NHL 2007-2008 season

I'm not as excited as I was this year compared to last year. I have a feeling that the obstructions are going to grow this year and the refs are going to slowly revert to their old ways.

The Canadiens haven't' really done much to bolster their lineup, while just about every team in the Eastern Conference, except the Bruins and Makebeliefs, have made significant improvements. I'm afraid it's going to be another no-playoff-spot year again.

Philadelphia are going to be huge, and I think even the Senators will be atop again.

Bleh.

Oh, and fuck Daniel Briere. Choosing the piece-of-shit-Flyers...

The asshole forced us get Brian Smolinski, who was playing rookie during World War II. This year is gonna suck bad.

Anyway, I'll always cheer for the Habs, but I hope the Penguins go far.

Shit, forgot about the 'Pens. They are going to be fucking incredible.

They'll at least be better than this...

Best. Rant. Ever.

Therrien scares children in Pittsburgh.

And yeah, the Pens are poised for good stuff this season.

By switching Souray for Hamrlick, the Canadians went from -28 to +22. That's a 50 points differencial. This is a huge improvement. Souray scored a lot of goals but he also fucked up a lot of offense with is inability to move the puck and his soft passes.

I'm going against the grain with this and I say that despite losing Souray's 26 goals, the Canadians will be a better offensive team this season. By having Markov on the first pairing, Hamrlick on the second and Brisebois (blech) on the third, Montreal's transition game will be more precise and much faster. The forwards should finally be able to use their speed.

I believe Latendresse can score 30 goals if he plays with Koivu the whole season. Without any big injuries, Higgins should go for 30. Ryder will have his biggest season before becoming a UFA. Plekanec will prove his naysayers wrong. Smolinski will finish the season on the fourth line.

I have a lot of hope riding on Kostitsyn. If he plays on the second line and gets some PP time, I believe he'll surprise a lot of people around the league.

Concerning the Flyers (and the Rangers), my opinion is that a lack of chemistry will have them figthing for a place in the place instead of fighting for the top.

Buffalo while still a good team, did not improve this summer by losing Brière and Drury. New Jersey, a team on the decline, has replaced Gomez by Zubrus. That is not an improvment.

I have this eerie feeling that the Rangers will be a bit disappointing this season. I like Drury, but they overpaid for Gomez and did nothing to shore up their weak defense.

The Sporting News picks the Penguins to beat the Red Wings in the Cup final. Sure, that jazzes me up, but it seems pointless to predict things like this-- did anyone predict the Ducks would win it all last year? And even if you had a pretty good idea Buffalo would win the President's Trophy, what does that mean as far as playoff success? That all being said, I also think the Penguins will be a really strong team. And I'm really excited about trying to get tickets to the Penguins-Sabres Ice Bowl New Year's Day game at Ralph Wilson Stadium, though I will bet that even with 70,000+ seats, it will be a fairly tough ticket.

Yeah, I think the Gomez signing in particular is Holik Redux. It's like the Rangers went right back to being the club that thought money was the answer. If Jagr starts to go into his shell of petulance, they could well miss the playoffs.

I went to the Lightning Fan day the weekend before last where they were touting the new logo redesign as the biggest news since ice was first skated on. After standing in the lovely 95 degree high humidity heat for an hour or so(it was at the arena, but only autographs were actually inside, the ice was being used by some kids practicing for High School Musical on Ice) they unveil it only to show that if you look at it from the right angle its vaguely different. New font and word configuration? Awesome!

I know the actual design of the uniform is different for the whole nhl this season but I was supremely unimpressed by the supposed logo make-over.

As for the team itself this year, they really havent made any changes worth mentioning yet so I imagine they'll be the same as last year. Make the play-offs but not past the second round at best.

I've read previews that have the Sabres going anywhere from 5th in the East to out of the playoffs altogether. All I'll say is that they'll finish second to the Sens in the Northeast, and at best, win a playoff round.

Sabres tickets go on sale tomorrow, with no notice on the outdoor game. Though checking the official website, a 'special event' press conference (wink wink, nudge nudge) is on Monday from Ralph Wilson Stadium. So best bet is that they'll delay selling tickets to the game until Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. I'm wondering how many seats they're going to sell. I'd bet on something close to 77,000 tickets...

I've got friends in Buffalo who are already starting on New Year's plans built around this. I'm gonna go up for the weekend, and my brother is driving up from here for the game. Should be fun.

The Sabres are significantly worse, having lost Drury and Briere (they were supposed to keep one of them, not throw 10 mil per at Vanek), so anywhere from 5th down sounds about right for them.

NHL predictions are an absolute crapshoot though, especially in the east where there was only a 6 point difference between 6th and 11th last year.

Right. It's September, I'm allowed to be positive... and considering the first half of football I just watched, Western New York's hopes are pinned on the Sabres yet again.

It sounds like Darcy Regier and the Sabres' brass finally got the point and has ditched the 'we don't negotiate during the season' crap. Frankly, it's one thing to say 'we'll match any offer' publically. It's another to act indignant when your whole salary structure is thrown off-base via a monster offer to Vanek days later.

Course, at that point, they'd lost Drury and Briere. Sadly, they picked the wrong guy to go after: Briere wanted to stay, while Drury was waiting on how they'd treat Briere (not well). There was some rumor about Drury turning down a big offer before last season, but it was refuted by the media and management. To lose Vanek as well would have pissed the fanbase off even more.

So they'll have to rely on Ryan Miller to steal games, and hope that Afinogenov, Stafford, Roy and a healthy Connolly can step up and replace some of Briere's offense. At best, second in the Northeast and fifth in the East. At worst, they'll be in a fight for a playoff spot.

I'm looking forward to the season but man do this new RBK jerseys suck. Out of the redesigned ones I like the Canucks and the Bruins but the rest are shit. They look like they're better suited for the Cooper-all era.

Most of the new uni's are badass. The Canucks one looks like crap though, and Dallas is even worse.

I'll agree with the Dallas ones being ass but my love for the classic Vancouver look (it's a nice nod to all the old Vancouver teams) blinds me to anything else you said.

The Thrashers may be the worst with the Oilers/Panthers being tied for second. The Sharks look like the late seventies Penguins and the St. Louis ones look like someone's sewing kit threw up.

I like the simplicity of the Leafs, though. No stripes on the bottom, just blue or white to the end of the jersey.

The colours aren't so bad, and I do like the new logo. I just hate the "VANCOUVER" lettering across the chest. Looks absolutely terrible.

I like a lot of the new logos actually. Tampa Bay was in dire need of a logo change so that's the one I'm most happy about. Hate the new Ottawa logo though.

Damnit Kidd, you and your Frenchy spellings. I like most of the new uni's but Dallas' is complete ass and anything with huge lettering across the chest sucks.




I know Kidd and he knows I'm joking so fuck you if it bothers you.

Firefox keeps telling me it's wrong and I keep ignoring it.

But yeah I think it's unanimous that the Dallas uniforms do, in fact, look like ass. And another thing, why do Dallas and Vancouver and whoever else need the city printed on their HOME jerseys? Don't the fans know where they are?? Bizarre.

I've never understood why they have to put the city on a home jersey. That's just retarded. Maybe it's some sort of league rule. Either way I hate it.

I'd never noticed this before. It is retarded.

I didn't even know they had preseason games let alone the regular season start today in England. So goes Hockey in Chicago.

With the death of Dollar Bill Wirtz I hope some Hawk home games will be shown on tv. I'm not sure if they have any players worth watching but I'd like to find out.

I don't get it. The season started today with the Ducks vs the Kings but Montreal was playing in Ottawa on the same night in a pre-season game.

I believe the schedule was the same when the league opened in Japan that one year (1998? 99? Can't remember.).

Anyway, some of the RBK jerseys aren't bad. The Slug? Not good.

What's The Slug?

The jersey's are ok. I hate the NHL medallion at the base of the V neck. It looks dumb.

The new Buffalo jersey is nicknamed the slug.

Dude. Never noticed that before. That's incredibly dumb.

Yup, hence why I've got a blue and gold throwback jersey instead of the new one.

That's what we used to do a few years ago. There wasn't any delay so we listened to the radio announcers who are vastly superior to the clowns we got on RDS.

So, minutes after signing a deal Heatley shows why he was worth the deal in the first place. Just an amazing player.

that is because Heatley is amazing.

Crosby's slow start is fucking up hockey pools worldwide. He needs to pick it up! the measly assist he had tonight is not helping matters much.

As for Toskala, the Toronto media must have had a field day with that one. Hell, they killed the guy for going winless in the preseason. They'll go with a platoon situation for most of the year unless one of them gets really hot.

Toskala was why Toronto got the win against Montreal last saturday. But hey, if they wanna go with Raycroft, I won't say a thing.

That game tonight was crazy. I almost left the bar with about 10 minutes to go and the Sabres down two goals. Glad I didn't.

Hope Bryan McCabe got first star of the night.

Something I learned from watching hockey last night.

-Standing a foot in front of the goalie, without actually touching him, is still considered goaltender interference and will get your goal disallowed. Just ask Tomas Holmstrom and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Heatley breakaway goal against Montreal was ridiculous. I still can't believe both officials didn't call anything on it.

Flyers are off to a pretty incredible start. I'm concerned about how many shots they've been giving up, though, since Biron can't possibly remain this hot.

I think I'll officially call this season a success once they pick up a win against the Penguins.

I don't know if anyone watched the Penguins/Capitals game on Saturday night, but if you did could you please clarify for me.....were the Capitals fans booing Ovechkin every time he touched the puck? It sure as hell sounded like it to my friends and I. Hell, if they don't want him they can send him up here to Detroit.

I doubt it. He still has a lot of potential. They'll probably keep him and try to land a good 1b goaler to share the load.

Maybe the best goal of the year.

It's good to see the Hawks have some offensive firepower again.

It was a home game so the few Blackhawk fans left didn't get to see it. But that might change.
Blackhawk ames on tv
It will still take the Hawks getting near the Conference Finals to get some minor interest. But a step in the right direction.