Datsyerberger

Yea, the Wings are injury prone to, but that was worth pointing out about some of the Nucks players. Anyhow, the point of a lot of that is physicality isn't just size of hits + quantity of hits + fighting. Ability to absorb and play through physical play is as well, and it's something the Nucks do much more poorly than the Wings and several other teams. Also, your Stuart / Bieksa comparison really isn't accurate. Stuart hits a hell of a lot more than Bieksa, hits harder on clean hits, takes less penalties, and in general uses his body a lot better. Bieksa is more offensive, and fights when his team really needs a top 4 offensive d-man on the ice. Most of Bieksa's fights just aren't good fights, they're very poorly timed for the role he plays. He's an extremely frustrating player for Canucks fans. And despite his eagerness to use the body, he just doesn't use it well a lot of the time. His hits are often shoddy, resulting in penalties or injuries to himself. And I'm not really exaggerating about his penalties; he does average about a minute of penalties for every recorded hit. His ratio was something like 112 hits:97 PIM last year. Compare that to Stuart's ~200:22 As far as fighters go, Rosehill is more the kinda guy I like. I prefer a guy that can play decent hockey and fight average to a guy that throws haymakers but plays like crap.

He'll go down and score 50 goals in GR. Griffs win the Calder Cup.

I can and will make the argument, actually. The Canucks do have a small handful of scrappy guys, that is true. I'll go through those players: Burrows -- Lays some hits, agitates a bit, but he's not cleaning anyone's clock or throwing haymakers. He'll fight if it greatly favors him but avoids fights like Franzen otherwise. Bieksa -- Yea, he plays with a mean streak and throws hits. The problem is for almost every hit he throws you get a minute of penalties. He's a terrible decision maker and commits downright brutal mistakes at (usually very bad) times. There's the reason a lot of Nucks fans want him gone despite his grit and good offense. Kesler -- Is physical in a different manner (one which I prefer and will address more later). He's willing to commit the body with or without the puck to get the job done. Malhotra -- Basically Cleary with less offense. Torres -- Cleary with more penalties. Glass -- Injury pronee, and just enough talent to hold down a #12/13 spot. Will scrum a bit but he's nothing we (or any other team) don't have in a 4th liner like Miller. Rypien -- Probably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the league, feisty guy. Can play a few minutes without being too much of a detriment, but he's mostly there to punch people. So there are a few gritty guys on the team. If you stack them up against the Wings on the basis of mean streak and hit totals, they probably win out handily. However, that's not all of what makes a physical team. The problem with the Nucks is that they're terrible at dealing with physical play and pressure against them. This is where Detroit gets continually underrated (and other teams pay for it)... they shrug off and play through physical play well (sorta have to in the Central). They give back what they get or simply ignored the other team's hitting. They avoid drawing penalties and frustrate the other team. They outwork opponents along the boards in spite of small size. The Canucks, on the other hand, deal with physical play extremely poorly. Except the Sedin line and Kesler, they get outworked on the boards (especially their defense). They retaliate against hits with stupid penalties (especially Bieksa). They have more difficulties clearing the front of the net than even the Wings do and crumble under consistent physical pressure. This is why they keep folding in the playoffs and have lost to Chicago. They're much more soft than hit totals and some videos of a few dudes throwing punches implies. And despite that, they still can't use Hordichuk. And neither can we.

SOB's on waivers, Bieksa is likely trade bait (and takes horrendously stupid penalties), Glass is an injury-prone #13... Rypien's about all they got. And I'd argue their top 9 is softer than ours, as well as the bulk of their top D.. we've at least got Stuart. Nucks are becoming progressively softer. Tough guys don't count if they're either too fragile or take too many dumb penalties to justify their grit. And names on a roster doesn't make a team tough, play does.

Yea, but he's one of their expensive core the fans want to get rid of, so he doesn't count.

Great hit. Wrestling match doesn't count as a fight. 19 minutes of penalties for huggytime has to suck. Retaliation on a clean hit. I think that's something the NHL is trying to cut down on. Don't be surprised to see more of those in addition to instigating on these lameass clean hit retaliation scrums.

Kill this thread with fire. We do NOT want Hordichuk. The Canucks didn't want Hordichuk, and they're arguably softer than we are.

Lol, our AHL team held the Leafs to 4-2. I would not be happy with that as a Leafs fan.

I'd prefer to see Ritola stay (especially after what I saw tonight) as I love his all-around game and work ethic, but Miller is a great guy... and as someone pointed out earlier in the thread, this is the sort of problem most teams want to have.

Has anyone else wondered where this guy went? Surprised a team didn't pick him up as a coach this year. I think I found him. He looks a little.. different, though. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/02/03/oba...dex.html?hpt=T2

Thank you, Doc. I was about to post something much more obtuse and tedious (in my usual fashion) to express the same sentiment.

Just remember, if you hated him, and are glad to see him gone, it means he did his job well. Later, Tucker, you douchenozzle of a pest.

Whether its ruled cap circumvention or not depends on how its done. For example, if its like 3 mil each year til he's 45, well, the NHL may give the Bruins a case of the funny eyes, but if Chara is confident he wants to play to that age...

I actually appreciate Lidstrom more than Yzerman, in a hockey player sort of sense. "My heart is with Stevie, my head is with Nick" sort of thing.

Update on score? Was out at dinner.

Wouldn't call the Bolts a perennial bottom feeder (only after the ownership screwed them post-lockout) but out of that list, them for sure. Excluding them... 1. Toronto: enough defense on Toronto and enough defensive question marks in the NE... 2. Thrashers: Enough blooming talent and enough good new acquisitions something could happen 3. Oilers: Could see a talent explosion. Team was doing well last year before injuries 4. Florida: Can't discount Vokoun. If enough kids play well, he could carry them in 5. NYI: Long term injuries to very important players on an already unstable team 6. Columbus: Rested, replenished Red Wings. Retooled cup champs. Talent loaded Blues. Gritty, pain in the ass Preds.... poor BJs.

Eklund is like the hockey version of The Onion. He should realize his strength is comedy, not facts, and shift genres. He'd make a killing.

That little, eh? I thought he could've made a good assistant coach somewhere, particularly for a younger team. He was good at motivating younger players.

Peca's right. He's not a player you label as difficult to play against. While his offense is very solid, it's not high end or dominating enough to pressure the other team. He's neither got enough grit nor good enough positional defense to become a frustration there. While a solid d-man, he's just not the sort of guy players fear going up against. He's been all future talent since he entered the league and he needs to start making a more solid impact in some way or another or that contract is going to start looking really bad,

Nasty injuries and surgeries.

Anyone got a quick update of the score?

Lol, looks like the refs are getting in practice too.

Lol, even when the refs actually make a good call they can't even pick out the right guy. Haha, look at Ericsson deck someone at the side of hte net! More of that, please!

Stolen from a post on HFboards: "Can't wait to see Talbot being an idiot, Staal and Malkin getting drunk, Crosby being boring enough to almost cancel the show, and Orpik staring the life out of everyone he comes across."