lomekian

My only significant take on this subject is that Cleary is slightly overpaid, but earnt that trhough past endeavours, Flip is paid pretty much what he should be, and Resigning Bert for 2 years at $1.25 a year is a good deal, especially since he seems to have got the message that he's more useful to the team as a skillful net presence and big body rather than a flashy perimeter player. Him on the same line as from the playoffs suits me just fine. Also despite not being great, his defensive play significantly improved over the course of last year in my opinion.

Bettman's obviously been on the phone...

Hi Chris... I'm from the UK, so you are a lot closer than me. Big congrats to you and yours for the s'bowl...I was really very pleased for the saints, and its been a while since I've been shouting for the team that actually wins the superbowl. T'was extra good for me cos the who were on the half-time show, and my oldest friend's dad was on stage rocking it out! These forums are welcoming, opinionated, sometimes insightful, often knowledgeable, and very passionate. As with most forum's there are very few absolutes except....Stevie Y was THE MAN, Lidstrom is a genius almost beyond criticism who has almost redefined how it is possible to play top level defense, the 2002 stanley cup winning team was one of the finest ever created, the red wings are one of the most important ice hockey teams in the world, and definitely the most historically significant in the usa. Almost every other idea will be argued by someone! Lets just say you've made a good choice. As a relative outsider, I can say with a degree of objectivity that the Red Wings are one of the best run, most respectful, professional and loyal teams in any sport, and as such, even with a team having its worst year in at least 16 or 17, there is a strong team core that will in all likelihood continue to remain competitive Welcome to the international wings nation...

I agree pinning their colours so obviously to the great white hope that was sid the kid was short sighted, and Ovie has been the one to capture the imagination. Partly personality (he's clearly a bit crazy and we like that!), and also he's a goal scorer....and guess what goals are more exciting than simple hockey smarts assists. I don't downplay crosby's ability, but in terms of off your seat excitement, currently nobody can compete with ovechkin....reminds of me bure and federov at their peak...you knew at any second something truly spectacular could happen....

Your point is a good one, but jesus, can you imagine crosby fighting ovechkin...that crazy russian would absolutely kill him!

Crosby carries on ince some of the personality issues you would expect from someone who has been hailed as the second coming since he was 14 and (although largely the result of the strong supporting cast when it comes to big games), he has to some degree proved it. Perhaps if his personality was more like the infectious enthusiasm and slight mentalism of Ovechkin or the incredibly rare humility of stevie y, we'd forgive him his priggish moments more easily. The fact is, despite his ability, he still has something of the kid at school who knew how good he was, and expected things to go his way, and complained when it wasn't. The difference is he can walk the walk, and so we can't even look forward to bumping into him in a bar 15 years later, and finding him bald, fat, disappointed and worrying how he'll feed his 3 kids by 3 mothers. Bottom line is, if you are going to be bloody brilliant and know you are being projected as such, its best not to be too smug or precious about it unless you have an incredible amount of charisma. Ovie gets away with being super confident, a bit dirty and living the playboy life for much the same reason everyone loves Jonny Depp - No how jealous you may feel, he's unashamedly having so much fun that he's happy to invite you to share in his enjoyment. That said, I still find him far less annoying/disturbing/embarassing/vommit inducing than Bettman, who always looks like he's auditioning for the role of a goblin from the Lord of the Rings.....

I was about to post about How Don Cherry's not that bad, and has a fair amount of insight to accompany is pro canadian bias, outdated views and deliberate controversy. And I'm from Europe....however, I was thrown out my stride by the above quote - I love the way that so many people that side of the pond are anti-liberal, when theoretically both the USA and Canada acheived their independence based on libitarian pro equality principles ripped off from the french. But i suppose a principle of freedom includes the freedom to be an idiot...

Totally agree. He flatters to deceive a fair bit because with his wheels, moments of skill and positional sense you feel he should offer more offensively, but actually he has come on a fair bit, and if he keeps working at his shooting he could easily be a 50-60 point guy on the 2nd line. Salary cap means no more stacked wings teams, and in the new era, he is a 2nd line centre on most teams.

About the only star player that the ducks have had in the last 7 or so years who I like, and he gets the wierdest injuries...why can't it ever happen to their extensive collection of complete arseholes...

Across the board, yes, but the days of the wings etc able to make stacked rosters of $80m salary compared to other teams with $35m have gone, which creates greater parity across the league, and possibly less high scoring games and definitely lesser point totals for league leading scorers...

YOu do realise you've totally missed the point of the original post you are repsonding too and are in fact agreeing with that poster in every way... On the general issue, my take as a brit who has started watching the game as of mid 90s...... 1) As with all high profile sports the levels of professionalism are much much greater across the board than say 80s and early-mid 90s, which creates far more parity, less goals, better defence etc...as the standards increase so does tactical nullifying of other teams and the players ability to achieve this, allowing less room for individuals to shine. 2) Fight instigator rule adds nothing to the NHL at all... 3) More recently...salary cap = more parity = less stacked teams = less exhibition hockey. Not a bad thing, but its a difference 4) removing clutching is a good thing, but the rules need to be more definitive one way or another. And this applies to a range of calls, and tv replays need to be available for all major calls, not just some. Inconsitant refs make the game less enjoyable to the fan and less decipherable to the uninitiated (at the moment its a bit like rugby scrums at times where one team is penalised and even after a reply you don;t know why) 5) More speed + hard pads + insufficient punishments for certain players = more injuries to star players. This is obviously bad. Speed is good, but the NHL needs to make it harder for s***ty players to just go out to hurt opponents without consequences (maybe related to fight instigator). 6) NHL has totally failed to globally market in the way it should. This is the era of globally televised sport, yet in the uK it s basically impossible without dodgy fan made streams to watch a team in the world's premiere league to play except once every 2 or 3 weeks one 1 channel. Sure ice hockey's popularity is not so great in the Uk, but how is it expected to grow if people can't even see it if they want to. in fact, I didn't even know ice hockey existed as a sport until 1987 when a friend got given 'blades of steel' on his nintendo, and i didn't know more about the NHL other than it existed until NHL hockey on the sega megadrive (though i knew about Gretzky being the best player!)...and i've always been a sports nut. Most people over here still know no more than that. If you don't extend an olive branch to a potential consumer base, how will that base ever form and grow. Although almost equally rare over here the NBA, NFL and MLB have all done so much much much more effectively in the last 20 years, so there is a real (albeit still minority) fanbase over here. And American football and baseball are 2 sports that virtually no country outside of North America actually plays or gives a s*** about...by contrast, ice-hockey is played throughout europe and some of the best players ever are european. I can't comment on domestic NA distribution issues other than its clear the current model is a shambles. 7) Gary Bettman is anti-charisma and looks like a 2nd rate goblin from lord of the rings (not to mention his awful voice). He shouldn't ever be let near a camera or a mic as his mere existence undermines the credibility of the NHL. And this would even be the case if he knew his s***. I mean he makes Ross Perot look sexy...

Gotta say its impossible to really comment at this stage, but if the team makes it to the playoffs and healthy, then its a massive plus, as some players will be rested, the likes of bert, drapes and even malts will have re-found themselves to a degree, and the likes of helm, eaves, miller, abdelkader will have gained more clutch experience and integrated more into rw hockey. The fact that the team can still be in touch with so many injuries and so many new players is a good thing, and actually serves us well in the transition required when th elast of the 97 team finally retire in 2010 and 2011....lets hope we have a good january!

With Axelsson it does seem to be part of an ongoing maturity issue, which he may or may not grow out of, though it seems of a different nature than Ryno who left despite doing better in the AHL than he ever did in sweden (odd!). With Grigorenko its much much more complicated. Before his crash he was nailed on as a top 6 prospect and had played on the same line as Dats and Kovalchuk...by the time he made it over here, he was battling to be an NHL 3rd liner at best, was struggling with his conditioning, and couldn't crack the team. I imagine the big carrot of the tax free money back home was a major one, but also it seems as though something in him died emotionally or physically, because even after the crash his stats in Russia before coming over were so much better than when he went back home. Its almost as if his huge post crash recovery effort was to make it to the NHL, but when he couldn't make the team he kind of lost all his motivation...sad really.

Have you considered he may have said that to ingratiate himself with his new employers, and that he probably felt a little disappointed that Kenny didn't consider shifting salary to keep him? The fact is, if we offered him the same money he would have stayed and said great things about detroit...end....of

Despite some odd press moments this summer and the hope that his time at the Blackhawks works out badly for all concerned, I do agree with this a lot. I would say, however, that for all his exceptional ability, I felt he never totally meshed with the wings style, but for much of the year his ability and that of his line-mates hid the fact. A player of his ability playing with Dats should have done even better than he did. Still no hard feelings, he came on the cheap, had a good year but had a bad scf.....it was worth it for the excitement when he signed!

Good for him..he's taken a lot of stick, but as far as i can see has been trying to adapt to a different way of playing and struggling a little, but he has looked better of late, even before the recent points flurry. For the money, no-one's in a position to criticise, and personally I think he sees this year as an opportunity to re-establish himself a little, whilst also possibly finding a home...certainly the joy when he or his line scores is endearing and infectious...

What a great pace to the game, and nice drity goal from Miller

Bert's under-achieved..no shortage of effort...some nights he looks ready to break out, others he looks slow and old. With a bit more conviction in his play he could easily have 10 goals already, and i think he will have a hot streak at some stage this year. 1st liner? Not any more. Worth his salary? Yes. Here next year? Not unless he puts up a lot of points soon....

Typical North American Jingoistic nonsense. While undoubtedly the AHL provides a better transition in terms of language, phyisicality and officiating, for some players this is not what is most important. A 19/20 year old dats of zett would have struggled physically to cope with the AHL, so for them, and for others, it was more important for them to get high skill playing time while they physically developed. Some people mature physically and mentally at different rates, and it has to be judged on a case by case basis. Much like the guys who are 5'10" at 13 are dominant at sports at school and maybe 1st year of college, but lack the finesse to ever be great at whatever sport, end up mediocre, but their physical dominance hinders the opportunities of more skilled players who won't stop growing vertically (let alone physically) until they are 19/20. I for one was still growing at 19 and as a rsult was far less co-ordinated than i am now. I say if they are not ready (and particularly if high skill type players), l;et them develop in whatever is going to provide the best match for them in terms of opportunities for ice-time and standard of play.

To be fair, if he'd shown any great scoring instincts, considering his speed and work ethic we would never have picked him up in the 5th round.....I could see him developing in that area, and suspect that much like draper he'll have one or two higher scoring seasons when he has to take on a larger role, but esssentially he'll be a 10 goal 30 point a season man for much of the forseeable, which is plenty given what else he offers...

good timing from hank...curly fries anyone?

snipe!

jesus..how many times has bert hit the post this year?

Fuuuuuuuuuck.....typical after the initial piss poor call...

initial bulls*** call and now a pittsburgh-esque 2 many men..