Regarding both Franzen’s 5 goals and the Johnson/DiPietro fight, all I can say is WTF?
DiPietro is going to be out for 4-6 weeks due to facial fractures.
The Isles sure did screw themselves with that 15 year contract.
Some Twitter Quotes from Paul Bissonnette of Phoenix Coyotes following their 6-0 loss to the Canucks. The last one about the Sedins is pretty funny (for anyone who doesn’t know the Sedins are identical twins who both play for Vancouver).
Paul Bissonnette
Like last night when we were down against Vancouver. I asked Glass to fight, he declined, that doesn’t make him soft. Its the right play.
BizNasty2point0 Paul Bissonnette
Been getting a lot of tweets asking me about the Canucks team we played last night. And this is what I think…
BizNasty2point0 Paul Bissonnette
Canucks were the most impressive team overall I’ve seen this year. Disciplined, block a tone of shots, good puck management, and Luongo.
BizNasty2point0 Paul Bissonnette
Oh and that Sedin guy is unreal, it’s like there’s 2 of them out there.
If I remember right, the Wings cap room came out to a meager $500k give or take. Not a lot of room there for much of anything without dumping someone for cap room and as I said, there isn’t really anyone pulling in a lot of money and not earning it. Hudler maybe, and he’d clear enough cap to make a trade like that work. I just don’t see Detroit giving him up (he’s young for the Wings and may still have some potential) for a part of the year back up goalie.
Arnott’s been mentioned here in Montreal as a possible acquisition, but then again, so has everyone else. Opitions are pretty split about whether the Habs should make a move; some say stay put, others say we need a big scoring forward, and others want to reinforce the D. I have no idea what to think!
Kirk Muller? His contract is up in Montreal and it looks like he’s going to be looking for a head coaching job. I think he’ll be very good. I’d love to keep him here, though I doubt it would happen. Not sure the Devils will want to go with another first-year coach, though.
That man is more fragile than Leclaire, if that’s possible!
Similarly, Down Goes Brown used this as part of an NHL-player self-diagnosis for concussion.
There’s a contingent of fans who would like him, but I’m not sure how quick Lamoriello will be to hire another unproven ex-Devils player as head coach…
I was kind of pulling for Carbonneau when the job was open last summer, and others have suggested Ken Hitchcock. Of course, Ruff might be available in a few months…
Should be another interesting off-season in NJ :rolleyes:
Fuck – his first day back on the ice, and Malkin’s injured again. Grrrr…
I think I remember someone commenting that Lindy Ruff and Lamoriello being friends; I can see that happening. I agree that Carbo would probably be a very good fit in New Jersey (and he’s saying he’s unlikely to take the helm of the QMJHL team he’s president of now that they fired the coach).
I saw Malkin’s injury - TSN is reporting it’s both a torn MCL and ACL and will likely need surgery, so he’s out for the rest of the year. That sucks for the Penguins, especially with Crosby still on the shelf.
The San Jose Sharks have woken up and have been playing excellent hockey the past few games. They just beat the Bruins in Boston with a 2-0 shutout (second goal was an empty net). That’s good news for a couple of my fantasy teams but bad news for the slumping Dallas Stars who have a very tough game in Philadelphia tonight.
Yeah, tell me about it. This sucks.
Malkin out for the season 
(He even tried to appologize. Poor Geno)
Habs won against the Rangers (third win against them this year) with a Price shutout, so I’m happy. Sitting in 6th, 2 points up on the Rangers and 1 point back from the Caps with games in hand.
Montreal plays the Devils tomorrow afternoon - I’m going to a Superbowl party and we’ve just decided to make it a double-header. More sports = more beer, right? 
Well I’ll be damned: Sean Avery supporting gay rights
Considering the things he’s said about blacks, women, people with cancer, etc, I’m skeptical. Let’s hope he’s turning over a new leaf.
(Either that or they’re building a new hockey rink in Hell)
I so hope someone takes him up on that offer. How awesome would that be? “You got a problem with me being gay? Take it up with Sean Avery”. Love it. Professional sports remains one of the few places where gay rights haven’t really taken hold. It’s kind of nice to see that begin to change, even if it has to come from an asshole like Avery.
Is it just me, or have there been a few more news stories like this since Brendan Burke’s death? Seems it’s helped bring the issue into the light; that’s a nice legacy to have, I guess.
Or Brent Sopel taking the Stanley Cup to a gay pride parade.
Burke’s death was such a tragedy – especially coming after all the support he got when he did come out.
(I think that’s the reason “Cindy” Crosby gets to me. I don’t really care if people call him “Crybaby”, or whatever. But using the term “Cindy” implies that women are weak, or since people see him as being weak, then he’s not a “real man.”)
That’s definitely the implication of names like “Cindy” Crosby and the Sedin “Sisters”. It’s straight up sexism, and it’s terrible. There’s still a subsection of the population who believes that hockey is a man’s game, that women shouldn’t be allowed to play (or even enjoy it!), and think calling another man a woman is the biggest insult in the world. It’s pathetic.
Reminds me of this story I read about one of Team Canada’s goalies - she’s played her entire career on men’s teams (other than the international level games, obviously) and in Juniors one guy would show up at every game and yell sexual slurs at her. She wasn’t the goalie, she was the “girl goalie”. Then again, to all the fuckers who insulted her and think being a woman is a bad thing: Shannon Szabados has an Olympic Gold medal, and they don’t 
ETA: and Lord Stanley at Pride was awesome. Brian Burke went to Toronto Pride last year as well and has been very active in the gay community. He’s a terrible GM for a shitty team, but I have a ton of respect for him as a man.
The Atlanta Thrashers have a bad loss to the Leafs tonight. This team has been in a huge slump the past couple of weeks with Rick Dudley threatening some sort of a team shakeup.
This article seems to say they’re a good team playing badly, similar to the Devils most of the first half of the season.
Anton Volchenkov gets 3 game suspension for elbowing Zach Boychuk.
Matt Cooke gets 4 game suspension for charging/boarding Fedor Tyutin, a week after escaping punishment for a knee-on-knee with Alexander Ovechkin and about a year after escaping punishment for his hit on Savard.
Yeah, sounds fair.
I’m not defending Cooke in this instance – his job IS to be a pest. Right now, though, I wish he’d cool down – we need everyone we can get. This couldn’t come at a worse time.
(Although I will take issue that he’s the dirtiest player in the league.)
There’s being a pest and then there’s being Matt Cooke. Successful agitators are guys who straddle the line between obnoxious and illegal (Tuomo Ruutu being the best example I can think of off the top of my head, but even Sean Avery does it well–as much as I hate to admit that). Cooke doesn’t even remember where the line is anymore.
As far as being the dirtiest, he’s at the top of the list right this second… but so long as Chris Pronger (Cap’n Elbows) and Mike Richards (The Dishonorable Captain) play in the NHL he’s probably safe from holding the title. He does seem to be trying to win it though.
There’s dirty and then there’s dangerous. Pronger, Richards, Avery, Chara are dirty - they go right up to that line but rarely pass it. Cooke is dangerous; he repeatedly targets with the intent to injure. That’s way beyond being a pest, and shame on the NHL for not doing anything about it.
Did anyone else watch that insane Habs @ Bruins game last night? No defense on either side, 14 goals scored (Bruins won unfortunately) and more punches thrown than a UFC match up - including a rather ridiculous fight between Thomas and Price! I think David Krejci is regretting picking a fight with Pouliot; he’s probably still trying to find half his teeth on the ice. I don’t expect Campbell to get any sort of punishment for repeatedly whipping his elbow pad into Pyattt’s face though - the NHL overseers wouldn’t allow King Campbell’s precious son to be sullied with such discipline.
Isles@Habs tonight to end the 3 sets of back-to-backs that started this month. Let’s hope the Habs still have some energy left after last night! White’s been called up - he should have played last night, IMHO; we could have used the size!