Topic: 2007-08 NHL Season

[Ian Sane]

On Saturday the new NHL season starts with the Ducks and Kings having a pair of games in London, England.  It's funny because when they annouced that it seemed like the two teams were picked kind of willy nilly, though probably the idea was to pick two teams in the same market so neither benefits from the loss of a home game.  But the Ducks managed to win the Stanley Cup last season so the NHL is, by fluke, sending the champs to England.  Seems like such a brilliant choice of teams now in retrospect, doesn't it?

As usual I'm rooting for my local Vancouver Canucks.  They seem like a shoe-in for the playoffs but didn't really address any of the scoring problems they had last year.  The best goalie in the conference and and having huge depth at defense got them to the second round last year but with no change to the forwards I don't see how they'll do any better.  Next year is more what I'm looking forward to when Naslund's and Morrison's inflated contracts are up and we have some actual cap room.  Still I'm usually content with a playoff team as it makes the regular season worth watching.

My predictions are that the Anaheim Ducks will win another cup.  Maybe not this year but this lineup will win another one and hell it could be this year.  I don't see anyone better.  Though the New York Rangers are pretty much last year's team with Gomez and Drury so they're my top pick for the East.  The Penguins are close though.

Oh and you know those new uniforms that I ranted about a few months ago?  Turns out some of the players are complaining that they suck too.  Because the new jerseys are water proof the sweat doesn't soak into them.  So where does it go?  Into the players skates and gloves of course!  Did anyone even TEST these things in a game environment?

So the new unis:
1. Look like sh!t.
2. Have a major problem that makes them hard to play in.

So my prediction that by next year some teams will change remains though now it won't just be from lower jersey sales.  Though it wouldn't surprise me if legal mumbo jumbo allowed the league to prevent teams from switching back and that like the horrible schedule that every fan hated (which they will finally get rid of NEXT YEAR) they will stick to this dumb idea as long as they can.

Man that Gary Bettman sure was accomplished a lot, eh?  The NHL on Versus instead of ESPN, the lock-out, expansion teams in non-traditional hockey markets that struggle to attract fans, new rules seemingly every year, a league-wide change to new ugly uniforms that apparently were never tested for a very major problem until all teams switched over.  Has this guy done ANYTHING good for the league?  Considering the league was more popular prior to him becoming comish one might argue that DOING NOTHING would have had better results.

[IceCold]

I'm quite interested in the England match - should be a nice changeup at the very least.

And yeah, watching the playoff games last year was just painful. I didn't think it was even possible to have such few scoring chances. Let's hope the Sedins become better pressure players, and Naslund steps up (yeah, I say the same sentence every year)..

I have always disliked Anaheim, especially because of their apathetic fans. I actually think that if anyone Detroit can beat them - they're my early Western pick. Ottawa's probably a safe pick for the east even though I don't care much for them. But the Rangers are looking really dangerous - for the first time since '97 they're an actual threat.

And you're right, the uniforms are just awful. I can't believe the tail is white - whose bloody idea was that?  

[UltimatePartyBear]

I'm confused.  Why is the season starting in England?

[Ian Sane]

"I'm confused. Why is the season starting in England?"

Just a promotion thing.  You know what sucks?  I missed both games due to annoying issues beyond my control.  On Saturday the game was on CBC but I was in the US at the time.  Then on Sunday the game was on Versus but I was back in Canada then.  I was always in the wrong country somehow.  I don't know why they didn't just air both on both channels.  It's not like they serve the same market.

"I actually think that if anyone Detroit can beat them - they're my early Western pick. Ottawa's probably a safe pick for the east even though I don't care much for them."

It's always believable for Detroit to beat anybody.  They can lose guys and have 40 year olds on their team and somehow still always be one of the best teams in the league.  I agree about Ottawa as well since they made it to the finals and are still pretty much the same team.  And I think Colorado is going back in the playoffs.  They came close last time and now have Ryan Smyth and Scott Hannan.  They need a goalie but the Canucks used to have a horrible goalie and could still make the playoffs regularly.

Oh and New Jersey is another team like Detroit that you assume logically has to start sucking at some point but still doesn't.  Brodeur is just too good.