kipwinger

Brian Burke makes competitive team out of every organization he gets involved with. If he takes over Calgary they'll begin the process of turning things around.

I honestly can't believe this whole discussion began because I said that having a good powerplay would make other teams hurt for trying to fight. Isn't that something of a truism? If I were to say the equal but opposite, e.g. having a bad powerplay doesn't make other teams hurt for trying to fight, everyone would agree. But here we are.

If there were a correlation between size, fighting, hitting, and winning then the biggest team with the most hits and fights would win the Cup almost every year. That doesn't happen. Wanna know what does have a high correlation to winning? Special teams, and goal differential. So when I say I'd rather have a good powerplay than George Parros or Colton Orr or some other garbage enforcer, it's actually supported by something other than whimsy.

Next he'll say something good about Kindl and then tear the "Babcock face and hair" off exposing a hideous, monster-like visage, with croaking toad voice and demon eyes. The real Babcock will never be heard from again.

When exactly are we "getting bullied"? When was the last time an important Red Wing missed time because someone took a run at them? Every team in the league knows the Wings don't fight, and they leave their enforcers in the press box when they play us because of it. This whole, "we need to get tougher because we get bullied" argument is bologna, it's just a post hoc justification used by people who want to see more fights. I'll take a good powerplay because, ya know, we do that whole powerplay thing a few times a game. You take your enforcers, and keep waiting for teams to "bully" us so that you can say "I told you so". As bad as we've traditionally been 4 on 4, I don't know if there's anybody (who will actually fight) who's worth taking that penalty on.

ewwwwww juices? Ugh...I just threw up in my mouth. lol.

I know it's just sort of knee jerk for you to be condescending about everything, but I don't know how you wouldn't be excited about scoring three PP goals against last year's second best penalty killing team. Particularly given how bad our special teams have been for a couple years now.

For me, the two topics seem to go hand in hand.

If our powerplay looks as good as it did last night, I sure hope the other teams in the conference keep it up because it's going to be a long year for them shorthanded.

Zetterberg-Dats-Abby/Bert Alfie-Weiss-Franzen Nyquist-Andersson-Tatar Miller-Helm-Cleary Sammy/Bert Kronwall-Ericsson Kindl-Dekeyser Smith-Quincey Lashoff First, I'd keep the kids together on the third line because their chemistry is undeniable (Tatar's two goals on Nyquist's two assists the other night stands as evidence). Second, Kindl is on my second pair. I see a lot of people putting Smith up there, and honestly I have no idea why. At this stage of their respective careers Kindl is noticeably better in essentially every area than Smith is. Third, I like Abby on the first line but against slower (and bigger) teams I'd play Bert up there because I think he's got the better offensive skill set. But I don't like Bert on the fourth line as much, so I'd ideally stick with Abby or Eaves there if at all possible.

Ditto.

Ummm...I'm here for the free butt pats... But seriously, any updates on Weiss? I don't have twitter so I'm apparently lame and out of the loop.

Between Woodward and Clifford. The actual stadium may be on the other side of 75, but as I understand it, the whole area which is currently vacant will be developed, so essentially from the Hockeytown Cafe area north. I guess my mention of the Fox was a bit misleading.

Drink. More. Water.

No, you can tell they're not from Detroit because they're generalizing to a pretty large degree. The new stadium is going to be in the area behind the Fox theater and Hockeytown Cafe. Which is sort of close to the old Tiger's Stadium, in the sense that it's closer to Tiger's Stadium than it is to the Palace.

And in other news, the Miami Marlins fan just gave Cabrera a standing ovation after he was pulled from the game. Very classy move by a fan base I don't typically expect much out of.

That's what happens when real hockey players are on your fourth line, and goons are on someone else's. Good luck putting Colton Orr on the ice against Jurco and Glendening. It's the Canadian way!

Is this game televised anywhere?

There were times when Smith looked pretty bad last night, but I thought at other times he did a pretty good job of getting control of the puck and using his skating ability to calm things down and allow the team to get up ice. My biggest knock against him is his decision making, which is poor, but should come around as he matures. As such, I think this thread's a bit premature. He's been bad quite a bit in the past, and at time VERY bad. But by now that should be expected of a young defenseman on this team. I say wait and see with Smith. Give him as much time as you gave Kindl, and then go from there. Unless, of course, Sproul or Quellet somehow pass him in the depth charts in the next year or two. Which is possible, but not probable.

I like to think that Bertuzzi lifted the guy above his head, military pressed him three of four times, before sending him to the ground a la The Ultimate Warrior.

Biased how? Toward Canadian teams, or certain players, or what? I'd never suggest that he's not wrong from time to time, but I certainly don't get the impression that he has some axe to grind in favor of a particular team, conference, player, etc.

And in today's Cleary news, he's back to wearing #71 for the whole season. He had discussed switching to 15, as the kids at his hockey school had voted for that number, but now he's changing his tune. Stay tuned for more of the "Dan Cleary is the center of the Universe" show after these messages from your local sponsors.

I'm going to go on record disagreeing with you guys. It all depends on who's writing for ESPN. Lebrun is good. And I actually gained a lot of respect for Katie Strang for her coverage of the lockout. But Custance, Hradek, and Buccigross are horrible.

I don't know what you guys are talking about. Hot and Ready pizzas are awesome. You just can't hold them to a standard they're independent of. Are there better pizzas? Yes. But those are gourmet pizzas, and have nothing whatsoever to do with the type of pizza broke people and college kids buy. It's like saying Busch beer sucks because it's not as good as Guinness. Of course it isn't. It's not supposed to be. It's supposed to be cheap, and get you drunk...and it does that excellently. Just like Hot and Ready pizzas are supposed to be cheap and filling. If that's the standard then they pass with flying colors.

I wonder if Chris will get around to paying all those back taxes now that he's got control of the check book?