kidish

Great save on that feed from Koivu to Selanne...wait...

Get used to see Bert going to the box...

Oh bummer. This team might be a tougher opponent with their regular goalies!

Good for them, it won't be a complete embarrassment.

Why are both of Farjestad's goalies nameless? One has no name, the other has his blocked out.

Never mind, the screen is too small for me to see that much detail!

IIHF rules are 20 players and two goaltenders all the time. This has nothing to do with preseason anythings. And this game is being played with international rules. Additionally, Detroit still has to submit to today's deadline of only having a 23-player roster like every other NHL team. They just have all of them but one in the game because that's allowed in this one.

Exactly. Their forward corps are outplaying Detroit's, but damn Howard has done alright out there. But Farjestad's goalie is definitely untested. Poor kid.

It is either 22 or 23 on the bench in international games.

Anyone else think that from a distance, even with the colors being different, Farjestad's unis look a lot like Anaheim's design?

I'd put Bert down for about 15 goals. A bit back he was paired with Getzlaf -- that guy is a good playmaker in his own right -- and didn't produce drastically, and then last season with Iginla he still wasn't exactly fearsome. He'll do what he was contracted to do, but I don't think it is to put up insane offensive numbers.

Most of the team played the night before, and Chicago didn't go into it with 23 (I think it was) players that can be on the bench under international rules, but went with the 20 players normal for the NHL. Either way, a shortened bench in comparison with the opposing clubs. That being said, the Lions outplayed them. Then again, the Lions were named the overall champs, and one could see why. It was a fun game, a lot more physical than I would have thought. I can see the Victoria Cup being a fun beginning of season thing for hockey fans. Too bad we can't have the Stanley Cup winners against the champion team from there though -- that'd be fun.

What it glosses over is that Kelly only learned about the meetings' details (and the need to view the minutes) as a result of players coming to him with serious concerns in a breach of constitution -- which the players in that Vegas meeting DID do. But you can't fire player reps now can you.

Since this is the U.S. we're talking about here, the vast majority of regular subscribers is more important than the minority of hockey fans. DirecTV won't be the one to budge on this one. Nor should they.

Haha, watch he gets traded to Pittsburgh.

He was in the Edmonton system though... Any change of environment is likely to benefit this kid.

I don't think San Jose can even ice a full team right now. It's really, really hard to say they will be number one in the West without a full roster...and no depth.

Come on, you know that isn't the way teams impose their will on another team. Anaheim didn't go into that Detroit series to fight -- otherwise, Parros would have been in the lineup, and no one on your team would have dropped the gloves there. Where Anaheim has been so successful against Detroit in the postseason is out-hitting and out-grinding. This has been what's made them a fun team to watch, actually. That first line of theirs is legitimately talented, but both Getzlaf and Perry have no qualms throwing their bodies at anyone. As of last season, Anaheim had been geared toward heavy body-checking. Positional play wasn't high on the priorities there. But finishing checks, wearing down the defense, these things centered their gameplan. They wanted to win against a tired team in the third than out-skill a team for a full 60 minutes. They did pretty damn good. Their style shut down Detroit's biggest guns, and a single line carried your team to the brink. They did that because the supporting cast around them hit and fought for everything. Alls I'm saying is, whether it's Brad May or a player of his ilk, I think Detroit is well served utilizing him. He won't make a noticeable difference in any specific moment, but when he and his line-mates have worn down an opposing line throughout the game, that line becomes easier to handle. Anaheim has shown that one weakness of Detroit's is to play them tight and physical. The Anaheim team of a year ago wasn't deep enough to make it stick, but the one in 2007 sure was. That's how the rest of the league wants to play this team, to wear down your skill players. Babs is absolutely right in thinking a player like May would benefit the club.

Anaheim went in to win or beat up Detroit. I'd say they were effective. A player who isn't strictly a goon (and May's not really a pure goon) would be good for Detroit I'd think. But hey, that's just my take. Guess we'll see how teams like the Leafs and Flyers do with the toughness-first mentality this season though.

What May can still bring that younger toughs can't is some amount of utility skills. He'll never score bunches of goals or kill penalties, but he can skate well, has a quick first step (still), and can pass perfectly fine. Additionally, I watched all his games in Anaheim, and he's most notable for hitting anything that moves than fighting. To go with Anaheim's team, since most of you remember them, May is a veteran version of Marchant mixed with Mike Brown. And you don't think the Wings don't need that? Hell yes they do. Precisely because teams now see that playing Detroit like Anaheim does makes them easier to beat in a series.

This sucks. It was win-win for Calgary to sign him on, even if he didn't play nightly. It isn't like he would have commanded big bucks. He looked real good for them thus far too, and I agree with some other folk around the interwebs: if a younger player was performing like he was during the preseason, he'd have made the team hands-down. I'd really like to see someone take him on for the season. Hell, San Jose needs a forward, and their last two dinosaurs have already left -- they need a spot to fill, and for cheap. Still, he did well this preseason, I think hockey fans are proud of him.

Good point. May isn't European enough to play on the Wings. Haha.

Just like Hossa never took dives?

For all the doubters of May's other abilities, keep in mind that for a time, Anaheim used him up on the Getzlaf-Perry line. He didn't necessarily scorch up the scoreboard or anything, but he certainly didn't look out of place when he was cycling the puck with them two. If May makes your team, I think your team becomes better in other aspects than just what he contributes. Because May's a type of player who will free up considerable space around others and always stick up for the club. May will fight the biggest guys in the league simply because he knows he's due for it, as evidenced by this fight with Boogaard in Anaheim's first meeting with Minnesota after May clocked their defensemen in the previous postseason. p.s. the point wasn't to win that fight, but merely stay alive...otherwise, he felt he had to give it to him for what he'd done.

I'd have given one nod to each position. Although I think they justify their pick good. Interesting s***.