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I really don't understand the flak Howard gets, or the short, SHORT, leash he's been given. For some reason, he's been labeled an barely average- average goalie. It almost seems like the fans, or just hockey fans in general, are hypocritical about the guy. Barely average-average= a .900-.910. .915 on a good year? Maybe 60% at the shootout? If that's what we expect from Howard, then last season he shouldn't have really been crucified. He played within his talent level, accord to most. You see, to me, Barely average- average goalies do not post .920+ the majority of their career (so far). To me, until his average season last season, an average goalie doesn't post around 75% in the shootout, consistently. To me, that's high end of above average goal tending. Or has he just been overachieving his whole career? And don't tell be it's because of the stout defense we put out on that ice. /sarcasm Oh, but what about this year's shootout numbers! Statistical anomalies happen. You just don't go from one of the better shootout goalies, to the worst, without a reason. I'm sure it will be fixed. Mrazek has talent. But he's far from ready. He has had the benefit of an offensive burst from the Wings right now. Sure it's a team game. But had it been Howard it net letting in those very same goals? The man would be on GOAT status, if he isn't there already. Mrazek can't catch a puck. He can't swallow a puck. Sure Jimmy's rebound control was bad, but not this bad. It was mostly Jimmy's kick saves (as still kind of there) that were the problem. Never a glove issue, or swallowing the puck...to this degree. I feel like Mrazek supporters are on a high right now because "he's winning". But once there's a stretch where he needs to squeeze points from 5-6 1 goal games in a row. I know Jimmy can do it. Mrazek? I'm not so sure. And as excited as some people are, and as I am, I'm not ready to hand over the reigns to the kid until he's 100% better than Jimmy. And Jimmy is a realllly good goal tender. It won't be an easy take over, no matter how we try to conjure up a scenario.

As this recent rash of injuries has shown, you can never have too much goalie depth. Keep him and let him walk in July. I imagine they'll try and ride a (hopefully healthy and fresh) Jimmy down the stretch, so I'd rather Mrazek go to GRs and play some games and try and help that team into the playoffs. Let Monster warm the bench.

Hey the Avs still have Tanguay!

Meh.

You've probably not heard of our hockey down here because we have maybe 1500 players countrywide, though it is one of the fastest growing sports. The haka itself is a traditional war challenge, performed by the Maori, our indigenous people. We're pretty proud of our culture hence its incorporation into the sporting arena. I was privileged enough to perform the haka when I played for the NZ lacrosse team at the World Cup in Canada 2006. (Another minority sport with about 150 senior players in total!). There's the occasional uproar here about the overuse of the haka, but I reckon it's pretty cool, shows off our little country and gets people like yourselves who wouldn't otherwise know who we are talking about us!

This is pretty sad..... ....pretty sad that Gordie had to go to a 3rd world country to have a life saving procedure done that this country, supposedly the greatest country on earth REFUSES to ok throught the FDA! Really America?f****** Tijuana, Mexico? Of course I could imagine the price you'd have to pay in America to have this procedure done if it ever got the ok to go forward with it. Obama and his cronies would have their hands all over it. Of course, they don't make as much money CURING these things as they do "TREATING" them... ...a story like this makes me happy for the patient, but pissess me the f*** off knowing that the cures are out there, yet the NWO just allows people to become debt slaves to medical bills and just die off in obvious population control attemtps. "They" don't want us living until we are 100, "they" want us dead before or soon after you retire and stop giving them you income taxes... Libertarian, Minimum Government, Maximum Freedom!

I love watching that rivalry that's hockey should be: pure hatred, fights, bone crushing hits, crowd going wild and coaches getting fired up. Farnham landed a serious right on that guy. But man Rinaldos hit was dirty That being said I think other rivalries sadly have died down a lot obviously Detroit - Chicago used to be good but it lacks that level of animosity even Bruins - Habs aren't close. So by today standards I think its fair to assume that this is the best rivalry in the game and I would love seeing both meeting in the playoffs but man Flyers need to get on a serious streak if they want to make it.

Don't some people refer to crap as #2?

He is their leading scorer, sadly.

Rivalry.....On.

If anyone is interested, Dr. Maynard Howe, the CEO of the company that is running the clinical trials was on Olbermann tonight. Fascinating stuff. FWIW, they are running similar clinical trials in the US, but Gordie would have had to wait 6 months before getting treatment and his family didn't feel he'd make it that long, so they opted for the Mexican clinical trial.

I only wish both teams had some of their players from the 90's. Could you imagine McCarty getting revenge on the turtle on nbc?

Hanta yo!

Pretty cool, but a couple of things: 1) I never want to see Kessel getting dressed. Ever. Under any circumstances. 2) Please stop showing Phaneuf. It's embarrassing enough he's on your team, let alone your captain. You're better served not reminding anyone.

Was ist Bob McKenzie ? Rinaldo is in the same ballpark as Carcillo, Cooke and Torres... back to topic if they think their job is to entertain well they've done a marvelous job yesterday that game was entertaining as hell if more games were like that, the NHL would have a great "product". The only better game in recent years has been that famous Pens - Isles on 11 - 2 - 11 game. Well the Flyers were playing like a team that has nothing to lose against their hatred enemy I mean whats the worst outcome ? They lose the game and get closer to McEichel did they go overboard ? Rinaldo of course did but the Flyers didn't even call up Rosehill so it was hardly thuggery in my mind. According to their fans the Flayers aren't playing like that most of the time so their must be something that really gets them going against the Pens and as a fan it's entertaining as hell to watch god I hope they'll meet in the playoffs.

Rivalries happen for a lot of reasons, and they can't be manufactured. That's why they wax and wane. Anybody want to tell me there wasn't a good, healthy, rivalry with Pittsburgh for a couple years after 2008 and 2009? And watch out if Boston and Montreal meet again in the playoffs after Lucic was a ****** and Subban made the Bruins look like assholes. Rivalries can't really be forced, and only relate to history or geography tangentially. Wanna know why the Detroit/Chicago rivalry died? Because Chicago was horrible for 30 years, and once they got good we weren't great. However, let two powerhouse teams meet each other a couple years in a row (with something on the line) and you'll have a pretty good rivalry for a while. Remember Chicago and Vancouver a few years ago. Those games were intense because they were both good and the stakes were high.

Hey! haven't seen you on here in over a month. Thought you were gone for good. Been busy scouting I assume? You stopped posting exactly after reaching 2000 posts, like you had hit your quota or something lol. The main thing is career backups have next to nothing in trade value. There's probably more value in us keeping him for the next month and waiving him than there is trading him today.

Even if I don't care about the WC but man Pittsburgh - Philly would for sure be a game to watch.

The thing that makes Brodeur hanging around sad and different than someone like Chelios playing way past his prime, is that Chelios never had any illusions about his skill level declining. He played in the AHL because he loved playing hockey and wanted to play at the highest level he was capable of. Brodeur still thinks he's a starter. That's why he left New Jersey and I think he's taking so long to "decide" because he's still trying to convince people behind closed doors that he should get a starting job somewhere. Or at least a backup job he thinks he can turn into a starting job. His ego is well-known and I think that's what makes the situation kind of sad. EDIT: My point being that it's not necessarily sad for a player to hang around, as long as they're not fooling themselves.

The way I see it is Kronwall and DK are the only absolute keepers on our blue line. We want a top 4 RHD, but we also have multiple kids who could be NHL ready in a couple years. While I would say Smith is the 3rd, or maybe 4th best dman we have, he's tradable. Petry vs Smith is pretty even right now, but we still have the log jam. We need to lose 2 or 3 of Smith, Kindl, Ericcson, and Quincey. When Quincey's contract is up, he needs to be let go. But if we only lose Kindl, Oulette still does not have a place. Smith then is the most tradable player on our defense. If we can get Petty+3rd for Smith and maybe the rights to that kid that bolted back to Sweden, we're basically breaking even, and then if we can unload Kindl for a 5th, we have Oulette up. The problem I see though is that Quincey is only good when paired with DK. So Petry would end up with Oulette on the 3rd. I'd prefer to have DK paired with Perry, but I don't trust Quincey playing with a rookie either.

The problem is for these to do well you need people from other parts of the country to want to watch. Of course fans of Columbus are going to watch, and yes the Wings have a huge following, but fans in NY, LA, Chi etc. are not going to care. People want to see teams face off with history. If you are going to put the Wings in again, have them go against a Pittsburgh or Montreal or Chicago etc. Nothing against Columbus, but nobody wants to see them that is not a Columbus fan.

This would be the lowest rated Winter Classic ever lol

My sister and her husband took my niece to the game, and someone threw her a practice puck.

We feel there's an untapped market of abandoned lunar NASA equipment who could really grow the game of hockey. My assistant also tells me that the moon is cold enough to maintain a "hockey climate", so really its Florida's market potential with Canada's climate. What's not to like??