sureWhyNot

YAAAAAAAAA DATS!

As much as I love a good scrap, I agree with you 100% on this one.

It's Impossible Not to Love!

Looks like our enforcer (the powerplay) was a healthy scratch tonight.

Be careful what you ask for. If Mule does that, he will get a lot more then what Vandameer gave him the other night. I know... Sad...

To be completely honest, I see more euro fans whining about the euro bashing at HF then any actual bashing itself. I think you would be doing yourself a favor by getting over it. As far as Don Cherry goes -- with all due respect man, the guy has forgotten more about the sport then any of us will ever know. I can understand you not liking him and thats perfectly fine. The solution is really quite simple -- CHANGE THE CHANNEL. Personally I love the guy -- he is entertaining as all hell, I do realize his brand isn't for everyone, but then again his show is on "Hockey Night in Canada" so I guess you have a pretty clear cut way of ignoring him -- again, DON'T WATCH HIS SHOW. He has been around the game a lot longer then any of us, and has achieved quite a bit in the sport, and while you may not like it, a lot of people do. Tough luck I guess.

Great post -- and great read. I know a lot of people have grown sour with Laraque in regards to his on ice play and style of enforcement but I still like the guy a lot. He makes very good points, and overall I think anyone who likes hockey would enjoy the read.

Franzen is a great player, and I don't think anyone would dispute that - that unfortunately means very little when assesing the Red Wings situation. There is no way -- absolutely no way that the Wings should let Hossa walk. He already has made it known he likes it here and that in itself is enough for me to see Franzen walk. What Franzen did in last years playoffs was jaw dropping without a doubt. That said, he is somewhat injury prone, there are guys who could theoretically step into his role (might not be as effective, but definitely suitable replacements) and the biggest of all reasons to let him go (if he is looking for 4M a year) is that he is no Marian Hossa -- period. The team with Marian Hossa is better then a team with Franzen. While I would love to see them both back, I don't think it is a) possible and b) if possible, completely crippling the team salary cap wise in ever other facet outside Hossa and Franzen. I will take Hossa and Hudler over Franzen and Hudler any day of the week, as I would expect a lot of folks would.

Wow, glad Clearly tied it -- But in terms of looking at the big picture, the Flames are going to be a s***load happier with the OT outcome then the Wings are. And for good reason.

HAHA -- what does this even mean? I mean what are you attempting to say?

Yup, he was amazing. A trait that usually accompanies successful playoff teams. Good thing we have goalkeepers who can bear down and stand on their head when need be like Kipper did. As for Cleary and Franzen being out -- Well, who didn't see this coming. I guaranteed within 3 games of dressing the hands down softest (forget fighting, we are talking any sort of grit period) team in the history of the NHL that we would have guys dropping. Coinsidence? No, some will claim it is - but in all reality, if you didn't see it coming then you are blind.

Calgary slashing - 2 min 8:41, D. Moss Calgary boarding - 5 min 10:52, D. Phaneuf Calgary puck over glass - 2 min 11:59, J. Leopol Calgary cross check - 2 min 13:18, C. Sarich Calgary roughing - 2 min 14:10, A. Aucoin Calgary roughing - 2 min 14:10, J. Vandermeer Calgary roughing - 2 min 14:10, J. Vandermeer Calgary misconduct - 10 min 14:10, J. Vandermeer The Wings managed 19 shots (of their total 26 in the first period) on the PP. How long did we have a 5 on 3? Good god, if the PP is our enforcer then we sure as hell should look for an upgrade.

Who, especially on this board - but in general would claim, with a straight face, that Markov is better then Lidstrom. Don't get me wrong but it's Lidstrom and it's a no brainer.

This is ******* embarrassing -- I do not know what Franzen thinks is going to happen when he does that bulls*** rabbit punching after the whistle. He got put on his ass. We are getting ragdolled around the Joe after about every whistle. Anyone who wants to jump on Vandermeer for what he did should check themselves - in fact he should be thanked that he left his glove on. I am waiting in anticipation to hear what the whole "the power play is our enforcer" crowd has to say.

Over the past 14 years no team has managed to win the Stanley Cup who had a regular season starting goaltender with a 3.0 GAA or higher (THE FOLLOWING IS THE GAA OF STANLEY CUP WINNING GOALTENDERS IN THE REGULAR SEASON OF THE YEAR THEY WON THE CUP): 07-08: Detroit Red Wings: Ozzie and Dom pretty much split the regular season with Osgood getting 43 starts and holding a 2.09 GAA and Hasek starting 41 games with a 2.14 GAA 06-07: Anaheim Ducks: Jean-Sebastien Giguere was both the playoff go to guy as well as the regular season starter. He had a GAA in the regular season of 2.26 05-06: Carolina Hurricanes: Cam Ward, who won the Con Smythe for the Hurricanes was incidentally not the starter throughout the regular season. In fact, the Canes starting goaltender was Martin Gerber who in 60 games managed a 2.78 GAA 03-04: Tampa Bay Lightning: Nikolai Khabibulin was the regular season starter, and in 55 games held a 2.33 GAA. 02-03: New Jersey Devils: Marty Brodeur was the regular season starter, and in 73 games he held a 2.02 GAA. 01-02: Detroit Red Wings: Hasek was our regular season starter, getting the nod for 65 games in which he held a 2.17 GAA 00-01: Colorado Avalanche: Roy was there number one in the regular season starting 62 games and holding down a 2.21 GAA. 99-00: New Jersey Devils: Again, Brodeur was their reg. season starter, and in 72 regular season starts he held a 2.24 GAA. 98-99: Dallas Stars: The Stars number one goaltender in the regular season was Eddie Belfour, and in his 62 starts Belfour had a 1.99 GAA. 97-98: Detroit Red Wings: Our number one goaltender this year was none other then Chris Osgood. In Ozzie's 64 regular season starts he held a 2.24 GAA. 96-97: Detroit Red Wings: This year the Wings kinda divied up the regular season starting duties between Ozzie and Vernon, with Ozzie starting 47 regular season games and holding a 2.30 GAA and Vernon starting 33 regular season contests and held down a 2.43 GAA. 95-96: Colorado Avalance: The Av's split the regular season starts between Patrick Roy, who saw 39 regular season starts and held down a 2.68 GAA and Stephane Fiset who started 37 games and held down a regular season GAA of 2.93. 94-95: New Jersey Devils: Brodeur was again the regular season starter and had a 2.45 GAA. 93-94: New York Rangers: Mike Richter was the regular season starter with 68 starts, and managed to hold down a 2.57 GAA. 1992-93 was the last time a team whose regular season starter had a GAA above 3.0. When the Montreal Canadians very own Patrick Roy was the regular season starter, getting the nod in 62 regular season games, he ended up with a 3.20 GAA. Now seeing as though Ozzie is our number one -- this is indicated by both his salary, spot in the depth chart and countless statements made by Babcock, Holland, etc. I become frightened. Why do I become frightened you ask? Chris Osgood's GAA is currently 3.30 -- EEK! I suggest you watch this to settle the nerves -- it works for me!

I will tell you this much -- if the league did away with the instigator rule, the Red Wings and their current lineup would be in a s***load of trouble. You can bet your ass the face washing after the whistle would stop real quick.

Wow. I guess since you didn't pick up on the theme I'll spell it out for ya -- teams with s***ty goalies don't win Stanley Cups. That clear enough for you? The "funny" thing is that while I was in no way saying this is a unbreakable trend, you decide to rifle back -- in a poor attempt to appear witty -- a bunch of "stats" that in all actuality aren't stats at all, rather factual statements. Comparing the past Stanley Cup winning goalies GAA is a statistic, "no team winning the cup wit ha European Captain until last year" is a FACT. But keep douching it up, you seem like you are pretty good at it. Yes and no. I think you are right in regards to a really solid goaltender who is on a horrible team. If that's the case, and the goalie is seeing 40-45 shots a night then a 3.20 GAA (or whatever it is) certainly isn't telling in regards to the goalies ability -- this is when SV% becomes the more important teller of the two. But I think GAA is somewhat (but by no means the definitive) reflective of a goaltender when playing on a decent/good or in this case amazing team, where the number of shots he see's on average per night is on par, if not lower then the league average. Well... Ya, you are right. I didn't want to come out and say it but you are totally right actually. But for s***s and giggles why don't we go ahead and look at the regular season starters for the past couple Stanley Cup champs, and their SV% throughout the regular season: 2008: Detroit's Hasek and Osgood pretty much split games in the regular season. Osgood who started 43 games had a SV% of .914 and Hasek who started 41 games had a regular season SV% of .902 Ozzie did however have a jaw dropping .930 SV% and a 1.55 GAA in the post season -- Good god did he come to play in last years postseason. While (and this could serve as a measuring stick as too what we can expect if Ozzie doesn't get back to normal) Hasek had a playoff (albeit a brief playoff run) SV% of .888 and a GAA of 2.91. 2007: Anaheim's Jean-Sebastien Giguere - PLAYOFFS .922; SEASON .918 *2006: Carolina Hurricane's Cam Ward - PLAYOFFS .920; SEASON .882 -----> This one gets an asterisk b/c Ward was not the Canes starter throughout the reg. season. In fact he was far from the starter -- Ward started a measly 26 games for the Canes, while Martin Gerber and his 60 starts garnished a .906 SV%. So, if we were to stick to the original premise, we would be using Gerber's numbers since he was the Hurricane's starting goaltender in the regular season. 2004: Tampa Bay Lightning's Nikolai Khabibulin - PLAYOFFS .933; SEASON .910 2003: New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur - PLAYOFFS .934; SEASON .914 2002: Detroit's Dominik Hasek - PLAYOFFS .920; SEASON .915 2001: Colorado's Patrick WAAAAAA - PLAYOFFS .934; PLAYOFFS .913 2000: New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur - PLAYOFFS .927; SEASON .910 1999: Dallas Stars Eddie Belofour - PLAYOFFS .930; SEASON .915 1998: Detroit's Chris Osgood - PLAYOFFS .918; SEASON .913 *1997: Detroit's Mike Vernon - PLAYOFFS .927; SEASON .899 -----> This one gets an asterisk because Vernon was not the starter -- while I guess you could say they split time, Chris Osgood actually started 47 regular season games to Mike Vernon's 32 (Hodson with 1). Ozzie's SV% in the regular season in '97 was .910. 1996: Colorado's Patrick WAAAAAAA - PLAYOFFS .921; PLAYOFFS .909 1995: New Jersey Devils Martin Brodeur - PLAYOFFS .927; SEASON .911 1994: New York Ranger's Mike Richter - PLAYOFFS .921; SEASON .910 1993: Montreal's Patrick WAAAAAAAA - PLAYOFFS .929; SEASON .894 Then again when the Penguins won the Cup back to back in 1991 and 1992 -- regular season starter Tom Barrasso had a SV% under .900 both seasons. In '92 his reg. season SV% was .885 and in '91 his reg. season was .896. Both years however he got that SV% above .900 in the playoffs -- in '92 his playoffs SV% was .907, and in '91 his playoffs SV% was .919. It is interesting though to look back at Osgood specifically and his past GAA and SV% numbers for the regular season. Only once prior to this year has Osgood finished the season with over a 3.00 GAA. That came in 2002-03 with the Blues - and get this, Ozzie only played 9 games. He had spent the majority of the season (while 38 starts worth of season) with the Islanders, when he left he had a GAA of 2.92. What does all this mean? Not much, I just figured this could serve as some food for thought, no more no less. I do not think we are doomed, I actually am confident going into the final stretch. Maybe not as confident as years back, but definitely feeling good about it. I do think Ozzie can get it together, and for us to make another run he HAS to get it together -- I think that is at least something everyone around here can agree on. For reference purposes Chris Osgood currently is sitting on a 3.30 GAA and a SV% of .878. While Conklin is looking at a 2.38 GAA and a SV% of .914. Now for the entertainment portion of the post I present the following:

Here is a new article per The Hockey News website. From The Point: Top 10 Stanley Cup contenders Wow, the West sure looks (as usual) like the odds on favorite this year. Barring a catastrophic turn events (aka goal tending & defense not showing up for the playoffs) how epic would a Wings/Sharks Western Conference Final be?

Ya, must have included games where one or the other was pulled. You can look for yourself here at HockeyDB -- the site where I got the numbers.

I don't think they should change a thing. It is beyond tragic what happened to Don Sanderson, but it didn't happen in the NHL, and if sports were to base their rules and rule changes on freak accidents that occured at a recreational/amateur level every game would change as we know it. You would have football making rule changes based on freak accidents in high school games, Baseball would change how we know it if amateur/rec level accidents dictated the MLB's rulebook, etc. What happened to Sanderson is absolutely, and unequivocally nightmarish -- something that no family should have to go through. But with that said, what was he doing even fighting in a senior league? And do the actions of guys who play hockey part time, or purely for recreation really deserve a hand in the NHL decision making process?

I hear ya on that one for sure. In fact, I attempted to stuff the ballot box with "Gimme that Fish" votes for the April in the D song contest. Unfortunately I didn't prevail.

Wrong again -- the conclusion was made on the following: a) your statement in which you claim "Only datsyuk makes these little plays better that filppula", which is flat out untrue, b) your statement "But if you want to have fun with stats, right now, it takes Flip 27.6 ES minutes to get 1 ES point, and it takes Hudler 28.2. Omg trade Hudler!" which is absolutely has no impact whatsoever on this argument seeing as though Hudler is currently making 1.015M a year and Flip 3M as well as the fact the game of hockey is not exclusive to ES play. To use this as the staple of your argument is ludacris - it's the intelectual equivalent of arguing Conklin is the best goalie based on his 14-1 record at home. This would be a good argument if every signle game was played at home, but they aren't, the same as hockey is not always played at ES. So my claim that you are a know nothing and 95% of the people on this board know more then you is a conclusion based on a hell of a lot more then a disagreement. I have disagreements with people on here often, and I would still say half of them know much more then me in regards to all facets of the game-- no, the conclusion I made is based on statements you have made that signal your ignorance towards hockey and more specifically the Red Wings.

Ya I have to agree with this statement 100%. In fact I would even go on a limb to say Franzen is closer to the 3M range in a Red Wings uniform. I also think Flip at 3M is a bit much, but who knows. Again, I agree with statement 100%. We NEED to resign Hossa -- that would lock up Zetterberg, Dats, Hossa and Rafalski all for a good while. With Lids surely resigning at yet another discounted price (this is me assuming of course) I would say that the foundation is set in stone for the next 4-5 years. If you can't build a winning team around guys like Z, Dats, Hossa, Rafalski and Lids then you are in some trouble. Great post. I love numbers and you lay it out there with these comparisons and analysis. I wish more people actually used numbers in backing up their claims, it is quite rare around here and it was refreshing as hell to see someone buck that trend. Good job for sure.

Ha ha, wow. Now if that isn't a great argument to use I don't know what is. I mean the two are comparable -- wait, no they aren't.. At all... I mean if you want to really get dirty with this then we could get into the whole fact that 90% of the Roman's subjected their prisoners to the gladiatorial games you speak of. Now, if you want to make a comparison to the death penalty that is used in modern day society and the Roman gladiator practices you might have something - al be it a stretch - but maybe something. However in regards to hockey fights and gladiators in ancient Rome -- well you just sound funny. Once again -- WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. Here are the average fights per game each season since 1992: 1992-93 - 0.71 1993-94 - 0.85 1994-95 - 0.88 1995-96 - 0.80 1996-97 - 0.93 1997-98 - 0.87 1998-99 - 0.66 1999-00 - 0.57 2000-01 - 0.61 2001-02 - 0.70 2002-03 - 0.56 2003-04 - 0.70 2004-05 - No season 2005-06 - 0.41 2006-07 - 0.44 2007-08 - 0.59 2008-09 - 0.68 (projected) If fight totals go up again next year it will mark the first time in 20 years that fighting has increased in four consecutive seasons. Your notion or should I say, statement, that the majority of games do not have a fight is misleading in the sense that while only 43.7% of NHL games this year have included a fight, when the number of multiple fight games are thrown in that number increases nearly 16%. So technically a little less then half NHL games go flightless (good lord the Wings are helping this out) the overall instances of fighting is greatly increasing in regards to the last 4 years -- with all signs pointing to an increase yeat again next year. This allows one to conclude that fighting is growing more popular in the sport yet again.

Ya I hear you about the Wings/Habs. I also wouldn't mind a Wings/Bruins final -- Maybe it's because we don't see them often nowadays with the new scheduling. But even that wouldn't touch a original 6 match up in the finals between Detroit and Montreal. Good god though, can you imagine the "riot" references that would be tossed around other hockey forums if it was us and Montreal given the history of both cities and all? It would get obnoxious fast.