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If I wanted to watch figure skating, I'd watch the Olympics. If I wanted to watch grown men cheapshot each other without any physical retaliation or standing up for one's teammates, I'd watch football.

If fighting is banned I and im sure others will never watch another NHL game in my life, not because the game isnt interesting and entertaining still, but because I love the sport of hockey, the way it has been for over 100 years, and I will do it as sort of a boycott. This is the game ive bled, cried, and sat in hospital beds for, and I wouldnt change it for anything. People often question my take on hockey because I want it rough and tough like it should be, but it should be known my brother broke his neck playing hockey, and he nor i would change it for the world.

I don't mind the NHL revisiting the place fighting has in the sport. However, I don't like the PC flag/touch-hockey like s*** they're allowing it to be turned into, bogging it down with bulls*** rules like the NFL has aimed excessively at protection, and society's strange way of trying to pacify a largely violent sport with non-violence. If the NHL does go this route, well, looks like I'll have to find some other way to enjoy hockey, as hockey does exist outside of this league. As it is, I pretty much entirely ditched watching the NFL for these very reasons.

I wonder if fans around the league feel like people on this forum do? I mean, the Wings never fight and are dead last in fighting majors every year. I can see how fans here are influenced by our team's mentality. If we had more fighters, there probably wouldn't be so many anti-fighting posters here. It's doubtful this talk about how fighting is useless and should be banned occurs as frequently on other hockey forums around the league. Just my opinion, though. No, the game would be better without guys like Jarkko Ruutu and Matt Cooke.

Please no Amway Arena

Wow. Thats pretty over the top. Especially considering other players got less for similar hits this preseason AND it wasn't a targeted head shot and Ben Smith was just as at fault as Brendan Smith for trying that fancy toe drag at the last second.

No I didn't. Doesn't matter what the thread is about you will post something about Hudler being mistreated or whatever. I don't think anyone even said Hudler on any post in this thread until you did.

The following would only make too much sense: Vancouver LA Phoenix SJ Anaheim ------------- Edmonton Calgary Colorado Winnipeg Dallas -------------- Minnesota Chicago Nashville St. Louis Columbus ------------- Detroit Toronto Montreal Ottawa Buffalo -------------- Philly NJ Boston NYR NYI -------------- Pittsburgh Washington Carolina Tampa Florida I'd like to see a better map in terms of proximity than this

Obviously, interesting to see that the Red Wings aren't included in the Central. Wonder if this is just speculation on his part, or if plans are really laid out already. http://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2011/7/7/2264885/nhl-realignment-central-division-minnesota-wild-owner-radio

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I guess Shanahan has a interview with CBC tomorrow about why he wants to ban fighting from the NHL. Next year there may be no fights in the NHL. NHL is going soft

Too much. esteef

I'm good with fighting. Fans love it, players love it, and it absolutely has its place in the sport of hockey. I am against punching a bloodied player or a player that is covering his head, and i absolutely think the take downs should come with an additional minor or even a game misconduct. The so-called "unwritten rules" or "code" should be written and enforced. the unwritten rules are mutual agreements between fighters that are there because it makes fighting safer. So simply write the rules down. theoretically it'll make fighting safer. I wish they'd do something about the cheap shots after the whistle though. that wings-ducks series in 2009 was the most egregious example i could think of off the top of my head. The penguins would probably need a new game plan if they did that though.

Call it the "Johan Franzen" rule.

surprising coming from a tough mother****** who was a great fighter

I actually lose sleep over them.

Yeah that's true. But I'm more or less talking about combined travel. I'm willing to bet that the Wings travel more during the playoffs than Vancouver will (disregarding this year of course because they played two central teams) or San Jose or Anaheim will. It's like if the Wings get past their Pacific division foe there is another Pacific division or Northwest division team waiting for them. Take this year for example: Phoenix---->San Jose--->and then would have been Vancouver That kind of travel just doesn't seem fair.......

No.

Smith absolutely played that wrong. Even without the head contact, it was an all or nothing defensive move, with the much greater chance of getting nothing and leaving Ben in for a clean breakaway. It doesn't matter that he's 6'2". Rob Blake is 6'3" and threw devastating hip checks. They just have to be done properly. But when you line a guy up at that severe an angle, there's a high potential you'll miss. And if you throw a shoulder to try and catch some of him, there's a high potential you'll clip him in the head.

Unfortunately, I've seen interviews with Bettman where he has denied ever promising anyone a move to the Eastern conference, and I'm not sure a verbal "promise" to Jimmy D will hold up too long. Ultimately, Bettman will probably realign the divisions in accordance with what's best for the overall NHL, not just one team who has been hoping to move for a while. I'd love to be in the East, but in the scheme of things it really does make more sense for certain other teams to go east over us. Just my two cents, not trying to rain on any parades.

the NHL likes to ruin everything so they will prolly f*** it up.

Oh bugger.

Homer is a cheap, powerplay specialist with near unrivaled skills at what he does. I'd still take Homer over Sammy, everyday and twice on Sunday. The thing with the Wings this year is we lack offense we can count on past Pav and Hank. Our suppossed secondary scoring options are either extremely streaky (Hudler, Franzen, Bertuzzi) or injury prone (Cleary, Filppula). Homer offers a unique skill set, unrivaled powerplay skills, playoff experiance, and a low salary for it all. This will almost certainly be his last year, but given our streaky, injury prone forwards and inexperiance of the next wave (Mursak, Tatar), I'm glad he is signed for this year.

Sure, why not set the bar as high as possible? I mean the guy did struggle to make the Leafs, though, so let's try and be realistic here.