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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.

Personally, on a scale of 1 to 10, I hated it about 22. The second part, I didn't hate at all. To be fair, there's a difference between goons and enforcers. Also, comparing the Ducks and the Wings/Avs rivalry is lunacy in my book. There were only a few incidents of gooning it up, mostly on the part of the Avs. March 26 was a vetting of bad blood and revenge, not goonery.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much did you hate it when Anaheim won the Cup in 07? Oh, and how bad did you hate this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOCXfu_mWyY&feature=related

Nyquist has been great but he can be sent down to the NHL without being exposed to waivers. He's a little weak yet and needs to buff up some. No doubt he will be a great NHLer in the near future. Brunnstrom on the other hand has been one of the best forwards on the Red Wings' tryouts. He's scoring goals, skates really good and has the much needed speed to compliment the team. His two-way game hasn't been noticeable, but he hasn't been a liability either. I'm excited to see him play tonight. As of right now, I think he's locked to get a contract with the Red Wings and will be starting opening night.

I'll be in the minority when I also say I don't want a new arena for the Red Wings, they do deserve one though. But the Joe reeks and oozes old school hockey and hockey in general. From peeing in a tub down to the claustrophobic seats. I was at game 6 (vs the sharks) last year and I can guranatee a new arena would not have been as loud as the Joe was that game. By far the most outrageous, insane, fun, mind numbing, voice losing game I've been to. Roof was shaking it was so loud. I don't give a s*** who you are at the Joe, if you're around me you're getting a high five. And that's exactly what I want, a close experience with other fans that share a love for a game only hockey fans can know. The Joe provides all of this

Yes. Why does someone have to watch the UFC to watch athletes fighting? There's plenty of hockey fans who enjoy that part of the game and enjoy watching guys drop the mitts. It's been a part of the game a long time. I hate the whole "go watch the UFC" crap anti-fighting people always say. I want my hockey to be physical, which includes hitting and fighting. If people don't like that kind of hockey, they should go watch figure skating, instead of telling people like me to go watch the UFC.

The thing is, nobody is being forced to fight. Guys that fight know the potential consequences. Something like 98% of NHLers feel fighting has a place in the game. The thing that i could see happening is some type of rule being implemented where the player's helmets have to stay on during the fight or some s***. Once the helmet comes off, the refs step in. I don't really see any reason to try and regulate fighting in the NHL, because there is no clear tie between fighting and the deaths of Rick Rypien, Derek Boogaard, and Wade Belak. It was documented before Rypien's death that he had psychological issues. Boogaard had drug problems. A 5 minute penalty is fine for a fight.

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.

Call it the "Johan Franzen" rule.

I'm re-doing the original post... Here's what I think the lines will be: Hudler-Datsyuk-Cleary Filppula-Zetterberg-Franzen Abdelkader-Helm-Bertuzzi Holmstrom-Miller-Eaves Brunnstrom Emmerton *IR*Mursak Kronwall-Stuart Lidstrom-White Kindl-Ericsson Commodore Howard Conklin Here's what I'd like them to be: Filppula-Datsyuk-Cleary Hudler-Zetterberg-Franzen Nyquist-Helm-Tatar Brunnstrom-Abdelkader-Eaves Bertuzzi Holmstrom *IR*Mursak ...Miller(GR) ...Emmerton(GR) Kronwall-Stuart Lidstrom-White Ericsson-Commodore Kindl Howard Conklin Explanation: I thought that our biggest problems against San Jose last season were...#1) a general lack of play-makers and natural scorers on the ice; and #2) Bertuzzi and Holmstrom being mis-matched against stud top-six forwards. So...yes...I want more play-makers and natural scorers in the lineup, and I want Bertuzzi and Holmstrom out of the top six (and probably out of the lineup altogether). I realize that Nyquist, Tatar and Brunnstrom probably aren't ready, but this isn't a young team we're dealing with anymore. Lidstrom has 1, 2, maybe 3 years left. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Cleary, Kronwall and Stuart are all approaching their mid-30's. We need to have a sense of urgency here this season. We need to go all out for the cup. We need these talented young players to GET ready. And the best way to get them ready, IMO, is to put them out there on the ice against NHLers. As far as the actual line combinations are concerned... I've got Filppula and Cleary with Datsyuk. I don't know why Babcock doesn't play them together. They've got the best chemistry on the team (including Pav-Hank). They're the two best passers and play-makers on the team. When they're out there together, it's magic. Cleary makes an excellent net-front presence. I've got Hudler and Franzen with Zetterberg. Zetterberg moves his line at a slower pace than Datsyuk. Hudler and Franzen are more comfortable at a slower pace, I think. That's why I've got them with Hank, and Filppula - who can play at 100mph - with Datsyuk. I've got Nyquist and Tatar with Helm. This is going to be a very small line. But it's going to be a very, very fast line as well. The way the NHL's going, speed is better than physical strength defensively anyways. If they end up needing more grit, changes can be made. But I like this line because Helm's speed and takeaways create so so many beautiful opportunities offensively. The problem is that he's usually out there with Eaves, Miller, Cleary, Abdelkader, etc. Put him out there with a couple of guys that can keep up with him speed-wise and really do special things with the puck...and we could have a very dangerous third line. I've got Brunnstrom and Eaves with Abdelkader. People seem to overlook how big Brunnstrom is. He's as big as Cleary. And he's fast. He could be a solid defensive player here. These three guys all have speed, a little scoring ability, and two of them are proven defensively. ...I love these lines. 4 lines, all with scoring potential, all very solid defensively. I've also got Commodore in for Kindl. Hopefully we make a deal at the deadline to acquire a really good defenseman. Until then, I like Commie. Kindl really hasn't impressed me. And he's starting to get into his mid-20's. Nothing special offensively. Not physical. Not sound defensively. I'll take a big strong Commie back there with Ericsson for the time being. ...In order to get Nyquist and Tatar on the 23-man roster, I'd take my chances sending Miller and Emmerton to GR. These guys are depth defensive forwards. Hopefully we don't lose either. We'll probably lose both. And in the long and short run, it won't be that big of a deal. I don't think that you can release Homer or Bert. Homer's still real, real, real special in front of the net, and will be very valuable in the playoffs and in the regular season as a sub/injury replacement. And as sad as it is, Bertuzzi is the only intimidator we've got. We'll need him going up against certain guys.

Wow, this is better than our regular powerplay. Just send guys to the net and shoot it from the point. No fancy s***.

Atta boy Eaves!

Not tonight we don't.

I get that Shanny is setting the tone for a zero-tolerance policy, but I don't think a suspension was in order here. Abby acted like a used car salesman, he was trying so hard. I can discern no intent to target the head.

God, you're like Ned Braden in Slapshot, who refused to fight. I'd bench your ass if I was coaching.

Wow, he barely grazed abby's head.

Seriously, watch the game and realize that you aren't going to be able to read the numbers on top the helmets with how fast the game moves and where the placement on the helmet is. It will add nothing of value and make the helmets look ugly as hell.

True. Without punctuation, the thread title would read, "NHL will Look into Fighting Shanahan".

Looks awesome as usual, keep up the good work and thanks. PS, love the new way you showed wether it's a home or away game with the date looking like the home and away jerseys.

* in Grand Rapids

I don't care about fighting, staged fights annoy me, but fighting is necessary. It seems thought that the guys that need their asses beat, the ones cheap shotting players, don't own up to their cheap shots.

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.

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.

I honestly don't know what I would do if the NHL got rid of fighting. It has it's place in the game and is needed. Things would get a lot worse if players didn't have to worry about dropping the gloves, and there would be a lot more chespshots and bad hits... While were at it why don't they start using a ball instead of a puck, it's a lot safer for players and goalies a like, and without fighting, might as well go mandatory full cage.

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.