Blackjack

We just beat one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, on their turf, with a team that has been together for like a month, give it a chance. The only player I would really like to see is Lecavalier, because he wouldn't be a rental.

Shutout for Marty 3-0

Berglund has high trade value right now, if he was completely overrated he would be traded. Just because Berglund isn't ready to step in after 1 year in North America, don't give up on him.

Rarely do I agree with #32, but both of Madden's goals were no doubters, not cheap, misplays or garbedge clean-ups. He showed off his blistering Slapshot and his accurate wrister, no doubt in my mind Madden's gonna get 20 this year, maybe 25, if he plays like he did yesterday all year look for a Selke and 30 goals. If Langs plays on the first line all year he'll get 20 as well.

At least someone else was watching the same game. Ottawa is a very fast team, and I don't think we looked slow.

1. Yes, Marty=greatness 2. Pando Stevenson and McKenzie don't play on the same line 3. I though both the PP and the PK were awful. Obviously Madden got his shortie, but when Ottawa was in our end I just didn't see enough clearing. I think that will improve. 4. I think Brylin Friesen Madden and Gionta all can and will score. Friesen hit a post, and drilled a slapshot off Lalime that almost left Gomer with a wide open net. Unlike a lot of people on this board, I though Friesen did fine. 5. I thought both teams were very fast. We had three 2 on 1s that I can remember specifically. Friesen+Gomez, Madden+Gionta, Elias+someone else on the PK, which never got started because Elias got pulled down, and whoever pulled him down took a penalty. 6. Yes the pp looke horrible I think we will improve it though. I think Niedermayer saved 1 SH chance. 7. I thinks Langs will do fine as long as we don't expect 30 goals out of him. Now a few of my own: 8. Danton had a great game, his hit on Alfreddson was vintage Lemieux, and if he can keep it up he will fill a huge void. 9. Elias had a good game even though he came away with no points, his beautiful drop pass to Madden and followup wrister should have produced a goal. Also he had a pass to Niewendyk that should have produced a goal. He will get his points, don't worry. 10. Our d wasn't as bad as most people thought. Ottawa has lots of good young forwards, believe me 35 shots is not a defensive breakdown with the new obstruction rules. Plus you have to remember that we had 5 penalty kils in there. On 5v5 I think our d was better.

Will they be available in time for Christmas?

Yeah, Ottawa had some good chances but so did we. Elias had a wide open net, Friesen hit a post, and Lalime made some outstanding saves. Heck even Danton had a couple good chances. You're acting like Brodeur was the only goalie keeping his team in the game. <_

Why does Colorado have Sakic and Forsburg on the same line? This doesn't make sense to me.

wait, Lou HAS to trade for Fedorov! Why? Because with the new East vs. West All Star game Elias will never get to play with Fedorov again!

This is fun :wave: Elias-Lecavalier-Fedorov Gionta-Fedorov-Gomez Elias-Niewendyk-Fedorov Berglund-Gomez-Fedorov btw, I don't think there's any way Detroit is going to let him go.

Elias-Foster-Fedorov OOH that looks NIIIIICE

2-1 OT Devils with Scott Niedermayer scoring in OT.

lol Sue, that was the first thing I thought when I saw this thread, I have Kovalev on my team. It helps me too, because I also have Niemanen

So you think the Devils defense is going to allow 4 goals in the first game?

Wow, the Islanders certainly had an odd 'defense mode' considering they gave up more shots and goals in the 3rd period than the did in the rest of the game. Reminds me of last season Were you at the game? The way the Devils skated in the first two periods was very different from the frustration of last year.

Does this mean we get 5 draft picks from the Rangers? :wave:

Yeah, but it wasn't just the fact that they went on offense, it was completely different playing. They were not even hustling in the first two periods.

Don't worry about the Islanders, I just came from the game and I was not impressed. I'm almost convinced that Burns had the team throw the first two periods, even Mike Danton was playing without emotion; you really had to see it to believe it. I'm not joking, the first line didn't do anything, the second line didn't do anything, the third line (Pando-Madden-Gionta) was terrible defensively and the fourth line wasn't that physical. We had 4 offensive dmen and we couldn't seem to get the puck out of our own end. But in the third period, when The Devils decided to play, they completely outclassed the Islanders, holding them to two shots and keeping the puck in the offensive end for almost the entire period, save for the odd Icing. Our puck-rushing d more than lived up to the hype, they did a terrific job of keeping the puck in the zone, rifled shots from the blueline and played fantastic defense. It really looked like the Islanders did not know what hit them in the third period. We could have easily scored 3-4 goals if not for some eye popping saves from Osgood. Consider that we had 13 shots on goal in the first two periods, and 14-15 shots on goal in the third period. The Islanders had 24 shots on goal in the first two periods, and 2 shots on goal in the third. That's how much we dominated. I have no idea why Burns did this, but there is no doubt in my mind that the players were given explicit instructions to not play hard in the first two periods. Maybe he wanted to see how the team would perform when they're down a goal or two, or maybe he wanted to keep the emotion down considering what happened in the last game. I just don't know.

I was thinking about which Devils have had a decent camp and Andrei Zyuzin popped into my head. I saw him play against The Rangers and while he definatly wasn't Brian Rafalski out there, he also didn't make me cringe every time he touched the puck, which is a marked improvement. I think he has tremendous talent, and if he is gaining confidence his game will rapidly improve. So what do we do if he really starts showing his stuff? 1. Keep him - My favorite option. He's young, he's got a small contract, he's got decent size, and he's got loads of talent. We'd have 2 quarterbacks on every power play. And anybody that watched the Rangers scramble as Tverdovsky and Rafalski slid the puck back and forth in front of the blue line, knows that can be a beutiful thing. He can also motivate Niedermayer, maybe if there is someone nipping at his heels he would elevate his game more often. 2. Keep him and trade one of the BIG three - Lets face it, Lou is not going to keep 4 offensive dmen around if this team can't score goals. If Zyuzin elevates his game Lou could trade one of Tivo, Ralfi, or Nieds and still have a puck rusher on every pairing. I'm not going to get into which it would be, all 3 have good trade value and all 3 are good defensemen. 3. Trade Zyuzin - Conventional wisdom is that Nidermayer, Rafalski, and Tverdovsky have higher value, but I'm not so sure. Zyuzin is seen as a talented bust right now, but if he breaks out, teams know that he is a #1 or #2 dman. Plus Zyuzin has age and salary on his side. Rafalski's value is a little bit hurt by the fact that he close to being a UFA and will demand $$ when he gets there. Niedermayer and Tvo are already expensive. Zyuzin will be seen as a young, cheap, top dman about to enter his prime, in other words, primo trade value.

I was at the game today, and Schwab did make some eye popping saves. I honestly think he's the best backup we've had in a few years. But did you notice how bad Schwab was handling the puck? I covered my eyes with my hands every time he went back to play it. Brodeur is better than Schwabb at every facet of the game.