Pre-Game Talk: Season Opens on Wednesday as we raise another banner!

[molon labe]

I do not get the Washington hate. I mean I get why they hate us. And a number of their fans here are really really hard to take. But if not for those fans I would almost feel sorry for them.

At this point I am not sure if their situation is more tragedy or comedy. I am not sure what is worse. Having a team like Cleveland who never makes any right moves in football, or a team like the Caps who have seemed to have it all over long stretches and continually breaks their fans' hearts with their underperforming. At least if you are a Browns' fan you never expect anything.

Multiple knee to knee and other questionable hits. Attempted assassination of Sidney Crosby two, questionably three times over the years... Yeah the hate is justified.

Last year I almost forgot all the dirtiness and foul play in our head to head and playoff match-ups before the Nisky hit... then all bets were off. At one point I even thought to myself - I'd be okay only winning this series. Of course that went away when I realized with the playoff format the winner from the Atlantic would meet us in the Conf Finals - but the thought was there.

I also get the hate for Ovechkin being the bit of the spoiled golden child - but the man is an offensive gift that has been remitted down to a one-timing forward with little else to offer. I personally put a lot of that on the Caps organization for seeing that dirty plays and power play goals in the regular season is successful. Not many teams are ready to risk all over an elbow or knee to knee in January like the Caps are. Come playoffs they wonder why that doesn't translate... sort of an ironic hatred for them in that regard.

 

[PensandCaps]

41 games exactly the minimum number for the cup. 3 points.

Good god was he useless.

 

[Dying Alive]

The actual size of those rings is unbelievable.

 

[flaneur]

They went for the cover-every-available-surface-with-diamonds aesthetic this year.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Ruhwedel didn't get his name on the cup while Streit did, that's kinda ****ty. Ruhwedel played in 34 regular season games and 6 playoff games, both of which were more than what Streit did.

Minimum is 41 regular season or 1 in the finals. Streit played a combined 60+ between Pittsburgh and Philly.

I think you can only petition for a player to be on the Cup if he fails to meet either criteria if he's injured, where it can be argued he would have reached those minimums if it weren't for the games he missed injured.

 

[ColePens]

The actual size of those rings is unbelievable.

Love the look of the ring, hate the size. These things are so big they aren't wearable.

 

[billybudd]

Maybe it's just the font size I'm using, but your name shows up only as HandshakeLin with an 'e' on another line.

I giggle like a school girl picturing some karate anime character named Handshake Lin.

Handshake Lin would be a phenomenal name for a comic relief character in a Kung Fu movie, as well.

 

[Sidney the Kidney]

Handshake Lin would be a phenomenal name for a comic relief character in a Kung Fu movie, as well.

Jackie Chan as .... HANDSHAKE LIN!

 

[shureshot66]

 

[Sticksandsun]

Ruhwedel didn't get his name on the cup while Streit did, that's kinda ****ty. Ruhwedel played in 34 regular season games and 6 playoff games, both of which were more than what Streit did.

He's 40 and this will be his last season, it's a career capper

 

[Honour Over Glory]

Yeah I still think Ruhwedel should be on that, I mean the staff on that...Chris Stewart is on that freaking thing. No offense to him, but uh...Ruhwedel stepped up huge when we needed depth.

 

[HandshakeLine]

Jackie Chan as .... HANDSHAKE LIN!

Edit: whatup with the orphan tags showing up after the image?

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

Those rings look fantastic

 

[steveg]

Jackie Chan as .... HANDSHAKE LIN!

Also starring Ken Jeong as his sidekick .... CHECK POSSY!

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

So...is Alex Ovechkin a loser, or just unlucky?

 

[HandshakeLine]

At this point, I kind of feel bad for Ovechkin. I think his style of play is catching up with him, plus his lack of focus off ice is compounded by his team's total lack of focus on ice. He looks miserable in the post-season, even outside of game 7.

 

[Human]

those rings are a little bit too much for my taste, but no biggie...

good to see Trevor Daley with the team. I still remember them trading Scuderi for him just like it was yesterday. and then actually seeing him play, the difference was ridiculous. I don't know what the Hawks were thinking, but good for the Pens.

 

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

good to see Trevor Daley with the team. I still remember them trading Scuderi for him just like it was yesterday. and then actually seeing him play, the difference was ridiculous. I don't know what the Hawks were thinking, but good for the Pens.

I know exactly what they were thinking. "Addition by subtraction." The exact same thing we were thinking about Scuderi.

The one meaningful difference is that we were right.

 

[Human]

I know exactly what they were thinking. "Addition by subtraction." The exact same thing we were thinking about Scuderi.

The one meaningful difference is that we were right.

I don't know about that. from my understanding Daley wasn't bad for them, it's just that Coach Q didn't like him and scretched him for unknown reasons.

Daley is a puck moving defenseman who still wouldn't look out of place on any third pair in this league, and he was better two seasons ago.

Scuderi was a corpse on skates at the time of trade.

 

[cheesedanish87]

This blues team looks really bad on paper right now with all the injuries they have, hopefully the pens take care of business tomorrow night.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

At this point, I kind of feel bad for Ovechkin. I think his style of play is catching up with him, plus his lack of focus off ice is compounded by his team's total lack of focus on ice. He looks miserable in the post-season, even outside of game 7.

Last year was kind of the first time I could really have a clear mental picture of Ovi and think "Y'know, this isn't so much his fault..."

I don't know. Maybe it's just that everything in Washington has been such a clown show for years, maybe it's him going grey...

But now more than ever, it just seems clear that the responsibility lies firmly with Sweaty Teddy.

 

[NMK11]

Is there any way we can change our opponent last minute to the caps? You know, because

 

[TrudeauG]

Showing off the bling... someone ought to tune that team up.

 

[Allie Kitsune]

Matt Murray is slowly turning into a clone of Rhett McLaughlin...

 

[xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

So...is Alex Ovechkin a loser, or just unlucky?

A guy wholly unwilling or unable to tweak his game to be more well-rounded, playing for an owner and a team that have never demanded anything like that from him in order to win. I'd say it's more on the franchise and owner than Ovechkin, but Ovechkin's certainly got a good amount of the blame himself.