JR Ewing

Now that we have that settled. JR

With the Grebeshkov signing a couple of days ago, the Oilers have something like: Smid (L) Petry ® Ference (L) J Schultz ® N Schultz (L) Belov (L) -------------------- Grebeshkov ® Larsen ® -------------------- Potter Klefbom Marincin -Anything which doesn't force Klefbom into the NHL lineup before he's ready is good. -I wasn't really sure how to sort Belov and Grebeshkov. Grebs has played (well) in the NHL before, but didn't have a very good year last season in the KHL, and Belov is a little younger and was the best defenseman in the league. Both can play a puck moving game. -I think Nick Schultz needs to go. -I don't know if the Oilers plan on keeping Larsen around: he does bring what Craig MacTavish is clearly placing a premium on: an ability to move the puck.. Thing is, we also don't know if the Oilers picked him up in the Horcoff trade because they wanted him or if Dallas wanted some salary to go back. -Potter is on a 2-way deal, so if anybody's going to OKC, it's him. -It seems that, based on his signings, Craig MacTavish doesn't place a high value on slow d-men who can't move the puck (the Fistric types). JR

LOL Whenever somebody says "not to be insulting" the insult comes right after, just like "not to be sexist" is followed by something that would make Larry Flynt blush . Say it for real, own up to it: you think what I said is dumb. That's fine. It wasn't; you just disagree with it. I honestly think people can disagree without breaking it down to that level, but let your flag fly. For what it's worth, I also think that placing the Pacific teams in the "Lemieux Division" isn't the best idea. Then again, nobody ever has a hard time finding their team, no matter what the division is named. After all, you seemed to find the Flyers in the Patrick Division even though you never heard of Lester Patrick. Anyway. This is all fine, and I don't think that it's the end of the world either way. The league won't do better or worse based on how they name their divisions. And we'll probably need to agree to disagree. JR

-This is a league that locks out its players more often than MIchael Jordan places bets. -This is a league where discipline is handled in a way that doesn't do the word "inconsistent" justice. -This is a league where the Director of Hockey Operations is sending nasty emails to the head of officiating, complaining about calls made/not made in reference to his own son, who plays in the league. -This is a league that allows a man to be named as an All-Star at two positions, one of which he doesn't even play. -This is a league that, carte blanche, gave complete control of the expansion process to one GM (Sam Pollock) who then wrote the rules to benefit his team above all others, completely hosing competitive balance for the next decade. We could go on. The NHL is already a bush league, and is already seen that way. Many people openly consider fighting being allowed to be a joke, to be bush league. Division names, whether they be geographic or historic, don't draw fans in and they sure as hell don't keep them away. I don't think it's the end of the world that they went geographic, and I sure as hell don't think they should have gone back to Norris/Smythe/etc, but I don't see the harm, either. JR

For the GM or me? LOL I'm pretty convinced that's why GMs do it, anyway. You get to look good by locking up a key player, and even if the term is way too long (David Clarkson.......) then you most likely won't be the guy having to clean it up. In that sense, it's completely like federal politics, where people make decisions are made far less in terms of what would be good in the long term, and much more so on a 4-year cycle. It's a shame, but it happens all the time. JR

It's not only that, but I've seen this precise set of posts from a guy who went around to a bunch of forums at the same time, all so he could bait people with an argument over GWG, and he could "expose" their "lack of logic", when all they were doing was explaining the league's logic to him. He wasn't interested in discussion or debate. He was interested in looking down on people. He was, in short, an ass. I don't know if this is the same guy, but if he is.............. JR

Not to be overly sarcastic, but I would guess the location of the city would be the dead giveaway... We don't really need a divsion name like "Pacific" to tell us where Los Angeles plays. JR

Oh, this is really a shame. I hoped they would take their chance to come back with names that would be a throwback to the game's greatest players and/or builders, and wasn't so far removed from newer fans they've picked up: Gretzky, Orr, Lemieux, etc. The NHL has an amazing history which the league run towards, not away from. JR

I wouldn't want to give a goalie credit or blame for the system employed his team. People are constantly knocking Brodeur for the Devils trapping (like so many other teams, btw). My issue with Brodeur is that the save percentage was just never there. Great goalie, didn't make my top 5 (was 6th). On the other side of the coin, people want to sometimes give a little bit too much credit for goalies that played under a looser defensive system. With Grant Fuhr, the point is sometimes stretched to the absurd, and people talk about the Oilers as if they didn't give a rat's ass about defense when I can assure you they did. For all of the talk of the hard job Fuhr had, it was guys like Hextall, Burke, Bannerman, Hrudey, etc, who saw a lot more rubber each game. a] Yeah, yeah... Paul Coffey... And the other 5 guys? Most years it was guys who were very good defensively: Kevin Lowe, Charlie Huddy, Lee Fogolin. Solid defensively: Jeff Beukeboom, Craig Muni, Steve Smith, Randy Gregg. b] Forwards? They had two guys who were among the top vote getters for the Selke year-in and year-out: Craig MacTavish and Esa Tikkanen. c] There is tremendous defensive benefit to always being at the other end of the ice, pushing play at the opposition. Less time in your zone, less chances at you net. This isn't to say that the Oilers played a stifling defense. We're talking about the 80s; nobody really did that. You could see more breakaways in one game than you see in a month of games these days. But, over time, talk of how the Oilers played has taken on a life of its own. TLDR for Fuhr: Like Brodeur, the save percentage just wasn't there. JR

Why: Yeah, I would bet the honeymoon is a major factor in his not being signed yet. Where: a team that will give him the money he wants AND will not put make him a 3rd line centre. He has no interest in doing that again, clearly. JR

Not only that, but I've seen this exact topic played out in exactly this fashion. It started out with a hypothetical description of goals scored and who was awarded the GWG, and then asked forum members to say why/how it worked. Then, after, the person came and told them why GWG is so wrong, blah blah blah, etc etc etc. Seen this a few times on a few forums over the last decade. JR

Uh oh... I've been down this road enough times over the last 9-10 years on message boards. I know where this leads. JR

Haha! Yeah, that's putting it mildly. The man was seriously ticked off. JR

I think he'll likely have to, but disagree about his year statistically speaking. His boxcar numbers were underwhelming, but a look under the hood shows that he had an extremely tough job to do with low quality teammates, and did it very well. It was because Grabovski was able to do so that Kadri was able to get all of the gravy zone starts with good linemates. Unless I've missed something: who's going to play those minutes now? JR

One offer which has been made public, at any rate. JR

I always watched the Olympic tournament before NHL players were involved, but it's gotten so much better that it's not even close. JR

I'd love that. HIs skating really helps him, and it creates utter panic from opposing defensemen, since there's not a ton of them who can fend off that kind of speed. What struck me was the collective "Wow!" from the Toronto crowd after the first goal. Serious wheels. There's plenty of guys that fast without the puck, not a whole lot of them can do it with the puck and get away a shot like that. JR

Most interesting is that Brown negotiated the contract himself: no player agent. According to articles I've found around on the internets, the average commission is 4%, so he saved himself a little under $2M. Not so bad. Oh, and the term is almost assuredly too long for the Kings, but GMs will always do this: 8 years is probably longer than you'll have the job, so the contract will most likely be the next guy's problem. JR

Great book, though it's been over 20 years since I've read it... Guess it's time to do that again. JR

From the standpoint of seeing the absolute best hockey, I badly want NHL players at the Olympics. I'm not bothered by the pro/amateur thing, as the Games largely lost that amateur thing a very long time ago. Would that it were true, but it's not. JR

After the Leafs paid Grabovski to leave, I thought the Wings would be right after him, especially with losing Filppula. Certainly, the Wings have never had a bias against this type of player. Must have wanted more than they could pay. JR

I made sure to get tickets to Oilers games whenever the Pens came to town. I was already spoiled by seeing a lot of high end talent close up, but Mario blew me away every time. What I could never get over was how soft his hands were. It was really something: you couldn't hear the puck hit his stick, no matter how hard the pass. That wasn't picked up on TV or by any mircrophones, and you had to be among the lucky who personally attended games in which he played to really catch something like that. Astonishing hockey player. JR

Taylor Hall? -Three-zone hockey player who, from day one, had the puck moving north. CorsiRel has only gotten better every year: +10 (21st), +15 (12th), +20(6th) from 2011 thru this past year. -Has been playing tough competition since about game 10 of his career and was able to keep his head above water immediately. -This past season he really pulled in on the more reckless side of his behaviour, spent less time spinning around on his butt and belly after trying to do too much. -Backs off defenders and creates huge amounts of room for his linemates, and he really used it this year, when he made a purposeful point at trying to fill out his passing game. Went from 34 assists per 82 GP up to 62. Has really made strides from being that kid who tried to do too much on his own. -Lost in the shuffle of him finishing 9th in NHL scoring was that he finished 2nd in the West. 22 years old, and was the second best scorer in his league. -Underused. Was neck and neck with Toews for Pts/60: 3.15 (6th NHL, 2nd West), and with tougher minutes than many around him. -If he was playing for the Leafs, Ranger, Bruins, etc, we'd be hearing about him ALL THE TIME. Wonderful young player. JR

I remember this one. Short of kicking Mario in the nuts, Fortier tried everything he could do to stop him. JR

I'd like it to be addressed, but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it. We've all been saying this for at least ten years. JR