The Official NHL 2006-2007 Season Thread

[Mal Brossard]

Why all the over-love for the Oilers?  I love when fans are so realistic.

And sandman, I have to agree completely with your assessment of Crosby.  Whiny, thoroughly unlikeable off the ice, but he's playing with some grit so far this year (mostly because he has a decent group of semi-fighters to back him up-- reminding me of Bobby Clarke a bit).

[Neemo]

just heard on the radio....there are 6 swede captains in the NHL this year with Forsberg and Lidstrom promoted

and another tidbit....a team with a european captain has never won the cup...kinda crazy, i guess Lidstrom's gonna be the first

Edit: just for the hell of it....nearly 1/2 the teams have euro captains this year (13), canada has 14 NHL Captains USA has 2 and Pittsburgh didn't name one this year

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins, Slovakian
Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings, Swedish
Olli Jokinen, Florida Panthers, Finnish
Mattias Norstrom, Los Angeles Kings, Swedish
Saku Koivu, Montreal Canadiens, Finnish
Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators, Finnish
Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils, Czech
Jaromir Jagr, N.Y. Rangers, Czech
Alexei Yashin, N.Y. Islanders, Russian
Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators, Swedish
Peter Forsberg, Philadelphia Flyers, Swedish
Mats Sundin, Toronto Maple Leafs, Swedish
Markus Naslund, Vancouver Canucks, Swedish

[Malcolm]

WOW, What A night for Sundin

500 career goal
8th career hat trick
15th overtime goal (NHL Record)
Shothanded

That was an amazing moment watcjing that game

[Neemo]

yeah that shot was insane, nice way to get the milestone(s)

nashville finally got a win, i thought they would be a force this year but pretty blah so far

[Backslash]

I guess there are really only 1.5 American captains... Drury's a co-captain with Briere in Buffalo.

[deadflowerII]

I think BUFFALO is thee team to beat in the EAST 

[Communist China]

I think BUFFALO is thee team to beat in the EAST?

YES!

[CheapJon]

when i wrote some of my predictions for this year i said that i thought that shanahan was a bad investment for the rangers.. but now he has scored 7 goals i think and leads the the league in points.. pretty impressive


and yeah we have 6 captains

[CheapJon]

yeah i'm the only one posting in this thread


must be one of the worse season starts for the flyers in a while

[Communist China]

Goons don't win games.

[Mal Brossard]

Goons?  Where?

Are you calling the Flyers goons?  If so, then I'm sorry but that may be one of the most idiotic statements I've seen.  The team has two fighting majors this season (even less than the Red Wings, who had the fewest in the league with 4 or 5 last year) and for the most part has been passive while getting steamrolled.

No one stood up for themselves in their last two losses at the hands of Tampa Bay and Buffalo.  A 9-1 loss?  If you go back even 10 years, there's hitting all over the place, a few fights, maybe even a line brawl if a team runs up the score like that.  You do it in baseball and you'll get at least one or two brushback pitches or intentional beanings.  Now in this Bettmanist, pussified NHL, what do you get?  ONE SINGLE GODDAMN ROUGHING PENALTY!  And it was after all nine goals, and called on Mike Knuble-- one hell of a goon there.

Captain Kangaroo Hitchcock has got to go.  The Flyers used to be the last bastion of tough, hard hitting hockey with some good goal scorers and great goaltending.  Now they've grown a pussy, go bending over for teams, and beg to take it in the ass.

No offense meant to the Flyers fans here, as I'm sure plenty of you agree and are wondering what happened to this team and the balls it once had.

Goons?  Bullshit.

[Communist China]

I'm talking goon as in big dopes who can't skate, not fighting goons. Hatcher is NOT a #1 defensemen in this league, and the rest of their team can't skate either. Other than Gagne and Forsberg I can't name a player on the Flyers who I would say could be stars in the new NHL. They're playing hockey like it hasn't changed and players don't get older. Same philosophy that gets Modano and Chelios in the olympics, and the US without a medal.

[Mal Brossard]

So you're referring more to "pylons," "statues," and "cones" rather than "goons" in the hockey sense of the word.  Gotcha.

[KeVoRkIaN]

Off to their worst start in 15 years, the Philadelphia Flyers cleaned house on Sunday, firing head coach Ken Hitchcock and letting general manager Bob Clarke resign.

Hitchcock told TSN he learned of his fate early Sunday morning. Assistant coach John Stevens has been promoted to Hitchcock's post, while Paul Holmgren will take over Clarke's managing duties.

The Flyers have just one win in their first seven games this season. They lost to the Florida Panthers on Friday night for their fifth straight loss. The Flyers had not lost five in a row since 2002.

On Tuesday, the Flyers were blasted 9-1 by the Buffalo Sabres. The Flyers sent Petr Nedved and Niko Dimitrakos to the AHL the next day, and owner Ed Snider promised more changes.

Snider said Sunday that he conducted a thorough investigation of the team's operations after the Buffalo loss and decided he needed to make a coaching change.

 

"It's difficult to let a coach of his calibre go," Snider said. "It was not done frivolously."

In 10 season as an NHL head coach with Dallas and Philadelphia, Hitchcock has posted a record of 408-249-100. He is 66-51 in playoff games and won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999.

Hitchcock had been the Flyers coach for four seasons and signed a new three-year deal in training camp. At the time, Clarke said re-signing his coach was "final piece of stability" the Flyers needed heading into the season.

Clarke, in his second stint with Philadelphia, had been the team's GM for a total 13 seasons. 

"I deeply regret not being able to bring a Stanley Cup here," Clarke said solemnly on Sunday. "I didn't deliver."

Clarke has come under fire for failing to deal well with the new NHL.  He has signed big, slow players like Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje, while other teams - like the Sabres - have blossomed in the new NHL with smaller, faster players.

Snider, however, said he never considered replacing Clarke and was caught off guard by his general manager's decision.

"Bob Clarke has been the heart and soul of the Flyers for nearly 40 years," Snider said n a statement. "Bob was the driving force behind our Stanley Cups as a player, and as president and general manager, he built the Flyers into one of the premier franchises in hockey. I will always think of Bob as the Ultimate Flyer and there is always a position within our organization for Bob Clarke."

Clarke insisted his decision was personal and had nothing to do with the players, the coach or the losing. In fact, he informed Snider after the third game of the season about his feelings.

"I recognized myself that I hadn't been very good," Clarke said. "It wasn't because of our record, I can guarantee you that.

"The zest or the job - I lost it."

Clarke said he just wasn't prepared to do the things a general manager needed to do in order to be successful. Clarke suggested that he may have been suffering from burn-out, and had been letting Holmgren do much of the work he would normally do.

He added that he left the June draft feeling more like a by-stander than a general manager, which might explain why Clarke froze at the podium, forgetting the name of the Flyers' first round pick when making the announcement.

The gaffe was funny at the time, but Clarke said on Sunday that the draft was the first sign he might be wearing down. He regrets not realizing his situation sooner.

"The team has to come first," Clarke said. "And I was letting the team down."

Holmgren was clearly upset to be replacing his mentor under such circumstances. "My heart is sad today," Holmgren said. "He's like a big brother to me.

"I've felt for a long time that Bob wasn't right with the job. I've felt for a long time that he was off the beat, for lack of a better phrase."

Snider said he was optimistic about the team's future with Holmgren and Stevens at the helm. Snider said he didn't expect miracles, but hoped the changes might prompt better results from the players.

"We'll see how they respond," Snider said.  "Hopefully they will respond favourably."

Stevens was the head coach of the Flyers' American Hockey League affiliate for the past six seasons before joining the big club as an assistant.  He led the Philadelphia Phantoms to the Calder Cup in 2005.

"John Stevens has quickly proven that he can coach in the National Hockey League," Snider said. "He worked very closely with many of our younger players when he coached them as Phantoms. We believe that we have a core of great young talent and we think that John is the right guy to coach this team."

Holmgren was also positive that the new leadership group can turn things around.

"We're better than what we've shown," he said. "We just have to march ahead and do a better job."

[sandman]

i watrched the press conference and honestly could not believe what i was watching.

i love bobby clarke and he IS the flyers, but it's a shame it took him this long to step down. his performance the last five months was piss poor. and the team has suffered (and will suffer) because of it.

[Acquiesce]

I wouldn't say his performance was that bad. He is at fault for the D problems but I think Hitch was more of a problem. He was at fault for the lack of heart and their lack of toughness. Clarke assembled pretty good scoring depth but they can't score. That's not Clarke's fault. Hitch lost the team, IMO. I wouldn't have minded if Clarke was given until the end of the season at least.

[Communist China]

I'm glad they're both gone.

[Mal Brossard]

Hitch was more of a problem. He was at fault for the lack of heart and their lack of toughness.

He was that way in his Dallas days too.  He unceremoniously dumped Shane Churla (after 7 years protecting the Stars), actively prevented Brent Severyn frm having his name put on the Cup, had no one over 100 PIM in 1999-00.  Todd Harvey and Brendan Morrow usually led his teams in PIM while he coached in Dallas.  Those teams had no protectors, limited toughness, and repeatedly fell apart in playoff time because of it.

And now, he kicks Fedoruk and Brashear to the curb.  The toughest player on this year's team is Nolan Baumgartner.  Disgusted yet?

Hopefully Stevens and Holmgren turn it around and get someone decently tough either this year or next.

[Communist China]

Well Brashear would be more of a liability than an enforcer in the new NHL. But I agree, toughness and heart is missing in Philly.

[CheapJon]

what about that Anze Kopitar in L.A. Kings, he's gonna be something big one day i think.. played in sweden last couple of years, oh yeah