kipwinger

Craig Custance ‏@CraigCustance 10m10 minutes ago Just spoke w/Dan Cleary who will report to Grand Rapids on Tuesday. Looks forward to mentoring young players: "I just needed some time."

In her latest twitter update, Helene St. James not so subtly calls Joakim Andersson a "plug". Is it just me or is her coverage getting weirdly critical and negative. It's like there's always subtext. Maybe I'm just reading into it, but it always seems like a backhanded barb or something. Recent headlines include: "Red Wings' Franzen (head) out Indefinitely - again" "If no Glendening Friday when Wings host Carolina, Joakim Andersson available to plug hole." "Red Wings' Jurco plays 'pretty well' in season debut". "The Detroit Red Wings are too savvy to read much into their hot little start".

I don't gamble, so I have no idea what gambling laws are like. But isn't sports betting popular AND legal in many places? Is the point of contention that these sites are just gambling, and therefore should be subject to the regulation of the various state gaming commissions?

I do too, they're trash together. Now that I made that Radim Vrbata comparision, I started watching the Sedin, Sedin, Vrbata line from last year, and I don't see why Tatar, Datsyuk, and Jurco couldn't be that when Dats gets back. For now leave them with Richards, but I think a line with those three has huge potential. Larkin-Z-Abby Tatar-Pav-Jurco Nyquist-Richards-Sheahan Helm-Glen-Miller Yikes.

If Jurco can compliment skill players (i.e. skate with them, take their passes, work a cycle with them, maintain possession in the O-zone, etc.), drive the net/screen, and bang in the occasional rebound he will both justify his place in the top nine (or six) as well as set himself up for future success as he finds a new game and increases his comfort level. He's just got to get it through his head that he's not Marian Gaborik, and he's probably never going to score like that. I think sometimes he wants to be a slick player more than he wants to be an effective one. And is that any surprise when you look back at him doing all his fun puck tricks? He obviously fancied himself a dangler, but his future success probably depends on playing simpler. There's no sense trying to be a bad Gaborik when you could be a perfectly good Radim Vrbata.

Because he loves playing hockey? So much so that he pursued a career in it? He's probably fairly passionate about it wouldn't you think?

Well then Chara is slower than an amorphous solid. Suck a butt dumbs***s!

Misogynist.

I don't think he got hit. He just didn't have symptoms, got cleared, and then symptoms came back. It was worth a shot if he was feeling up to it. I can't imagine anyone, in any industry, wants to be forced to call it quits.

Not too broke up about it really. I wish he could be playing, I hope he is able to play, I think he would make us better. But it also helps deal with our forward logjam. So that's a positive.

Glass is a supercooled liquid, smartass. Read a book.

Good point. He is a really huge guy. No denying the potential impact of his hugeness all sorts of stuff. He's like, bigger than Derian Hatcher. That's huge.

We don't need experience on the blue line. We've got a veteran blue line. Kronwall, Ericsson, Quincey, Green, are all veterans. Kronwall has as many Cups as Chara, so it's not even like he brings that to the table. And did I mention he's slower than glass?

It's plausible. But I just don't see it. For one, Trotz never seemed that smart to me. It would take a genius to pull of a stunt like that. Who do you think he is, Mike Babcock?

Don Cherry's way, of course. He's the biggest proponent of the Canadian way. Not surprisingly, he's one of Ovie's biggest critics. Do your self a favor and watch all the Coach's Corners about Ovie's goal celebrations. Cherry starts out being his normal, borish, blowhard, self. And then, when it finally starts to dawn on him that neither Ovie, nor anyone else, cares what he thinks, it's like he's finally confronted with his own irrelevance. Afterward he starts backpedaling like you wouldn't believe. At first he's all, "Alex, you're an idiot and somebody's gonna get you, and you're acting like a soccer player, and blah, blah, blah". And then Ovie and everybody else laughs at him. And then he's like "Alex, you're a great player, and I know you're just having fun, but what if you were that other team's goalie? How would you feel? You're a role model". He's a ******.

The WWE isn't a sport, so its not comparable. The WWE is fictionalized drama, no different than Breaking Bad or Mad Men. So saying "says the WWE fan" in response to a criticism of sports is not much different than saying "says the Daily Show fan" if I'd been criticizing the news. They aren't the same thing. Football, on the other hand, is a sport. The dumbest sport on earth. It's primary function is to give people like this a raison d'etre.

Chara would be a good move for the WWE. They could get him to replace this guy.

Why would you want him at any price? He scored about as much as Kyle Quincey last year and he's slow as hell.

Yeah, right now the Metro Division (still the worst named division in sports) is pretty terrible. Obviously they'll even out over the season but none of their teams look that impressive. If the Florida Panthers played in that division they'd be making minced meat out of "perennial powerhouses" like the Pens, Rags, and Caps. Apparently the Flyers are good. At least that's what their fans say. I don't buy it. Probably, I don't really care about football, so enjoy the victory. Football is basically one step above NASCAR when it comes to being an attractant for drunken plebeians. It basically appeals to the lowest common denominator. Present company excluded...of course. I'd list all the reason why, but I'll let this EXCELLENT article from Sports Illustrated do it for me. Enjoy. http://www.si.com/nfl/2011/10/06/nfl

I actually like Columbus. I like pretty much all of their players, they've actually got great fans, and I like their style of play. And since I'm a Michigan State fan, I don't have that automatic hatred for Columbus that many folks do lol.

Jake Gardiner, a mid level prospect, and a 2nd.

Poor judgement?

This just in, Boston trying to unload old, overpaid, pylon! Color me surprised.

I love Ovie because he's really good, and he doesn't care about playing hockey the Canadian way. Which drives people NUTS. Take the hatred that most people felt for Subban (prior to his big money donation) and multiply that by 100 and you'll only just approach the amount of shade cast on Alex Ovechkin from the Canadian faithful. Love it.

For the record, I ABSOLUTELY did see Pittsburgh's "high powered offense" struggling. Said so many times. However, I thought Columbus would come out cooking. So I completely botched that one.