kipwinger

You've totally nailed it. Guys aren't getting head injuries because the "rats" are taking cheap shots. Guys are getting head injuries because the game is 1,000 times faster and therefore they're getting hit a whole lot harder than that (mass times acceleration or something like that). They wanted a faster game and this is one of the negative side effects. On the whole though, I feel like the game is better for it. At the end of the day it's a contact sport and guys are just going to have to learn to play a safer game than they used to. I don't think suspending is the answer any more than I think getting rid of the instigator rule is. Suspensions don't factor into a guy's mind when he's moving that fast, is largely encouraged by his coaches to hit first and ask questions later, and must commit to contact in a split second. Likewise, gooning it up doesn't work because most of these injuries aren't the result of cheap shots, and so the only thing dressing more tough guys is going to do is cost you games. The only way to stop it is to slow down the game, and in doing so you'll lose the speed that is almost entirely responsible for ensuring that NHL hockey is the most intense, physically demanding sport on earth.

I agree with Axe on Quincey, but not on Tootoo. Quincey started bad and finished strong, but once you're a whipping boy around here (and once you're a hometown hero) there's no changing most people's minds. There was ZERO wrong with Quincey's play down the stretch and into the playoffs. Tootoo is another story in my opinion. He was under utilized. I know Bab's had all sorts of quotes about penalty minutes and this and that. But the truth is, both Boston and Chicago dressed at least one guy who was a penalty machine but still brought enough intangibles that they were worth being on the ice. Hell, Abby had 33 PIMs in 12 games. And he didn't score enough to make that worthwhile. Tootoo isn't Boogaard. He didn't play because Babs likes skill more than he likes aggressiveness (in spite of what he says), and once Babs doesn't like a guy it's awfully hard to change his mind. You're not exactly going out on a limb here. He's the highest rated defensive prospect we've got. He's further along the developmental curve mentally, physically, and skill wise than any of our other prospect d-men. Plus, he's projected to have the much higher upside based on his mix of skill and size. It's a little like "gambling" that Mrazek will be a starting goalie, or Mantha a top line forward. The sky would literally have to fall for this to not be true.

I'd replace Stastny with Dubinsky, Pacioretty with Van Riemsdyk, and put Brown in Oshie's spot and Wheeler in Brown's. Parise-Kesler-Kane Ryan-Pavelski-Kessel Callahan-Backes-Wheeler Van Riemsdyk-Dubinsky-Brown Lots of scoring on top, and lean and mean on the bottom. Also, I'd want my defense to be noticeably bigger than the one you've got because Canada is going to have a GIANT team. So Orpik and Bogosian would definitely be in for me in place of any two of Martin, Yandle, Shattenkirk.

The insane part of Sammy's contract was the term and the NTC. I wouldn't even be all that mad about it if not for those aspects. Two years at the same money wouldn't have been great, but I could have lived with it. Sammy came to this team with a lot of question marks (age, declining production, injury history), and the contract he was given all but ensured that if any of these concerns were legit, the team would be hamstrung by it. 2 years, same money, no NTC and I'd have been ok. Not great, but ok. Anything else and you might as well have rolled the dice and signed Semin. Even if he was a flop (which he wasn't) at six million per year, you'd still have paid him less in the long haul than you are going to pay to Sammy (even if he do buy him out at the end of next season). Ah highsight...

I'm not sure that people in Tennessee have thumbs and know how to use them.

Seems like the Florida teams were added into the Division with us, Toronto, Boston, etc. because they'd get more market exposure, and as such their owners would be more likely to vote for the realignment plan. If I owned the Lightening and the league came along and told me that my team was now going to be in a division with Carolina, Nashville, Washington, Florida, etc. I would never vote for it. You are going to make exactly ZERO money if you aren't any good, and never play anyone who's any good, in markets nobody cares about. But play large market teams four or five times a year is a much better deal for a s***ty team. Tampa and Florida didn't get screwed, they got payed off in order to get their vote for a realignment plan which is good for pretty much everybody else except them.

I'd prefer Sawchuk over Lindsey, just because I want to see this pic carved into 200 ft. of stone. Totally Badass!!!!!

As previously stated when they mentioned "original six" matchups, it wasn't in reference to the pictures, it was in reference to the sentence before when they explicitly discuss Toronto, Boston, and Montreal. Which are, indeed, original six matchups. It's a very poorly put together promo, but you guys are reading a little too much into it. They're hyping the original six matchups specifically in reference to the teams they mentioned, Toronto, Boston, and Montreal. The rest of the ad is an attempt to inform fans that Detroit will host all their main rivals, including the teams pictured, at the Joe this year.

Yeah for sure. But everyone seems gaga over size these days. Anybody with the tiniest amount of skill, so long as they're big, will get a huge contract. I kinda want Montreal to win the Cup just so a little team can ruin that trend. Then again, as soon as it happens everyone will be talking about Rene Bourque like he's the second coming of Christ...err...Bryan Bickell.

If you read the headline, it says "Detroit will host every team at the Joe INCLUDING new Eastern Conference Rivals". It then names Toronto, Montreal, and Boston as examples of these new "rivals". And then concludes by saying "Guarantee your chances of seeing these Original Six Matchups" in reference to the previously mentioned Toronto, Boston, and Montreal. It's a poorly put together ad campaign, but it's pretty easy to see that the whole point is to see tickets to marquee games, and Chicago, Pittsburgh, AND the original six are all considered those types of games. They aren't promoting hockey history, they're trying to sell you tickets. And that's not going to happen if they promote Florida.

Yeah, I mean it's not like the guy's a super star or anything, but considering how everyone else got paid this year I'm a little surprised he didn't hold out for more. Then again, maybe he just likes it in St. Louis. Haha, you've got me all wrong. I genuinely enjoy reading these types of assessments. It's kinda like when people put human clothes on their dogs, or dress their toddlers up in suits. Soooooo close to the real thing, only not. Adorable.

I don't really care about the Pens, or Sidney Crosby, but if I hired a marketing director and he DIDN'T use one of the biggest names in hockey to sell tickets I'd fire him immediately. Sometimes it's hard for us fans to separate hockey the sport we love, from hockey the multi-billion dollar business. The league doesn't post constantly increasing profits by ignoring their bread and butter. Sidney Crosby sells, and until he doesn't, the NHL and each individual team is VERY likely to ride that gravy train. Get used to it.

There was no place else to put this and I didn't want to start a new thread, but did anyone else see that Chris Stewart signed a two year, 8.3 million dollar contract? Makes those contracts for Clarkson, Bickell, and Clowe look like total s*** doesn't it?

Only in a world this bizarre could anyone insinuate that Dan Carcillo is useless and that John Scott is the better option for Chicago or anyone else. I'm flabbergasted!

I can't speak for a Nyquist sweater, but you can probably get a Filppula one for a couple of bucks at Goodwill.

Huck, huck. You can say whatcha want but that gal darn Titus Young story was just dang good tv. 3 times in a week! That's hi-larious! Reminds me of my cousin Ricky-Jo, 'cept Ricky's was all for Meth. Anyway's say whatcha want bout the NFL, but everybody knows football is a man's sport and anybody doesn't like it is a p*ssy and probably a *errorist.

Maybe they should dress a couple more fighters since it's clear that having Orr and McLaren on their fourth line in the playoffs couldn't quite get it done. I mean, it's a recipe for success. First you dress two enforcers who can't play regular shifts, then you tear down some pictures, and then you plan the parade. It's that simple. Good thing they fired Brian Burke, that guy didn't know s*** compared to this bunch.

Well at least the Wings are more popular than the Pistons. You know you've got a s***ty product when your sport (which is played everywhere) is constantly losing ground to a sport played almost entirely above the Mason-Dixon. Anyway, hockey is the most intense, physically demanding sport there is, and baseball is the most cerebral. As such, they are the best. Anyone suggesting an opinion to the contrary is wrong. Yes, I said it, your opinion is absolutely, positively, scientifically verifiably, wrong wrong wrong. "But...But...But...Kip, the NFL has hilarious commercials, sensationalized drama, and tons of play stoppages. You don't even have to pay attention to the game to enjoy it" Shut you face biotches!

I don't know about him consistently, but Ericsson absolutely demolished Bickell during the playoffs, and I doubt anybody else on the team would have been able to do that without taking a pretty serious run. Ericsson is strong as hell.

I like this contract, it's a very good "show us what you've got" contract that puts the ball firmly in Smith's court. Here's hoping he outperforms it in the near future.

I think his game will translate well to the KHL. He was always a good skater, and with all that time and space he might make a difference for his team. Good luck to him. Whatever dude, I've actually been to Russia and it's awesome over there. Obviously I wouldn't want to live there for peanuts, but if you're a millionaire, that place is like a god send. Meech will have a killer time there with all the black market champagne, caviar, and beautiful blonde women that money can buy. And with the exchange rates as they are, his salary will buy a TON of champagne, caviar, and women. I envy Derek Meetch.

Well,if that is how our forward lines shake out (and I'm not sure it will be with all the dead weight we've got hanging around) then I'm not too impressed. Unless, of course, it's 2009 and I'm not aware that I've time traveled. I know it's asking a lot, but wouldn't it be nice if we had one (legit) top six winger who wasn't 30+ years old? Just so I could have one player on the roster that I didn't have to pencil a little question mark next to.

I don't want to make a rank order list because I'm feeling pretty lazy, but I'd add Pietrangelo to your list and probably remove Karlsson. His offensive is obviously WAY better, but as shaky as Kronwall may seem at times, imagine if he were only 175 lbs and much weaker.

Kronwall was fine as a #1. Ideally, your top guy will be well above average as both a puck mover, and defensive defenseman. Kronwall was certainly that. Plus he logged an absolute ton of minutes given all the injuries as well as the growing pains associated with having a lot of young d-men on the team. I don't think this last part can be overstated. Not only did he have to transition into the top spot, but he had to do it without having a supremely capable second pairing. Obviously he's not the best shutdown defenseman in the league or anything, but I don't think there's too many all around d-men who are better at both ends of the ice.

I didn't allude to the fact that Smith "sucked doorknobs", I explicitly said it lol. Just like I've explicitly said over and over and over that he'll eventually get better, but that he wasn't very good last year. The problem that I have with your first post is that you constructed a straw man, and then responded to that. "Hopeless" seems to suggest that Smith's detractors think he'll never get better. Pretty much everybody that calls him out for his play last season also admits that he's only going to get better. I'm beyond debating with you about Smith's performance. We've talked about it enough. But it genuinely hampers discussion when you can't say a single negative thing about him without someone (in this case you and a lot of others) suggesting that you think he's hopeless, or want him traded, or hate him, etc. etc. etc.. Nobody thinks any of that. However I do think that a guy who was as heavily hyped as he was should probably have been better than 0 goals and 8 assists in the regular season (in addition to his obviously poor defense though I don't really hold that against him since he was an offensive defenseman to begin with). Furthermore, when he didn't give a better performance than that, I don't think it's a faux pas to say that he wasn't very good without immediately being rejected by those intent on putting words in your mouth. Edit: Or more simply, just answer these two questions... Given what was expected, did Brendan Smith have a good season? (I answer no). Will he get better? (I answer yes). If you answered the first one differently than I did, then we've reached the root of the problem.