[tigerthelion]

I have to admit that Sundin has been playing well in the last week or so. :what

It sure took him a while but it looks like he's finally up to speed. Assuming they do make the playoffs the Canucks might be a good sleeper pick to do some damage in the west. With the Sedins and Sundin-Demitra-Kesler they've got two solid scoring lines, plus guys like Burrows and Bernier to pitch in some extra offence now and then. Their D is pretty solid and as long as Luongo is healthy there's nothing to worry about in net. I think their biggest problem is terrible coaching. I can't believe Vingneault wasn't fired during their January losing streak.

I have a very strong dislike for Vigneault. :x

[Lizard King]

he should have been fired ages ago, he set this team back. I still think they will make it to the playoffs but I dont see them going past the first or second round, unless Luongo pulls a Roy. They dont have the depth up front to go all the way.

[grimes]

^ They have enough cap space to add another decent forward before the deadline, and it should be a buyer's market. If they can't get anyone decent, at the very least they could take Antropov off the Leafs' hands. He had 56 points playing on a line with Sundin last year so he's not terrible, and he would probably come cheap (a 2nd round pick maybe?).

[tth_fan]

What the hell is going on with Montreal? Now they're down to lowly Edmonton!??! 4-1 after one... sick.
I don't think it's Carboneau or Gainey. Gainey will never fire Guy ( I think!).
Maybe it's time to make that big trade, get some new blood in the locker room.

[Lizard King]

Bob stop the bleeding, trade Kovalev he's pathetic and Im sick of his act, its time for changes!!!!

HIT IT BOB!!!!!!!!

[ryan93]

While i'm glad the Rangers came out with the victory and overall played pretty well against a good Caps team...and somehow managed to score 4 goals in regulation!!....the powerplay almost let them down yet again. It's brutal, probably the worst PP i've ever seen. There's been so many times this year when the Rangers had key PP's which would put them in position to win the game, yet it always seems to let them down. I thought for sure they blew it last night. The Caps took a string a very bad penalties in the 3rd...Tom Poti for diving, a very frustrated Alex Ovechkin for cross-checking, Mike Green for delay-of-game (shot the puck over the glass), and finally Shaone Morrison a double minor for high-sticking Naslund...40 seconds of which gave the Rangers a 5-on-3...and they generated absolutely nothing!

The Habs are definitely a mess right now, Carey Price looks like he's lost all of his confidence. As for Kovalev, i'm not surprised at all with his game this year, being a Rangers fan i'm all too familar with this side of Alex Kovalev.

[emperor penguin]

Bob stop the bleeding, trade Kovalev he's pathetic and Im sick of his act, its time for changes!!!!

HIT IT BOB!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I agree. Not to mention their defense has been terrible lately as well, Komisarek has been awful. I also don't think its Guy's fault either, the players have just given up. It's the same situation as the Senators last year, once they started losing they became a totally different team and completely lost all confidence. The Sens, and now the Habs just feel like they aren't capable of winning a game. I hope they don't fall as low as the Sens have, but something definitely needs to be done. A major trade is in order. Also, Price has been playing terribly as well, but when you get that kind of effort in front of you on a nightly basis, it would be hard for anyone to play well and generate any confidence. He could have the best game of the year and he'd still probably give up 4 goals a game cause the team in front of him are so atrocious. This is damn hard to continue to watch.

[EPenguin10]

I'm happy to see Fla turn it around...looks like J-bo might not leave afterall...

[ryan93]

I'm still hoping he gets dealt. There really been a major trade all season, and there doesn't appear to be a lot of really good players on the market heading into the deadline, just the regularly deadline guys like Weigt (who was just injured, not sure his status), Guerin, Recchi, Schneider, etc.
Marian Gaborik is an option, but i'd be tough for the Wild to get a decent return on him considering his injury status, and will likely end up keeping him for their own playoff run. Tomas Kaberle should go...beyond that though, there's no guarentees. It doesn't look like either Lecavalier or Kovalchuk will be moved. The potential is still there though if Anaheim fall back, witht the possibility of Pronger or Niedermayer.

[downie_24]

Weight is out for at least 6 weeks so I doubt he'll be going anywhere this year...too risky

[EPenguin10]

I'm still hoping he gets dealt. There really been a major trade all season, and there doesn't appear to be a lot of really good players on the market heading into the deadline, just the regularly deadline guys like Weigt (who was just injured, not sure his status), Guerin, Recchi, Schneider, etc.
Marian Gaborik is an option, but i'd be tough for the Wild to get a decent return on him considering his injury status, and will likely end up keeping him for their own playoff run. Tomas Kaberle should go...beyond that though, there's no guarentees. It doesn't look like either Lecavalier or Kovalchuk will be moved. The potential is still there though if Anaheim fall back, witht the possibility of Pronger or Niedermayer.

I don't know man, it's looking increasingly more likely every day that Fla will make the playoffs. If they want to have any impact, they need to keep him. The most impressive thing about Fla is that there leading scorer (Weiss) has 37 pts! Vokoun is absolutely on fire right now, and if he keeps it up, I'd be worried to face them in the playoffs...

[EPenguin10]

4.5 yrs later and as predicted by many hockey analysts, the 2004 NHL draft is shaping out to be one of the best of all time:

Centres: Malkin, Zajac, Franzen, Krejci (+Olesz, Chipchura, Shremp, Bolland, Dubinsky, Brent, Boyd, Kennedy, Mitchell, Winnik)

LWs: Ovechkin, Ladd, Wolski, Booth (+Brouwer, Regier, Kaspar, Porter, Picard)

RWs: Wheeler, Stafford, Radulov, Versteeg (+Comeau, Callahan, Hansen)

Ds: Campoli, Green, Streit, Edler (+Smid, Valabik, Meszaros, Barker, Schultz, Goligoski, Sekera, Lundin, Kaleta, Hunwick)

Gs: Rinne, Schneider, Pogge (+Glass, LaCosta, Ramo, Dubnyk, Schwarz)

...pretty impressive...

[EPenguin10]

Actually 2003 is just as impressive, if not more:

Cs: Eric Staal, Getzlaf, Parise, Carter, Mike Richards (+Horton, Bergeron, Pavelski, Kesler, Kreps, Fritsche, O’Sullivan, Tarnasky)
RWs: Perry, Bernier, A.Kostitsyn, D.Brown (+Eaves, Backes, Stempniak)
LWs: Vanek, Michalek, Eriksson, Carcillo (+MacArthur, Dawes)
Ds: Suter, Weber, Phaneuf, Seabrook (+Burns, Coburn, Carle, Picard, Hejda, Quincey, Kukkonen, Paetsch, Enstrom, Byfuglien, O’Brien)
Gs: Fleury, Halak, Elliott (+Crawford, Howard)

And then there's Crosby's year (2005)...

[thedarkcanuck]

my god, do the pens suck ass or what? :censored

[EPenguin10]

my god, do the pens suck ass or what? :censored

simply, yes they do. And they no longer have the excuse of not having Whitney/Gonchar anymore. Actually, they were doing better without them...

On the other hand, the sens have now won four in a row!