Great showing for Matthews, but that Leaf team will struggle as they are all in on the youth movement. Their top 3 forwards were drafted in the past 3 drafts, they don't have a true defensemen outside of Reilly and Andersen in net is middle of the road. Even with his 4 goals they managed to lose 5-4 to the Sens who aren't that much better of a team. I don't expect either of these teams to be in the playoff hunt. Disappointed with the Flames last night. They have enough pieces on defense and in net to avoid having a 7 spot put up on them.
Leafs aren't expecting to win this year, but damn their rebuild is off to a pretty nice start. Flames were definitely dissapointing, but I'll give them a pass. Grand opening of the Rogers Center with Gretkzy, Messier, Kurri etc all in attendance -- I wasn't expecting a win. They definitely could have played better, though.
I don't understand what HOU has to do to get an NHL franchise, or why they don't have one already. So many smaller cities in questionable markets have NHL franchises. HOU might not be conducive to snow, but fans here would love hockey. HOU is one of the biggest football towns in the country, and hockey is similar to football in many respects. Lots of hits, fights even, faster paced. There is nothing like playoff hockey. I'm telling you, HOU would fall in love with this game. Okay, the Aeros didn't have the greatest support. But I do think an NHL franchise would thrive in HOU, especially with how much of a destination-city HOU has become, transplant wise.
Jesus Christ you guys!! Can we get more viewers from clutchfans? The Ducks and Blue Jackets are looking very impressive.
Has nothing to do with the city. Has everything to do with the fact that only one man can own an NHL team that plays in Houston...and that man is Les Alexander who is not interested in owning an NHL team at this point. The restrictions against building another arena in the county means Les owns all the chips...no one is willing to go be a tenant of his. I suppose a team could play in The Woodlands (Montgomery County) or SugarLand (Ft Bend County) provided one of those counties ponied up the money to build an arena suitable to the NHL. The Aeros had TREMENDOUS support for a minor league team. They were run of out town by Les, who told them he'd only extend their lease if they nearly paid triple in rent to him.
So the Blue Jackets are on a streak for history and so is the Minnesota Wild. Anyone keeping track this season?
CBJ streak stopped at 16. One short of the record. (and that's in a league almost in its 100th yr). If any of you watched the World Juniors yesterday you saw a great game (from a US standpoint) or a heartbreaking game for those from the Great White North. Gold for the US boys, two 2 goal comebacks plus a shoot out win. We're almost half way. Biggest disappointment for me: Dallas. Biggest surprise: Edmonton (and McDavid in particular). May fade second half given how young. Also...not a fan of 3 on 3 OT. Too much of a slow keep-away game.