nomorekids
The original, baby
these teams will play some hard-fought, completely irrelevant games, come april. i look forward to it
nomorekids said:these teams will play some hard-fought, completely irrelevant games, come april. i look forward to it
DanielBriere48 said:Who are you talking about?Sabres finished 9th last season,and they've gotten a year older,got rid of some lockerroom headaches (Satan.Everyone on the team has publicly blasted Satan and Drury even said he would headhunt Satan on the season opener). Sabres will be in the playoff hunt all season and could possibly finish 7th or 8th.
DanielBriere48 said:Who are you talking about?Sabres finished 9th last season,and they've gotten a year older,got rid of some lockerroom headaches (Satan.Everyone on the team has publicly blasted Satan and Drury even said he would headhunt Satan on the season opener). Sabres will be in the playoff hunt all season and could possibly finish 7th or 8th.
Drake1588 said:Well, aside from the missing Witt, Ovechkin, Cassels, Halpern, Zubrus, Semin, Sykora, Sutherby, Majesky, Clark, Clymer, Yonkman... then I guess so.
The fact that it's Washington's B/C team out there makes it even more stark that the score was as close as it was, in my book. These are the guys that are going to be long shots to make a squad as thin as the Capitals are going to be this year, much less a real NHL team's depth chart.
If I'm Buffalo, I'm asking myself how my veteran-laden lineup let it remain that close, for that long.
DanielBriere48 said:Who are you talking about?Sabres finished 9th last season,and they've gotten a year older,got rid of some lockerroom headaches (Satan.Everyone on the team has publicly blasted Satan and Drury even said he would headhunt Satan on the season opener). Sabres will be in the playoff hunt all season and could possibly finish 7th or 8th.
bert said:I think if the Sabres were in the centeral or southeast they would be a playoff team. But unfortunatly they have to play the leafs, sens, habs and bruins 8 times a piece.
In my fantasy league I drafted Vanek 4th, ahead of Zherdev. I am really happy to see that he is working out. Seems to have all the tools to be big time.
nomorekids said:In the Central, I think Detroit, Nashville and Chicago are better...and maybe even Columbus. The division has little bearing. They're not a better team than they were last year, losing their best defenseman and replacing him with a guy that probably should have retired two years ago and a guy that's a good number 3 on most playoff teams and also their most dangerous scorer(with or without the 'headaches') and hoping a rookie will fill that particular gap. I just don't see them as a playoff team, and more realistically a 10th-12th place team.
Lydman, Numminen>>Zhitnik.nomorekids said:In the Central, I think Detroit, Nashville and Chicago are better...and maybe even Columbus. The division has little bearing. They're not a better team than they were last year, losing their best defenseman and replacing him with a guy that probably should have retired two years ago and a guy that's a good number 3 on most playoff teams and also their most dangerous scorer(with or without the 'headaches') and hoping a rookie will fill that particular gap. I just don't see them as a playoff team, and more realistically a 10th-12th place team.
Drake1588 said:No one is disputing that at all. The whole point is that it's not so very impressive for Buffalo's mostly opening night roster to eke out a victory against a poor team to begin with, which was missing most of even its meager talent. They only got on the board after the Caps put in their #4 goalie. The Caps were making roster decisions, and put in a goalie headed for the ECHL to give him some ice time... not trying to win a game after Kolzig spotted the Caps a 2-0 lead by the second intermission.
Vanek's a great prospect, but this wasn't legit competition, and this wasn't much of a victory over which to crow, even for a pre-season game. Best that can be said about this one is that it's nice to have NHL hockey back.
Yeah but here's the thing.Jim Bob said:I heard a lot of the same stuff entering last season.
And how did Vanek do last season?
Oh yeah, he was the 2nd best goalscorer in the best NA league last year.
And as far as not scoring on Kolzig goes, you weren't at the game and didn't see the play in the first where Vanek undressed pretty much every Cap on the ice and slipped the puck through Kolzig's 5 hole only to see it slide wide of the left post.
Feel free to go the wait and see route.
But don't expect to have to wait too long.
The chemistry that Briere talked about not being there with Satan is certainly there with Vanek.
Drake1588 said:I think that everyone is projecting Vanek to be a star... so I'm not sure where this feeling that he's been dogged is coming from, exactly. From what I've seen, everyone across the league loves this kid, and with good reason. I wouldn't qualify a scrimmage against the Caps as his breakthrough performance, but that doesn't detract from his potential in any way.
We'll see if Washington puts a more seasoned roster on the ice tomorrow night for their home fans. I'm looking forward to seeing Vanek in person.
MLH said:You may not see him. His line is on fire again tonight (Vanek two assists so far in the 1st period) and I wouldn't be surprised to see Ruff give him the night off.
I'm basing it mostly on seeing him 40+ times last season. 30 goals is not out of the question at all. Actually, if he gets the ice time, he should score 25-30 goals.detredWINgs said:Are you guys kidding me??? Basing the future of a prospect on a PRESEASON game????