***Official 2007-2008 NHL Season Thread***

[DonkeyKongSr]

Preseason hockey = megavariance

[Pudge714]

As much as I like hockey. I can't stand Canadian sports media's coverage on it. Yesterday they spent more time on Panthers Blackhawks preseason game than any baseball game.
I think the Mark Bell suspension is really dumb and very results oriented (shocking!).
Leafs will probably make the playoffs just based on the fact they improved this year and were really close to making it last year.

[bravos1]

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Preseason hockey = megavariance

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While true, the Ducks top 2 lines were pretty useless. It was also pretty comical watching how frustrated the Ducks were during the last half of the game. They started drawing stupid penalties left and right and throwing a bunch a cheap shots.

[BowToYourSensei]

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you totally stole my official nhl season thread

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Sorry, but as the #1 fan of the reigning champs on 2+2, I figured I could call dibs on the official thread.

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the west puzzles me. i don't really tihnk the ducks will do it again this year, though they could. i guess top dog is san jose... detroit will probably do as well or maybe a bit worse than last year, but I think Colorado will do very well. most think it'll be either CGY or VAN winning the NW but I'm going to go with COL

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The only thing holding me back from picking Colorado in the NW is goaltending. You could make the case that they have the worst goaltending in the division (not saying they do, but it could be close). Vancouver didn't really do much to address their offensive woes, so I don't like them.

While San Jose is really good, I don't see how they've leaped over Detroit in the offseason and they only leap over the Ducks due to the 2 "retirees".

BTW, I'm holding onto the hope for the Ducks that Nieds is holding out just long enough to get enough cap space for Selanne. I'll be happy with both returning near the end of 2007.

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going into last year the ducks were the #1 team in the west and the sharks were 1a. the sharks are a better team than they were last year and the ducks, imo, are gonna be far more complacent now that they have the cup. they seriously played a lot of that season way out of their heads.

as for toskala variance, c'mon, 2.5 years of the same [censored] is not variance, he was always a liability with deceptive stats.

[bluef0x]

[ QUOTE ]
As much as I like hockey. I can't stand Canadian sports media's coverage on it. Yesterday they spent more time on Panthers Blackhawks preseason game than any baseball game.
I think the Mark Bell suspension is really dumb and very results oriented (shocking!).
Leafs will probably make the playoffs just based on the fact they improved this year and were really close to making it last year.

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I rather get coverage of the Panthers-Hawks game than nothing but Baseball/Basketball/Football.

Also, this wasn't the first time Mark Bell was in trouble... I think it was an automatic suspension, so I don't understand how it's results oriented.

[Triumph36]

Carolina at +2500 is waaay better than Washington +6500 - Washington signed some nice players but their depth is crap, all over the roster. They've still got guys like Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon playing major minutes for them. They also signed 3 of the softest players in hockey history this offseason. All this overrating of Washington has to stop - they're still a year away.

As for divisions, I've got:

Atlantic: Rangers
Northeast: Senators
Southeast: Hurricanes
Central: Red Wings
Northwest: Canucks
Pacific: Sharks

I genuinely believe that Scott Niedermayer will not come back. But since he's a selfish ass, he's keeping everyone in suspense.

As for playoffs, I've got, out West:

1. Detroit
2. San Jose
3. Vancouver
4. Calgary
5. Anaheim
6. Dallas
7. Colorado
8. Nashville

and East, I've got

1. New York Rangers
2. Ottawa
3. Carolina
4. Pittsburgh
5. Buffalo
6. Toronto
7. New Jersey
8. Philadelphia

Pudge,

I envy your problem.

[DonkeyKongSr]

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they seriously played a lot of that season way out of their heads.

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I highly disagree. They were one of the best teams all season and played like it. If anything they played below their level more often than out of their heads. They were spectacular when it mattered because they were built to win big games. They had the best record against playoff teams during the regular season for a reason. The only times they appeared to be anything but the best team was the games against the bad teams (played down to their level too much), during the injury stretch in Dec-Jan, and parts of the Detroit series.

[bluef0x]

NHL 08 predicts the Sharks winning the cup with Thornton receiving the Conn Smythe. I'm guessing a lot heads explode if that happens [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

CAN THE SEASON START ALREADY!??!

[daman123]

the answer to this is probably no, but if you order the center ice package, can you get the games in HD?

[bluef0x]

et in the center of the action with NHL CENTER ICE

Did you see over 1,100 NHL games last season?

Our NHL CENTER ICE subscribers did. That's over 40 fast, powerful and aggressive games each week, including some available in high definition! Plus, select games from the first two rounds of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

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I'd wait until the free trial starts and they release the schedule if HD is important to you (hockey is the best HD sport)