Br4d

Laf has always been physical. He was grinding in the corners on the kid line for 2 seasons. Now he's fast and physical and that's opened up a new perception of him.

Obviously winning a game and moving on to the next round is what we want. That said one of the downsides of the President's Trophy is that if we sweep all 4 rounds we'll never have a celebration at home.

8pm start is nice. I'll be able to watch most of the game instead of just the second half.

You can't win anything important with 5 stars and a roster full of whatever you can afford after you pay the 5 stars. The Leafs are probably the worst *team* in the NHL. Well, maybe not as bad as SJS and Arizona and Chicago but you don't become a cohesive force pretending that most of the roster doesn't matter.

3 goal lead. 24 seconds to play. Can TB hold on?

Rempe just has to play under control. There are moments you pass up the big hit because the puck is already gone or the player is in a clearly vulnerable position where hitting him is going to turn into boarding or charging or something worse.

It's important to remember that Rempe is capable of really hurting somebody on a check. To a certain extent he has to be responsible for not causing critical injuries on his hits because the NHL will run him out of the league if somebody breaks their neck or back on one of these hits. The elbow to the head that got him suspended was likely accidental but clearly suspension worthy. The hip check that caught TVR in the chest could easily have been a major injury. Rempe can't catch people, make them airborne and throw them against the boards any more than he can elbow them in the head during a check. the NHL will drive him out of the league if that's what is happening. The Rangers need to give Rempe rules that lessen the chances that he seriously hurts somebody without taking away his ability to hit hard. That's going to be a very tough task and it is key to having him stick around long-term.

One small difference in my opinion. Trouba lines people up and mostly goes to the bleeding edge of the rules in the process. Rempe lines people up but he does not have the experience yet to know where the bleeding edge is and the refs are much more frisky with his hits than with Trouba's. Rempe accidentally wastes people because he hasn't figured out where he can go to without a penalty getting called yet. The Rangers and Rempe should be working overtime on lining Rempe's perceptions of what will pass with his hits.

Maybe Laf should take Rempe back to Quebec this off-season and work out with him? The program worked wonders for Laf last summer.

Open ice hits are dangerous for him. If the guy he's hitting puts his head down - wham Rempe gets hit right in the balls.

I have to admit that I was shrugging off the penalties last night because the Rangers are really dangerous shorthanded.

Ovechkin should shave his beard. It makes him look older. Laf too but that's because it makes him look like a rebellious teenager.

President's Trophy two years ago, SCF last year. You can make a pretty good argument the Panthers are the best team in the NHL over the last 3 seasons.

Why is it that I'm seeing every Ranger penalty as a great scoring chance?

If Rempe learns to time things right and take the right angles he's going to be a top 9 player. Maybe even a top 6.

That was a penalty because the NHL is firmly against the idea of somebody dying on the ice. Seriously, if Rempe can't tone it down some he's going to have much less of a career than he looks to have at this point.

SH offense again. I think I would decline penalties against the Rangers.

I think Laf is going to be one of the best players in the league by 25.

Just imagine what it's like to have Rempe dump it in behind you and have to track down the puck knowing he's right behind you.

Rangers need to take an absurd homer penalty at this point so Zibanejad and Kreider can go on offense.

Yeah, it looks like an interesting pick to put it mildly. The guy Penix really reminds me of is Dan Fouts. Not adjusted for era or anything he just plays like Fouts did. No idea if Fouts would be really good in today's NHL. He was the next evolution of the Namath/Lamonica model and he did really well at the time, but no championships because Chargers.

Presidents have baby-sitters. Not so much the President of an NHL franchise.

Aho tried to injure Fox on the play and succeeded. Not sure if the Igor injury was intentional but it was a reckless play with the skater using his leg to stretch Igor out good. I don't think ignoring the incidents makes the 'Canes less likely to do what they did again.

I'd be ok with Chicago getting the #1 overall. They've been pretty pathetic recently and they're an original 6 team. I think it's bad for the NHL when the one of the original 6 teams is pathetic for any extended period.

Aho is the one that went knee to knee on Fox. Not 100% sure who stretched out Igor. Both of them were out for weeks. Fox even longer. We really should have Rempe run their goalie at least once. He's going to get penalized/suspended for basically anything at this point because the refs are hunting him. He should take out the goalie and earn the punishment.