dat's sick

To be honest he had some bad luck with both the Staal hit and the slew-foot. I would have been amazed if he hadn't missed time from either of those incidents even if he hadn't been injured earlier in the season.

Kovy with an assist on the 1st Devils goal.

Some of you (a lot of you) overestimate the worth of getting 25 games + playoffs out of a guy. If Kovalchuk had a year (or more) left on his contract, this deal would have been terrible. Now it's not. With NJ's 1st pick and Bergfors they're in a good situation for the future, since they already have a good pool of talent. And Oduya is a lot better than his numbers this year show. Take a look at his previous 2 years. I'd compare him to a Rafalski-light, maybe a bit better defensively and a bit worse offensively. I could see him being a really good partner to Tobias Enstrom in Atlanta, the guy they're probably going to build their defense around.

A high-stick that draws blood is usually more vicious than one that doesn't, thus deserving of 2 minutes extra. It's not a perfect rule but I understand why it's in place and I see no better alternative.

Friday: Toronto @ New Jersey Atlanta @ Washington Carolina @ Buffalo Calgary @ Florida Phoenix @ Chicago Saturday: Vancouver @ Boston Pittsburgh @ Montreal Detroit @ Los Angeles x2 Phoenix @ Dallas Ottawa @ Toronto Carolina @ NY Islanders New Jersey @ NY Rangers Florida @ Atlanta Calgary @ Tampa Bay Buffalo @ Columbus Chicago @ St Louis San Jose @ Nashville Philadelphia @ Minnesota Edmonton @ Colorado Sunday: Pittsburgh @ Washington Boston @ Montreal

And where does he really want to play? Good teams in good markets? There aren't many of those, and they're usually not run by GM's willing to give up a lot for the RIGHTS to a guy that has a history of turning down contracts in the 10 mil per year range. Oh, and if he is "settling" for 8 mil per year it should scare away some teams too. For example I really don't see Detroit being interested in picking up Kovalchuk for that price. Teams that can afford to add a player at that price are usually in the bottom half of the standings. It's too much of a risk, what if he doesn't want to play for your team either? Jersey is not gonna get a lot for his rights.

I personally think Atlanta got decent return. You're not going to get a Parise for a guy that is UFA at the end of the season. Bergfors is promising and although he's been slumping the last month he's still one of the better rookies in the league. He's got a scoring touch and will be a good player for them. Oduya is a solid 3rd/4th d-man and is better than his stats this year show. I think it will benefit Atlanta to not have everything centered around Kovalchuk. They should have some cap space now that they can use to acquire some more solid players, and they've got lots of good young talent. New Jersey obviously became more dangerous in the short-term. But if they're going to re-sign Kovy they'll have to clear some room. And if they can't re-sign him, and don't win the cup this year, that's a lot to give up for a rental.

I haven't seen anything about the lines being announced already, I think those are just what Aftonbladet speculated that they would go with. The Sedin line has a 99% probability of being correct. Zettererberg and Alfredsson would be a good match together. I wouldn't be surprised if the lines end up looking close to that.

Heh, I was at the game. Forsberg was taking some serious physical abuse all game and I wasn't exactly surprised to see him going to the lockerroom early in the 3rd. Seems every player in the SEL wants a piece of him. Supposedly it was just a dislocated finger though so he is saying he might miss 1 game at most.

Parise, Hjalmarsson, Mason Raymond.. can't think of that many others.

Tomorrow, apparently.

Maybe he'll go down in salary to play for a better team.. if not, he's stupid. I think Boston or maybe New Jersey will get him. I just hope he stays out of the West.

6-1 Wings.

I'm sure someone has mentioned this (don't have the strenght to read through threads like these) but have you forgotten about earlier in the season when he supposedly got up in the lockerroom and gave everyone a verbal spanking? Which proceeded to make the team play a lot better. Plus he's been playing on one of our most effective lines this season. I'm sure you could find someone else to play with Eaves and Helm and still have a good line but I don't think Draper has been bad this season. I'm much more anxious to get rid of Maltby to be honest.

I had a feeling. The way his knee bended against Pittsburgh didn't give me a lot of confidence that he was "fine". Sit out a 2-3 games Kronner, get that knee properly examined and don't risk anything.

That hit by Lucic that everyone loves, where the glass breaks, is an obvious example of a player jumping into a hit as well. But I've never seen anyone mention it. It's just that Kronner has gotten a reputation for it, so people see him leaving his feet even when he's not.

Forsberg can't go to the NHL this season, unless you were implying for next season.. Sundin is playing poker (true) and banging hookers (may or may not be true), he is DONE with hockey.

Watched the game this morning, awesome stuff. Apart from the first 10 minutes the Wings played pretty good. They always seem to show up against the Sharks, I think it'd be a good idea to stick around in 7th/8th spot so we get to face them in the 1st round. Howard was solid as usual, Hank/Pav looked like they were having fun, Homer was awesome.. Shame everyone else in the West either won or got a point ...

What I want: Gold: Sweden Silver: Russia Bronze: Finland MVP: Peter Forsberg What will happen: Gold: Canada Silver: Russia Bronze: USA MVP: Cindy Criesby

Yes when I woke up and checked the NHL.com boxscore I had a good laugh about that Oh, Leafs. This shutout by JS will make them think they'll go undefeated the rest of the way and win the cup. I do hope they can get a boost from these trades and climb in the standings a bit. Don't want Boston to have a top 5 pick.

Curling is awesome, will definitely be watching it.

Ugly, I don't see Miller playing very good with that mask.

Watch the Olympics? Next to the Stanley Cup playoffs it's like the best thing in sports.

Agreed, I'd hate it if the Wings give up on Leino in favor of guys like May and Maltby. Yeah I know Malts has done a lot for the organization and there's the loyalty factor, but most nights I don't even notice that he's playing. May isn't doing much most nights either, it seems he rarely fights anymore. And we all know he's not exactly the future for this team. Leino has potential and he could be one of those guys that if we let him go we could really regret it in a season or three, giving us another Quincey-scenario where every damn poster brings him up everytime the Wings lose.. "I can't believe Holland let go of Leino instead of [insert player]... I always knew Leino would become a superstar, Holland is an idiot!!1!!11!!"

Well they're different style of players and it's very possible that Lilja at 80% could be a better fit for us than Lebda at 100%.