Leaderboard

I think a lot of it is because some of the posters on here only watch the Wings. While this is fine, I don't see how someone can make a valid argument for or against an enforcer if they don't watch the other 29 teams in the league outside of their games with the Wings.

How many of the recent cups have come without an enforcer on the team? I'll save you the time- the answer is zero.

I'll never understand you folk that don't get the idea that the Wings could use a guy who'll drop the gloves with some regularity during the season. One guy taking a penalty here and there while giving the opposing team something to think about when it comes to taking liberties with our players certainly isn't going to cost us in the win column. AND HELL, I'm not even talking about a guy that JUST fights. Hell, I'll even throw this little nugget out there for you to ponder over. Seguin is healthy scratched last night in favor of Thorton. Sure, he might not be on the scorers sheet in the way of points... but I tell you what... his presence was felt and it certainly helped spark some team-mates and get some opposing players off their game.

The Wings were hated on fight sites even when they carried Downey and May. Of course, they're going to be hated now when our best fighter is Ericsson of all people. I would like to see some toughness on the 4th line, since we hardly have any irreplaceable 4th liners anyway. I'm sure the fans at the JLA wouldn't mind it either.

There's no way you or anyone can really have any idea as to what exactly gave Horton the concussion. Bert got one by turning his head and hitting his chin as he ran into Heatley. When you get hit that hard and your brain gets rattled that much, the hit alone and head snap certainly could've caused it as much as the impact to the ice.

Seriously Broken - get your own ******* life and stop worrying about mine.

If Ericsson wants to say, he can start to fight more. He's actually pretty good at it. I'd be willing to overlook his faults if he'd play confidently and with an edge.

It's honestly pathetic that people are taken back so much by this hit. The hit was obviously late but besides it's timing it was a perfect open ice hit. There is a difference between coming from the blindside, and hitting someone head on when they're not paying attention. Should have been an interference penalty and nothing else. Rome led with the shoulder, you can''t punish someone for hitting too hard thats like suspending Datsyuk for stick handling too good. It sucks that Horton got hurt but next time he will be more aware when he is crossing the blue line.

It was less than a second late, it was a clean hit, and even if you want it to be interference, they should still fine horton for not having a f***'s clue of where he was on the ice.

Difference now, though, is that the Wings have a glaring weakness at defense and needs to fill. Back when we signed Hossa we had the best offense AND defense and a buttload of cash to spend. Now we have a buttload of cash to spend but we need defensive help in a bad bad bad way.

Except the Wings haven't expressed any interest (I know Babcock said top six forward/top 4 DMan, but EVERY coach says that. Holland says their top fine is fine) and we need to invest that "cap space" in defensemen, not an overpaid forward. So I still laugh at those articles.

Very impressive number for Nashville. http://puckthemedia.wordpress.com/2011/06/02/how-the-stanley-cup-final-did-in-both-nhl-and-non-nhl-markets2/ NHL Markets Local Ratings For Game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final 1. Boston – 25.5/39 2. Buffalo – 7.2/11 3. Pittsburgh – 4.3/7 4. Minneapolis/St. Paul – 4.2/8 5. Detroit – 4.2/7 6. Columbus – 3.6/6 t7. Philadelphia – 3.3/5 t7. Nashville – 3.3/5 9. Washington – 3.0/5 10. Tampa Bay – 2.9/5 11. New York - 2.8/5 12. Denver – 2.7/5 13. Chicago – 2.6/5 14. St. Louis – 2.6/4 15. Raleigh-Durham – 2.4/4 16. Dallas – 2.1/4 17. Phoenix – 1.7/3 18. San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose - 1.4/3 19. Los Angeles – 1.3/3 20. Atlanta – 1.3/2 21. Miami – 1.2/2 Non-NHL Markets Local Ratings For Game 1 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final 1. Providence – 16.7/24 2. Hartford – 5.5/8 3. Ft. Myers – 3.9/7 4. Richmond - 3.9/6 t5. Sacramento - 3.4/6 t5. Las Vegas - 3.4/6 7. Greensboro/Winston-Salem - 3.2/5 8. Baltimore - 2.9/5 9. Greenville/Asheville - 2.9/4 10. Austin - 2.8/5 11. Norfolk - 2.7/4 12. Orlando - 2.5/4 13. San Diego - 2.4/5 14. West Palm Beach - 2.4/4 15. Seattle - 2.3/5 t16. Albuquerque/Santa Fe - 2.3/4 t16. Tulsa - 2.3/4 18. Memphis - 2.3/3 t19. Knoxville - 2.2/3 t19. Dayton - 2.2/3 21. Oklahoma City - 2.1/3 22. Jacksonville - 2.0/3 23. Houston – 1.7/3 t24. Portland - 1.6/3 t24. Salt Lake City - 1.6/3 26. San Antonio - 1.5/2 27. Charlotte - 1.4/2 t28. Indianapolis - 1.3/2 t28. Louisville - 1.3/2 t30. Cincinnati - 1.2/2 t30. Milwaukee - 1.2/2 t30. New Orleans - 1.2/2 t33. Cleveland - 1.1/2 t33. Birmingham - 1.1/2 35. Kansas City - 0.8/1

Doesn't the regular season count? Besides, McCarty played in the playoffs.

That isn't the discussion. In fact, the award mentioned in the OP is a regular season award. How many games did DMac play during the playoffs in his cup-winning seasons(outside of 08)? In 08 Drake played, and DMac played during the earlier cups. No one here is suggesting the Wings carry someone with as much skill as Downey. We want someone better, and there are better players available. Even if the player only played during the regular season, it would still be an upgrade especially if the player can be within 5 points of Miller (which Konopka and McCormick can) and add a dimension the Wings lack. EDIT- The original point still holds. The Wings haven't won a cup recently without a rostered enforcer.

All I can say is what if that were Datsyuk on the ice....

Good move by the NHL on the suspension. Also I still can't believe there's people who say, "_____ didn't have their head up". Watch the replay, Horton was watching his winger, trying to stay onside, and preparing his next move to try and score a goal, he was playing the game. Hitting people when they are in a vulnerable position is not. I heard something interesting today that the people who say, "players should keep their heads ups" are the ones who are making these life altering hits.

Lidstrom is nominated for the messier award? I thought he was a clean player? ohh... the Messier leadership award... wait... now I'm confused. He's a messy leader, but a clean player? ohh... the Mark Messier Leadership award! Nice! (only now I'm wondering why the hell an award was made for mark messier, and more so why it's an honor)

What an absolute joke he got 4 games for the hit. Horton shouldnt have been admiring his pass. Horton had his head down. Not a blindside hit. 2 minutes for interference. Thats it.

It took me several views of the clip to really get a good handle on what happened, and I've got to admit I've switched sides because of it. First off, the 3 stride thing mentioned in the thread is wrong. Rome took 2 "steps" to come to a halt and then drove (kinda jumped) into Horton. No strides at all. Second, it's pretty borderline to call it a blindside hit. I understand "blindside" to mean something roughly perpendicular to the shoulders. Rome comes in at a 45. If Horton is looking forward instead of admiring his pass, he sees Rome coming. That's not blindside. The point of impact looks to be something close to shoulder-to-collarbone, so I'm not sure you can even say it's a blow to the head. Horton probably took more damage from bouncing the back of his head off the ice than the actual hit, but that's certainly conjecture. The puck's long gone, so it's interference. We've seen 5 minute interference calls, and this one probably qualifies given the nastiness. So we've got that. The hit is undeniably illegal. Add it all up and you've got an illegal hit (which negates any Chara comparisons), and you could spin a pretty good case for "intent to injure". Although it's not "right", you've got a scrub taking out a star, which will tip the scales some. I come up with 1 game, maybe 2 max. 4 games seems excessive to me.

I'm surprised he got four games. The hit was late and you could argue that it was an unnecessary hit to make but at least 50 per cent of all hits are. That said, Horton has got to protect himself better.

Yayyy San Diego for coming in 13th! No, seriously, we never get excited about anything around here, so that's pretty good for us. We did better than a certain city east of us which has a hockey team and a higher population, too, ahem. (Gosh darn it, can't we even get a minor league team up in here?!)

Given all of our pressing needs on defense and how much we're going to have to pay for those, if the Wings sign Brad Richards to the (ungoldly) contract he's going to sign somewhere, I'll probably throw up. Also, I'll probably start assuming that Ken Holland and Jimmy D have been replaced by some sort of pod people genetically engineered in a laboratory by Glen Sather.

I love all these article that say the Wings are interested. Of course they are, the entire league is interested. Ummm: He has a Conn Smythe and a Cup.

Uhhh, that was a joke.