Buppy

Obviously, that only worked because the defender only had the minimum 15 pieces of flair. Ilari had at least 37.

Easily our best. But I think it could be even better with the addition of a winger who didn't skate like he's making the ice in front of him as he goes. They're certainly carrying their own weight though, so I won't complain if they stick with it. I'm just saying... Stu has easily been our best D (dumbass move on Sunday and all) this series. Nick has been as bad as we've ever seen from him, but he's still an elite player. He was our best in the regular season, I can overlook a poor first round. Rafi and his contract aren't looking great, but not as bad as some suggest either. Lils and Ericsson are pretty much all you can expect from a third pair. Would be nice if Ericsson would hit someone, but he's a +2 so can't really complain. I've never been a Kronwall fan. He's a headhunter but otherwise not physical. Average defensive skills that he degrades by trying to play like an elite scorer with only slightly above average talent. But sadly, it would be pretty hard to upgrade him for $3 mil. Not sure it's possible to improve our defense, aside from the guys just playing better.

1. The deal from Edmonton was reportedly 9 years, $81 million. Though, ironically, with the precedent set by his Chicago contract, he'd never get that now. 2. Personally, I think Bert's slow ass is dragging that line down. Homer isn't any faster, but might work better. I'd rather see Cleary there, even though it didn't work the first time they tried it.

While it is of course highly unlikely, the same could have been said about Hossa. There's a lot of salary that could be trimmed from that roster. Do we really need to spend over $6 million on the third line? Do we pay an aging and injury prone role player $2 mil? Do we save a little on Eaves/Miller/Abby/Helm? Something like this is not that far fetched (lines from capgeek, so ignore that): FORWARDS * Ilya Kovalchuk ($7.500m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m) * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.250m) / * Darren Helm ($1.000m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.900m) * Drew Miller ($0.800m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.800m) / * Mattias Ritola ($0.600m) * Cheap grinder ($0.500m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) * Andreas Lilja ($1.000m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 22; PAYROLL: $57.338m; CAP ROOM: $0.362m BONUSES: $0.000m

/dream FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / * Ilya Kovalchuk ($6.000m) Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Darren Helm ($1.000m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.000m) * Justin Abdelkader ($0.900m) / * Drew Miller ($0.750m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.750m) * Mattias Ritola ($0.600m) DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Nicklas Lidstrom ($4.500m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) * Andreas Lilja ($1.250m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER: 22; PAYROLL: $57.538m; CAP ROOM: $0.162m BONUSES: $0.000m /dream off

He jockeying for position, lifted his foot, lost his balance a little, then got caught up in Howie's ridiculously large pads. Nothing wrong with it. No more interference than Abby's stick in Bryz's face on Miller's goal. Though I do agree that Homer would've been called for it.

I take that to mean that you DO want to see Crosby or Ovie out taking runs at people? The point of the rule is to stop ANYONE from doing that crap. Shouldn't make any difference if it's Chara or Chuck Norris riding a Rhino. It's a suspension for instigating, not for fighting. You don't typically see instigators handed out to people 'sticking up for themselves'. (From the league's explanation, it sounds like they're saying Chara shouldn't have gotten one, but I haven't seen the incident, so I can't say.) The refs are certainly capable of giving out instigators when they shouldn't, so i don't absolutely hate the clause, but you have to admit it is starting to look like a superstar get out of jail free card.

That was a prefectly executed chop block. Not sure what your problem with it is. I'm sure every team would love to have someone like Letang for their kick return units.

Curious why Blake gets the credit. Presumably, all the votes count the same, which means that Blake's vote was no more decisive than the others who voted the same way.

"A team must extend a "qualifying offer" to its restricted free agent to retain negotiating rights to that player. Players making less than $660,000 must be offered 110 percent of last season's salary. Players making up to $1 million must be offered 105 percent. Players making over $1 million must be offered 100 percent." Though I'm not sure that means a player necessarily has to get a raise. Leino was an RFA last year, and he took a pay cut. Maybe that was because he spent most of the year in GR, or maybe something else. Either way, I'm sure Helm, Eaves, and Miller will get raises, if they stay. Abdelkader may depend on how the rest of the playoffs goes for him. But a small raise to 900k doesn't seem out of line.

After we win the next game, ask the same question. Then, take the above replies and the replies from the second time. The truth will be somewhere in the middle.

If my employer was the best in the business, and operated at the very highest level in my industry, and the salary they were offering afforded me the opportunity to live a lifestyle most people can only dream of while still allowing me to invest enough to comfortably retire after 10 years (if I even wanted to), then you're damn right I would. That said, his contract is a good value (possibly even a bargain if he can better his previous production) so I wouldn't hate seeing him back. Unless Kenny can somehow manage to pick up an elite winger, we aren't likely to find anything better than little Happy.

If the Kings manage a win tonight, all 8 teams that started with home ice will have lost it. Gotta love the NHL.

What are you talking about? When we've been healthy, we've always gone with 4 lines.

I might be more receptive if they were playing someone else and still planning something. But you know if they were playing the Kings or Preds, the idea never would have been born. It's blatant immitation predicated entirely on the fact that we already do it. It borders on mockery.

It's not 'thier own tradition' or 'thier idea'. It's ours, that they are trying to copy and modify. At least the rat-trick thing had some backing behind it. This is just lame mimicry. How about they come up with something that doesn't involve throwing some kind of animal on the ice. How about they howl at the moon, or chase a roadrunner, or encroach on to suburban areas and kidnap small dogs from the backyards of elderly ladies. (Ok, that last one is a bad idea, but you get my point.) (Side note, an elderly lady in my neghborhood did recently lose a small dog, and a coyote has been seen in the area several times. It is really getting out of hand.)

:looney: What you're suggesting is racketeering. A federal crime. Punishable by lengthly prison sentences. Not the good jail, like on Cinemax. The man jail. One corrupt ref, even two, might be believable. But the NHL will NOT, definitely NOT, no possible way, absolutely ZERO CHANCE, be involved in any way. If you don't believe this, please, PLEASE, for the love of all that's Holy, do the human race a favor and remove yourself from the gene pool as soon as possible.

SJS/COL - 4-1 CHI/NSH - 4-2 VAN/LAK - 4-3 PHX/DET - 4-3 WAS/MTL - 4-1 NJD/PHI - 4-1 BUF/BOS - 4-2 PIT/OTT - 4-2 Western Conference Winner: Chicago Eastern Conference Winner: New Jersey Stanley Cup Finals Winner: Chicago

Pretty sick. Good for the Bruins, but that play by Carolina was some of the worst I've seen all season. I mean, after already allowing 2 shorties on that PP, they give up a 2 on 1, and not like immediately after a turnover... 4 guys in the neutral zone watching the defender skate back almost to the dots, only one guy up on the forecheck...and STILL let 2 people get behind them. Also, the penalty was crap anyway. The Hockey Gods handing out some justice perhaps.

Even Phoenix is 2000 miles away. Travel will suck regardless. We'll just have to sweep, no big deal. I just hope the Sharks win (or get a point at least) so we have a chance to deny the Hawks the top seed. Couldn't care less who we play. We could win or lose to any of them.

For some reason I always like to see a team jump into the playoffs on the last day. Especially when they've been out for a while. I'll be rooting for the Rangers.

Pens in 5. Do the Rangers have a tie-breaker over Montreal? If so, that would mean Montreal is the 8th seed.

Isn't Kovie a righty...

For the first three rounds, the higher seed gets home ice. It's only in the Finals where points come back into play. I don't think it's a big problem though, and winning your division, weak as it may be, should have some kind of reward.