dat's sick

Miller makes up for it!

Really horrible play by Miller that might cost us the game. We were under pressure but the Nucks weren't creating any great chances until that. Too bad Hank couldn't score on that play. Looks like he hesitated just a split second, like he often does nowadays, and lost his angle.

Wings have really gotten killed by the immense speed of the Canucks tonight.

Nash has 33 points in 51 games this season.. 17 goals Filppula has 40 points in 50 games.. 15 goals. Yes, I know Filppula is having a career year and Columbus/Nash is having a bad one... Nash's value is obviously higher. But still I don't like the idea of giving away Filppula + picks + prospects for a guy that we're HOPING will return to form with a change of scenery. Also, our depth down the middle would seriously suffer if we remove Filppula. And Nash has a big contract, which would reduce our chances of bringing in suitable replacement on the defense after Lids and Stuart. I like Parise as an option slightly better.

The Nucks aren't really known for having tons of speed so I'm not sure what you're talking about. Their main threat is the Sedins who aren't very fast but play an amazing cycle game and find eachother with great passing. Detroit has won against them in Vancouver in the past and I see no reason why they can't do so tonight as well. Will probably be a good, close game as these are two fairly evenly matched teams with similar styles.

I think the Rangers could be very, very dangerous this year in the playoffs. Biron will be able to give Lundqvist some much needed rest to keep him fresh, and as mentioned the Rangers have a better team than they've had in a while. Right now the East is between the Rangers and Bruins imo.

I think Lundqvist absolutely deserves to finally win the Vezina. You look at how good he's been ever since entering the league (this will be his 7th straight season with 30+ wins), how important he is to the low-scoring Rangers, and the fact that he's been nominated a few times before without winning and it's gonna be really difficult to pass him by this year when he's putting up the kind of numbers he is. Imo the front-runners this year is Lundqvist and Quick. Behind them there is a group of guys that could get the 3rd nomination: Jimmy Howard (plays a ton of games, most wins, very good numbers) Tim Thomas (great numbers, but doesn't play quite as many games as the other guys, and his backup Tuukka Rask has even better numbers) Pekka Rinne (very important to Nashville, I don't think he quite has the numbers this year to get him a nomination but he will get votes for sure) Brian Eliott (not enough games played imo) Obviously I hope Jimmy gets a nomination, but I really think it's between Lundy and Quick, and hopefully King Henrik can finally take home a well-earned Vezina.

I don' think that's the play people are asking for, I mean, that goal isn't really difficult to find a replay of.

In settings like that where he's more relaxed you can hear how improved his english is. Loved the answer to the last question. Also you can tell he's frustrated about missing his last few shootout attempts..

Yes, the President Trophy winner should have home-ice. If the All-Star game decided home-ice in the SCF it'd be the stupidest thing ever. I can't imagine all the bitching it would lead to. Imagine The Wings come 1st in the league, 5-10 points ahead of the best Eastern team. Still that team gets home ice because of an exhibition game played 6 months earlier between vastly different players? How would you even go about making the teams evenly matched enough for it to be a fair matchup? No, you're looking way too hard at a way to give the game meaning if you want that to happen. The ASG doesn't NEED to be a game of critical importantance where the players give their all and risk injury. If you can get the players to care atleast a little bit about winning, great, but not at the cost of ruining other aspects of the league.

First of all there needs to be more prestige about being picked to go to the game. The fans should have very little or no say in this since they ruin it, they made it better this year but still look at what players they voted for; Phaneuf and Karlsson were the top D-men and Michalek was ahead of Datsyuk and Malkin. I'm not sure there's a foolproof way of ensuring no one declines like Ovie, Lidstrom etc. but I believe the All-Star spots were voted on just like the Hart/Norris/Selke/etc. trophies are it would be one step on the way. The # of All-star games you've been to should be something to be proud of, but it's not if the fans of one or two teams skew the voting in their favor. Now, the Draft is imo a GREAT idea. I wish the players didn't have to be so politically correct about everything, but still, it's fun. However, I think it could be improved upon a lot. Since the goalies are kinda useless and are just 'filler' picks, I'd think it'd be kinda cool if they were the ones picking the teams. Like, 'what team do you want in front of you in the game?'. That would leave all the skaters for the actual draft, so some of the most interesting guys aren't already tied up as Captains or Assistant Captains. Or what if you got retired players, preferably Hall Of Famers, to pick the teams? Basically I think the Draft NEEDS to stay but there is a lot of potential there to make it better. The skills competition is very fun imo. The addition of the Relay is awesome. I'm sure there are ways it could be done even better but I've got no real ideas right now. There is no way you're gonna get the game to be as intense as a real game. No one wants to get injured in the All-Star game. And one part of the fun IS to see guys get to show off. Bottom line: it's hard to *fix* the ASG. It is what it is. And I don't think there's that much wrong with that.

He's doing the elimination shootout and the puck control part of the relay. Kinda weird he's not doing the breakaway challenge but I guess they have to use everyone for something so maybe he couldn't do it all? Hopefully he does well in the elimination shootout because then he'll get some time to show his stuff. I wonder if he'll go with his 'safe' moves or if he'll pull out something different to wow the crowd?

I don't even get my hopes up anymore when Cleary gets a breakaway. I'd put him just behind Howard and just before my grandma in a shootout.

It's looking very possible that no team in the Central Division will lose another game this year. Except for Columbus who might not win another one. Crazy division.

I'd like to see whoever has the 1st pick choose Pavel. Although they might pick their teammate.. if it's Chara maybe Thomas, and Alfie might pick Karlsson.

I want to see Salming and Sundin for the Leafs, and Larionov and Fedorov and Fetisov and Kozlov for the Wings.

I like how he makes a point of saying that he brings up some valid points. Which he really doesn't. The criticism against the venue are the dumbest ones imo. To me it seems like the best venue yet, on paper atleast.

Yeah he's not really deserving of the constant bashing he gets around here.

I hear what you're saying. I actually didn't expect the Wings to get in it again so soon. I'm incredibly excited about it, a lot because of 24/7 (just as long as they keep doing it) and also the venue and matchup. It just has the makings of being the best Classic yet (which previously in my biased opionion was the Wings-Hawks one). But I understand if fans of teams that haven't been in one Classic yet feel cheated when other teams get their 2nd. You gotta understand the NHL to some extent though, no one wants a Phoenix-Columbus Winter Classic, and it's hard to make an outdoor rink in Florida or California. Atleast they're getting a Canadian team in there next year, that's a step in the right direction. I'm sure St. Louis is one of the teams that have a good chance of getting in on the action in the next few years. Minnesota and Colorado would be two other teams. What speaks against you guys is the lack of a big-name player, a superstar, that can be marketed.

Can't say I've watched many Montreal games this year (or last), but from all I've heard Subban has been awful for quite a while.

What a night. What a player.

Pavel is the best player anyone has ever played with. Those were some s*** questions. A guy born and raised in america would have had a hard time making sense of them, let alone someone who struggles with the language.

We need Stuart for a cup run so trading him at the deadline would make little sense, unless it's for a comparable/better D-man.

In all honesty it should be called the "Kent Nilsson" since he was the one who first used it. Although the way Forsberg did it and the situation it was in makes it okay in my book that it's called the "Forsberg".

Both Z's and Pav's moves were amazing. Pav is so smooth, and Smith looked humiliated after Z scored. All in all a rather boring game, I'm really tired of seeing Phoenix play their dull hockey and I pray we don't have to meet them again the playoffs. We deserved the win though. At home, we can't be beat. Gotta figure out road play and we'll be hard to stop.