Here is my Year-To-Date all-stars including the Olympics.

G - Craig Anderson, Ryan Miller, Roberto Luongo. two USians.

D - Mike Green, Chris Pronger, Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Shea Webber, Brent Seabrook, Stephane Robidas. entirely CDNian

F - Alex Ovechkin, Henrik Sedin, Sidney Crosby, Daniel Sedin, Jonathan Toews, Steve Stamkos, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Ilya Kovalchuk, Jarome Iginla, Brenden Morrow, Mike Fisher, Ryan Getzlaf. mostly CDNian (very rare). No Thornton (becoming convinced he disappears in big games, see Olympics)

We updated the website with forums for every single Olympic athlete. Sorry, no girlfriend forums.

http://www.talk-sports.net/olympics/

1.          Reduce the number of players dressed per game to 18. This effectively removes less skilled players.
2.          Reduce the number of teams to 20. This effectively removes less skilled players.
3.          Reduce the number of games played per week to 3. This effectively allows for better rested players, where games per week are currently 3.5.
4.          Reduce the number of regular season games. I’m flexible with regards to the exact number of games. A minimum of 50 games would certainly let the cream rise to the top without bumping those quality teams that go on a 3 week swoon. The number, however, should not become so high that the outcome becomes too predictable for the majority of the teams. That just might make 70 games the maximum.
5.          I prefer a balanced schedule, although I’m well aware that most enjoy playing local teams more often
6.          Reduce the number of teams that qualify for the playoff to 8, with 3 7 game rounds. 5 games might be sufficient; however I can not get my mind to think of a playoff round being other than 7.
7.          1st seed will play 8th seed, etc…
8.          I prefer that these 8 seeds are the top 8 teams in the NHL with no preference being offered to division and conference. I am well aware that some may lose interest if no one from their region was competing in the playoffs. Perhaps my opinion is one from the east end of our continent.
9.         I should be noted at this point that with a balanced schedule and no seeding preferences the concept of division and conference adds little to our world
10.          No playoff round is to begin before the previous round is complete
11.          Playoff games will be scheduled such that you are playing every 2nd day, where each team is to get at least 1 day off. This last point is important between rounds.
12.          3 week training camp seems sufficient
13.          Time off for Xmas, All-Star break, between regular season & playoffs, for Olympics & World Cup can easily be accommodated
14.          Shut down 11 franchises Atlanta, Phoenix, Nashville, Columbus, Florida, Carolina, Tampa Bay, San Jose, Anaheim, Washington & New Jersey
15.          Add a new and 2nd franchise in Toronto
16.          No expansion to Winnipeg, Québec, Halifax. In the new 20 team NHL teams such as Edmonton & Calgary will be considered weak in many respects. Although I did intend on staying away from any reasoning of this sort.
    •          West division
      •          Vancouver
      •          Calgary
      •          Edmonton
      •          Los Angeles
      •          Colorado
    •          Midwest division
      •          Detroit
      •          Chicago
      •          Minnesota
      •          Saint Louis
      •          Dallas
    •          Southeast division
      •         Boston
      •          New York Rangers
      •          New York Islanders
      •          Philadelphia
      •          Pittsburgh
    •          Northeast
      •          Montréal
      •          Ottawa
      •          Toronto Maple Leafs
      •          Toronto 2nd
      •          Buffalo

What undermines everyone’s effort when entertaining any conversation that puts forth anything resembling the above is the idea that you can sell it. Don’t! You can’t! It’s purely entertainment!

Today, I had that pleasure. First, the guy told his friends that Jean Beliveau won 15 cups as a player and two as an executive. I told him, it was only ten as a player and Henri Richard had 11. Then, he bragged to his friends that the U.S. Miracle on Ice game was actually a semi-final game and not a finals. I told him it was neither, rather it was a round robin system. He looked at me stunned, he clearly thought I was stupid. He then wondered with his friends where Canada was at that Olympics, but I knew he wouldn't believe me when I told him the Olympics didn't allow professionals back then. Finally, they started talking about the overpriced TFC versus AC Milan game this summer. I told them I thought it was Real Madrid and excused myself from any further conversation. Honestly, the average sports fan knows next to nothing of which he speaks.

The funny part is that these guys were older then me and should remember Jean Beliveau and the Miracle on Ice better than I. In fact, I never saw Beliveau play.

I just added forums for all the Olympic Athletes.  Here's Michael Phelps.

http://www.talk-sports.net/olympics/

In the last week or two, I've heard a lot of people mention that the Leafs don't draft well. Let's review the last 10 years, of which, most every they placed high in standings, had low first round picks and traded many away. I only highlighted players who are recognizable and there are a lot of players drafted in 2003-05 that have plenty of time to become good players.

2005

• Tuukka Rask (21) << World Jr Best Goalie

2004

• Justin Pogge (90) << Led Team to World Jr Championship

2002

• Alexander Steen (24) << on team
• Matt Stajan (57) << on team
• Ian White (191) << prospect
• Staffan Kronwall (285) << prospect

2001

• Carlo Colaiacovo (17) << on team
• Karel Pilar (39) << was on team (injured)
• Brendon Bell (65) << prospect
• Jay Harrison (82) << prospect
• Kyle Wellwood (134) << on team
• Maxim Kondratiev (168) << 20+ games in NHL this season

2000

• Brad Boyes (24) << top rookie in NHL
• Mikael Tellqvist (70) << played in Olympics

1998

• Nikolai Antropov (10) << on team
• Alexei Ponikarovsky (87) << on team

1997

• Adam Mair (84) << with Sabres

1996

• Tomas Kaberle (204) << all-star

Everybody keeps asking me why Canada didn't win gold at the Olympics. Well, rather than answer that stupid question, I thought I run thru the NHL scoring leaders and list which country each player was born in and which team they played for. Good idea?

Player	Born	Olympic Team
Jaromir Jagr	Czech	Czech
Joe Thornton	Canada	Canada
Eric Staal	Canada	DNP
Daniel Alfredsson	Sweden	Sweden
Ilya Kovalchuk	Russia	Russia
Marc Savard	Canada	DNP
Dany Heatley	Canada	Canada
Alexander Ovechkin	Russia	Russia
Alex Tanguay	Canada	DNP
Pavel Datsyuk	Russia	Russia
Marian Hossa	Slovakia	Slovakia
Sidney Crosby	Canada	DNP
Patrick Marleau	Canada	DNP
Simon Gagne	Canada	Canada
Peter Forsberg	Sweden	Sweden
Henrik Zetterberg	Sweden	Sweden
Brian Rolston	U.S.A.	U.S.A.
Markus Naslund	Sweden	injured
Vaclav Propal	Czech	Czech
Olli Jokinen	Finland	Finland
Jason Spezza	Canada	DNP
Paul Kariya	Canada	DNP
Shawn Horcoff	Canada	DNP

What I don't understand is why this DNP country was allowed to dress 8 Canadians of the top 25 scorers of the NHL. What's even stranger is that this DNP country didn't win any games during the Olympics. No other team had more than 3, they had eight of the top 25 scorers in the NHL. With a team like that, you'd figure they were a lock for gold.

The Gazette: Every penny Raymonde raises will go to the Jacques Plante Foundation, which she created six months after her husband's death to assist promising young goalies in Switzerland.

Randy: It would appear that Canada's men's hockey team was foiled at the Olympics from beyond the grave by the greatest Canadian goalie ever, Jacques Plante. Swiss or should I say Jacques Plante defeated Canada 2-0 on a 49-save shutout by Martin Gerber.

CP: Canada won silver in the men's 5,000-metre short-track speedskating relay at the Olympics.

http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=156181

Randy: The team consisted of...

• Eric Bedard of Ste-Thecle, Que.,
• Francois-Louis Tremblay of Alma, Que.,
• Charles Hamelin of Sainte-Julie, Que., and
• Mathieu Turcotte of Sherbrooke, Que.

CP: Winnipeg speedskater Clara Hughes won gold in the women's 5,000 metres on Saturday.

http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=156166

Cindy Klassen claimed bronze, here 5th medal of this Olympics, 6th all-time in the women's 5000m.

CP: Brad Gushue's rink won Canada's first Olympic gold medal in men's curling with a 10-4 victory in eight ends over Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi on Friday.

http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=156058

Randy: Canada cheated. We intentionally played bad all week to confuse the other teams. In the final, even our misses were good. Gushue was a god. Third Mark Nichols, second Russ Howard and lead Jamie Korab were all near perfect.

CP: Canada captured a silver medal in the women's 3,000-metre short-track speedskating relay at the Winter Olympics on Wednesday. Alanna Kraus of Abbotsford, B.C., Anouk Leblanc-Boucher of Prevost, Que., Kalyna Roberge of St-Etienne-de-Lauzon, Que., and Tania Vincent of Laval, Que., finished in four minutes 17.336 seconds.

http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=155808

CP: Cindy Klassen became Canada's most decorated female Olympian on Wednesday when she won her fifth career medal - her fourth at the Turin Games.

http://www.tsn.ca/olympics/news_story/?ID=155790

Randy: Cindy's first gold, fourth medal of this Olympic and fifth overall. She could still win one more in the 5000m on Saturday.