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Why not have not wearing a mouthgaurd, neckgaurd, kevlar socks, kevlar wristbands, visors, etc. be part of the insurace premium? That is, each playes insurance payment could be tied to their choice to wear certain safety equipment. AFAIK NHL contracts are not insured this way, but they could be altered to include this. Many employers now offer lower insurance payments for those within a certain BMI range, those who do not smoke, etc.

Those matchups are most of the reason I would like to see Clowe on the roster next season (although I don't think he is in Orr's class).

Abby!

I agree. He also has a large amount of shots for not getting any puck luck.

So the team can be weaker and worse defensively? He is on a one way.

Kindl has been very aggressive these past few games.

He has been great tonight. Very deserved.

After that last shift, Abby and Mule should be switched. Dats needs another skilled player and Abby played well with Z and Brunner.

Emmerton!

Tootoo can hang with him. The problem is both of their strategies is to fire so many punches the other player can't respond, and thus it's hard to get going when you're constantly defending.

An actual good shift by the second line.

They had a major collapse earlier in the shift- it was good to see them recover and get one.

Kindl!

I called the fight but that wasn't great for Tootoo. They both like to overwhelm their opponents and Tootoo couldn't get going.

Tonight I'm more concerned with the Wings inability to win battles against the Oilers top line. I don't like the second line as much as anyone, but they're far from the low point of the game thus far IMO.

One of them didn't lose a battle in the offensive zone that shift and one of them did. Not sure why both are accused of it.

Who?

Z line hasn't been able to get the puck out of their own zone well thus far.

Go back and watch every power play from the last five or so games. Abby is doing an excellent job in front of the net. You can point to stats, but they aren't a substitute for actually watching the games. Most of the Canadian crews do a very good job at not being overly biased.

Because he's good in front of the net. Tatar almost gave up the puck going into the zone on that PP by passing to no one. He made up for it with a great move his next shift.

I could see Tootoo v. Brown tonight.

LGW!

Every line needs to dump the puck at some time, and the skilled lines do use the D pass to tip-in move often. Personally, I haven't seen much evidence that Andersson is superior to Abby offensively- I would rate them roughly equal. I would like to see whoever of Abby and Cleary is playing worse replaced by Tatar too. However, I don't think Andersson would improve that line. Further, using Andersson and Tatar against other teams' top lines could be bad. That is, I think the line has stuck together so long because the replacement options aren't as good on D.

I like Tatar on that line, but I don't see how Andersson is an improvement over Abby or Cleary on that line. That is, Tatar and Dats are best when they can handle the puck in space and they need a player who can retrive and/or tie up D in the corners. Andersson hasn't been great in that aspect (IMO he is a more all-around player). As I said before, Tatar didn't have his best game with the puck and defenseively two nights ago. Hopefully he has a good game tonight and gets moved up to that line. For Andersson, I think the fact that he is young and 'new' is clouding judgement on his actual play, which hasn't been bad (but also not great).

Despite his large frame, Andersson has been suprisingly weak this season in the dirty areas. Brunner, Flip, Dats, Tatar, and Z average more hits per game than Andersson. That line would be too weak in the corners and pressuring the D to be succesful.