lomekian

Its an interesting one, as we don't really know what history there may have been. For instance, if Kesler had enjoyed Kelly Backes company in the way her photo would suggest I'd be open minded about, then it might be crossing a line. If there is no history, its quite an easy bit of sledging (as its known in cricket) to ignore. I liked Backes response, which kept it in perspective. If they had been really derogatory about her, it may be a different issue, as that then brings her into it. As it stands as long as its not racial or getting into really offensive and cruel territory its cool. The aforementioned example of dead family members is for me crossing a line of etiquette and reflects very poorly on the person saying it. Certainly personal insults towards the opponent are pretty fair as long as they don't become an attack on family. Implying that you might want to have your way with his wife is a little close to the edge but is still on the acceptable side of it for me. Of course its very hard to regulate and largely requires players to follow a broad unwritten code. Avery is just a muppet who gets too caught up in his psychological warfare, when actually he's a good enough agitator and player on the ice to not have to stoop as low as he does. If he would cash his own cheques, fine, but crossing the line as he does and not taking responsibility within the etiquette of the game is hard to defend really. Shame as if he was 20% less dickhead he'd be a real asset....

Surely there quite clearly is something in the rules against it? Maybe nothing warranting serious censure, but none the less its still against the rules, written and otherwise. A lot of players in amny sports and happily particularly hockey, do consider morally correct and the spirit of the game as important. Its why everyone hates avery, why the lady bying exists, and why the likes of lidstrom and ray bourque are so well respected. Everyone wants the edge, but its in those tight situations where the real class of an individual or team shows through.

Bulls***...whether you may occasionally like to see it happen its cheating no matter how you dress it up. Like all those knee on knee cheapshots on Yzerman. Trying to do somethng that is specifically designed to hirt an opponent whilst knowing its outside the rules of the game, is basically bringing the sport into disrepute. Its a bit like if you had a rivalry at a sales office and your competitor slashed your tyres so you couldn't get around or wiped your PC...surely the purpose of both human existance and sport is to aspire to be something better than animals?

Oh and Lids...by a disttance...as one poster mentioned the number of minimum fus plays he makes in tight situations is incredible. Ok he's not been at his best this year, but he's probably still got a half-chance of retaining hte norris... Markov...Norris....never..simple as....

Godfather III surely..godfather II was a wonderful film...

I think your self depricating irony was lost on some sadly.....and I'll raise you - i'm a coward and skinny as hell, but i reckon i could have a blind, 1-armed Chara....if they let me use my rapier or bokken....

Totally..after all spectator sport without the fans is like actors without an audience - only of any value to the people on the ice/ field/ stage etc. Players, coaches etc come and go - the fans remain, and can vote with their feet and be vocal enough to influence the running of any good sports club....so it is as much, if not more about us - so We is entirely justified. And as the saying goes, there's no I in team...

Reasonably true, but Big Don and some the Canadien hockey commentators need to realise that its a global game, where you cna support your country in the Olympics, but still love all the foreign guys in your team. Talking about toughness, I've got a lot of respect for canadians in this respect..but there are plenty of other tough guys out there.....russians tend to be soft as hell or hard as nails...in any sport. I'd love to see the impact if the irish, scots, aussies or even better some of the central asian communities ever played hockey. Bloody tough sods who know how to fight almost as a matter of genetics! I'm English, and a massive fan of football (or soccer to the hard of understanding), but like much as I support England in international tournaments, I love the influx all the foreign players has had on the quality of the english league. From what I;ve seen it applies similarly in hockey. A league without recognitiona nd opportunites for a lidstrom, ovechkin, or Kiprusoff, or equally, Hasek, Bure or Federov would be much poorer in terms of both qualirty and entertainment. They're not tough guys (although ovie looks pretty hard to me), but they raise the standard of the league immeasurably. That's what the likes of grapes (and his frankly nuclear fallout dress sense) should get into their skulls and remember. No fans want to see an end to fighting or good clean hits, but 'good old time hockey' was also full of dirty, vicious cheating bastards, who got away with all sorts. THe game is more skillfull as a result of the changes in rules, and as long as the refs don't have even more forced upon them (and learn some consistency), the NHL will grow its fan base exponentially through more euro's being successful and the NHL having a more global game

Offering a perspective from across the pond. Congrats to Ozzie when he gets there. Yes playing on good team helps...no s***..otherwise dom would have had a 100 more wins. But Ozzie has always been a bit up and down, so he's perfectly capable of coming back from this year and getting another 50 wins with the wings. Hes never been an elite tender, but has always been up to this point a very good one, capable of stretches of elite play..hence his stanley cup rings. On the wider point, i've never been totally convinced hes as good as the level we aspire towards, and feel his tempremant is better suited to not having to be 'the man', but rather 'the man who steps up'. Strange that he's struggling this year after his stellar performance last spring, but its not totally out of character. However whatever happens from here, he's been a loyal servant, occasionally brilliant when its required, has brought us 3 cups and has been one of our best draft picks even form this great era that we are still enjoying. Hats off to the guy and lets hope april works its magic on him again... Having said that, isn't it great how ty has exceeded expectations..

Aaah s***, i shouldn't have watched that in the office! I'm only lucky that my boss had leaft early, otherewise I'd have had to explained what Iwas laughing so hard I couldn't see at. I think Semin should get an award for best comedy performance...brilliant Not that staal was so much better for a much bigger guy. I think our entire lineup would do a better job than that...as we say last year, dats can throw a punch. 2 guys even the 2009 version of mac could beat the crap out of! Though fair play to Semin for at least standing up for himself in some way....

Not a particualrly dirty hit....potentially risky yes, but we see far worse on a regular basis. Also if AO is say 6 "3 or 6 "4 and Heward is a smaller guy also bening down the elbow wlll appear high. However...I' ve seen far worse in most games, its just the circumstances were unfortunate. Its not even comperable with the Van Ryn hit, as he is leaning head down some distance away from the boards, and the run up, speed and angle of kostopolous's hit was always going to cream him into the boards. With the hit on heward, players get hit in that position all the time, and normally being that close to the boards actually limits the opportunity for injury. Dirty? NO Reckless? Possibly Suspension? No Way At worst its a 2 min minor, and I'm not even 100% convinced that you could call that. If this was a suspension, then Chris pronger would play about 5 games a season!

Ooops i meant as many GOALS as Z!!

I Very much Agree with this...cleary's only starting to get his old pre eye injury jump back, and Flip is indeed the nearly man...he's like 5% away from being a great second line centre...the question is will he ever get that 5%...I guess he's got until the summer to prove it, before cap crunch puts him in danger. Am so pleased for Huds at the mo....seems like as of about march/ april he finally found a role in the team where his great offensive instincts and finishing can flourish without his lack of size and less than fantastic wheels don't hurt the team. Who would have though at this stage he'd has as many points as Z? Good to see Sammy doign well to...he still needs to play bigger, and he'll never be sniper, but he fits well with Zatta and Mule, as he seems to complement them both quite well despite being fairly average at most aspects of the game...

Thought the grind line did ok intheir limited minutes last night. Maltby's actually been a bit more like his old self the last few games, and with Mac, he keeps a few opposition players honest. He may not fight anymore, but he's still a tough guy. And as the grand rapids saw last year he can still finish pretty well. I think for players scheduled to play between 3-8 minutes a night malts and mac are fine and that allows helm, abdelkader and Leino to rack up big minutes and big points in the AHL which can only help their development more than sitting on the bench while we chase games. We'll see the kids more as the season progresses and we have more points on the board, but surely if Mac and malts are skating now is the time to be using them - to see if they CAN contribute anything come play off time. Either way, this will probably be the last hurrah for both of them, so if its still not hurting anyone a little sentimentailty shows the organisation in a good light. One wonders if we'll see Cheli again in a hurry. As for drapes, he's still one of the leagues best face of guys, and brings it when needed, and obviously is still akep PK guy (despite his shakey +/- totals this year. He's fine for another 2 years i think. Of course all three would get more minutes and more opportunites to shine on 70-80% of all the other teams out there. Look at Quincy - wings no 9 D man, top 3 in LA.....

If feds had had the drive, gut and self sacrifice of a mid 90s Stevie Y, he would have been the wings best ever player....sadly he didn't and was unfavourably compared. He knew it, we knew it, and I'm sure it contributed to him leaving. The fans give him harder tme than Shanny partly because it was all a bit cloak and dagger from both sides, and he never really offered a full explanation of why he left. The big reason, though, is that when Shanny went, most of us knew the time was right, and it was better for all in the medium term. Feds, however, left at a time when we didn't want him to, and he had a much higher trade value, so we missed out more long term. As it turns out it worked out better for us than them, but we could still have done with the draft piks that trading them would have recouped!

Being compared to fischer is no bad thing...given the way fisch was starting to get his game together before he was struck down, I think he'd comfortably be a top 4 man at most teams now. Also Ericsson features so highly because he offers the potential to be something that none of our other prospects or roster will be...a big defensive body with a bomb of a shot and with decent skills. Others are better in some areas (and possibly much so - Kolosov is a bigger hitter), but none have that particular package which puts him at a premium. That and the fact tha in any other organisation he would be on teh big club now...we're just lucky enough to be stacked on defense. The vary fact that we know he can play in the NHL tomorrow massively increases his worth, as apart from Helm and Quincy (and maybe howard and abdelkader at a pudh) none of our other prospects are at that stage, and Ericsson offers more than quincy certainly, and the wings aren't short of 3rd/4th line forwards. Leino is the only other possibility for this year.....

This is exactly the point....Sammy's a good solid 2-way player who fits our system pretty well and comes cheap....as a 3rd line forward he's actually a very good deal....its just that he frustrates so much because he fundamentally has the tools to be a much more impactful player. Every so often you see a shift from him that makes you think 'wow..where the hell did that come from', and then, like Kaiser Szose he's gone....with his physical attributes and actual skill level, he should be a 60 point forward, but he lacks those key mental attributes of say a zatta......he's a good solid forward, well worth his salary and plays his role pretty well...its just you can never hske the if only when watching him....that said with Hossa's arrival, Sammy will get the 3rd line slot that suits his production level and responsible play and will probably still get 35-40 points.....

I like the idea of continuing the experiment of meech as a forward. I too think he has more upside than lebda, but Lebda did a good job in the playoffs and seems to know how to play to his strengths.... really pleased stuart signed as he's exactly the type of defenceman we find hard to draft...puck moving whils being solid, physical and not flashy

Comparing bettman to Napoleon is unfair...Napoleon was a charismatic inspiration leader that managed to get the cheese eating surrender monkeys to conquer most of europe....Betmann reminds me much more of oswald cobblepot - aka Danny Devito's take on the Penguin....

Very good in the playoffs, in fact better than in the regular season. played very smart, fairly physically and generally made life easier for cheli and lilja. I was also particualrly impressed at his pitching in when we had teams onthe ropes, so we could maintain pressure during line changes....very smart. Shame he can't shoot!

Bettman would have preferred a game 7 and thining from a US market point of view would have preferred crosby up there. He should remember however, that the wings will probably do more for expanding the global fan base. However apart from the slightly disappointed expression I don't think this influenced anything. He's a pretty strange guy (regardness of any illness), and is of the sort that are very succesful in major administrative roles the world over. However his charisma bypass is unfortunate for someone in such a prominent role. It can't help him though to know that most of the people that watch and listen to him think he is wrong. He reminds me of so many british minor civil servants - like an accountancy gnome that's somehow ended up being mistaken fo the king, and despite his enjoyment is waiting for someone to tell him its all been a big msitake and can he leave please.....

Don Cherry is a mildly entertaining old bigot who woudl prefer it if hockey was big canadian meatheads knocking seven shades of S**t out of each other. no suprise about his anti europe jibe.....but he picked Detroit from the start, and favours us for a repeat, so at least he's not sufficiently xenophobic to be blind!

Was stoked when we traded for him, and even more that its turned out so well. would love to re-sign him. Don't know why i've always been a fan, but I just had a feeling he'd make agood fit on the wings...to the point that I've traded for him on every version of every hockey game he's featured on! Oh and how good was his early hit on the false messiah...the tv stations nearly went into meltdowns when it looked like cindy might be injured.....

AH who cares....they tried to stop us and they couldn't....admittedly my sleep patterns in the ukare aittle pissed about the reffing in game 5, but right now I couldn't give a rats arse! Just be thankful it was an away game so O'Halloran couldn't wave off hank's stanley cup winner!

Its 6am in the morning here in Camden Town, London, England, and the sun has come up......the tv is finally off and I'm as happy as pig in the proverbial..... loved thre CBC bit about every player's favourite's growing up...must be pretty cool for Kronwall to be captained by his hero or even better for Lebda to spend most of the year playing on the same line as Cheli, his hero....nice that