[ryan93]

More bad news for the Rangers as Karel Rachunek is going to miss a month after hurting his knee last night. They have all kinds of injury problems at the moment...Brendan Shanahan, Marcel Hossa, Fedor Tyutin, Karel Rachunek, Sandis Ozolinsh, Kevin Weekes. Martin Straka has been back playing the past couple of games, but if it wasn't for them fighting for their playoff lives, he wouldn't be in the lineup. He hasn't played at nearly the level he was before the injury. Jaromir Jagr too is battling a shoulder injury.

The Rangers defense is terribly thin with the injuries to Tyutin & Rachunek, leaving only Michael Rozsival, Marek Malik, the newly acquired Paul Mara, recent rookie call-up Dan Girardi, often healthy scratch Tomas Pock...and well i don't know who the 6th guy is going to be.

[thedarkcanuck]

so mario owns this new building then? the team has to pay something like 4 mill a year over a 30 year lease for it when he could of packed up and gone to k.c. for zilch, so i`m curious of your logic saying mario gets a free arena

[ryan93]

Who cares, the Penguins are staying in Pittsburgh & that's all that matters to me I'm glad Mario is sticking around too!

[tigerthelion]

More bad news for the Rangers as Karel Rachunek is going to miss a month after hurting his knee last night. They have all kinds of injury problems at the moment...Brendan Shanahan, Marcel Hossa, Fedor Tyutin, Karel Rachunek, Sandis Ozolinsh, Kevin Weekes. Martin Straka has been back playing the past couple of games, but if it wasn't for them fighting for their playoff lives, he wouldn't be in the lineup. He hasn't played at nearly the level he was before the injury. Jaromir Jagr too is battling a shoulder injury.

The Rangers defense is terribly thin with the injuries to Tyutin & Rachunek, leaving only Michael Rozsival, Marek Malik, the newly acquired Paul Mara, recent rookie call-up Dan Girardi, often healthy scratch Tomas Pock...and well i don't know who the 6th guy is going to be.

None of those injuries even come close to affecting the team as much as Tim Connelly's injury does to Buffalo. :oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

As far as new rinks being built, it's all a big joke. These teams don't need new arenas. Plain and simple. The arena that Pittsburgh plays in right now isn't falling down. It's perfectly fine. I mean, the Leafs needed a new building because MLG was falling apart. These teams who get new arenas every ten years are a disgrace.

[tth_fan]

Who cares, the Penguins are staying in Pittsburgh & that's all that matters to me I'm glad Mario is sticking around too!

Does anybody remember the last time Mario spoke in french?...

[tigerthelion]

Who cares, the Penguins are staying in Pittsburgh & that's all that matters to me I'm glad Mario is sticking around too!

Does anybody remember the last time Mario spoke in french?...

I know. It's been great hasn't it? :thumb:

[thedarkcanuck]

seeing as the igloo is over 40 years old and was intended to be an opera house, i`d say they needed a new rink

[cferneyh]

so mario owns this new building then? the team has to pay something like 4 mill a year over a 30 year lease for it when he could of packed up and gone to k.c. for zilch, so i`m curious of your logic saying mario gets a free arena

Dude, get your facts straight. It isn't $4 mil for 30 years, it's $2.2 mil for 30 years (or $66 million). It's only $4 mil if they can't sell the naming rights to the arena. Furthermore, the Penguins will be given $10 million for "negotiating delays, for property it purchased near the arena site, and to help with marketing"(!). Suddenly that $66 million becomes $56 million. Do you understand the concept of inflation? Do you think $2.2 million in 2037 is the same as $2.2 million today? It isn't. So that $56 million is probably more like $20 million in today's dollars.

Now, on to the part of Mario's generousity. The Penguins get all arena revenue, parking rights as well as development rights. That's right. ALL.

What did KC offer?

Sprint Center manager Anschutz Entertainment Group offered the Penguins free rent, no contribution to construction costs and half of its share in arena profits. The city and AEG essentially each have a 50 percent stake in arena revenue. AEG can make deals with its half of the profits, but the City Council would have to approve anything affecting city revenue.

In other words, Mario had to choose between paying a net of $56 million over 30 years and getting 100% of all arena revenue, or paying nothing and getting 25% of all arena revenue. What do you think is the better deal? Particularly when his biggest cost (salaries) is capped.

If you want to go on believing Mario did this out of the good of his heart, good for you. I'm not here to change your mind. I'm just laying out the facts. Like this: the average team increase s in value by 36% after they move to a new arena.

But yeah, Mario is doing it out of the good of his heart for the people of Pittsburgh. I keep forgetting. It's got nothing to do with getting a new arena for practically nothing and getting all of the revenues. Nothing.

[thedarkcanuck]

well then, lets hate mario for being a savvy businessman. just picture me smiling when we raise another banner(or 3) in pittsburgh :lol:

[cferneyh]

well then, lets hate mario for being a savvy businessman. just picture me smiling when we raise another banner(or 3) in pittsburgh :lol:

I don't "hate" Mario for being a savvy businessman. He's turned the $25 mil owed to him by a bankrupt franchise into a large stake in the same franchise which will likely be worth $175 million when the arena is built. Good on him.

But what I didn't like was the way he acted like he was some sort of martyr for the city of Pittsburgh, doing all he could to save Penguin fans, when it was always about Mario trying to get more for Mario.

[tommygunn]

Yeah, it's pretty much all business now for Mario. But, I do give him credit for staying in Pittsburgh all those/these years.. both as a player and then as a citizen/businessman. He could've made lots more playing for other teams (the Rangers come to mind). And.. who in their right mind would want to, after their playing career is over, lay down their roots in a city like Pittsburgh? :lol:

I contrast him with Gretzky.. if the Coyotes were still in Winnipeg, do you actually think the Great One would have anything to do with that franchise? Unless, it was to get involved in moving the team to a 'better locale'.. As well, you'd never catch him having anything to do with the Oilers.. he's too mugh of a big-shot. :roll:

[cferneyh]

Did you guys know that in Darcy Tucker's spare time, he's a comedian?

"We've got two Norris Trophy candidates in here and one of them (Bryan McCabe) seems to get the brunt of the criticism as well," said Tucker.

Seriously, Tucker should take that act to Vegas! McCabe a Norris candidate!

Source.

[tigerthelion]

Did Raycroft refer to Cujo as a HOF goalie? Dear heavens. Hmmm..is Cujo a future HOFer? I don't see it but maybe I'm the one out to lunch.

Stajan said this about Raycroft:

"But we know what kind of goalie we were getting and he's been that all year for us."

Seems like Toronto players have low expectations if a sub .900 save % passes for being "that all year for us."

Both Kaberle and Mccabe are far down the list of candidates for the Norris Trophy. I might rate Kaberle between #10-15 if I was ranking d-men. Mccabe would be even lower.

[cferneyh]

Both Kaberle and Mccabe are far down the list of candidates for the Norris Trophy. I might rate Kaberle between #10-15 if I was ranking d-men. Mccabe would be even lower.

As a Leaf fan I'm obviously biased, but pre-injury I'd put Kaberle in the top ten easy. You've got the usual suspects (Niedermayer, Pronger and Lidstrom - who will likely win it), and then you've got Souray having a great season goal-wise, but is a minus 20 (ouch). Boyle, Timonen and Visnovsky are having good seasons as well, and I think you can put Kaberle in a class with those guys. I think Phaneuf, Schneider, Boucher, Zubov and Whitney deserve some consideration as well.

As for McCabe, he's managed to turn things around after a less than stellar start to the season, but he's still making too many idiotic decisions to be considered one of the game's elite d-men (despite the fact that he gets paid like one).

[tigerthelion]

Both Kaberle and Mccabe are far down the list of candidates for the Norris Trophy. I might rate Kaberle between #10-15 if I was ranking d-men. Mccabe would be even lower.

As a Leaf fan I'm obviously biased, but pre-injury I'd put Kaberle in the top ten easy. You've got the usual suspects (Niedermayer, Pronger and Lidstrom - who will likely win it), and then you've got Souray having a great season goal-wise, but is a minus 20 (ouch). Boyle, Timonen and Visnovsky are having good seasons as well, and I think you can put Kaberle in a class with those guys. I think Phaneuf, Schneider, Boucher, Zubov and Whitney deserve some consideration as well.

As for McCabe, he's managed to turn things around after a less than stellar start to the season, but he's still making too many idiotic decisions to be considered one of the game's elite d-men (despite the fact that he gets paid like one).

I wasn't aware of the fine year Whitney is having in Pittsburgh point-wise.

I put Kaberle in a 2nd tier category with guys like Rafalski, Boyle, Gonchar, Schneider, Timonen, Visnovsky, Boucher, Mccabe, Regehr, Salo. So I agree with you somewhat. I don't think much of Souray. I think he's out of position constantly and takes dumb penalties. Maybe Kaberle would be top 10 but I don't see him as really being any better than those other guys. They're all about the same level for the most part so I guess their ranking could be interchangeable. I think Salo is better defensively than Kaberle and a few others in that group but he isn't as good offensively.

Pronger, Niedermeyer, Lidstrom, Phaneuf, maybe even Zubov are a step above.