jawbreaker

Nice details. I don't understand why they didn't sign him. He wasn't asking like $10 millions. It's obvious that when the Red Wings tried to mess with the contract next time, Feds just signed with the Ducks for less.

Jesus Christ... $400 for only one game. Average salary in my country is slightly more than $1000 LMAO.

Friday: Phoenix @Ottawa Toronto @ NY Rangers Nashville @ Columbus Vancouver @ Buffalo Edmonton @ Calgary San Jose @ Anaheim Carolina @ Los Angeles Saturday: Colorado @ Dallas Phoenix @ Montreal Boston @ Ottawa Toronto @ Pittsburgh New Jersey @ Washington Buffalo @ Atlanta NY Islanders @ Florida NY Rangers @ Detroit Minnesota @ Tampa Bay Columbus @ Nashville Chicago @ St Louis Calgary @ Edmonton Philadelphia @ San Jose Sunday: Vancouver @ Chicago Carolina @ Anaheim

I can't believe that some people are still so bitter that Feds left. Those contract-talks were not black and white, they were very complex. Kenny and Feds were both stubborn. Feds wanted a longer contract, and now he is given all this crap by the fans? Common, get over it. Even Holland kinda admitted that maybe he was wrong. I mean, that Datsyuk was also pushing for the very long deal (Dats said that length was the most important part to him). So eventually Kenny offered him a long deal. IMHO Holland didn't want to make the same mistake twice.

I would retire #91, but it won't happen (at least in the near future). I doubt that we will see some young kid, who will have the balls to ask #91. Plus, I bet that #91 is also unofficial retired, so we won't see it in a long time on the Wings jersey.

Stolyarov added a secondary assist today. So 5 points in 5 games. I'm kinda rooting for his team now

I also prefer Datsyuk, and one of the main reasons is his health. Plus, we have seen that Dats can carry the team even when Hank is out. I have watched only one game this season (against the Sens), and I saw that Dats just dominated when he was on the ice. At one time Spezza's line was stuck in their own zone for the long time. They totally out-played highly talked Spezza - Heatley duo. DHH were creating a lot of chances, playing some good defense. As for Z line. They look solid at best, despite scoring two goals it wasn't that dominant as Dats' line. But in my opinion it's way to early for pressing panic button. It's only 3 games, 79 to go. We will be fine.

I will be also keeping eye on the Griffins this year. Me hopes, that Emmerton/Mursak will be our future Hank/Pav 2.0 Plus, I really hope that Kindl has a better season, 'cos two bad seasons don't add confidence.

Stolyarov scores again, today. After being trade to Astana he has 3 goals and one assist in 5 games. He is +4, has made 7 shots (S% is 42.9!), and is averaging 13:24 ice-time per game. Maybe he is finally getting things together in his new club. At least start is very impressive.

I like those units, but no Pavel/Hank combo this year. Not even on the powerplay.

I bet that every team would love to have that kinda "problems"

I have feeling that we all agree, that Nick has been the best player in the league for some years now. Despite collecting Norris awards and Stanley Cups , he haven't won a Hart. I looked at some voting results, it seems that he hasn't been even close to win MVP. Voters usually give this award to a forward (that is a shame), but still how a Dman, who has a shot to be at least 3rd all-time, haven't got any serious consideration (read: top 3 in voting) to win Hart Trophy. Sure, we know that he is only that good 'cause he plays with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, and they are so good 'cause they play with Lidstrom. Same old song and dance. The last defender, who won award was Chris Pronger. Sometimes I wonder, how many more votes would have Nick got every year, if he was a Canadian? Voters were more than happy to give that Hart to Pronger, despite that he wasn't the best player by the wide margin (Jagr probably got robbed). Hell, Pronger wasn't even the best dman by the wide margin (Nick had more points for example). So Pronger has a season which is slightly better than the next dman has, and gets the Hart over Jagr. On the other hand Nick has won some of his Norris Trophy's by the sick margin (he is clearly the best dman that season), and never cracks the top 3. That doesn't make sense at all. I'm not saying that in all those years Nick clearly deserved Hart more than the winner, but no top3 is just sick in my humble opinion. 1999/2000 HART 1. Chris Pronger 396 (25-9-11-8-4) 2. Jaromir Jagr 395 (18-22-9-4-4) 8. Steve Yzerman 26 (1-0-1-3-2) 9. Nicklas Lidstrom 22 (0-1-0-4-3) NORRIS 1. Chris Pronger 565 (53-5-0-0-0) 2. Nicklas Lidstom 400 (5-4-5-1-0) 3. Rob Blake 196 (0-3-25-15-5) 2000/2001 HART 1. Joe Sakic, COL 585 (53-6-2-1-0) 10. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 38 (0-2-1-6-1) NORRIS 1. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 600 (56-5-1-0-0) 2. Ray Bourque, COL 251 (4-16-12-10-9) 2001/2002 HART 1. Jose Theodore, Mtl 434 (26-16-9-5-2) Lidstrom out of top10 NORRIS 1. Nicklas Lidstrom, Det 472 (29-20-7-2-1) 2. Chris Chelios, Det 431 (28-10-13-4-4) 2002/2003 HART 1. Peter Forsberg 508 (38-13-6-2-1) 8. Nicklas Lidstrom 41 (0-0-4-6-3) NORRIS 1. Nicklas Lidstrom 560 (42-20-0-0-0) 2. Al MacInnis 486 (20-38-4-0-0) 2003/2004 HART 1. Martin St. Louis, TAM 1,016 (97-5-1-2-0) Lidstrom out of top10 NORRIS 1. Scott Niedermayer, NJD 872 (72-13-10-3-2) 6. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 165 (1-6-10-19-6) 2005/2006 HART 1. Joe Thornton, SAN 1,058 67 48 9 1 4 7. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 106 1 2 7 12 11 NORRIS 1. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 1,152 91 28 8 2 0 2. Scott Niedermayer, ANA 817 29 57 16 15 3 2006/2007 HART 1. Sidney Crosby, PIT 1225 (91-34-14-2-1) 6. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 53 (1-1-3-4-9) NORRIS 1. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 1217 (87-44-5-4-2) 2. Scott Niedermayer, ANA 1024 (46-62-22-6-2) 2007/2008 HART 1. Alex Ovechkin, WSH 1313 (128-4-1-0-0) 4. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 246 (2-7-17-24-20) NORRIS 1. Nicklas Lidstrom, DET 1313 (127-5-1-1-0) 2. Dion Phaneuf, CGY 561 (2-38-37-26-12) P.S Nick's best is 4th place last year as we see. But IMHO he wasn't clearly even the best player on our team. Datsyuk has probably the best season after Fedorov Hart season, that a two-way forward can have, and he is 9th is Hart voting

Well... I'm just saying, that Hart voting results are depending too much of the team performance. What if Washington were just couple of points short last year? Team doesn't make the playoffs, and Ovechkin is not deserving Hart? That scenario almost happened. IMHO everybody are looking too much at the team performance, and the team-mates. Wanna burn me for that? Good luck.

Friday: NY Islanders @ New Jersey Chicago @ NY Rangers Florida @ Carolina Montreal @ Buffalo Washington @ Atlanta Nashville @ St Louis Columbus @ Dallas Saturday: Montreal @ Toronto Detroit @ Ottawa St Louis @ NY Islanders NY Rangers @ Philadelphia Chicago @ Washington Atlanta @ Florida New Jersey @ Pittsburgh Carolina @ Tampa Bay Dallas @ Nashville Boston @ Minnesota Columbus @ Phoenix Los Angeles @ San Jose Vancouver @ Calgary Sunday: Phoenix @ Anaheim Colorado @ Edmonton San Jose @ Los Angeles

I don't tell that Datsyuk should have won the league MVP. I just wonder why he was miles behind Iginla in voting. Ovechkin deserved his Hart, and I don't even question that. So Zetterberg had a stronger Regular season than Datsyuk? You must be joking, Zetterberg at best was as good as Datsyuk. But you can't say that he was better than Datsyuk. No way.

The only difference between Pearson and Hart is that Pearson is voted by the players. Hart is voted by the writes.

So why these guys won those awards despite playing on the stacked teams, and Lidstrom for example hasn't cracked top3? I think we know the answer. Why Iginla is in top3, and Datsyuk is miles behind? One thing is that Datsyuk plays on the stacked team. But Iginla has also a decent support (Dion was in a run for Norris). Iginla had one more point than Datsyuk, but he doesn't play in every situation. He doesn't play on the PK, he takes more penalties, he doesn't make linemates a lot better. Datsyuk is also leading his team in points, and at the same time he is a our shut-down guy. He doesn't spend much time in the box, instead of that if needed he killls penalties. So, who is more valuable to his team: player who provides a lot of offense, or a player who provides also a lot of offense AND does everything else?

Bad idea. Difference in time is too big. Travel. NHL should try to be more popular in USA, and Euros should develope KHL. But if you want to make hockey more popular then Canada - Russia Summit Series would be a great thing. Latest Canada - Russia game (2008 finals) was one of the most exciting that I have seen in a long time. Now imagine Crosby, Iginla, Thorton vs Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk in a 4 - game series... sweeeet

Yep, Ovechkin was the best player last season. Lidstrom probably wasn't even the best player on the Wings last year. Datsyuk had a very strong season.

So Hart is a ½ - team, ½ - individual award? You are more likely to win it if: 1. You put up a great season. 2. You play forward. 2. Your team-mates doesn't suck (team makes the play-offs) 3. Your team-mates are not too good. (like in Detroit) IMHO that is a very inaccurate way to give this award. Hart is an individual award. But in reality your team-mates count. But they shouldn't, because it's an individual award. If we say that MVP, and the best player are two different things, then what award should get that "best player"? MVP should go to a player who puts together the best season in the league, and I don't care if he plays in Detroit, or in Florida. If that palyers dominates the game more than the others, then he should be MVP. No matter who his team-mates are, or in which place his team finishes.

Actually you are missing my point. Would Atlanta performed a lot better with Ovechkin instead of Kovalchuk? I don't think so. Would Washington performed a lot worse with Kovalchuk? I don't think so. So that means Ovechkin's teammates made him MVP? I guess so.

Same could be said about some other players also. First name that pops-up is Kovalchuk. Without him Atlanta would be dead last. If we send Ovechkin to Atlanta (and Kovalchuk to Washington), then Atlanta is still at the bottom (just like with Kovy). Washington with Kovalchuk would still have a good chance to make it. So Ovechkin collects 1309 points (votes) more than Kovalchuk (he had 4 points), 'cause he has better support. It means that Ovechkin's teammates make him more valuable than Kovalchuk is. And the difference is not slight. In real life Kovalchuk is as valuable as Ovechkin. IMHO Hart should go to the player, who has the most outstanding season (not counting teammates, team performance).

LMAO Writer from Canada MUST know more than that.

They have such an awful owners, that it's really scary. They have still kept Waddell, despite that he has been very bad in his position. Now they are trying to save some pocket change. Someone, who actually cares about hockey should buy this team. No fast changes = No Kovalchuk = Atlanta without NHL team

Crosby is the best player hands down... wait... we are talking about hockey, not diving. Ovechkin all the way. Datsyuk is the most complete player right now. Hank is close, but I would give Pavel a slight edge.