The Dallas Cowboys win the division with a win at home against the Giants on New Year's Day, regardless of the outcome of any other game.

With a win against NYG, the worst possible record for Dallas is 9-7. With NY taking the loss, their best possible record would be 8-8. Best possible record for Philly is 8-8.

A win at Philly is only meaningful if the Giants lose to the Jets next weekend, in which case it would clinch the division. But assuming a Giants win, a loss at Philly does not impact the Cowboys chances of winning the division.

It's an interesting scenario and it helps me sleep better at night, since I fear the Eagles game much more than the Giants game.

I only post this because everything I read seems to suggest that the Eagles game is a must-win for the Cowboys.

Why?

At first I wondered how our 61st pick could be a 2nd rounder. But according to the NHL (and wikipedia) there are 31 second round picks. I cannot figure out which team has two (before trades). One must have two right?

This is a confusing matter.

Also, its too bad Boston won the cup in so far as I think Kelly is worth a lot more than a 61st pick.

Also, looking back on the deconstructing of the Sens, how was Jarkko f-ing Rutuu worth more than Kovalev?

Also will the trade of Fisher for Noeson actually improve the team? Will Noeson become a better player than Fisher? Because its pretty much a straight up trade aside from a the additional 2012 3rd rounder. Hard to say and will be years before we learn because Noeson is nothing if not a long term project.

Also, I think we could have probably grabbed Noeson at 35 and taken Puempel at 21. Thus we would still have the 48th pick from Chicago. Noeson was ranked 35th by one of the scouting services, I forget which at the moment.

I would appreciate your thoughts on these matters. But mostly, why does the second round have 31 picks?

Editor's note: User Buz Killington  steps away from our fantasies of adding every possible high-end player to our team for Kuba and some used diapers to take a more realistic look at what Ottawa's roster might look like next year with no major splashes by Bryan Murray.

 

Presumably some of you have seen or made use of the tremendous Cap Calculator application over on the CapGeek.com website. Those who haven't should certainly check it out. It allows users to fill in the missing links for the rosters of NHL teams by adding players and assigning cap hits for them. 

When you look at the contracts on the books for the Sens in 2011-12, certain truths become evident. Barring trades or buyouts, our lineup is largely already set. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of trades by any means, especially with the draft approaching and the unique circumstances surrounding this particular draft year for the Senators.

But it is a fool's game to try and predict what players, if any, will be removed from the roster before the season starts. With that in mind, this is my conservative outlook for next years roster. By conservative, I mean that I have not jettisoned any current contracts (somehow I overcame the urge to buy out Kuba), and I have not made any opulent UFA signings.

Below you will find my mockup of next years team, and my reasoning behind the roster moves. I'm sure there will be much disagreement over my choices and I encourage everyone to head to GapGeek and have their own go at the Cap Calculator. You can publish your roster there after you've made it and post the link in the comments. My roster can be found here: http://bit.ly/kVrXYM and my explanation follows below the jump.

Continue reading this post »

In the first game for his Swedish Elite League team Skelleftea (a 4-3 victory) David Runblad's line looked as such:

1 goal, 1 assist, team-leading +3, and 3 hits in an also team-leading (by far) 27+ minutes of icetime.

This is a men's league, of course. Runblad is 20.

http://www.hockeyligan.se/reports/2010-2011/20110308-SAIK-LHC-GameReport.html

What a beauty...

How does

Larsson - Runblad

Cowen - Karlsson

Phillips - Gonchar

sound to ya'll?

Except for the fact that we pay our 3rd pair $8 mill of course.

With training camp on the horizon and few foreseeable roster acquisitions left for Bryan Murray to make this summer, it's time to take a look at the probable lineup the Senators will be icing come October 8th.

 

We'll start by identifying the roster positions that, barring major changes, are essentially locked up, and then look at which prospects and new additions could make a push for any remaining spots on the big club. 

Continue reading this post »

i did this just for fun since i am doing a draft with some buddies for the big tourney

what do you guys think about them? anything wayyyy off?

olympic rankings

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1. ovechkin

2. crosby

3. h. sedin

4. gaborik

5. malkin

6. heatley

7. n. backstrom

8. parise

9. thornton

10. semin

11. d. sedin

12. iginla

13. kovalchuk

13. m. hossa

14. elias

15. datsyuk

16. nash

17. zetterberg

18. kane

19. marleau

20. alfredsson

21. statsny

22. gonchar

23. selanne

24. boyle

25. markov

26. e. stall

27. chara

28. lidstrom

29. jagr

30. keith

31. perry

32. kessel

33. m. koivu

34. havlat

35. rafalski

36. b. ryan

37. forsberg

38. kaberle

39. plekanec

40. getzlaf

41. niedermeyer

42. radulov

43. toews

44. pronger

45. pavelski

46. o. jokinen

47. m. michalek

48. e. johnson

49. l. eriksson

50. zednik

51. kronwall

52. hagman

53. bergeron

54. federov

55. m. richards

56. d. brown

57. demitra

58. enstrom

59. timonen

60. filpulla

61. s. kostistyn

62. weber

63. afinoganev

64. holmstom

65. fleischmann

66. kopecky

67. m. grabovsky

68. erhhoff

69. morrow

70. s. koivu

71. zidlicky

72. doughty

73. erat

74. ohlund

75. pitkanen

76. lehtinen

77. hornqvist

78. satan

79. langenbrunner

80. j. johnson

81. tyutin

82. kuba

83. visnovsky

84. a. kostitsyn

85. m. streit  

86. meszaros

87. malone

88. suter

89. t. ruutu

90. backes

91. salo

92. palffy

93. m. sturm

94. kubina  

95. grebeshkov

96. krejci

97. j. hecht

98. seidenberg

99. lydman

100. p. thoreson (norway)

101. k. skrastins (Latvia)

 

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goalie rank

1. brodeur (canada)

2. nabakov (russia)

3. lundqvist (sweden)

4. miller (usa)

5. kiprusoff (finland)

6. vokoun (czech)

7. halak (slovakia)

8. luongo (canada)

9. hiller (switzerland)

10. bryzgalov (russia)

11. n. backstrom (finland)

12. budaj (slovakia)

You may think you know how good a player Jonathan Cheechoo is, but really you have no idea of his greatness. This is the Cheechoo Train song.

http://my.thescore.com/scoreblog/archive/2009/11/27/ride-the-cheechoo-train.aspx

 

Apparently, this post has to be 75 words long. So I will add that I am not sure if this guy is serious or not, but I think he needs to join our gamethreads.