GMRwings1983

When Sammy drops Souray on his ass and ragdolls Jared Boll like a little toy, then you can start comparing him to Lilja.

I don't think NBA coaches get fired as often and as quickly as NHL coaches do. From what I can see, there's a longer commitment from management to give coaches a chance to develop their style in basketball than in hockey.

What music? They're 2 visor-wearing spotpicking fruits that are no better fighters than Avery is. He wouldn't have anything to fear from them.

Coaches get fired in every sport, but nothing like they do in the NHL. I can't even keep track of who's coaching where and who isn't coaching anymore, and I follow the NHL quite a bit. There's no such thing as a 3 or 4 year plan in hockey like there is in other leagues. Hell, Melrose got 16 games total, and they were only a few games below .500. Lou Lamourello fires coaches even if his team is in 1st place. It's totally crazy and no one is safe. I don't know if anyone keeps track of these stats, but it'd be interesting to see how NHL firings in the last 5 years compare to other sports.

Funny how Tortorrella and Laviolette both get fired within a year, even though a few years ago both took their teams to a Stanley Cup. The NHL probably has a shorter life span for coaches within an organization than any other league. It's a constant revolving door.

This is why the sports media looks at hockey players as being the most boring athletes to interview and cover, hence they never do cover them like they do with the other leagues. A suspension like this isn't going to help that either. I don't think the media in Dallas is dying with anticipation at the chance of interviewing Matt Niskanen or Sergei Zubov. Guys like Avery who run their mouths off is how the league can get exposure through sportswriters and sports media that will be willing to give the league more coverage and interviews. The hard truth is that sportswriters are more interested in guys like Avery or someone like Terrell Owens than they ever will be in some classy primadonna like Mike Modano or even a guy like Lidstrom. This is a perfect example of Gary Bettman once again doing something that's bad for the league in the long run. How many mulligans can this commissioner pull?

Who's it going to offend besides his ex-girlfriends? Some of you guys are making ridiculous assumptions that have no reason whatsoever of being true. The average American sports fan loves this kind of stuff. Just look at the other leagues. What makes you think this will offend non-sports fans in general? If some NASCAR driver said this, I wouldn't all of a sudden lose respect for all their drivers and assume that they were all animals of some sort. It's just unfounded assumptions on your part, and that of several other posters who happen to agree with your view.

I've always known that he was a great player and have stated so in every post where I've gotten a chance to speak about him. I feel great about proving all the haters wrong.

Bettman doesn't want people looking forward to games unless Sidney Crosby is playing.

I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but most posters (not you because you seem to have some grudge against me) agree with my opinion that this is a B.S. suspension. You seem to be in the minority in thinking that this is a bad thing for the league which needs to be cracked down on. Apparently in your opinion, making truthful comments which are public knowledge, make someone into a thug of some sorts which is going to be looked down upon by people who've never heard of either Sean Avery or the Dallas Stars. I don't see it that way.

I can't speak French, so those ads may sound confusing if I'm working on them. Seriously, though, does the league want all it's players to wear boy scout outfits when they're being interviewed after a game? The fact that the media in a city like Dallas is crowding around a hockey player for any reason is a good thing. All he did was made TRUTHFUL comments about his ex-girlfriends. This is not a comment that will make all Americans look down upon hockey players.

I'm flattered that you think I'm a meat-head, but unfortunately I'm not. And where's the proof that hockey as viewed by others as being for untalented thugs? Where do you get that from? These are the types of things that happen all the time in other sports and get publicity, whether it be good or bad publicity. No one in the public would say that Avery is an untalented thug for this, because no one in the public knows who Avery is. In any other sport, a guy like Avery would be a widely known person around the country. But because he's in the NHL, he like every other player not named Sidney Crosby, is completely unknown. The league needs to understand that in order to become mainstream, they're going to have to let things like this happen just like they do in other leagues. The American public doesn't like talking about choir boys. Just look at Plaxico Burress.

It's funny how Turco of all people is talking. With the way he's played this year, he should keep his mouth shut and focus on rebuilding his goaltending skills.

You must work for Bettman's staff, which means that you've never heard of the idea that all publicity is good. Comments like this aren't going to hurt the league in any way whatsoever, because the public enjoys this kind of stuff. Whether they should or shouldn't enjoy it is a different story, but facts are facts.

Exactly, and that's why this league is always going to be an afterthought. It's run by idiots who are afraid of marketing themselves in ways that appeal to the mass public. P.S. That's a great avatar. And as I remember it, I'm the one who provided you with the inspiration for making it. I see this as one of my great contributions to LGW.

This video has proven to me that we don't ever need to dress an enforcer again. Thank you for changing my mind. Oh wait ..........

If the NHL ever wants the recognition that the other leagues get, than this is a mistake. I would have loved to see these 2 players fight each other and for this story to possibly make it big on the sports networks. Now the only network that will talk about this game is the NHL network. Bettman consistently does things to make the league as bad as possible both for fans and for non-fans.

So does this mean that NHL players are now forbidden from ever speaking the truth about anything any other player does, especially since it's in the public spotlight? I mean, it's not like Avery stated that he saw Phaneuf entering a whorehouse or that Phaneuf is a secret member of the KKK or something. The fact that he's dating Cuthbert and that Stoll is dating Rachel Hunter is public knowledge. I don't understand what he did wrong, let alone to be suspended for it. God I just hate this league sometimes for stupid s*** like this.

Does anybody besides me realize that nothing he said was untrue. His ex-girlfriends do date other NHL players. What's false about that? This is why the NHL is not popular in the dumb-ass national media. Other sports leagues go out of their way to market stars just for situations like this, why this league suspends a guy for stating the truth in a meaningless comment. If the league never suspended Forsberg or Kariya for diving, why are they fining someone for this comment, especially since it wasn't necessarily a disparaging comment, and was the god-honest truth?

The last few Wings/Ducks games all involved fights, so I'm a little surprised that something didn't happen last night. I didn't watch the game, so I don't know if it was boring or not, but for games like that, it's definitely helpful to have an enforcer in the lineup, because you know Anaheim is going to try stuff. I think that fans at the Joe, like in any arena, will show more emotion if their team stands up for itself rather than screaming and cheering for a PP opportunity as our only retribution. And whoever was talking about Kopecky not retaliating, believe me when I say that you're preaching to the choir. Ever since he beat up Sharp, he's become a scared turkey for some reason who refuses to fight. There's no reason a guy his size should be unwilling to drop the gloves, especially since he doesn't bring much else to the table and he's taking an enforcer's roster spot unfairly.

Why again is Sammy making 3 million a year? I know he's actually playing well this year, but talk about overpayment.

I think Lilja should be captain here 9 months out of the year, while Lidstrom can be the captain from July to September.

Wow, I'm glad we've never had this thread before. The answer at this point is still no. If he doesn't scream hall of famer to me, then I don't think he should be in the HOF. Honestly, Ozzie doesn't scream Hall of Famer to anyone other than Wings fans. That means that he shouldn't be in the HOF, because Wings fans are obviously biased, and we're not the ones that are going to be voting anyway. For most non-Wings fans, the answer to this question is an easy NO!

Dude, what are you talking about? That fight looked like sexual submission right there. Lilja should have been wearing a dominatrix outfit with the way he manhandled poor Jared Boll.

I never thought I'd see you posting in this thread, but those were some great photos, so thanks! The fighter with the best face during fights was always Tie Domi, because he would smile at his opponents in the middle of fights, which looked hilarious and rather unusual. Also, Lilja has a great fight face, since he always looks like he's getting ready to murder someone when he drops the gloves.