GSBrooks13

He really loves the stutter step to change the angle before he shoots.. Impressive how quickly he is able to do it.

Someone didn't do their homework before the game.. I'm guessing this isn't a common occurence in the Belarusian Extraleague..

On top of Bertuzzi and Franzen severely underachieving in the playoffs, I still have to think Datsyuk was quite a bit under 100%.. I haven't heard anyone come out and announce that he actually was injured, but he just didn't look to be playing at 100%. He still was able to make plays and be decent on the faceoff, but his shots never seemed to be up to par. I know Datsyuk has never been a "sniper" but it just felt like about 80% of his shots (especially from the slot) missed the net.. of course this could also simply be that Rinne was frustrating the whole team and he was trying to pick corners every time, but to me Datsyuk gets those shots on net at least 80% of the time. Then again, this could have also been the fact that maybe Datsyuk felt like he had to do it by himself on that line and was feeling the pressure.. In any case, nothing would make me happier than seeing Datsyuk playing with a legit sniper next season.

I don't care that much that he did it, like the majority I don't think it changed much and definitely doesn't warrant any kind of suspension.. it just seemed kind of childish to me.. I mean it's one thing to get away with covering the puck but to go through that much effort to hide it is just silly, he could have just slid it under his body and when he got up the ref just would have thought he fell on it.. I also agree with BlazeYoungblood.. I'm not sure how the referees could have just given up on finding the puck.. I believe in the CBC video they showed them checking the goalies equipment.. but seriously, did they think it just disappeared? If anyone is pissed I would think it would be whichever referee was standing behind the net watching the play.. I know if a player goes through that much effort to trick me I might just be inclined to give him a bit of a harder time next time I referee one of his games.

I think it might be a bit of a foced retirement.. Holmstrom is probably still the best at what he does, but that one thing is becoming less and less valuable as a result of his game sliding in other areas. Also should mention the fact that he used to be effective enough that it outweighed the reputation calls. At this point the Wings can still put Bertuzzi or Franzen in front of the net and be just as effective..

I think the NHL is stuck right now trying to have it both ways. They want to eliminate headshots with suspensions, but clearly believe that teams/players should have to police the game themselves (even if they won't say it). But I don't believe you can have it both ways, if you want players to police the game then you need to get rid of the instigator rule. The Wings kind of lucked out with Weber because he manned up and knew he had to fight Bertuzzi, but if you look at the Sens game Boyle didn't want to fight Carkner and ended up getting blasted a couple of times. That brings a dangerous area in where if you want retribution, but can't get it by fighting the guy face to face then chances are you're gonna try to hurt that guy in some other way (likely with a cheapshot of your own).

I've made a few quick photoshops just for fun already.. but I think I found the one photo that needs no photoshopping to describe the Preds fanbase. EDIT: Actuuaallly, on second thought.

And for this evening's Main Event!

Just incase Weber isn't suspended.. Red Wings addition for the next game.

My quick contribution.

So.. I don't normally even look at NHL.com articles because they are generally crap anyways.. but this one was brought to my attention since the free press mentioned it.. Heres the free press article which links to the NHL article - http://www.freep.com/article/20120328/SPORTS05/120328004/1053/sports05 Now.. I am not gonna be biased and say the Wings should be number 1 with how they had slumped recently, but to not even put them in the top 10 teams? That seems straight up ridiculous to me.. Despite the recent struggles the Wings are still (likely) going to have yet another 100 point season.. how does a 100 point team rank 14th out of 16 playoff teams? Thoughts?

I think that injuries is the main difference between the NHL.com power rankings and the TSN Power Rankings. I think TSN gives the team some lead way if they are heavily injured, which is why in their rankings the Wings have fallen gradually down to 8th.. while the NHL.com rankings are clearly just based on Wins and Losses, so when they lost, no matter the reason, they dropped like a rock.

Okay, all things considered they haven't exactly played like a top 10 team the last few games (before Columbus). But looking through the list of teams ahead of Detroit it still seems kind of odd that the Wings are that low.. I'm not sure of the exact formula they use to determine their power rankings.. but Wings aside there is a lot on the list that seems a little off.. like Pittsburgh ahead of St. Louis, Dallas ahead of Boston, Nashville ahead of Vancouver.. EDIT: Side note, in the corresponding Power Rankings from TSN Detroit is ranked 8th, which seems much more reasonable.

It's weird, normally after long delays to start the game they let the players take another short warm up.. lucky no one pulled a groin after that..

Well.. s***.

Which is pretty BS because if he doesn't reply with the line that he used (includig a defenseman at center) then none of it happens.. There is no way anyone can believe that if the Rangers started Gaborik and Richards against that Devils line that they were just going to get mugged, in fact it probably would have been smart to start their first line against that Devils line for a scoring chance... I don't have any problem with the fights but if you're going to be a willing combatant you can't turn around after the game and blame the other coach.

See, it's not about which car breaks down and how many parts it takes for the car to break down, it's about who's willing to get out and push when it breaks down and right now there aren't very many "parts" to this team that are willing to get out and push until we can get all of our parts back in place.

I hate to say it but I agree with the Homer summary that's being given. I think at this point it's hard to send Nyquist back down, he looked good with Dats and I think given a couple more games with Dats he could really break out heading into the playoffs. When Franzen comes back I think Homer needs to sit so Nyquist can stay in and then (hopefully) the Wings are left with 2 legit scoring lines again.

One of those rare games where the physical rivarly is exactly as hyped. I had this one on TV and the Wings on my laptop, they spent almost the entire preview of the game replaying the last game with the double fight 2 seconds in and then right on cue, 3 seconds in you have a line brawl. There aren't many teams that can even line up 3 fighters a side to start a game anymore so it was kind of fun to see.

If this was the case then I would think they would want him back as soon as possible, I mean it's not like having the summer off to get back into NHL game shape and come in slowly to start the season, no matter how good Radulov may be I wouldn't expect anything at all from him if he were to just jump into his first NHL game in years at the start of the NHL Playoffs.

I have wondered why Mule doesn't get more of a look.. I mean he might not be a "dangler" all the time but if anyone on this team is going to go shot instead of deke and score the majority of the time you'd have to think it would be him.

Doesn't seem like it would be a worthwhile move for the Wings to make.. Trading Kindl for Kubina is kind of a lateral move, I don't think it would make the Wings any worse, but I certainly don't think it would make them any better..

I doubt there is any risk putting Ty on waivers anyways. I don't think there are any teams desperate enough to think picking him up would help them in any signifigant way so he would almost certainly clear and make it to Grand Rapids. Option 2 could see Kenny keep him up until the trade deadline and try to find him a place to play and toss him in as part of another deal, but I doubt he'd find any takers.

Last time I checked a road game was a road game, no matter the circumstances, if the league recorded it as a road game (which I assume they must have) then I'm not sure how you could even argue otherwise.

Kind of weird, I don't really mention it because I don't put too much stock into these kinds of stories but a buddy of mine use to play Junior with Jason Spezza's brother and he mentioned that Spezza has a bit of a coke habit and that he also tends to spend some big bucks on wild parties involving large amounts of cocaine.. So if by some crazy random happenstance both stories are true it would seem like Cocaine is the drug of choice for NHL Player parties..