A New Season and a New Web Site!

Annnnnnd I'm back!

Haven't made a post on the old Spoked and Disorderly site in a long time, but now, going forward, all posts will be made here at causewaycrew.com. Improvements to the site along with more contributors are on the way, so check back often!

Anyway, the reason we're all here...

The Bruins were rated 10th overall in their yearly 30 Teams in 30 Days coverage. Little bit higher then last year, but I think it's a fair assessment. No one should disagree that the Bruins should win the division. Buffalo and Montreal are, as usual, their main competition in the Northeast, but the Bruins Defense and PK should make short work of any offense teams in the division have. I don't think they can outplay Washington in the Southeast or New Jersey/Pittsburgh in the Atlantic offensively so I'd place them third in the conference this year behind those two respectively.

My overall predictions from last year were pretty off...lets try again this year...

Eastern Conference:

1. Washington

2. New Jersey

3. Boston

4. Pittsburgh

5. Buffalo

6. Philadelphia

7. Montreal

8. New York Rangers

9. Ottowa

10. Tampa

11. Atlanta

12. Carolina

13. Toronto

14. New York Islanders

15. Florida

Western Conference:

1. Chicago

2. San Jose

3. Vancouver

4. Detroit

5. Los Angeles

6. Phoenix

7. Colorado

8. Calgary

9. St. Louis

10. Anahiem

11. Nashville

12. Columbus

13. Minnesoda

14. Dallas

15. Edmonton

Stanley Cup: New Jersey v Vancouver

Winner: New Jersey

I can't imagine New Jersey not doing well enough to make it to the finals this year. Caps have proven then don't have what it takes in the playoffs and the Bruins, well, as we all know, we're not going to win championships until we can hang onto a lead. West side of things, I got a feeling about Vancouver, they always start slow and finish strong. I watched a lot of their playoff games last year and they played well. San Jose will choke in the playoffs as per the usual (at least we're not San Jose fans) and Chicago, I'm still calling it a fluke :P. I've never been a fan of the same teams winning championships year after year (insert Yankee hate).

I'll stop here as it's getting a little long. Nice to be back and I'm looking forward to the posts of other contributors!

Lets go Bruins!

-Opie

5-0 Bruins over Flames: Timmy BEAST

It has been a while. Definitely haven't been writing as much as I would have liked. But I guess it's not to bad for the first year doing it. I think going forward and into next year, I won't try to write every day, just before and/or after every game. I think it'll feel like less of a chore.

Anyway, this season has turned out pretty crazy. I was just reading through some of my old posts...pretty good mix of totally inaccurate and dead on. I think now would be a good time to look at my terrible season predictions....

This is from September 30th 09...


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East

1. Bruins
2. Capitals
3. Penguins
4. Hurricanes
5. Flyers
6. Devils
7. Rangers
8. Canadiens
9. Panthers
10. Senators
11. Maple Leafs
12. Islanders
13. Sabers
14 Thrashers
15. Lighting

East Division Winner:

Bruins

West

1. Sharks
2. Red Wings
3. Flames
4. Canucks
5. Blackhawks
6. Blue Jackets
7. Ducks
8. Blues
9. Predators
10. Oilers
11. Kings
12. Wild
13. Stars
14. Avalanche
15. Coyotes

West Division Winner:

Blackhawks

Stanley Cup Winners:

Bruins vs Blackhawks: Bruins Win

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You can see the current standings, here .


So I was very hit or miss on some of these teams...mainly the Bruins and Coyotes...

Bruins hugely under performed and the Coyotes have greatly exceeded expectations.

As for the West, Avs also had a pretty good run for a while, but they're on the bubble now. No 14th place, but still, would have been cool to see them end up higher. The Red Wings as well, they're battling for a playoff spot which is a surprise.

But aside from the Bruins and Buffalo in the East, I was pretty close with most. Buffalo did not have the best start to the season if I recall...but Ryan Miller has been tearing it up, especially since the Olympics. Atlanta is still somehow in the mix after dropping Kovalchuk (enjoy Russia next year ya douche). Toronto has had a good run recently, but theyr'e still in 29th giving that pick some potential still. Doesn't look like they're going to go any lower then 29th as Edmonton is bottom of the barrel with 55 points...what the hell happened there huh?

Speaking of Olympics...Canada v USA probably one of the best hockey games I've seen in my life. Both games were out of control. It was definitely Canada's Gold to lose though. As they essentially had the NHL All-Star team.

Bruins are playing Buffalo tonight. Julian is gonna let Thomas play back-to-back games, amazing! He hasn't been playing bad...just needs some offense in front of him. See game vs the Flames.

That Flames game was nuts. Got to go to it and for a 1 o'clock game, very lively in there. Suppose it helps when you win 1 at home and you score some goals...

FrankinLINE

Got a look at today's practice lineup. Very different from the beginning of the season, total mix and match....

5-2 Blackhawks over Bruins: I Still Blame Wideman

SIN BIN: Dennis Wideman. On the ice for three Chicago goals.

nuff said

Go B's!

4-1 Bruins Over Sens: Another One Bites The Dust

Yet another injury results after the Offensive smoke show against Ottowa on Tuesday. Ference has a pulled groin and will be out for 6 weeks. Awesome...

Now my first thought when I read this was, "Hey, maybe we should start looking into picking up Chris Chelios". Then I read this. Guess thats not gonna happen any time soon... time to retire.

So what should we do? Ference is out, as is Stuart for the foreseeable future, Wideman's game is still shaky at best, Hunwick is still pretty inconsistent with his play, Boychuk is still pretty green, Morris has been battling injury and Chara has had some work done on his left hand (I think it's his left as you can see it bandaged up when his glove is off). We have McQuaid, but I really haven't been to impressed with his play. Wozniewski is a clown, just look at his P-Bruins photo. But other then McQuaid and Wozniewski, we don't have much else to pull from in Providence. I really felt like we had more depth at the D position, but I guess I was wrong.

We'll either have to deal with it and hope we have no further injuries or try to pluck up a free agent somewhere that won't be a big cap hit. Going to be a lot of pressure on T&T (Thomas and Tuukka) to perform above expectations. Lets just hope neither of them go down...

Toronto Watch(1/7/10)
Last Game: Toronto 2 - Flyers 6
Toronto's League Rank: 27th (15-20-9)
Bruins 2010 1st Round Pick: 4th (1st With Lottery Win)

Go Bruins!

3-2 Rangers Over Bruins: Wideman Shatters Olympic Dreams

Okay, I know it's been a while, but I think this topic warrants discussion and maybe it will get me back into the habit of posting again.

Dennis Wideman's slapshot caused a possible fracture of Bergeron's hand/wrist area. If this is the case, he'll be out for up to 6 weeks which will most likely keep him out of the Olympics. Not to mention we'll lose our best player so far this year for that same amount of time. I am so tired of Wideman's shenanigans! Bad passes, poor decisions with the puck, missing the net constantly from the blueline. This clown needs to be traded at the deadline.

Before I continue my rant, lets look at Wideman's current performance...

2009-2010

GP: 36
Goals: 2 (Both PP Goals)
Assists: 11
PIM: 16
+/- : -2
Cap Hit: $4,000,000
Cap Hit In 2011-12 (Contract Year): $4,500,000

Statistically speaking, he doesn't look THAT BAD. Though, Wideman was picked up to be a number 2 D man on the team which last year he definitely was, but this year he's anything but. But it's the not the numbers that concern me, the numbers actually further my argument, but it's the sloppy play that is killing me. Wideman should be paired with Ference or a younger guy like Boychuk. This would leave Chara available to play with Morris more often like it was earlier in the season. But now, Chara needs to be paired with Wideman to "clam down his play". This, to me, is insane. By calm down, they mean, make up for his sloppy play. Chara needs to be there to bail Wideman out when he screws something up, which does not give Chara time to be creative and jump up in the play (see the lack of Chara "sneaking" in the backdoor since he's been paired with Wideman).

Now Wideman's statistics do not show that he's doing terribly, he's just struggling. Which is a good thing if a trade was ever lined up. I feel like you could get a good top 6 D man for Wideman and either one of our extra second or first round picks in 2010. But who would we get?

My number one vote would be for Tomas Kaberle.

Tomas Kaberle - 2009-2010

GP: 42
Goals: 3
Assists: 32
PIM: 10
+/- : -7
Cap Hit: $4,250,000 (Contract Year)

Now we were looking for him during the Kessel fiasco as well, but this time, we would hold all the gun powder. With Toronto doing so poorly this year, those picks he gave away for Kessel must look pretty good and with a Cap Hit about the same from Wideman as Kaberle, it's a possibility. This is Kaberle's contract year as well so I'm sure the Leafs will be looking to move him before the deadline rather then leaving him to UFA. The only thing that really makes the trade unrealistic is Kaberle's current performance.

Another player I'd like to see is Sergei Gonchar.

Sergei Gonchar - 2009-2010

GP: 29
Goals: 5
Assists: 18
PIM: 14
+/- : -2
Cap Hit: $5,500,000 (Contract Year)

As this is his contract year, the Pens are looking to make a deal to keep Gonchar with the team, but they've said that if no deals can be made by the deadline, they'll most likely deal him. If we could trade Wideman and maybe a second round pick, I think this would be a good pick up. I liked Gonchar when he was with the B's several years ago and if he can stay healthy, he can put up big numbers.

But that'll wrap it up. B's play Ottowa tonight, good inter-division game. I'll try to get some simulations scores up here if I can get motivated to do it. For it to be accurate, I'd have to update all my rosters and that'll be a pain, so no promises.

Toronto Watch(1/5/10)
Last Game: Toronto 1 - Calgary 3
Toronto's League Rank: 27th (14-19-9)
Bruins 2010 1st Round Pick: 3rd (1st With Lottery Win)

Go B's!

2-1 Devils Over Bruins: B's Play 60 Minutes.

Annnnnnd I didn't get to see it....cause I'm moving....and it's a pain. I'm almost done though! Then updates will be coming regularly.

I'd comment on the game, but as I wasn't able to watch it, I'd just be writing what has already been written on the web. I will say though, that this seemed like a game where a little rough play by Lucic or a slick goal from Savard would have got us closer to those to points. But for now, good job B's! Nice Effort! Let's get two next time!

However, since my last post, Toronto won a game :( but they then followed it up with another OT loss on Wednesday. Lets go to Toronto Watch.

Toronto Watch(10/30/09)
Last Game: Toronto 3 - Dallas 4 - OT
Toronto's League Rank: 30th (1-7-2)
Bruins 2010 1st Round Pick: 1st (With Lottery Win)

I was really hoping for them to be the 15 straight loss record...boooooo. They play again tonight against Buffalo which I'm hoping to see if Comcast can get their act together and successfully get NHL Center Ice through to my cable box...assclowns. Let's go Sabers!

GO B'S!