Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Liam's Lament: Apr 20, 2006.
Playoff Predictions and Quinn Firing.
Long time no talk folks. How the heck are ya? I’ve been away looking for any healthy starting goalies with playoff experience. Seems as if there are about a dozen teams that could use somebody to fill that void right now. I guess for every Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy or Ron Hextall there’s a Jim Carey, Andre Racicot or Bob Essensa. You never know about the playoffs. In the 1990’s there were eleven 100 point teams to lose in the first round and typically there’s at least one upset, the challenge for us poolies is to try and pick who that could be this time around.
My heart is with Montreal, maybe not my head but if there is a team that has upset more teams or won more playoff games and rounds when they are least expected to do it, it’s got to be Les Canadiens. Incidentally, to digress for a moment, I recently saw the movie ‘The Rocket’. Unbelievable. Phenomenal movie from start to finish. Pretty cool to see about a half dozen NHL players make cameo’s including Mike Ricci who got the most screen time playing Elmer Lach. No question he had the nose down to perfection. Very entertaining. I highly encourage you to check it out if you have an opportunity. Back to the Habs. I’ll go with my heart and call them to knock off the Hurricanes in six games. Ottawa will floor the Lightning in five. Jersey and Buffalo will both win their respective series in six also.
Out west I’ll take Calgary, Detroit, San Jose and Dallas over Colorado. As you can see I really went out on a limb. I’m hoping Edmonton can give Detroit the series some are predicting. I feel they really need to steal one of the first two for that to happen. San Jose with their dynamic duo leading the way and sleepers like Tom Pressing and Serge Bernier chipping in are really the team that can make some noise as the new kids on the block. Could they be this years Florida (1996) Washington (1998) Buffalo (1999) Carolina (2002) Anaheim (2003) or even the Cup winner and finalist of 2004, Tampa Bay and Calgary, not exactly favourites by most people to be in those positions come final time in ’04. This year I think that could be the Sharks but clearly it will be a tough road. I love the fact that Nashville has stuck with David Poile who was the GM the first time Washington made the playoffs and Barry Trotz who is an outstanding coach. Still, with out Vokun that’s a tall order even though Chris Mason out scored three quarters of his defense down the stretch. Small joke. We’ll check back here after round one and see how I did.
Finally, on the Pat Quinn firing, no question he was going to be the guy who got it. I know many people out there think Johnny Jr. should have gone also or been the one and Quinn should have moved back to GM. Tough call. One thing is for certain in the hockey world. When you hire a new GM and he did not hire the coach, the coach will always lead him out the door. Same thing happened here in Ottawa. There are fans in this city who still are in love with Jacques and rightfully so from a respect point of view but after the run to the semi’s in ’03 was followed up with Lalime debacle in game seven of the first round against the Leafs in ’04, see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya. I think the world of the Ferguson family. John Sr. is a friend of mine and I’ve met John Jr. a few times but I don’t think he’s going to have much rope here. Belfour has to go. Buy him out, eat the contract. Ian White should be playing on this team full time. Stajan, Wellwood and Steen are all three good young players, Sundin’s play down the stretch shows he still has it but you have to get the guy some wingers to work with. For the love of God. You know the real irony, seven years ago when Gretzky was in his final season with the Rangers, GM Mike Smith did not make a deal for Pavel Bure because he did not want to part with Manny Maholtra. Had he done so I believe Wayne would have flourished for another season or two instead he was saddled, and when I say this I mean at that time, he was saddled with Mike Knuble on his wing. Look at Knuble now. There are a dozen guys out there who can play like Knuble right now especially on a wing with Sundin. There names don’t have fifteen letters in them and start with a P or an A. You know who would be perfect there? Todd Bertuzzi. I’ll leave it at that for now. Comments, thoughts, salutations or whatever, it’s all good, fire it of at will. I answer each and every email. We’ll talk again soon, Gidday,
Liam Maguire MaguireLiam1@ca.inter.net
Here’s a shot, Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here’s another shot, right in front, THEY SCORE, Henderson has scored for Canada!
Long time no talk folks. How the heck are ya? I’ve been away looking for any healthy starting goalies with playoff experience. Seems as if there are about a dozen teams that could use somebody to fill that void right now. I guess for every Ken Dryden or Patrick Roy or Ron Hextall there’s a Jim Carey, Andre Racicot or Bob Essensa. You never know about the playoffs. In the 1990’s there were eleven 100 point teams to lose in the first round and typically there’s at least one upset, the challenge for us poolies is to try and pick who that could be this time around.
My heart is with Montreal, maybe not my head but if there is a team that has upset more teams or won more playoff games and rounds when they are least expected to do it, it’s got to be Les Canadiens. Incidentally, to digress for a moment, I recently saw the movie ‘The Rocket’. Unbelievable. Phenomenal movie from start to finish. Pretty cool to see about a half dozen NHL players make cameo’s including Mike Ricci who got the most screen time playing Elmer Lach. No question he had the nose down to perfection. Very entertaining. I highly encourage you to check it out if you have an opportunity. Back to the Habs. I’ll go with my heart and call them to knock off the Hurricanes in six games. Ottawa will floor the Lightning in five. Jersey and Buffalo will both win their respective series in six also.
Out west I’ll take Calgary, Detroit, San Jose and Dallas over Colorado. As you can see I really went out on a limb. I’m hoping Edmonton can give Detroit the series some are predicting. I feel they really need to steal one of the first two for that to happen. San Jose with their dynamic duo leading the way and sleepers like Tom Pressing and Serge Bernier chipping in are really the team that can make some noise as the new kids on the block. Could they be this years Florida (1996) Washington (1998) Buffalo (1999) Carolina (2002) Anaheim (2003) or even the Cup winner and finalist of 2004, Tampa Bay and Calgary, not exactly favourites by most people to be in those positions come final time in ’04. This year I think that could be the Sharks but clearly it will be a tough road. I love the fact that Nashville has stuck with David Poile who was the GM the first time Washington made the playoffs and Barry Trotz who is an outstanding coach. Still, with out Vokun that’s a tall order even though Chris Mason out scored three quarters of his defense down the stretch. Small joke. We’ll check back here after round one and see how I did.
Finally, on the Pat Quinn firing, no question he was going to be the guy who got it. I know many people out there think Johnny Jr. should have gone also or been the one and Quinn should have moved back to GM. Tough call. One thing is for certain in the hockey world. When you hire a new GM and he did not hire the coach, the coach will always lead him out the door. Same thing happened here in Ottawa. There are fans in this city who still are in love with Jacques and rightfully so from a respect point of view but after the run to the semi’s in ’03 was followed up with Lalime debacle in game seven of the first round against the Leafs in ’04, see ya, wouldn’t wanna be ya. I think the world of the Ferguson family. John Sr. is a friend of mine and I’ve met John Jr. a few times but I don’t think he’s going to have much rope here. Belfour has to go. Buy him out, eat the contract. Ian White should be playing on this team full time. Stajan, Wellwood and Steen are all three good young players, Sundin’s play down the stretch shows he still has it but you have to get the guy some wingers to work with. For the love of God. You know the real irony, seven years ago when Gretzky was in his final season with the Rangers, GM Mike Smith did not make a deal for Pavel Bure because he did not want to part with Manny Maholtra. Had he done so I believe Wayne would have flourished for another season or two instead he was saddled, and when I say this I mean at that time, he was saddled with Mike Knuble on his wing. Look at Knuble now. There are a dozen guys out there who can play like Knuble right now especially on a wing with Sundin. There names don’t have fifteen letters in them and start with a P or an A. You know who would be perfect there? Todd Bertuzzi. I’ll leave it at that for now. Comments, thoughts, salutations or whatever, it’s all good, fire it of at will. I answer each and every email. We’ll talk again soon, Gidday,
Liam Maguire MaguireLiam1@ca.inter.net
Here’s a shot, Henderson made a wild stab for it and fell. Here’s another shot, right in front, THEY SCORE, Henderson has scored for Canada!
# posted by Liam Maguire @ 1:50 PM 
