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As I've said before, I have a deep inherent feeling he will be back. However, I plan on some heavy duty groveling at camp. Can't hurt!

The suspect was shot and wounded. He escaped and was a block outside their perimeter. And it's a lot easier to hide in a big city than you think. Not to mention, he only fled authorities for what, 28 hours? Barely a day. They knew where he was, but short of firebombing the area, you don't take unnecessary risks with your personnel. As long as they had him cornered, so to speak, they had time.

There was another coach who swapped lines even more than Babcock has. He goes by the name Scotty Bowman.

You don't have to be Alex Jones to believe this whole Boston fiasco is BS. A 19 year old kid with no military experience flees a shootout, dodging bullets, while travelling in a Honda Civic with the license plate "Terrroist-1"? And then we're told that 2 years ago the Russians had told the US about this kid who was going to blow s*** up, but then apparently they didn't know who this guy was when his name spread around? And why hell is the entire country applauding the Boston PD? This 19 year old kid held the entire city hostage for 48 hours. Christ.

He's played 6 good games all year. Our best players s*** themselves when the team needed them most

We have a few gaping holes at forward. Can you imagine if we removed our 2 goal scoring wingers from the cup teams? McCarty - Yzerman - Cleary Kozlov - Larionov - Abdelkader Come on. Cleary and Abdelkader with Datsyuk says it all. That's simply bad management. And note to Babcock: spreading talent only works if you have some. Put Flip, Days, and Hank together and hope.

Oh, man. I had hoped that a sports forum would save us from the internet's tinfoil hat crowd.

2-0 Blues beating Dallas! esteef

I can't even imagine the explosion that would have occurred had Holland given Hudler $4m for four seasons. It would have been thermonuclear.

Interesting stat. All 17 teams that are in playoff picture have a + goal differential. Wings are the closest with -2 on the bottom in the west. If that can change to + , Wings will be in. Just another way of hopping.

Or just 19 to win the cup. Get er done!

Line combos don't matter if the forwards are lazy and don't have much talent. We have a few great players (who aren't scoring goals) and a bunch of scrubs surrounding them. It's the players that make the lines work, not the coaches. I do think the players have tuned out Babcock the last few years, but changing lines isn't going to fix that.

I played for about 20 years (obviously never made it pro), and in my 19th season, I was playing a holmstrom type role and screening/tipping on the PP. The defender at one point, spun me around with a shove and my teams defense-men took a slapper from point (mind you he had the hardest shot on our team) which hit me in the lower spine, fracturing a vertebrae. I had to have surgery that summer, and was able to come right back and play next season, but I was never the same. I was much slower, couldn't really skate with the jump i had before and, as you pointed out about Z, I had to skate more erect due to the lower back. The problems from my back (along with other injuries over the years) made me play a completely different way. It was so bad for me, that I had to stop playing after the 20th season because I was no longer effective in any capacity anymore. I'm just happy we still have a healthy enough Zetterberg to play and show us magic when he can. He's past prime years , but as with Pav, when he turns it on, I'm still awed and impressed.

Thank you St. Louis

We need the Stars and Blue Jackets to Lose Out. Ha!

Stalberg is a soft player who does not use his size. He is fast, yes, but he doesn't create nearly as many chances as you think. He seems to be a perennial 20-goal scorer at best.

I agree. But I don't think it will make too much of a difference because at least in the short to medium term all of our prospects are undersize, pass first, perimeter guys, and most of them are centers or converted centers. I can't wait for a couple of years when we've got actual wingers with a little size (like Jurco, Frk, and Tvrdon) ready to be inserted into the lineup.

It's not just size, it's size and skill combined. Abby's got all the size you'd ever need but he doesn't know how to finish. Holmer could finish, Ryan Smyth can finish...Abby can't. He's got no knack for scoring at this level. What we need is a couple bigger bodies who know how to finish on a play. Guys like Horton, Stafford, Clarkson, Paajarvi, come to mind. They've got the size and skill to score down low, which is something we're sorely missing. Ideally I'd like a sniper too, and I think it would help with a lot of things, but until we get a legit net front presence on each of the top two lines I think we'll be kept entirely to the perimeter and therefore easily kept off the scoreboard in tight games.

What blows my mind is that quincey will always take a look around before making a boneheaded move - he should be able to identify the danger and make the right decision - but he sees it and goes ahead anyways. Most players make mistakes when they don't survey the ice - quincey sees it and still f's up.

Here's some perspective. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are the biggest offensive threats we have. You know it, I know it, and every team we play knows it. When they're separated they get double teamed, and when they're together no other line has any potential offense. We simply don't have the horses. That's why they don't score...because everyone and their brother knows to key on those guys to the exclusion of everyone else.

Pav and Z have been carrying a lot of the PK load lately too and without helm this is really hurting us. They can't spend as much time on the ice in the offensive zone. Z looks hampered lately. Many forget the BEAT MODE he started the season with - he had a 5 point game that one night and looked great for a 3 week stretch. We need more young guys to carry this team with energy and effort. Too many passengers right now.

I'm still not convinced that Hank is healthy. At the very least that groin problem he had is still lingering.

I truly believe that Homer's retirement has gone massively, massively under-recognized. The coaching staff still appear to be implementing an offensive system that saw Lidstrom launch slap-passes at the net and try for a Homer tip or rebound. The only problem with this is that they are missing two key parts to it; namely, Lidstrom and Homer.

Overripe and falling off the tree. esteef

The USHL is nowhere near as good as the CHL. There is a debate to be had between the CHL and the NCAA, but the not when it comes to the USHL, its not even close. Top American prospects generally avoid the league all together.