Polaris922

I just think he's a scumbag.

I was just pushing buttons . Thanks for playing!

Heh heh heh!

You give him more credit than I do! Lol

I would do that deal but I doubt the Blues would. The thing with Letang is, guys like MacDonald and Wideman drove those defenseman prices up. When they're making $5 million Letang gets $7.5... Unfortunately that's the business.

Or Morin...

@hf101 That's great! I'm surprised there weren't any if Marchand's numerous dives in there.

I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm certainly shocked Shero got the axe before Bylsma.

So you're saying our 1 Cup is worth less than the Rangers' ZERO Cups? Or the Kings' ONE Cup? Anaheim's ONE Cup? Boston and Chicago have two, but that's not a huge lead...

Was good to see

Shero did very well by us, and anyone unable to see that is just choosing not to. . I would really like to hear Lemieux's thoughts on this. What was it they were looking at Shero for? As stated by others in this thread, he's been in go for it mode all along, and won it once. We all know its not easy, and this year in particular the lower cap made trade deadline deals a disaster for many teams. I'd really like to know what they were unhappy with besides the general "we want a Cup" by line.

@mojo1917 I was the first to say Milbury was coach and Regis was GM! Lol. I was just laughing along with you. Bylsma NOT fired. Just Shero... For now...

You guys get your chuckles in... But at least Lemieux pulled the trigger when they weren't winning Cups rather than, as you guys put it, "more of the same". Lol

I still think Shero is a top 5 GM, and its not a minority thought at all. Our own GM bracket here substantiated it. But he threw his support behind a falling Bylsma, who for all his regular season success and NHL record, fails when it counts. Bye bye Disco Dan. Thanks for the Cup and good luck wherever you land. Ray Ray thanks for building around those two and your work getting the first Cup. Great job on all the "throw ins" and Staal issue. I agree with the "Shero is Not the Problem" thread pal, but you threw in with Danny Boy and its time for a change. Best of luck wherever you go!

I said in the chat the other day Jim, Milbury will head coach and good ole Regis is GM!

@flyercanuck Oh and few GM's had to deal with the rarity that is a lowered salary cap after wrapping up so much if it in so few players. You guys often go at us for exactly that, and I think it's never hurt Shero till this season. Sure everyone has to deal with it, but losing $6 mill in cap doesn't hurt as much when you don't have two guys making $9 mill a year. Not to mention a lot of injuries without LTIR.

Honestly as much of a beating as Sid is taking for this Rangers debacle, I'd send Malkin if I had to lose one. He's a great player but he won't go to the front if the net without the puck, he rarely back checks, he won't block shots but once in a blue moon, and he adopts the lazy Russian protocol too often for me to make him my captain. We'll keep both though.

Again as always I agree there are better defensive defensemen, but you need both to truly succeed, and Letang is definitely top 3 in offensive skills. I said I questioned where he went in the Boston series. The entire team really. Crosby LOOKED like he was skating great against Boston, but just as this year was, your top guys have to find ways to produce. As for Neal I've always said he's an above average player thanks to his shot. He's one of those rare ones that come through and either really thrive with a good setup guy, or struggle alone. But when he gets the puck fed to him there are few out there that can shoot like he does. That's what makes him an above average player.

I thought he skated incredibly hard against the Bruins last year. Actually felt he tried harder there than this season. This season he was everywhere UNTIL game 5. He seemed slow and out of sync again game 5. Had me wondering about his first full season in awhile + Olympics may have been too much to ask. Game 6... Part time effort. Game 7 he was a beast but got flocked to every time he touched the puck.

@canoli I don't want that deal. I keep Crosby and Malkin. Our playoff trouble was scoring this year AND last. Not defense or goaltending. Getting rid if Malkin won't improve that. Free agency will though...

Actually... they can. @flyercanuck Where exactly did Crosby throw a fit and get off his game? I didn't see it. And I watched VERY intently knowing the Crosby hate would be frothing at the mouth in these forums. He simply played his arse off in all but maybe a game and a half. Game 5 he looked out of things, disconnected. But in Game 7, despite only mustering 2 shots, he was everywhere on the ice. He was swarmed and punched, hit after the whistle, and slashed relentlessly, yet took no stupid penalties or lost his focus anywhere. Sometimes you just have to give the Rangers credit. They swarmed him every time he got the puck and Lundqvist stopped anybody he passed the puck too through the swarm. I really don't see anything Crosby didn't TRY to do. Was he successful? NO, and he bears responsibility for the loss as well as anybody. BUt it wasn't a lack of leadership on the ice, or any kind of beiung distracted by the extra curriculars.

I'm with ya.... GO DUCKS!

Haven't seen that in a decade or more I bet.

Though I agree Crosby has been struggling, I don't think he's Ovechkin. He held his composure VERY well this year. Wasn't until the sticking incident with Moore that we saw him take a bad penalty and in fairness the officiating dropped the ball big time on that one. Frustrations with losing and a boatload of abuse, particularly to his head finally built up to a 2 minute penalty. I can spot him that. NOBODY was defending him but the occasional Kunitz hit. Not good enough, and Lemieux is pissed about it. As I said in another thread Crosby deserves credit for his composure. I don't think Crosby buckles or becomes petulant. The other players on the squad have always spoken well of his focus and leadership in the locker room and on the ice. Maybe some of them do get tired of his yapping, but in all honesty, I don't see it as being any more than any other captains out there. I've watched Getzlaf, Giroux,, Brown, Richards... all the team captains in the playoffs this year, and there's a lot of jawing. I also watched Crosby skate away from what should have been clear penalties for obstructing him without opening his mouth. The cameras are on him more than any other player, so you just see him "captaining" more than you see with many others. I agree old vets have helped this squad. Crosby is only 26 though so there's still room to improve. Maybe that loses some of the impact? I dunno. But I can tell you true leaders always lead by example, and Crosby's effort in the Bruins series, the Jackets series, and most of the Rangers series were beyond reproach, despite his lack of scoring.

@flyercanuck @B21 @ruxpin The Cap issue this year was more because the cap dropped $6 million thanks to the lockout than mismanagement. You have already signed your big guns to worthy contracts. Two of the best if not the two best forwards in the league. THey're going to get paid. They have a good defensive core locked up, and despite FC's low opinion of Letang, it seems all the commentators, the good and the bad, agree he's worth the money and one of the best talents on defense in the league. (We can argue the offense vs. defense ad nauseum in other threads as we have). So the cap took a $6 million nosedive. As B21 has pointed out there is room next year for improvements as it rises over the $70 million mark again. As for Crosby's drive in the playoffs, I do question where he went against Boston last year, but Boston, Bergeron specifically, excels at taking the stars out of the game. That took Bergeron out as well, but the Bruins' Rask shut down our forwards where Boston was able to get 1 or 2 past Vokoun. A 2-1 game and a 1-0 game to finish the series. This year though? This year I didn't see what I normally see out of him. Game 2 vs. the Rangers he didn't score, but he was a hero on the ice. The kid skated his arse off and ultimately DID lead his team to the turnaround after game one. Game 3 and 4 were not maybe as noticeable but he still drove the team with effort on the ice. My problem is where did he go for game 5. Game 5 he disappeared. Game 6 the effort wasn't as on fire as the earlier games. I didn't see that fire in him through games 5 and 6. Game 7? He was unreal with his efforts. He seemed to struggle a little with puck management, but nobody could doubt his drive. He had a fire in his eyes that we hadn't seen in games 5 and 6. I truly feel Lundqvist was just better than all of them. He was the best player on the ice by a longshot. @FC: I agree Neal disappeared as well. I think skating with Jokinen and Sutter denied him the setup man he needs. Neal has and always will need someone to feed him the puck. He's an average skater and he's slow, but he's a shooter, nothing more. He can't create plays, he only finishes them extremely well. I agree he is accountable as anybody.