Chunkylover

This was absolutely impossible. I picked Franzen on Mason, scoring while falling. Awesome. All of them though were great.

From Scott Burnside at ESPN.com: This is what I mean when I say teams are dumb to play playoff hockey in the regular season.

I think these guys will play better now that the playoffs have arrived, and will get better with each new round should they be so deserving. I would like to offer a perspective on the soft Wings; probably not a new one, but not one I've heard recently. Look at how beat up San Jose, Flames, and Montreal are right now, or how beat Nashville was as they intensely tried to make the postseason. There is no guarantee that they will get those injured players back before they are ousted, and their impact could be tempered by rust. The Sharks and Flames specifically are praised for being built for the playoffs because they play tough during the regular season, but look at how many injuries they endured, many that will carry over into the first round. I would argue that they are stupid for playing playoff hockey before the playoffs start and the Wings are wiser for waiting. Cleary and Stuart are tough and smart and I think we'll all be saying that at the end of this years run.

I've thought of this too and it would be nice to have an all Central playoff run, although Chicago in the second round and St. Louis in the third round would be very physical taxing series regardless of travel. With that said, it would be nice to beat Calgary and San Jose again, and to win a rematch with the Ducks to shut up those who say they're built for the playoffs.

If I'm reading this correctly this is a pretty positive statistic. This makes me believe these guys can step up when they want to. A few weeks ago I reviewed the hitting and shot-blocking statistics from the last two seasons and found that there is and increase in the playoffs in physical play and sacrifice over the regular season. I believe we will see these stats increase again this year.

It's easy to question whether this team can "flip the switch" in the playoffs, especially since the playoffs haven't started yet, but in order to inspire some confidence I would urge all doubters to look back at the '06-'07 and '07-'08 playoff runs as evidence of this team's ability to step up their game. They know how important the games will be, they know they've lately been sloppy and uninspired, they know how good Columbus is. Believe what you will, I trust them.

What is the official rule concerning when the playoff beard is supposed to be started? Can I go with what I have now or do I need to shave it off and start again now that the season is over?

I like the Winter Classic jersey, and I'm sure it will be considered as their official third jersey replacing the old red, white, and black jersey. I'd like it better they dropped the shoulder patches. It's very clean and simple. I've also considered getting a Hossa Winter Classic and may still even if he doesn't sign.

...And a discount at Country Kitchen Buffet. I find it hard to call it a home town discount if it takes eleven years to bring the cap hit down to 3.9.

Detroit Free Press says 11 years.

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom - Best line in the NHL. Franzen - M. Richards - Vanek - Great scoring, size, and defensive awareness. Hossa - Hemsky - Hudler - Playmakers galore! J. Neal - Helm - Shanahan - Grit, speed, experience, size... all good things. Lidstrom - Chara - Size and skill. Kronwall - Pronger - Size and skill. Ericsson - Lilja - Size, shot-blocking, sacrifice. Rinne - He's huge and quick. Osgood - He's a great goalie, but better when he's trying to steal the #1 spot.

I'm not too sure about the long term deals but we will be losing some regulars in the next three seasons and it will be good to have some continuity. In a situation like this I'm more interested in the team getting a good deal than the player, so I hope it's around $3M. Hopefully when Mule said he'd rather win than make big money losing, he was being honest.

In the west, the biggest surprises were Dallas and Colorado finishing outside this season. I thought Dallas would challenge for their division. Both teams were hampered by injuries though, and that proved too much to handle. I'm disappointed for Nashville that they couldn't make it in because I love their hard-working style and want some success for them. I though Phoenix and Edmonton might do better but am not surprised they did worse. In the East I'm most surprised by Ottawa. Everyone else sucked as usual. I was rooting for Buffalo and Florida to overtake New York and Montreal, but it's not surprising to see them fail.

Any team will be tough. The Wings have a better record against Anaheim than Columbus, but haven't lost to St. Louis at all. With that said, all three teams have been hot lately. I think the Anaheim series would be a good first round matchup because a lot of the players on this team can remember the first round sweep of '03 not to mention the recent loss in the WCF. The Wings have played well against Anaheim this year.

I was thinking almost the same thing except I thought it should lose because Andy Brickley just slobbers all over Wheeler after that goal. ******.

I really don't understand why Ovechkin's goal is considered all that great. It's a good goal, but of the five choices his is the least spectacular in my opinion. Hagman's is one of my favorites because of the effort he showed that entire shift; and the execution was very nice as well. Still, I voted for Mule.

Clever commercial. There was a clip in which a reporter asked Burrish about Crosby and he answered, "I don't know who that is." He probably came up with the idea. Unfortunately that kind of punk behavior belies their immaturity. Here's to experience!

He shouldn't be, but I understand why he's doing it. Maybe the ghost of Gary Roberts has possessed him. You could see Guerin hovering around in case things got hairy for Sid.

Crosby was right to take offense at that hit, although he shouldn't have picked that particular fight. Malkin didn't jump but was on one leg because of his last-second kick-pass, but Ballard did take his legs out; it wasn't a hip-to-hip check. Not intentionally dirty or anything, but worth a tripping call.

If Hagman's goal loses credibility for being against Florida, Ryan's should for being against LA. Ryan's goal was definitely a good individual effort, but I think the speed of the play shows how little resistance he faced whereas Hagman got checked by the linesman, hit by the puck, high-sticked (I think) then dekes the entire Florida defense corps. And for all that I still voted Pavel's as the best.

That's some tough company. I voted for Pavel even though I thought the Hagman goal, based on what he endured that whole shift, was a more impressive goal. Campoli and Semin, were good but no way were they better than Pavel. Ryan's was definitely good too.

When I was in high school I was at a restaurant in Wayne and saw Gordie and Colleen Howe. Surprisingly not many people were bugging him, so naturally it occurred to me that I should. They were very nice, Mrs. Howe pulled out a picture and Gordie signed it. Very gracious. More recently my brother and I very nearly ran into Mikael Samuelsson at the Twelve Oaks mall. He was with his wife and family so I didn't bug him for anything.

I hear you. I recorded the Predators game while I was at church and was really looking forward to a good bounce-back game. After the Wings took the lead I felt comfortable they would hold on. Then when they tied it up I thought for sure they'd get to overtime. It's disappointing to see them play so poorly. It would be nice to have some sign to prove they are capable of stepping up at this late point in the season. I still think they can do it, but it will be important for them to experience bad losses like this throughout the post-season as well. Remember games four and five against Dallas, how important those losses were to refocus the team for the shutdown performance in game six. Again in game five of the Pittsburgh series, they were obviously nervous and excited about winning the Cup at home and forgot how to play puck-possession hockey. They remembered in game six. These hiccups are healthy for a team with this much talent and experience to keep them grounded and focused.

It's not completely accurate to say that Kopy doesn't hit. Leino is good and I hope he gets some time in the playoffs, but hey, I hope Cheli gets some time too. I'm a homer I guess. I believe the hitting will increase once the playoffs start as well: it has for the last two seasons. The question is whether Kopy can be as effective as Drake was and stay out of the penalty box.

You're probably right. I don't hate anybody on this team and wish they could all come back, but if it comes between Kopy and Leino I think they'll sign the latter and a poor performance by Kopecky will make that decision easier.