NHL 2005-2006: The thread

Originally Posted by Real American Hero

Yeah, as DoctorNo points out Lalime was in a much better situation in Ottawa than Denis had. Columbus has just flat out sucked. I had the "pleasure" of watching Lalime back in his days with the 'jacks in the IHL, and I was underwhelmed. I don't think he has shown that he can "steal" a game or two in a playoff series. Right now, I classify him with Cloutier as "goalies that would scare the hell out of me, if I needed them for a big playoff win."

Let's put it this way - I'd trust Lalime in a big game long before I ever would have trusted (or currently do trust) Sean Burke. Burke was long touted as someone who was really a great goalie, just trapped on a bad team (Hartford). Then he got dealt to Philadelphia in '98 and had a prime chance to show he really could carry a team through the playoffs - and instead he was *the* reason the Flyers lost 3 of the 4 games in their opening series against Buffalo. Twice the Sabres won games on a shot from less than 6 feet - instead of smothering the puck, Burke rolled and twisted and ushered the puck into the net. His playoff performances have almost been Jim Carey-bad. Not quite, but still not something to brag about.

Yeah, Burke puts up great regular-season stats, but every time he's gotten into the playoffs (save his rookie season in New Jersey), he's been just horrible. Which is why I don't expect Tampa Bay to get out of the 1st round this year - because Burke is *not* someone who can steal his team a game when needed.

I'm not saying Lalime will backstop the Blues to a top-8 finish in the West, but I expect more out of him than I would Denis at the moment. I could be wrong, but that's my opinion.

[DoctorNo]

Originally Posted by Irish Blues

Then he got dealt to Philadelphia in '98 and had a prime chance to show he really could carry a team through the playoffs - and instead he was *the* reason the Flyers lost 3 of the 4 games in their opening series against Buffalo.

Just for the record, I thought I'd toss in Burke's performance in this series (from http://hockeygoalies.org/bio/burke.html ):

04/22/98: L (60m, 22/25) 2-3 defeat vs. Buffalo (Hasek). 
04/24/98: W (60m, 25/27) 3-2 victory vs. Buffalo (Hasek). 
04/27/98: L (40m, 15/20) 1-6 defeat at Buffalo (Hasek) [Replaced by Hextall]. 
04/29/98: L (60m, 16/20) 1-4 defeat at Buffalo (Hasek). 
05/01/98: L (65m40s, 26/29) 2-3 OT defeat vs. Buffalo (Hasek).

He definitely stunk in Games Three and Four; my guess is that your third would be Game One (and I'd agree with that), but you could also say that he wasn't fantastic in Game Five.

[Chubbs_23]

Originally Posted by MountainHawk

Cool.... I'll start:

Atlantic: PHI *, NYI *, NJD *, PIT, NYR
Northeast: OTT *, BOS *, MTL *, TOR *, BUF
Southeast: TBY *, FLA, CAR, WSH, ATL

Central: DET *, STL *, NSH *, CLB, CHI
Northwest: CAL *, VAN *, COL *, MIN, EDM
Pacific: SJS *, DAL *, PHX, LAK, ANA


* = playoff team

Ok, here are my picks for this contest.

Atlantic: PHI*, NJD*, PIT, NYI, NYR
Northeast: MTL*, BOS*, TOR*, OTT*, BUF
Southeast: TBY*, FLA*, ATL, CAR, WSH

Central: NSH*, DET*, CHI*, CLB, STL
Northwest: VAN*, CAL*, EDM*, COL, MIN
Pacific: SJS*, ANA*, PHX, LAK, DAL

[Real American Hero]

ESPN now officially knows less about hockey than my dog. Claude Lemieux an enforcer? What? When did "turtling" become an acceptible enforcer tactic?

To utter the name of either Hunter or LePew in the same breath as "enforcer" disrespects every enforcer to ever play the game.

Originally Posted by Real American Hero

ESPN now officially knows less about hockey than my dog. Claude Lemieux an enforcer? What? When did "turtling" become an acceptible enforcer tactic?

Funny...when Dallas traded for Lemieux a few years back, Kara Yorio (hereafter knows as "The Idiot") said that Lemieux was the enforcer that Mike Modano needed to protect him - and she was promptly ripped by many fans who pointed his turtling act among other things. The Idiot had to issue an apology repeatedly over the next few weeks for saying that Lemieux was an enforcer.

ESPN must have The Idiot as a hockey analyst now - which explains why they largely don't care about hockey.

[Uncle Ronny]

Did you see Esa Tikanen on the Honorable mention list? But in ESPN's defense I think they meant Lemieux and Tikanen were pests, not enforcers, which I would agree with.

Unless they consider brutal checks from behind enforcing anything.

[Big D]

Originally Posted by Irish Blues

Funny...when Dallas traded for Lemieux a few years back, Kara Yorio (hereafter knows as "The Idiot") said that Lemieux was the enforcer that Mike Modano needed to protect him - and she was promptly ripped by many fans who pointed his turtling act among other things. The Idiot had to issue an apology repeatedly over the next few weeks for saying that Lemieux was an enforcer.

ESPN must have The Idiot as a hockey analyst now - which explains why they largely don't care about hockey.

ESPN has had the Idiot working for them for years; Barry Melrose is the single biggest moron in the history of broadcast sports.

[DoctorNo]

Could not disagree more. I think Melrose does a fine job.

[hardinda]

Originally Posted by Big D

ESPN has had the Idiot working for them for years; Barry Melrose is the single biggest moron in the history of broadcast sports.

You're thinking of Don Cherry

[MountainHawk]

Originally Posted by DoctorNo

Could not disagree more. I think Melrose does a fine job.

The same Melrose that declared that Mark Messier was the second best hockey player ever?