brelic

No, he's not Russian He's the next Jagr!~

Bryz made a lot of nice saves, and controlled his rebounds well by either covering up, or directing them to the corners. One of his better games, actually. Bourdon had a few rough shifts where giveaways caused us to be hemmed in our zone, but other than that, he looked very good. Nice to see him score a goal. He even admitted that he threw a weak shot on goal through traffic hoping to create something, and he ended up scoring Also, Coburn made the play of the night. If anyone has the replay, they should post it. He pasted OV to the boards, caused a turnover that led to the Talbot goal. He's truly emerging this season as a top pairing guy, and showing why he was a high first round draft pick.

They were lame secondary assists. Voracek was a BEAST last night. But JVR was nearly invisible, hence the low TOI (14 min) vs Voracek (17+). Of course, Voracek was also on the PK, but that tells you what Lavi is thinking.

LOL, good point, but any GM worth his salt does not pick up Kaberle for his defensive prowess. Then again, Howson also thought Carter would be the much-needed center for Nash. Oops.

Why on earth would Montreal trade away Kaberle, who they just picked up??

Look at this one... I don't think anyone forgets this hit. And on the reverse angle, you can see Campbell leading with his shoulder to the head. He sent Umberger to another planet.

For sure, but then the hitter doesn't have to target the head either. Until there are really severe penalties for it, it won't stop. I mean, look at what Downie got for hitting McAmmond... has *anyone* in the league gotten as severe a suspension since that time? Why didn't Steckl get 20 games, just like Downie? It was a deliberate hit to the head. Makes no sense... very Romper Room kind of discipline.

I think the larger question is whether or not the NHL is negligent toward its players by allowing these kinds of injuries in the workplace. Now, don't get me wrong.. I know hockey is a physical sport, just like football. But with the controversy surrounding football players committing suicide, and then the same thing happening in hockey, and then add how common concussions really are when there's contact to the head, one would think that the NHL has an obligation to its 'employees', just like any regular company does. It's not enough for them to say 'well, it's a hazardous work environment.' They've been trying to eliminate them by imposing heavier penalties for deliberate hits to the head. But you probably can't take those out of the game. What about better helmets? Smaller shoulder pads? Players keep getting bigger and stronger, and so does the gear. Not really sure what they should do either way, I'm kinda just spitballin' here. But in the end, I do think the NHL needs to protect its most valuable assets. Guys like Crosby and Giroux are infinitely more valuable to the game than guys like Cooke or Steckl.

Here it is...

At least Schenn is slated to come back on Thursday, and depending on how Couturier does, he'll probably see time on the top line. This really sucks.

I'm sure we'll see someone like Talbot double-shifted and center Z and Rinaldo every once in a while. Other than Shelley, I don't think they have anyone else on the roster they could have plunked in the lineup. Once Schenn and G come back, I doubt we'll see much of Shelley again.

Man, how freakin' AWESOME must it be for Couturier! Imagine yourself as an 18 year old kid playing with a 2-time Cup champion and guaranteed hall of famer. That's usually the stuff you dream about as a kid and what gives you the drive to play hockey in the first place. Couturier seems pretty level headed, and I'm sure he won't show any emotion, but inside, he must be smiling from ear to ear.

The ironic this is that Stevens retired due to consussions too, didn't he? Anyway, the big thing I noticed with these hits is the lack of response by teammates. I remember this Lindros hit on Dackell too... I was at the game and working for the Senators as part of gameday enterainment. We were the musicians that played live during TV timeouts and whistle stoppages. Well, when this hit happened, our game day producer just yelled out "play something!" because of their irrational fear of silence. My buddy, the keyboard player, was caught off guard and started playing this mellow piano bit that the journalists referred to the next day as a 'funeral dirge'. Anyway, he got razzed about that for quite a while.

I know. And those hits were deemed clean, hockey hits at the time. I love big open ice hits, but I never like seeing a guy who can barely stand up afterward.

I remember this like it was yesterday. This one hit in particular and the one Scott Stevens laid on him in the playoffs are burned in my mind forever. It actually makes me sick to watch it. Even worse are those ****ers on the Pens bench congratulating Kasparitis. The league has come a long way, and anyone who says that it's becoming too 'soft' just needs to look at this. There's no place for deliberate hits to the head. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tylu3vEWwE4&feature=player_embedded

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=606089&navid=DL|NHL|home Saddled with a four-game losing streak and the lowest-scoring offense in the NHL, the Los Angeles Kings fired coach Terry Murray on Tuesday, replacing him on an interim basis with assistant coach John Stevens. The Kings, who are in Boston where they will begin a four-game road trip on Tuesday, have fallen to 12th in the Western Conference with 30 points on a 13-12-4 record. After two straight seasons of making the playoffs, expectations around the team were raised this summer when general manager Dean Lombardi traded for center Mike Richards and signed free-agent forward Simon Gagne. The Kings, though, haven't found any type of offensive rhythm. They're averaging a League-worst 2.21 goals per game and are on pace for just 181 goals this season. Star defenseman Drew Doughty, who missed training camp on a contract holdout, has just 2 goals, 8 points and a minus-4 rating in 24 games. Leading scorer Anze Kopitar hasn't scored a goal in the last eight games. And Richards, who leads the team with 11 goals, has missed the last four games with a head injury and did not accompany the team to Boston. The 61-year-old Murray, who previously held head coaching positions with Washington, Philadelphia and Florida, took over behind the Los Angeles bench for the 2008-09 season. The Kings finished fifth, but improved from 79 to 101 points in Murray's second season and had 98 points last season. Murray becomes the fifth coach to be replaced since the beginning of the 2011-12 season, following Davis Payne in St. Louis, Bruce Boudreau in Washington, Paul Maurice in Carolina and Randy Carlyle in Anaheim.

Well, that's the thing with indefinitely... it sounds scary, but it really just means they have no idea. There's no timetable for his return. It could be a week, could be a year. I honestly don't remember a time in the NHL where there were so many concussions. Maybe they're just better at diagnosing them, or the threshold is lower, but man, it's a little crazy. We have 3 just on our team this year.

From http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=382548 Sidney Crosby will miss his third straight game on Tuesday when the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Detroit Red Wings and there is no timetable for his return. Crosby, who was not on the ice for Monday's practice, has already missed the Penguins' last two games with what the team calls concussion-like symptoms. "Not (feeling) bad," he said about his latest setback. "I'm not happy about watching, but I have to make sure with these sort of things that I'm careful and making sure I'm 100 per cent before coming back." While there's no timetable for his return, Crosby said he's continuing light workouts. "I've been doing light exertion stuff and seeing how that goes," Crosby said following the team skate. "It's that whole (recovery) routine again, but hopefully not as long. When I wasn't doing something for six, seven months that process was a little longer. Hopefully, that's not the case here." He added that "frustrating" doesn't even begin to explain how he feels. The Penguins decided to sit Crosby on Thursday in Philadelphia and Saturday against the New York Islanders once he experienced a post-practice headache last Wednesday. Head coach Dan Bylsma said there were no indication that the NHL's marquee player was suffering from concussion symptoms. Crosby returned after a 68-game absence on Nov. 21 and has 12 points in eight games this season.

That just blows. I'd love to see Giroux not miss a beat... but I'd much prefer to see him have a long career in Philly BTW, Crosby is out indefinitely.

Off the top of my head? Davis Payne

Very insightful article. Good find, HF! I wonder if they're talking about Bourdon...

I'm sure that another reason why Bourdon and Marshall are playing over Walker is to figure out whether or not Walker is expendable. I think he is. So the Flyers could waive him and not miss a beat. He was brought up in case the rooks couldn't cut it. So, you've got Pronger/Carle Coburn/Timonen Meszaros/Gus Bourdon Marshall Lilja Walker I think, when healthy, we can safely shed Lilja and Walker. Problem is Lilja is on a 35+ contract, so waiving him does us no good. It should be a trade, if possible. There's no way he should be here for his 2 seasons. Walker is expendable too, and so is Shelley. Laviolette continues to choose rookies over guys like Shelley and Walker. That's $2.8M is salary right there.

No offense, but that defensive lineup stinks. Bourdon probably won't even be a top 4 defenseman at his peak, let alone in his 2nd season. That would mean increasing his minutes by about 7-8 minutes per game over what he has now. I'm not writing him off, I just wouldn't start the season that way, and I'm sure Homer will do something in the off season to address our defense, including re-signing Carle.

Part of the reasoning is probably that you don't go into the playoffs with 7 regular rookies on your roster, including 2 defensemen. It's one thing for Marshall and Bourdon to look OK in the regular season, but quite another in the playoffs. Bourdon made an incredibly stupid pass right across the ice in our zone that was nearly intercepted. He had many better options, but chose one that inexperienced players would. When the pressure rises in the playoffs, these inexperienced guys will get exposed more. Remember Parent and Krajicek? They looked "ok" in the regular season... good enough for bottom pairing, but they were probably just as responsible for us not winning the Cup as Leighton. They were a liability on the ice, and the other team gained momentum by hedging us in the zone for long periods. And though our two rooks have done well, check the number on the jerseys next time we're hemmed in. Chances are you'll see one of Bourdon or Marshall. I'm not being negative, just realistic. As far as TOI for Kimmo, his current average (22:03) is his lowest average TOI since the 2006-2007 season in Nashville (21:51). He'll be fine. It's Carle (22:26) who seems to be playing a lot more lately, and Coburn's right around the same as Timo (21:55). If we break down their TOI by month... Timo Oct - 21:53 Nov - 21:45 Dec - 23:05 Carle Oct - 22:00 Nov - 21:40 Dec - 25:15 Coburn Oct - 21:21 Nov - 21:43 Dec - 23:33 Both Coburn and Carle had a bigger jump in TOI. To me, that seems like Lavi knows exactly what he's doing in managing his defensemen, and Timo will be fine. That's probably why he's quietly having his best season as a Flyer. He's got 20 assists already!

Actually, his cap hit doesn't count if he's legitimately on LTIR, like Laperriere. It really comes down to the Flyers not understanding the rules. They thought they were pulling a fast one until they were informed that a 35+ contract is defined by the age of the player when the contract BEGINS, not the age of the player when he signs it. Pronger was 34 when he signed it, but it was an extension that only kicked in the following season when he was over 35.