55fan

Piping hot: Veleno. Lots of potential. I like what I've seen of him. Cooling off: Hronek. Held us together during the bad seasons where he was it. Needs to get that swagger back. Useful for Empty Net Goals. Kinda chilly: Rasmussen. I haven't seen anything yet to make me think he'll still be around for long. Funky cold: Zadina. I had hopes for him, but he just hasn't made the turn from "guy from the AHL who will get it soon" to "guy who belongs up with the team". Maybe he will eventually blossom, but I think he'll do it on another team. Just my 0¢ CDN.

Just a question: What would have happened had he attempted to go to Canada unvaccinated? In that case he would have been breaking a federal law rather than just a team/league mandate. He would have been in trouble, but would the team or league have faced any legal trouble? Just curious. This place is safe. Kip and I will never have sex.

Maybe it's just because I'm a chick, but I didn't find his comment offensive when he said it. I figured that he didn't mean like actual females- trainers, maintenance workers, security, hotel staff, etc- that they were dealing with on a daily basis. I figured that he meant women- like puck bunnies. Maybe he should have been more specific. He should have said something like, "It's a good thing there aren't any loose harlots to distract them." Also, speaking as a woman, dogs and children are distractions from work. They're so darn cute and cuddly and you have to clean up after them, which is time-consuming. I would think that dogs and children are much more of a distraction than puck bunnies. Well, maybe just the children. You have to give them a lot of attention. All you have to do with dogs and puck bunnies is give them a bone now and then.

Last I heard he was engaged.

Colorado looking way too good for my taste. Go Vegas/Minn (please be Minn)

1) Smith will play more games than not. 2) Mantha will fight and not break any bones. 3) We will make the playoffs by the skin of our teeth.

I actually started turning grey in 1981, probably from waiting for the Lions to win a superbowl and the Wings to win a cup.

Maybe the grey is because all of us who remember the Wings winning cups are old and grey.

At this point, it's possible that SY has contacted one or more agents, made a slightly low offer, and is now waiting to see how soon any of them panic about not playing and bite on the low wage. Just saying it's possible, not that it's true. Imagine getting Haula for 2m and he goes back to his best year's stats and gets almost 30 goals on the 3rd line. That would be a steal.

I've been a fan of Haula since he entered the league. Living in Wild territory, I watch just about every Wild game (and cheer for them if there's no conflict of interest with the Wings). Haula is great at faceoffs and on the PK. He's the kind of guy that will go to where the puck is to fight for it defensively- always in the corners or along the boards when the puck is there. When you listen to a game, you hear the phrase, "Play was broken up by Haula" a lot. Plus he has a scoring touch. Not big enough to make him a household name, but a good secondary scorer. He really showed that well when he was with Vegas. The guy is just all over the ice doing what he does. He wasn't protected when Vegas got their pick of the other teams because the Wild just had too many other assets to protect. When I watch him, I think of Kris Draper. I would love to see him with the Wings. This last season his offense wasn't much to look at and he got traded at the deadline. Due to the shortened season, he only played a few games with FLA. I think that he could be had a bit cheaper since his numbers took a dip last season. He can play top or bottom 6 and PK, and with his faceoff ability and scoring he is an asset on the PP as well. This message not supported by any agent or player. The author assumes all responsibility for its content. Discontinue use if rash occurs.

Hey, Carlo... Tell Alex how AWESOME Detroit is, ok?

The elements are earth, water, air, and fire. An elemental player looks like he's skating in mud, sweats like a hog, farts a lot, and has dragon breath. Basically an old-school bottom 6 guy who's been around the league too long and will drop the gloves because that's what he's good for. In other words, my kind of guy.

Not surprised by this. Holtby is still available. Not sure which I would prefer. For the record, I remember you from way back.

You're at the end of your career, Abby. Write books and raise your child. You had a good run.

I've been chuckling at your prediction. Love it that you were right. Now we just have to get Lil Drapes out against Lil Turtle and see who's Daddy gave his baby the bigger yambags.

Bare Naked Ladies should do all Anthem singing from here on in. Firstly because they did a killer job. Secondly because my eighty-year-old mother gasped slightly when they were announced and then commented that they looked more like Clothed Old Men.

The mods are volunteers. Currently Jedi is the only one who comes around. He has asked that people help him out since he is not around as much as he would like to be. The other mods have just vanished. They do not get paid and take abuse from those who disagree with them. It's a thankless job. If they come down, people tell them to lighten up. If they don't, people grumble that they should have been on it. Again, if you have a problem with a post, report it. If it is more than one poster, report all the posts that bother you. Your help is needed to make the forum work. All of us are responsible as users. I just sit back and watch things devolve. To keep things on topic, I'm glad they are just using "aces". It sounds better, and everyone knows the whole "ace up your sleeve" thing.

When last I "saw" Jedi, he was the only mod around, so if a thread needs to be locked, you can either 1) Report a post 2) PM him 3) Avoid the thread 4) Pop some popcorn and watch the fur fly. I got to wondering tonight if "Black Aces" would be considered racist outside the hockey world if there were an African-decended player who was one. We know it means "ace up your sleeve" and from what I understand of cards, the ace of spades is the trump card, therefore the best, but "black ace" and "spades" sound like something that an uninformed person could take offense to. Nowadays, that is enough to set off a fecal tsunami.

The difference in many of the comparisons is a percentage point or two. In a survey of 400k people, that is not a lot of people. That said, even though there are differences, why do we assume that it needs fixing? This is not a question of whether or not people are allowed to like or choose something, but what it is that they choose. We tend to like and follow teams and sports that our family like or that our friends are into. If a person is from a city or region that hosts a team, (or if a parent is from said place) the likelihood that a person will follow a specific team is higher. Obviously, this is not always true. My dad (from Detroit) loved every team from Detroit. My mom (from southern Illinois) liked Cardinals baseball. I have no love for baseball or basketball, but love Wings and Lions. In her later life, after marriage, Mom became a big Wings fan. She still hates football, even though Dad coached it. When this fanhood travels through families and communities, it shapes a person's team preferences, which may shape sports preferences in general. When I was growing up, every kid had a pair of skates and the boys had hockey sticks and pucks. That was all we needed to play hockey. We hit balls around with the sticks in the summer. We also played with basketballs and baseballs and footballs. This was fun until they figured out that the reason that I did not own any of these things because I was a girl. That sucked. This was in Saskatchewan. We had a rink and ice aplenty, even in a very small town. It was part of the culture. Moving south to the US, there was still ice, but not the hockey culture. Had I moved slightly east, I'd have been in Minnesota, aka "the State of Hockey". It's about your family, your community, and your geographical location. Race may be (and likely is) a factor in at least one of these, but this does not inherently mean that it needs fixing. It just means that different families, communities, and cultures like different things. While we want to open the world of hockey to all people, it doesn't mean that we have to "fix" it. We just have to market it to people who may not have been exposed to it. We also have to accept that there are people (meaning individuals, not groups) who just have no interest in hockey, or sports in general. As long as no one is being excluded, it is a matter of personal opinion.

There is hope. The Lions led the Bears 23-6 after 3 quarters. The Bears scored 3 touchdowns, and the Lions dropped the tying TD ball in the end zone. The Lions lost. Slowly but surely, 2020 is returning to normal.

I'm pulling for Vancouver, but I won't be too sad if Vegas wins. Honestly, I think either team could pull it off. And.... here we go!

Toaster strudel- either too hot or too cold. Hard to get the perfect temp. Poptarts- can be eaten hot or just thrown in you bag and eaten whenever. Toaster strudel= first round draft pick. Everyone has such great hopes, but you never know if they'll be realized. Poptarts= Selke winners. May not be flashy or anyone's first pick, but they come through for you no matter what the circumstances.

Just a note- The NHL (or the players) did not cancel games. They just postponed them. Each series is still a best-of-seven. They just didn't play for a couple of days and then resumed. Honestly, no one is out anything, except for the players spending two more days away from their families.