NHL transactions so far

Blitzkrieg

I know, I know, I'm overeacting..I'm just in this weird stage where I want to push the future ahead, and I am forgetting that it will still take some time for the kids to grow. I need to be patient. I suppose it's not too bad after all. I just want the Pens to start winning again, I need this!!

On a side note, what do you guys think about the Pens signing Ziggy Palfy? You think he has a lot left? I haven't seen him play much these last couple years.

IRALB

Oh my lord yes, for a good part of the first half last season he was amongst the top five in scoring, leading the league for at least over a week. That is until he attained the curse of the Kings and was knocked out for the rest of the season. I believe around the end of the year only Marc Savard of Atlanta had a better point-per-game average than Palffy.

So bottom line with him is...it's a good pickup, although I was eager to see him return to Los Angeles, at least until that bitch JR showed up.

Bouchie

You have a few valid points, Bike.

Hawks traded him for a reason, however. They needed something better in goal. I think his best days are behind him now.

It's a well known fact that I never liked Thibeau. Hell, I don't even know how to spell his name.

Bouchie

There's an old joke that goes something like:

Being traded to LA is like getting lost in the Burmuda Triangle. Players go to LA and are forgotten.

IRALB

Well what with the injuries last season limiting him to all of fourteen games did play a factor. Thibault is probably on a slow decline from his prime, but keep in mind he only came into the league one year earlier than Khabibulin, whom in the early thirties is no spring chicken himself.

Don't get me wrong, I know he won a Cup last year but he had a great team in front of him and it was his time, but I don't see him really reaching a level of greatness past that at this stage in his career.

Bouchie

J.S. Giguire is an example of that. He was awesome in playoffs one season, then fell apart the very next season. Not all his fault. Can't blame goalies for everything.

I just hope that with the new faces that Chicago doesn't suck quite so hard this year.

IRALB

Giguere caught the morning after syndrome, also beautifully exemplified by Jose Theodore in 2002-03, Martin Brodeur in 95-96, Jim Carey in 96-97, and to a lesser extent Blaine Lacher in 95-96. Although the latter two never did return to the crease the same men that entered it.

With Anaheim's team this year anchored by Brian Burke, and Randy Carlyle (whom I've seen coach quite a few games with the Moose last season), he will either bounce back in superb form, or crash and burn under Burke's proposed "fuck defense" system. It should be interesting to see.

And of course, don't ever blame the keepers, after all I was one.

Blitzkrieg

Don't slay me if I'm mistaken, but wasn't it the Beazer who fell off after the whole Rat throwing craze that was so popular in Florida? Maybe, he'd fit in with the goalies that seem to lose it after so much dominance.

IRALB

Yeah, I was debating throwing him in there, but taking a look the time he spent in the league prior counted it out. However I'd consider 1996 as the top of the mountain as far as his career went. He had been in the the league for roughly twelve or so seasons prior to that, and basically all that was left was the downward slope. Which incidentally carried him to a huge contract in Philadelphia, and off to Long Island and New Jersey before a quiet retirement.

Blitzkrieg

Wow..I'm impressed with you. You know more about hockey than I might know about anything. I like it.

Did you study teams/players before your time?