# Game On! NHL: October 2010 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 30, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673 "2010-09-30T23:30:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/41 "2010-10-12T00:22:46Z")
Habs home opener Wednesday night against the Bolts. Price has looked good enough so far, even though it’s only two games. I think the Habs lost against the Leafs because Giguere played well, as opposed to Price playing poorly. Halak has a .955 save percentage so far, which will please my wife. We have a bet on which goalie will have the better year. I say Price, my wife says Halak, and we’re using the save percentage stat as the measuring stick. Yes, I know that it is not the be-all and end-all of goaltending statistics, but we need a quick and easy objective measurement, and it’s the best one I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/42 "2010-10-12T02:09:33Z")
The Devils played a game with only 15 skaters today. That’s embarrassing. Still no goals for Kovalchuk this year as well. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/43 "2010-10-12T12:23:30Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > The Devils played a game with only 15 skaters today. That’s embarrassing. Still no goals for Kovalchuk this year as well. What’s with the Devils hate? Are you a Rangers fan, or just a Kovalchuk hater? A Kings fan still bitter about his snubbing your team, perhaps? So it’s embarrassing that Volchenkov had his nose broken, Rolston had back spasms and Leblond received a mandatory suspension for being an idiot? Okay, the Leblond thing is kind of embarrassing, but how is being down two guys to injury at all embarrassing? Regarding Kovy, the guy has the best shooting percentage in the League. By far. The goals will come. Are you going to mention him every time he scores one, too, or are you content to just bag on him while the team struggles? ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/44 "2010-10-12T12:43:19Z")
The embarrassing thing is that the Devils have mismanaged their cap to the extent that they have to play 3 men short. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/45 "2010-10-12T13:05:12Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > The embarrassing thing is that the Devils have mismanaged their cap to the extent that they have to play 3 men short. Injury and a suspension led to them playing three men short. They can waive a player like Zubrus at any time and clear $3.4m from the cap and make whatever roster moves they need to make to ice 20+ players, but the injuries were unfortunately timed to have happened on a Saturday with a game on Monday, when such moves take 48 hours to go through. The cap hasn’t been mismanaged, it’s been held hostage by the League until weeks before the season started. What’s Lamoriello supposed to have done, traded away prospects and/or what few picks they have left after the League penalized them to move a problem contract? The cost of doing so when all 29 other teams know they have you by the short hairs is worth risking a minimum roster to avoid. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/46 "2010-10-12T22:27:32Z")
I am sad to see Maltby retire. He was a good support player for the Wings for a long time. It’s no surprise It’s over, but still sad. ---
**Author:** ![Rysto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecccb3/32.png) [@Rysto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysto)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/47 "2010-10-12T22:30:45Z")
> [@soulmurk](#): > > the injuries were unfortunately timed to have happened on a Saturday with a game on Monday, when such moves take 48 hours to go through. This is why most teams leave themselves with some breathing room against the cap. The Devils have not, and this is the result. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/48 "2010-10-12T23:20:42Z")
> [@soulmurk](#): > > > [@dalej42](#): > > > > The Devils played a game with only 15 skaters today. That’s embarrassing. Still no goals for Kovalchuk this year as well. > > What’s with the Devils hate? Are you a Rangers fan, or just a Kovalchuk hater? A Kings fan still bitter about his snubbing your team, perhaps? I’m a Stars fan so unless Ribeiro invites me to go out drinking my year will suck. I’ll lay off the Devils. I have NHL Gamecenter so I’ve been able to watch every game. I guess I just got too much Kovalchuk fatigue starting last year before the trade and then during the whole off season. Heck, if the Devils start getting it together, I’ll start rooting for them. Far better than the endless Washington/Pittsburgh love that comes out of the East. Right now, my girlfriend teams in the East are Atlanta and Montreal, with a close eye on Tampa Bay. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/49 "2010-10-13T04:24:46Z")
As if flipping the bird at someone [is worth a two game suspension](http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=540378), even if the guy is a repeat offender, He may as well have cracked him over the head with his stick and gotten his money’s worth. I thought these hockey types were tough, macho guys. Let 'em go at each other with sticks and let’s find out how tough these bastards really are. ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/50 "2010-10-13T12:06:24Z")
> [@Rysto](#): > > > [@soulmurk](#): > > > > the injuries were unfortunately timed to have happened on a Saturday with a game on Monday, when such moves take 48 hours to go through. > > This is why most teams leave themselves with some breathing room against the cap. The Devils have not, and this is the result. Most teams have more than 2 weeks to sort out their roster after signing a guy to a contract on July 1st. Also, there are [currently 10 teams with less than $1m in cap space](http://www.capgeek.com/), 6 of whom are actually over the cap because of players on LTIR. So, yes, technically “most” teams leave themselves some room… but this is far from an isolated incident reflective of cap mismanagement. It’s how things work under a salary cap. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/51 "2010-10-13T19:14:09Z")
I got to go to the opening night at the Staple’s Center! Unfortunately, I went with my two cousin’s and their father. The youngest cousin went looking for a jersey to buy at the 1st period intermission and we completely missed the second period because of it. Kings scored three goals in the third period so I got to see all those. The game seemed a lot flashier this year. Lots of lasers and bright lights flying around and blinding you. I’d love to go to a hockey game one day with none of the extra crap they put in to keep your attention. No music, no spotlights, no animations. Just the roar of the crowd and the sound of skates. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/52 "2010-10-13T19:35:15Z")
Please tell me there wasn’t a kiss cam! ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2010, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/53 "2010-10-13T22:44:58Z")
Well after two good games, the Wings slip back into where they were last season: giving up more shots than they get. :smack: Even more embarassing is doing it to a team that played the night before. This is the sort of crap that concerned me going into the season, except now if this continues Detroit can’t really fall back on injuries as an excuse. In case it hasn’t been noted, I’m a " Stanley Cup half empty" kinda guy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/54 "2010-10-14T02:02:33Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Please tell me there wasn’t a kiss cam! They do have it sometimes. Last night, it was replaced with a “smile cam.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/55 "2010-10-14T11:27:18Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > This is the sort of crap that concerned me going into the season, except now if this continues Detroit can’t really fall back on injuries as an excuse. Well, We did lose Rafalski already. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/56 "2010-10-14T13:52:15Z")
And the Habs continue the tradition of getting off to a good start and then relying on the goalie to stop everything, which almost never works. Oh well. At least they got a point. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/57 "2010-10-14T13:56:15Z")
> [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > As if flipping the bird at someone [is worth a two game suspension](http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=540378), even if the guy is a repeat offender, > > He may as well have cracked him over the head with his stick and gotten his money’s worth. I thought these hockey types were tough, macho guys. Let 'em go at each other with sticks and let’s find out how tough these bastards really are. Wisniewski made a simulated cock sucking motion with open mouth and pumping fist. That’s a little different than flipping the bird. ---
**Author:** ![KennerTheGreat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a8b319/32.png) [@KennerTheGreat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KennerTheGreat)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/58 "2010-10-14T14:04:54Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > > [@KennerTheGreat](#): > > > > As if flipping the bird at someone [is worth a two game suspension](http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=540378), even if the guy is a repeat offender, > > > > He may as well have cracked him over the head with his stick and gotten his money’s worth. I thought these hockey types were tough, macho guys. Let 'em go at each other with sticks and let’s find out how tough these bastards really are. > > Wisniewski made a simulated cock sucking motion with open mouth and pumping fist. That’s a little different than flipping the bird. Meh. Still not as bad as Niklas Hjalmarsson’s [hit on Jason Pominville](http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=78234) which [also got two games.](http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=540421) ---
**Author:** ![soulmurk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b782af/32.png) [@soulmurk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/soulmurk)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/59 "2010-10-14T14:06:00Z")
This Ryan Miller kid is really good, just in case you didn’t know. The rest of the Sabres, however, not so much. What’s up with Myers; sophomore slump, or what? He did not look good last night… and his -6 +/- through four games is a little unexpected. Is he genuinely struggling or are our expectations just too high after his amazing rookie season? How much of it can be attributed to missing Tallinder and/or his new partner? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2010, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673/60 "2010-10-14T14:06:09Z")
Mike Modano returns to Dallas tonight. I’m not sure he’ll get a Donovan McNabb welcome with his offseason Favre-like retirement drama and his whining about the Stars don’t want me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-on-nhl-october-2010/555673.md?page=4)