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NHL Player Safety ‏@NHLPlayerSafety 17m Toronto's Joffrey Lupul will have a hearing Friday afternoon for cross-checking Detroit's Patrick Eaves

This game tied for NBC's highest overnight ratings for a regular season game. The game it tied? 2009 Winter Classic. I'm picking up on a theme here.....

I'm not smart enough to evaluate and determine who's the better player but I will say that I feel Z has carried the load a little more throughout their careers than Pav has (off the top of my head I can only think of one playoff series against the Sharks that Pav stood out more). I also feel that despite the hardware Pav has, the opposing team seems to get more pissed off going up against Z. Perhaps Pav stands out more to most fans and TV personalities because of his flashiness and his elite takeaway ability, but you can't ignore the fact that Babcock most of the time seems to go to Z's line (when they're split up) to shut down the other teams top line, and also can't ignore that people like Gretzky and Crosby have claimed that they would pick Z #1 to build a hockey team around.

It'll be fine. Everybody was saying the same thing about Kronwall early in his career when he kept getting injured. Now it's not an issue. It's not as though he keeps having a recurring injury of the same type, like re-injuring his back multiple times or sustaining a lot of concussions. He's just been going through some bad luck.

Regular season - Datsyuk Playoffs - Zetterberg What I find interesting is that Zetterberg has a Thornton-Cheechoo ability to make his linemates better that Datsyuk doesn't. Whereas when you put better players with Dats, their points and goals go up, but average players don't. Basically to play with Dats I think you need to have the skills and hockey IQ to take advantage of what he does, whereas Z's success comes in large part from his hard work and strength on the puck and you can stick almost anyone with him and make a decent line. Hull, Shanahan, Hossa, Zetterberg have all seen spikes in their goals when playing with Dats. Even Bertuzzi, I think plays so well with Dats because he still has the hands and the hockey IQ that Abdelkader doesn't. Its why I think Pav needs more Aldredsson on his line.

Yes, I wasn't paying attention to "the rules". And poor old Sir Arthur Wellesley must be spinning in his grave at the thought of the use of an uncredited quote on the internet.

Swedes all the way

Here's the team I would have selected: Z. Parise-J. Pavelski-P. Kane B. Ryan-R. Kesler-P. Kessel D. Brown-D. Backes-R. Callahan J. van Riemsdyk-A. Galchenyuk-T. Oshie P. Stastny, M. Pacioretty .....The changes I'd make to the forward group: B. Ryan and A. Galchenyuk in for B. Wheeler and D. Stepan. I don't understand the Ryan hate. He might be the third most talented forward on this team (perhaps second?). I don't watch him much in the regular season, but in 2010, he skated HARD, he was physical, he was responsible defensively. It's a joke to me that he's on this team. No offense to Blake Wheeler - - but Ryan brings more to the table. No doubt about it. Also, I don't think Stepan belongs on this team. I like Galchenyuk. I think there's potential to explode there. If he doesn't, plug Stastny in and its no big deal. Really great top scoring like: Parise-Pavelski-Kane. Really great second scoring line: Ryan-Kesler-Kessel. Tons of good PP options up there now. KILLER shut down line: Brown-Backes-Callahan. Pretty decent 4th line: JVR-Galchenyuk/Stastny-Oshie. I would've really liked this group. R. Suter-J. Johnson R. McDonagh-J. Faulk K. Yandle-C. Fowler D. Byfuglien, S. Jones ...I don't care for Martin or Orpik. Hate leaving Shattenkirk off, but I had to. Carlson didn't bug me as much. Thought it was really stupid to leave JJ off the roster. Bad season in Columbus, but so the h*** what. We all know what he is. We all know what he was in 2010. I think he would've been great in 2014. Yandle and Byfuglien (who I'd dress) I wanted to have on the team to create an AMAZING PP blue-line, and also because I think Buff does so much for team attitude, chemistry, lockerroom, etc. And I definitely want Seth Jones on this roster. If he turns it on, he's your top-pairing right-side defenseman. If he doesn't, he's an 8th defenseman who never sees the ice. Big deal. Would've been worth the risk. J. Quick R. Miller B. Bishop ...Quick and Miller are the easy 1-2. Small potatoes, but I would've gotten some experience for a kid in the #3 spot. There's about a 0.00001% chance Howard's ever going to see the ice anyways.

Datsyuk has been better for many years, but this season, Zetterberg has been better and more important. Just seems that way. Maybe it's because Datsyuk has been stuck with Bertuzzi, Abby or Cleary for more games. Or maybe not.

Nah, he's fine. Even with Lash. Just needs to arrange an accident for Sammy sometime before Weiss comes back. Kidding aside, if we ever do get healthy, we'll likely waive Eaves and then Miller if needed.

Datsyuk

This is a weird situation. I do think Pav is the more skilled player but Z can carry a team as you guys already said. The awesome thing to me is Pav is more skilled but Z seems to be able to literally make his team win games late in the season and playoffs. He wins games by himself. So who's better? Z. Who's flashier and more naturally skilled? Pav. The best part is we got em both.

Yeah i live about 40 min from ann arbor, left at 10 am, didn't get there until start of 2nd period. Had 10th row, and while a small portion of the near side ice was blocked, it was still pretty easy to see what was going on. Leafs fans were fun, and I honestly think there were more of them than us. The snow made it awesome but it was very very cold. My pregnant wife started feeling like she HAD to lay down so unfortunately I had to leave as the shootout started. I had my dad drop my wife and I just outside the stadium on Main st. and picked us up there too so no paying for parking but, it DID take us 2 hours to move just one mile down main st after, and 5 hours total to get home. At one point I looked around and people had a good inch or two of snow built up on their heads lol. Overall a fun experience and everyone was cool except after the shootout ended a leafs fan that also left early came up and put his hand right in my face and yelled "good win, oh yeah" and then shoved my face while I was trying to keep my preg wife from falling. Before I could even go after him his buddy socked him in the arm and said "what the hell is wrong with you man, he's holding his pregnant girl, and then apologized" But overall all the leafs fans were awesome. Good game, terrible traffic, cold as all hell but I'd do it again in about half a second.

I've never been a Burke fan. Yeah he won a cup with the Ducks but he also put Anaheim in a bad cap situation and then hightailed it to Toronto where he made countless mistakes and now he moves to Calgary to run another franchise into the ground. I might be in the minority but I never understood the fuss over Burke's skills as a GM. Props to Ryan for Calling Burke out on his BS. We at LGW have seen plenty of Ryan over the years and I'm sure most of us can agree that he doesn't lack intensity. Maybe there's some personal animosity between Burke and Ryan while they were in Anaheim.

Really unfortunate Helm can't stay healthy because we all know what a difference maker he is on the ice for the Red Wings. It would be nice with Weiss out too for Helm to center the second line because I think most games the Wings need Z and Pavel together to carry the offense. Hopefully this isn't long-term and Helm will come back contributing offensively like he was before.

What. An. AWESOME. Experience! View from our seats was fantastic (upper 60s, kitty corner from end zone). Leafs fans were awesome, some good natured ribbing but overall a good feeling of camaraderie both days. Felt like crowd was pretty evenly split, though Leafs fans were louder. It was SO COLD and conditions on the ice were s***tastic, but everyone seemed like they were having a blast. Nothing to complain about for me as far as effort/gameplay, except the shootout has to go. Another overtime 5 of 3 on 3 would have been a far more satisfying end to the game. f*** getting out after the game, though. Didn't get home until almost midnight between traffic and s***ty roads. Also people had a hard time getting in and a lot arrived late. Worth every minute and frozen digit

And played for the USA. Being born in a stable does not make one a horse

It's basically a modern day Stevie Y vs Feds. Datsyuk has more ability than Z in my opinion. But Z just has an insane amount of will power and another gear.

I think we got a lot of options when we get healthy especially up front. With the twins together... Mule- datsyuk- Z Abby- helm- alfy Nyquist- Weiss- Tatar Miller- glendening- Andy With the twins split (which I prefer) Tatar- datsyuk- alfy Nyquist- Z- mule Weiss- helm- Abby Andy- glendening- miller

Very good game by our team despite the loss.If we could put the same effort every game we'd be fighting with the Pens and the B's for the the #1 spot in the east.

He's been out a long time. Groins will be sore. As long as he doesn't get hit with anything long-term I'm not worried about him. Though it sucks to be without him, we're a different team when he plays.

You're officially a dick.

I'm really old. I preferred it when the NHL season wasn't shut down for weeks for a bunch of Olympic hockey games that will be poorly televised.

Ugh, Reeeeebok!!!!! I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. I haven't shopped for a jersey in a while, but when looking for a winter classic authentic I ran into the Indonesian made "authentic" edge jerseys (indo-edge). I wouldn't mind if they dropped the price on these, but they're still charging a premium. And as stated above, they market them as "what the pros wear" which is a lie. You used to be able to get a real good quality replica back in the day, when CCM, Koho, Nike, etc made them. Materials were nice, constructions was great, and they last forever. Reebok replicas are not as nice, with thin material. Looks like the authentics are going down the same path. There are still ways to get authentic Edge 2.0 jerseys just like the team wears, some Canadian shops sell them. Frozen Pond had them, but they look to be sold out. You can get the regular team jersey though: http://www.frozenpond.com/category/hockey-jerseys.html It's Canadian made, and is the exact item they're going to wear on the ice.

Bar-B Barn. Schwartz's Deli: there is a reason why it's called "Montreal Smoke Meat". Don't forget the bagels: Fairmount or St-Viateur.