Staal, Semin: Staal! The Coitus interruptus line. 
LOL. He better step it up for $7million.
This surprises you? I called this way back when he made the original announcement.
Considering that the NHL includes a lot* of gay-friendly athletes, I don’t think ol’ Timmy is going to endear himself with the rest of the league. Hell, his own teammate, Zdeno Chara, made a video for the You Can Play project. I’m guessing Tim won’t be following in his footsteps.
*At least compared to other pro-sports. Probably all the Canadian and European influence.
Serious question: does it necessarily follow that the “You Can Play” endorsers are pro gay marriage? I don’t know. You can play is about letting openly gay players not get bullied around in sports, something I assume everyone to the left of Fred Phelps supported…
Tim Thomas is being a choad. I’m tired of every entertainer giving me their dime store opinion on politics…
What damage? Anisimov was not a top-four defensive forward on the Rangers. He was behind Boyle, Prust, Callahan, Dubinsky and Fedotenko, and Stepan and Hagelin were eating into his PK minutes and late-game defensive minutes by the end of the year. You also seem to have forgotten that the Rangers signed Pyatt and Halpern to pick up the slack. Also, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to pick up a defensive forward for the stretch run than to pick up a first-line player.
Dubinsky, given his cap hit, would have to go regardless if the Rangers were to add anyone significant. Erixon, while a good prospect, doesn’t seem to have a spot for him on the Columbus blueline right now, and wouldn’t on the Rangers either, unless he could be switched to RD. The Rangers didn’t give up any of the young forwards that Columbus reportedly wanted (Stepan, Kreider, Hagelin, Miller) and didn’t give up Del Zotto, much less McDonagh.
Fair enough, he got 52.7% Offensive Zone Starts, but his Corsi Rel was 4th best on the team amongst forwards who played at least 20 games. He also had the 5th best On-Ice Save% amongst the same group. It might be overstating things to say he was a defensive forward as he seems to have been used (rightly so–he was 4th on the team in Points/60) as an offensive forward, but he hasn’t exactly been a slouch defensively. He’s exhibited strong two-way play.
He was 7th on the team in TOI/60 and 6th in TOI/G, ahead of Boyle, Prust and Fedotenko in both measurements, so I’m not sure where you’re getting your info.
You have a case for Hagelin… Stepan not so much. He was 2nd behind only Gaborik in sheltered minutes (62.9% Offensive Zone Starts) and finished 5th worst on the team in Corsi Relative.
Though on the flip side, during the playoffs Stepan got strong SH/TOI while Hagelin got less SH/TOI than even Brad Richards. Not sure how much of that was related to Dubinsky being hurt though.
I didn’t forget… I didn’t know. Shrewd moves that do help fill in the gaps, but let’s be honest here, they’re not Dubinsky and Anisimov. Even ignoring their advanced ages, 30 and 36, they’re fourth liners on a team with a lot full of fourth liners who will be pushed up onto the third line in a checking role.
Ask yourself, who would you rather have out there against another team’s top line, Dubinksy or Jeff Halpern? It’s a downgrade no matter how you slice it.
Agreed, but picking up someone for the stretch run implies the team is in a position to make a run and losing two-way and defensive depth for a couple of pylons in skates and banking that your all-world goal tender is going to repeat his career year while also hoping that the kids are ready to take the next step is a risky proposition.
Sather is clearly in win-now mode and he’s taking a big gamble with this trade. He’s given himself a two year window to win with this team, because after 2013-14 the team will be Nash, Richards and Staal. Every single other player on the roster is a free agent by that point, most of them UFAs.
This is true, and he’s been mentioned in pretty much every trade involving the Rangers pretty much since he signed that contract.
My guess is he’ll be getting top 4 minutes by the end of the season, but they’re hamstrung by their own stupidity (the Wisniewski and Johnson contracts are going to haunt them).
He’s not just “a good prospect,” he’s a very good prospect. His reputation takes a hit because of the shenanigans he pulled with not wanting to play for Calgary… but who can really blame him? Karma got him in the end…
No one thought they would. Everyone knew Howson wasn’t going to get the names he was reportedly asking for, but that’s how negotiations work. You start out asking for the stars and the moon and “settle” for something lesser. If he started out asking for Dubinsky and Anisimov he’d have ended up with Rupp.
So, the sale of the Coyotes hits another snag. Who knew?
Just fucking move it, already…
And so I don’t sound like every other frat boy in Canada, I don’t even care where you move it. Seattle, Kansas, Las Vegas…hell, build an ice rink in Mexico City. 20 million people, surely there’s more people interested in the novelty–and in the sun belt, ice hockey is a novelty–of the NHL than in Glendale. I get the feeling like this has become personal for Bettman at this point after losing Atlanta.
Alfie’s coming back for another season! 
…Cup Run? 
So, a potential lockout if an agreement isn’t reached by something like Sept. 15?
I don’t know if I could stomach another lockout. This could, and I emphasize could, turn me off the NHL for a long time. I don’t know the sticky points, apparently revenue sharing between teams is one of them, but do fans really have an appetite for another lockout/strike?
Fuck them all, as far as I’m concerned. This sport has been gaining in popularity and they won’t be doing themselves any favours with another labour disagreement.
Lock the fuckers out and bring in the junior teams; the calibre of hockey isn’t that much worse as witnessed in the annual juniors’ tournaments.
Sorry you can’t survive on $3 million a year.
IS there a real chance of a lockout, or is it just a scare? PLEASE be the latter. This time around it’s not the players, though – it’s Bettman vs. the owners.
Everything that I’m hearing says, “See you in January – if you’re lucky.”
If there’s another lockout, the NHL may well lose me as a viewer. Shutting down the league to squeeze a few extra million dollars out of the players? Fuck that noise. I’ll find something to do with my time that won’t jerk me around.
One angle I’m seeing talked about is that it’s not only owners v players, but also owners v owners. The owners of the more financially successful teams want to reduce revenue sharing, want to remove the hard cap, etc why the owners of the financially inept teams want a lower/no cap floor, more revenue sharing and so on. So until they get on the same page, it’s going to be hard to negotiate with the players, who I assume are largely OK with the major elements of the current CBA.
The owners fought tooth and nail for this CBA, and now are whining that it doesn’t work for them. The league is keeping a team on life support in the desert, which creates a bit of a conflict of interest on that front, and while they’ve made more money than ever before, they are saying they can’t afford to pay the contracts they’ve gone out and signed. It’s nuts.
Unfortunately, they don’t even show any other hockey on TV around here, and I can’t afford to go to any other games. Damn you, you greedy fucking bastards.
Indeed. Given the contracts offered up to Parise, Suter, and Weber this year and similar ones before, I find it hard to have any sympathy for the owners. “We need to force players to lower their salary demands and settle for maximum five year deals” because the owners can’t be trusted to not offer insane amounts of cash and insanely long length on their own. I’d respect them more if they would just come out and say that they’re all insane and need to be protected from themselves because they view winning the free agent race in the same way they view winning the Stanley Cup.
When this lockout comes, and boy am I ever betting it’s going to be a “when” and not an “if,” I’m blaming the owners.