sureWhyNot

The blatant butt end/elbow he threw that got him sent to the box at the end of the 2nd.

Why? Boll was trying to get something going for his team. May answered the challenge. If May were to defer, Boll would literally run around the ice head hunting to May obliged.

lol. well played. me too.

I am sure a lot of you have seen this hit from last night - Chris Neil absolutely flattens Victor Hedman, with probably the closest thing we have see in the NHL to a perfect check in a while (didn't come from the blindside, shoulders to chest and not the head, etc.) It gets even better as the little rat Steve Downie comes in jumps Neil. Ironic when you remember Downie's on McCammond. Anyways, their is no question this check is as clean as a check can be, but do you think something like this gives players more ammo to try to get them to remove the trapezoid rule?

Agree with you on Downie sucking, disagree with you on everything else. The kid needs to learn to keep his head up - which he will. But this is the NHL, it's part of the game. It's kinda sad how every single monster hit (the clean ones) nowadays is either questioned or used in reference to question the "hitting rules" in the NHL. Out of all the NHL personalities who have weighed in on this, I would have to say I am closest to Ken Holland in regards to his position on open ice hitting (close, but not in full agreement - the puckhandler and his teammates are always the one responsible for the hit he is or is not going to receive - clean hits that is, if it is dirty - like an elbow to the head, it is a completely different story) Per MLive: All in all, I would have to say I agree with 90% of this. All this talk (not just here, but in the hockey world in general) has made me increasingly miss pre-lockout hockey quite a bit. I am not talking way back in the day I am talking mid-late 90's/early 2000's.

I cannot wrap my head around all the Rafalski hate around here - has he made some mistakes? Sure, but then again the entire team made mistakes the first handful of games. Rafalski and Lebda are not even comparable to one another: Lebda: 1 goal - 0 assists - 1 point - (+/-) -2 - 10 PM - Avg. Time on Ice: 12:46 Rafalski: 1 goal - 5 assists - 6 points - (+/-) Even - 2 PM - Avg. Time on Ice: 22:37 The argument that Lebda has been better then Rafalski is hare brained to say the least - and the overall argument that Rafalski has been playing terrible is nothing more then a fallacy. As for Bertuzzi - the OP is correct. I think Bertuzzi has been great thus far, he's playing a lot of minutes, and creating a lot of chances. As for his turnovers - this is something that he undoubtedly has to work on, but I wouldn't say it is a nightmare of a problem. Giveaways: Niklas Kronwall (15) , Stuart (14), Bertuzzi (14), Ericsson (13), Lidstrom (12), Zetterberg (10), Dats (8). He def. has to work on that but so far I think his pluses definitely outweigh the negatives.

Hit was clean. The only notable hit thus far I think called for a suspension was Wisniewski's forearm shiver on Doan. These guys are athletes who are paid millions of dollars to play hockey. Just like in any other professional sport with contact, their is risk to playing - in the case of hockey, the risk is reduced immensely by keeping your f'ing head up. It is the first thing you are taught as a youngster, and it only becomes more vital along the way that you have your head up, and on a swivel. If you seriously think that they will ever remove hitting from hockey - or even worse, are lobbying for them to remove hitting from hockey you really should look into following another sport, or head to your local rink on Friday nights at around midnight and take in some beer league, no contact games - they probably suit your taste much better then the NHL.

Steve Mason's mask is my new all time favorite. So sick.

Good god some of you are slow. The difference between the two that in America black folks (African Americans as you like to call them) were brought here against their will in shackles and chains, only to be bought and sold into slavery. The double standard only exists in the heads of ignorant and bitter folks who are so unhappy with some facet of their life that they project stupid ass arguments like the one you pose.

Being European is not a race you twit.

Nailed it here. I don't like Crosby all that much, but I would be foolish to try and claim he was anywhere close to losing this fight. I only wish the refs let it go longer so Zidlicky could get punished some more for serving up one of the games ugliest, and most cowardly plays - the slew foot. I enjoyed watching a north american boy take a slew footing euro to the woodshed - even if that player was Crosby.

It will kinda be like when we enjoyed our free agent signing day in the middle of the year opposed to July 1. I mean, Holland said it more times then I care to remember, so maybe he'll take that angle with Franzen's return as well - you know, to justify the fact we probably won't do anything to the teams overall look.

Lehtonen=Disaster. If we were going to go this route, we mine as well package Toskala too. I would rather take our chances with either of the guys from GR then Lehtonen.

Simple answer - he isn't looking for a gf, or anything for that matter that requires any sort of time commitment. He isn't paying for sex, he's paying for them to leave after words. On that note, I have to admit -- I am a huge fan of Avery - but with this, a "call girl" had a name in a blackbook -- I really would care less who it was. It ain't my business.

First off, if this is old and repetitive I apologize. I haven't seen it up here on the boards, but who knows, I could very well have missed it. OK, with that said - Earlier I was reading reading through the Snapshots blog on Mlive and saw the new article about Sawchuck's goalie mask. Towards the end of the article they mention Ozzie once had a mask painted but never wore it in a game because he didn't like the fit. Anyways, I do remember hearing about this back when it happened but I had never seen the actual mask (again, if I was just out to lunch and this is yawn material, I apologize) so I decided to see if I could find what it looked like. Here are some pics, with a write up from the website I found it included below: Side View: Detroit Industry - Man and Machine Mural Close up of Production Line Red Wings: Front View: Detroit Industry - Man and Machine Mural Back of Mask: To check out more pictures do so here.

Hahahah I Love Avery.

Very happy. I love what he offers. Great attitude and team guy.

LOL. May has been just fine. I laugh when folks like youself constanly dismiss the role of grit on a hockey team (I am talking real grit, not facewashing a guy after a whistle and the ref is present.) By my calculations May has done his job just fine - in fact May has done his job a lot more then 80% of our d-men, and about the same percent of our top 6 (guys whose job it is to put the puck into the net.) May has definitely done his job better then either of our goaltenders - but I am not even going to get into that, seeing as though you come across as the type who doesn't see much of a problem with our goaltending. Not to mention your entire premise regarding May is flawed. Franzen tore his ACL when he fell on it wrong - it wasn't due to a cheap shot. May is a good policeman but he isn't god. And Flips broken wrist was a fluke, not a cheap shot - so again, the enforcer angle really is null and void here as well. Thus making your argument, or should I say, attempt at an argument, nothing more then meaningless babble from someone who is clearly out to lunch about a lot of things hockey related. As for May and Boogard -- what's your point? May did cheap shot Johnsson - it was in the heat of the moment during a playoff game and it is what it is. You think the Red Wings are completely innocent of ever committing a cheapshot? May fought Boogard the next time the teams played -- the following year and with you being an obvious expert on hockey enforcers (this is indicated by your terminology "most feared goon") you would also know that while May didn't win against Boogard, he certainly fared about exponentially better then 99% of guys who have dropped the gloves with Boogard: I cannot stand people who hate tougher guys for nothing else but them playing a different style of hockey then Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Flip play. May has done everything asked from him and then some. He is literally in the bottom 5 category of guys who deserve to be called out.

I detested the Williams signing as much as anyone on these boards. I have to admit though Williams has looked really, really good so far. I would even go as far as too say he has been one of the bright spots thus far.

Found this clip of good ole Shanny scrapping with now Penguin head coach Dan Bylsma (who was on the Anaheim Ducks at the time of the fight) back in 2001.

Cleary, Datsyuk, Bertuzzi Holmstrom, Zetterberg, Williams Leino ,Draper, Eaves May, Helm, Abdelkater *With Abdelkater and Eaves interchangeable

Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking when I first saw this.

Gosh, a part of me just wants to see him brought up. Before I go any further I will admit I know that there is absolutely, positively zero chance of it happening - and for good reason. But I look around at rosters this year and see all these young kids - Matt Duchene, Ryan O'Reilly, Michael Del Zotto, Evander Kane, Drew Doughty, Tyler Myers, and so on. Again I know this isn't going to happen, or am arguing that it should - because it definitely is not good for a guy playing his first season in North America and who is so young. But part of me is curious of what would happen or what he could accomplish- if anything.

What is a matter with you folks? Why cant you admit that Howard is not good. This doesn't mean that he is the only bad player on the ice. You are also wrong about goalies. Look at Craig Anderson - stopped 48 of 49 shots to get his team the win. Can you imagine if there were 50 shots on either of our goalies? Oh my god - but of course it wouldn't be the goal stoppers fault, hell no - it would be Rafalski, Stuart, etc. This has to stem from not having really stellar goal tending for a good couple years now - at least in the regular season that is. That is the only thing I can think of that would cause this laughable refusal to admit Howard blows.