I understand that we are a hockey loving country, although studies would have you believe that the fanaticism this country once had for the fastest game on ice is waning. I enjoy a good highlight package, or daily review show as much as the next guy…. But why in God’s name do we need a TSN Fantasy Draft Show? Seriously.

Anyone worth their salt did their fantasy draft weeks if not months ago, like my three pools. Tim over that the6thsens had arguably the LATEST draft I’ve ever taken part in, on the Sunday previous to the start, but come one. We have the season preview, season Review, draft special, free agent frenzy, playoff PREview, deadline day coverage, and THAT’S HOCKEY! every f**king night. And now this? Worse yet, these guys were shown for the buffoons they are when Craig Conroy, as a guest drafter, LAST SEASON picked after everyone else had gone, and STILL beat Keith Jones.

I digress. As we are upon the start of the season, none of this matters, as the greatest game in the world is ready to begin.

~MFP3

Douch-tastic!

Courtesy: PC

Well, its finally done, and everyone can relax. Lets look at this deal for the beauty of what it is... we got rid of a want-away cancer, and received a two-way guy, a pick, and a hunka-hunka burnin' energy in The Cheechoo Train.

Look at it like this:

Heatley 50 goal seasons: 2

Cheechoo 50 goal seasons: 1

*nudge nudge* Not too shabby.

In Michalak, you get a REALLY poor man's Datsyuk, or a REALLY rich man's John Madden, either way, for 5 more years, you'll see him patrolling BOTH end of the ice. Not to diparriage certain OTHER guys on this team making four-and-change, but 60+ point is nothing to scoff at *cough fishy*.

~MFP out!

untitled

Wow, it’s been awhile. Sorry for the longer than expected hiatus. I guess not posting since January hasn’t made much of a dent in the blogosphere, but I guess I will try to change that starting from the beginning of camp. Leading in to September, the boys have been through a fair bit. Nothing necessarily that needs to be rehashed over and over again as the mainstream media loves to do. Many figured by September 1 this team would look a lot different, but really, it’s not. Gator has decided to pack it up after a great career. He was one of the really great locker room guys out there, which is exactly why The Bryan brought him in.

We’re also starting to restock the shelves after Mucks’ love of the European kids has slowly worn off. It seems that the NCAA favouritism that the Bryan is showing may start to pay off dividends as kids like Jimmy O’Brien, Patrick Wiercioch, Erik Condra, and our boy Belli have all made the jump. Other prospects like Big Karl(sson, Matti), and Little Karl(sson, Erik) Zack Smith, and finally (FINALLY) BLee and C-Bass look ready. Many of these guys are by no means game breakers, but the ones that ARE rarely win by themselves, so these lads will be counted upon to shoulder the burden more and more as we go along.

Finally, the ‘core’. With Volchy being the main guy up after this season, things look to stay status quo among the mainstays. Alfie, Spezz, the Rig, Fishy, the Ginger Dandy, and the Kuban Missle will carry the bulk of the minutes. With Pascal “Milky Chocolate” Leclaire, and Belli doing the pipe dance this year, solid goaltending may not be as big an issue as in the past.

I guess now its time to see if there’s any surprises out there… 5 weeks and counting….

Its good to be back!

Sens give the Blues the... erm... blues (shit!)

The really shitty part about living in TO and NOT having centre ice is that there are about 5 Senators games on TV this season. That being said, I have become a fan of online streaming. Last night was one that I had been looking forward to, as my Alfie 3^rd jersey AND my David Backes Blues jersey both arrived within the last week. This Blues team is a VERY young team, who make a lot of rookie mistakes, but mark my words, in a couple seasons this division will be the most competitive in hockey, and damn they are just fun to watch. Last night, those rookie mistakes came back to haunt them as the Sens walked out of the Scottrade Centre with a hard fought 3-1 victory.

THE APPETIZER:

The Sens are trying to keep momentum up as they make their push to the playoffs. You could see the intensity in their skating during the warm-up, and you just KNEW they were piecing this thing together. Three months too late, but it’s a start.

THE MAIN COURSE:

Since it seems to finally be in season, I’ll have the FISH please, with a healthy side of TOI and the rosemary potatoes. Fishy Fishy Fishy, where have you been all season dude. You have the ability to be one of the best two-way threats in the league. 20 goals, and a Selke nomination year in-year out should NOT be out of the realm of possibility. Two goals including a shorty, and more intensity than I’ve seen from the ENTIRE TEAM on some nights, I hope you can keep this up.

DESSERT:

Well done Pete. Good hustle, good hands, you’ve got a future here kid.

HAIR IN THE SOUP:

Why do the D-Mean need to take a nap for the last 5 minutes of the 2^nd EVERY night? They clearly need to go to IKEA, where all Almtorp mattresses and frames are on sale.

So there you have it. Next up, the BJs in C-BUS (or however you crazy kids say it these days…)

~G

Red rover, red rover, let THAT GUY come over!!

Everyone play fantasy manager at some point in the hockey season. Whether you have a pool (I’m second in mine right now), or play NHL09 for Xbox, or what have you, we always want to have our favourite players, or the BEST players on our team. With the trade deadline a little over a month away, maybe its time to have a little fun of our own. I am going to go through the other 29 teams, and take ONE player who’s OFF the radar as far as hype, and stardom (and more than likely All-Star votes, except for when I get to Montreal, where EVERYONE got All-Star votes). If you’re a hockey fan, you’ll know most of these guys. Remember, this is only my wish list, feel free to add your own. Let’s start in our home conference, the NORTHEAST.

Boston Bruins – Milan Lucic – F

This kid made his name at the 2007 Memorial cup, helping host Vancouver win the title against new rival Medicine Hat. This was his second season with the Giants after helping them to a WHL title in 2006. He was drafted by Boston in 2006, 50^th overall. The kid’s got a pretty deft scoring touch for a guy who could also lead the league in penalty minutes. He’d slap your mother around if he thought it would help the Bruins win. Many liken him to former Boston great Cam Neely. Could Lucic score 50? Doubt it, but can anyone outside of the big three do it either? GRADE: A

Buffalo Sabres – Tim Connolly – F

Second line centre anyone? Tim has proven to be a wizard with the puck, when he’s healthy. He has a pretty good scoring punch, when he’s healthy. He’s a proven vocal leader in the locker room, when he’s healthy. When healthy, he could be a point per game guy, but ever since Pistol Peter Schaefer smoked him coming across centre ice, he’s never been the same. I’d like to see him back at full capacity with the red and black on. GRADE: B-

Montreal Canadiens – Tomas Plekanec – F

He could slide his way onto the first line to provide a little speed, and event things out a little. He’s quick onto the puck, but when there’s contact involved, he’s also quick onto his belly, in that oh-so Marty Havlat kind of way. That being said, you can’t ignore his offensive abilities, now if you could just get him to come back inside his own blue line, all would be dandy in the world. GRADE: B+

Toronto Maple Leafs – Tomas Kaberle – D

I loathe having to make this pick. Yes, I hate the Leafs. Aside from that, despite the standings, this Leaf team is still fucking terrible, and Kaberle is the best they have to offer. Yes he can move the puck, which w could REALLY use right now, but he can be a bit of a liability in his own end (which we already suffer from). Ultimately, he’s the only choice that would make any sense off this team, save a shot at Mikhail Grabovsky, who Montreal is ruing getting rid of. It hurts my teeth to even do this, but… GRADE: C+

So there is one division down, up next, the Atlantic division, where up is down, and where hookers disappear like Leafs from the playoffs.

~G

You know what REALLY grinds my gears? SENS 3 - CAPS 2

When I was in 2^nd year uni, I took an intro psychology course thinking it’d be a bird (and that I would just con the girl next to me to give me her notes from any class I missed). Neither of those things happened, which is why I still can not explain what is happening inside the heads of our beloved Janitors. They came out flying in the first. They were in control of the puck, weren’t taking too many stupid penalties, and were holding the Caps stars, especially AO in check. Heater potted a pair hopping back up on his horse as one of the pre-eminent snipers in the game, and then they went all Keyser Söze on us, and disappeared.

t frustrates me to watch this. Anyhow, here is your game recap:

THE APPETIZER:

It’s the GREAT ‘8’. We win, awesome, we lose, awesome. I feel privileged (as much as you CAN at $50/seat) to get to watch this guy play. I love the vigour, I love the energy, and man he comes up with some pretty shit, even if it doesn’t go in.

THE MAIN COURSE:

Two from Heater in the 1^st should have it under wraps right? RIGHT? The scrubs pulled this one out of the hat. Brendan “Get your runs from the border” Bell comes up with a HUGE PP goal before we inevitably lose in a shootout. Peter Regin looked good tonight. Lots of spunk (which I expect from a 21 year old), and I really think he brought up the play of Fishy and Little Nicky, as they has to bust ass to keep up with the kid. That being said, each of them took STUPID penalties. Fishy, I love you dude, but this isn’t RED ROVER, and Nick… Sergei Fedorov has perfect hair, you helping him comb it with your blade isn’t gonna help.

THE DESSERT:

Belli looked pretty good. Yes, he need to work on his rebound control, but his athleticism is keeping him in the games… sound familiar? Don’t flake on us kid, ask Comrade Emery how that’s working out for him. I love how the bald cyborg spends two and a half periods pointing out Belli’s flaws, and then he’s THE MONSTER, HE’S THE MONSTER I SAY!!!

HAIR IN THE SOUP:

As we have seen many times this year, no lead is safe, especially the dreaded 2-0 lead (which Ottawa has now blown 9 times this season (winning 5 of those games).

Up next – the ALL-STAR EXTRAVAGANZA !!!!

Waterjug Chatter

I bumped into a former (fairly) high profile NHL GM going for coffee this morning. I have seen him hit up my Starfucks every morning at 10:00am, but today I decided to talk to him, so I asked (out of nowhere) “what do the Sens need to get this thing turned around?”. He was sort of taken aback, since I’m guessing he thought his NHL logo ball cap was keeping him anonymous (and I didn’t bother to introduce myself, or ask his approval for the question). To no one’s surprise I’m sure, he said “a puck mover”. I figured he answered me, so I might as well press my luck. “Are there any $2 mil or less guys to be had? Who’d you get?” It seemed like a water jug talk with that creepy secretive guy from the 5^th floor, but whatever. Here’s what he said. “Outside of Doughty, any of the Kings young guys can be had for the right return, and it’s nowhere as high as you’d think.”

Now I am not trying to be Eklund or any of those twits, I’m just stating what was said to me by a guy who says these things on TV a lot. I’d love to pluck one of those young guys out of LA, that would be super, and if it costs me an Ilya Zubov or a Peter Regin and pick, then so be it.

Any requests for questions should I meet up with him tomorrow?

~G