Miscellany

- I don't even wanna think about the Devils game. Except to say this: Shanahan's still got it. For a geriatric. Ooooh. Snap!

- Best thing about the Flyers game: Watching Colby Armstrong's mouth moving non-stop through the whole Boulton/Cote scrap. I would pay money to be able to hear/read whatever Army was saying.

- And was it just me, or did Cote seem to reconsider after he figured out he wasn't going to pin Boults against the glass?

- I don't agree much w/ Pierre McGuire, just on general principle, but Master P with a good quote on Hockey This Morning on the XM:

"Scott Hartnell has become the best super-pest in the league."

Yes. Just yes.

- Another great thing about the XM: reliving how Urge Overkill's loving Neil Diamond tribute 'Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon" shifted entire paradigms in my 15yr old world.



The boat. Is key.

Should I Stay or Should I Go? Part.... Something.

Just 'cause I can't stand leaving things unfinished, the short, short version of SISOSIG?


The Greek God Line

(Jim Slater/Chris Thorburn/Eric Boulton)

I'm gonna review these guys as a unit, because they've been together since what seems like the Carter administration.

Interesting stat:
07-08 Point Total: 40
08-09 Point Total (Thus Far): 34

That's exciting.

Excluding his fighting majors, Boults has racked up about 32 min in minors - That number could stand to come down. Slates & Thor are both big bodies with decent hands, and all three seem to be taking pretty well to head coach Johnny A's system.

Verdict: Stay.

The D

Ron Hainsey - Love him. Solid human being. Stay.

Nic Havelid - UFA this summer; getting older; lost a step or two; PIMs starting to climb; Toby seems to be doing pretty well, let him Go. The Isles always like picking up our slop.... wait, nevermind.

Mathieu Schnieder - No one is a bigger Schnieder fan than me (a good hockey-playing jewish boy from New York, what's not to love?). But, man, those PIMs are killing us. I'd like to keep him around to assist Hainsey at the kid's table, but his real value is in what he can fetch us at the deadline from a desparate bubble team. Go. Sad face.

Tobias Enstrom - AKA "The Future, Chpt. 1". Stay.

Zach Bogosian - "The Future, Chpt. 2" Stay.

As a matter of fact, the only other D-man that really needs to go....

Garnet Exelby. Yes, he's fun. Yes, ladies love him. Yes, he's an all-around fan favorite. But he hasn't been the same since the concussions. And his positioning... um, less than stellar. We need to ship him while he's got some value.


There. That's the end of that. I learned a bunch. Another shutdown D-man would be nice. Should Pev's not be the answer long-term, Andy McDonald is a UFA. Let's throw some of that unused Campbell money at him....

Then again, ask me next week, and this all could change.


I love hockey.

Pens Tonight

According to Helene Elliott @ the LA Times, the Kings need help in net.

No way! Really?


Hmm....


If only we had an extra goalie we could send them... maybe we could pick up a Jarret Stoll or an Oscar Moller or ANYTHING TO HELP US WIN....


Anyway, Cros & Co. at Phillips tonight. Anyone remember this?

Someone needs to make sure Letang remembers.

I'm looking at you, Eric Boulton.

Let's see more of the team we saw in Ottawa.

The Flower is back in net for the Pens, Taffe & Stone are up from trolling the Wyoming Valley Mall. Let's hope Stone is wearing clothes. Some of our guys might remember them from a small series of games last year.

Anyone know a good place in the GA400/GA20 area to get a Guinness and watch the game?

Let's make tomorrow a bad day for some bloggers.

Go Thrashers.

Notes on the Carolina Game

- Feels great to be wrong.

- Is it just me, or does Dan Kamal kind of give off a Uecker-type vibe? Not that that's a bad thing - I've always felt spoiled with Kamal. I don't think I'd rather have anyone else (other than Rick Jennaret or Mike Lang, maybe). Especially not the guy from Carolina... or the Islanders Guy... or the Detroit guy... or the Sharks guy...

Anyway, back to the subject at hand: Dan needs a colorman. Bad. I think the strain is getting to him. Witness the following from last nights broadcast:

On Enstrom's 1st period minor:
"'How was your trip, sir?'
'Pretty costly, now I'm in the box.'"

On a shot in the 2nd being deflected into the mesh:
"The shot deflects into the mesh... It's a fine mesh you've gotten us into..."

Dan, if you're reading this, I kid because I love. Don't change a thing. I mean it.


- OK guys, let's split up into groups, go door to door, and see if any of the other 29 teams have some PK we can borrow. Seems we're a little low.


- Nice goal by Perrin. I really hope he finds the back of the net some more; the man has MAJOR work ethic, and I always like to see those guys succeed. They're the backbone of the league.


- Boulton. +1A. Scoring machine.


- The third line looks like big, chippy guys with good hands. They'll come on soon enough and provide a little ancillary scoring. A little jobbing in the corner goes a long way.


- Boomer Gordon from XM204 says we're rolling two solid scoring lines - not faint praise from a man who knows hockey.


- Slava Kozlov: I may not agree with Rawhide's call to give Kozzy the 'C', but I don't think you could ask for a better player at this point. Experience, humility, and ability all in the shape of one Russian Professor. Gamer.


- I seem to remember reading Slava said something about this new system being similar to one they ran in Detroit. That's gotta be better than the dump-and-no-chase system from last year (cue rimshot).


- Is Hainsey worth the $4.5 mil? Yup.