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Official 2011-2012 NHL Regular Season Thread; Puck Drop

#282
He sure is. The city of Pittsburgh is buzzing right now. It should be a really exciting homestand this week.

It should be interesting tomorrow considering the recent matchups with the Islanders and all.

-Mike
 
#286
Versus kills their planned Boston/Montreal broadcast to play NY Islanders/Pittsburgh instead? Two team a point apart in the standings and bitter rivals (although Boston is really on a tear right now and will probably kill Montreal) to play two teams at opposite ends of the standings with little rivalry anymore just to showcase one player. This is good for promoting the game. NOT!

I will be watching the Carolina/Philadelphia game. I'm sure they willbe breaking in there every time Crosby has a shift on the ice, especially if someone dares to throw a check his way.
 
#287
Crosby will attract the casual viewers and those with just a passing interest in the NHL. But I do agree, BOS/MTL is the better matchup tonight. Fortunately for me, I have NESN up here, so I can channel surf between both.

You obviously don't like it, but Crosby is the face of the NHL. If we want to attract more fans to the game we love, he has to be out there for people to see. Ease up a bit and enjoy the games tonight.

-Mike
 
#288
And speaking of faces of the NHL, here's news on the 'other' one:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Not a happy camper. Things not going very good in Washnington and he's probably going to get Boudreau fired.

Nice article pointing out how one-dimensional Ovechkin is.
 
#292
mkandolf said:
I'm sure they willbe breaking in there every time Crosby has a shift on the ice, especially if someone dares to throw a check his way.
Click to expand...

I'm curious about this as well. It'll be interesting to see how EVERYBODY reacts to the hits. How will Crosby react the first time somebody throws a solid check his way? Will the Pens go after any Islander with the audacity to check Sid? Will the Isles hold back a bit because they don't want to be the ones to re-injure him? How about the announcers? Will they try to paint it as any hit on Sid is an attempt to injure, or will it be more like, "...That's hockey"?

This all makes for an interesting game. But I'll have to catch the highlights later because I'll be watching the Flyers/Hurricanes as well...
 
#293
mkandolf said:
Nice article pointing out how one-dimensional Ovechkin is.
Click to expand...

It's fine to not like Ovechkin, but this is a pretty ignorant statement. He's got four 100-point seasons in his first six seasons, he averages better than a point per game, and he's routinely among the league leaders in hits. How's that one-dimensional again? He's not the best player in the league (yes, you read that right, even from a Caps fan), but he's among them.

As for getting Boudreau fired, I don't think George McPhee is stupid enough to fire a good head coach over a good player. If Boudreau's not the right guy, that's fine, but I don't think this is a Kobe-vs.-Phil situation. My jury is still out on that.

Darth Handsome said:
I'd like to hear Hollow Man's take on this....
Click to expand...

Not sure I have any more insight than any other hockey fan. The Caps are in a slump, no doubt, but I'm not ready to declare emergency in Washington yet. If Boudreau and Ovechkin are having issues, they'll just have to work it out like any other two grown men. Ovechkin's got a few bad habits (to include leaking out of the defensive zone hoping to generate an odd-man rush), but I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a hockey player who doesn't have a bad habit or two.

If there is one thing that annoys me, it's hearing everyone freak out about Ovechkin's numbers are down when compared to his first four years. In those years, Washington was a lousy club, and everyone was happy to give the hot-stuff Russian kid the puck and see what he could do with it. Over the last three years, Washington has really elevated themselves as a club, and they're much deeper now. This means that Ovi doesn't have to carry the club every night, and with other guys contributing, his numbers are down. Ovechkin's passing (both skill and willingness to do so) have gone way up in the last few seasons.

As for not wanting to fit into Boudreau's system, I don't know anything about that. It's Boudreau's job to design a system that will maximize the effectiveness of his guys, and it's the job of the players to find ways to use their skills to contribute to the system. If either the player or the coach is unable to hold up their end of the bargain, then they've got to go. I'm not convinced that's the case right now (much as one or two of the alarmists in this thread might wish it was), but if it gets to that point, I'll still be a fan after it all goes down.
 
#294
Jeff K said:
I'm curious about this as well. It'll be interesting to see how EVERYBODY reacts to the hits. How will Crosby react the first time somebody throws a solid check his way? Will the Pens go after any Islander with the audacity to check Sid? Will the Isles hold back a bit because they don't want to be the ones to re-injure him? How about the announcers? Will they try to paint it as any hit on Sid is an attempt to injure, or will it be more like, "...That's hockey"?
Click to expand...

Good questions. I'd like to throw out my jaded opinions. :)

My biggest thing is I think Crosby will be a different player now, maybe holding back somewhat himself out of fear. Face it, any player is one hit away from a wheelchair, but for guys like Crosby, that hit won't need to be as hard anymore.

I suspect that the Pens enforcers will be on high alert tonight because it is the Islanders anyway, but even more so now. Probably for the entire homestand and a little longer. I'm sure opposing players don't want to be "the guy" who ends his career with the next hit, so it wouldn't surprise me if they ease up or avoid contact if they can. I don't expect any defenders to let him skate freely either though. He'll get hit and roughed up.

The announcers will say what they want, I don't pay much attention to them. That being said, I will have the Pens broadcast on tonight. Lange is usually even keeled, so I don't suspect any homerism if Crosby gets hit hard. I also don't think there is a player in the league who gets on the ice looking to seriously hurt another player.

This is hockey, Crosby knows it and so do the doctors who approved him to play. For 10 months they have been saying no. I trust them at this point when they say yes. Although I still think Crosby should have retired.

-Mike
 
#295
MJ5150 said:
Good questions. I'd like to throw out my jaded opinions. :)

My biggest thing is I think Crosby will be a different player now, maybe holding back somewhat himself out of fear. Face it, any player is one hit away from a wheelchair, but for guys like Crosby, that hit won't need to be as hard anymore.

I suspect that the Pens enforcers will be on high alert tonight because it is the Islanders anyway, but even more so now. Probably for the entire homestand and a little longer. I'm sure opposing players don't want to be "the guy" who ends his career with the next hit, so it wouldn't surprise me if they ease up or avoid contact if they can. I don't expect any defenders to let him skate freely either though. He'll get hit and roughed up.

The announcers will say what they want, I don't pay much attention to them. That being said, I will have the Pens broadcast on tonight. Lange is usually even keeled, so I don't suspect any homerism if Crosby gets hit hard. I also don't think there is a player in the league who gets on the ice looking to seriously hurt another player.

This is hockey, Crosby knows it and so do the doctors who approved him to play. For 10 months they have been saying no. I trust them at this point when they say yes. Although I still think Crosby should have retired.

-Mike
Click to expand...

Very well said............. until that last sentence. :)

I don't think any professional athlete who's not already suffering permanent effects from playing injuries is apt to retire. I think virtually all pro athletes love what they do enough to keep going as hard as they can until their bodies start to break down around them. Clearly, Crosby suffered a serious head injury, and I think we all accept that someone who's had at least one concussion is more likely to receive another, with the consequences getting more severe with each successive injury. That said, if Crosby's playing, he's recovered to the extent that his body will allow, and if he isn't feeling fallout from those concussions, he's going to keep going. I think just about every other pro athlete would follow the same mantra: they're trained themselves to train hard, play through pain, and do what it takes to be among the world's elite, and I don't see many at all being willing to give that up as long as they're able to play.
 
#296
Crosby has something going for him that most injured players do not: He did not rush his return. He exercised patience and made sure that he was symptom-free before returning. And kudos to the Pens organization for allowing that lengthy layoff without trying to pressure him into returning.

I think most guys who get concussed tend to come back before they really should. Of course most guys do not have the luxury of being the face of the NHL like Sid does. Unfortunately, if your run-of-the-mill NHL'er suffers a concussion and wants to take a lot of time off to recover, his team will pressure him into returning. And if he balks, he'll probably be released. Nobody would try that with Crosby.

If Sid comes back as the same phenomenal player that he was, that can only help the other players who suffer a concussion. Owners, coaches, and the like will probably be less apt to try to rush them back into the lineup. They'll tell themselves something like, "Well, Crosby did it right, and Pittsburgh is reaping the benefit of exercising that caution".

On the other hand, if Sid comes back and never regains the game he had, it could backfire for other players. But I suspect that he is champing at the bit and is very ready to return. I wish him the very best, because he really is a fantastic player.
 

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