Datsyerberger

If that somehow happened (I doubt it) ZDH Hudler - Flip - Leino Cleary - Helm - Sammy Abdelkader - Draper - Kopecky Maltby Alternatively ZDH Cleary - Flip - Hudler Leino - Helm - Sammy Abdelkader - Draper - Kopecky Maltby With D & Z separate: Flip - Dats - Homer (I'm reluctant to put Hudler on a 1st line, yet. Flip seems to do well with Dats) Cleary/Leino - Z - Hudler Leino/Cleary - Helm - Sammy Abdelkader - Draper - Kopecky Maltby

Ugh. The C-bus guys are awful.

I'm trying to get someone to give me a crappy team they don't care much for so I don't have to play St. Louis or Nashville. Ugh.

That's just the "Pierre McGuire awkward comment of the game." ­®

Oh yea, I like Murph too.. he's pretty good for a relative newcomer. But that's a different discussion entirely.

The Illitches have a message for the NHL, hockey players, and staff, and it's a simple one: If you're a winner for the Wings org, you're a winner for life.

Oh come on now, that's just clearly overstating matters. ...To be fair, it's more like: Crosby Hossa was a Pen Crosby Malkin Crosby Crosby WINGS SCORE! Crosby Malkin Crosby Crosby Hossa was a Pen Crosby Wings Org Crosby WINGs score. Crosby Pens were Cup Finalists with Crosby OH LOOK DATSYUK! Anyhow, back to: Crosby Crosby Hossa was the linemate of Crosby Crosby The Wings are old have veteran presence Crosby Crosby Led Pens to the Cup Finals Crosby Crosby Malkin Crosby Zetterberg worked hard against Crosby Crosby That "Lindstrom" Guy Won a Lot of Norris's Crosby wings score. Four notes: -- Every other thing not about Crosby can be tied to Crosby in some way. -- That's seriously all they ever say about the Wings. Lidstrom won a lot of Norris's, Datsyuk made a fancy move, the Wings are old, Zetterberg shut someone down, and the Wings Org is great. -- The Pens were Cup Finalists. This should be mentioned regularly. To state the fact that they lost to the Wings, or that the Wings were the winner of said Cup, is verboten when the Pens are playing against them. -- That Malkin guy is pretty good, too.

I definitely agree that he's underrated, and most likely a future Norris winner. Not only is he smart, but he has great endurance.. I think his VO2 is supposed to be insanely high for hockey players. That said, I don't think he's a top 3 candidate this year.. maybe I'm spoiled watching Lidstrom, but I've seen him make some gaffs that I just wouldn't expect out of a Norris winner. More importantly, he doesn't put up a crapton of points, which seems to be a prerequisite for anything besides the Masterson and Vezina anymore. I honestly believe that the year that Chara's stats can be held comparable to Lidstrom's, the media is going to pick him, regardless of who has the superior performance on the ice. Why? He plays a game that, stylistically, the media likes better.. physical, aggressive, and risky. Lidstrom doesn't take big risks, he doesn't hunt for big hits, and he doesn't have the hardest slapshot (though I'd argue that it's one of the top 3, if not the best slapper in the league in terms of sheer performance). A lot of people define this as 'boring'. A giraffe on skates that delivers huge hits and a scary fast slapshot is generally going to be more attention grabbing to those who vote off of highlight reels. I've seen Chara make more defensive gaffs in a few Boston games than I've seen Lidstrom make all season. Regardless of that, the guy is definitely one of the best all-around defensemen we've had around in the last few years, and I think when history looks back on him, he's going to be the guy that didn't win as many Norris's as he could have because he played in the "Lidstrom era". It's going to be a joke if anyone besides these two wins it, and if they do, it's either going to be because of a spectacular run down the stretch, or based purely off point totals (Green, Boyle, et al). As I'm so set in who I believe to be #1 and #2, a more interesting conversation from my point of view might be who's going to come 3rd in voting. In fact, I need some time to mull my own question there over

I think more than anyone else on the forum, your avatar fits your personality

Their record notwithstanding, I never expect an easy game out of Nashville, even if I do expect a win. Hmm, I don't usually make predictions, but if Ozzie plays in goal tonight, I'm feeling a shutout. I've just got this tingly feeling in my hands. Of course, that could be carpal tunnel.. guess I'll find out when the game's over.

And I look at you avatar, aaaand.... Fight!

Damn, and here I was all excited for some legitimate source. Can I get some E4s with this please?

Lidstrom is still the front-runner in my homer mind, but if not him, than almost certainly Chara. I'd like to say someone like Keith, but Norris-caliber defensemen do not lose an edge making a simple play on the puck in the neutral zone giving up a breakaway in which the opposing team scores (to anyone that watched that Van/Chi game the other night...) There's definitely some good up and coming young players, but for me it goes something like: Lidstrom Chara Everyone else.

I don't drop this one down often, but Mike Green is a perfect definition of a 4th forward. If you factor in defensive play, he's about as deserving for the Norris as Ovy is for a Selke.

I agree. But they probably spent more time on Crosby than they did on the Burgh, and they undoubtedly spent far more time on Crosby than any one Wings player (though Pavs got a bit.. mind you, he actually had GOALS to earn the talk).

Where there's smoke, there's fire. Fans don't complain about him being overhyped just because they have nothing better to do, and 56% of interviewed players didn't vote him the whiniest player in the league just to play a prank on him.

The Datsyerberger is slowly moving away from the idea of watching hockey on cable and is looking at NHL games on internet streams. That's a horribly fan unfriendly model. Every other major sport has availability on networks which come in a basic cable package. Even most of the 2nd/3rd tier sports have that. I know that Bettman mainly represents the owners, which is why I want to give Bettman a representative kick in the jewels.

Nothing else to say, really.

I love how Conks and Hossa both absolutely showed up for this game.

Hahahaha. Datsyuk > Malkin and Crosby. GG.

To be fair, it's partly because every Pens line has crappy wingers and Therrien absolutely refuses to play any of his 3 best forwards together. All the Wings have to do is shut down 1 man per line and Conklin has to deal with the likes of Kennedy. Ooooh, scary wrist shot there

Wow, what a shift by Datsyuk. He gets a nice break sliding through the defense and puts a backhander on goal, then goes to the corner after the rebound and lands a big hit on a Penguin, then his stick breaks and as fast as he's realized it, he's claimed the puck with his skate and slips a perfect soccer pass to Zetterberg. If I'm any coach in the league I make sure my players watch that shift.

Ahahahahahahahha. I love me.

A Hossa goal would make this game so sweet.

Nice to know what defines a trip in this game.