hockey23

At first I thought she might just not be an English speaker, but she doesn't really have an accent. She's either completely clueless about hockey or was having some type of medical problem.

They're showing Tvrdon's game from last night on NHL Network right now. It's my first time watching him play and at first glance he reminds me of Lucic. He's big and has that Lucic-like hunchback posture. He looks really good down low protecting the puck and he's always around the net. Seems like the perfect net-front presence on one of Babcock's top 2 lines.

I thought he was outstanding last night. His size/speed combo is really impressive, but the most impressive thing to me is how refined his game is. He's really smart and responsible defensively, and uses his size to completely dominate in his own zone. Excellent on faceoffs and, like you said, was out there in key situations late in the game and overtime. His assist was a very nice setup on the rush and, based on that play, I can see why he's over a point-per-game and 4th in the CCHA in scoring. I'm officially excited (if you couldn't already tell).

Yeah, twice. The games I saw he picked up secondary assists on the powerplay and wasn't very noticeable 5-on-5. Still plenty of time to develop considering he's probably the youngest junior in college hockey.

The point totals are nice, and are probably increasing because he's getting PP time, but I just don't see the offensive abilities to be a top-6 NHLer. He still doesn't stand out offensively when I watch him, and his style of play screams 3rd-line shutdown center. I'm no expert, but I would be very surprised if he ever put up big points in a top-6 role in the NHL. Bust? Not at all. A quality 3rd line center is very valuable.

Looks like they gave him another assist last night so he's at 30p in 20gp. Also, he has 4g+5a=9p in 4gp since Huberdeau went out with an injury so it's pretty clear that his good start wasn't just a product of playing on a line with a top-3 pick.

Per his agent on twitter. $49M for Rinne = less money for Suter = Suter to Detroit

Koivu jumped into Kronwall and he didn't even have the puck. Charge, interference-take your pick.

I was watching him the other day and all I could think of was Fedorov. Good size, good speed, slick hands, and he has that flashiness about him. I haven't seen enough of him to say that he plays like Fedorov, and I'm certainly not saying he'll be as good, but he seems somewhat similar from what I've seen.

Kind of a weird trade. I would have expected Florida to be going after younger players, not giving them up. Obviously, they had no confidence in Booth (I can see why) and they wanted to dump his contract. In return they get a couple vets who are an upgrade right now and could fetch them some picks at the deadline.

He hasn't even been on the ice for a goal against so far this season, but of course people on here will complain about him. I don't understand why people expect him to go from somewhat of a liability to a legitimate top-4 guy just because he got a raise.

You didn't know that? Just talk to some Leafs fans. They'll let you know about Reimer's greatness and HOF caliber goaltending.

For all you Ericsson haters...

I understand the Wings' philosophy in developing prospects, but there comes a point where you have to consider putting a prospect on your team because he makes the team better. Even if he's not as ready as he's going to be, I really think Nyquist would help this team with depth scoring.

Nyquist=NHLer. I wish there was a spot for him on the Wings this year.

Lineup for tonight... Justin Abdelkader-Darren Helm-Chris Conner Drew Miller-Ryan Johnson-Patrick Eaves Gustav Nyquist-Cory Emmerton-Fabian Brunnstrom Tomas Tatar-Joakim Andersson-Landon Ferraro Jonathan Ericsson-Jakub Kindl Doug Janik-Brendan Smith Travis Ehrhardt-Mike Commodore Ty Conklin Jordan Pearce

I'm not sure what the big deal is. He'll get a 1 year deal in arbitration, probably in the $6M-$7M range, and Nashville will accept it. That gives Weber another year to see if the Preds are willing to spend to get some talented forwards. If they fail to improve their forwards, Weber will hope for an offer sheet next summer since the team can't force him to go to arbitration again. If they do improve, Weber signs long term and hopefully Suter becomes available.

Can someone explain to me how Toews is better than Z?

I'm counting on Tatar be a full-timer in 12-13. Holland has been talking about a youth movement lately and even mentioned that Tatar could possibly make the team this year. As for free agency, I don't think we'll be too active. Re-sign Helm and Abdelkader, get a Bertuzzi/Homer replacement, and use our young guys to fill out the roster. I see something like this... Filppula-Datsyuk-FA Franzen-Z-Cleary Bertuzzi/FA-Helm-Mursak Tatar-Abdelkader-Eaves Miller

Corey Pronman from HockeyProspectus.com just came out with his top 10 Wings' prospects... This sums up my thoughts on Pulkkinen pretty well. Small, below-average skater who has elite offensive potential. The size/skating factor will prevent him from being a 1st line forward and maybe from even making the NHL at all.

So what could he have done better? 1. Overpay Wiz/Ehrhoff and jeopardize the signing of Kronwall, Helm, and Lidstrom's replacement next year? 2. Overpay Cole/UFA and...(see #1) 3. Dump Hudler so we can have more cap space and no one to spend it on? 4. Make a trade and create a hole in our lineup by doing so? I'd give him a B+. He pretty much kept the team the same, didn't get into any ridiculous contracts, and still has $6M for another move and to ensure that we have cap space to re-sign our FAs/Lids' replacement.

Fair enough. Who would you compare him to? The only elite player I can really think of who is kind of small and slow is Zetterberg, but he doesn't remind me of Z from what I've seen.

I read as much as I can on him. The only time I got to see him though was at the WJC, besides his SM-Liiga highlights. Everything I read on him knocks his size and speed. And from watching the WJC it was pretty clear why. I just think that his "boom" is a 2nd line winger. There's no doubt he has a ton of talent, which is why I think he'll be a top 6 forward, but I have a hard time projecting a player who is small-ish and slow-ish as a top line player. If he had above average speed or size then I would buy into the 40 goal thing. If you look at the other top forward prospects (Tatar, Jarnkrok, Nyquist, Jurco) they all have a better combination of size and speed, on top of lots of talent, which is why I think at least 1 of those 4 will turn out to be better than Pulkkinen.

I like Pulu, but I think his size/speed combo will limit him. We'll need some stars to come from our system to avoid a fall while Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, and Kronwall are declining, and I think Tatar, Nyquist, Smith, Jarnkrok, and Jurco have a chance to be the stars. I see Pulu as a 2nd line winger and PP weapon, not as an elite Datsyuk/Zetterberg type player.

I definitely thought conference call = re-signing, but the Khan article seems legit. It's not just the agent quotes, because I agree it's possible the agent may not know/ be involved, Khan also says that the Wings plan to give Ozzie a job helping out the young goalies and that they plan to sign Conklin. It's much more detailed than St. James' article which basically just says Ozzie is coming back. If I had to bet on which one is correct, I'd take Khan's.