with the way Toskala's playing right now, i doubt San Jose wants to get rid of him, he could be emerging as another kiprusoff. Bertuzzi and Clootch for Nabokov and Michalek would be a pretty good trade.
I think anybody would be deadly with Thornton; that guy is an amazing playmaker. Whoa, Cheechoo just scored his 5th hat-trick of the season or something like that. It's sad how the season's over for the Canucks, the chemistry just seemed to come back in OT today. YES! Alex Auld totally deserved to be team MVP. He started 56 of the last 60 games, which is totally back-breaking especially for a rookie.
That's also very good. They'd have a decent back-up in Cloutier (he's not a starter-caliber goaltender, took the Canucks long enough to figure that out) and a rising netminder in Toskala. They'd free up cap space with Nabokov's contract, too. Finnish goaltenders, man. Amazing. Despite going 8-0-2 in their last 10, the Leafs were eliminated last night. They couldn't get any help from the other teams. Nobody would slip up. I'm surprised they lasted this long, actually. Mats Sundin deserves player of the week. Perhaps Crosby, Cheechoo, or Thornton as well.
WTF karma? Anyhow I think it would be sad to see Crawford go, he si the best coach in the league in my opinion. I would take him in a heartbeat for the oilers.
The problem with him is that everybody on the team stopped listening to him a long time ago, plus he's dumped so many backup goalies in our huge goalie graveyard. I wouldn't mind seeing him replaced with a coach that can get his players pumped up and motivated. The weather in Vancouver is so awesome right now, I bet all the Canucks are playing golf.
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 4ever RULEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have made TOPIC on http://www.hokej.co.yu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=480 That is Serbian hockey web site...
Holly fuck Oiler playoff presale tickets sold out today in 2 minutes. Hopefully I can get my hands on some tomorrow.
Well, my prediction about Ovechkin having a better season than Crosby was pretty much on -- but not by much! Crosby's a great talent, but I don't think he'll be a goal-scorer, whereas Ovechkin will be. Crosby's more like a play maker -- something in the vein of Yzerman, if you ask me. He's got goal-scoring capabilities just like Yzerman did (he's lost a step from all the injuries and age) when he was in his prime, but he's better at play making.
Ovechkin certainly surprised me. That's for sure. But we have to remember that Crosby's only 18. The youngest 18 year old ever to get 100 points, in fact. And he only sits 4 points behind someone bigger, stronger, and older than him. Plus he has 39 goals with no linemates around him to compliment his talent. Crosby has already shown he can potentially be a 40 goal scorer without linemates, so now all he needs is a fellow playmaker on his line and we all better look out. Hehe. Ovechkin's season has been amazing. Everytime he hit the ice, you could see the defence backing up and showing fear. He's got speed with the best of them, the size of a power-forward, and one of the fastest shots in the NHL, alike with Kovalev and Jagr. Both him and Crosby will be huge in the coming years. I think I called a 75 point season from Sidney earlier on in the year, and he's even exceeded my high expectations. But like I said earlier on, when Sidney is Alexander's age, he will probably have a better year than Ovechkin did this year. Although it did add drama to the rookie scoring race, I can't help but wish that the two had come into the NHL in seperate years so they could both have won the Calder. But then again, guess who else didn't win the Calder, and he made a great impact on the game. I see a bright future for the both of them. -------------- Quinn was fired by the Leafs today. I'm satisfied, actually. Quinn may have been a great coach in the old NHL, but his refusal to adapt to the new NHL cost him his job. Only when his beloved veterans (Belfour, Allison, Lindros, Khavanov) went down did he use his young players in key, important situations. That ended up landing us a 9-1-2 record in the last 13 games, a possible 20 of the last 24 points. If he had started Tellqvist in a few more of those games during their 8-game losing streak, we could've picked up points, but he chose to stay with the wonky and inconsistent (this season) Belfour. This lead to Belfour being overplayed and eventually hurt for the rest of the season (although I'm not complaining because Aubin did such a great job). I'm worried about Tellqvist, though. His confidence is gone. In addition, his refusal to stray away from the key three penalty shot shooters (Sundin, Tucker, Ponikarovsky), even on nights where those players struggled, cost us around 7 shootout losses. We missed out on the playoffs by 2 points. We went something like 4 for 24 on penalty shots, second last to Pittsburgh. He should share the blame for that. I'm happy he realized Allison was not shootout worthy early in the season, though, because slow skaters are terrible on penalty shots. I wish Wellwood, Stajan, and Steen had gotten more opportunities in those situations. But alas, another reason Quinn is gone; refusal to play his speedy youth and becoming too loyal to his veterans. I hope Paul Maurice is the new coach of the Leafs. He's the coach of the Marlies and he's done wonders developing our youth down in the AHL. He's also prone to use speed and youth in his lineups, and he's quite familiar with our developing players so he knows who he wants called up. Plus, he has past playoff success with the Hurricanes.
Roloson was amazing! 54 shots! But then again CBC interrupted the game for Calgary and Anaheim and the national when it was in overtime.
I just read what Mark said, and I think he was absolutely correct with his regards to Quinn. I think if he adjusted to the new NHL the Leafs may have made the playoffs.
I think it was a smart move by the Canucks GM to fire Crawford. It is true that he built the team up from nothing to a contender, but he's been unable to take us far into the playoffs. The players just stopped listening to him. Now that's he's gone, I hope we keep Bertuzzi. He's going to have a breakout year.
2006 NHL Awards Finalists Hart Trophy (MVP to Team) -- Jaromir Jagr -- Joe Thornton -- Miikka Kiprusoff Lester B. Pearson Award (MVP of League) -- Jaromir Jagr -- Joe Thornton -- Alexander Ovechkin Vezina Trophy (Top Goaltender) -- Miikka Kiprusoff -- Martin Brodeur -- Henrik Lundqvist Norris Trophy (Top Defenceman) -- Nicklas Lidstrom -- Scott Neidermayer -- Sergei Zubov Calder Trophy (Top Rookie) -- Sidney Crosby -- Alexander Ovechkin -- Dion Phaneuf Jack Adams Award (Top Coach) -- Lindy Ruff (Buffalo) -- Peter Laviolette (Carolina) -- Tom Renney (New York Rangers) Frank J. Selke Trophy (Top Defensive Forward) -- Rob Brind'amour -- Mike Fisher -- Jere Lehtinen Lady Byng Trophy (Most Gentlemanly Player) -- Pavel Datsyuk -- Patrick Marleau -- Brad Richards