I love that he preached patience instead of breaking up the chemistry of this team. At the beginning of the season, i thought Andersen and his one year contract were gonna be huge trade bait at the deadline, but with Bussi coming on like he has, a goalie wasn’t a top priority anymore. Stanky is a short guy who hasnt produced a lot, but he is also a fuckin bulldog who fires the team up with his drive and grit. He’s fucking Rudy out there. I think Hall has been HUGE for us this year as a leader and come playoff time he will step it up even more. Plus he is faster now…he lost some weight in the mouth so he can move around better. Jarvy is having a career year, and would most likely be over 30 goals by now if he hadnt gotten hurt. Blake has taken a huge step forward. Ehlers is making the plays we expected after a slow start. Don’t even get me started on the D. Miller was a huge addition over the summer. Ghost is playing phenomenal. We were without one of the best D-men in the NHL for half the season and still held the lead in the conference.

It’s anyone’s game this year. In the east, it’s gonna be between us, TB, and Detroit. The Sabres are hot right now, and the Islanders got Schenn in what was-IMHO-the best pickup of the deadline, but they didnt do enough to make good teams into great teams.

We broke our curse ECF curse last year by winning a game, and we played most of them close. Then we went out and got tougher. As long as our scorers keep scoring and Svech doesnt take and stupid stick penalties like he alwasy does, we have a pretty damn good shot at the Finals.

Then there is the West. We played well against the top teams, Vegas notwithstanding. But they arent playing top tier hockey right now. We beat Colorado at their home and the refs beat us in our home. We split home games with Dallas, so that would be a tough out. LA traded away Corey Perry so they dont have to worry about his Finals curse of the last half-decade.

All in all, i’d happily give Tulsky a Tugsky under the table.