TAPOLOGY TALKS: NHL

Making an NHL only thread, because I'm sick of seeing the Peyton Manning thread riddled with hockey talk.

So fellow Canadians, REJOICE!

EDIT: And Americans too, we know some of you love hockey as well.

* Edited at 03.13.2012, 5:07 PM ET *

With the salary cap, the wildcan definitely do it. Minnesota had a lot of cap room coming in, and if the Pens can have Crosby, Gonchar, Malkin, Staal, Fleury on a team at one time during the cap era, WIld can get Suter parise nash for sure.

@anik. you need to be the nhl fantasy league commish too. you know your stuff.

@ProdigyKid14 I believe they have 3 million left in cap space so if they were to get Rick Nash, Dany Heatley would have to be involved and AT LEAST 3 first round draft picks 'cause Nash is signed until 2018. And the Minnesota Wild are pretty much a bunch of AHL guys lol, they have a weak team.

Well they did, now check out this top 6: Zach Parise, Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, Mikko Koivu, PM Bouchard and Matt Cullen. Not bad. I think they just have a bad system, they need a system that could reward their offensive players inside of limiting them because the defense they have is pretty porous, no offense to Marco Scandella (another one of my favorites).

@wolfmanhowl thank you, I appreciate it. I've grown up with hockey and there was a point where I would literally study my record books like people study for tests, and I did it a lot.

@anik yeah, i knew they weren't really the best team, but i agree, the only way they could swing that is with trading Heatley and a bunch of draft picks. I don't see it happening, but you never know.

yup, you never know. Rick Nash trade rumors are worse than the Lecavalier rumors.

Today marks the second anniversary of the passing of one of the best enforcers in hockey history, and one of my favorite players ever, Bob Probert. Too bad he had all his personal issues in his life. RIP

Rick Nash has been traded to the New York Rangers for Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, Tim Erixon and a 1st round draft pick.

Holy ****, I think the Blue Jackets got the better end of this deal. Damn.

Good deal for Columbus.  Never really been a fan of Nash.  Now I can't stand him though because I hate big baby hockey players who ask for a trade, but then refuse to be traded to 80% of the cities in the NHL.  If you ask for a trade, that should be considered waiving your no-trade clause.

sigh.

i feel you anik.

what up KHL?

man watched the '94 game 7 canucks vs flames last night, brought back alot of memories

KHL's gonna be on ESPN3 or something, lol.

I'm Canadian and incredibly bummed about the NHL lockout...

Here's how I see it:

Owners are right, they need to change the balance of power. Players (under the last CBA) had 57% stake in Hockey Related Revenue and in my opinion, that's too much when the owners are solely responsible for upkeep and maintenance of the arenas and most of the costs involved in managing a NHL hockey franchise. 

Revenue sharing should have been in place since inception of the game. If you're a team like the Leafs and sell out every year on a losing team in a huge hockey market, some of your profits should go to smaller market teams to ensure the league stays competitive and not dominated by financial giants. 

All this considered, the latest 50/50 proposal has some serious holes in it. 1) Much lower annual salary cap (I believe something like $59.9M down from $70M/year) 2) Player contracts cap at 5 years 3) NHL will only negotiate on their terms... I disagree, changes this significant need to be slowly integrated. Not change of bust

Everyone is focusing on the 50/50 part... there's a lot more to it

Disappointed that I only have to settle for NHL 13 instead of an actual season.

They played a Grand Rapids Griffins game here on Fox Sports Detroit, and have a concert booked on New Year's Eve at the Joe. That should just show you how promising it is right now. Definitely don't think we'll see the NHL this year.

I haven't been following hockey this year (shame on me I know) but when I went on Yahoo to quickly read the top 30 NHL Prospect rankings for the 2013 draft, I noticed three names.

Number 1 is Nathan MacKinnon, a guy who I've been hearing about for ages. People just constantly compare him to Sidney Crosby 'cause well..they share a lot of things. He was born in Nova Scotia like Crosby, played for the Cole Harbour Red Wings at Bantam AAA like Crosby, he went to play at the Shattuck St-Mary's private school in Minnesota like Crosby at the same age (only difference was that Crosby could've played a year earlier but his family sued and lost in court so he had to play an extra year of Bantam AAA hockey) and now he's in the Q. Interesting story, he's been talked about for awhile now so I'm just telling you guys straight up, he's a VERY hyped prospect.

Number 28 is 5'9 Max Domi, yes he's Tie Domi's son but no he is nothing like Tie Domi. I've been following Max Domi's career for a long time (I have him on facebook) and what he lacks in size, he makes up for in sheer skill and tenacity. A bit injury prone, so I really don't know what's gonna happen.

Now the most interesting name on the list...number 17 is Anthony Mantha. Now I've actually been following this guy's whole hockey career with my friends 'cause..well he went to the same elementary school as me and actually, we were in the same class one year (it was a grade 4/5 split class). He was always the fastest kid in school, he would win the cross-country trials at Mt. St. Bruno every year since he was in grade 2, and against bigger guys too. He went to the same high school as some of my friends and some even played hockey with him, saying that he's really good. I didn't know him very well, I got the vibe that he was a **** and a *** in grade school (then again I was a nerd in grade school so I think I got **** from everyone) and people agree. He was competitive, but like whiny competitive. Like he'd pout if he'd lose a game or something. He wasn't a very tough player when he first started, he didn't really go and grind in the corners. As he's gotten older though, he's gotten a lot taller and he plays a lot bigger now. Huge guy but what amazes me the most is how well he can skate, he looks like he's hovering I swear. Very graceful stride, big guy, can fight, can puck handle, he has a good shot but he might be lacking in character perhaps.

Just sharing a bit of my knowledge on some of the guys this year.

man if there isn't a season there is a good chance Oilers would get #1 pick...again

Makes me laugh.

Guess who's back.