yave1964

A fluke play could prove a disaster for the Carolina hurricanes who are in the middle of the playoff hunt as all star Dougie Hamilton who has been having a career year broke his leg in a game a couple of nights ago against Columbus, This is huge, Hamilton has been the glue that has kept Carolina in the thick of things with 40 points through 46 games 4th best total among all defenseman. He underwent surgery to repair a fractured Fibula on Friday. So far no timetable has been announced, anywhere from months to the rest of the season are rumored.

Ladies and Gentleman, the next coach of the Detroit Red Wings......Gerard Gallant. An absolute stunner, second time he was relieved of duties in the NHL in a strange way. Gallant can flat out coach, not sure what the Hell they were thinking replacing him with Deboer of all people.

@radoran As bad as the Wings are we do have some talent in the pipeline and EASILY our biggest black hole is in net.Howard is the worst regular goalie in the game, Bernier is a middling backup at best and there is nobody in the system that I can see ever being an NHL goalie. There are ways to address this, I hope we trade for Georgiev who is a fine prospect being forced out of New York by a better one and out of the very real possibility that he will be taken by Seattle in the expansion draft if he isn't dealt. My biggest fear is signing Holtby who is a solid goalie but would probably come in at or near 9 million per year which is way too much for a goalie. Dont get me wrong, given a choice between Georgiev or Holtby I take Holtby every day of the week, but at a difference of 6 million or so in salary with so many other holes to fill I hope someone else such as the Sabres, Senators or Wild go after him. A team simply cannot afford to give that kind of money to a tender.

They are paying Backstrom for what he has done, not what he is expected to do. Too much for too long for a 32 year old center who has slipped a bit in recent years. It is a young mans game, a few years ago at his age, sure, but the game has gotten so extraordinarily fast that when you start to lose a step the end comes quick. He will not perform up to his current standards for the last two years or so of his deal pretty much guaranteed. That said, this deal pretty much makes Holtby moving on a foregone conclusion which makes sense, teams that overpay for goaltending seldom win and with Samsonov looking ready to take over the net it is now a virtual certainty that Holtby will be playing elsewhere next season.

They got the right man. A month or so ago the Devils fired head coach John Hynes who IMHO was doing a good job with the cards he was dealt, yesterday the Devils gassed the man who gave him the cards to play firing Ray Shero and replacing him on an interim basis with Tom fitzgerald with Marty Brodeur as an advisor. Look, I think Shero did a solid job with the Penguins adding the pieces around the superstars to make the team a consistent contender but his record was at best a mixed bag in New Jersey. A few notable moves: His first real trade was stealing the solid underrated Kyle Palmieri from the Ducks for a couple of picks who haven't developed. He added Devante Smith-Pelly for bust Stefan Matteau, DSP has proven he can contribute as a solid 4th liner. He has done several small trade downs of picks on draft day to add more picks and has come up with Blackwood and McLeod out of them. He STOLE Taylor Hall from Edmonton in an absolute heist. He added Johansson from the Caps for a couple of those extra picks. He traded Henriquefor Vatanen adding the desperately needed talent on the back end for a consistently inconsistent Henrique. This was all early, this last year-ugh. Adding Subban for picks plus Santini was a horrible add. Signing the over the hill at a young age Simmonds was criminal. Gusev from Vgas for a second and a third, Gusev looks to be a bust. Time will tell about the haul for Taylor Hall. He has had two top picks in the draft, Hischier looks to finally be developing while Hughes has looked lost. Zacha looks to be a bust. Overall being generous the draft has not been a strong suit for him same as the iconic Lou Lamoriello who he replaced. I get it, they are underpefforming after overspending this past summer but he wasn't horrible with the team although pretty much every move the team made this past offseason other than drafting Hughes had me throwing my hands in the air wondering what the hell they were doing. He never came close to filling the gaping hole in net after Schneider decided he didn't feel like playing anymore. He inherited a team with holes everywhere, IMHO they are marginally better than the team he took over, He didn't do enough to keep his job and all of his bad moves pretty much happened at one time when enthusiasm was at its highest and he paid the price ala Freddie Kitchens.

Absolutely lousy officiating as Tkachuk clearly delivered a head shot to Kassian, that said no way Kassian doesn't do a game or two for this, Tkachuk refused to drop the gloves (or even his stick) and took the pummeling from Kassian which seemed to enrage Kassian all the more. Dick move by Tkachuk to start it and a bigger one by Kassian to go full on WWE after the second hit which IMHO was clean as could be although brutal. So a game or two seems right.

Oh you think that is hard? I just watched the Wings win two consecutive games for the first time in over a month and are still 13 points behind the next worst team in hockey. THAT is difficult,lol. No seriously kudos to Rinne it looked like he lined it up like he has done it a million times before. Always said he has the best glove in the game, looks like he has the stick to match.

Boston just in a md season mini slump at the exact wrong time as tampa has found their game and is roaring up behind them in the standings. Clearly Boston wants to win the division to have home ice through at least two rounds, and I think they will give it their all to do so.

The problem: Arvidsson and Forsberg likely aren't goinganywhere same with Josi. Probably Ellis as well. Rinne has a year left and is an institution. Turris, Duchene and Johansen have unmovable contracts. so that leaves Craig Smith who is almost certainly gone, and Mikael Granlund. Both will be elsewhere by seasons end but neither will fetch a return to speak of. Essentially they are an aging team with too many players on long term deals that cannot be moved.

Poille has literally been in Nashville forever, he has always kept the team in playoff contention but like Holland in Detroit it is probably past time to make a change. Consider these recent moves: WEBER FOR sUBBAN Yeah Weber has a long term deal, a wonky back and is older but Subban on his best day isn't a pimple on Weber's ass. Then he signed Subban longterm. SUBBAN MOVED OUT FOR A DRAFT PICK TO SIGN CAREER UNDERACHEIVING DUCHENE Two wrongs dont make a right, moving Subban was nice but overpaying on a long term deal for a guy who is a solid 2C, givig him 1C money was a mistake. TURRIS FROM THE 'LANCHE FOR SAM GIRARD Yeah I know the Preds always have D to burn but donating the small but talented Girard for malcontent and overrated Turris was a huge mistake, signing Turris to a five year deal was a bigger one. MIKAEL GRANLUND FROM THE WILD FOR FIALA Granlund needed a change of scenery but has been rotten in Nashville. RYAN JOHANSEN FROM THE CBJ FOR SETH JONES Johansen, the third second line center the Preds throw out there came over for Norris candidate Seth Jones. It isn't that Johansen is bad it is just a severe overpayment. All three centers, Turris, Johnasen and Duchene as well as Subban were known as malcontents in their previous organizations. Really since simply stealing Forsberg from the Caps for the ghost of Martin Erat Poille has a wretched trade history. Simmonds, Hartman and Boyle all came aboard last year to fix a weak forward group and all were bad fits. So yeah, Poille left Lavvy high and dry with an aging lineup full of middle six forwards who are playing one line further up than they should on long term no trade contracts. Lavvy deserved better but sometimes a change for change sake helps, what they were doingwasnt working, something had to give. Hynes may give them a spark but truthfully this is an organization on the way down.

Strange team in Nashville, a lot of talent but a poor power play for no reason that I can see. Maybe Lavy was the problem and a change will do them good, though I doubt it. Rinne is aging, Saros is okay but overrated, without a goalie standing on his head nightly this team doesn't win and anymore that is no longer a given no matter who is behind the bench. But like I said, it is easy to see how they can blame the coach, with forwards like Duchene, Johansen, Forsberg and Arvidsson and offensive blueliners like Josi and Ellis this team should be much more potent on special teams. Hynes may solve the problem.

I like the signing quite a lot. Hynes did a hell of a job his first year in Jersey getting a bad Devils team to the postseason, I have a hard time faulting him for the devils regression when the coach thought the answer to the teams woes were over the hill overrated players such as Simmonds and Subban. He did more with less his first year with the Devils than most coaches could have and IMHO deserved a second chance on the carousel.

I have made a point of watching more of McDavid this year (usually superstars bore me) he has filled out a bit and looks slightly bigger and stronger while still maintaining his speed. He is every bit as good as advertised which is saying something.

Sneaking in-anything can happen. Columbus, Carolina, Colorado and Dallas all came in as wildcards last year and knocked off their first round opponents. And look at them, Canes, 'Lanche and Stars among the league best and CBJ in spite of losing a ton of talent are hanging around the playoff mix. Just getting in and winning a round or so gives you something to build on for the following year.

OH and the other one, to nobodies surprise Justin Williams is expected to sign with the Canes this weekend and begin a onditioning stint to position himself on the third line, healthy and fresh for the postseason.