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Janik is the same style player as Tollefsen but Ole is a better hitter and fighter. A stay at home defenseman is a stay at home defenseman in any system, I'm sure after 10 games with the griffs OKT will know the system just fine.

I was hoping I would come on here and hear this. Give him the rest of this season and next season in GR with call ups to Detroit here and there and we'll have a quality bottom line defenseman that can stick up for guys and hammer some forwards. At 25 he has time to develop some defensive game still. The best part about this guy is in the coming seasons if we have a tough guy on the 4th line, we have a solid 1,2 punch with Ole playing.

Hes been converted from player to director of soap dropping operations in the shower.

Yes Cherry does have balls to say things he knows he shouldn't. He gets ripped by papers in Canada probably alot more then anything he does is heard in the states. He's a tv personality so yeah he wears some crazy suits? Make fun of his suits but it doesn't change the fact that he's a hell of a lot more accomplished in hockey then anyone on this board will ever come close to. Looku p Cherry on NBC, he has balls... He called our Hull, a traitor to Canada for scoring a goal that shouldn't have counted, on American television. I guarantee you Cherry would say anything he's already said on any other countries tv, he's called out Americans on American TV and would do the same to russians.

Youre right board battles for the puck definitely adds to grit but ehres the thing. Flip and alot of our other guys are great on board battles and are for sure gritty. However teams like Anaheim and Calgary have offenses designed aronud getting the puck deep, hammering the D and creating turnovers while battling along the boards. If you can hit, fight and battle along the boards like pretty much all of Calgarys players can then youre a grittier player then someone who just battles along the boards. I'm not saying that the wings severely lack grit because they don't anymore but they're not near the top of the league like some ppl here think.

Hmm Nicastro has always been a prospect I've been interested in. ANyone got some info on how he's been playing and his style of play?

The thing is though that the ducks play that style of gritty play against the wings against EVERY team. The wings for the most part play a soft style of game with a few fairly gritty guys. The ducks night in and night out put their bodies and the other teams bodies on the line. Throwing big hits and scrumming it up. Sure the wings can step up and play like that when they have to but teams like the ducks do it all the time. The fact that the ducks make other teams like the wings have to step up their play physically so much every game shows how gritty they really play. The wings don't back down and have gotten grittier lately but still, to say the wings are as gritty as the ducks is just ridiculous and to say it you must have your red wing goggles on.

People hate Cherry because alot of the things he say are true but he has the balls to say it. He's kind of like the Canadian hockey slim shady. Everything he said about the world juniors was true but people flamed him for that, that doesn't make him a senile old fool like I've seen so many people saying. Maybe he ripped Lidstrom a little bit but I think most of what he said was directed at how Phaneuf needs tos tep up his game again and start playing like he can. Oh and if North Americans are coached worst then Euros then why is North America completely dominating the world junior stage?

I'm not saying Dion should've won because I don't think he should have but its the Norris not the Lady Byng. Dion got into alot of fights that year so he got 5 minute penalties but also doesn't leave your team shorthanded. He also probably got alot of coinciding roughing penalties which also don't leave your team shorthanded. And then to top it all off alot of them are probably from huge hits where he got called for charging or boarding or something like that. Sometimes the best defenseman are the ones that have the other team scared to cut across the blue line and intimidate the hell out of the other teams.

We did get something in return, alot more then we probably should have got for Leino. I think alot of people don't realize how young Ole is. He's only 25, the age most detroit prospects start playing in the NHL and he's already played over 150 NHL games. We can develop him into a great 6th defenseman. He's tough as nails and an RFA. If we don't resign him, which I tihnk we will because he's what we lack in Detroit, we'll get another draft pick for him.

I was just lookit some griffin stats and noticed that Abs has had 2 fights since he got sent down. Eventhough he fought Perry, he seemed timid at tiems up with the wings. Do you guys think he's more at home in the AHL right now and knows he can fight there and do alright or do you think he was scared of fighting in teh NHL cause the guys were bigger. Or maybe its just a coincidence that since he's got sent down he's had to answer the bell I dont know.

Umm theres lots that is more physical then that. Using your stick is not physical at all in any sense. Sure Lidstrom has prettym uch a perfect game but lets be honest if theres a weakness to it, its out front of the net. A defenseman can't just leave guys out front of the net, if Howard leaves a rebound you should see guys from teh other team on their asses. It cost us a goal yesterday when Frolov got 3 whacks at the puck before it finally went in. Hopefully next season OKT gets 6th dman duties and we'll see what a true physical dman plays like infront of the net. Since we've lacked a defenseman like that since Fischer probably and since we haven't had one for so long we act like pretty defenseman like Lids handle themselves well infront of the net. Its true he might be better then our other D besides Ericcson infront of the net but he's nothing compared to guys like Pronger out front.

Lets not forget Cleary's play in the playoffs. That alone warrants him his contract. Year after year he shows up playing hard, making hits(just ask Phaneuf), and scoring timely goals. Cleary is a player who conistently scores about 20 goals a season and plays with guts, he's earned everything he's got.

Thats because we dont have anyone who is good enough for top 6 minutes that can fight. Abdelkader is a rare exception. He is a guy with top 6 talent and the ability to throw fists. Its not like our skill guys would get benched for fighting its just that they cant do it. Shanny, Lapointe and Mac are all guys who could play and fight, we havent had a player cut from the same cloth as them for a long time though and Ab is the closest thing we've had in a while.

Staubitz played jr. c hockey in my hometown so I'm somewhat biased but I dont really think he was trying to throw bows in that fight. And anyways Tootoo deserved it because of a cheap fight he had with Stauby earlier in the game(?) or a game prior to that in the season where Tootoo pulled his usual drop the gloves and drop a guy before he knows whats happening.

With Lids and Rafalski getting old I dont think KH will trade Stuart.

These were my thoughts exactly. Except I think OKT might also be an insurance policy incase Lilly just doesn't have it anymore and we need a crease clearing, hard hitting dman to take his place.

Yeah but 9 times out of 10 a really rough style of play is going to lead to fights. Its just how it is, so the fact that he is fighting shows that hes playing with passion and with a pair of balls. For a top 6 center to be down there fighting 2 games in a row is definitely a positive thing and the fact that he dropped a guy one of the times is even more promising.

I can see why people are mad about Cherrys recent comments but remind me again what was so wrong about him saying at the world juniors? All he said was Canadian development is better then the states still because our best 19 year olds are in the NHL while USA has their best playing for them. Nothing classless about that?

Nah I tihnk youre getting offended by something I didn't mean to be offensive. I just don't like this growing trend of prospects and promisong players(Hudler) booting back tp Europe all of a sudden with the KHL. I also understand that Europe provides some of the most skilled players in the game but I was responding to a post that said all North Americans played dump and chase hockey when I started to say some offensive things I guess. We both have big time national pride so I see where youre coming from.

Yeah whats your point? Whats the point of drafting players who are gonna stay in Europe their whole careers and only come across if they have a spot guaranteed? I would rather draft players who play a dump and chase style from North America then drafts ome pretty boy European who won't ever come over here. If the dump and chase guy will play AHL and earn his duty I would much rather have him. He'll at least eventually play in the NHL. And I mean Ryno, Axelson and Leino all acted like they deserved to be on the team without any time in GR. Leino said he would go to Finland if he got sent down. Thats what I mean.

I've seen pretty skating on TV with no roughness to get in the way. Its called figure skating you should try that.

I would like to take the time to thank UK for uploading all the griff fights on youtube. Im glad to see Tardif able to handle a true heavy in Devaux as well in this game. I forgot to mention that I saw abs and May chatting on the bench and said to my bro, watch theyre talking about starting s*** next shift. Sure enough next shift Abdelkader was trying to fight Burns. Later on in the game he had the gloves off waiting for Clutterbuck.

When did I say Ficsher was a puss? I said Leino, Ryno and Axelson were. I would love more guys like Fish on our team. Bottom line is guys from Europe are acting like its their right to play in the NHL and don't wanna earn it. Back in the day they were happy to come over and play in the worlds best league. Now they run and hide in the KHL

Yeah you think he would take that swagger from the AHL and play like that with the big club with some physical play and fighting. Oh well I cant complain by the looks of the bomb he planted on Brents face and Abs skill level we might have another Mac or Lapointe on our hands here.