Back to the whole Roenick thing: I love how he talks about feeling a special connection to literally every city he played in, but then when talking about Philly he brings up the whole "booing santa" ordeal, which happened before he was even born
what a bone head... yeah, I won't miss him. He was a good player. Point a game over his career (checks)
yeah, if he had retired 3 or 4 years ago when his production really took a dive then he would have been a point a game guy... even so he had 1363 games played and 1216 points. That's an impressive thing regardless of how much of an ass he might have been
But yeah, for those that don't know (which I think is everyone here but geeogree so far) I am a Pittsburgh Penguins fan. They are just a really great team and I am really proud of them for winning the cup this year and hoping for a repeat in 2010. I also like the San Jose Sharks, hopefully they do better this time.
Ironically, I live in southern California and I hate both our hockey teams. The Kings would be nice if they could get their shit together, and I just hate the Ducks on principle.
ehehehe, "I just hate the Ducks on principle" and that's fair. I don't blame you for that one bit. Although I hate them less and hate the Flyers a little more now that Pronger has moved. Sorry Ziggy. I just don't like Pronger.
I loved the Penguins run last year. It really was a fairy tale sort of win. Halfway through the season they're not even in a playoff spot, so they make a coaching change which revitalizes the team and they push and get 4th overall in the conference. They go on to get back into the finals to face the team that beat them the previous year and win in game 7 away from home.
*sigh* You really don't like tough players like that, do you...
And I wouldn't call the Pens' run a "fairy tale." When you have the talent that they have, you better be a playoff team. The run they made to get the 4 spot was impressive (you also have lousy Flyers playing to thank for that), but "fairy tale" would be more like them losing Malkin or Crosby near the end of the year, getting a poor seed (like 6 or lower) and THEN winning the Cup against the team that beat them last year. Injuries to Detroit players also played a role in that series.
So, in keeping with my little obsession, here is the changes to the Pens:
Arrivals: Wade Brookbank, RW, Carolina; Chris Conner, RW, Dallas; Nate Guenin, D, Philadelphia; Brent Johnson, G, Washington; Chris Lee, D, N.Y. Islanders; Jay McKee, D, St. Louis; Mike Rupp, LW, New Jersey, Wyatt Smith, C, Colorado. Also signing Alex Goligoski from their AHL affiliate after his impressive job filling in for Gonchar last season.
Departures: Mathieu Garon, G, Columbus; Hal Gill, D, Montreal; Chris Minard, LW, Edmonton; Janne Pesonen, LW, Ak Bars Kazan (Russia); Rob Scuderi, D, Los Angeles; Jeff Taffe, LW, Florida.
Remaining Free Agents: Philippe Boucher, D; David Brown, G; David Gove, C; Adam Henrich, LW; Connor James, LW; Joey Mormina, D; Jani Rita, LW; Miroslav Satan, RW, Petr Sykora, RW; Bill Thomas, RW; Andy Wozniewski, D; Mike Zigomanis, C.
I am now very interested to see how Scuderi does on the Kings... gives me more reason to go to one of the games at least.
I think you'll miss Garon as a back up, and Gill and Scuderi as solid defensive defencemen. Those are the biggest losses. The remaining free agents are pretty meh... Satan was supposed to be a good fit but he didn't click with either Crosby or Malkin and probably won't come back. Not sure who most of the people are that got signed except for Brookbank. As long as Crosby and Malkin both have a winger or 2 they mesh well with and the 3rd line is solid either offensively or defensively then Pittsburgh will be a force next year. I'm looking forward to seeing any Pittsburge vs Philly games I can catch cause those seem to be pretty good no matter what.
yeah, and having Goligoski signed is nice... he was solid when they needed him to be. Not sure if he's ready for 82 games but he'll be good when they need him to be.
yeah... but if he plays as well as he can... then I would say that makes you legitimate cup contenders. If not then I don't know if Philly will be good enough.
I also think a good season = conference finals or cup finals... anything earlier would be a let down.... you've got too good of a team to not get that far.
true enough. Calgary had the same problem. We were dominating through the middle of the season and then fell apart over the last 20 games or so and we couldn't recover in time for the playoffs. Otherwise I think Calgary would have made a bigger impact this year. We wouldn't have won but we would have gotten farther.
The Flyers (and most Philly teams ) have a tendency to be streaky. They just hit a cold streak at the worst time...before the playoffs. That cost them the 4 spot and the season. We might've beat the Pens if we kept the 4 spot, but losing it really hurts
that's true... if you guys had home ice you could have beaten the Pens. Cause didn't that series already go to 7 games? oh, nevermind. It went to 6... but I bet it would have gone to 7 and had been down to the wire. It's possible they would have still lost but it would have been closer than it was.
Of course, losing that spot both severely hurt the Flyers and gave the Pens even more momentum. With a streaky team like the Flyers, that's impossible to overcome
