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These are great. And by great I mean terrible.

Can we just bask in this for a moment? *jazz hands*

Conversely, Cleary did many things that Holmstrom never could. Nobody could replace Holmstrom's ability in front of the net. I would argue Cleary was one of the few on the team willing/able to fill that role. In fact, Cleary and Abdelkader were the two forwards consistently willing to play in the tough areas of the ice last season. The point still holds true. You ripped anyone that didn't want Holmstrom around, yet practically everyone here loves to jump on the anti-Cleary bandwagon. To clarify, I don't want Cleary back either, but the whipping boy status Cleary has garnered went way overboard.

Took a couple weeks but I convinced the wife that we should get a half season ticket plan just to be sure to get tickets for this game. WIN!

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=680812&navid=nhl:topheads Interesting. Personally, I'd preferred they'd do something about the width but this is a step in the right direction.

I know they don't make changes for the hell of it. I guess I'm just curious re: who contributes (or may possibly contribute) along the way in this kind of thing, beyond the decidedly obvious. Basically, I'm becoming Batman. And, well, it's tough.

Why did they put the USA in the K Swiss logo? I surprisingly don't mind the stars there's a whole lot of other ugly going on.

I think it'd be interesting to have a private panel consisting of the following: --Current NHL goaltenders (a mix of stars and back-ups/young guys) --Former NHL goaltenders (who played in the last 10 years) --Engineers --Persons who previously worked on product development/strategy for big hockey gear manufacturers --Persons who previously or currently work on product development/strategy for big manufacturers of protective gear for other sports (American football in particular, don't take companies with a hockey division) Have the final recommendations made available to the public *but* all names of contributing members are kept secret from the NHL, NHLPA and everyone else. As an engineer I'd be really interested to read what a group like that came up with in terms of recommendations for rules/gear changes and even ideas for new gear innovations.

i work in the building next to the hockey stadium.....the parking lot is shared by the team and the companies in the building. its a sweet deal for me. takes me 30 seconds to go from my office to the entrance of the hockey stadium

I assume you sit there in the stands every day, decked out in Blackhawks gear, taking notes, like a planted scout. Y'know, just to mess with him.

I'd be all for a new NHL Hitz game, Konami actually built a fun hockey game back in the day and i'm confident they could still produce something of quality. I mean it's a video game after all, it doesn't HAVE TO be sim hockey, it can be a bit over the top and I don't mind as long as it plays tight and it's fun. It's getting easier these days to pinpoint what developers care about creating good games and what ones only want to make money.

Brunner? Brunner? [/bueller]

I was under the impression that Grabovski had shed the 'lazy' tag a couple of season back. Plus, Grabovski is making less than 1) the Caps' now 3rd line center, Laich... who, I believe was supposed to become their 2nd line center at some point... and 2) their 2nd line center from last season, Ribeiro - less than he was making and less than he will be making. Significantly less in both cases. And, only a one year deal. Very minimal risk and potentially high reward. Grabovski is, in my opinion, an above average 2nd line center.... $3 million for 1 year? Solid signing and I'm jealous of it, honestly.

disagree 100%. goalie gear grew exponentially in the last 20 years. its just shameful how big the gear is. it has to be reigned in. and part of the problem is that they always talk about it but change very little. so there is this impression that they have been taking away all this real estate from goalies and it ends up being like half an inch or something not even worthwhile. then add to that that the goalies often just replace it with other pads to compensate, and its just a circle. in the article it already mentions that many goalies are trying to make the knee pads larger to compensate for lost inches. until goalies stop looking like the michelan man out there, they have no room to say anything. i also think you are way off on allowing more hitting making the game more exciting. all you have to do is go back 10-15 years to the dead puck era. there was far less regulation on physical play. yet did you see more hits, more excitement? no way. you saw more clutching, more grabbing, more bear hugging. it was terrible. nhl hockey has a fundemental flaw right now that prevents it from being as exciting as it should be. teams, coaches and organizations focus not on scoring more goals than the other team, but giving up less goals than the other team. and no i dont think thats just semantics. teams constantly play a style which is to not give up scoring chances at any cost. even if that means not taking any chances offensively. why? because its become too hard to score a goal, so teams are afraid to give one up. if you make goalies human again, then you will see scoring increase, which will change the entire dynamic of the game.

they are now!

An aging vet who falls down a lot but plays fearless, does the dirty work, and is all heart, yet in spite of that people act like he's total garbage and can't wait to kick him off the team? hmm... that sounds strangely familiar.

It's funny, given how many perfectionists here were pissed that he was on the team at all in his last two seasons.

I think FrankGrimes about summed it up. Especially must consider that this is the final NHL game of this generation, as they are already working on the development of next gen hockey, even less effort will be going into NHL 14. With that said, I will likely be skipping this year because of what Frank mentioned and reasons above. I'm already a bit more excited for NHL 15 when everything is rebuilt from the ground up and everything is improved all around. I won't be shelling out another $60 this year for minor tweaks and existing problems going overlooked.

Can't remember if I replied to this or not, and I'm too lazy to check. (Too lazy to check, but I'll potentially re-write an entire response? Totally.) We do still play a puck-possession game, I think. It's just, like you said, we've lost some key pieces in Rafalski, Lidstrom, et al., so it's not nearly as pretty and dominating as it once was. But the goal, I think, remains the same: have the puck as much as possible. Also, about Ottawa... When we had the 'hawks on the ropes, everyone in the hockey world was pooping themselves. But, we choked, and we couldn't buy a goal in Game 7, so we = the Sens? And maybe even worse than the Sens? Wah? Alfredsson said it himself: we play a special game. We're a special team. Not what we once were, no. But we've still got the chops to absolutely waste any team in the league in a best-of-seven series, provided our heads and hearts are in it to win it. The Sens have done nothing - nothing - to make me think they're suddenly a team to be feared, a team that's "really going to surprise everyone." Why, because they have Bobby Ryan? We know all about Bobby Ryan. Clarke MacArthur is an upgrade over Alfredsson? OH NOES! I mean, credit where it's due: they finished in seventh last season without the regular services of, like, all of their key players. But then, we know a thing or two about succeeding despite injuries, don't we? meh. The East.