Also gets players used to playing them.
Shouldn’t we have a new thread? Is the pre-season is more the season than it is off-season…I think (!)
Maybe a monthly thread? Starting in October?
I don’t think enough of us post to keep a monthly thread going! Either way, any thread we have will be drowned out by the 2578425832742 NFL threads (I like football, but fail to see why every team/player/play deserves its own thread!)
I’d be interested in a monthly thread. Besides, if one play in the NFL can garner four pages, surely a month oh the NHL would be worthwhile.
How 'bout them Flames, eh?
How bout them Canes, y’all?
I’d like to try a monthly thread and see how it goes. The Lebron show has all but killed most of my interest in the NBA so I will be spending a great deal of time following the NHL this year.
I’d follow a monthly thread. I keep up with the NFL, but my team is generally pretty stinky and I lose interest by the time the NHL gets going… and I pay more attention to my Devils than anything.
In all seriousness, how do you envision this season turning out for them?
It seems like they’re going for a full on youth movement, to a level I’ve never seen before (but, hey, something obviously had to change). Do you think the kids are going to gel and learn the NHL quickly enough to do anything this year, or are you expecting at least one season of growing pains?
The SE division will definitely be interesting this year. Washington pretty much stayed pat, assuming (wrongly?) that their team was good enough last year but just suffered bad luck at the worst time. Atlanta and Tampa Bay have both, arguably, gotten better… though it’s just on paper at this point. Even Florida is of yet an unknown… Vokoun by himself could carry the team to a better record than they deserve.
Where do you see Carolina within the division and in the conference at the end of the year?
Speaking of the Canes, if Jared Staal DOES actually end up playing, can you imagine how hardcore the Staal Brothers drinking game is going to be?
(BTW, the new arena here in da’Burgh looks AWESOME. They even have a game where you shoot pucks at a dryer, like Sidney Crosby!)
[not NHL news]
Got tickets to a Bulldogs game at the Bell Centre Nov 5. Cheaper than the Habs, awesome seats in the red at centre ice, and…and…my first live hockey game ever. So excited! We’d spend twice as much for nosebleeds at a Habs game. It won’t be the same, but good enough!
[/not NHL news]
Brutal game happening right now. Ottawa Senators vs the Bulldogs, basically, with Carey Price out to dry. No defence in Group A whatsoever. Spacek is crap, and, I hope, tradebait. [for n=1:10, repeat]It’s only the preseason[/end repeat]
We had an awesome game tonight – the Pens beat the Blue Jackets 3 to 1, with FIVE brawls. Kris Letang had TWO of them. Now THAT’S what I call hockey!
(The other three involved Eric Godard, Evgeni Malkin and Tim Wallace. DAMN. God, I love hockey fights)
Preseason is always good for a lot of fights… so many kids/tryouts looking to impress and make the team.
Surprised Malkin would scrap, but then, even Kovalchuk got into one last night.
Best part of the Devils game last night was watching Sean Avery get 14 minutes in penalties for general douchebaggery.
I figure 3rd in Conference, and 9th in the East. Of course, if the kids can play to their potential, and someone else has a bad year, they could squeak into 8th. O’Sullivan seems to want to play to his potential this year.
Well Jared got sent down to Charlotte, so not yet. I saw the arena in August, very nice.
I’m assuming you’re giving the division to Washington, so who do you have in second place, the Lightning or the Thrashers?
I’m in for the monthly as well.
I’m interested to see how the Wings do this year. They’re more rested than they’ve been in the previous seasons. Adding Modano gives them sick depth on the forward lines. Toss in the moves made by Chicago and San Jose in the offseason and I think the west is as close to wide open as it’s been in damn near a decade. If Detroit can stay healthy and shore up their defense (and by that I mean everyone playing better defensively), they stand a good chance to take the conference.
Well, if there’s a monthly, I’m in too - I just wasn’t sure there’d be that much interest! 
My husband is an evil man and subscribed us to the NHL Network (it’s free as one of our 30 à la carte channels). Tonight the Habs game is on RDS, but I’ve basically been watching vintage hockey since Saturday, except for when I was watching the CFL. It’s a bad, bad thing!
Looks like Price played the whole game for Montreal. How did the fans treat him tonight?
I’d be interested in a monthly thread.
also, just curious, is anybody going to take charge of the SDMB puckheads?
The Bolts. The have talent, and a good GM.
Well enough. I didn’t notice any booing, and he made a few nice saves that got the crowd on his side. It helped a lot that the rest of the team was on fire and not spinning around centre ice like 4 year olds (especially the defensemen!)
It was a good game, and very fun to watch!