mojo1917

um he took the Islanders to the playoffs...twice. who was on that team that made that job easy ? that year in Carolina that he made the playoffs turned out pretty good. Stumbling and Bumbling around with huge roster turnover, a lot of really young guys , and we're still only a couple of 3-5 points out of first place in the conference, saddled with a space cadet in net. bottom line here is the guy doesn't suck, he might not be Toe Blake or Scotty Bowman but he's a good coach.

at the beginning of this year i was all set to be satisfied with a playoff berth as long as the young guys showed potential, but the excellent play of the young guys and jaromir freaking jagr has me thinking differently. it would be a waste to throw this season away so Universe can get his head on straight.... with the right answer in goal we could be dangerous in playoffs, like the 06/07 team that went to the ecf, i think there is more talent on this team than that one and like that one these guys like one another & playing together. i don't think we can squander this group because the high priced keeper can't hack playing in a legit hockey market.

@Mad Dog dion phaneuf ? did he all of the sudden get the suck off of himself... that guy was so overrated the last time i saw him, has he turned into a beast in toronto ? unless that's happened, i'd pick a different cat to use as an example. how about francois beauchamin , he's solid , tough and may actually fit into the salary cap... in truth, when we traded for pronger, beauchamin was the guy i was hoping we'd sign to bolster the corps.

going to but in here with the observation that Leighton was Laviolette's guy... he recommended him when Carolina waived him , he was a known quantity to Lavy, I think PL had a comfort level with Leighton that he didn't have with Bob, and i think those were the choices for PL; I think he viewed Boucher as the backup and the other guy as the starter. i think he knew Bob was worn down from the grind of the season and was hoping to recreate the prior year's Leighton magic where the team played super tight in front of him...

@idadhophilly you're missing the very bad pelle lindberg joke. or choosing to ignore it. @flyercanuck shame on you , i'm laughing my ass off... so shame on me too...

@idahophilly the terms of a buyout (presently) would cause a percentage of the annual salary (like 1/2 or 2/3s... it's a lot ) to count against the cap for double the years left, so to buy out Ilya would be a 16 year ordeal. it would be best for all if Ilya would start stopping the pucks he's supposed to and keep it up for a couple of 5-6 years.

sounds to me like you've never been hit square in the nose... sh!t is debilitating.

I wish JvR would get healthy or his head on right, or off whatever schnied or doghouse he may be on or in... that kid has a good hard shot, and he could play the point on the PP . he's got enough of a hockey iq to pull it off too . he's got the speed to cover the weakside clearing attempts and to get back on d to prevent the shorthanded breakaway. i wonder what he's done to see his toi slip so far ? if the coaches think out of the box a little we could have a hammer right now

i wasn't a guy that was like; he's a penguin he must die !, i just didn't know what a good hockey player he would be... he was on the 4th line there and on the 2nd pk unit , i thought of him as a depth guy, like a lilja, but he's been so much more i hope he retires in the o/b @flyercanuck you are right it was a win win.

What a signing ! I was pretty meh when i learned he was hopping the turnpike to play here. but man he's been great. plays in every situation, at any of the forward positions, has good hands and a great active stick on defense. He''s got good leadership abilities, plays the game smart and tough... damn i'm impressed a buddy of mine said i'd be happy to have him and i was like whatever, i'm eating some serious crow with enough bbq sauce it goes down just fine.

I was excited when we signed Bryzgalov until i saw the length of the deal,even then i thought " well he'll be solid for 5 or 6 years at least", and we won't have a revolving door or suckitude at that position any longer. but he has totally underperformed with regard to my expectations of him, I knew he was big guy and his game was positional. and early on he was getting beat by some bad breaks on deflections and they always seemed to come right at boucher time too. the guy can flake out all he wants so long as he makes the save that needs made to win the game. and so far he is winning games but as you've said not because of his play i foresee a long 9 years....

@terp well i love sonic temple it is gloriously produced, and those guys were at their peak at that time in my estimation , however the album love has she sells sanctuary and rain on it and those are two of my favorite songs but it is pretty uneven and sounds low-fi next to sonic temple.... i hate to say it but pure cult their greatest hits has all the good songs, good production and has the witch on it and that was an early "industrial" sounding song. its a good place to jump in if you're interested in checking them out.

@terp i thought that 4th line was very effective also... harry z must be the most irritating guy this side of steve avery...everyone was face washing him every chance they got. Scrabble has some serious speed and nice hands... i wonder if he would be okay on the power play? rinaldo can play some hockey as well as throw the hands; plus sestito can really skate, and didn't look out of place on NHL ice... anyway i like the way this team is playing, we roll 4 lines that are difficult to match up with... and those guys soften up a d-pairing pretty well and here comes Giroux ,Jagr and Hartnell with some sick skill.

http://www.themessierproject.com/the-helmet.html I posted this in the Giroux concussion thread Mark Messier is driving development of helmets that help abate the force of the initial impact but greatly reduce the 2nd and 3rd impacts also , so the player gets checked, the padding and mouth piece help with that shot, the checked player then goes into the boards for a secondary impact, this helmet is supposed to increase protection for that impact by up to 120 % compared with the aziz's old cooper helmet... plus i think this helmet looks pretty cool... the technology is out there, people just need to be made aware.

He gets that save % in the .915 + range and his act will be easier to take, that is no bullsh!t. the thing i noticed that i cannot believe his he winces when a guy lines up on the big shot. i've seen it a couple of times... look i've played some pond hockey and some street hockey goalie so i've had a couple of lasers knock the wind out of me, but he's got all that gear and acts fearful of the puck... that is something i don't see from the elite guys.

I posted this in a different thread but since we're talking JvR i'll put it here too, flyercanuck, on Dec 20, 2011 - 08:18 PM, said: "JVRs would have been a slapper had he heeded Holmgrens advice and played junior." I cannot help but think this is why he is the way he is with regard to effort over a long grind of a season... juniors is an intense indoctrination into hockey life, you just do not get the same experiences at an american university. especially at UNH where there is much research on hemp and it's benefits to society. i think had he played junior he'd have already experienced some of the growing pains we're seeing at the NHL level. that he's stuck with the big club tells you how much talent he must have.

@926 with regard to briere he had some injury problems during his first years here too, but then he brought it in the playoffs and people gave the little guy some slack. because he's a ******* stone cold killer when it matters.

I cannot help but think this is why he is the way he is with regard to effort over a long grind of a season... juniors is an intense indoctrination into hockey life, you just do not get the same experiences at an american university. especially at UNH where there is much research on hemp and it's benefits to society. i think had he played junior he'd have already experienced some of the growing pains we're seeing at the NHL level. that he's stuck with the big club tells you how much talent he must have. you said somewhere else that you'd take hard work over talent and i agree to a point. i remember those Lindros and post Lindros era teams putting 35-40 a night on net and losing to teams taking 22 shots, i'll take some talent too work habits can be learned talent cannot.

@ Laviolette is fine, he's winning and competing with a completely new roster...that is without it's top 2 players wth?. is it just your philly "hate the coach gene" or what ?

@Spinorama I can make sandwiches from what you're laying down. i just disagree with all whom think we need to trade lots of guys and devote much of our salary cap to weber, if he can be brought in with money then i do that, i don't trade our youth; especially at center, where we have G with a head injury that may or may not recur, Schenn with a head injury that may or may not recur and Daniel Briere who's play will level off and begin to decline, I can see this supposed strength turn to a deficiency quickly. we've got some good defensemen under contract for the next 3 years, i think unless the deal for weber is JvR and a pick, you go for quality depth 1 through 5 by signing or trading for a boychuck type and leave that 6th spot for Gus or Bourdon. i would totally trade shelley for weber though

@Spinorama somewhere around here was a blog post that was pinned to the top of the forum talking about patience. I don't see it anymore, i guess everyone is sick of being patient. you cannot give up on Schenn based upon his sampling this year that's just reactionary and the opposite of clever. plus if you're not bowled over by him how do you sell him to get something of value, here's this piece of crap, i hate it but you're gonna love it, how bout you give me your silver for this piece of crap...only ed wade and a couple of NBA gms make that deal. Same with JvR everyone on here says powerforwards take time to develop , he's a power forward and he's taking time , he will be a guy that if we deal him will be a solid 30+ 35 guy for along time, mark it down. i'm on the record here as being a weber fan, big shot , physical leadership he's got it all.... but i cannot see how it makes sense to trade 3 or 4 of these young guys and bring on that much salary for him. when we can find another coburn type, resign carle and be solid on the blue line for 4/5 years. throw money at the hole left by pronger not Danny Briere's replacement.

@PhilsFanDrew I agree, sign a top 4 talent, at a top 4 talent number and try to resign Carle, who has shaken off what ever was causing him to play tentatively early this year at a similar top 4 talent number and roll with coburn, metzaros, carle, player X as your core, timmonen is still effective and is a top pairing guy for the duration of his contract, fill in spot 6 with Gustaffson and Bourdon, those guys get minutes and aren't the black hole the bottom pairing has turned into in playoffs past. there is no need to gut the team for Shea Webber. none. oh and buy out CP with the new cba allowance

@Vincent05 the only game i thought he played like a 51 million dollar man was the recent win vs the Pens he stood tall in the 3rd particularly . they brought the house and he made some MAF type saves.... he has it him. i'd like to see more of that kind of play from him, the ability is there , the clown just needs to be better focused. how do you coach , coax that ?

awesome, water skiing.... i hate the 2 ref system too. ! why add 1 more douche nozzle to the ice ? And for the rest of you guys lining up on the WW, please refer to my, current winning streak thread, we were getting some good breaks and were bound for a stinker, da broons are playing wicked good right naw. and we're playing with the adirondack phantoms. try to keep an even keel and let's not trade away everyone to fix a little slide in december /january that has more to do with who's hurt than anything else. these guys will come back.

The team is playing well right now. there is no rush for Claude to rush back for some meaningless January hockey. I hope hope hope that jimmy the groin and the skull doctors hold him out of the lineup for an extra week or two so his melon can heal fully and then some. when he does come back i hope he's wearing the short bus helmet from cascade sports (the m 11) as well as the mouth guard. seeing what's going on with sidney crosby and the similarities of the contacts that caused the injury have me a little spooked... lets um make sure he's all good and playing in a bubble wrap uniform when returns.