I suck at creative titles. The 2013-2014 NHL thread

[MartyFunkhouser]

The post free-agency odds have the Blackhawks favorites to repeat at 6-1.
http://nhl.si.com/2013/07/29/chicago...ey-cup-champs/

I agree the Blackhawks are the favorites, but repeating in the salary cap era is damn hard. Kings so far have come the closest, but met the superior Blackhawks. Still with the depth the Blackhawks have and Stan Bowman at the helm, they have to be considered the favorites.

As for the Blackhawks biggest competition, I'm going to say the St. Louis Blues. Sure things didn't end well for the Blues, but they have a ton of talent and are inexplicably 7.6 million under the cap with all that talent signed. They were smart and didn't enter into the free agency frenzy and overpay for players. They have flexibility to improve the team now and at the deadline.

Bruins are the 2nd contender behind the Blues, but I'm getting less worried about them each day. The Iginla contract, Rask contract, and Seguin trades are mistakes that are really going to hurt the Bruins.

Bruins are going to be relying heavily on Mark Bartkowski, Torey King, and Dougie Hamilton.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...131838848.html

Rask is going to have a much tougher task. The 6 million to Iginla was a mistake. The money could have been better spent elsewhere. For example, the Blackhawks got Leddy and Roszival locked up for only 4.9 million.

If I'm ranking the contenders going into next year it is:

1) Blackhawks
2) Blues
3) Bruins
4) Kings
5) Penguins

I could be persuaded to re-arrange 2-5 in pretty much any order.

Chicago_Blackhawks.jpg

[Indy Coug]

Somehow your title just made the NHL even more boring than it already was. Congrats.

[Flystripper]

Somehow your title just made the NHL even more boring than it already was. Congrats.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Somehow your title just made the NHL even more boring than it already was. Congrats.

From a Euro Kicky-Kicky Ball fan, I'll take that as a compliment.

[FN Phat]

Don't limit yourself to just thread titles.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Welcome back to the hockey thread. Let the Blackhawk hype start. As a degenerate gambler, I expect you to place a wager on the Blackhawks. In fact, I hope you played a wager pre-free agency and got the better odds.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Don't limit yourself to just thread titles.

It was not an inclusive list.

[Flystripper]

The post free-agency odds have the Blackhawks favorites to repeat at 6-1.
http://nhl.si.com/2013/07/29/chicago...ey-cup-champs/

I agree the Blackhawks are the favorites, but repeating in the salary cap era is damn hard. Kings so far have come the closest, but met the superior Blackhawks. Still with the depth the Blackhawks have and Stan Bowman at the helm, they have to be considered the favorites.

As for the Blackhawks biggest competition, I'm going to say the St. Louis Blues. Sure things didn't end well for the Blues, but they have a ton of talent and are inexplicably 7.6 million under the cap with all that talent signed. They were smart and didn't enter into the free agency frenzy and overpay for players. They have flexibility to improve the team now and at the deadline.

Bruins are the 2nd contender behind the Blues, but I'm getting less worried about them each day. The Iginla contract, Rask contract, and Seguin trades are mistakes that are really going to hurt the Bruins.

Bruins are going to be relying heavily on Mark Bartkowski, Torey King, and Dougie Hamilton.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-pu...131838848.html

Rask is going to have a much tougher task. The 6 million to Iginla was a mistake. The money could have been better spent elsewhere. For example, the Blackhawks got Leddy and Roszival locked up for only 4.9 million.

If I'm ranking the contenders going into next year it is:

1) Blackhawks
2) Blues
3) Bruins
4) Kings
5) Penguins

I could be persuaded to re-arrange 2-5 in pretty much any order.

I think that is a pretty good list. Last year I thought the Blues were going to be the team that challenged the Blackhawks in the division but the Hawks were just too good. The Ducks, Sharks, and Canucks could all eek their way on to the list.

As far as a Blackhawk specific discussion, I am interested to see who emerges as the second line center. Can Handzus fill that role for an 82 game season? I am not sure he can. I know the Hawks are toying with the idea of playing Saad there. Does he have the center mentality? Does Kruger jump up from 4th to 3rd or 2nd line center? I assume Shaw will be in the mix. It should be an interesting preseason to see who emerges. I am excited to see some of the young guys skate a bit as well. I will tell you one thing, the Hawks are still the deepest team in the NHL. Thank you Stan Bowman.

[Indy Coug]

From a Euro Kicky-Kicky Ball fan, I'll take that as a compliment.

Link?

[cougjunkie]

I will revisit this thread during the playoffs.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Link?

I thought you said good things about Euro Kicky-Kicky ball in the Kick-ball thread. If I am mistaken, I sincerely apologize. That is a cougjunkie level inappropriate character assassination to call someone a Euro Kicky-Kicky ball fan.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I will revisit this thread during the playoffs.

I look forward to your future trolling efforts.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I think that is a pretty good list. Last year I thought the Blues were going to be the team that challenged the Blackhawks in the division but the Hawks were just too good. The Ducks, Sharks, and Canucks could all eek their way on to the list.

As far as a Blackhawk specific discussion, I am interested to see who emerges as the second line center. Can Handzus fill that role for an 82 game season? I am not sure he can. I know the Hawks are toying with the idea of playing Saad there. Does he have the center mentality? Does Kruger jump up from 4th to 3rd or 2nd line center? I assume Shaw will be in the mix. It should be an interesting preseason to see who emerges. I am excited to see some of the young guys skate a bit as well. I will tell you one thing, the Hawks are still the deepest team in the NHL. Thank you Stan Bowman.

Stan Bowman is the gold standard of NHL GMs. To put it in terms that our non-hockey fans entering this thread understand, he is basically the NHL version of R.C. Buford. He drafts well, locks up his core with reasonable contracts, and with few exceptions doesn't overpay on his deals.

We have depth, because he hasn't overpaid. Looking at the Blackhawks salaries, there is at most 2-3 players on the roster that you can look at and say the contract is above-market level. With those contracts, they are also short term deals (like the Khabibulin).

I think Shaw is your 2nd line center next year. I think he can fit in well on that role.

[Joe Public]

[MartyFunkhouser]

Why must you ruin this thread with that hideous logo.

Enjoy the Eastern conference and your destruction of the best rivalry in professional sports. I'm disappointed that we aren't getting another 5 guaranteed regular season wins again this year.

May Jimmy Howard, Pavel Datsyuk, and Henrik Zetterburg suffer fates worse than those deserved by Nate Cooper.