Carman

Haha sort of. But I do think Bertuzzi fits better with Zetterberg. Bert is a better set up guy than a finisher. There is always a point in my deep sarcasm.

I'll pass on Valiquette. His best attribute is his mask. Although Detroit's goaltending could be a lot better. 27th and 40th in SV% leaves a little bit to be desired.

I'd rather Kindl play a more offensive role with Lidstrom, or Stuart then anything else.

Bertuzzi is going to set up a couple goals for Zetterberg. Bertuzzi had to carry Datsyuk for the last couple weeks. All Bertuzzi needs is a sniper and then watch the point totals sky rocket.

Yep, Kindl is getting molded into Raflaski's clone. The only way he'll find his way on the roster. Hopefully Eaves and Rafalski get better soon, but their injuries don't sound too bad.

Thing is you cannot change the instinct of getting out of the way if a 230 pound guy is bearing down on you. No one in there right mind(Except Lindros) would just put his head down and take the hit, of course a player is going to try and avoid the hit. Ovechkin is not intentionally trying to injure, but it's yet another borderline play that could of ended his career or Gleason's. It's not hard to back out of open ice hits, he did not make any attempt to not lead and make contact with his opponent's knee. You cannot argue that, and that's what I mean when he still made contact. If you carelessly use your stick, you get a penalty. You carelessly use your body, you have to accept the punishment. Knee to knee's can be avoided, it's not impossible to just bail out of a open ice collision. If your opponents head is up, you better anticipate him getting out of your way, and if you want to take the gamble of getting suspended or ending careers then you better hope to hell you make contact with his upper body. And before you say well you've never played hockey and I'm making it sound to easy, there is a damn good reason the same players keep causing the same knee to knee hits. Not every player commits to reckless and dangerous hits just usually the same cast of characters (Ulf Samuelsson in the past, Cooke and Ovechkin now) that played or play the game with almost reckless abandon. I don't want Ovechkin to become Lindros, he has too much talent to be gamble his career in useless open ice hits in games against the damn Hurricanes in November. He needs to pick his spots physically, and understand that he needs to be on the ice scoring goals. And I hate this because I love the physical aspect of the game, but knee to knee hits are as cheap as they get. If I have to sacrifice seeing a open ice collision to add a couple years onto a talented players career it's a no decision for me at least. I don't find injuries entertaining.

No because I don't think most injuries from dirty plays are malicious enough to warrant 40+ game suspensions. Accidents happen.

Knee on knee's are always the fault of the aggressor. Ovechkin got beat, it wasn't intentional but he needs to back off on the hit. That's why he is getting suspended. You can't miss checks in the open ice like that and still try to make contact, it can end careers.

Wonder what he thinks about the Laraque hit?

Agreed. Damn the media for awarding those Hart Trophies...

A few more players were suspended for similar hits after the Richards hit. The NHL wants to stop the hits to the head, but when the Richard's hit occured it was the first one and the NHL thought it would be best to wait until they add it to the rule book before they suspend people on the fly. But it's been far more prevalent then they probably assumed this year so they are starting to crack down on them before they officially introduce it to the rulebook. This is of course my take on the situation. For all I know Richards threatened to kill Bettman if he got suspended.

Knee to Knees are in the rule book. Shoulder to head isn't.

Haha, sorry for getting you riled up. Anyways Tatar will pass Gordie up surely.

Good for the NHL. Finally suspending a superstar. Hopefully this teaches Ovechkin a message, he is too good to be doing this cheap s***.

Leino is much older, and is big enough. He is just soft.

Not talking about purely numbers. Just overall dominance of their era. Bobby Orr is #1 for instance.

Well I know who to send my Kopecky highlight video too... Never say never. No one saw us getting Hossa either. I can dream!

Wow they actually suspending a superstar. Impressive. I can live with 2 games, should send him a good message and will let him get back on the ice quickly enough.

Well I think Crosby is going to end up higher on the All-Time list then Yzerman anyways... Probably just about over Gordie as 4th all time.

Good luck winning games, and have fun watching Kindl search for a map so he can find out where he should be.

I was refering to Holland's reign as GM.

Umm the Red Wing's have never had a player of Crosby's caliber. And the one's that are close (Zetterberg, Datsyuk) spent no time in the minors.

All I want for Christmas is a physical defenseman that blocks a bunch of shots.

haha that's good. Thanks!

Bertuzzi has never been fleet of foot. He hasn't lost that much speed anyways. I really think most of you have unfair expectations. He is not a All-Star player. Take a second and look around the league at other 1.5 million dollar players. Sure there are are a few stand-outs (Maxim Afinagenov for instance), but there are a lot of players that are not doing the things we are getting out of Bertuzzi. Hell look at Dustin Byfuglien for instance, Chicago is paying him 3 million and look at this numbers. Bertuzzi isn't great, but he is not horrible and in the end is helping the team whether you think he is or not.