The reffing problem has actually been mostly taken care of, thank god. If the New Jersey Devils never win another Cup it’ll be too soon.
People can complain about upsets all they like, but the fact remains that no team lower than 8th overall has ever won the Cup. Frankly, if a top-2 seed can’t pull out a wins in the first 2 rounds, they weren’t real Cup contenders anyway.
I wouldn’t mind another Southeastern champ, just to cheese off Mats Sundin.
Why? Sundin’s absolutely right. It’s a travesty that one of Pittsburgh or Ottawa will be out in the first round while one South East team is almost certainly going to make it. The divisional seeding rule has been screwing over teams in the East since it was brought in. It absolutely has to go.
Is it the Thrashers turn this year? NHL NASCAR division, owning hockey since 2004.
No matter how you set it up, a team still has to win 16 to get their name on the Cup.
Let’s see, the Sabres went wire to wire for the season to win the eastern conference. They started the season winning their first 10 games and went from there to score the most goals of any team in the league this season. 3 of the starters on this years All Star team were Sabres. Hmmm Miller over Emery of the Sens and Brodeur of the Devils. Briere the MVP plays for who? That’s right, Buffalo.
Injuries have been huge for this team. One game they players were joking if they should be wearing their AHL Rochester Amerks jerseys or the Buffalo logo. Right now a lot of guys are coming around and might be ready in the next few games or in the second or third round.
Last night Buffalo embarrassed the hell out of Pittsburgh 4-1. In the second period the Pens had a five on three power play that resulted in ZERO shots on goal. How the hell do you have 2 minutes of 5 vs. 3 with zero shots?
p. s. Detroit fans look out. Buffalo lived and died with Haseck for years. His “groin injury” comes and goes at his whim.
Only because of their incredible start. Buffalo had a 11 point lead over Ottawa by the end of October. By mid-November, that lead was 18 points. Since then? Ottawa’s whittled it down to 6 points(Buffalo has a game in hand).
Yeah, so Buffalo fans stuffed the ballot box for Sabres. What, exactly, does this prove?
Miller over Brodeur was an absolute joke.
The MVP of the All-Star game? Is this some kind of joke? Who cares who was the MVP of that no-defence, no-hitting game of shinny? I mean really, was anybody even surprised that a Sabre would best at his best in that kind of game?
cries
That says more about the lack of quality defensemen in the league than anything else. He’s a mere +7 paired up with Chris Pronger and in front of Giguere and Bryzgalov. I know +/- is one of those may or may not mean something stats, but on a team with strong goaltending and a defense that is the envy of the league I think it’s rather telling.
Mr. Goob, believe me when I say that we are well aware of Groiny McNoplay. We were aware when we first signed him in 2001/2002. Of course we won the cup with him. I’m honestly more concerned about his iffy play this season, his tendency to flop when looked at, and his wandering outside of the net when bored. If his groin goes wonky, he sits and Osgood gets the net. If he just plays poorly, he’ll stay in net.
Wolfman, isn’t fun to watch someone other than Chris Chelios bounce of of Bertuzzi? 
You, sir, are obviously evil and have been corrupted by some lead paint chips, or the GST, or loonies, or litres of cola, or Players Navy Cuts, or something.
Because you obviously know nothing about hockey. Your above statement proves it. 
It was the New Jersey Devils and their clutch-and-grab trap that left hockey’s popularity in the US on life support. The team still can’t draw fans to their games, and no wonder. Who on earth wants to pay money to be bored out of their minds?
Did you also notice that Scott Niedermayor was a +8? Does that mean that he’s not a quality defensemen as well?
Beauchemin is underrated.
A win tonight (against Dallas) seals the Pacific Division.
Well ,the Wings signed Datsyuk long term, seven years. Very interesting, I had heard that they probably not going to get him to resign, and that the team wanted to see if he will finally step up in the playoffs before giving him a big offer. Oh well, i’ll be happy to see the guy in our uniform for a long time to come.
At worst, that’s a fair deal for Detroit. If the cap continues to rise, it’s a great deal for Detroit.
No, the Devils can’t draw fans because their barn sucks a whole lot and the rangers (never capitalize the name “rangers”) play 11 miles away.
As for the trap issue, well… well…
hooks Rysto
Well, we’ll see next season. But considering that the Devils have won 3 Cups in the last 11 years while the Rangers have been terrible in that time, I find your reasons unconvincing.
Well, which is it, Rysto? Do we win because we play ugly hockey? 
If so, it’s perfectly plausible to succeed while putting a product on the ice that people aren’t going to line up to see. It’s also possible to put a product on the ice that everybody wants to see, that doesn’t win.
It is obvious by your unwillingness to believe that our barn sucks, that you have never been there.
I give you ESPN Magazine’s power rankings: Devils at 55 out of 121 pro teams, because the barn ranks 107th.
I love my Devils and I hate that rink.
I do, however, think that, given how hot Brodeur has been these last few games,and the way the defense has held up, the Devils have a decent shot to go deep. I know I could use one more party in the parking lot before my boys hightail it down to Newark.
[sub]laugh all you want, those were some damn good parties[/sub]
I was disappointed to see that it was for between 6 and 7 million per year. That’s a large chunk of change for someone that is an unproven playoff commodity. I doubt he would’ve gotten that much on the open market without a solid run. Worse is the length of the contract factored with the value makes him effectively untradeable, so if he proves to be weak when push comes to shove the wings have an anchor of a contract on the great cap sea. Here’s hoping Datsyuk finally finds some playoff gumption.
Yeticus Rex Neidermayer has racked up 68 points (15g/53a), proving himself as an offensive defensemen. Speaks for itself really. Beauchemin has racked up 27. Beauchemin isn’t in the top 50 in points or plus minus. That doesn’t say underrated. That doesn’t say top 2 defenseman.
Plus/Minus is a pretty useless stat. Last season, Wade Redden was a +35, while Zdeno Chara was a +17. Now, which of the two is the better defensively?
That is just it. It doesn’t just measure defense, but offense as well. So asking just which is better defensively is misleading.
I’m aware that +/- is a difficult stat to use to gauge the worth of a player, but it’s not worthless either. For someone who’s supposed to be “underrated,” Beauchemins stats are pretty average.