Theophany

3. Holmstrom is a left-hand shot, and that stick has a right-hand curve. You're welcome.

That's in the NHL. In the AHL, players make substantially less with two-way contracts.

As my brother just pointed out to me, the Canucks only have something like one starting defenseman uninjured. And Luongo hasn't looked good at all. I'd take either the Canucks or the Coyotes.

Mirrored isn't for style or fashion: mirroring the plastic allows for a darker tint, and some NHL arenas are hideously bright when you're in the ice. The guys that have tinted visors probably don't like playing when it's that bright, so they get tinted visors. Same reason that football players like LT wear mirrored visors on their helmets. I don't really get the obstruction viewpoint that a lot of players have, since I've played lacrosse since I was nine, but I guess if you didn't grow up wearing huge bars in front of your face, you're not used to it.

Completely agree. My guess is that it's Doughty, Green, Keith (not in that order), but I think Lidstrom deserves to be in the top 3.

You should go back and watch some of the early Howard games this season. His rebound control has improved dramatically. Howard is worth every penny we pay him, and if he continues to improve, I see no reason why he won't be a primary goalie for a long time.

#4 is true as long as you know anything about how the salary cap works. 'Sup capgeek.com? Also, you realize that Ty Conklin gets $1.3M and is a backup, right? Consider too that Osgood has also been credited heavily by Howard for his success this year in a mentorship role. No other goalie in the NHL can really provide that (playoff success and mental resilience, things that Howard has very little of). $1.4M is also better than the $5.6M that the Hawks pay their "backup", Huet. And as a final point, $1.4M isn't bad at all for a goalie, especially when our starter is only getting $716k. We're still paying BOTH of our goalies less than half of what the Hawks' "backup" is getting, and I'd much rather have that than the alternative.

That doesn't make any sense. A better way to put it would be, "it doesn't make any sense for the organization to trade Ozzie because..." The Red Wings organization will always do what's best for the org. It's impossible to be selfish when you're running a business, because being selfish is pretty much the definition of "good business". Unless we're running a business in the USSR. Don't get me wrong, though. I agree with where you were going, just not at all with how you phrased it. Osgood will stay around because: 1) He's a good backup, and his cap hit is very low for a goalie of his calibre. 2) He's a good mentor for Jimmy. 3) He's one of the best playoff goalies in the NHL. 4) Were he to retire, his cap hit would remain. 5) We wouldn't get much in return for him, and we'd be stuck with Larsson or McCollum in net as a backup.

He's getting one tomorrow.

Jimmy "give me the ******* Calder, *****!" Howard.

Probably being the guy wearing the C.

FYI, the lettering isn't the only difference between a knockoff and an authentic. There's a huge difference between the two. You get what you pay for, basically, no matter what type of jersey you get. Anyone telling you that a knockoff is similar in quality to an authentic is kidding themselves. Knockoffs may be similar to premier jerseys, but then again, their price is similar as well (though usually $30-50 cheaper), and again, you're not going to get official lettering or a jersey that looks official.

I bought an authentic Winter Classic via eBay, but that's probably not what you're asking about (I spent roughly $300 on the jersey itself, as they're not made anymore). Knockoffs are ridiculously obvious to me, but then again, I'm a detail-oriented person. In terms of quality, there's a big difference even between the premier and the knockoffs, much less authentic and knockoff. If you only want one jersey, get an authentic; you won't regret it. If you want a ton of jerseys that are cheap and may or may not look terrible, get knockoffs.

Lilja and Ericsson have both proved that they'll drop the gloves. That's really all we need.

This is easy. Datsyuk or Zetterberg. Probably Z, but it could just as easily be Pavel.

This post seriously has me rolling on the floor, I'm laughing so hard.

Yes. Day-to-day, and will travel with the team, per coach Q's post-game presser.

Go ahead and look through the results column on this page and be ready to eat those words. The Wings are starting to look like the Wings, and Chicago, San Jose, and Vancouver are pissing themselves in anticipation.

There was no suspension on the Cooke hit because there was no penalty on the ice (correctly so). The hit was dirty, but what are they going to suspend him for? You're putting words in the mouth of the NHL, and as much as I don't like Bettman and his cronies, it's unfair of you.

To be fair, Cooke's hit was open-ice and didn't involve his elbow, so there's no rule against it. Ovi was given a major for boarding—which he definitely did—and a game misconduct. There's a huge difference between the two plays when it comes to the rules of the game.

It's a dirty hit, but should have only gotten a double minor or just a major. Game misconduct was a bit overboard.

This has been a great weekend.

Queue another Hawks collapse on Sunday. Also, Ovi hit should have been a double minor, and I'd argue that for every player in the league.

Cleary didn't have a reasonable shot to make team Canada, to be completely honest. The only way he made the roster is if half of the team got hit by busses on the way to Canada Hockey Place.

Yeah, Hudler is obviously a bad player to have at $2.8m, which is why Ken Holland is fully willing to bring him back for that. Frankly with one or two decent off-season free agent pickups, we'll be fine. The problem this season has been injuries. It sounds cliché by this point, but it's very true, and it's still having an effect on this team; Franzen, Zetterberg, Cleary, Filppula, Rafalski, et al aren't at 100%. I'd honestly like to see us pick up a goal scorer like Afinogenov with the free space we'll be getting.