A Rematch? No Really

May 24, 2009   ·   Derek Felix   ·   Jump to comments

So, it looks like there will be a Stanley Cup rematch between the Red Wings and Penguins. This might seem a little slanted but here’s my one thought:

Y———-UUUUUU————CCCCCC———–KKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What can I say? Another star-laden Final featuring the game’s most loathsome superstar in NHL history just doesn’t appeal to me. Oh. Sidney Crosby is darn good and having a special Spring. But I don’t need him shoved in my face by NBC. How’s this for a concept? Paying more attention to Evgeni Malkin, who has torched the Hurricanes. He’s the biggest reason that’s not even a series. Funny but as great as Sid has been, I don’t see him having 16 points in the last six games.

So, it will likely be Sid The Kid and Geno against the team oriented defending champs barring a miraculous Chicago comeback. Detroit boasts a plethora of stars in rating Conn Smythe winner Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and ageless wonder Nick Lidstrom. Scary to think that Mike Babcock could get away with not playing the latter two with Datsyuk missing a second straight game due to a mysterious foot problem and yet his team didn’t miss a beat humiliating the Hawks on network TV 6-1. Yikes. Wonder what kind of reaction that got from NBC execs? Must’ve been plenty of four letter words. Based on how little they cover our sport, they don’t deserve any breaks.

Has anyone ever seen a more complete team than these Wings? Like ever. Johan Franzen just scored again. Netminders will be seeing him in their worst nightmares that would make even Freddy Krueger drool. Did we mention that Marian Hossa also plays and decided to join the party? That’ d be at least one decent storyline if he faces his former club with NBC sure to play the revenge factor. As if we needed any more reasons to hate the Pens. Making that spoiled franchise sympathetic makes me want to vomit. Sadly, you and I both know it will happen.

Why are the Wings so damn good? Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson help provide the answer. Watch some team overpay Samuelsson this summer thinking he’s more than just a secondary scorer. It’s the SYSTEM!!!!! And somewhere, our resident Devil blogger is using the old Yogi-ism, “Deja Vu all over again.”

I do wonder how some Devil fans feel about Brian Rafalski aiming for two straight with the Winged Wheel. Is there resentment or jealousy? He seemed genuine enough. I always respected him. Sure. Going home to an Original Six juggernaut to play alongside one of the game’s all-time greats was logical. But it’s nice also to see that our blogger was right about the undersized former Devil power play quarterback who used to give me nightmares. That’s cause I can still recall too many sleepless nights when that soft wrister sailed through traffic into the back of our net.

In related news, Ranger fans are second guessing The Genius’s trade of Samuelsson for Alex Kovalev Part Deux. Do we even have a bag of pucks to show for that?!?!?!?!?! Just saying. No. I don’t want to see him here! We have enough fake scorers.

One Wing I’m getting a little sick of is Tomas Holmstrom. He’s like that annoying gnat that won’t ever go away. When will a goalie finally snap and two-hand him? Oh. The pesky Swede’s a very effective player who does his job well. But listening to every color analyst gush over a simple thing such as going to the net and parking himself in front for the good of his team has gotten a tad nuts. En—oughh already!

I don’t like Marc-Andre Fleury even if the stats say otherwise. He’s a rebound machine who can be beaten. The Candy Canes just are worn out and were never going to be able to handle the unfavorable center mismatch. Speaking of which, has anyone seen Eric Staal? Sounds like it’s a job for these guys:

Watching some of the matador D played during the lowlights last night made me feel for Cam Ward. Brings new meaning to the phrase Under Siege and we don’t mean Staten Island’s own Steven Seagal in one of his redundant roles. So much for turnover prone Tim Gleason’s latest guarantee. Hey, at least he got one right unlike Patrick Ewing when the Knicks still mattered. Shhh. Don’t tell King Dolan.

This Just In…Valtteri Filppula-13 points, Hossa-12. It’s not a misprint. Filppula for Conn Smythe!!!!! Yep. I’ve officially lost it.

Yes. Chris Osgood’s rootable not because he wins on a great team but because he’s one of us.

So, would another Pens-Wings rematch be competitive? Probably. They are both super skilled and boast good supporting casts. I’d hope it at least is a six-game series. Though in order for this disappointing round to be forgotten, it must go the distance and be memorable. That means a lot of one-goal games down to the wire with at least a pair requiring sudden death.

Final thought. Was Joel Queeneville joking when he replaced Cristobal Huet with Corey Crawford before realizing how ridiculous that looked? Who???

Some things never change.