Uncle Danny

I can't recall ever having witnessed that scenario, and I'd also love to hear about their construction. However, that's only one possible cause of facial damage. Sticks to the face are a far more likely and common occurrence than slapshots, and 99% of them you'd be hard pressed to notice when a visor stops the stick from inflicting potentially permanent damage. EDIT: I'm likely in the minority here, but I'm not in favor of mandating visors for pros. They are, indeed, grown ass men, and can make their own decisions. That said, I'm strongly in favor of them wearing them and think anyone who doesn't is likely overestimating the size of their own testicles. You only get two eyes. It's ok to be frugal with them.

Don't I wish. I'm on the west coast, so my evening began after that debacle. The person below me has at least one immigrant in their generational family.

I don't get it. The guy has a few good games, so now we want to completely change his role by moving him into a Homer role on the top line? Wouldn't it make more sense to tell him to keep doing what he's doing so well so far?

I lol'ed and generally agree. Well played, sir. Glad to hear he's likely to make a full recovery. As for the talk about visors, from the clip it doesn't look like one would've saved him any of the trauma, unless I'm missing something. Not to say that I'm not in favor of players wearing protective gear, but in this case I don't think it would've helped much as the stick would've just slid underneath it. Anyway, speedy returns and full vision to you, Mr. Pronger (you slimy farking filthbag, I hate you).

Mad congrats to Jimmy and his family. There is quite literally nothing quite like the first days after your firstborn. Absolutely an amazing experience. On a semi related note, I just had my first around eight weeks ago, and her first Red Wings game (of many to come, I hope) was Conklin's shutout.

Firstly, welcome to the board, bigbear! Secondly, though... you might want to reconsider the framing of your topic. Why is he a nice guy? Share a story or two, perhaps. I'm very glad you know and think highly of a player I respect from afar, but some more context for conversation would likely be smiled upon by the population here at large. Just tryin' to help

If they're not, they can go do what he told team Sweden to do when he wasn't selected. Hrmph!

Not sure about last season, but this is a pretty good site for this year's running list: http://www.shanabans.com/

I hear Finger is available again, just in case

Yeah. I hear he's running off to marry Downey's hair stylist. Yikes!

Not to rain on parades or anything, but I read the following to mean he's working there, but won't be on the show? Please correct me if I'm wrong:

Glad you're going to rock Smith's sweater, but I'm pretty sure he'll be picking a number other than #2 given recent events (assuming it was even open, given Fish's situation)

Back OT, I'm probably in the severe minority here when I say that I don't much care about the sponsorship. This is a business, and one business has decided to give another a lot of money in trade for exposure. I happen to agree with most that the choice of partners was ill conceived, and Amway is a bloodsucking scam... but I'm a discerning customer and can choose to ignore their advances and name drops as well as the next guy. I am disappointed that the red and white powers that be didn't decide on a more reputable partner, but cest la vie. Amway doesn't play hockey. Dasyuk, Lidstrom and Hank do. See you all in the regular season

Yes. I am also sorry that life does not work that way. Thank you for the lesson. I feel more adult now.

Honest question: how old are you?

I've been to the Shark tank many times over the years, and have never had a bad experience with their fans. Of course, you always suffer a few verbal jabs for wearing red and white, but it's all in good fun. Aside from the token "know it alls" who love to shout orders to the players (brilliant insights such as "shoot the puck!"), Sharks fans are more knowledgeable than I would've guessed and typically pretty well behaved. The Bay Area is full of transplants, so no matter who the Sharks are playing, the opposition always has a good turnout as well... probably one of the main reasons the locals are friendly toward fans of other teams. The facility itself is pretty nice, too, and parking is never an issue. My only complaint about going there is the commute from the city itself, and even that's a minor nit. My best experience ever there (I think I've posted this before, but oh well) was sitting next to Patrick Marleau's (then-to-be) father in law the night he scored his first career hat trick. He was great guy and we'd been chatting throughout the game, so when I saw he had no hat to throw, I gave him my tigers cap. He said he'd replace it and took down my address, and I thought that was the end of it. A month or so later a package arrived containing a fitted Sharks cap autographed "To Dan, all the best, Patrick Marleau #12"

A running tab on who the LGW whipping boy of the moment is could be a funny ongoing segment. Maybe even the stud/dud of the week/month/whatever. Overall, it would be nice to hear some critiques in addition to just news reporting and fan appreciation.

A marketing wet dream (sorry, I suck at photoshop):

/boggle What?! Kronner is a pretty fantastic player, but ... what?!?

Don't all players have the same number of stats, so long as they play the same position?

Just ask Hudler. He'll tell ya.

I'll give you this one, as we all know how #19's career turned out... but since you're typically a thoughtful poster, I'm going to assume this was intended to say great things about Yzerman rather than to besmirch Patty Lafontaine. Concussions aside, he was no slouch. I wonder how much better he would've turned out had he been flanked by the fists of Probert, Gallant and crew. (Sorry, Lalalalalala was one of my favorites back in the day)

Good call. I expect both to have better seasons than last... although that's not asking a great deal of either

* Commodore cracks the lineup for 60+ games and becomes a LGW cult figure after beating the snot out of someone for taking a dirty run. * Conklin puts in a solid 25 starts and gives Jimmy some room to breathe. Five of these starts will be due to an injury to Howard, during which time he'll post a sub 2.00 GAA. * Hudler comes in ready for the NHL, puts up 55-60 pts and quiets some of the haters. * White comes in hot and becomes an instant fan favorite... until they realize he can't consistently score like Rafalski did (who can?). * Mickey Redmond hangs up his mic at the end of this season (sad face).

I disagree, although I can see where you're coming from. Firstly, I don't think the Wings are any one individual's team, and likely haven't been since Stevie left. Even before he retired, an argument could've been made that it was the entire lockerroom's team, as I'm sure Draper and others were just as instrumental in maintaining team focus. That's one of the great things about this team over the past decade plus -- the team first mentality that brought success. In fact, I seem to recall a story about the team being down heading into the third period and every member of the team having to step up and stare both Yzerman and Chelios in the eye for near a minute before heading back out onto the ice. Secondly, I think that Datsyuk is the player everyone else looks to in the clutch to step things up. He's the guy who will get you that amazing play to save the game. However, I believe (and this is from a spectator's perspective only) that the person they'd look to bring order from chaos when a series is on the line is still Lidstrom. There is a big difference between being the best and most talented game breaker on the ice and being the leader that everyone looks to for emotional direction. Lidstrom is the emotional bedrock of this team, and Datsyuk is looked upon to be the guy who takes that leadership first (again, IMO). This, in a nutshell, is why I see Z taking the mantle as a done deal once Lidstrom retires. Not because Datsyuk's english is suspect, not because Z is the better player...but because when the chips are down he seems more the type to be able to tell everyone in the room what needs to happen in order to pull out a victory (and to back it up with his play). Datsyuk's a supreme talent, no question, and by all accounts a great dressing room presence...but talent doesn't necessarily translate to managing a room. EDIT: I guess what I'm trying to say is that they all look to Datsyuk to save them in a pinch, because he can. They all look to Lidstrom (and soon Z) to ask "what do we need to do?"