The Official NHL Thread

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

The Vancouver Canucks have added a lot of depth to their blueline in a short period of time. The team has acquired defencemen Christian Ehrhoff and Brad Lukowich from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for defenceman Daniel Rahimi and forward Patrick White. Vancouver also announced on Friday that they have inked veteran defenceman Mathieu Schneider to a contract.

The moves will help backfill a Canuck blueline that lost veteran workhorse Mattias Ohlund to the Tampa Bay Lightning as a free agent on July 1.

In 77 games for the Sharks last season, Ehrhoff counted eight goals and 34 assists. He will be entering his sixth NHL season after playing his entire career in San Jose. The 27-year old was a fourth-round choice of the Sharks in the 2001 draft. He has two years remaining on a three-year deal that he signed as a restricted free agent with San Jose in the summer of 2008.

Lukowich, a 33-year old native of Cranbrook, B.C., recorded eight assists in 58 games for San Jose last year. He is an 11-year NHL veteran who was originally a fourth-round pick of the New York Islanders in 1994. He won the Stanley Cup as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.

We are pleased to be adding Christian and Brad to our defensive group," said Mike Gillis in a press release. "Defence has been an area we wanted to add skill and depth to and this trade has strengthened our group considerably."

In exchange, the Canucks give up a pair of recent draft picks. Rahimi was selected in the third round in 2006, and played the last two seasons with the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. White was Vancouver's first round pick (25th overall) in 2007, and played last season for the University of Minnesota.

The deal allows the Sharks to clear some significant salary cap space for the coming season.

"This trade speaks to the confidence we have in the young players coming up through our system who have earned the right to compete for a spot on this team," said Sharks general manager Doug Wilson in a release.

At the age of 40, Schneider will be joining his ninth club over 19 seasons in the league. The veteran split last season between the Montreal Canadiens and the Atlanta Thrashers, and scored a combined nine goals and 23 assists in 64 games. Originally drafted by the Canadiens in 1987, Schneider has a long resume that includes a Stanley Cup win with the Habs in 1993, along with appearances in two Olympics and two World Cups for Team USA.

[MontrealCity's Most]

OK tanguay with tampa bay now wow..... by the way with hockey Canada holding camp this week i wanna give you my line up and you can do the same.
Oh ya, no Danny Heatley please.

Gagne - Crosby - Nash
Lecavalier - Getzlaf - St Louis
Iginla - Eric Stall - Jeff Carter
Toews - M.Richards - JThornton

Nydermier - Phaneuf
Webber - Bouwmeester
Green - Burns

Brodeur
Fleury ( yes fleury 2)
Luongo

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

OK tanguay with tampa bay now wow..... by the way with hockey Canada holding camp this week i wanna give you my line up and you can do the same.
Oh ya, no Danny Heatley please.

Gagne - Crosby - Nash
Lecavalier - Getzlaf - St Louis
Iginla - Eric Stall - Jeff Carter
Toews - M.Richards - JThornton

Nydermier - Phaneuf
Webber - Bouwmeester
Green - Burns

Brodeur
Fleury ( yes fleury 2)
Luongo

Here's a report for those who wanna read...



There could be a new French Connection in the works, as RDS is reporting that the Tampa Bay Lightning have agreed to terms of a contract with Alex Tanguay pending a physical.  Terms of the deal were not released.

The two sides have reportedly been in negotiation since July, but it was not until two weeks ago when Tanguay was contacted by Lightning stars Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis that he decided to join the Bolts.

The Ste-Justine, Quebec native spent a solitary season with the Canadiens after being acquired along with a 5th round pick from the Calgary Flames for a 1st and a 2nd round pick. He suffered through an injury-plagued campaign in his native province, missing 28 games with a separated shoulder. He did manage 16 goals and 25 assists in 50 games.

After spending his first six seasons with the Colorado Avalanche, helping the team capture the Stanley Cup in 2001, the 29-year old has bounced around over the past three years. His two-year tenure in Calgary was marked with disagreements with then-head coach Mike Keenan over playing style.

When freed of defensive shackles, the smooth skating Tanguay is a point-a-game type producer who could flourish with a change of scenery, specifically with the offensive weapons around him that the Lightning possess in Lecavalier, St. Louis, Steven Stamkos and Ryan Malone.

In 659 career games, Tanguay has 193 goals and 387 assists. He was originally chosen 12th overall by the Avalanche in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Here is my Team Canada.  I gottttttttttttta put Heatley c'monnnnn..   lol.  Did you see the scrimmage game they had?  It was streamed on the CTV Olympic website, Heatley got booed the whole game, then when they did the shootout and he sniped a shot out they erupted for him.

(G)
Luongo

(D)
Bouwmeester Boyle
Regehr Weber
Phaneuf Green

(F)
Crosby Nash Lecavalier
Richards Carter Heatley
Doan Thornton Iginla
Roy Marleau St. Louis

[MontrealCity's Most]

No im not putting him on see id rather have stall on there then Heatley.
Heatley never showed good team spirit.
It always been on losing teams ( yes exept the year he went to the finals) but besdies that in what 7 years all losing teams
Dosent wanna play for ottawa dosent wanna play for edmonton
Why should he play for team canada

[MontrealCity's Most]

Furthermore

East

Philadelphia
Washington
Boston
Pitsburgh
New Jersey
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Montreal
Ottawa
Buffalo
New York
Toronto
Florida
ATl
NYI

West

San Jose
Chicago
Calgary
Detroit
Anaheim
Los Angeles
vancouver
Minesota
St Louis
Dllas
Edmonton
Columbus
Colorado
Phoenix
Nashville

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Peter Forsberg's latest stop on his long road back to the NHL began last night in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. The Swedish star suited up in a pre-season game for Modo and played on the first line during his team's 2-1 win over Geneva.

Wearing No. 7 instead of his usual No. 21, Forsberg was held off the scoresheet but was on the ice when Modo scored their first goal.

"The real feeling with the puck is not there," Forsberg told reporters in Switzerland. "You need a couple of games to get into it. It felt really good, no problems at all."

On Friday, the 36-year old was included on Sweden's initial 69-man list of players who will be considered for the 2010 Olympics. The former NHL MVP last appeared in the NHL in 2007-08, when he counted 14 points in nine games for the Colorado Avalanche. Persistent foot problems have plagued Forsberg over the last few years.

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

There is no question Alex Kovalev is one of the most talented offensive players in the National Hockey League.

The 36-year-old showed he can play some defence yesterday, too.

Kovalev, who signed a two-year deal worth $10 million US with the Senators Monday, fended off questions about his reputation as a gifted but inconsistent performer who’s had difficult relationships with coaches.

“I’ve been saying this many times. I don’t know where that came from. When the coach says something to me, I just listen. I don’t answer back anything,” Kovalev said yesterday from Russia on a conference call with reporters. “Maybe their feeling is I don’t really care. Maybe it’s better when you argue and the coach maybe wouldn’t think that way. To tell you the truth, I don’t know why everybody is thinking that way, that I’m hard to coach. I always do what the coach wants me to do.”

There was talk of a difficult relationship between Kovalev and former Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau, who was fired near the end of last season. Stories of a rift out of Russia were denied.

It’s interesting now that Kovalev is dropping into a situation here where Dany Heatley has asked for a trade partly because he doesn’t like the way he’s being handled by Senators coach Cory Clouston.

“All I’m looking for in my career is I have some kind of communication with the coach, some kind of understanding when stuff is happening,” said Kovalev. “If something goes wrong, I can get some kind of communication, tell me what I’m doing wrong and what direction we should move. We’re all doing the same job. We want to be successful.”

The inconsistent label also wrankles him.

“I don’t know why people think that way all the time, they always say ‘inconsistency.’ There’s a feeling about me I only play when I want to play. I always compete the way I can. Sometimes you have to be more aggressive. Sometimes you have to be relaxed. It depends on the situation.

“I can play the fourth or fifth line, it doesn’t matter. I can play with young players, old players. Maybe sometimes I try to do too much because I feel I can change the game or make the team successful. Sometimes it works in a good way. Sometimes it works in a bad way. But I always play with my heart.”

Kovalev was enthusiastic in branding the Senators a Stanley Cup contender and winning a Cup is a priority as his career winds down.

Kovalev sees himself taking some of the load off captain Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and maybe Heatley, depending where the latter winds up.

“The way I look at it, they have one really good line that’s been successful year after year,” said Kovalev. “I think I can be part of creating two or three good lines, which is something every team needs to be successful in the playoffs. I’m not a big believer that one line can do the damage all the way to winning the Stanley Cup.

“Maybe I could be in the mix on the first line and maybe sometimes on the second line. That way everybody will have enough energy to have a strong season and compete for the Stanley Cup.”

But he also made it clear his first choice was to stay down the 417 with the Montreal Canadiens.

“I don’t really have any options, choices,” said Kovalev.

There had been contract discussions with the Habs, but Kovalev said he wasn’t given much time to make a decision and before he knew it, the Canadiens had signed Mike Cammalleri and Brian Gionta as free agents. He was out of the picture even as Canadiens fans demonstrated outside the Bell Centre to show their support for keeping Kovalev in red, white and blue.

“Everything happened so quick. There was not much time to respond and they went in a different direction,” he said. The primary reason he wanted to remain with the Canadiens was his family. He said he didn’t want to uproot his children. His oldest, Nikita, has just finished first grade.

“When you’re 19 years old, (changing teams) is easier on you,” he said. “The first thing I think about is family. When you move to a new city, you have to start everything over. The way I look at it, I’m disappointed for them. I feel bad for the kids.

“It’s hard to accept that things happen in life.”

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

Furthermore

East

Philadelphia
Washington
Boston
Pitsburgh
New Jersey
Tampa Bay
Carolina
Montreal
Ottawa
Buffalo
New York
Toronto
Florida
ATl
NYI

West

San Jose
Chicago
Calgary
Detroit
Anaheim
Los Angeles
vancouver
Minesota
St Louis
Dllas
Edmonton
Columbus
Colorado
Phoenix
Nashville

I agree with your East ranking totally, except I think I'd rank NYI higher, ( I know it's purely becuz of Tavares but whatever! I believe in Superman ).  I'm excited to see Lightning play.  Philly will dominate.  Can't wait to see the new MTL line in action, and Kovy on the PP in Ottawa with the Pizza line.

You already know in the West Van is gettin ranked first..  I dunno they are top 4 at least!  I think Detroit is gonna have a tough year, I can't say why tho haha.  I wouldn't rank Anaheim that high...  LA is gonna continue to get better. 

Good rankings!

[MontrealCity's Most]

Thanks man yeha the wets is very veyr hard to rank... Everytime i think detroit will have a tuff year, they do good but i do think Chitown is taking that division this year.

Anaheim yeah they could scroll back a little but then again i just dint see realy a better team to put a head of them?
Is vancouver that good?  i dont know.. with Cal defense...

[Let's Get Down]

EDM ranked 11th??? hmm...w/o the high expectations n pressure they had last yr, I'm expecting them to be a dominating team this yr. i hope!!!

[The-Leak (aka) kingwell (bka) JULES]

What does cal defense mean?  But yeah I think they are that good.  They won their division last season without Luongo for half of it..  There were alot of 1 goal games with teams like San Jose and Detroit last year, lol.  I thik the only time they played Boston the Bruins won 1-0.  lol.

Their only problem might be scoring goals..  They upgraded from Ohlund in getting Ehrhoff and Schneider.  They should also help in the goal scoring area.  Luongo is always a beast. 

Fantasy league sign up starts in 2 days, we'll be able to pre-rank our players for the draft.  I'm not gonna be sharing mine tho!

[MontrealCity's Most]

EDM ranked 11th??? hmm...w/o the high expectations n pressure they had last yr, I'm expecting them to be a dominating team this yr. i hope!!!

edmonton dominating? noo... at all.

Maybe they will finish higher then i had em but in no way are the better then Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Jose, Anaheim, Calgary or Vancouver.

[Let's Get Down]

LA?? really?? those others u've named aside from Det + SJ & maybe Cal are on the same level as the Oilers imo.

[MontrealCity's Most]

LA?? really?? those others u've named aside from Det + SJ & maybe Cal are on the same level as the Oilers imo.

yeah L.a is def on the come up and i think can def suprise.