Opie

I would like to think that too, however I am a realist and as such know that getting punched in the face does not stop Matt Cooke, or Chris Simon, or Raffi Torres, or any of the like from doing anything!

Actually the debate about the correlation between CTE and heart disease has been raging on between BU and U of M since 2011. Seeing as the brain technically "controls" bodily functions some experts believe CTE can lead to worsening of existing heart conditions.

Another thought: Seeing as most of the pro-fight crowd use people getting run to defend their position, where do you stand on fights after clean hits? Fights right from the face off? Fights because both enforcers are simply on the ice? Fights where a the guy who "Ran" or committed the egregious act is no longer on the ice, so 2 guys go at it who were not involved in the original act?

Friends and Teammates of the Boogie man may disagree with you.

Serious question here: Can they sign him to a pro contract next year, I thought the agreement with the Q (really CHL) prevented NHL teams from signing guys out of the Q before they were 20?

I agree the players should have some say, but to cross reference the NFL here, Not a single player was demanding the league do anything about hits to the head, not former players and certainly not current players. Then a ton of them sued the league over concussions and not educating the players enough. Most professional athletes are ultra competitive and and carry a Machismo type of swagger, I think they see it as a being a wimp if they do not support fighting. Not a societal pressure, just an innate feeling they have. The league dodged a legal bullet when 3 enforcers died in the same off season and they did not get a class action suit filed against them (that I know of). It would not surprise me if fighting were taken out of the game just simply so the NHL could avoid a potential law suit.

I am more worried about an aggressive forecheck, like that of the B's or the Blackhawks, than I am someone baiting. This young D has not done very well under extreme forechecking. I think that is what got the Hawks back in the series last year, ton of pressure on the young D and they tended to cough up the puck.

You failed to mention who Fleishmann was traded for, assuming people would read "Leading Scorer" and forget he was traded for Robert Lang, who this board absolutely trashed and still does. That was my point, not that either of those guys were supposed to be perennial all stars or that they were World beaters, but this board tweaked out, because we were giving up the future for an old player. The reason I brought them up was exactly that, my point also was exactly that. People overreact to keeping Vets in the lineup over relatively unproven youngsters. Tatar played well and I will be honest, he deserves a roster spot over Sammy. But other than going back in time how do you suppose they rectify that? And people keep asking "Does anyone really thing Clearly, Sammy, Bert are better than Tatar and Nyquist", yes, the most important person involved does: Mike Babcock or The wings are handcuffed by the cap, have no trade partners and are stuck in this situation for now. But instead of waiting to see how any of this pans out, if Tatar and Nyquist don't have sophmore slumps, lets overreact before a single game has ever been played.

This works great in the college ranks by the way.

Heard the same thing when Flieschman and Matthias left, heard it countless times. This same argument is had every year when a promising youngster sits the pine to a vet. In fact it happened last summer with these same names. It is like you guys all of the sudden expected this team to change its philosophy because LGW.com wants the team to do something differently.

Lets see, what is different in that jpeg, oh yeah one guy's resume is NHL and the other is AHL. I will let you figure out why that is important! Forgot to point out that Cleary isn't even the worst forward on the Wings let alone entire NHL.

Not sure how many "new" fans are posting in this thread or how many people have not been paying close attention, but.... Babs has always played Vets over rookies, and every time this board freaks out the same way. This is part of Babs' style, good with the bad kind of thing!

I would like to know why the league can change this rule or the "don't take your helmet off" rule on the fly, but they cannot change the jersey tuck rule? BTW I love Hybrid icing, saw it last year in college hockey, much safer approach, yet you still have a "race to the puck" so to speak!

Only instead of 48 games he will have to play 82!

I have high expectations for them, Weiss, and Alfie. I hope Abdelkader is an absolute puck retrieval machine! And I really want Mule to make me stop typing bad things about him on the internet! But I also have different expectations than most on here, I am not a championship or bust kind of guy, so they are tempered high expectations! Edit: Should have said my highest expectations are on Howard, then Dekeyser! But thought to keep it forward based.

So wouldn't Ken Holland, however Brunner said "No Nose For You!" in my best soup nazi voice!

Kessel's suspension is a joke. the fine for putting Scott on the ice also a joke. Kessel's actions were Chris Simon like, but because he is a "Star" in this league he misses 3 preseason games? Just found this article: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2013/09/26/report-some-coach-arent-pleased-with-rolston-player-selection-fine/?ocid=Yahoo&partner=ya5nbcs Great quote:

More than likely out of necessity not want, Monster will probably battle at least one injury this season.

This is why I think the 2nd pairing needs to be Smith and Dekeyser. I think Dekeyser's skill and patience will really help Smith relax. With Quincey you have 2 d-men looking to create offense, neither of them is a stay at home guy. That means they both have to be thinking too much in their own zone. They have to be aware that they may not be the only d-man looking to break out. And with Dekeyser back there he could drop the puck off to the more composed player and settle the play down a bit. He also needs to stop firing the puck through the middle of the zone so often, high of the glass is a better out, then straight up the gut.

Alfie went for 10g and 16a last year, I expect somewhere in the neighborhood of 20g and 30a from him this year. Probably something closer to 15 and 40, I think with Franzen on that line they are going to struggle, I don't see anyone on the second line battling for pucks in the corners. This is the role that Abby fills on the first line, the Wings really need a puck retrieval guy on each line. However that means moving Franzen down to the third line, thus breaking up the youngsters on line 3, so I don't really like that idea either. IF (huge IF) Franzen can be the Mule for a better part of this season, 70-80% of the time, then look out, that will be the most dangerous 2nd line in hockey. If not, that line will probably be broken up, but if not separated, it will then be pretty pedestrian.

LOL, so let me get this straight Brunner turns the Wings down hours before the Free Agent period begins, at least two reported offerings. The Wings then go ahead and fill out their roster, are more active in the FA market than they have been in years. The Wings replace Fil with Weiss, you know center for center, then get Alfie (btw a guy that had nearly the same stats as Brunner, only able to show a track record of success). All the while Brunner is holding out for a multi year deal and top 6 minutes. By the time he decides to take an offer that is Identical to the one that is reported he turned down HOURS before FA period began, the Wings are over the cap and roster limit, yet you want Holland to offer him that deal. Brunner is the reason Brunner is not on this team, well maybe his agent, either way the person responsible is not Ken Holland. I will also take that $20 bet, so would Holland, most of the NHL, and probably half of this board. Weiss put up better numbers than Brunner all while being the Panthers only legit threat. Sure Brunner put up similar points to Weiss's NHL numbers but he did in the Swiss league, not exactly known for Defense and goaltending. But like I said Weiss was a center and brought in to replace Fil not Brunner, so when we look at Alfie's numbers 10g and 16a, the compare nicely to Brunner's 12g and 14a. Alfie is a one year no risk deal, Brunner wanted a multi year high risk deal (think Brunnstrum, Leino). Brunner was great to start the season, then like a typical rookie lost momentum when the league figured him out. He played barely more than one half of one season. If he wanted to be a Wing he had ample opportunities, he wanted ice time and multi years. Brunner and his agent are the reason he is not a Wing. But in an offseason where KH was more active than he has been in a long time, some people just need a reason to bash him.

I love the "Well player X wouldn't take liberties if we had a 6'3 235 pound guy who would break jaws." argument. Really, the only people who are not going to take liberties because John Scott is on the roster are the guys unlikely to do it to begin with. When Matt Cooke laid out Savard, wasn't Savard a member of the big bad Bruins, not the soft euro Wings? Because John Scott is on Buffalo's roster does that mean no one will ever take a dirty shot on a Sabre player? No it does not, in fact more than likely it will have no impact at all! A guy like Raffi Torres is not sitting on the bench looking at the opponents bench thinking: "Man I better not take a run at Bergeron, Thornton may knock my teeth out!" Again, the league has changed, they are legislating fighting out of hockey. Not because Hockey fans like you or me don't like it, but because some soccer mom somewhere doesn't want little Johnny to see it, Won't some one please think of the children. But the Goons stop things from happening argument is BS, guys who take liberties will take them with or without a John Scott on your roster. EDIT: BTW nice job of coming up with one incident in the last what 3 seasons where Z or D got "gooned" up, so the WIngs' need a guy on their roster to eat up 8 minutes a night doing nothing but being ready for the once in a three year event.

Personally I never disliked the guy, just thought he was a little redundant on this squad.

When was the last time Z or D got "popped" in the mouth? When has getting punched in the face ever stopped anyone from slashing or hacking. In your own example, Phil Kessel continued to hack away at John Scott, that is a non enforcer/goon hacking away at a heavy. Taking huge swings by the way! (his bs suspension of 3 fake games is another topic for another day) So where is your deterrent again? Listen I would prefer the players policed themselves like they used to, it forces them to respect each other. However rules have changed that, and the rules they continue to put in place change it even more. The new Helmet rule is exhibit A in this case. Not only is fighting potentially the same 17 minutes(5 for fighting, 2 for instigating, 2 for 3rd man in, 10 min misconduct) in PIMs it could have been before but now they are tacking on another 2 min possibility, for doing the honorable thing! The league is trying to usher out fighting in a less publicize way the NFL is trying to legislate head hits out of the game. IF John Scott Crosschecks Dats in the face, do you really think nothing will happen, that no one will try to exact revenge (which is all you are looking for anyway), that the league will not suspend him? Dats is more likely to get a concussion from a hit or slew foot than he is to get one from being crosschecked in the face. Because in the history of the league you can count violent crosschecks to the face on your hands!

Monster, for the same reason already stated numerous times, give Mrazek time in GR, let him get ample run, nothing like sitting on the bench for 60 games to kill your mojo!