Discuss Hockey., And the greatness of my sig. Options

[pezking]

I watched the Cpas for the first time the other night and Overchkin is amazing

Better skills than Crosby and he is a house...(Crosby) is great, but this dude is going to be amazing

Coming in super late into this thread. I'm a huge hockey fan, spent the better part of my youth and adult life playing. I'm in the DC area so I've seen Ovechkin play alot this season and he is amazing. Not that Crosby isn't good, but Ovechkin can do it all. He lays body checks on people twice his size, takes the puck, moves through players, and scores. Seeing his speed through the neutral zone is unbelievable. There are alot of other great rooks out there as well... Prucha is coming along very nicely for NYR and that kid Svatos from the Avs. I'm really surprised to see Mogilny go on waivers last week and not be reassigned to NJ's affiliate. Crazy shit... I wish the Caps would pick him up and make a Zubrus, Mogilny, and Ovechkin line.

[|$aucy|]

yaay another hockey fan!!! Welcome.

I had the priviledge of seeing Ovechkin play the Rangers in person(the game with the 15 round shootout ) and I can safely say he is twice the player Crosby is. Ovechkin made several amazing plays both offensive and defensively that you would only expect a seasoned veteran to make.

Prucha is a solid rookie, but hes got no chance at the Calder with barely any assists, despite the 20 goals. My choice for the Rookie of the Year would be Henrik Lundqvist: 16 W 5L, 2 SO 2.06 GAA .928 Save % is fucking good for a rookie goalie...

The salary cap is screwing with a lot of teams, the Lightning waived their captain Andreychuck lol... and Mogilny isn't very good anymore.

[pezking]

and Mogilny isn't very good anymore.

I still think Mogilny could offer something to the Caps. They are in the cellar and I don't think they're leaving this season.

BTW, did anyone see Messier's jersey retired last night? Very cool and emotional. Gotta think he's one of the greatest captains of all time, if not the best. He had it all. Most guys are pretty quiet if they're good players or they aren't great players but have the drive to motivate players. Messier had both attributes. I'm just thinking it's gotta wear off well on people like Naslund... they were in Vancouver together right? Naslund had the opportunity to play under Mario, Jagr, and other greats.... it's gotta help him as a captain.

I'm a long time Yzerman fan... I think he's a good captain, but mostly by what he does on the ice. He'll do whatever it takes to win.

[Undertow]

Yzerman>Messier

[|$aucy|]

Messier:

694 goals (7th all time) 1,193 (2nd all time) assists 1,887 points ( 2nd all time)

SIX STANLEY CUPS

Yzerman:

683 goals 1,050 assists 1,733 points

Fails at life.



Close, but consider Messier is an infinitely better Captain and has far superior leadership capabilities, it's safe to say:

Messier > Yzerman

[pezking]

This could be an endless debate. I think Messier has been on teams his whole life filled with all-star talent. He started with the Oilers with Gretzy, Kurri, Lowe, Coffey, Fuhr... too many more to even name. Went to the Rangers which boasted great talent and a goalie (Richter) who could still probably stand on his head for another season or two.

Yzerman was another story. Drafted a few years later than Messier, went to the league's worst team. Named Captain right away and slowly worked hard and harder to create a winning team. Ofcourse they drafted and traded well, but he did whatever it took and never complained. Not that Messier didn't do the same, just saying they are both great players and captains under different circumstances.

This also leads into the other great debate.... Gretzky or Lemuiex. Everyone or atleast most I know think Gretzky is and was a better player. I think Mario is better but I look at it team wise, teammates, etc. Shit, Mario went through kemo and cancer recovery and came back almost or just as strong. You remove Gretsky's great teammates and he's still good, but as good as Mario. Wayne was just very fortunate, not taking away from his obvious skill, but he was usually surrounded by a great pack of teammates. It's not always about Gs and As either.. Mario will fight, check, play two-way hockey, etc. Again, I'm not taking anything away from Wayne, always though he was one of the greatest players of all-time, just think there's alot more up there that are equal or better. Orr and Lemiuex are huge standouts to me.

Back to Yzerman... have you noticed that pre-Bowman, he and Federov were on mark for 70+ goals a season coming close to Gretzy's record at one point I believe. Bowman comes in and teaches that defense, not mass goals, wins Stanley Cups. Yzerman conforms and pushes Bowman's system and they start winning once they accuire Shanny. So the three players we are referring to in this post all won championships with teams that led into a dynasty, sans the Rangers.. but they were still good till they started trying to buy into the playoffs. Seemed to work for Colorado and Detroit, just not NYR for some reason.

Anyhoo... it's great to be able to chat about hockey here.

[Maj. H8Red]

Yzerman:


Fails at life.

How do you figure that? 3 Cups & guaranteed Hall inductee. Sounds like a great career to me. Plus he wasn't really surrounded by exceptional talent, except for the last half of his career.

*edit*
About the Gretzky - Lemieux debate.....Lemieux hands down, never really had the teammates that Gretzky had (yes he did have a few) & missed what 4 seasons total with cancer & other serious injuries? Gretzky never missed any major amount of time.

This post has been edited by Maj. H8Red: 01/14/06 12:27am

[|$aucy|]

Lemiuex really would have put a huge dent in the record book if he didn't miss those years, then he might have gotten more recognition.

[Maj. H8Red]

I kinda agree with ya on that....but I think (along with lot of other ppl) that he would've just plain shattered ALL of Wayne's records

[|$aucy|]

I kinda agree with ya on that....but I think (along with lot of other ppl) that he would've just plain shattered ALL of Wayne's records

lol... yea that could have happened too.


Hmm 1/14 NYR at DET 2:00P


Should be fun

[Undertow]

I'm from Michigan, so of course its Yzerman over Messier!

As for the Wayne/Mario debate, I'm going with Mario on that one. I agree, I think he could have broke Gretzkys records.

As for the Rangers Vs Wings. Should be a good game. If Osgood's in net it should be an easy win for the Rangers.

[pezking]

Yeah, I was excited to see Osgood go back to the Wings but he isn't playing like he used to.... when he was Osgreat.

[Maj. H8Red]

Yeah, I was excited to see Osgood go back to the Wings but he isn't playing like he used to.... when he was Osgreat.

I'm from Michigan too & was pissed PISSED to see him back here Osgoodblows

[Silver]

go Sabres!

[|$aucy|]

Good game so far. Nylander scores with 14 seconds left.

2-2 going into the third.