Just a thread to discuss whatever, whenever in the NHL this season.

Quick starter:

http://www.atom.com/funny_videos/mascots_guys_talking/

Well the one thing I can say is being a big Blackhawks fan and watching this preseason, not really sure if I like Turco. He's way to aggressive with coming out of the net. Made A huge mistake last night and put the puck right on one of the St Louis players stick. Cost us a goal.

He also looks sloppy for lack of a better word

You mean 'exciting'?

went to the Rock last saturday (collapse vs Rangers).... have you been back there Jim? We had great seats 6th row.

My excitement with hockey is muted. On one hand my oldest (8 yr old) is really into it and is a lot of fun to go to games with. Also the Devs are looking good except goalie. on the other hand the NHL board has screwed up the league as evidence with the Kovy ruling and NHLPA neutering. So we'll have another lockout/strike and all progress lost. Also while the NHL network is cool the Versus channel is brutal and Verizon Fios TV still not granted rights to HD Games MSG2/FoxSports.

F'n politics is even ruining sports... glen

I haven't been back since the end of last year - may not get back until Montreal comes down to play. And Bettman is ruining the sport; there will definitely be a lockout. I wish I could support my team and give the finger to the league at the same time

I've got Comcast coming out Wednesday night so I';; be up and running for Thursday nights game. I don;t put much stock in the preseason games all and am completely confident in Turco. They hawks managed to win in front of Huet and win it all in front of Niemi.

Hopefully McDounogh's bright idea of giving Chelios a Heritage Night will be the final nail in his coffin, but I doubt the band wagon has any idea of who Chelios is so they'll cheer to be nice.

Ya I dont get the Cheli thing, hes been a redwing for umpteen years now. That inturn makes him the enemy in my eyes!

Chelios, the former Canadiens captain, uh, co-captain?

All I know is my Vancouver Canucks will DOMINATE the west this season!!! No more bullying from the Blackhawks...the Sedins will pummel Kane and his bad mullet...and run over any other Blackhawks that get in our way and/or try and screen Luongo ;o)

Seriously, Vancouver is a Canucks crazy city and we've been waiting a long time for our Canucks to bring the Stanley Cup to Vancouver...and every year we say "this could be the year"...but I really think that this year we may have the best team we've ever had here...so look out!!! ;o)

hahahaha, I'm going to relish watching Kane and Toews dance around your boys again this year. In order to be pummeled they have to catch them.....and we all know thats not going to happen

This year, it's time to find out if I can successfully find another team to actually root for other than the hometown Red Wings, who continue to alienate me as a fan by bringing Todd Bertuzzi back over and over again.

Beyond that, their continued reliance upon older players who are clearly past their prime just leaves me utterly baffled. How Jimmy Howard was not named the starter at the beginning of last season is still a complete mystery to me. He should have at least been splitting time with Osgood from day 1. It was only after he was started virtually every game that they started winning and got themselves back into the playoff picture.

Lidstrom's best days are certainly behind him, though he's admittedly still awesome for his age. I just can't imagine what he has left to prove, or how anyone thinks he's going to prove it at 40 years of age. He's accomplished all he needs to and can only harm his own reputation by continuing to play. Even still, he's got to be the number one guy among 40+ year-olds in the league today, so it's not all bad.

Signing Kirk Maltby, even to a two-way contract, seemed like a move born completely of blind loyalty to the guys who have been here forever, which is not a way to build a winning team. Fortunately, he should be waived before the season even starts, so I guess it doesn't matter, it just seems like a weird move to me.

Bringing in a 40 year-old Mike Modano for less than $2 million doesn't seem like a terrible move on the surface, though he surely won't be a difference-maker by himself. But then you notice the news that the Penguins signed Mike Comrie (30 years old) to a contract for $500,000 and that he was interested in coming to the Wings until they signed Modano and ran out of cap space. WTF? Is Comrie the greatest player in history? Clearly not, but to get him plus some wiggle room under the cap instead of Modano seems like the better move to me, but what do I know?

The problem is that I just don't have another single team that I would want to root for. I like a bunch of others, like Boston, Montreal, hell even Chicago, which probably sounds weird (not a fan of the Turco signing, personally), but I don't feel any particular loyalty to any of them. Vancouver has some players that I like, but something about that team has always bugged me, so I don't know about them. Plus I fully expect them to underachieve yet again this year. I think I'm reaching the point where I'm more of a fan of a good hockey game than I am of any particular team. But I can watch every single Red Wings game if I'm inclined to, and the vast majority of them in HD, so that's probably what I will default to even if I don't terribly care if they win or not.

Oh we will catch 'em - Canucks have great team speed....it wasn't the Blackhawks speed that beat us in the playoffs last year it was that Dustin Butfnuglyness or whatever his name is screening and bumping into our goalie...and your Blackhawks traded him! We won't have to wait long to see - Canucks and Blackhawks play each other in 2 weeks on Oct. 20th! Should be fun )

And for djohns - the Red Wings have always been my fave US team - Yzerman is my fave hockey player ever (he is from here in BC). I hear you about Bertuzzi...that guy is nothing but a bad memory in this town. I also agree with you about Howard - they should make him the starter cuz I think Chris Osgood is more like Chris Notsogood ;o) And I like the Modano signing cuz I think he is a great player who still has some gas in the tank - and the Red Wings are known for resurrecting older players careers.

GAME ON !!! :O)

Oh, Stevie Y. is most definitely my favorite hockey player of all time, there isn't even a close second for me. Unlike most Wings fans, I'm glad he was able to find a GM job, even if it is in the hockey black hole that is the state of Florida. I'll be very interested to watch the growth of Steven Stamkos with Yzerman offering him occasional advice.

Howard will start this year for sure, and he's one of the bright spots on the team for me. Almost everyone (myself included) had written him off after he spent so much time in the AHL, so it was great to see him come out and have a legit Calder-worthy year last season.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that I think the Wings will suck this year, I see no reason why they shouldn't be better in the regular season than they were last year. I'm just not sure if I care that much. Frankly, if the Canucks do manage to live up to the lofty expectations this year, I'll be completely fine with that. And not only because I have H. Sedin on my fantasy team again.

Too funny

@DownGoesBrown: What's the difference between the New Jersey Devils and the Chilean government? The Chileans can afford to bring someone up from the miners.