Theophany

SportsK does a brilliant job with customizations.

ESPN isn't actually calling Lids the Perfect Human, it's the nickname that the Wings have for him. Regardless, a Lidstrom lovefest in the media isn't going to be scoffed at by me. Lidstrom is the best on the ice, even at 40.

Ozzie was probably mixing booze into his Gatorade, had a nice buzz going at the end of practice.

That's a pretty obvious fake. The Winter Classic jerseys didn't have a red outline around the D. The C is also very out of place.

Plays out of his mind, or the Wings manage to make him look like a Conn Smythe-quality goalie by taking bad shots?

To be honest if we had to play Pittsburgh in a SCF right now, I'd definitely give us the edge. Crosby may be on fire, but we've proven that we're able to shut him down consistently. Philadelphia is really the only team that scares me in the East. Washington is decent, but they have no defense to speak of, and we all know that's what wins Cups.

As other teams (and our WC) jerseys have proved, you don't have to change the winged wheel in order to have a third. Also, technically speaking, the gothic D is more "classic" than the winged wheel (since the Detroit Cougars used the gothic D in the first season of the org). Just saying.

Thirds are (generally) home alternates, though, so it would have to be dark, and those are still too close to our current home/away.

Pretty much. Why waste money on having someone design your third when you can use one that 99.99% of your fanbase loves and you already have designed? Take off the Winter Classic patch a boom, instant third jersey, and an instant classic. You could even have a fourth jersey and flip the red and white bands (and obviously lettering/numbering colors) if you wanted it to be home colors (as most thirds are).

Forwards Abdelkader: A Bertuzzi: A Cleary: A+++ Datsyuk: A Eaves: B+ Filppula: B+ Franzen: A- Helm: B+ Holmstrom: B Hudler: C- Miller: B Modano: B- Zetterberg: B+ Defensemen Ericsson: B Janik: C Kindl: B Kronwall: B Lidstrom: A+++ Rafalski: A+ Salei: B- Stuart: A- Goaltenders Howard: A Osgood: B Overall, there are only a couple players I've been disappointed in, and a couple players that have frankly shocked me. Lidstrom, Rafalski, Stuart, Bertuzzi, and especially Cleary have all been very pleasant surprises. Bert and Stuart both at +11 when they were -7 and -12 last year respectively is a huge improvement. And while they could show a decline, I think it unlikely. I've been disappointed by Modano, who took a while to gel with the team and is now out indefinitely due to a freak incident, and especially Hudler. Hudler has looked like he forgot how to play NHL hockey while he was in the KHL. Otherwise I'm very happy with how the team has played. Other than a game or two, most games have been really solid efforts, and it's good to see what the boys can do with a full roster.

CCM is owned by Reebok, and has been since 2004.

Fixed it for you.

Er, not quite true. Both could be complete chance and coincidence. Correlation doesn't imply causation. Especially when it's been three years.

If it's the lower bowl, it's likely business seasons tickets that aren't getting used. Nothing you can really do about that.

Check out ESPN3.com (it's on Xbox360 now, too) during the college lax and MLL seasons, they broadcast almost every major game on there, and they broadcast the NCAA DI tournament on ESPN/ESPN2. Rugby is on there too, IIRC.

After last year, we should be thankful for how well this team has been playing and that there have been no serious injuries. I keep reminding myself of that fact every time I see one of our guys under performing. Last year, we would have given pretty much anything just to see these guys on the ice instead of Eaves potentially being on the second line, Helm centering the third, etc.

I sent SportsK an authentic Winter Classic jersey that I bought on eBay. They did a really nice job on it.

It wasn't much of a calling out, really. Babs said Hudler played the best game he's played all season and then asked, "why isn't he doing that every night?" as in, Hudler is capable of being a good forward, easily able to be on our second line, yet he's barely lived up to playing on the fourth line thus far in the season. Basically saying that he has confidence in Hudler's ability to perform at that level, but he's just wondering why he doesn't do it every game.

I thought Kindl looked pretty solid as well. Ericsson surprised me. Other than a couple "OMG WTF ARE YOU DOING" passes, he played pretty well. Not well enough to be on the top pair, but I'm shocked I'm not begging for Janik to be back in the lineup.

Why would you put the guy that's playing the best on the current third line on the fourth, where he's going to get less minutes? That's essentially kicking the guy in the nuts for being a good hockey player. The lines are fine as they are. We're winning games. When we start losing, then fix 'em.

So if he keeps up a PPG pace like he is, you wouldn't want to see him back for $6 mil? He's probably not going to be a PPG player, but he's easily the best defenseman we have (it's not even close), so why on Earth wouldn't we want him back at nearly any price up to $7 mil?

This. His game doesn't require great athleticism, it's pretty much 98% brains and hockey IQ. Keep him in skates until he slips enough that he's not gonna make our roster.

Signed by Filppula and my ticket.

That should have been a questionable goal in any case, as it usually goes to review any time the goalie is even remotely touched.

Average, yes. What about backs and receivers? Quarterbacks? Complete fallacy. That's assuming you're putting the exact same muscle on someone in both sports. I can tell you right now that football players are generally in much better shape in terms of strength than hockey players. I don't believe this at all, frankly. You're going to tell me that Chris Johnson, who runs a 4.24 40 was faster in high school? Yeah, right. I can pick any position but linemen, and frankly I'd say that your assumption doesn't hold up.