black label

The situations were very different though. Calgary had a better offer from the B's for Iginla. The B's management was informed they were going to win the Iggy lottery by Calgary. Iginla blocked it at the last moment.

The Morrow deal didn't go through with Boston because of the Dallas managements decision on what was best for their team. It wasn't a decision made at the last second by Morrow.

Yumcha

You have the inside track given the team you follow. So, I'll take your word.

But, from what I heard and read, Morrow had a say in where he ended up too and picked playing with the Pens...it ultimately had some influence on what Nieuwendyk did.

black label

What I find most humorous is that Shero is being credited as being some kind of super GM because of this deal when he clearly failed to make the best offer to Calgary and got Iginla simply because the Penguins were given Crosby by the NHL in a nice little gift box.

Shero did nothing but fail in his attempt to get Iginla, the only reason Iginla went to Pitt was Crosby who Shero had nothing to do with in the first place.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

That's what I was confused about, thanks for the clarity. In the end, they chose where they wanted to play. Jagr did the same to us last year, shit happens

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Shero made 4 big deals at the trade deadline plain and simple. Iginla came to Pittsburgh to win, there's more in Pittsburgh than just Crosby, but yes Iginla made the choice to come here.

black label

Shero may have made 3 big deals but you can't credit him at all for Iginla. Calgary could have made the decision to not trade Iginla to Pittsburgh because they didn't offer a good enough deal. Calgary's management is relatively pathetic when looking at the decisions they made this year so they let Iginla become the GM for his final play in Calgary. Shero had no deal until Iginla said Pittsburgh was the only team he'd play for.

In the end, I'm happy he's not here. We would have lost Matt Bartkowski to Calgary and he ended up becoming a vital part of the B's when they lost 50% of their defensemen and he got the call up from Providence.

That said nothing would make me smile like seeing Iggy get sent to the golf course by the team he wouldn't play for except for maybe seeing someone tell him he bet on the wrong horse in the handshake line.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Yes Iggy made the choice, but I think Shero had SOMETHING to do with the trade

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Pittsburgh had offers on the table, it's not like Iggy just called them up out of the blue and said yo I'm gonna come play there....

black label

Yep he signed the paper work after the deal was finalized.
You miss the point. Pittsburgh had uncompetitive offers on the table. They had offers that Calgary found inferior to other offers. Shero was incapable of putting together a deal that made Calgary say, "that's the best offer we've received" yet they got the player because Iginla was driving the bus.

Not that I care about Calgary fans feelings but the player they admired so much effectively screwed them out of getting a better deal because he wanted to play for Pittsburgh and didn't give 2 shits about his current team or fan base.

A GM with any spine would have told Iginla, team "a" has proposed the best deal to us, if you want to leave Calgary to try to win a cup, it will be with team "a" if you refuse to go there, you can stay here.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Pittsburgh didn't put the best offer on the table, because they'd already made 2 big trades, but Shero did put an offer out there

I said it when it happened, blame the no trade clause

Fibonacci

Puckered starfish time~

Yumcha

On Wednesday night, unless it goes for 5 OTs (and then technically becomes Thursday)...one of us will be ...!

Fibonacci

Well for Detroit's sake, I hope you and Toews are downing some single malt together!

Yumcha

This series has definitely been entertaining despite the Game 2-4 frustrations (from a Hawks fan perspective).

Interesting to see the Top 2 lines cancel each other out essentially with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filppula, Franzen, Toews, Kane, Hossa, and Sharp all not piling on points. You could argue that Toews has definitely turned it up after his triple-penalty game.

Comes down to the 3rd and 4th lines. Who knew Detroit's would be this good and give Chicago fits?

It's interesting to see Coach Q's mash-up on his combinations has worked to win the last two games. Gonna be insane Game 7.

Moog-Type-S

Don't take the sharks so lightly.
They dominated the nucks.

A game 7 is a crap shoot of wills and determination mixed with a luck bounce here and there. .....and hopefully no moronic officiating to ruin it.

dom

moosejuice2

End of the kings game was awesome

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

Congrats Kings.

Quick was a machine.

Moog-Type-S

And all the Vezina candidates are golfing while Quick plays on a whole other level.

Moog-Type-S

Ok, Statler & Fibbi, who's it gonna be?
Oh the madness that will become of this thread.
I think the doomsday clock is moving forward a few more minutes.

is300eater

I would rather see the Kings go up against the Wings

Moog-Type-S

Props to the Sharks. Great series.

Torres, you bum! I hope you never play another game in this league.
Stoll was GREATLY missed in the face off circle. I hope he is back for the conference finals

As for Joe Thornton, a bridesmaid again, as usual. :wink:

Moog-Type-S

Kings fans appear to be about 50/50 split about who to play.
As far as goaltenders go, I'd gladly take Crawford in the opponents net over Howard that's for sure.

black label

Hold on there, it turns out Fibbi can still save the thread.

Sorry you're gonna have to take one for the team here.

SLIKRIK

Home ice favors the Kings so I'm pulling for detroit to eliminate chicago.

Yumcha

We will know more after tomorrow.

Hocus-pocus aside, I think Chicago has a great opportunity here being on home ice and having the momentum. But, again, we will know more tomorrow.



Personally, nothing would be more fun for me than to see the Hawks up against Waldorf's. His team, with the "name-brand" goalie and all that depth at center, versus Chicago's no-name goalie, speed, and depth on D...

Fibonacci

The irony isn't lost on me that despite The Count's best efforts at enforcing parity, the past five cup champs are still represented in the post-season.

For the sake of humanity, I hope the Wings make it the Sadhouse on Madison tonight. More importantly, pretty sure hockey talk won't be able to stomach two weeks of Moogelino and Boobelino playing patty cake for the next two weeks.

Look guys, I think its kinda sorta cute that you have "special" names for each other. But this unrequited love between Waldorf and Statler has to end. Burke taught us all to be more tolerant and we are ready to embrace you guys out in the open. :gheyhug:

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

That save on Pavelsky with like 3 minutes left was impressive

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Moog-Type-S

Yumcha

Yumcha

Well, if venom and spew is what Fibs wants:

Hey, Fibs? You and your team can go fark yourselves.

And same to all remaining playoff teams and their respective "fans".









BETTER?!??

dom

Heard that last night as well.

This thread is a goner as soon as Sid lifts Lord Stanley above his head....

all of you and your properly run franchises.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

So sick of seeing the hawks on NHL 36 every freaking night alternating between NBCSN and NHL network

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

FINALLY!

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...w-york-rangers

New York looked good in eliminating the Washington Capitals in the Conference Quarterfinals, but that strong play was lacking against the Bruins.

This doesn't come as a major shock following the Rangers' Conference Semifinals exit to the Boston Bruins in five games. New York had Stanley Cup aspirations prior to the season but only managed to finish sixth in the Eastern Conference.

Not all of the team's problems this season can be attributed to the coach. After all, it's the players who step out on the ice. As with most cases, though, it's the coach who's given the lion's share of the blame because it's much easier to fire a coach than to replace a team.

Were the Rangers right to fire John Tortorella?
Yes No Submit Vote vote to see results

Tortorella first became head coach of the Rangers during the 2008-09 season, replacing Tom Renney in the middle of the season. The remainder of his time with the franchise is a succession of disappointments in the regular season and Stanley Cup playoffs.

The furthest he took the team in the Stanley Cup playoffs was the Conference Finals last season, when New York lost to the New Jersey Devils in six games.

With Tortorella's personality, it's not a far leap to think he has worn out his welcome with the Rangers. Players and upper management can only put up with somebody like Tortorella for so long before it becomes too much.

Despite his surliness, Tortorella is a talented coach and will most likely land on his feet. He won the Stanley Cup in 2004 with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He's also the first American-born coach to win 400 games.

It's only a matter of time before Tortorella is on an NHL bench again.

dom

Bye Torts

Stick to the TV side where you come off as far less of a douche.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

Who will Sather hire? Maybe we can get rid of him too?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

How can he blame the media if he's part of the media?

e30cabrio

iTrader: (6)

http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/range...h0VhDr1jkiKCXO

Lundqvist doesn't commit to Rangers long term

Henrik Lundqvist chose his words very carefully yesterday when the subject of a potential contract extension this summer was raised at yesterday’s breakup day, so I sure won’t put any words in his mouth.

But know this: The words did not come out of the Rangers’ franchise player’s mouth that would have put owner Jim Dolan, general manager Glen Sather, coach John Tortorella and the entirety of Rangers’ Nation at ease.

Those words would have been: “Yes, my intention is to sign a long-term extension and play my entire career in New York.”

Instead the words from the goaltender, who has one year remaining on his deal and is thus eligible to sign an extension on July 5, were these:

“I’m going to talk to my agent and will see. I [have] had such a great time in New York. They’ve treated me really well and gave me the opportunity to play.

“It’s been a lot of fun. I have one more year on my contract and we’ll see.”

Again, The King didn’t say that next summer he will be searching for a different location for his castle. Didn’t say he was looking for an exit. But he didn’t say he was committed to staying, either.

Maybe this was Lundqvist simply starting negotiations. But maybe not. Maybe the 31-year-old reigning Vezina winner and 2013 finalist is going to take some time, perhaps all of next season, to evaluate whether committing to the Rangers represents his best chance to win the Stanley Cup.

There is very little doubt that Lundqvist, operating on a six-year contract under which he is earning an average of $6.875 million per, will surpass Alex Ovechkin ($9.538 million per) as the NHL’s highest paid player.

Lundqvist’s asking price is likely to be a minimum of $80 million for eight years, the maximum length allowed for a player re-signing with his own team.

It is a King’s Ransom, all right, but he will get it. The open-ended question that Lundqvist did answer yesterday is whether he will seek that somewhere else next summer.

While essentially every player on the club expressed regret over the season — Callahan: “We underachieved;” Lundqvist: “It was a step back” — Tortorella dissented.

“I know I’m supposed to feel it was a disappointing season, but I don’t buy it and I won’t,” the coach said. “I don’t think we took a step back. I think it was a sideways step.”

It is impossible to know whether Tortorella was playing the contrarian, in denial, or delusional, but saying it does not make it so.

While management is dealing with Lundqvist, it is also essential to sign restricted free agent defenseman Ryan McDonagh to a contract before he becomes eligible for an offer sheet from, say, the Flyers.

The Rangers have a policy of signing players off Entry Level to two-year bridge contracts, but, A) policies are made to be amended — there once was a policy of not issuing no-move clauses and then along came Chris Drury — and, B) it would be foolish for the Blueshirts to allow Philadelphia to establish the price for McDonagh.

Of course, if the Rangers sign McDonagh to a long-term deal, they would be bound to do the same for Derek Stepan. But that’s the price of doing business.

The Blueshirts will have approximately $20 million of available space if, as seems inevitable, Brad Richards is bought out. That’s before signing McDonagh, Stepan, and fellow restricted free agents Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello. That’s without Ryane Clowe. That’s with four or five spots open.

Lundqvist enjoys a certain lifestyle. There may not be many teams in preferred cities with both the need and the means for the goaltender who have a greater chance to win over the next few seasons than the Rangers.

But given the chance to pledge his future to a New York he so clearly loves, the goaltender declined. Maybe it was a gambit. Maybe it was a way of warning management not to take him for granted.

But maybe he is skeptical about the program. If that is the case, the Rangers should be afraid.

They should be very afraid of taking another step sideways.