GDT: Ducks (19-3-3) @Stars (12-11-2) 5:30pm Best Coast Time

[kducks]

Finally home and safe from the angry mob of Dallas fans... The ice looked horrible tonight, and it was very warm in the building. What a strange game that was. Dallas goal horn goes off twice for no goal. I remember a couple years back the Ducks had 2 goals called back in Dallas. Guess they finally got around to making up for that one.

Glad you made it out in one piece DFW and that you finally got a win in person.

 

[HanSolo]

"No vatanen is much mor ready for keerole then Leendholm.
Anaheim superheads are makin big mistake.
team needs VATANEN atletics. Lydman Sbisa make for very shaky defense. TEAM MUST HAVE VATANEN!

Eenok/Hockeyprofessor/IL Finland"

How did I do?

I didn't scroll all the way up. Though eenok made his way back and got confused by the "how did I do?"

 

[DucksFanDFW]

Glad you made it out in one piece DFW and that you finally got a win in person.

Oh I've been there for wins, but this was my first live shoot out. I just walked out of the building with a smirk on my face... nobody said a word to me except other Ducks fans. Oh... and I saw a guy wearing a Federov '03 jersey.

 

[Nikko*]

It's sad how hard people are being on Selanne. He hasn't exactly had brilliant line mates to work with and lets not forget he is 42 years old. Do you really expect him to elevate Bonino and Beleskey's game that much? He has definitely regressed, as does everyone with age. But some of these comments are downright disrespectful toward him.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

It's sad how hard people are being on Selanne. He hasn't exactly had brilliant line mates to work with and lets not forget he is 42 years old. Do you really expect him to elevate Bonino and Beleskey's game that much? He has definitely regressed, as does everyone with age. But some of these comments are downright disrespectful toward him.

Hes cannot handle the puck at all this season... and bonino has been a stud offensively and defencely this season.(something teemu has never really done in his career).

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Also for everyone saying crosby wouldnt be talked about in the top 3 in his career if he stays healthy you guys are unrealistic.


I think if he stays healthy he'll be a top 5 guy of all time, and i think you could argue him being top 3 by the end of his career.

He dominates the nhl as much as gretzky/lemiux did, and you could argue gretzky and lemiux have had the much better line mates, look at kunitz this year hes good role player, but crosby has made him look like a superstar. The 2nd best player in the nhl is malkin and they are pretty far above 3rd. Id take crosby over him no questions asked.

 

[Kalv]

This was actually quite funny because Teemu saw the sign laughed to himself and flipped a puck that landed flat on top of the glass and sat there for a second before falling back onto the ice. He finally came back by laughing again and picked it up with his hand and tossed it to her male companion.

 

[snowave]

crazy game last night.

Observations...

1. Selanne is hurting. He has lost his hands, can't stay on the puck.. and is obviously tired... he's also starting to not skate as well either.. he's still fast, but has been falling alot more lately. I feel bad for him. Hopefully, when Perry returns, he can maybe sit a few games here and there and recover better. Not faulting him at all.

2. Etem is skating great, but I've never seen a guy so snakebitten.

3. Hiller looked great on some big saves, but looked a little sketchy on others not so difficult. Typical Hiller, I guess... but overall, pretty happy with his play the last few games.

3. I keep wanting to say this team is overachieving.. but when your 20-3, it's hard to justify that definition. They are far from a dominating team most games, but continue to find a way to win...and a little luck, too for sure.

Unfortunately, there is a part of me that continues to think one day soon reality will kick in and they will be a .500 team (anti-jinx).

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

crazy game last night.

Observations...

1. Selanne is hurting. He has lost his hands, can't stay on the puck.. and is obviously tired... he's also starting to not skate as well either.. he's still fast, but has been falling alot more lately. I feel bad for him. Hopefully, when Perry returns, he can maybe sit a few games here and there and recover better. Not faulting him at all.

2. Etem is skating great, but I've never seen a guy so snakebitten.

3. Hiller looked great on some big saves, but looked a little sketchy on others not so difficult. Typical Hiller, I guess... but overall, pretty happy with his play the last few games.

3. I keep wanting to say this team is overachieving.. but when your 20-3, it's hard to justify that definition. They are far from a dominating team most games, but continue to find a way to win...and a little luck, too for sure.

Unfortunately, there is a part of me that continues to think one day soon reality will kick in and they will be a .500 team (anti-jinx).

3. This isnt a league like the NBA/MLB/NFL where there are a few teams that dominate everyone other then the top 4-5 teams.... the nice thing about the nhl is that all top 8 teams in each conference are legit cup contenders and you can go as far as saying 9-12 are very tough teams and if they got in to the playoffs theyd be a tough matchup to.

 

[snowave]

My point is, they have been outplayed in probably 1/3 or so of the games they are winning. Props to them for finding a way to win... but when you see a team 20-3 you would expect a more dominating type team.. yes, even in the NHL.

 

[douglast5]

I don't really fault Hiller in that game, the puck kept getting lost then dropping 2 ft in front of him.

And its not like its 4th liners picking them up and hitting him in the chest, its 1st line skilled players getting those loose pucks and wiring them top corner, Hiller puts his body in front but when its going up high, I don'think anyone has the reaction time to grab those.

Defence needs to clear those pucks or remove the Dallas players, for shots he should have had, he got them all made some huge saves on 2 on 1's and breakaways.


2 of the posts the puck was going across the front of the net, Hiller was following the puck to have it whacked back across the seam, Highlight reel saves if they made him, but not bad goals if they went in. Great teams seem to get the bounces, and Anaheim sure did last night.

 

[Yemeth]

What a crazy game! For the first time this season I want to watch the same game again with the announcer of the other team...

It is a big difference without Perry in the lineup, hopefully the Ducks owner thinks about it too and will be prepared to pay what he deserves.

Getzlaf is playing like a beast, would really like to show the people in the main board who commented that his contract is a massive overpayment, the games after the signing (as there was the argument that he will later play unmotivated and uncaptainlike).If he plays like this and stays healthy his contract will be looked as a bargain in the years to come (especially after the new contracts set a new level).

 

[snowave]

yeah, Getz continues to impress on all levels.

Was impressed again with Lovejoy last night.

Cogs just seems to be getting faster and faster every game.

Palms looked OK, .. but did look like he had been out a few games, which is understandable obviously.

btw, is anyone else having sound issues with the Ducks feed? We watch on Center Ice, and the last few games... and especially last night, the sound was terrible. They seem to be having issues with balancing the announcers vs the on ice sounds.

 

[Nikko*]

Hes cannot handle the puck at all this season... and bonino has been a stud offensively and defencely this season.(something teemu has never really done in his career).

Bonino has NOT been a stud offensively. He's had a few good games and some decent shootout attempts. A lot of the time he looks a step behind his line mates.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Bonino has NOT been a stud offensively. He's had a few good games and some decent shootout attempts. A lot of the time he looks a step behind his line mates.

hes looked great on the top PP unit also.

 

[Yemeth]

hes looked great on the top PP unit also.

Yes, I think many people are underestimating the puck retrieval importance on the Ducks power play. Bonino was a big part of that...

 

[Paul4587]

Also for everyone saying crosby wouldnt be talked about in the top 3 in his career if he stays healthy you guys are unrealistic.


I think if he stays healthy he'll be a top 5 guy of all time, and i think you could argue him being top 3 by the end of his career. The complete ignorance of Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe seems a bit strange - even if I never saw either play live I've certainly gone out of my way to watch videos of old games and read up about how good they were.

He dominates the nhl as much as gretzky/lemiux did, and you could argue gretzky and lemiux have had the much better line mates, look at kunitz this year hes good role player, but crosby has made him look like a superstar. The 2nd best player in the nhl is malkin and they are pretty far above 3rd. Id take crosby over him no questions asked.

Just out of curiosity when did you start following hockey? Because you seem to be ignoring plenty of past players who Crosby will be lucky to surpass even if he stays healthy.

Were you around to see how good Jagr was in the late 90s after Lemieux retired. His 1998-99 season was better than anything Crosby has done so far.

 

[Nikko*]

hes looked great on the top PP unit also.

Great? Are we watching the same team?

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

Just out of curiosity when did you start following hockey? Because you seem to be ignoring plenty of past players who Crosby will be lucky to surpass even if he stays healthy.

Were you around to see how good Jagr was in the late 90s after Lemieux retired. His 1998-99 season was better than anything Crosby has done so far.

Im not elitist to the old players like a lot of other fans. I know its hard to compare someone who is only 25 to a guy that are retired and what not. And im not ignoring past players, but crosby is an amazing talent, he wont get the respect until he retires but id be willing to say he goes down a lot higher then you give him credit for.

Points per game, crosby is 4th all time... and really only improving those stats right now.(hes also 4th all time in playoff points per game)... he also hasnt exactly been lined up with players in jagr(lemiux), kurri(gretzky) league. If he stays healthy hes going to make his way up the leaders list pretty quick.

I dont think its outrageous to think crosby will end up somewhere in the top 10 if not top 5 of all time players if he stays healthy... im 24 i grew up in new york(big brian leetch fan), my mom was a huge penguin fan(loves jagr and mario), if you must know how old i am/hockey back ground, but i did see a lot of mario, jagr, messier and even gretzky towards his ladder years. Obviously a lot of what he can become depends on how healthy he stays throughout his career and i accept he wont ever get the credit he deserves till he retires, but what hes doing right now in his career is all time nhl bests worthy.

 

[bumperkisser]

Great? Are we watching the same team?

well our PP has been awful since bonino has been out. we were finally clicking at a high % with both units being fairly good.
ever since bonino's been out our PP has struggled mightily again. his job was to basically retrieve the puck and let getzlaf and whoever start making pretty passes with the puck. now there's no one to go in and get that puck back

 

[Paul4587]

Im not elitist to the old players like a lot of other fans. I know its hard to compare someone who is only 25 to a guy that are retired and what not. And im not ignoring past players, but crosby is an amazing talent, he wont get the respect until he retires but id be willing to say he goes down a lot higher then you give him credit for.

Points per game, crosby is 4th all time... and really only improving those stats right now.(hes also 4th all time in playoff points per game)... he also hasnt exactly been lined up with players in jagr(lemiux), kurri(gretzky) league. If he stays healthy hes going to make his way up the leaders list pretty quick.

I dont think its outrageous to think crosby will end up somewhere in the top 10 if not top 5 of all time players if he stays healthy... im 24 i grew up in new york(big brian leetch fan), my mom was a huge penguin fan(loves jagr and mario), if you must know how old i am/hockey back ground, but i did see a lot of mario, jagr, messier and even gretzky towards his ladder years. Obviously a lot of what he can become depends on how healthy he stays throughout his career and i accept he wont ever get the credit he deserves till he retires, but what hes doing right now in his career is all time nhl bests worthy.

You say Crosby has the 4th highest PPG of all time which is all well and good but that is going to go down significantly by the time he retires in his late 30s. You can't compare a 25 year olds career PPG vs those who retired and played their most unproductive hockey in their 30s.

Gretzky may have played with Kurri but in LA he turned Bernie Nicholls into a 70 goal scorer. Lemieux turned Rob Brown into a scoring machine.

I'm not saying he won't go down as an all time great but saying he'll only go down behind Lemieux and Gretzky is pushing it especially considering many rank Howe and Orr above Lemieux (some even rank Orr above Gretzky). Right now he's playing at about the same level Jagr did in his prime. If he stays healthy and keeps this up he may surpass Jagr. Best case scenario he ends up in the top 10. But even after the big 4 in Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr & Howe you still have guys like Hull, Beliveau, Richard, Lafleur as well as a ton of good defensemen who achieved a lot (Lidstrom, Harvey, Bourque all come to mind).

Sorry that I got this thread off topic. I just thought I'd argue my opinion on whether or not Crosby is the 3rd most talented player to play the game. I think this all started when somebody said Getzlaf=Crosby lol.

 

[Zegs2sendhelp]

You say Crosby has the 4th highest PPG of all time which is all well and good but that is going to go down significantly by the time he retires in his late 30s. You can't compare a 25 year olds career PPG vs those who retired and played their most unproductive hockey in their 30s.

Gretzky may have played with Kurri but in LA he turned Bernie Nichols into a 70 goal scorer. Lemieux turned Rob Brown into a scoring machine.

I'm not saying he won't go down as an all time great but saying he'll only go down behind Lemieux and Gretzky is pushing it especially considering many rank Howe and Orr above Lemieux (some even rank Orr above Gretzky). Right now he's playing at about the same level Jagr did in his prime. If he stays healthy and keeps this up he may surpass Jagr. Best case scenario he ends up in the top 10. But even after the big 4 in Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr & Howe you still have guys like Hull, Beliveau, Richard, Lafleur as well as a ton of good defensemen who achieved a lot (Lidstrom, Harvey, Bourque all come to mind).

Sorry that I got this thread off topic. I just thought I'd argue my opinion on whether or not Crosby is the 3rd most talented player to play the game. I think this all started when somebody said Getzlaf=Crosby lol.

I respect your opinion... and i agree with a lot of what you say... but its really impossibly hard to compare a guy thats 25 vs a retired guy that played a full nhl career, then taking in consideration the differences in times(equitment/strength and conditoning/ overall skill of competition, etc etc.).

I still think he has the skill/potential to become a top 3 player in history(maybe forward would be a better choice of words). Lidstrom didnt become one of the best dmen of all time in the early stages of his career but towards the end people finally put him in the same sentences as the coffeys orrs and bourques, same thing applys to crosby in my opinion.


and i love getzlaf as much as the next person but no way in hell id even try to compare him to crosby.

 

[Paul4587]

I respect your opinion... and i agree with a lot of what you say... but its really impossibly hard to compare a guy thats 25 vs a retired guy that played a full nhl career, then taking in consideration the differences in times(equitment/strength and conditoning/ overall skill of competition, etc etc.).

I still think he has the skill/potential to become a top 3 player in history(maybe forward would be a better choice of words). Lidstrom didnt become one of the best dmen of all time in the early stages of his career but towards the end people finally put him in the same sentences as the coffeys orrs and bourques, same thing applys to crosby in my opinion.


and i love getzlaf as much as the next person but no way in hell id even try to compare him to crosby.

Agreed that the comparison is hard considering Crosby is 25. We won't know until at least 10 maybe 15 years from now how his career ends up playing out. Right now any arguments are just based on projections.

And yeah I'm a huge Getzlaf fan but there's no way he's near Crosby's level especially now that Crosby has elevated his game and is fully healthy. I mean Crosby is what - already 15 points ahead of Getzlaf.

 

[illpucks]

And yeah I'm a huge Getzlaf fan but there's no way he's near Crosby's level especially now that Crosby has elevated his game and is fully healthy. I mean Crosby is what - already 15 points ahead of Getzlaf.

Pens regularly have 5+ goal games. Ducks have mostly hard fought low scoring 1 goal games. His numbers are inflated. If he was in the West no way he would have that amount of pts.

 

[Paul4587]

Pens regularly have 5+ goal games. Ducks have mostly hard fought low scoring 1 goal games. His numbers are inflated. If he was in the West no way he would have that amount of pts.

Do you know why they regularly have 5+ goal games. Because of some guy called Sidney Crosby. If he's in the West he might have 43 points instead of 47 - the different conference doesn't make that much of a difference.

There is absolutely no argument for Getzlaf in a Getzlaf vs Crosby debate. Getzlaf is more physical, slightly better defensively and might have a harder shot (but Crosby's is far more accurate). Everything else Crosby is better at.