cusimano_brothers

This is great news; I think everyone will agree that he's been a big missing part of the Club's defense.

Didn't the League say that "repeat offenders" would see their suspensions escalate, until they "got the message" regarding shots to the head? It they are following policy, this should have been lonnger than 5 games.

Who knows; in the "new" NHL, Crosby losing the lid might be worth two in the box. He'll have time to read the script for his latest Tim Hortons commercial.

Crosby looked bored; pining for his old coach, perhaps?

If anyone knows why Adam Graves' ceremony, for his retirement of #9, came before tonight's for Andy Bathgate, pleases share. Taken from NHL dot com: Howell and Bathgate. I knew that this had happened with Detroit; games with the Rangers were played at a "neutral" site: Maple Leaf Gardens. But this part of it, I didn't know: Howell and Bathgate told rollicking stories for more than an hour about a very different NHL that existed more than 50 years ago when they were young, stressing the inherent imbalance in the League, where the Detroit Red Wings' owner also owned the Rangers' building and scheduled the circus into Madison Square Garden each year at the exact time the Stanley Cup Playoffs were being held. If the Rangers made the playoffs -- and they rarely did, making it just four times for a total of 22 games in Bathgate's tenure -- they had to play at another NHL building.

Others haven taken note. From the article: General manager Bob Gainey told Kovalev to take a few days off and he didn't accompany the team on its road road trip to Washington and Pittsburgh. Kovalev said on Saturday that the rest might have been a good thing and Carbonneau noted: "Nobody likes to see something like that, but there's a lot of pressure and sometimes it's necessary. You see Detroit doing the same thing with (goaltender Chris) Osgood." Carbonneau jokingly said the downside to Kovalev's performance is that more players will be asking for three days off. Pressure. Pressure? Pressure is being a goaltender with the DRW; always has and always will be. It sure isn't being a captain wannabe.

Most Close Decision Games (1 or 2-goal), 1st 60 games: 45, tying the record set in 2000-01. The Club's record in these games: 27W-10L-6OTL-2SOL Broken down: 1-goal games: 31G, 18W-5L-6OTL-2SOL 2-goal games: 14G, 9W-5L. These have accounted for 75% of the Club's 60 games played so far this season.

Headline: Kovalev plays up to potential; earns his money. I couldn't help but notice that he had the "A" back on his jersey. At a Friday press scrum Coach Guy Carbonneau was asked if he was going to give it back to him for the Saturday game and he said "I'll sleep on it; if I can sleep". If he didn't get it back, he may have sulked through another game.

Current Streaks Season Streaks Overall: 2-game winning streak Road: 1-game losing streak. Streaks vs. Minnesota Overall: 3-game winning streak (1 overtime and 1 shootout). Road: 3-game winning streak (1 overtime and 1 shootout). Record on this Date February 21 This is the 34th game on this date. The Club's record in the previous 33 games: 14W-11L-8T. LGW.

Maybe Ottawa is getting a jump on their 2009-10 Season Ticket campaign. And, Bryan Murray: done like dinner.

Chris Pronger is a cementhead.

This is a classier move than what management have been trying in Toronto; first Burke calls out Toskala in the media, for not being the goalie they were hoping for, then Wilson says Pogge might not have "what it takes". The motivation they are trying with Osgood and the chance for him to be able to work on what's wrong, is a lot better than public ridicule and, for this, I applaude the DRW management.

The Top 30.

This just in from Rick Tocchet: "Wanna bet?"

Hello, Newman.

Current Streaks Season Streaks Overall: 1-game winning streak Home: 1-game winning streak. Streaks vs. Anaheim Overall: 2-game winning streak Home: 1-game winning streak. Record on this Date February 20 This is the 32nd game played on this date. The Club's record in the previous 31 games: 21W-8L-2T. LGW.

My reference was to his 45 games played this season, not to his offensive ability. You can make a better case for are an injured Lidstrom with 55 games and Rafalski with 58 games out of the Club's 58 games played than Green's 45 games of Washington's 58 games played. I know that Green missed 13 games, due to his right shoulder injury after the hit by Pronger this past November; but I think that games played should carry more weight than total points.

Yes; my mistake. "Winning Percentage" should be "Points Percentage". By percentage, for every 5 games played (10 total points available) with Babcock as Head Coach, the Club gets just over 7 points. By percentage, for every 5 games played with Babcock as Head Coach, the Club wins over 3 of them. And yes, these are amazing figures he and the Club have put up during his tenure with the DRW.

From NHL dot com: The James Norris Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top "defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". Is Green the "Sundin of the Defense"? Put in a full season, then I'll seriously look at his application.

200 With last night's game (18/02/2009) against Nashville, Head Coach Mike Babcock records his 200th win with Detroit, becoming only the fifth Coach/Head Coach in franchise history to reach this milestone. The others to have reached this milestone, in order of reaching it are: Adams, Ivan, Abel and Bowman. His record, after his 200th win: 304G-200W-68L-18OTL-18SOL, with a winning percentage of 0.717. To reach this milestone took 304 games, putting him in first place on this list, now followed by Bowman: 333 games and Ivan: 353 games. To reach the second 100 wins of his career (from the first 100) took 155 games, putting him in first place on this list and now followed by Ivan: 165 games and Bowman: 171 games. His 200 wins account for 65.8% of his games coached, putting him in first place on this list and now followed by Bowman: 60.1% and Ivan: 56.7%.

He's wearing #24 tonight, against Washington, in honour of Chelios.

TSN

Great observation; maybe afraid to come out and challenge more than he could/should? In the early part of the season this wasn't the case. "Looking big" makes shooters think more than they sometimes want to. "Wings aren't seeking goalie": Mr. Holland has proven he knows what to do and he will prove it again.

Possible sale?

I can't remember seeing more "post to post" saves in highlights, using the goalie stick, in a long time.