Downie gets 20, THN proves again they suck.

Downie got 20 games. Deserved in my opinion. People are comparing this to a lot of hits, but the vicious nature of this one coupled with the fact that it involves multiple no-nos sets it apart for me.

God I hope he dresses against Ottawa.

On to THN. My god...STOP RANKING THINGS! You guys SUCK at it. Honestly, you are terrible. In their latest issue THN ranked players by position. The most glaring error is that Heatley is ranked as a RW despite the fact that he has played LW for two years. Say what you want about what his natural position is (which is actually debateable), he is for all intents and purposes a left winger right now.

Now I'm only going to look at a few of the glaring errors in detail, but let me just list a few I disagree with first:

Dipetrio the 8th best goalie in the league, Lundqvist 9th.
Ryan Miller the 4th best goalie in the league (who wrote this?)
Cam Ward the 13th best goalie in the league (please...)
Patrick Elias, Ryan Smyth, Zach Parise all ahead of Kovalchuk and Vanek for left wingers.
Olli Jokinen the 14th best centre (Should be higher)
Sergei Federov the 19th best centre (Should not be in the top 20)
Dion Phaneuf the 3rd best defensemen in the league while Zubov is 9th.

Now onto anything Ottawa related.

Dany Heatley is rated second among RW, behind Iginla. This, to me, is wrong. Aside from the fact he should be considered a LW, Healtey has been much more impressive overall. Since the time Heatley has come into the league, Iginla has amassed 397 points in 390 games for a PPG of 1.02. Heatley in the same time has amassed 389 points in 354 games for a PPG of 1.1. Heatley has also managed to hit 100 points (a milestone that Iginla never has), and he has hit 50 goals and 100 points twice.

In the past two seasons Heatley has been a second and first team all star, while Iginla has been neither. Iginla has been notoriously inconsistent from year to year as well.

What justification is there for Iginla being higher rated? He had good linemates last season but still could not put up numbers in Heatley's range. If it is intangibles, they are being weighed far too heavily in Iginla's favour.

Even more ludicrous is Jason Spezza being ranked the 7th best centre in the league behind ERIC STAAL and CHRIS DRURY! I'm not even going to put forward an argument for this one, I think it speaks for itself.

This Just In: Downie Admits he is a Homo

Well, it seems some players just still need to cross the line. And before I discuss this at all I am getting a few things out of the way:

Downie on Deaner: Charge - Y, Jump - Y, Late - N, Elbow - Y, Boarding - Y
Armstrong on Koivu: Charge - N, Jump - N, Late - N, Elbow 0 N, Boarding - N
Neil on Drury: Charge - N, Jump - N, Late - N, Elbow - N, Boarding - N

And just for the record, the Downie hit was 0.2 seconds later than the Drury hit...and that still isn't late. So go whine somewhere else anyone from Buffalo.

Alright, now onto the hit. Cheap, dirty, Downie. It just goes together. This kind of play is disgusting, but what is even worse is the fans supporting it. Fans saying it's good hockey, hell I have even seen Ottawa fans saying they wish he was on our team.

Sorry, but this is where I draw the line. Intentionally trying to injure with blatantly illegal hits is not the way to win - especially in the preseason.

Every team in the league was sent a video before this hit saying that headshots would be more heavily penalized and telling the dangers of them. Heres hoping that gives the NHL justification to really throw the book at this kid.

You know it's a bad hit when even Leaf players and the Flyers GM are coming out and saying it was dirty.

Foligno and Lee shine in pre-season action

Well Ottawa finally opened up their pre-season tonight in London, Ontario with a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. As expected, most of the established players were scratched, including Heatley, Spezza, Alfie, Phillips, Volchenkov, and Emery.

This did allow some of our prospects to shine though. Lee looked like a rock on the blue line. He made some great passes, had some great shots, and aside from a few brain cramps looked good. Lee looked good enough to surpass Richardson in the depth charts, at least on this night.

On offence, Foligno and Zubov looked good. Zubov started the night off with an early goal, and continued to have chances through the night. Foligno managed to pot a goal and two assists, looking perfectly in place alongside Kelly and Eaves.

The nicest surprise of all had to be Martin Gerber. He was an all-star tonight. His positioning was stellar, and his reactionary saves were incredible. He faced over 50 shots and managed to get a shutout.

I really hope we do not get rid of Gerber early on in the season. I have been a supporter of his since day one, and if Emery falters or goes down Gerber will be extremely valuable.

Sens Ink Fisher for 5 years, $4.2m

Wow...

This has really crushed me. To me, Fisher was the 3rd priority to sign - behind Spezza and Heatley. The guy is great at what he does, don't get me wrong...but he is a 3rd line centre. He is injury prone. He is not a big offensive threat. Just..wow.

4.2 million seems VERY steep to me. I would walk away after 3.5, and even that I wouldn't be thrilled with. Now the Sens are in a hard spot to resign Heatley and Spezza, not to mention Redden (though that is good news...). It will take some miraculous maneuvering by Murray to keep both Spezza and Heatley and leave himself some room to have a decent supporting cast in the future, but if both Redden and Gerber are gone it is possible.

I can just see this signing hurting Ottawa in the long run. It is a LOT of money to invest in a 3rd line player, especially if the salary cap goes down at any point in the next 5 years. I would much rather have Comrie at 3.3m.

Label me dissapointed.

A new dynasty in Montreal?

Not starting this year anyways.

The Habs are most likely looking at another year on the outside looking in. Little has improved for the team this year, and it may be a long long year.

The Canadiens still are lacking a true offensive threat. Their leading scorer last year was Koivu, and he only amassed 75 points. They lost their second leading scorer in Sheldon Souray, and beyond that there is not much.

Ryder and Koivu should lead the charge this year, and I am sure all Habs fans are hoping Kovalev becomes a consistent threat. The "loss" of Samsonov is viewed by many as a positive, and it will most likely be a positive for the team, but they still have the Kovalev problem.

The addition of Smolinski will add some secondary scoring, but he can be prone to moments of invisibility, or even worse, massive brain cramps. He will not give the Habs what they need up front: a legitimate star.

On defence the Habs were lucky to get rid of Souray. Sure his offence will be missed, but the only ones missing his defence will be opposing teams. The addition of Brisebois is an odd one to me. The much maligned D-man is back to where it all started after only two years abroad, and will probably receive all the criticism that he used to.

In goal, the Habs have the muvh overrated Huet leading the way with Halak and Price fighting for the final spot. Price is getting praise worth of Patrick Roy already, but he has not proved anything at the NHL level yet. The Canadiens will be decent in goal, but nothing spectacular. It will take a truly Herculean effort in nets to get them near the postseason.

Sens record vs the Habs: 6-1-1

Told you so!

Alright...I know its just over half over....but we have ALREADY won! And I am taking this opportunity to tell you all that I told you so. Over on the HF boards there were a lot of people disagreeing with me...saying that the series would be tight and Canada might even lose...

I maintained it was going to be a complete joke...and tonight's 8-1 drubbing proved it further.

Hell...I was even right about people not caring! A Toronto star poll found that 74% of the ~1000 people weren't even watching (See here). God this whole thing just tarnishes the memory of the original and makes me upset...

The Big Bad Bruins?

Alright, time for another Northeast opponent: The Boston Bruins.

The Bruins, in my oppinion, could surprise a few people this year. Their offence should be quite dangerous. They have one of the better 1-2 punches at centre with Savard and Bergeron, and a proven goal scorer in Murray. Add to this mix Schaefer who will give them around 50 points (more if he manages to stick on the second or first line), a developing Phil Kessel who shouldn't miss any time this year, and you're looking at a scary offensive unit.

On top of this, Brandon Bochenski is a player who has some potential as a second or third liner if developed properly. We have seen what he can do here in Ottawa, and even though he disappointed some, he did show that he should be an NHL regular. He should at least be a valuable plug for the Bruins.

Defensively, the Bruins don't look to shabby either. Anchored by Chara who should bounce back after last year (though it wasn't nearly as bad a year as many Sens fans make it out to be), and also featuring Ference and Ward, they should be solid if not spectacular.

And of course, the Bruins now feature Fernandez, acquired from the Wild. I'm really not sure what this will do for them. Fernandez was very middle of the pack last year, posting 22 wins with a 2.55 GAA and .911 save percentage. Better numbers than Thomas yes, but not a significant improvement. Fernandez was playing on the Wild, a more defensively minded team playing in a division featuring the offensively challenged Oilers and Canucks.

The move the Northeast could expose Fernandez, as he will be facing offensive powerhouses like Ottawa, Toronto, and Buffalo. Even Montreal isn't a slouch when it comes to offence. On the other hand, Fernandez could shine and pull the Bruins into the playoffs.

I think they finish 11th...and Ottawa's record against them? 4-3-1