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

[21times20]

[ QUOTE ]
sharks + roenick - toskala - guerin - bell = cup champs

mark it

[/ QUOTE ]

have you actually seen roenick play this millenium?

[APXG]

hahaha the rangers won't even make the playoffs, maybe at #7 again if they get lucky. there will not be any concept of team. jagr's attitude / constant retarded hooking penalties last year was the absolute max hit a playoff team could take. forwards playing defense on a team that can score is THE most imporant component of success, otherwise the defensemen simply break down, which is what will happen. lundqvist will also have a subpar year, at no real fault of his own -- similar to richter's years in late '90s.

it pains me to say, but the rangers are done for another few years. what really sucks is that all of this will lower trade values of all the rangers defensemen and lundqvist, while they will still command huge contracts b.c. the rangers will never be able to give them up for nothing in fa market. 1998 starting all over again, uugh -- hopefully they trade lundqvist+any other value quickly & draft well with their numerous top10 picks so it doesn't take another 7 years.

the dolans seriously need to be executed for pulling this $hit in new york with TWO teams, jim alone is a pefect campaign for the inheritance tax.

[cognito20]

[ QUOTE ]
Those are bad odds on Buffalo. They won't contend for the cup without Briere.

[/ QUOTE ]

What makes you say that? Buffalo for the last two seasons has been the deepest team in hockey, the only one that has legitimately, night in and night out, run out FOUR quality lines over that time period. Losing ANY two players, even of the quality of Briere and Drury, is not going to ruin the Sabres. They're not going to win the President's Trophy again, probably, and Ottawa probably has to be favored to win the division over them (although the Sabres have a good chance because of that sieve of a goaltender the Sens have),but they are a top 4 team in the East, and they have a coach in Lindy Ruff who is almost universally acknowledged around the league as one of the very best, and who is not going to let this team forget their little el foldo of last season's playoffs. This should be a breakout season for Ryan Miller, especially since word out of the Sabres camp is that they're going to focus a little more on staying back and playing in their own zone rather than have everything be transition, transition, transition all the time.

All they have to do to win the Cup is get into the tournament, which they're easily going to do, and then actually get HOT at the right time rather than have their WORST streak of luck at that time and survive the Stanley Cup Crapshoot...excuse me, Playoffs. What I think they're planning to do is start out the season with the team they had last year, minus Briere and Drury, and see what happens. Remember, because of those 2 defections, they have something they didn't have the last 2 seasons for the Cup run - a LOT of room under the cap to go pick up a missing piece or two for the Cup run if they find they need it. Personally, I'd love to see them pick up someone like the Kings' Dustin Brown (a native of Ithaca, NY, about 2 and a half hours from Buffalo) before the trade deadline, but the point is they're going to have the money to make a move or two this year. None of the articles out there predicting the decline of the Sabres seem to take that fact into account.

Reports of the Buffalo Sabres' demise have been greatly exaggerated.

[APXG]

who can i bet that buffalo will finish higher than the rangers including playoffs?

[Ph1shPh00d]

i cant believe they picked philly, nashville, and minnesota over new jersey to win the cup.... none of those three teams have a playoff proven goalie (which is what a TON of the games come down to). Biron was playing behind miller for most of last season, and was doing decently @ the end when he moved to philly. pretty similar case with mason, playing behind vokoun and backstrom with fernandez.....

[Triumph36]

APXG - you're nuts. that is all.

[g-bebe]

[ QUOTE ]
APXG - you're nuts. that is all.

[/ QUOTE ]

i was going to say something along those lines, but i don't have moniez to bet

[Rubeskies]

[ QUOTE ]
who can i bet that buffalo will finish higher than the rangers including playoffs?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll take that one for a C note. Even money.

[daman123]

i would bet that buffalo finishes higher than the rangers as well. i got monies too. the depth chart on their d goes:

Michal Rozsival
Paul Mara
Marek Malik
Fedor Tyutin
Daniel Girardi
Marc Staal


just today Barry Melrose (who has picked the last two cup winners) picked the Rangers to win the cup. Well I guess two years is still a good run. Overrated.

[Triumph36]

wow, and what's Buffalo's like, exactly?

Henrik Tallinder
Toni Lydman
Brian Campbell
Jaroslav Spacek
Dmitri Kalinin
Nathan Paetsch

yeah, that's not great either.