NHL hockey playoffs start tonight

[jaywbigred]

Personally, I think the non-call on Stoll was because it didn't look as bad as the Bernier hit. There was no glass for Gionta to ram his face into, so he sort of folded over the boards. Not sure if that's better or worse, but I believe that was a factor in the non-call.



When you look at the Bernier hit on a replay, particularly from the overhead camera, it looks like more of an unfortunate hit than a malicious one. He didn't have as much room as I thought he did, and I can totally see how Bernier thought Scuderi would keep the puck on the forehand and continue behind the net, not backhand it and slam on the brakes, like he did. However, we have the luxury of replay. In real-time, at ice level and depending on the ref's view (the one who called it was along the left boards), I can absolutely see how they called that. Maybe a more appropriate call would have been a double-minor, but that's the type of hit the NHL is trying to eliminate from the game. It's a shame it happened in the deciding game of the Cup finals.

I think that is a fair assessment, except for the part about the type of hit they have been trying to target for extra penalties. There was no targeting of the head in that penalty. They other thing that totally went missing was the punch to the head as the Devils touched up, which was absolutely nasty. Start watching #25 for the Kings, the puck carrier, at around the 17 second mark. That was a targeted head shot. Just a really bad sequence for the refs, the Devils, and frankly, for hockey. But the Devils did not show the resilience of a champion. Too bad.

[Scotty]

well this is about the regular season but I put it the playoff one, Henrik Lundqvist wins first Vezina Trophy for this past season http://blueshirtsunited.com/videos/1770/lundqvist-wins-the-vezina

[Scotty]

Lord Stanley Cup lamp I must by this lol

[JimG.]

Lord Stanley Cup lamp I must by this lol

Since the packaging is in French, I wonder if you have to go to Canada to get one.

[Scotty]

The Rangers got a great player here we now have a great team to make the playoff hopefully for a few seasons to come http://rangers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=638476

[Bene288]

The Rangers got a great player here we now have a great team to make the playoff hopefully for a few seasons to come http://rangers.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=638476

So excited for the Rangers!

[deadheadskier]

Great addition for the Rangers. That's a nice one-two scoring punch between Nash and Gaborik. My only concern if I were a Rangers fan is the team has a ton of cap space tied up between three players in Gaborik, Richards and Nash. If that trio doesn't put them over the top or if one of them gets hurt, they will have a hard time making any meaningful adjustments within the cap restraints.

That said, every team has it's faults with bad signings. The Bruins are dumb on the bottom end of the scale. There's not a guy on the team who makes less than a million. Lots of guys in the 2-3M range that are overpaid. Krecji at $5M is a joke. And of course we have the whole Tim Thomas fiasco going on. I think it's total bullshit that his $5M counts against next seasons cap even though it's his choice for not playing. Such a weird situation regarding Thomas. I can't think of any Boston sports player in recent memory who has gone from universally loved to universally hated in 10 months like Thomas has. This would be true even if he said he was going to play next season. Most people wanted to see him traded after the season was through due to his age and acting like a total asshat and being a distraction to the team publicly this past season.

[Bene288]

The B's have the least cap space available. I heard the Bruins were trying to appeal to the NHLPA about the whole Thomas situation. I'm not sure what they'll accomplish. I'm sure they're stuck paying a homophobic crybaby to sit on his ass. I used to like Tim Thomas. I still think he's a great goaltender, but unfortunately he's proven to be a crappy person IMO. Chiarelli needs to work his contracts a little better. I understand wanting to hold on to a core group, but some guys just aren't worth the money. Oh well. Going to be an interesting season.

[deadheadskier]

The B's have the least cap space available. I heard the Bruins were trying to appeal to the NHLPA about the whole Thomas situation. I'm not sure what they'll accomplish. I'm sure they're stuck paying a homophobic crybaby to sit on his ass. I used to like Tim Thomas. I still think he's a great goaltender, but unfortunately he's proven to be a crappy person IMO. Chiarelli needs to work his contracts a little better. I understand wanting to hold on to a core group, but some guys just aren't worth the money. Oh well. Going to be an interesting season.

yup on everything you've said.

Amazing how things change in a year as a Boston sports fan. 1 year ago today

Bruins - cup champs, Tim Thomas a hero who gets talked about in conversations reserved for Russell, Bird, Williams, Orr, Brady etc.
Celtics - lost in the playoffs, but optimism for the upcoming season with a healthy squad and Jeff Green one more year into the system.
Red Sox - absolutely killing it and living up to the hype of "easy 100 win team" with the Gonzalez and Crawford additions
Patriots - Always optimism with Brady / Belichik at the wheels

one year later

Bruins - Thomas a distraction all season and an even bigger distraction now that the season is done, Bruins bounced early in the playoffs
Celtics - couldn't get it done and missed the finals. Good guy Ray Allen splits town to partner with the arch rival Heat. I will say it was one of the best "losing" and inspirational playoff performances of all time. This spring was a great time to be a Celtic fan. But, hopes aren't very high for next season. Team is older, Heat and Thunder are the same teams, Lakers add Howard.
Patriots - choked in the Superbowl AGAIN against a NY team. Still optimistic for the upcoming season, but they really need to get a ring now. If they don't win another Superbowl, the memory of the Pats 3 Superbowls will be equally shadowed as the team that went 18 and 1 as well as losing again when they had their shot at redemption.
Red Sox - I don't even want to talk about it. When I heard Pesky died yesterday, the first thing I thought was how sad it was he left us during the most disappointing season I can ever recall as a Red Sox fan.