- Would Pierre Maguire really be the right choice for general manager of the Minnesota Wild? Why or why not?

2 (personal) reasons I would LOVE it if he took the job..

1.) I wouldn’t have to hear him talk anymore.

2.) It would almost certainly weaken another team in the Western Conference = good for Detroit.

If he does get the job, I’ll chalk it up to aid from the wind. (See Pavel Datsyuk’s Winter Classic goal and McGuire’s idiotic comments immediately thereafter)

Posted by Animal Drew from A Nightmare on Helm Street on 05/19/09 at 12:20 PM ET

- Who is better - Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury or Hurricanes’ netminder Cam Ward? Why?

Cam Ward. Better glove hand, more clutch. Ward looks like he’s on the cusp of developing into an elite goaltender, and he’s already got a Cup ring.

No slight to Fleury, but he still appears to be inconsistent. But that’s to be expected since goalies usually have a longer learning curve to reach their prime.

- Will Patrick Roy take the Colorado Avalanche head coaching job? Why or why not?

Yes, because of his ego. He’ll think he can fix it, but his attitude will just make it worse.

- Quick, who are your five Conn Smythe trophy nominees?

- Sidney Crosby
- Cam Ward
- Dan Cleary
- Johan Franzen
- Jussi Jokinen

- Will the Boston Bruins have better luck next year or was this their year to win the Stanley Cup?

Sorry Bs fans… I thought they were a fraud all year long. They pretty well proved me wrong with a solid effort, but I don’t think they will be as good next season. Ryder is due to come down a bit, and now teams know what to expect from some of their young players that played so well (Krejci, Wheeler, Wideman). Certainly still a playoff team, but not a 1 seed.

- If Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings win the Cup again this season, will Osgood finally get the respect he deserves? Why or why not?

Of course not. Reason 1: he’s Chris Osgood. Reason 2: he had poor regular season numbers this year.

- Would Pierre Maguire really be the right choice for general manager of the Minnesota Wild? Why or why not?

Yes, so the Wings get four easy wins per year… but seriously, no. Absolutely not. Haven’t we learned a thing or two? People are praising John Davidson for this past season, but look how damn long it took him. He was near getting fired a number of times. And while injuries aren’t his fault, giving those contracts to Manny Legace and Jay McKee certainly were.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 05/19/09 at 12:25 PM ET

- Who is better - Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury or Hurricanes’ netminder Cam Ward? Why?

Ward. Fluery for the most part has been average. Ward has been pretty stellar. But that could change in this series.

- Will Patrick Roy take the Colorado Avalanche head coaching job? Why or why not?

Yes. Because he’s Patrick Roy.

- Quick, who are your five Conn Smythe trophy nominees?

Crosby, Franzen, Ward, Cleary, Jokinen

- Will the Boston Bruins have better luck next year or was this their year to win the Stanley Cup?

No. this was there best chance but failed, going to be caps and pens for awhile.

- If Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings win the Cup again this season, will Osgood finally get the respect he deserves? Why or why not?

No. the media and bloggers will say look at the team in front of him. he has to win 10 cups with him being the only person on the ice to get respect. go ozzie

- Would Pierre Maguire really be the right choice for general manager of the Minnesota Wild? Why or why not?

no. see matt millen of the detroit lions

Posted by ME on 05/19/09 at 12:57 PM ET

- Who is better - Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury or Hurricanes’ netminder Cam Ward? Why?

I think it’s a complete toss-up really.  Though, I would have to say Cam Ward.  I think the team in front of him isn’t quite as good, he’s won a Cup and he always seems to come through in the clutch.  He’s 6-0 in playoff series as a starter, no?

- Will Patrick Roy take the Colorado Avalanche head coaching job? Why or why not?

No.  I don’t think he wants any part of that mess at the moment.

- Quick, who are your five Conn Smythe trophy nominees?

Kane
Franzen
Crosby
Malkin
E. Staal

- Will the Boston Bruins have better luck next year or was this their year to win the Stanley Cup?

The Bruins will be back.  Will they be better?  Hard to say, but they have a good enough core and good enough talent to make it back to at least the 2nd round again.

- If Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings win the Cup again this season, will Osgood finally get the respect he deserves? Why or why not?

No.  He never will.  He’s already won 2 Cups and neither changed a thing.  He will always be dogged by the same thing:  he played for a great team.  People will look at his record when he was with the Islanders and Blues and point to that as the perfect benchmark for why Osgood isn’t a good goalie.  Even in Game 7 against the Ducks, between periods Marc Crawford noted that Osgood was “really battling the puck”, despite the Wings being up 3-2. 

Personally, Osgood got my full respect after what he did last year.  But, in general, it wont ever happen unless he goes to some other, less talented team and some how leads them to a Cup.  That wont happen.

- Would Pierre Maguire really be the right choice for general manager of the Minnesota Wild? Why or why not?

Yes.  Because at least that’d get him off my TV screen.  It’d be a MONSTER hire for the Wild.

Posted by Ajax19 on 05/19/09 at 01:10 PM ET

Good questions.

- Who is better - Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury or Hurricanes’ netminder Cam Ward? Why?

On Roy as Avs coach: He’ll take the job.  He loves hockey, he loves the Avs, and apparently he likes coaching.

On Conn Smythe nominees: One from each team: Crosby, Staal, Franzen, Havlat.  And one bonus: Malkin.

On the Bruins: well, they seem to have had a ton of luck this year, so it’s hard to imagine them getting more luck next year.  Maybe, if they’re lucky, they’ll transfer some of their luck from the regular season to the playoffs.  More likely, they’ll be somewhere around a decent 4-seed in both the regular season and playoffs.

On respect for Osgood: Yes and no.  Yes, he’ll get a little bit more respect.  No, he’ll never get as much as some people think he deserves.  But then again, Roy, Brodeur, Hasek, and Luongo don’t get as much respect as some people think they deserve either.

On Pierre “Monster GM” McGuire: Hahaha.  A funny thing happens when a coach or GM gets into broadcasting.  The philosophy of the game, the style of play, and things like that all change slowly over time.  Over a couple years, it’s imperceptible.  But over a longer time span, it’s painfully obvious.  For fans, the time scale that this effect is noticeable on is roughly a decade (the lockout and crackdown and rule changes obviously were an exogenous kick-start).  The game is noticeably different a decade ago from how it is now, and it was even more noticeably different a decade before that.  For GMs and coaches, the time scale where this effect matters is much shorter—maybe about five years.  If quit being a GM for five years, you can’t just jump right back in.  The game will have left you behind.

Now it’s possible for a TV analyst to follow the game closely enough and talk to enough smart people still working in the game to keep up with those changes.  But it’s hard.  Exhibit A: Barry Melrose.

(By the way, this also leads to the interesting phenomenon where analysts are always a few years behind the current crop of GMs and coaches in strategy and philosophy.)

Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 05/19/09 at 01:38 PM ET

Shoot, missed one.

On Fleury vs. Ward: One of these goalies has a career save percentage of .907, and the other of .903.  That’s a significant difference.  Fleury’s the better goalie.

Posted by Ryan from Toronto on 05/19/09 at 01:39 PM ET

Can’t agree with Malkin or Kane for the Smythe…

Malkin has found a way to be -1. Not sure how he did that. Probably because 11 of his 21 points have been on the power play.

Kane is -6. 5 of his 12 points have been on the power play.

On the other hand, the two guys I would choose instead, are Cleary and Jokinen.

Cleary is a playoff-best +13. He’s got 11 points, including a game seven winner, and none of his points have even come from the power play. He has another game winner as well. He also adds 39 hits, and a regular shift on the PK.

Jokinen is only a +2 with 10 points, but only 2 of those are power play points. And the real reason he’s on the list—3 game winning goals. He wins over half his face-offs, compared to Malkin’s horrendous 43% rate.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 05/19/09 at 01:44 PM ET

Oh, and there’s nothing wrong with power play production, it’s obviously important, but as the games get tighter and the whistles disappear, I’m going to reward guys that get it done without the benefit of being wide open in the high slot during a man-advantage.

Posted by Nathan from the scoresheet! on 05/19/09 at 01:47 PM ET

Who is better - Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury or Hurricanes’ netminder Cam Ward? Why?

Cam Ward. MAF makes me nervous. Cam Ward seems more stable and reliable. Less bad goals.

Will Patrick Roy take the Colorado Avalanche head coaching job? Why or why not?

Yeah he will. Won’t pass up an opportunity for that much of the lime light.

Quick, who are your five Conn Smythe trophy nominees?

Sid the Kid
Cam Ward
Eric Stall
Johan Franzen
Patrick Kane

Will the Boston Bruins have better luck next year or was this their year to win the Stanley Cup?

Tough to say. Seems they were playing pretty hurt. They are always going to have to get through the Two Headed monster in Pitt so they will always be up against it.

- If Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings win the Cup again this season, will Osgood finally get the respect he deserves? Why or why not?

No. Unfortunately. He will just be looked at as a good goalie on a great team. Shame really. If he wins it this year he should go to the Hall.

Would Pierre Maguire really be the right choice for general manager of the Minnesota Wild? Why or why not?

Oh I hope he takes it. but no I don’t think he would be the right choice. It’s a lot of cap management now and I don’t think he is bright enough to pull off some of what Holland (for example) can pull off.

Posted by Kieran from Toronto on 05/19/09 at 03:20 PM ET

- Who is better - Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury or Hurricanes’ netminder Cam Ward? Why?
Ward because he has a Cup to his name and I’d more than willing to put my goalkeeping hopes on a proven Cup winner.

- Will Patrick Roy take the Colorado Avalanche head coaching job? Why or why not?
He can deny all he wants.  That little conversation he had with Lacroix several months ago is a percursor (IMO) to his getting onboard.

- Quick, who are your five Conn Smythe trophy nominees?
INPO:  Malkin, Franzen, Ward, Jokinen, Cleary.

- Will the Boston Bruins have better luck next year or was this their year to win the Stanley Cup?
They need a serious sniper and one more puck moving defenseman to get them over the hump.

- If Chris Osgood and the Detroit Red Wings win the Cup again this season, will Osgood finally get the respect he deserves? Why or why not?
It’s the “in” thing to discredit Osgood for being a good keeper on a great team.  Even he shuts out the opposition in a four-game sweep in the SCFs, he’ll never even be considered for the Conn Smythe.  But you know what?  I don’t think he really gives a f*ck because the important thing to him is exactly what he said after the ‘98 Cup:  “There’s no better feeling than to be ahead on the scoreboard at the end of the game and I had a hand in winning the game.”  That, to me, is Osgood saying to the whole world, “STFU.”

- Would Pierre Maguire really be the right choice for general manager of the Minnesota Wild? Why or why not?
If it means keeping him out of the booths from fellating Crosby and the ‘Hawks’ first-graders, I’m all for it.  In all seriousness, the last time a former head coach turned analyst is that analysts are right in retrospect.  I’ve yet to hear of a head coach winning hockey games using retrospect.

Posted by SYF from a "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp" on 05/19/09 at 03:45 PM ET

Part of me never wants to see Roy again in any fasion.

Another part of me would love to watch his face redden even more as he runs the Avs even deeper into the ground, and then get fired after a few months of coaching.

What’s scary about the prospect of him as coach is that he’s dirty.  He encourages his players to play dirty.  We don’t need another team in our conference reminiscient of Vancouver a few years ago, or Anaheim today, where guys are getting their heads taken off and goalies are getting run.  Colorado is ripe for goonship since that’s all they’ll be able to accomplish for the next few years, and Roy would certainly usher in such an era.

Posted by Hippy Dave from Portland by way of Detroit on 05/19/09 at 04:25 PM ET

INPO:  Malkin, Franzen, Ward, Jokinen, Cleary.

How can you Leave Crosby off your list?

Posted by WASTED YEARS on 05/21/09 at 03:21 PM ET