? Put him with Krejci and he resumes scoring. Mike Ryder looks like a bust? Put him with Krejci and he looks like a sniper again. He does everything right. He might be the teams best defensive center ice man. He has the intangible that great players have. when he gets the puck, especially in the offensive zone, it looks like the game is in slow motion. He got off to a slow start but right now is 17th in scoring, 12th in assists and is 4th in =/-. All this from a 3rd line center who is 22 years old and has only played 96 NHL games. He might be the best player in the league that no one knows about.

I know I might be getting ahead of myself and might look back in 4 months on this post and say "damn, what happened" but I'm really proud of this hockey club right now. They look like legit contenders.

 

You want Hedman. It will make up for "Mad mike" trading Chara away. The guy will be the rock on your blueline for the next decade.

 

It's hard to mention everyone. Koby has been great I just hope he stays in one piece considering his injury history. Getting him and Ference for Brad Stuart (one of my most hated players in the league...dude was a turd in Boston) was a brilliant move by Chia.

Are they Cup contenders....

Yes...HELL yes!

They need a few things to happen of course. They need the goaltending to hold up of course, that is the biggest question mark. They also need to kill penalties better. I also still think they need another D-man. Not a top 3 guy but someone who is good in his own end and can eat up 20 minutes a night, a veteran who's been there, done that.

They will be a tough out in the playoffs. Playoffs are all about match ups. Sure, teams will roll their checking line/top defense pairing out there against the Kessel/Savvy/Looch line but what do they do with the Krejci/Koby/Wheeler line? Bergeron/Sturm/Axe will be the checking line but they can also score. I would not want to play them. They can make the match ups work for them.

 

Good to see you Pinky! Happy New Year!

It'a always nice after the Juniors. I get to hear what you think of some of the kids.

I watched Hedman a lot in the last 2 weeks. You are right about his wheels. He is so effortless when he skates, it's almost unfair. You are right though, he sometimes looks like he is not willing to get dirty. I also wonder about him sometimes in regards to, where is he going? What I mean is, it's great to be able to grab the puck and skate all over the place and get it into the zone but I think he does it sometimes just for the sake of doing it without any goal at the end of the rush. You know what I mean?

I've bashed Tavares often because of his skating but I think it tends to get overdone and I'm turning around on him. I mean he is not exactly Pavel Bure our there but at the same time, he's not Andrew Brunette. He can get where he needs to go. You can improve a guys skating if he is willing to work, you can not teach a guy to find the tiny soft spot in the offensive zone 7 feet from the net, grab a bouncing puck and roof it, that is innate. If he gets in the right situation with a playmaker and a banger on his line and he's a 40-35 guy for 10 years.

I agree about the B's. I wish it was May right now and I fear they may have peaked.

The defense still concerns me. Matt Hunwick has been a revelation but 20:00 a night have worn on him, he's been making a lot of mistakes the last 2 weeks. Matt Lashoff might be a bust. He's a good skater but he is a bone head. I think Wideman's minutes are wearing on him as well. I'd REALLY like to see them add something to the blueline at or around the deadline. Some sort of rental player who is good in his own end of the rink.

The forwards are fine I think although Bergeron's absence is being felt. They are being very mum about him which concerns me a little. Without him Stephan Yelle is being asked to play too much. I think he gets back a little after the break. Him, PJ Axelsson and Marco Sturm (when he gets back) are a nice "checking" line and when they want they replace Axe with Kobasew.

Krejci and Wheels do have to grow up fast for a push in the playoffs. They will see a lot tighter checking when the time comes. They have been Boston's best line (along with Mike Ryder) for the last month.

I also think Manny Fernandez ends up the #1 by the 65 game mark. He's been better then Timmy the last month and a half.

As a Leaf observer (and seeing as my woman is a huge Leafs fan I get to "observe" them more thsan I care to...LOL) I think Toskala is a bit of a bum. The guy just does not make big saves when he is required to. As patchwork as they are right now, give them solid goaltending and I think the Leafs are in the reunning for the 8 seed instead of being lottery bound. Burke will look to ship him out I think and let Pogge run with the ball to see what he has at some point. Kassian is destined to be a Leaf I think.

 

Your comparison in reagrds to Bouwmeester and Hedman is shared by Ray Ferraro (he's on the local all sports station all the time as a co host). He put it exactly like you did.

Booby Ryan is on FIRE. I think he gets the Calder nod (although, Steve Mason seems to want to win the Calder and Vezina). if he keeps up his pace.
I'm happy with Wheeler though, playing with Ryder and an out of his mind Krejci certainly helps.

The "great scouting" call was a good one but makes for a bit of an issue. These guys are going to have to be paid eventually. Kessel is due this year. Krejci the next, there is going to be some cap issues in Boston soon I think.

 

No Kessel, no Sturm, no Bergeron, no Ference and Ward left in the 2nd with ANOTHER injury....and they beat the hated Habs. This team is special.

Timmah was huge in the third period and his cross check to one of the sisters was a thing of beauty.

Big Z was a FORCE tonight. He was killing it on both end of the rink and the Krejci, Ryder & Wheeler line was top notch once again. I just can not stop gushing about David Krejci. I know it's early but he is Adam Oates with better foot speed. He plays at any pace...I just love the kid.

Manny is "day to day" and they brought up Tuukka Rask. I was hoping he'd see some action but I don't think we will unless Manny is out for more than a week. They play Thursday, Saturday and Monday. Thursday in Long Island, Timmy gets that and Saturday in Washington, you don't throw Tuukka to the wolves in that game. They play on Monday at home against the Blues....that is the Tuukka game if there is going to be one.

 

If the Vinny to Montreal rumours are true and the Lightning balk at it then their ownership and GM should be boiled in oil.

Tomas Plekanec, Chris Higgins, PK Subban, maybe 2 first rounders and another player or prospect? I do that everyday of the week. I love Vinny but he's got miles on that body and has a contract that is a little crazy.

That deal could do the same thing for the Lightning as the Lindros deal did for the Avs/Nords organization....in my opinion.

 

The thing with Bergy is he was coming off a MAJOR league concussion. He missed over 70 games. It was going to take a lot of time for him to get his timing back. The crappy thing is, the game he got his latest concussion in was EASILY his best game of the year. He was rolling out there and it looked like he'd turned the corner.

He is skating again and went with the Bruins to Washington. He COULD play this weekend but they are talking about holding him out until after the All star break which is a good idea in my opinion.

I'll get to "keeping him" in a second.

Kessel and Krejci are both RFA's. The way the economy is going the cap is going down next year and will go down for the 2009/10 season and will go down further for the 2010/2011 season.

With the cap dropping teams won't be making any silly offer sheets this offseason but even if they do Boston has the right to match on both of them.

Kessel will be getting a raise without a doubt. He might end up in the $5 a year range. Maybe on a shorter term deal but I can't see him getting 7 or 8 a year unless someone gets dumb and throws mega bucks at him.

Krejci is the same, a RFA. He's a little different though. The Bruins have some leverage because he's really only done this for a year and a half. With thsat said, it would not surprise me to see him get a Bergeron type contract, around 4 million a year.

The best numbers I can find on their cap situation tell me they have $41,160,000 committed to salaries for 2009/2010. With the CURRENT cap that would leave them $15.5 million in cap room.

That 15.5 includes Peter Schaefer's $2.1 million. Unless they can trade him in the offseason he'll be making that in Providence again so their true cap space could be around $17.6 million.

For arguments sake, lets say the cap drops $2-3 million for 2009/2010. Let's give them $15 million in cap room.

You need a goaltender because both Tim Thomas and Manny F. are free agents. You give Timmy or Manny offers of around 3.5-4 million a year on a 2 year deal, one of them is your starter and Tuukka Rask is your backup. That is about $7 million committed right there.

You sign Krejci and Kess to the contracts I discussed and you are over the cap by about 1.5 million. Not good, not good at all considering you also have to give Matt Hunwick a contract and add another D-man because Shane Hnidy is a free agent as well.

Marco Sturm is the first guy out of town if it comes to this. He's making $3.5 million. If he can come back for the playoffs and perform well he could be trade bait. If he does not return at all for the balance of the season they might have to buy him out.

I think trading Bergy is the last option to clear cap room. They are going to need him in 2010/2011 because Marc Savard is going to be a UFA and he will be unsignable. Trading Bergy in 09/10 and losing Savvy the following offseason would be a disaster. You'd be left with one center.

A few things have to happen to hold it all together:

- Hope that the cap does not drop too far this offseason, if at all. This is actually being discussed with people saying that the big drop in the cap will come in 2010/2011

- Trade Marco Sturm and/or Schaefer.

- We get either/or Krejci and Kessel on contracts that are back heavy. Freeing us from heavy cap burdens for 2 years.

In the end I'm speaking from a personal point of view. I don't want Bergy traded. He's my favorite Bruin AND I have an authentic home sweater with his name and number on it. I don't want to have to mothball ANOTHER $300.00 hockey sweater (to go with my Juneau, Oates and Thornton's)...LOL!

 

Yes, my reaction to the Thornton trade was unfortunate. My girlfriend thought I was insane. I was LIVID for weeks.

While the trade itself has to still be thought of as one of the worst ever made, what Peter Chiarelli did with the ashes O'Connell left behind is quite astounding.

He is not able to sign Chara and Savvy if Thornton is still here.

Like I said, still a bad trade. O'Connell did not even SHOP Thornton. He should have gotten a massive package for him, one similiar to what the Lightning are looking at getting for Vinny. What did he get? The bad Primeau, and 2 guys (Sturm and Stuart) who were going to be unrestricted a year and a half after the trade and no draft picks. It is still amazing to look back on it and see how completely moronic Mike O'Connell was.

I wanted to divorce the franchise....LOL!

The thing is, if Bergy got traded I would know why and I would know that Chia would have shopped him and got a good deal. I'd be pissed but I'd get over it.

Krejci should be in the REGULAR All Star game! Him not going to the young stars does not surprise me to be honest. They usually leave that one for the rookies. Did Wheeler make it?

I'm glad Krejci is staying home though. I'd rather have him rested for the 2nd half.

 

It's a good move, especially with the issues the Devils have had at times on the power play. Shanny will help there big time.

 

The Devils have always scared the hell out of me and they always will, I don't care if they rolled out a peewee team, I'd still be terrified.

Dennis Wideman was VERY good last year. He got scratched for the first two games and since then he has not looked back. His play has fallen off a little bit the last 2 weeks, I think it is because of all the minutes he plays. The B's have been missing Ference and Ward for long stretches. If Chia can add a D-man at the deadline and with Ference returning hopefully the minutes will come down a little bit. The All Star break will help as well.

I can never say enough about Krejci, dude is amazing to me. It's almost like slow motion when he gets possession in the offensive zone and he is very good at his end of the rink as well.

BTW...your boy Parise is ridiculous...LOL!

 

Those deals were SOOOOOOOOOO bad.

I think the Luongo one was by far the worst. To be honest, trading Luongo might have set in motion the worst set of circumstances any General Manager EVER has!

Think about it. You trade one of the best young goaltenders in hockey so you can draft another young goaltender? In what universe is that EVER a good idea? On top of that, you pass on Dany Heatley so you can do it?

I mean, not only did Milbury make that monumental error but he threw in Olli Jokinen so he could get Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish? Really?