NHL Discussion - 2009-2010 Season

[DeafPoet]

Although sadly, this means the Leafs and their fans are officially the longest-suffering in hockey now

The Kings and Blues have gone just as many seasons, and have never won the Cup.

No, I was talking about real teams

Point taken though

ETA: I actually should have known that. Ashu's a Kings fan after all. Maybe I was just subconsciously blocking it out from the shame of having a Kings fan for a girlfriend.

 

[Timby]

I don't think people were booing the Conn Smythe Trophy or the Stanley Cup. I'm pretty certain they were booing Gary Bettman.

 

[Alidar Jarok]

That was the winning goal? I follow a sport where Ladd can kick Chicago's third goal in, and the winning goal goes unnoticed by half the people on the ice? I follow a lame-ass sport.

Yeah, that was anti-climatic.

Flyers and Flyers fans quite often get a lot of hatred. I think they showed a lot of heart this season considering all the adversity they faced, so I'm proud of them. My first real sports memory was the Flyers getting swept by the Red Wings. We put a far better effort here. With the exception of two games (one win, one loss), the entire series was very close. I think that last goal in overtime illustrates that.

 

[Timby]

It was pretty close, yeah. What's more disturbing is that this was the battle of mediocre goaltending. Niemi looks pretty good at stopping the first shot, but holy God are his rebounds Ray Emery-like. And Laviolette is going to get raked over the coals for not using Boucher more.

The interesting thing is what the Blackhawks will do in the offseason. The Hossa deal and last year's extensions to Kane, Toews and Keith are going to put the team into salary cap hell, and they're going to have to start trading guys pretty quickly. Byufglien is pretty much guaranteed to be gone, and I'd imagine Versteeg will be on his way out, too. It'd be nice if they could ship Huet and / or Campbell out of town to get someone else to worry about their contracts, but Huet's stock is pretty much nonexistent at the moment and Campbell's contract is a fucking albatross that no one will touch. There's talk that they'll stuff Huet down in the AHL to avoid his money counting towards the cap, but that sends a rather nasty message to prospective free agents: "If we decide we don't like your contract anymore, we'll just send you down to the minors and destroy your career."

Buff's absolute peak is at best in the 45 points range, in a really good year if he's getting good minutes on a great team (even then, that's still unlikely), and I'm pretty sure Chicago knows that. It kind of blows that they'd trade the guy who pretty much was their best player in the finals, but he'll net a nice return in prospects, as his trade value will never, ever be higher than it is right now.

 

[Danny99]

I am just glad Philly, Chris Pronger, and Bobby Clarke do not get the rings or the glory.

Quite frankly, Canadaboy, su*k it. I am not aware of any Chicago fans cheering on their teams after they lose. Hell, they started the whole "throw the ball back when the opposing team hits a homer", so don't start about poor sportsmanship, either.

For the record, I'm a Leafs fan.

Also, I'm allowed to my opinion. I lost all respect for Bobby Clarke when he dragged the Lindros family out into the open over Eric's negotiation. I've always hated Pronger; he's a goon, but since he's a huge man, he gets away with it.

So suck it yourself! It's a free board, I'm allowed my opinion!

 

[mimic]

Well, I'm proud of the Flyers. Carter and Gagne needed to play better.

 

[Icemizer]

Yes Pronger is a goon who gets away with a lot because of his size. The best way to take him out of the game is to go right at him. Of course you need someone his size or someone like a Dino Ciccarelli who would just annoy him to death.
The Flyers were tough no doubt about it. They just didnt have the depth of the Black Hawks or the ability to juggle all four lines like Q did. I shouted at my tv all year when he would mess with the lines shift by shift. Now I guess I will just be quiet and enjoy the return of the cup.

 

[Garak]

I don't think people were booing the Conn Smythe Trophy or the Stanley Cup. I'm pretty certain they were booing Gary Bettman.

Oh it was definitely Bettman they were booing, that slimy little bastard. And you can tell he was thinking, "boo me all you want, I make $7.5 mil a year cha ching!"

I won't say congrats to Chicago, they can go fuck themselves. Can't stand that dirty, cheap team.

I will say congrats to Toews and Keith though, two fantastic hockey players.

 

[BigFoot]

^ Yeah I pretty much agree with everything you said. I have a ton of respect for Toews and Keith. Man I'd love to have those two play for the Canucks.

 

[Corran Horn]

I don't think people were booing the Conn Smythe Trophy or the Stanley Cup. I'm pretty certain they were booing Gary Bettman.

Oh it was definitely Bettman they were booing, that slimy little bastard. And you can tell he was thinking, "boo me all you want, I make $7.5 mil a year cha ching!"

I won't say congrats to Chicago, they can go fuck themselves. Can't stand that dirty, cheap team.

Saying that while cheering Pronger? That's a good one.

I will say congrats to Toews and Keith though, two fantastic hockey players.

attaboy.

As to Huet, I assume they'll buy him out, which will not count against the cap as far as I know.

 

[Timby]

As to Huet, I assume they'll buy him out, which will not count against the cap as far as I know.

The only time that buyouts didn't count against the cap was during a week-long period immediately following the signing of the new CBA, when teams were allowed to buy out the contracts of their players for 66 percent of the remaining value and do so without a cap hit. Nowadays, teams can still buy-out player contracts for a portion of the remaining value of the contract paid over twice the remaining length of the contract. If the player is under the age of 26 at the time of termination, the buyout amount is 1/3 of the remaining value, while if he's 26 or older at the time of termination, the buyout amount is 2/3 of the remaining value.

According to nhlscap.com, this is the formula for determining the cap hit:

When a player is bought out, the team still takes a cap hit for the player over twice the remaining length of the contract. The amount of the cap hit (by year) is determined as follows:

1. Take the actual salary due for each remaining year.
2. Take the Averaged Player Salary (cap hit) for the current contract
3. Calculate the buy-out amount (as described above)
4. Spread the buy-out amount evenly over twice the remaining years of the contract
5. Take the number in #1 and subtract the number in #4. This is the “buyout savings”.
6. Take the cap hit from #2 and subtract the buyout savings from #5.

 

[Corran Horn]

Nice, thanks! I do know that by Toews winning the Conn Smythe he gets another $1.3M that counts against the cap.

 

[Timby]

^^ Yet another reason why Toews' extension, along with those for Kane and Keith, plus the Hossa deal, equals offseason hell for the Blackhawks. Huet's on the books for another two years at an average of a little more than $5.5 million, which is obscene for a backup. I really, really don't envy Stan Bowman right now, and he'd better pray that his scouts have done a good job in prepping him for the draft. I won't say it's going to be a fire sale, but basically every high-priced player whose last name isn't Kane, Toews, Keith or Hossa is going to be up for grabs.

 

[Whtstr314]

I am just glad Philly, Chris Pronger, and Bobby Clarke do not get the rings or the glory.

Quite frankly, Canadaboy, su*k it. I am not aware of any Chicago fans cheering on their teams after they lose. Hell, they started the whole "throw the ball back when the opposing team hits a homer", so don't start about poor sportsmanship, either.

For the record, I'm a Leafs fan.

Also, I'm allowed to my opinion. I lost all respect for Bobby Clarke when he dragged the Lindros family out into the open over Eric's negotiation. I've always hated Pronger; he's a goon, but since he's a huge man, he gets away with it.

So suck it yourself! It's a free board, I'm allowed my opinion!

I'm sry, I was more than a little heated last night. I took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. And you're right about Bobby Clarke, that was pretty low.

PS: I was also pissed because some other guy from Canada was not only badmouthing my team, but also the US and our troops on a different board, so that didn't help.

 

[AdmiralGarak]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJtd_PatXOI[/yt]

 

[Icemizer]

Crystalballs Huet will soon be another teams problem and unfortunately so will several good players the Hawks will have to part with. A repeat is always possible but highly improbable.

 

[James Bond]

 

[BigFoot]

 

[Danny99]

Quite frankly, Canadaboy, su*k it. I am not aware of any Chicago fans cheering on their teams after they lose. Hell, they started the whole "throw the ball back when the opposing team hits a homer", so don't start about poor sportsmanship, either.

For the record, I'm a Leafs fan.

Also, I'm allowed to my opinion. I lost all respect for Bobby Clarke when he dragged the Lindros family out into the open over Eric's negotiation. I've always hated Pronger; he's a goon, but since he's a huge man, he gets away with it.

So suck it yourself! It's a free board, I'm allowed my opinion!

I'm sry, I was more than a little heated last night. I took it out on you, and I shouldn't have. And you're right about Bobby Clarke, that was pretty low.

PS: I was also pissed because some other guy from Canada was not only badmouthing my team, but also the US and our troops on a different board, so that didn't help.

Apology accepted, you gain a lot of points in my books for actually doing so.

Where does anyone see Huet going? Is any team so desperate for a goalie to take on that ridiculous contract? Maybe Tampa?

 

[AdmiralGarak]

Where does anyone see Huet going? Is any team so desperate for a goalie to take on that ridiculous contract? Maybe Tampa?

Huet is no improvement over Niitymaki. In fact the only goaltenders that played 30+ games with a worse SV% than Huet are Leclaire and Toskala. I'd say Huet's headed to the Hawk's AHL affiliate with a 0% chance of cracking the Hawks' roster.