lightthelamp13

Crosby actually scored over 300 points in those 121 games. Obviously that's rare, especially as he was only 16 and 17 years old, and is more than enough reason to bring him straight to the NHL. Even if it's the Q. You can't even compare Juniors to the NCAA. Look at the amount of games that kids get to play in a season in the NCAA. I hate that. You play more games in a season playing minor hockey. I think that's one of the reasons why kids that come straight from the NCAA end up spending more time in the AHL. It's not that they aren't skilled enough or whatever, I just don't think that they are ready for the grind. Kids from the CHL come from a 65 game season and playoffs. They're used to playing lots of games. McDonagh, Gardiner and Gilroy never spent their entire first season in the NHL. They all got sent down at one point. And look at Gilroy now? He's a joke. More and more kids are leaving college to head to the CHL. Probably for a good reason.

if it wasn't for Nicklas Lidstrom, he would of won a couple more Norris trophies. Personally, I don't understand how you can't NOT retire his number. He was every bit as important to those Stanley Cup teams in New Jersey as the other two guys. That's arguable, but I think it's true. - on another note, it's kind of weird to see them retiring his number. just because last year, I could swear that I saw Mike Mottau wearing #27 for the Devils. Kind of odd how they let somebody wear a number that they were going to retire...while they waited for that guy who wore that number to retire first. - if he was a Red Wing, he'd still be going to the rafters.

oops, looked at games played by accident that time

as much as I hate the blackhawks, you can't deny that they've got something cookin over there with their first rounder in 08, Kyle Beach. 06-07, 29 goals, 196 PIM 07-08, 27 goals, 222 PIM 08-09, 54 goals, 165 PIM 09-10, 52 goals, 186 PIM now, I'd bet anything saying that he wont have that kind of production when he makes the big club, but still.

all of these records will fall before somebody even gets 70% to +124

and how is that illegal? stick is below the crossbar. it's perfectly fine.

i dunno about Howard being there right now. First year goalies USUALLY slip after the other teams have an entire summer to watch tape on them. which in itself, is why brodeur's run has been so sick.

yikes. funny that you say that. i've wanted him all year long, but then he had a disgusting playoff run with Kitchener and now is like a top 10 pick

I'd rather they load up one power play unit, and let them play the full 2 minutes. It's not like they are hard minutes to play, and will wear the guys out.

you can say that again. holy smokes

for throwing something on the ice

Thanks! But yeah, even at 5.5 I would take Franzen 10 times out of 10 over Sammy at 2.5

technically right now, Mule and Z are making a lot more than Sammy. The original argument was for THIS year's SALARY, not cap hit. Both their contracts' cap hits are weighed down due to the extra years added towards the end. Z makes around 7 mill this year, and I'm not too sure about Mule. But it's significantly higher than 2.5, if I recall correctly. Not 3 times as much, but still a significant digit.

Williams is benched. Abdelkader is in the lineup tomorrow night. Freep edit: Stuart playing the point on the PP.

I actually really liked Bertuzzi tonight. He showed up, and really competed. One of the few guys who still tried to win some battles after the 1st intermission.

lol. totally walked into that one.

lets take it down a notch here. what was expected? phoenix to lay over and die in their first playoff game in 8 years? let alone a home playoff game? they fed off their crowd. whatever, it happened. a team is never in trouble until they lose on home ice.

all the Crosby hate on these boards cause blindness as to how great Sid really is. Best player in the NHL for sure. Much better than Ovechkin in every aspect. If Sid shot the puck 350 times a year....like Ovechkin did this year....can you imagine? f***, Ovechkin had over 500 shots one year. And I really like Ovechkin. It's just not close. Sid plays with BILL GUERIN and PASCAL DUPUIS. - only thing AO's ever had on Sid is his goal scoring......and you can kiss that out the window now too. - yes Ovechkin has 10 fewer games or whatever, but how many empty netters?

Eaves and Miller are the main difference as to why the penalty killing has gotten so much better. Last year we had a lot of Datsyuk, Hossa, and sometimes Franzen out there for it. Not bashing those guys...they are obviously great great two-way players but they aren't really the guys that go down to block shots because you don't want them doing that. Eaves and Miller block shots. They know their role and are great at it. They take shooting lanes away. That's the biggest difference. And because of that, we get better offensive minutes out of a player like Datsyuk. Everybody wins.

while I agree that Pittsburgh going in it again is kind of unfortunate, it doesn't even bother me. You guys all see the games. Caps and Pens. They are by far the best games that the NHL has to offer. Those two guys go at each others throats. When these two teams play, it's always a great game, and you know that something crazy is going to happen. What's there to complain about? devils vs rangers? leafs vs habs? anybody else vs anybody else? no thanks. i'm as diehard a red wing fan you'll find, but give me Caps vs. Pens any day of the week.

hint hint hint - yeah, datsyuk was out that game too, but it's all zetterberg's.

Malkin is out for tonight's game. Read it on the Pen's board at HF, so I will search for a news article. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: DETROIT -- Center Evgeni Malkin, who reinjured his right foot late in the Penguins' 3-2 overtime loss to Carolina Saturday, will sit out their game against Detroit tonight at Joe Louis Arena. Coach Dan Bylsma confirmed that while meeting with reporters after the team's game-day skate. With Malkin out of the mix, Bylsma had to reconfigure his forward lines, and used these combinations during the game-day skate: Matt Cooke-Jordan Staal-Bill Guerin. Chrus Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-Pascal Dupuis. Alexei Ponikarovsky-Max Talbot-Ruslan Fedotenko. Mike Rupp-Craig Adams-Tyler Kennedy.

Probabaly going to get ripped for this.....but as a Canadian, I have just FORGIVEN Sidney Crosby for what happened on June 14th, 2009. and yes, you heard that correctly.