USC09

The NHL Draft is going Hollywood in 2010. The NHL is expected to announce Friday that the LA Kings will host the 2010 Draft. Finally they picked a location since they usually decided during the actual Draft where the next one is going to be held, but they delayed it this year. But, I knew it was headed to a Western Conference Arena since the East held it the past 2 years. Good Luck Kings. http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=508557

Brendan Shanahan is expected to be hired by the NHL as Vice President of Business Development. Another loss for the NHLPA. http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=300928

The Rangers could be in worse shape had they not had Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal needs to learn how to celebrate carefully.

Pouliot was picked 4th overall 1 before Carey Price, so I guess this silences Pierre McGuire, who knocked the Price selection.

The League should really monitor the Philthy's crease crashing, Hartnell just jumped on Craig Anderson. The Game is free on Yahoo.

Nicklas Bergfors was on NHL Live today 11/17. Scroll to the hour 15 mark and he should be there.

Maybe Rolston and Zubrus along with McAmmond also have H1N1, I mean them being missing means that they have been isolated from the team, but we should know more by tonight.

Sucks that he won't play against Scott and the Ducks, but oh well, hopefully next Week he will be able to play.

I think its a good move as a precautionary measure so he can return to face the Ducks and Scott on Wednesday.

His 3 possible destinations if he wants a contender: Boston Bruins (resides in Boston Area) Pittsburgh Penguins (hope he does not go there, but wouldn't surprise me). Detroit Red Wings (close to East coast). Unless a key winger on the Rangers gets hurt, I don't see him going back there, I would also add the Habs to the list since he could help their Power Play and he almost signed there in 2006 before the Rangers snuck in the last second.

Whenever he plays, he plays. My feeling either next Wednesday against Buffalo or Thursday in Boston.

Whenever he scores he scores, be patient, he's getting there.

Flames led 5-0 and lost in OT 6-5. Madden scored the 1st one for Chicago.

This sounds reasonable, but let Halischuk sit out and let Leblond or Peters play whenever they face the Flyers or other high fighting teams.

Lets stop bashing Henrik, face it he has Marty's number and the more we bash him, the better he gets especially against the Devils. Ultimately, he has gotten the Rangers into the playoffs every year since the lockout ended. Until Marty finds his groove against the Rangers, then we can slightly make fun of him. Yes that goal was stupid, but the Caps were terrible last night especially from the 2nd period onward. And, Lundqvist is better than Marty conditionally, I mean Marty is really starting to lose his edge that he once had. I am sorry as a Devils fan I have to defend Lundqvist.

Here's the new blog: http://blogs.northjersey.com/blogs/fireice/

I think they should try Rolston Zajac Langenbrunner Parise Zubrus Bergfors Halischuk Niedermayer Clarkson Pandolfo Pelley Pikkarainen Leblond, Peters

Just lets focus on the ice, not off the ice, that will take care of itself. While I disagree with some decisions Lou made, he took a conservative approach for a reason due to the fear that the cap could drop and many teams might have to pay a heavy price as a result. Look at the Flyers, they might have to trade Briere or Carter to accommodate the cap regardless if they win the cup or not. This will be a bumpy season early on, but as long as they play their best brand of hockey going into the playoffs unlike the past two years, the Devils will be fine. Our goal is to get past Round 1 if the Devils make the playoffs. Lets just start the season, wait til Elias comes back and then Lou will evalutate things based on their play. But, they definitely have to make a trade for more scoring come March 3rd, and it will likely be a rental due to the cap uncertainty.

I have lost my respect for Bettman ever since the lock out and it was validated by him not accepting Jim Balsillie as an owner. But they need to go to Sochi 2014, its a must. I know its hostile territory due to the rivalry between KHL and NHL, but they need to be there. I still support the Cap, but Bettman needs to go as Commissioner.

I voted for Parise, but I think it it will be from someone on the ZZ Pops line or Brian Rolston.

This is good news for Jerry Reinsdorf and the NHL. I wish Jim Balsillie all the best in his battle to bring an NHL franchise into Hamilton. My guess his next road will be to own an expansion franchise in the league, because I do not see an avenue where he can relocate a franchise, because Atlanta is in a high media market, Florida won't move, Tampa Bay just got sold. We'll see what happens now.

I think it s a good and economical signing. Moore was demanding a lot of money when he was with the Leafs and forced himself out of Toronto and you know Lou usually doesn't go for those players. Is it a great signing, probably not, but he is still a descent player that has tremendous upside. He can kill penalties and we found out that Pelley was relative ineffective on that part in the preseason and needed some help Sestito was only brought in for Lowell purposes. Walter and Halischuk will likely be call ups again. Pikkarainen and Leblond will also be call ups. So like I said when Elias gets back: Parise Zajac Langenbrunner Elias Zubrus Rolston Pandolfo Niedermayer Shanahan/Clarkson Peters Pelley Clarkson/Shanahan Bergfors will be extra. But for now: Parise Zajac Langenbrunner Rolston Zubrus Bergfors bottom 2 are like up top.

When Elias comes back it will be like this: Parise Zajac Langenbrunner Elias Zubrus Rolston Pandolfo Niedermayer Shanahan Peters Pelley Clarkson Extras: Bergfors, Pikkarainen Defense: Oduya Martin White Mottau Salvador Greene/Murphy

I disagree and agree with the guy that talked about how good a team is on paper. The truth is, its how you play down the stretch, back in 05-06 we were the hottest team going into the playoffs and it showed in Round 1, but the week off killed our momentum before the Canes series and we did not have a good team on paper that year as well. We could have missed the playoffs, but once the calender turned 2006 our we became unstoppable. The Flyers were supposed to be the team to beat that year. No one really picked Carolina or Edmonton to meet up in the cup final. The following year, it was the Rangers and it showed, they were under 20 seconds or so from putting the Sabres on the brink. In 2008, that was the year when Pittsburgh was good down the stretch, but Detroit is always good on paper, so they won. And this year my point was proved again. You want play your best brand of hockey in the last 10-15 games regardless of how you look on paper, and don't think about sweeping your first round opponent, because it will slow your momentum down. The Rangers probably had to be an exception because the Devils just wanted to beat them finally, but this year we have to go past Round 1 and play like we have nothing to lose in Round 2 or further.

Fraser is a lot better than he was against the Rangers in the pre-season. I like his toughness and character, he might be exactly what the Devils need on the blue line.