Vancouver Canucks vs. Nashville Predators

This will be a good series. Everyone will make a big deal about Rinne vs. Luongo, although I think this series will be about offense. The Sedin's, after being shut down by the Blackhawks, will be looking to up their game against the Predators. It's likely they will see a lot of Shea Weber, however this could leave more room for Kesler to step up. Plus kesler will be shutting down the likes of Mike Fisher and Sergei Kositsyn rather than Toews, Kane and Sharp. This offers much more room for offence on kesler's end.Also, the Canucks defense need to start hitting the net more. I can't count the number of times Edler and Erhoff missed the net this series or had their shots blocked. It is s about time defense started taking quality shots at the opposing teams net. I think the Canucks might be able to finish this one off early.

-Hark

Clifford and Doughty Hits

In retrospect, I have seen a better angle on the Doughty hit and it is clear that it is not a hit to the head. It was still a blindside hit, however Doughty will definitely not be suspended.

The Clifford hit is most definitely dirty. Out of respect for Tanev I do not want to post a video of it on this blog. Clifford should get a couple game suspension out of this. He checked Tanev headfirst into the boards. It is clear now that by the NHL trying to reduce concussions, they have placed too much emphasis on blindside hits to the head, and not enough to other dirty plays that cause concussions, like checks from behind. Matt Cooke's hit was not very much dirtier than Kyle Clifford's, but Cooke is gone for a very long time. NHL will have to readjust this in the offseason.



-Hark

Hodgson called back up to play with Canucks... This time maybe for the rest of the Season.

After going back to Manitoba for a short window, Hodgson is ready to come back up and center the fourth line. The canucks have tried many players in that role since the start of training camp but nobody has stuck (rick rypien, brendan morrison, peter schaefer, tanner glass.) Hodgson adds a different dimension than most fourth lines. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks team that won the 2007 stanley cup had Slob Neidermyer centering their fourth line. he was a faceoff expert, grinder par excellence and good penalty killer. Cody Hodgson is a skilled player that likes to play in the offensive zone. he can play pk, but he wont with the canucks, but it is likely to see him on the second powerplay unit. we can't expect hodgson to add any physicality, however his linemate of Tanner Glass can do that job for him. It's just a matter of how vigneault wants to fill out this line with possibilities of oreskovich, tambellini and maybe Rypien if he ever returns (very unlikely).

In other news, one of our most avid readers really took what Hal had to say to heart. rene Bourque, who is a good friend of 'the battle of western canada' had the game of his career yesterday after Hal called him out for poor play.

Good job Rene Bourque and next time the beers are on us !

-hark

Kevin Bieksa goes from Indespensable to Dead Man Walking

Earlier in the season there was no point in trading Bieksa. All the other GM's were unsure of his potential because of the injuries that have kept his game total and point total down. Also because of the videos on youtube of game six versus Chicago where Bieksa is laying on his ass for three of the chicago goals.

But now that he has been fluking out and playing good, other teams might be willing to pay a price to take him for a playoff run. Say another team in the league that needs a highpower defenceman and has extra forwards to spare.

A team that really needs defense is San Jose and they might be willing to depart with Devin Set-o-hands. Numerous possibilities abound. All Gillis has to do is make sure to sell at the right moment, when it actually seems to the other team that Bieksa might be useful. Unfortunately, if you blink, you can miss these opportunities.

-hark

Changin the NHL

The most obvious change in the NHL is ramping up shootouts to 5 players, but that has been discussed by Hal for years so we'll leave that for another day.

The NHL should change the NHL entry level contract system. Right now Faylor Hall is sucking bigass balls and if Oil management were smart, they would send him down to the OHL so he doesn't start this 3 year contract after 9 games. However, sending Faylor back to the OHL is useless because he won't develop much. He will just rip apart the league and score 150 points, but probably won't be that beneficial.

However, if the Oil keep hall after 9 games but send him to the AHL, he will still start his 3 year contract. For sure he will develop, but it's kind of hindering the team.

I think they should be able to send these under 20 year olds to the AHL WITHOUT it counting toward their entry level contract. That would help all parties.

Wait, did I just suggest something that would help the Oilers?

Fuck you Oil, your team sucks.

-Hal

I forgot to do my fucking picks!!!shit!

Its too late now. obviously detroit is going to win the series. i hope detroit wins the next game. if the wings win game three, then i will start cheering for the pens just because i would like to see an epic comeback this year.

I'll make my picks on the conn smythe instead. Even if detroit does win the cup, it is possible that pittsburgh could take the conn smythe. the way crosby has played so far this playoffs, he will definitely be in contention as long as this series goes to at least 6 games. by the end of the playoffs he will surely be leading the playoffs in points. right now hes 8 points ahead of detroits best player.

Detroit is hard to pick a stand out player. Chris Osgood has played well, but you know that its largely the defense in front of him. you can't pick stuart or rafalski, just because lidstrom is so much better. but it would be so boring to see lidstrom win it again for the zillionth time. if hossa won the conn smythe that would be a real slap in the face to pittsburgh, but flippula is currently outpacing hossa so that reality is unlikely. franzen has the most goals and points on the team so one might want to pick him, but zetterberg isn't very far behind in that department.

my pick for the conn smythe: justin abdelgator

this guy has had two clutch goals for the red wings. in games 1 and 2 he got the goals that put detroit up 3-1, which effectively put the win out of reach for the pens. in the first game he only had 5 minutes of ice time, but babcock liked his performance so much that he got pushed to 8 minutes the next game. the guys putting up kobasew 04' minutes. if the guy continues to score in the rest of the series, gary bettman will have no choice but to give him the conn smythe.

-hark