Buppy

I wouldn't say Flip's line was ever worse than Modano's. Fewer points in the past few games, but points aren't everything. The BFF line was our best for the first four games. They were also close the first few games after Mule sat out the one game. The HFF line was arguably our best tonight. That says alot when we have a line featuring Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Also says a lot that before tonight, when he wasn't a healthy scratch, Hudler was a part of worst line pretty much every game. Hudler hasn't been good this season, no matter how much you want to blame it all on Cleary and Modano, there's a reason Hudler sat out two games. Filppula has been very good, no matter how much you want to give all the credit to Bert and Mule, there's a reason he gets tons of ice time.

So the problem as far as production was that no one was producing? How profound. As for the topic, Flip is a better player overall no question, but Hudler has more offensive talent. Nothing to debate really.

I'm no real expert on downtown, but for parking you can't beat Greektown casino. It's free and safe, and the people mover is right around the corner. If you like Mediterranean food it's a great place to eat I hear. People mover to Grand Circus park puts you right near Cheli's, Hockeytown Cafe, and the Elwood.

Friday, November 12 Edmonton at New Jersey Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh Colorado at Columbus Minnesota at Florida Calgary at Phoenix Dallas at Anaheim Saturday, November 13 Ottawa at Boston Washington at Buffalo Colorado at Detroit X2 Carolina at Montreal Florida at Philadelphia Vancouver at Toronto Pittsburgh at Atlanta St. Louis at Phoenix Chicago at Nashville Calgary at San Jose NY Islanders at Los Angeles Sunday, November 14 Edmonton at NY Rangers Minnesota at Tampa Bay Atlanta at Washington Anaheim at Chicago

Colorado started last season 10-1-2 in their first 13 games, finished 3-7-3 in their last 13. Streaks happen.

http://www.dobberhockey.com/frozenpool_production.php

That just highlights why they shouldn't have included the 'blindside' caveat in the rule. The rule says "Lateral, back-pressure, or blindside..." without any real clear definition of what that means. Most fans seem to think blindside is just a synonym for lateral, but I don't think that's what the NHL means. (I'm not sure that the NHL even knows for sure what they mean.) Most of the time someone skating in open ice is going to be hunched over to some degree, so hitting them in the head is almost impossible without getting in front of them first. Every one of these calls is going to be somewhat controversial just because of that. It should have just been a penalty for initial/principal contact to the head, regardless of direction. Still somewhat subjective, but less so than it is now without the added subjectivity of whether it's blindside or not. These are professional hockey players, some of the best and most agile skaters in the world. They could avoid headshots 9 times out of 10 if they really wanted to. Seems a lot of players are just more concerned with inflicting maximum damage. [edit] Also, it doesn't need to be an elbow to be a headshot. No idea where people got that idea.

Are we really going to have one of these threads for every penalized hit this season? Just to save time, here's the Reader's Digest quotable quotes: "End of hockey as we know it" "Blindside headshot, what's the problem?" "Clean hit, should have kept his head up" "Clear elbow, 2 games" "Soandso is dirty" "Players today have no respect" "Get rid of the instigator rule, problem solved" There, that pretty much sums up the 200 threads we'll have on this subject throughout the season. It's a new rule, there's going to be a period of adjustment for the refs, the players, and the fans. Deal with it.

Friday, November 5 NY Rangers at New Jersey Boston at Washington Montreal at Buffalo Carolina at Florida Calgary at Minnesota Phoenix at Dallas Detroit at Edmonton X2 Pittsburgh at Anaheim Saturday, November 6 St. Louis at Boston Florida at Carolina Ottawa at Montreal Philadelphia at NY Islanders Buffalo at Toronto Chicago at Atlanta Minnesota at Columbus Dallas at Colorado Pittsburgh at Phoenix Nashville at Los Angeles Detroit at Vancouver Tampa Bay at San Jose Sunday, November 7 Philadelphia at Washington Edmonton at Chicago St. Louis at NY Rangers Nashville at Anaheim

No offense, but that's stupid. Relying far too much on goalie chemistry for that third line. I know Ozzie is tied for third all-time in goals by a goalie, but he can't carry a line by himself. Swap Stuart and Howie, and McCollum needs top-line minutes in GR to develop. Salei is a stud, no idea why you left him out. And why on earth would you have a dinosaur like Homer starting in goal when we have Miller? Do you not know who Miller's brother is?

Plekanec - 71 Cammalleri - 65 Roy - 74 Hemsky - 73 Alfredsson - 76 Tavares - 68

Friday, October 29 Montreal at NY Islanders Carolina at NY Rangers Philadelphia at Pittsburgh Buffalo at Atlanta Edmonton at Chicago New Jersey at Anaheim Saturday, October 30 Nashville at Detroit X2 Pittsburgh at Carolina Florida at Montreal Boston at Ottawa NY Islanders at Philadelphia NY Rangers at Toronto Buffalo at Dallas Atlanta at St. Louis Chicago at Minnesota Columbus at Colorado Tampa Bay at Phoenix Washington at Calgary New Jersey at Los Angeles Anaheim at San Jose

You're high. Cleary is better in front of the net than either Bert or Mule. Aside from Homer, he's really the only one any good at it. Bert probably could be, but he doesn't seem to want to. Franzen isn't very good at taking punishment, and even if he was he's too valuable away from the net to limit him to that role. Aside from the s***ty defense, the biggest problem on that line is terrible shot selection. Seems every game either Hudler or Modano passes up a great scoring chance in favor of some fancy pass through heavy traffic. None of them are great with the puck, but with better shot selection, a lot of the turnovers would go away.

It was a bad turnover by Cleary. Can't blame Kronwall for not being as fast as Selanne, and even though it was 5-hole, you can't really blame Jimmy either. Selanne is a 600+ goal scorer. That said, Rick is out of his mind. Cleary hasn't been spectacular, but he's been the best player on that line.

I'd say legal by current rules, though I don't think it should be. Kronwall is a headhunter. I kind of agree with Selanne that sooner or later someone is going to get him for it. I almost hope he gets suspended for it, maybe that would get him to straighten up.

While I don't think anything necessarily has to be done, I think a change might be good. The biggest problem is that the other three lines have all looked really good. If Happy or Modano would just shoot the damn puck the line would be fine. Probably 3 or 4 more goals. Give both of them extra shooting drills in practice all week, and tell them that whichever one gets fewer shots next Thursday is getting benched for Abby.

Friday, October 22 Calgary at Columbus Ottawa at Buffalo Tampa Bay at Atlanta Chicago at St. Louis Minnesota at Vancouver Saturday, October 23 NY Rangers at Boston Anaheim at Detroit X2 Buffalo at New Jersey Montreal at Ottawa Toronto at Philadelphia Atlanta at Washington NY Islanders at Florida Nashville at Dallas Pittsburgh at St. Louis Columbus at Chicago Los Angeles at Colorado Carolina at Phoenix San Jose at Edmonton Sunday, October 24 Nashville at Tampa Bay New Jersey at NY Rangers San Jose at Calgary

You're getting bogged down in semantics. Boarding or hitting from behind; makes no difference. Both are subject to the same punishments. You're acting like boarding is somehow less severe than hitting from behind. It isn't. Dirty or cheap? What does that even mean? There's no definition of those terms in the official rules. Ask 10 people you'll get 10 different answers. It was illegal. You admit that. It's illegal because it's dangerous. Illegal + dangerous usually equals suspension, especially when an injury is involved.

It was an illegal hit, and it was dangerous. Cheap shot, dirty hit, ****** move, reckless play, over-enthusiastic... call it what you want. Illegal and dangerous is the important part. And so he was suspended. The majority of the hockey world disagrees with you. Get over it.

His upper arm was squarely between Pominville's numbers. Pominville wasn't wearing his jersey backwards, so that is a hit from behind. It wasn't called checking from behind because it was called a boarding major. Checking from behind is rarely called in the NHL, since it is normally superseded by a boarding call. I'm not sure why you seem to think boarding can't happen on a hit from behind. Checking from behind and a boarding major both have the same on ice penalties, and both are subject to suplementary discipline. Both are among the most serious penalties. This hit could have been called either way, not that it makes any difference. Boarding is still a dirty hit worthy of suspension. And just because Pominville saw Hjalmarsson coming (assuming he actually noticed him) doesn't mean he knew the hit was coming. Perhaps the reason he didn't brace himself is because Hjalmarsson was coming from behind him, and he knew he shouldn't have been in danger of being hit like that. 'He should have protected himself' is not an excuse for a cheapshot. It was a dirty hit. That's why everyone outside Chicago has been calling it a dirty hit. That's why he was suspended.

This thread remains awesome. Like 10 pages arguing about a goal even Jimmy admits was bad. Wasn't his first, won't be his last. As long as he continues to provide more good saves than bad goals, I'll be happy. But reading all the nitpicky bickering is still fun.

Friday, October 15 Colorado at New Jersey Toronto at NY Rangers NY Islanders at Pittsburgh Chicago at Columbus Montreal at Buffalo Atlanta at Anaheim Vancouver at Los Angeles Saturday, October 16 Ottawa at Montreal Boston at New Jersey Colorado at NY Islanders Pittsburgh at Philadelphia Tampa Bay at Florida St. Louis at Dallas Washington at Nashville X2 Columbus at Minnesota Buffalo at Chicago Detroit at Phoenix Edmonton at Calgary Atlanta at San Jose Sunday, October 17 Phoenix at Anaheim Carolina at Vancouver

I think he and Howard were, and possibly Kindl and Abby. All were with the organization, and might have rings, but they weren't a real part of the team, and I don't think any of their names are on the Cup. (You need a fairly good reason to petition for ineligible additions.) But I believe the Wings do award rings to all the black aces.

Your initial response called out only Janik. Exactly the same thing as Doc calling out only Howard. That's irony. That you chose to infer something from Doc's post but not apply the same standard to your reply does not make them different. Your reply wasn't an accurate representation of your full opinion on the subject. Why then assume that Doc's post was of his, and even insist that it was despite Doc's later clarification?

Normally I wouldn't intrude on a nice argument, but I just had to post my appreciation of the fantastic irony of your complaint when your initial response to him was to do the exact same thing, just calling out a different player. Bravo.