Pretty solid game by the Pens tonight.
I think that they were playing a farm team from Canada (toronto?)
Sid with another 2 goals…9 goals in the last 5 games, not bad.
The Marlies could probably have put in a better performance. I used to think it sucked that Komisarek signed with the Leafs; now I look at the Habs’ D, and watching Komi play now makes me wonder what the hell I was thinking! He’s hilariously brutal (as is most of the team!)
I feel bad for Gustavsson, though (the whole heart condition/orphan thing plays with my emotions)…I think he has a fair amount of potential, and he deserves better than to be abandoned by that defense over and over. I hope he runs far, far away from that organization when he becomes UFA after next year!
Shamelessly stolen from comments on a news article the other day:
"Brian Burke has developed a strong cup contending team.
In Boston."
You know it’s a rough night when your most intense player was the goalie who broke his stick over the crossbar.
As to Komisarek…he’s a little bit like Hal Gill; he’s OK if he doesn’t try to do too much. The thing with Komi is that while he’s not slow, per se (especially for a big man; I still remember the breakaway goal he scored against Toronto in '07-08), he’s not particularly agile. If you get a step on him, he can’t stop you without resorting to hooking and holding and other questionable maneuvers.
He may also be trying to justify that ludicrous contract Brian Burke gave him. His offensive ceiling is probably no higher than 20 points; you really expect a 4.5 million cap hit (6 million in real dollars this season) to be better than that, in addition to his truculence, pugnacity, etc.
That’s eleven wins in a row, now – we’re at the top of the league, and Sid’s first in scoring, if I’m not mistaken.
Next up, Buffalo!
Mean while, Kris Letang is one of the leaders on the All-Star ballot for defensemen. As a write-in candidate.
Man, I wish Crosby could have played in the 1980s. He’d have at least 35 goals by now and be making a legitimate run at Gretzky’s record of 50 goals in 39 games.
Tomorrow a bunch of Quebec Nordiques fans are going to show up at the Islanders game!
This should be interesting. The Thrashers really need for football season to be over with so they can get at least some attention in Atlanta. They’re really a fun team to watch and it is too bad they can’t draw. The Islanders just need to be blown up.
If he hadn’t had so many health problems, Mario might well have done it – or hell, he might have been the front runner.
Actually, I believe Gretzky has said that of all the up and coming players, Sid is probably the one most likely to break his records.
Good to see the Wings get it back on track after what looked like it might become a stumbling into the mid point.
Neither Howard or Osgood are really very good, but if the D plays with some discipline they don’t have to be. The would be a scary team with a real shutdown goalie. I really wanted to see what Franzen could do if he got 80 games in a season, but now that he is playing a long injury free streak for the first time in his career, he just looks a little off the last month. 
But the fact that he is still leading the team in goals shows just how much depth they have, and why they have the best GM in sports.
Is Ilya Kovalchuk the worst free agent signing in the history of sports?
Hehe, they should kiss the comish’s ass that they aren’t going to be stuck paying him for 50 years.
Alexei Yashin.
(who is still the highest paid player on the Islanders. Yes, I mean right now)
Howard and Ozzie have had their moments recently. Howard was pretty damn sharp against Montreal and Osgood was solid last night against the devils. I’ll agree about the defense though. Detroit is at its best when the goalie doesn’t have to steal a game while making 30+ saves.
I’m interested to see how they fare when they play an actual schedule. They’re one of the top teams in the league and have played fewer games than most if not the fewest in the NHL. Nice to have the points for sure and the games in hand, but who knows if they’ll do as well when the schedule gets crowded.
And don’t forget Rick DiPietro, also on the Islanders, who has had problems living up to his potential and simply staying healthy. Can’t remember the numbers off the top of my head but his contract was long and expensive.
Not even close. The previously mentioned Alexei Yashin was a bad one. Brian Rolston’s contract is up there, too ($5m+/4 years, NTC, 35+ rule – can’t bury it in the minors or buy it out, and no one in their right mind would take it on without some serious bribery in the way of picks and/or prospects and/or valuable roster players – though it was thought to be a good deal at the time it was signed. 20/20 hindsight and all).
A lot of people like to point to Kovalchuk’s numbers as evidence of his singing being a bad decision but it overlooks two important things:
It’s way too early to make such judgements: he’s got some time yet left on it to make good
and
The entire team is playing poorly, and that has nothing to do with Kovalchuk. All the forwards on the team who’ve played at least 10 games are shooting at an abysmal 4.68%. It’s so bad that it’s unsustainably bad… yet they continue to sustain it through a combination of poor game-planning; a lack of team cohesion; a laughable offensive strategy; improper or completely lacking in-game adjustments and line matching; and absolutely no offensive threat from the blue line that any team has to honor, allowing defenses to focus entirely on the three forwards.
Teams give them all the space they want at the point, keeping two guys on anyone who can provide any offense like Kovalchuk or Arnott, and allowing the pointmen to wage war with the glass behind the net or defensemen’s shinpads all night.
Kovalchuk is not the reason for the team’s woes (though I’ll freely admit that he’s not part of the solution at this point), so leave the bashing of his signing to lazy journalists with anti-Devils bias like Mark Everson of the NY Post or one of the idiots at ESPN who base opinions solely on boxscores.
DiPietro was 15 years, $4.5 million per.
Oh, and my personal vote for the worst free agent signing, in the NHL at least, goes to the Rangers signing Bobby Holik to a $45m deal.
Yup, you’re right.
In their defense, when that deal was offered the Rangers were virtually incapable of signing players to anything close to a reasonable contract.
They did tend to just throw money at players a la the NY Yankees in the pre-salary cap era, but that defense would only hold water if they didn’t continue to make the same mistake 
Speaking of Mario, he has committed to play in the Winter Classic’s Alumni Game on New Year’s Eve Day.
Yep – I’m so hoping it’ll be broadcast. (Jagr’s not going to be there, but then what team would he play for, since we traded him to Washington)
That’s gonna be fucking awesome.