Wombat

GWG is a nice, easy stat to understand. It's not meant to measure clutchness. Sure, you can develop those types of stats, but they tend to be more complicated to calculate and understand, and sometimes are just convoluted. Look at sabermetrics in baseball... some are really useful, but aren't as easy to list in the newspaper like batting average. Many hockey stats are the same way. Yes, the first goal in a 5-0 game is just as much of a GWG as an OT one. Assists are the same... they don't measure the playmaking ability of a player. A perfect setup gets as many assists as a guy shooting it off the goalie's chest if a teammate gets the rebound. Even goals don't measure shooting ability. A perfect slapshot goal is just the same as if the puck bounces off of a guy's face into the goal. Point is, don't imply that the stat is telling you something that it's not. Goals aren't about shooting ability... it's about who last touched the puck that went into the net. Assists aren't about playmaking ability... it's about who was the 2nd or 3rd last player to touch a puck that went into the net. GWGs don't measure clutchness... it's about who scored the goal that gives the winning team 1 more goal than the losing team at game end.

It's not just pure population that determines which cities can support teams, but the number of people that want to and can afford to support professional hockey. In that way, even though the population numbers might be similar, I would argue that Toronto could support 3 NHL teams before Detroit could support 2. As it is, I would like to see Toronto metro get a 2nd team. I don't like the idea of Hamilton getting a team as it would impact the Sabres and Hamilton, from what I've seen, is sort of a downsizing post-industrial town. I'd like to see another team in the northern Toronto suburbs, such as Vaughn.

Here's the shootout attempt with the game in the balance that $100M gets you (from a game against the Sabres a few days back).

No salary cap relief, his number still counts against the team... it's just that the Wings can go over the cap slightly should they need to call someone up. I guess I'll be the first to post that I wish they had known this weeks ago so that the Wings didn't have to lose Ritola for nothing...

I agree with Toby that I'm fairly certain that the NHL does not allow option years... my guess is that since the cap hit for a player is the total contract value divided by the number of years, option years would make this calculation impossible (since you wouldn't know the "real" number of years and dollars until the end of the contract). Bonuses in the NHL are very limited... again going by memory, I think bonuses are only allowed on entry-level contracts, and for 1-year contracts to players over the age of 35. I do not think any other player situation can have a contract with bonuses.

The team is going to have a couple games every year that they stink. It happens. It's the NHL... every team has talent and it is impossible to play with 100% effort and efficiency every game. Don't you occasionally have bad days at work? You get less work done than usual? That doesn't make you unprofessional. There were times during the first half of last season that I was quite worried. But I'm not at all worried about this season. Let's see where they are after 15 games, when we have a good sample of comparison.

Personally, I don't agree with labeling Getzlaf as a power forward. Perhaps I have a non-traditional definition of power forwards... but I usually don't think of centers as power forwards. I see power forwards as big, physical, goal scoring wingers. Most NHL players now are awfully strong, so I think it's harder for a power forward to shine above it all than it was in the past.

Adding teams won't help marketing at all... but the reason marketing for the NHL is bad is not because there are too many teams, but because hockey is a niche sport and the NHL is just not good at marketing! They tried to put all their eggs in the Crosby basket. the key is to find the optimal balance between available talent in the world and markets that can support a big league team. Clearly, a merger with the AHL would not work in either regard. That said, there appear to be markets available right now that could be had. Whether there is enough talent to support the current 30 teams (or more) can be a debateable point. I agree that you don't want to water down the talent. Perhaps the most prudent move is to take franchises in failing markets and try them in fresh ones.

I think there is definitely enough talent in the world to support two more NHL-caliber teams. Franchises are floundering not because of lack of talent (league-wide) on the ice, but through poor management. Teams in non-traditional markets that have come in and been successful tend to do average to well in the NHL. The teams that are dragging the league down are the non-traditional markets that keep putting a bad product out there because of bad management. And some of those markets may now have been close to ruined by the bad franchises. In my opinion, too many of these new teams keep trying to build via youth movements, and I don't think that works very well unless you luck into a few top-20 talents (not top 20 draft picks, but players that are within the top 20 players in all the NHL). Players learn a lot by having veterans around that both contribute on the ice and off. I think a main reason the Wings are so successful is because of how veteran heavy the lineup is. It allows good young players to develop in a less pressure-packed space. I'm not necessarily pro-expansion... in fact I wouldn't mind if a few teams were contracted. But there is enough talent out there. By hook or crook, I think it would behoove the league greatly to add a 2nd team in metro Toronto. Also, the NHL should establish a team in Seattle while basketball is gone. Las Vegas is ready for a professional team. I think Winnipeg could be a viable market. Portland might also be a fun city to have a team (they are passionate NBA fans). I could also be talked into Kansas City. A combination of franchise moves and expansion could work well.

All American sports tend to be socialist (drafts to benefit the weak, salary caps, revenue sharing, etc). European sports, especially soccer, tend to be capitalistic (no drafts, those with the most money buy the best players, etc). I definitely find it interesting how this is the case. Germany in the 1930's was not socialist. It was a fascist state, which is essentially the polar opposite of socialism. Just because the Nazis had the word "Socialist" in their party name it does not make them actually socialists in belief and action. America is definitely not moving towards socialism; it could be inching towards European style social democracies but I doubt we'll reach that in any of our lifetimes. To actually make this post somewhat hockey related... we'll see how long Nabby's new team and league exists. He may not be gone from the NHL for good. It sucks to see a talented goalie like him leave the NHL, but goalies have been overvalued for a long time. An elite guy that has a .93 and above save % might be worth $4M+, but these other guys below that are close to interchangeable and it seems a team is better served using that extra money for better defensive players or more goal scoring.

He's had bad concussion issues from a few years back, and that precludes him from being the fighter he was before the lockout.

Good questions. To me, I'm not all that concerned about 1 consistent standard over the season as I am concerned about consistency within the context of a single game. In other words, I don't mind if Game 2 of the playoffs is called loose, but Game 3 is tight. Too a certain extent of course... can't have too big of a range. If you put reffing on a scale from 0 to 10, where 0 is a completely loose (no calls) game, and 10 is a completely tight (everything is called) game, I wouldn't mind if all games in the season floated somewhere between a 3 and a 7. Officials can let the players know what they are looking for early in the game, either verbally or by calling (or not calling) a couple quick penalties. I think refs start seeing problems when they start one way and finish the other, or if one team is getting some tick-tacky calls while the other is hacking away with impunity. I think it's fun to have games during the season that are tightly called, and some loosely. It allows more variability in style of play and makes the game entertaining (again, as long as they stay away from the extremes of calling nothing and calling everything).

Nightfall, wonderful post! I don't think people realize how difficult it is to ref a game of high level competition in just about any sport. I myself do not ref, but I know it is very difficult. I think that refs are doing the best they can, but sometimes a couple mistakes end up on the wrong side and it looks like bias. It's sort of the same thing when fans complain about players not giving their all... the players and refs are trying to do their jobs to the best of their ability, but everyone has off days. I'm certain that people who complain about players/refs don't have perfect efficiency at their job every single day, and they aren't dealing with people trying to stop them do their jobs and random bounces of a puck. That said, I think there can be more improvements to how games are called. I, along with many others, would simply like to have more consistency in the calls. I don't much care if games are called loose or tight, as long as it is consistent. Overall, I think how refs have to interpret calls needs to be more clarified. For example, the whole kicking/propelling a puck. there has got to be a way to allow pucks to go into the net for goals off of skates while still keeping goalies safe from having people kicking their blades at him. There are a few penalties that get me mad every time. I hate how a slash that breaks a stick, or knocks it out of a player's hands is an instant penalty. Some of these sticks break when someone receives a soft pass! And allowing a player to gain a penalty by dropping his stick is a farce to me. I also don't like the hooking calls where the player being hooked closes his arm on the stick and pins it to him. If anything, I'd like that to be 2 for hooking, 2 for holding and send both to the box. Overall, I think the game could be improved with more off-ice punishment. I LOVED back before the lockout when they would announce fines for players that dived. Then that went away. I think it should come back. Dives can be hard to catch in the moment, but are easier via review. Announce fines for dives. After 2 or 3 dives, a player gets suspended. Subsequent dives have longer suspensions. Maybe suspend a coach when his team reaches a certain seasonal dive threshold. Embarrass the players, and make them hurt their teams by missing games, and diving will become much less a part of the game.

I've gotten Center Ice the past two years. Loved it both years. I will not be purchasing it next year. Not because of conspiracies or bad reffing... but because I'm going back to school for a PhD and I won't have enough time to watch many games, or enough money to afford the package. My only beef with CI for cable is that they only have 1 HD channel, at least with my provider. Luckily they picked a handful of Wings games for the HD channel, but I wish every game possible was in HD.

The only reason the Wings made the playoffs was because a ton of guys stepped up and did more than they were expected of during the period of all those injuries. The low-expectation guys stepped up and kept the team in the hunt until everyone got back. Overall, a good season!

I'm curious if either Murray or Vlasic will get suspended for the headshot or knee-on-knee hits they gave, respectively. I think since both Wings players returned to the game, and since a new series will be starting, the league will not suspend either, but both hits were at the very least boarderline and need to be reviewed.

It's not really news... it's obvious. Yeah, you can come back and do athletic things 3-6 months after that surgery, but medically it takes closer to a year to regain something close to normalcy. I'm really happy with his play considering he's coming back from a significant knee injury from earlier this season.

I picked McCollum. I think Howard has been great this season... but as said before by gcom, the NHL is littered with goalies that start out great and then completely burn out in a couple years. Hopefully Howard continues an upward ascent. I went with McCollum because he is probably a better ranked prospect at his age compared to Howard at the same age. Still, I'd love Howard to continue what he started this year!

To me he always looks like he's trying to hold something in...

It's the playoffs... if you're not hurt, you're not trying!

GET OUTTA MY CAB!

I catch a lot of Sabres games living out in Rochester, NY. I think it might be a mistake to fire Ruff. Ruff is a quality coach, and I think it would be a mistake to fire him unless you have a better coach out there to replace him with... and I'm not sure if any of those are available. The bigger issue with the team is the GM, and the players he brought in. Look at their usual top forwards in the playoffs: - Vanek was hurt - Pomminville had 2 goals, 2 assists - Roy had 2 assists - Connelly had 1 assist - Stafford had no points There was just no production out of their top players. This team does not have enough talent. Their Top 6 is pathetic and they lack depth on defense. This team was Miller playing out of his mind and a great Bottom 6 carrying this team. If I was the Sabres, I'd get rid of Darcy Reiger (the GM) and let a new GM decide Ruff's fate. But I think it would be a HUGE mistake to fire the coach and stick with these players.

I live out in WNY and truth be told, this Sabres team NEVER reacts to anything. Sort of like the Wings, they don't challenge guys after cheap shots. Heck, their playoff chances last year were ruined when Gomez hurt Miller behind the net and no one even put a glove on the guy. That said, I'm not really sure if I'm seeing a dive in this video. Sometimes it doesn't take much when in that position to lose balance. Do you really think he's going to dangerously dive head first into the boards and risk serious injury just to draw a penalty? If so, he's a lot gutsier that he's being given credit for...

The Sabres are going back to the original jersey full time next year (supposedly), and making the slug the 3rd jersey. Hooray, it's probably the best jersey in the NHL! This is what I think the Hurricane's jersey really should be...