yup...another stroke of genius
another prospect potentially ruined by misdevelopment

Opening Night looks to be

Sedin-Sedin-Eriksson
Granlund-Sutter-Hansen
Bae-Bo-Skille/Horvat
Dorsett-Gaunce-Burrows

Tanev-Edler
Hut-Gud
Sbisa-Larsen
Tryamkin-Biega

Miller-Markstrom


lmfao that Sbisa-Larsen all-tank combo
Virtanen figures to be the extra foward...meaning he'll get odd games in and play 8-12 minutes depending on Willie's mood.

It wasn't until the Cooke on Savard and Richards on Booth blindside hits that the NHL finally decided to start cracking down on headshots (and neither of those resulted in supplemental discipline).

Go back and watch the 2009 Canucks-Blackhawks series and you'll see a bunch of plays in every game that would result in suspensions today. Back then, most of them weren't even penalties.

Makes you wonder if either of those hits happened today how many games would he be suspended for?

Even at the time, I hated those hits from Stevens. Not just because I was Lindros/Kariya fan. I was and still am in favour of fighting and hitting remaining in the game. What I disliked was that he knew that he had the power to end a career or a life with those hits. Sure, he was playing within the rules, but players should have some respect for the well-being of each other.

Pukkinen cannot skate

he has bad skating but is at least nhl ready iq wise, which would make him a decent stop gap. on the other hand virtanen just isnt nhl ready

also willie.. yikes.. what does he do while coaching to be able to say this?

Wonder where David Booth would be had that Richards hit never happened

That is what I hate about the NHL Front Office, they do not do much to protect their superstars. And you wonder why the NHL isn't even considered a top 4 Pro League in North American in many circles. These stars should be untouchables.

Also for the NHLPA, they should set guidelines and "gentlemen's agreements" about these things. Why? Because they are dealing with each other's careers. Especially for a notoriously physical sport like ice hockey. In the NBA, where the athletes are more imposing, and grew up with much rougher backgrounds, you barely see career ending flagrant fouls or all out slug fests. The NBA has done a great job to protect its money makers. And the Players Association of the NBA has done a good job of protecting the players from each other as well.

I started noticing this when Bure tore his ACL vs. Chicago back in 96 and when Lemieux was being hacked like crazy by some nobody back in 98 or 99. I mean c'mon, Mario Lemieux, top 2 GOAT. You don't fucking do that to Mario Lemieux.

Anyways, back on the head trauma talk. This reminded me of this pod case with JRE and Dr. Mark Gordon regarding multiple head trauma and its effects with military men.




Which leads me to Rick Rypien (RIP). Bare knuckle brawler with severe head trauma from fighting. With the hormone imbalances to his brain, probably lead to severe depression and suicide.

glad they finally made the right decision on etem

why the fuck should they be untouchable? then you get stars throwing bad hits and getting away with it. the fact they deal with that shit and go on makes it all that more impressive. allstars in other leagues get hurt too, that isnt the reason its not top4.
this isnt a non contact sport like the nba, mlb, or soccer. your panties are in a knot.

The NHL was the first of the top 4 pro leagues to institute a concussion protocol back in 1997.
The NHL was 10 years later while the NBA still doesn't have anything in place.

I don't get how the Canucks are projected last for this season?

We basically lost tank master Bartowski, Hamhuis, McCann, and Vrbata.

We replace them with Gudbranson, Eriksson, Rodin.

But we're adding back Sutter and half our d core (injuries).

As much as we need to tank and get top pick, I don't think we will unless we run into injury troubles.

Well, look at our season last year ...

Record: 31-38-13, 75 points (28th)

Goals For: 186 (29th)
Goals Against: 239 (23rd)
Goal Differential: -53 (30th)

PP Opp For: 247 (21st)
PP Goals For: 39 (28th)
PP%: 15.8% (27th)
SH Goals Against: 8 (22nd)

PP Opp Against: 249 (11th)
PP Goals Against: 47 (16th)
PK%: 81.1% (17th)
SH Goals For: 4 (21st)

Shots For: 28.2/GP (28th)
Shots Against: 32.5/GP (29th)

FO%: 45.4% (30th)

We were bottom half of the league in basically every category

Assume our lines, when healthy, look like:
D. Sedin - H. Sedin - Eriksson
Baertschi - Horvat - Rodin
Granlund - Sutter - Hansen
Burrows - Gaunce - Dorsett

Edler - Tanev
Hutton - Gudbranson
Sbisa - Larsen

Miller
Markstrom

The 2nd line, whether you consider that to be Horvat's line or Sutter's line, is well below average on paper.

Take a look at the 13-18 ranked teams from last year, for example.

Philadelphia (Raffl-Couturier-Voracek)
Nashville (Forsberg-Johansen-Smith)
Detroit (Helm-Datsyuk-Richards)
Boston (Eriksson-Krejci-Pastrnak)
Minnesota (Zucker-Koivu-Niederreiter)
Carolina (Nordstrom-J. Staal-Nestrasil)

All of those 2nd lines have star players on them (maybe not so much Jordan Staal anymore). And that's just the bubble teams, let alone the top 12, which featured players like Toews, Malkin, etc. on their 2nd lines.

Our Faceoff % will hopefully be better with a healthy Sutter and a healthy Henrik, but I wouldn't expect us to be any better than average.

Our top 4 defensemen look okay, likely underrated by the eastern media. Sbisa is an okay #5 and Biega is a steady #7/#8, but there are a whole lot of question marks after that. Given our history of injuries on defense, I'm not particularly confident.

Our goaltending is average.

For the record, I don't think we'll finish last, but with our lack of proven scoring depth, it's a volatile roster. A couple of key long-term injuries could mean the difference between competing for the playoffs and competing for Nolan Patrick.

Simple..You protect your money makers. You protect the the stars that fill the seats. You don't get the crowd, you don't get the revenue/popularity. If the stars are going to get hurt, sure. But if it was flagrantly caused by some nobody on the other team. Eff that.

What kind of art student buffonery logic do you have ? Untouchables meaning the stars are protected from being targets. That doesn't excuse the stars from being goons and flagrantly injuring others.

The NFL understands this. Look what happenned with the Saints and the bounty scandal. It was addressed by their front office right away.

Bottom line, you make your superstars look good, you make more money.

Here's a good example 22 years ago where a star player (one we all know) got fed up of being abused. What would this elbow get you now a days in regards to suspension?

Fast forward 30 seconds in.

Cool fact:
Shane Churla, the recipient of the Bure elbow had a cousin named Rick Rypien. Churla born in Fernie, while Rick was born just over the BC/Alberta border. They grew up a generation apart, but both ended up in the NHL.

Watch: Sabres' Eichel leaves practice with ankle injury after awkward fall | theScore.com

Ouch

Wayne Gretzky officially returns to Edmonton Oilers - Sportsnet.ca

The Great One returns to Edmonton as partner and vice chairman of Oilers Entertainment Group.

That could be a very bad injury.
5 years ago I tore 5 of the 7 ankle ligaments in an industrial accident. WCB had me going to physio twice a week, and cryo therapy once a week. Even doing everything right, from drinking lots of water and eating right, it still took 3 months before I could get back on the ice. Then another month for me to be able to really push it.

This could put him out until Xmas.

FailFish

But you're not a professional athlete. Look how quickly people like Stamkos and Kane recovered from their injuries! :p

Not to mention, professional athletes have access to the best doctors and treatment money can buy.

Cant wait for tonight's game
http://i.imgur.com/VY3SMdJ.jpg

My physiotherapist is flying to Pittsburgh this week to help put Crosby together again. He is one of the top docs in North America when it comes to sports concussions, and the reason why Crosby was able to get back out there the last time he banged his head. I may not be a pro, but I do go to the same doctors that they do.

He has this, along with a bunch of other pro jerseys in his waiting area.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ps9cmkyb96.jpg

When I was in there back in June, Milan Lucic was in the waiting room next to me. He has a massive head.
:D


I'm no spring chicken, but I'm not some lump of lard either. That said, Stammer is a beast. That guy is inhuman to say the least.

:thumbs:

If only you had minions to take care of stuff around the house too, your recovery times would be even shorter. :)

Matthews with 2 goals in his first NHL period.