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The replays don't back that up. In Shanny's explanation he clearly says and shows on the replay that Abby's body and head didn't make any significant change in direction or speed just before the hit. Cole may not have had the opportunity to see the replay before he spoke and at the speed at which it happens I can't expect him to know exactly how it played out. You're also omitting the part where Shanny says a player has to expect a good hard body check. Then goes on to say they should not have to expect a deliberate a reckless blow to the head. With the direction Cole is moving, it's the textbook hit the league is trying to remove. If you're going to try a risky hit like that, the responsibility is on the player making the hit to contact the body. I think the suspension was a little long given Shanny's current standard (at the beginning of the season this would've been in line), but his explanation as to why Cole was suspended is pretty clear. As for a shoulder to the head being okay as long as you get the body, actually, that is the case, especially on north-south hits. The head can't just be targeted or the principal point of contact. NHL rules video on illegal checks to the head About 2:53 into the video when they start talking about legal hits, they specifically show a legal shoulder check to the head. In the video shown it looks like the elbow contacts the head as well, but it's tucked and the player's head was down, much like Datsyuk's hit, which is why it was legal. Datsyuk's hit looked worse than it was because his shoulder did contact Jackman's head, and then Jackman acted like a little ***** about it.

On the CBC Elliot Friedman said it was basically a done deal that it's coming to Detroit next year, all thats left is to decide which stadium. The thing that's got me the most excited is HBO 24/7 following the Wings if they do get the classic.

Yeah, yeah. Only Wings fans can overrate their players. And Wings fans never underrate our players. Wings fans are idiots, except when we hate Ericsson...then we somehow know more than Kenny and Babs. I know your schtick. Habs fans may love Gorges, but they haven't had Lidstrom on their team for the last two decades making all their other defensemen look like crap in comparison. They don't have Stuart, Kronwall, or White. Their best defenseman has missed the better part of the last three seasons. Ericsson is in only his 3rd full season, and he is far better than most fans here give him credit for. He's not as physical as he should be for his size, and he doesn't have great poise with the puck which can result in turnovers when he's pressured. He won't block shots and he doesn't have a great grasp of when he should and shouldn't jump in on offense. But he's pretty sound positionally, strong along the boards, a pretty good skater, makes a good pass when he has time, and if he can figure out how to use his shot he could be a solid point producer. He has the kind of size you have to pay a premium for. Gorges doesn't have ideal size, or any particular talent on offense. He plays a simple, solid game. He's an excellent shot-blocker, but he's nothing special overall. He's not even Brad Stuart. He's more important to his team, so it justifies the salary more. Marketwise though, if E is over paid, so is Gorges.

...certain things are off limits? So this wouldn't fly? ...anyhow this incident is not very good for his image. Although as in todays world, I am sure racial slurs are still used in the NHL and other leagues, they just aren't all heard or disciplined....

Great question, Pierre. "When the Flyers went up 2-0, were you thinking, 'Boy, I better not let in another goal'?" ...riveting.

He grabbed the stick and fell. Obvious embellishment.

This will be fun to watch on HBO. EDIT: The refs are seriously trying to tie this up. Timonen should've been called with hooking twice in the last 3min, he was called once with a made up embellishment call to make up for it.

Love the Lidstrom commercial. Have they showed that one already?

Look at that ******* coward Bobby Clarke justifying his dirty ass play. ***** spent his whole career hiding behind tougher enforcers who protected his dumb, grinning, dirty ass.

lol @ "a maintenance guy." The Wings have stayed as good as they have because Holland makes good decisions on drafting, on coaching staff and on players. He's never had to rebuild because he hasn't screwed up like multitudes of other GMs have. Feel free to think that, but you'd be wrong. He'd need to have been a complete imbecile to overhaul the team just to get a legit #1 goaltender.

What do you expect cole to say? Of course he's going to say Abby moved his head at the last sec...but if you watch the reply..without blues bias you will see he doesn't move his head at all. far as abby knowing he will get hit by going in the middle? im sure he did..but not hit to the head like he got. cole had all the time in the world to go low. brendan smith got a total of 8 games at the start of the season for us with a similar hit. so 3 games seems a tad much but fair. How many crosschecks does dats have to take before one is called? Or are you one of the blues fans that missed all of those? Thats the whole "primary point of contact" which in coles hit the head was. In dats hit the body was. It was very clear in both hits. If abby was trying to slip past cole then there would have been movement on abby's part which there was not. Abby may have seen him at the last millisecond but still doesn't justify the hit to the head.

If Cole doesn't stick out his arm to clip Abdelkader so he doesn't get by, then he never does hit his head. Obviously Cole isn't going to mention that detail.

comparing the contracts sft, not what youve added to it. Ericsson seems to be the goat/whipping boy on these boards, he isnt as bad as fans make him out to be. When he makes a mistake everyone is on him like a rash, to try prove the point. Other more senior D men have made some howlers this year and it tends to be overlooked. Yes he is overpaid but whos the guy who offered him the contract? We have 3 of our D in the top 8 in the league in the +- and Ericsson is one of them so he cant be doing that of an awful job.

negged. stinky fish taco

One more hit, actually. In one more game, with far more ice time. Gorges is a far better shot blocker, but other than that they are pretty similar.

Am I the only one that does not care about a racial slur? Maybe its just me but that is real life. Hockey players are no different.

What you americans arent understanding is that Quebec is a majority french province who have been striving for decades to preserve their language. The canadiens are a major symbol of the french people, they have sport shows where all they talk about is the habs. Now they have a teams with like zero french players of any significance, an owner who never talks to the media, a gm who never talks to the media, and now an entire coaching staff that can't speak french. Jacque Martin literally did all the interviews for that team. I know that montreal is pretty bilingual, but the entire province is habs crazy. 90% of the fans are french. So who will now be the spokesman for the team? Could you imagine how pissed you'd be if the no one froms the wings where ever avialable for interviews? now multiply that by 10. Thats how they feel, its totally understandable they atleast dont have an assistant coach who can speak french. Is that too much to ask?

Agreed. Honestly 5 and a game is probable enough for that hit. But Lucic should be a repeat offender and it's a chance for Shanny to right his wrong on the Miller hit. I wonder if the explanation for letting Lucic off there is Shanny doesn't really believe in the rule about goalies not being hit out of the crease. Because whether people agree with the rule or not, miller was not eligible to be hit, there was clear intent, a blow to the head, and it resulted in injury. That pretty much covers all the criteria for suspension. I liked Lucic when he first came into the league, hoping he would be a power forward in the mold of someone like Shanahan. But the dirty hits, taunting, spot picking is all starting to pile up for me.

I love when spot pickers (Horton) gets their ass handed to them after trying to spot pick. As for Lucic, he probably will get a game or two after most of the GMs voiced their displeasure at how SHanny handled the previous Lucic incident.

Breaking News: Its happening too much. Also at 11, there are ways to state an opinion without being a complete prick. You might wanna tune in at 11 for that.

I'll say it again, I don't want Minnesota anywhere near a nationally televised Winter Classic. Talk about turning people off of the game.

I'm thinking Homer needs to get another contact simply so he can be there for the 24/7 mini-series.

Actually, it was a holding the stick call. Still a good call.

Now, the going gets tougher. Go, Team Canada, Go!