The NHL Off-Season Thread Starts With a Bang

[notyoueither]

[Flubber]

Sad for Theodore-- I always rooted for the guy and wish him the best

[Flubber]

Canada's initial lines in the scrimmage

Thursday's pairings
Team Red
Forwards

Marleau-Thornton-Heatley

Morrow-Richards-Carter

Lucic-McDonald-Cleary

J. Staal-Doan ( Gagne injured )

Defencemen

Niedermayer-Weber

Bouwmeester-Burns

Keith-Green

Beauchemin-M. Staal

Team White
Forwards

Nash-Crosby-Iginla

Smyth-Lecavalier-Sharp

E. Staal-Spezza-Perry

Roy-Toews-St. Louis

Defencemen

Boyle-Pronger

Doughty-Regehr

Phaneuf-Seabrook

Hamhuis-Robidas

Its hard to read too much into these pairings but you have to wonder on d if Niedermayer-Weber and Pronger-Boyle are possible on the team matchups. I have seen a number of pundits claiming that Niedemeyer, Pronger and Weber are almost locks to make the team

[rah]

I loved the Tribune headline today.

Kane Skates.

I wonder how much he paid the cabbie off?

[Wezil]

The Balsillie saga continues...

Does the league engage in anti-competitive practices? I guess it depends on who you ask.

As the possibility of present and future litigation over the Phoenix Coyotes continues to widen, there is another battlefield that is waiting to erupt. The war thus far has been between the National Hockey League and Canadian billionaire Jim Balsillie. But the next fight could be between the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Court filings filed late Friday night show a disagreement between the league and its most powerful franchise, dating back to 2006, over whether the Leafs have a veto over another team playing in their territory.

The NHL had taken the position that a franchise transfer into the home territory of an existing franchise would only require a majority vote among the league's board of governors. The Leafs, in a letter hand-delivered to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, strenuously objected, and wrote that the club would "reserve all rights to take whatever actions are necessary to protect their exclusive rights to their home territory."

(continued at link)

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=1945327

Watching Bettmen and the NHL twist themselves into pretzels over all this has been absolutely priceless. Best entertainment this product has provided in years.

[Asher]

And the NHLPA head got fired.

[Wezil]

Better than that.... on the recommendation of Buzz Hargrove.

Maybe he can for the NHLPA what he did for the auto workers.

[Flubber]

Three columnists are the Callgary Herald (Scott Cruickshank, George Johnson and Vicki Hall) picked their team Canada for the Olympics . They did them separately but they were very very similar in their picks. For what its worth here they are

First Line

Nash-Crosby- Iginla -- unanimous for all three

Second Line

Heatly- Getzlaf unanimous St Louis (2) E. Stall (1)

Third Line

Morrow- Richards- Carter unanimous for all three

Fourth line

Finally unanimity starts to break down

Toews (3)- J. Staal (2)- St Louis (1)-Smyth (1) - E. Staal (1)- Lecaviliar (1)

Spare forward

Savard (1)-Smyth (1)- Thornton (1)



So it looks like serious groupthink and probablyfar too influenced by watching the orientation. how else do people INDEPENDENTLY arrive at unanimous selections for the THIRD line.

On d the selections were even more unanimous. All 3 named the same 7 with only some variations on which pairing they were in (although the first 3 named were always in the top 4.) Likewise Regeher and Weber were always in the "3rd pairing" or the spare.


Pronger
Bouwmeester
Boyle
Neidemeyer
Keith
Regehr
Weber


Goalies

1. Brodeur (2 firsts and a second)
2. Luongo ( 1 first and two seconds )
3. Fleury (unanimous)

--------------------------------------------------------------

So there you have it. For all the talk about how competitive the camp and the competition will be, these three pundits all came up with pretty much the same team. Even where they differed it was to add a different long time vet like Thornton instead of Lecaviliar. No one took a flyer of tough as nails Cleary or a homer pick like Phaneuf. No one thought that the last Olympics means no more for Pronger (smaller ice in Vancouver should help Pronger). hey and Shane Doan was picked by no one? Its like thanks for all those years and leading our team so much at the worlds but this time its nope-- I thought someone would select him.

Is the team this obvious ??


Personally I hope that someone like Tavares or Stamkos will just set the league on fire so much in the first 20 games that they cannot be denied-- and they should not be denied-- The Crosbie lesson from 06 is to take the super-hot new guy ahead of some vet who is having a so-so season

[Kontiki]

Is that the actual ranking for d-men? If so, I'd think that Neidermeyer should go where Bouwmeester is, Weber where Neidermeyer is and Bouwmeester where Weber is.

[Ben Kenobi]

Three columnists at the Callgary Herald

Unanimous selection of Iginla on the first line?

We have much better up and coming players.

[Asher]

up and coming doesn't cut it for the present.

[Flubber]

Is that the actual ranking for d-men? If so, I'd think that Neidermeyer should go where Bouwmeester is, Weber where Neidermeyer is and Bouwmeester where Weber is.

Pretty close

THey did it by naming 1st , second and third string pairings and I roughed it out-- a 1-2-2 and a 1-1-3 are zbout the same to me but I put Niedemeyer 4th so I could say the first 3 were all in the top 4. If I had actually ranked them by bthe pundits choices it would essentially be Proger first with the next three essentially tied.



Pronger 1-1-2
Bouwmeester 1-2-2
Boyle 1-2-2
Neidemeyer 1-1-3
Keith 2-3-3
Regehr 3-3-spare
Weber spare-spare-3

[Flubber]

Unanimous selection of Iginla on the first line?

Its not that shocking actually. the Tsn and sportsnet commentators have pretty much put him in there as one of the 6-7 absolutely "must be there" type guys and in orientation he was matched with Nash and Crosby (two other "cannot miss" on almosts all the pundits lists.

So that particular prediction is not THAT Calgary biased and is being made by lots of Toronto and vancouver based media as well

[Flubber]

Here's the Hockey News' take on the team. They don't do lines.

A lot can change in four months.

It's reasonable to assume that a number of things will happen in the early stages of the NHL season that will alter Steve Yzerman's vision for Team Canada before he makes the final selections in December.

However, this week's orientation camp in Calgary did offer a few hints at where some players currently stand in the eyes of the Olympic brass. As camp wrapped up Thursday, Yzerman acknowledged that there was a logic to the line pairings.

"There's some purpose to who's playing with who," he said. "But things change dramatically."

One player he'll no doubt be watching closely is Brenden Morrow, who was limited to just 18 games for the Dallas Stars last season because of a torn ACL. Morrow didn't look out of place during the orientation camp scrimmage while playing on a line with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter - two players that many feel will be at the Games in February.

Of course, he'll have to show that his game hasn't suffered in the early stages of the season. And Morrow is far from alone in that regard.

The orientation camp had a very structured, professional feel and Yzerman headed home feeling confident that he has a strong grasp on what each player can offer. Now, it's just a matter of monitoring how things play out early in the season.

"For each player out there, I believe I have a good understanding of their strengths and where they'll be real effective," said Yzerman. "Some guys are more versatile than others and can potentially go in different spots. The tournament is six months from now or so - you've got players here that are coming off of an injury, there's just so many things for us to watch. That's all we can do.

"We'll make a decision when we have to make a decision."

In the interim, The Canadian Press will continue making decisions for them. Here's a look at our latest 23-man roster (which includes Morrow for the first time):


Goaltenders

Martin Brodeur (New Jersey): The stop he made on Jason Spezza during the orientation camp scrimmage was unreal.

Roberto Luongo (Vancouver): Has his eyes on winning the top job.

Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh): Stanley Cup win gives him an edge over the other young hopefuls. Could a strong start to the season get him to No. 2 on the depth chart?


Defencemen

Scott Niedermayer (Anaheim): He's your captain, Canada.

Shea Weber (Nashville): A spot on the Olympic blue-line seems to be his to lose.

Chris Pronger (Philadelphia): Bidding to become a four-time Olympian, the rugged defenceman has Flyers fans hoping that he can put them over the top.

Duncan Keith (Chicago): Among his defensive partners during camp? Niedermayer and Weber.

Jay Boumeester (Calgary): Gets his first taste of playing in a pressure-packed Canadian market this season after starting career in Florida.

Dan Boyle (San Jose): Narrowly missed being part of the Olympic team in Turin four years ago.

Mike Green (Washington): Now considered a bubble player after flaming out in the playoffs. But don't forget his 73 points last season.


Forwards

Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh): Will likely be left at his natural centre position for the Olympics. That makes him the No. 1 centre.

Rick Nash (Columbus): One of his main goals at orientation camp was building some chemistry with Crosby.

Martin St. Louis (Tampa Bay): Don't be surprised to see him start the Olympics with Crosby and Nash.

Jarome Iginla (Calgary): Iggy was a difference-maker at the Games in 2002. He'll be called on do it again in 2010.

Ryan Getzlaf (Anaheim): Was held off the ice during orientation camp because of sports hernia surgery, but that won't hurt his chances.

Eric Staal (Carolina): The oldest Staal brother is the only one we could find room for on our roster.

Vincent Lecavalier (Tampa Bay): Feeling good after off-season surgery on his wrist.

Joe Thornton (San Jose): A tough end to last season for him and the Sharks. The fact remains that he's averaged more than 100 points a year since the lockout.

Shane Doan (Phoenix): Might be tough to showcase his skills with all the drama surrounding the Coyotes this season, but his strong international resume won't be forgotten by Hockey Canada.

Mike Richards (Philadelphia): Fantastic candidate for a shutdown line who can kill penalties and put up some points.

Jeff Carter (Philadelphia): Scored more goals (46) than any other Canadian-born player last season. Might be a good fit with Flyers teammate Richards.

Brenden Morrow (Dallas): One of the guys who really needs a solid opening to the NHL season to solidify a spot.

Jonathan Toews (Chicago): Was given assignments at both centre and wing during the orientation camp - a testament to the versatility that should help get him to Vancouver.


Bubble players

G Cam Ward, D Brent Burns, D Robyn Regehr, D Dion Phaneuf, F Jordan Staal, F Corey Perry, F Dany Heatley.

Goalies-- identical to the Calgarypundits

D-men-- identical except they have Mike Green instead of Regehr (possibly homerism in the calgary pundits OR simply people not being sure if Babcock will want offense or defense.

Forwards

the Hockey News gives spots to Thornton, Doan and Lecavilier that the calgary folks on balance gave to Heatley, Jordan Staal and Ryan Smth.

So overall, Doan and Green were the only Hockey news players not named by one of the Calgary pundits. Smyth and Savard (1 mention as the spare) are the only players named by the Calgary folks that appear nowhere on the Hockey Newslist


So at the moment, there appears to be a fairly good accord among all the pundits. But I suspect that there will be more controversy when inevitably, someone will tear up the league in the first few months such that its tough to deny them an opportunity

[Kontiki]

Unless Heatley utterly tanks this year, I don't see any way you could leave him off the roster. The guy is one of the most pure goal scorers Canada has and if there's discussion for people like Doan or Smyth with regards to their international competition pedigree, well, Heatley's may well be even better.