November 14, 200619 yr 1-1 after Horton scores!!! Or maybe Jokinen! Ovechkin scores. Good for fantasy team, not good for Cats.
November 14, 200619 yr Author Drew Larman is a Cats rookie. Congrats to playing in his first NHL game!
November 14, 200619 yr It's gonna be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong season. yea, we're in deep doo doo
November 14, 200619 yr I think the Caps beat the Panthers maybe once last year, and they've already passed that mark this year. Next time the Panthers have one of the NHL's elite goalies, it would be wise not to trade him for bleh. Bertuzzi's a nice pickup and all, and he'll help when he's back, but I believe he's not under contract for next year? It's going to get real ugly.
November 14, 200619 yr I think the Caps beat the Panthers maybe once last year, and they've already passed that mark this year. Next time the Panthers have one of the NHL's elite goalies, it would be wise not to trade him for bleh. Bertuzzi's a nice pickup and all, and he'll help when he's back, but I believe he's not under contract for next year? It's going to get real ugly. canuck fans are pretty dissapointed with "the trade" too, believe it or not. luongo has been nothing but average as a canuck. combine that with the fact he makes $7mil a year....that's not good in a hockey crazed city. their coach alain vigneault called him out after a game not too long ago. a reporter asked him why he pulled luongo and his answer was "3 goals, 9 shots" with a shrug and a stone cold stare. so far this trade has been lose-lose for both sides. on to the game.... panthers did exactly what they wanted to do...they stayed out of the box, absolutley dominated the pace of the entire game, and as their luck would have it, they run into a hot goalie. kolzig made countless saves in low. auld did as well, but the caps D did a much better job of clearing out rebounds and that was the difference. random comments: -seems as if stumpel got demoted. good. -larman added alot of energy. -mezei is getting on my nerves lately. he has alot of ability but often times seems to lose focus and it costs us a goal. he was just sitting around on the caps second goal instead of looking for the rebound and clearing it. -gelinas can't finish to save his life. i have no idea why he sees powerplay time. -quit playing salei and/or allen on the powerplay. put jokinen back there. it worked like a charm last year.... it's tough to be optimistic at 6-9-4, but we're missing 3 of our top 5 forwards right now. we need stop the bleeding now and not let it get out of hand like it did last year. if we can just stick around you never know what can happen...especially if bertuzzi comes back legitamatley healthy. you never know what a player of that caliber can do to change an entire team. san jose was below .500 before the thornton trade and went something like 18-2-2 after the olympics. bertuzzi may not be that good, but he's awfully close if he returns to his top form. we'll see what happens i guess, but things arent looking good right now.
November 14, 200619 yr I think the Caps beat the Panthers maybe once last year, and they've already passed that mark this year. Next time the Panthers have one of the NHL's elite goalies, it would be wise not to trade him for bleh. Bertuzzi's a nice pickup and all, and he'll help when he's back, but I believe he's not under contract for next year? It's going to get real ugly. canuck fans are pretty dissapointed with "the trade" too, believe it or not. luongo has been nothing but average as a canuck. combine that with the fact he makes $7mil a year....that's not good in a hockey crazed city. Yeah, but they ended up with a star player who they bought for 60 cents on the dollar and is underachieving. The Panthers got less than equal value in return to begin with and now it's an absolute reaming. Auld is just not starting quality, Allen is above average and Bertuzzi is officially non-existant and may have been damaged goods all along. Even at his worst Luongo is an above average goalie, an above average d-man for an above average goalie is just not a good trade, even with the money considered. Either way, the Panthers have played a boatload of games and are at the bottom of the division, there's no silver lining.
November 14, 200619 yr I think the Caps beat the Panthers maybe once last year, and they've already passed that mark this year. Next time the Panthers have one of the NHL's elite goalies, it would be wise not to trade him for bleh. Bertuzzi's a nice pickup and all, and he'll help when he's back, but I believe he's not under contract for next year? It's going to get real ugly. canuck fans are pretty dissapointed with "the trade" too, believe it or not. luongo has been nothing but average as a canuck. combine that with the fact he makes $7mil a year....that's not good in a hockey crazed city. Yeah, but they ended up with a star player who they bought for 60 cents on the dollar and is underachieving. The Panthers got less than equal value in return to begin with and now it's an absolute reaming. Auld is just not starting quality, Allen is above average and Bertuzzi is officially non-existant and may have been damaged goods all along. Even at his worst Luongo is an above average goalie, an above average d-man for an above average goalie is just not a good trade, even with the money considered. Either way, the Panthers have played a boatload of games and are at the bottom of the division, there's no silver lining. the nhl has a salary cap now. luongo, by no means, is a superstar. he was made out to be one here because he was the face of the franchise, but he has alot of issues. rebound control is horrible, he loses focus far too often. like you said, hes an above average goalie, but above average goalies do not make $7million a year. unless he takes that "next step" and joined kiprusoff and brodeur in the elite category - luongo is going to end up being a huge burden on the canucks. while he may still be a good goalie, his bloated salary will restrict them from ever fielding a competitive team around him. the hawks are going through the same problem with khabibulin right now. they paid the big bucks because of his playoff run, but he fell back down to earth. still a good goalie, but not nearly worth his paycheck and you can't afford to overpay players like that anymore. as far as the guys we got in return - i agree the return was not enough.....but it's still too early to pass judgement. auld definatley is starting caliber...he's not luongo, but hes solid. he was 33-26-6 last year and was named the canucks mvp last year (this a team with top-flight stars like bertuzzi, naslund, jovo, ohlund, the sedins, etc. mind you). his stats aren't anything special in florida right now, but they should improve (he also hasn't been getting much help in that respect. he has played pretty well most nights, but the amount of quality scoring chances are rather high). the buffalo game for example - he stops 3-4 breakaways....countless odd man breaks....yet still gives up 5 goals..... allen is solid, nothing great. we'll see what bertuzzi adds when healthy.
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