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It's the media's fault that Crosby didn't notice or think of the handshake ritual that happens after every series ending game?? Every captain or star player is mobbed after the Cup winning game. Its not exactly a new phenomenon. And how exactly do you not notice 40 guys lining up at center ice?

LOL i started to see this girl walking around my house.....then i remembered i have a GF, Now that the Wings are out what do i talk about ? lol

It's not JUST about points either - Punching another guy in the junk from behind, taking all kinds of other cheapshots, not shaking hands and overall flopping around and acting like he's been shot with a shotgun over the smallest shots, just to return to the ice 2 shifts later... he portrays the game in a poor light and is a HORRIBLE role model for young players - THAT is not a face the league should market... hell, even though I can't stand him, how about Getzlaf? Even he plays the game with more honor - close to the same PPG, has a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold and is young as well... or even Bobby Ryan... my point is, there are plenty of others in the league that would represent the league better...

Ian Laperriere is a prime reason why Philadelphia blew right though New Jersey.Sacrifices the body at any cost.Hard hitting.Takes face offs.This guy is the real deal.A true team player.Does anyone have the video of the blocked s*** from last night?

The f***? An 8th seed just upset two teams, a 1st place team and last year's cup champs, and there's no parity? The Sharks get amongst the top seeds again and actually win a series and there's no parity? Why is it when the Wings don't win, these hilarious topics concerning how bad the salary cap is, and how parity is failing, come up?

Word salad for the win.

pretty much a guarentee the cup is coming to the West .. and both teams ... actually all 4 team make me want to vomit in my mouth

And using a low-class player as the face of the league does not attract new fans... it just makes it look like more of a mickey mouse operation... I would easily argue that Crosby isn't even the best player on his own team, let alone the league and also, he averages more ice time than any other forward in the league not named Kovalchuk... you can argue this all day long, but he is NOT worthy of being the face of the league. period.

Go Habs/Bruins for the cup. And I want the Hawks to win the next round with a load of help from the refs so we can troll the Sharks forum.

Thank you, all of you, from the bottom of my heart for all the well wishes. I AM home from the hospital now recovering from a bout of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever -- yeah, I had the same reaction, too -- that left me laid up in Beaumont Hospital Royal Oak for over a week. Plenty of times I felt like a patient on House -- apparently cases of this illness are extremely rare (only 800 Americans get diagnosed with it a year) -- as I had at least a dozen different doctors and infectious disease specialists looking at me during my stay. It appears as though I fell victim to a tick bite sometime two weeks ago as I ventured back home and helped plant around 175 saplings in my parents' wooded area behind the house. About a week after that I started to get an intense fever and ultimately broke out in red spots everywhere (palms, arms, legs, feet -- everywhere). That and a fever hitting 102.9F freaked me out sufficienly enough to get me into the ER. There it seemed the primary worry was meningitis, so I went through the battery of tests for that (CT scan, xrays, standard blood/urine tests) -- even the dreaded lumbar puncture. Yes, they are horrible. I didn't have the stiffness in the neck or other classic meningitis symptoms, which left a lot of people stumped. After I was admitted my fever continued to rise, spiking at around 104.5F sometime mid-last week. I was on a cooling blanket for a large portion of that time while I was fed a steady supply of antibiotics. Basically, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever had come into focus because all of the tests I'd undergone basically ruled everything out. I started turning the corner over the weekend (the biggest hurdle was managing my own temperature without the assistance of the cooling blanket) and after a few days of that (and some improving lab results) I was discharged around noon on Tuesday. Naturally this whole thing has left me embarassingly weak. For the first four days of the illness I was unable to sleep and had to be put on pain and sleep meds just so my body could get some semblence of rest. I'm going to spend the next few days trying to ramp my strength back up and hopefully things will return to normal. I do have to say that I'm thankful I didn't decide to Wikipedia this illness while I was still admitted. I really didn't have any idea how serious this whole thing was (or could've been), but the bevvy of "Jesus, Matt, you really scared the crap out of us" comments I've heard now that I've been home have really shed some light on this whole thing. Of course, it was painful watcing the the Wings' ultimate playoff demise while laid up in a hospital, but I did give some of the nurses a good laugh with my constaint pained "yyyesssss!" and totally weak fistpumps during the first period of Game 4. They all thought I was in pain but I had to grimace out a "nooo... I'm happ-pppy!" Again -- thank you to ALL OF YOU -- for your patience and well wishes. I'll be back to 100% shortly!

What are you talking about? On the day of his induction, he'll be wearing a suit...actually, he'll be wearing a HHOF sports coat. This isn't baseball. Also, he's won 1 Norris with Montreal and 2 with Chicago and he's played the most games with Chicago. For whatever reason, I remember him most from his days with Montreal...probably because when I was younger, I lived in Nova Scotia and HNIC was always Montreal games.

Brendan Smith finds your lack of faith disturbing.

Fischer wasn't exactly good his first few years either

Then I don't know how you determine the types, because for example Finland plays more Canadian type hockey than USA.

Please tell me where I said that size did not matter, as I tried to make a point that I was only regarding offensive instincts. I was simply implying that while most of those players are better than him, I really wouldn't say they were that too much more talented. As for Perry, I'd love to see what Huds would put up with Perry's minutes and on a line with Getzlaf(plus the size differential would be hilarious). He outscored Perry by a fair margin in his last season here in terms of points per minute. This is not a debatable or subjective matter. I obviously think Perry is a better player, but I would not say he was miles ahead of him. And no, Hudler is not below average defensively. He is slow, which makes him mere average, and he would and will never be a PK player, but he is in no way a liability out there.

Props to Lappy for blocking shots anywhere on his body. Still needs to learn to wear a visor or get his glove up there though; can't leave your face open like that. I know; I've had to replace my cage twice from blocking shots.

The waste of size that is Ericsson when it comes to physicality is appalling. This kid is all over the map. Back in the day, Cheli would have set him straight much like he did with Fischer.

Ericsson blows donkey balls.

If we cant afford Lilja for our 5th-6th dman we could throw Janik or OKT in there. They both have plenty of NHL experience and from what I have seen I dont understand why Janik is still in the minors.

I'd like to see Holland not spend all the cap money and wait for trade deadline or waived players.

People do get too hot and bothered when it comes to these discussions. There are people that send me death threats, call me a "******", call me a tool, say I'm ruining this forum etc. (By the way I've never made a Crosby thread) It's crazy that a disagreement about the ability of a certain player that is clearly at the very least a top 3 talent can cause so much emotional distress. People just need to take a step back and have fun.

Ok answer this. Which NHL player are they going to market? Crosby has over 500 points before he is 23, career 1.3 PPG in the post season, a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, Hart trophy, Lester etc. Just on those accomplishments alone he's going to be marketed, not to mention the fact that he portrays himself as mildly as a cucumber to the media. Stamkos will get his attention soon enough, but there aren't a lot of players that are in the top 3 of scoring perennially like Crosby and Ovechkin have since they've been in the league. Maybe if Datsyuk, Malkin, Parise etc. followed up their performances 2 years ago they would be included with Ovechkin/Crosby but they didn't. It's clear that Ovechkin/Crosby are far and away are consistently two of the best players year in year out.

Cheapshots? Are we talking about the same player? When I think of cheapshots I think of Ovechkin putting a player into the boards from behind, or kneeing other players. You know actually plays that could end careers? Crosby isn't an angel on the ice, but hockey is a physical and emotional game I'd be worried if a player didn't show any emotion. I hate the diving, but it's up to the NHL to enforce it not the players. Hockey is a competitive game and you have to use every advantage you can. Don't act like Crosby is the pioneer of embellishing. Getzlaf and Ryan are not in the same class as Crosby/Ovechkin are. As a league you have to market your very BEST players. I don't even really care about marketing, I just like watching hockey and watching Ovechkin/Crosby play is quite a treat and I'm happy to leave it at that. Marketing is about attracting new fans, not to satisfy existing fans that's what the game itself is for.

drake probably likes ericsson more than anyone here