F2B&G

The guy was an absolute star at Boston College, but everyone doubted his NHL prospects due to his size.

Even though Philly and Vancouver are unlikely to claim him, I believe they would have the option to before he comes here, since we're the ones trying to pass him through waivers.

I'm sure little consideration was given to this matter. Suspensions and supposed "points of enforcement" these days are pretty much arbitrary. Kostopoulos deserved at least 10 games for that head shot. As for Gretzky - remember when he referred to the Devils as a Mickey Mouse organization after a game in which the Oilers whipped them 13-4? Sure, at the time it was quite accurate . Still, the idea that Gretzky is somehow this sainted individual that everyone loved is ridiculous.

Well, it was about time! Quite an elite group of goalies to join, now he can aim for 404 to try and pass Fuhr.

Some Preds blogs are saying that he was a very common sight at bars in Nashville, so booze seems to be the likely culprit.

Other than his glove save at the start of the third, Howard was sub-par. Fortunately, Luongo was worse. The defense has to do a better job around our net as well - Jimmy can't do it all.

Right, but it's not the Winter Classic on January 1st. NBC, really, is the reason that it's likely both teams involved in the WC will always be American.

We can joke about it all we want, but they can't have the Pens in it every year, as is evidenced by the fact that it took three seasons for them to appear again. NHL marketing is better than many people think. How many times have people posted on these boards that they HATE Crosby, get gets SO much TV time, he's SO overrated, etc, etc? Congrats, you have succumbed to the NHL's manipulative, top-secret marketing efforts. Anyway, it seems to me that if Montreal and Toronto are going to continue to be ignored, then the Rags are certainly due to the involved in 2012.

Ozzie looked good, but on the other hand, the Devils are horrible this year. I'd wait for a couple more starts against better teams and see how he does there before declaring he's "back to form" and calling for a 1a/1b situation with Howard.

Not even the Devils could be that bad.

The MTL game was a good mini-slump buster. Ordinarily I would fear that Brodeur might have our number, but he's just coming back from injury, and the Devils are still heavily banged up. Meanwhile, the guy who is supposed to be carrying the load for the team in Parise's absence is instead turning out to be a major disappointment. Is 5-2 Detroit unreasonable? I only give the Devils two goals because Osgood is probably starting.

Nashville is soooo boring to play against. Babcock Death Stare got everyone motivated for a bounceback game. 4-1 Wings.

Anaheim is Howard's *****.

Eff the Ducks! Let's keep it rolling, Wings.

With the way captains are picking teams this year, don't be shocked if Crosby and Ovechkin are selected as the captains by the NHL brass. With the whole East vs. West thing off their backs, they can do it now. Also, it's a complete joke that Fleury was even nominated. He's mostly played like horses**t so far this year.

Not sure what to think of this game. SJ isn't dominating the Pacific this year, though it seems Niittymaki is finally their guy in net and Niemi has been exposed as a sieve when playing behind a team that isn't as stacked. Wings need to get this trip to the west coast off on the right foot. I'll say 3-2 Detroit, plus an empty netter.

Abdelkader: B+ (gets better every game) Bertuzzi: A (and pleasantly surprised to be saying that) Cleary: B+ (started slower than I would've liked, then put together a nice streak. All in all, about what you could ask for from a third line winger. Keep it up!) Datsyuk: A (He's back, folks) Eaves: C+ (Does his thing, could be doing it a little better) Filppula: B- (Would like a little more production from him in a second line role) Franzen: B (We haven't seen his A-game yet) Helm: B- (Probably the best grade I can give a fourth liner, would love to start seeing a few more goals like the one against C-bus) Holmstrom: C (Getting old and beat, but could be doing better) Hudler: D+ (Two Words: Weight. Room. I demand a big improvement as the season continues) Miller: C (Does his thing about as well as he can) Modano: C (Trending upward, then the injury. Blast!) Zetterberg: B (Haven't seen his A-game yet either, but he's trending upward lately as well) Ericsson: B- (Nice improvement from last year) Janik: INC Kindl: C (About what I figured. Can't throw the rookie under the bus, but he's got some learning to do.) Kronwall: B- Lidstrom: A+ (Nice to see the old guy looking like he's 30 again, but gotta wonder if he can keep this up as the season wears on) Rafalski: A- Salei: B (Can't ask for much more from a third pair guy, except perhaps a little less pretending he's still 25 and can skate well enough to risk pinching. Stick to hitting, dude.) Stuart: B+ (Quite underrated on this team) Howard: B (Looked a little shaky for a few games, but got it together again. I'm now convinced he's got the mental maturity thing down, at least in the regular season. He won't win the Vezina, but we don't need him to. A Conn Smythe would be more impressive anyway. ) Osgood: INC

It's cute that the BJs fans think we're rivals. Even better that jokes about the city that are thirty years old are apparently still funny. 3-2 Wings in OT or a shootout "win".

Other than Detroit, I like: -LA (loaded with young talent and play a skilled game) -Tampa -The rest of the O6 except Montreal And I sympathize with whatever fans the Islanders and the Panthers still have. I dislike: -Nashville (Today's equivalent of the '95 Devils - so boring to watch) -San Jose (Piss or get off the toilet already) -Anaheim (The crappy, less talented version of the Flyers) -Pittsburgh (Fleury might go down as the luckiest sieve to win a Cup) -Chicago fans ('nuff said)

Probably not too smart of them to do that so close to the cameras, but at the same time it's blown way out of proportion. Are we supposed to pretend that players don't have some friends on opposing teams? I do think it's a mistake to let Ovechkin wear the 'C' though. He's a big talent, but he's not a 'team first' guy. The Caps need a captain who knows what it takes to go deep in the playoffs, and can demonstrate that sort of work ethic to the rest of the team. I don't think Ovechkin is really interested in that, at least not at this point in his career - he just wants individual glory and female attention. While they're at it, Boudreau is definitely not the answer behind the bench either. He has no idea how to coach a playoff-caliber defense.

Howard's getting too old for this game, just like the rest of the Red Wings.

As one of the more reasonable Calgary fans pointed out, we're a puck possession team, and teams that have the puck a majority of the time tend to draw more calls. Is it really that hard for Flames fans to understand? Probably not, it's just a good excuse for them to get all emo and curse a team that every other fanbase loves to hate, instead of coming to the realization that winning teams don't let the opposition's best forward squirt through two defenders, make a perfect pass to the second best forward, and cough up the tying goal in the dying seconds of the third period.

Win the Cup? It's why they haven't even made it out of the second round.

The real Leafs fans deserve better. The ones who still passionately follow the team after decades of average-to-terrible coaching, mostly incompetent management, bad trades/signings/drafts, and false hope during the Doug Gilmour and Mats Sundin eras. The young hipsters and corporate types who are just at the ACC to be seen, usually sitting in the lower bowl and staring at their smart phone screens instead of watching the game, don't deserve squat.

He's great now, but just like major junior, there are a lot of guys who are good at the college level, but prove to be career AHLers/NHL plugs when they get to the pros. He's got quite a bit of road to travel yet.