VM1138

Commodore was signed for defensive depth. The fans hyped him up into something else. Commodore has been providing defensive depth. He's hardly played any games, and hardly any time in those games, what exactly did you expect him to do? Get a hat trick? I've hardly noticed him, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for a 6/7 d-man. I never yelled at him and threw anything at my TV because of something he did, either. And he has had a few good hits. However, I do sort of feel like Smith should get some time in the NHL. I get that it's not good for a prospect to ride the pine, but he's got to start somewhere. And though he's NHL ready, he's not superstar ready, so let him get acclimated a few times. Looks like he'll get a start on this road trip, though. I'd be wanting him to learn from Lidstrom while he can.

EDIT: Nevermind.

Not true. A player hits another player, knowing that said player has proper pads on. As has been noted repeatedly, it is well known that goalie pads are not built to protect from being hit. Not to mention that an injury to a star goalie is just about the worst injury you can have. Therefore, it's hard to imagine a player like Lucic hit Miller without intent to do something. Maybe not a concussion, but tweak a muscle or something. Even something small can really hurt Buffalo's goaltending. And so he didn't get out of the way like he could have. It's reasonable to assume that Lucic did have intent to injure, and his purposeful hitting on an underprotected goalie is evidence of that.

We might have to overpay for these guys, but them's the breaks sometimes. I think both of them would be worth whatever we send. Worst case scenario the team stays the same talent wise, but it's most likely that whoever we trade (unless the obvious Dats, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Franzen) it'll be an upgrade.

If MacDonald was going to be our backup, he would've been this year. Also, I don't see Nyquist being given a top 6 spot when he's hardly played at all in the NHL. Not gonna happen. I think people are just hoping he suddenly becomes like a Stamkos or something. Only the best of the best jump right in. Even Datsyuk was a third liner first. I love the idea of these two players, though. But because it seems so obvious I doubt it'll happen. Emmerton is also a question mark. They might try to move him in a trade deadline deal this year. It is early, but I just don't see anything out of him that we don't already have in abundance.

I wasn't aware the All-Star game was based on past performances. I always thought it was just a gathering of the best players that season. If we start awarding based on past talent, it totally takes away the point in my mind. Not to mention you'll hardly ever have turnover. It should be a show-case of the best performers in the league. It should be a reward for awesome performance.

It makes me wonder, what the hell could have been said/done to make grown men flip out like this?

Anyone who has had his injury: will his speed be sacrificed due to the injury? That was really his major use for the team at the time of the injury.

Of the goalies who have played 10 or more games, Howard is second in save percentage (.934). He is tied for 1st in shutouts, but is ranked 1st due to the fact that he has played less games than the other 1st placers. He is 2nd in GAA (1.66) among goalies who have played in over 10 games. So thus far this young season, Howard has proven he is among the elites in the league. Loving the fact that his stats have been so stable even while the team stumbled.

I thought his family moved to Detroit last year or so? Hm...that sounds like he plans on leaving then, whichw ill suck. He's been a great fit and you'd think he would want to stop being a journeyman. Will suck if we have to replace Lidstrom and Stuart.

It doesn't look like NHL.com has updated their stats, so I think Franzen will now be 7th in goal scoring in the league. Considering the brutal 6 game stretch, our players have remarkably good stats. Still early, obviously, but let's hope he can keep it up and get on another hot streak to maybe challenge for one of the top spots. EDIT" Actually, depending on everyone else's goal scoring changes tonight, he'd be tied for 6th with Steven Stamkos.

Finally, some legitimate interesting activity off the ice. Everything has become either a circus or too politically correct. It's good to see some real, hardcore feelings come out.

NHL.com posted a few articles praising him.

Being one of his harshest critics the last few years, I think he's proven himself. He's great in the playoffs, even last year when he struggled in the season. He's been great thus far, and let's be honest, he's generally been great when the team needs him. I think at worst he's going to be another Osgood. Perennial underappreciated, but shows up when we need him to and knows how to win. A more likely scenario is that he's going to be elite, probably starting at the end of this season when he wins us a Cup.

They need to either move the All-Star game to after the season is over, to keep interest in hockey going, or get rid of fan balloting. People fifty years from now will be evaluating players on their all-star appearances and assume they were actually all-stars in the traditional sense, instead of just fan favorites regardless of how they're playing. The fact that Crosby could get voted on without ever playing a game this season exposes the absurdness of the format. Sports historians will say "Crosby was an X-time All-Star" and the number will mean absolutely nothing.

A Murphy soundboard would just be: "Drunken Garbling #1" "Drunken Garbling #2" etc.

The Bulin wall is back. I think this game will be a goaltending battle. Howard vs. Khabibulin. Howard better keep the Oilers young guns at bay, and the Wings better find some snipers quick.

Honestly, Howard has to win a cup to be considered. We all know how good he is, but there is a lot of goaltending talent in the league right now, the great goalies on crappy teams draw most of the attention, and probably rightfully so. Likewise the goalies on excellent teams do, too. Once the Wings win a Cup with Howard he'll get all the attention he deserves. Good to see Kronner getting some love, though.

You don't think Todd McClellan didn't have input on the boards? Maybe he didn't say it outright, but from his personal experience, he probably considers lively boards a good thing. So indirectly, yeah, inspired by the Wings and whatever lively boards McClellan had in his past.

That's dumb. Why would you separate playoffs in that? If it's in his career, playoff stats should be included. It's one thing to say he has X amount of whatever in the playoffs, but they should still be included in career stats.

Colorado's feed claims this is Franzen's second career hat trick. That can't possibly be true, can it? It seems like I can recall at least three others.

Commodore is doing fine and he brings to the table something Kindl doesn't. I'm all for giving Kindl a shot, but let's get the team back on track first.

Lidstrom, playing on a team that just went through a painful six game losing streak in which they didn't score more than twice in a game is only 5 points behind #1 in defensemen and has three games in hand on #1. He's also only 8 off of #1 in +/-, again during a time when his team was outscored by a ridiculous amount. He can make that up in a couple of games. Lidstrom will win it this year, I think, but it's probably way too early.

They have. I've been teaching my ten year old brother a lot about sports. As a kid, he naturally wants to be the ball hog and superstar and when he can't he gets frustrated. I've used Maltby and Draper (he wouldn't really understand using McCarty) as examples of how you can help the team win by working hard and finding what you're good at, even if it's not scoring. He loved both those guys and eventually it'll hit home that being a great role player is just as important as being a superstar. It's a lot easier to relate to a guy like McCarty, who plays in a terrible rock band, than to Zetterberg, who owns a clothing line and married a supermodel.

I like that they don't have a standard, though. Several arenas have their own characteristics and make it more enjoyable. What I don't like is how San Jose has copied everything the Wings do since McClellan took over, and now they seem to be the one team we can't handle.