kipwinger

Perhaps because if I'm the coach my job is to win, and that's much more difficult if my top line guys are getting the hell beat out of them.

Again, I don't think that he SHOULD have to answer for it, but I agree with the statement above, if I'm an oppositing coach me most definitely WOULD answer for it. Colton Orr would be out the very next shift and someone would be in serious s***. The rules and the referees are there to police the game and keep people accountable, tough guys are there to keep the physicality on an even keel.

I'm starting to think the NHLPA is being too accomodating. Sometimes you've got to be a hardass when negotiating. Playing nice only encourages the other guys to press harder.

Robert Lang...always Robert Lang.

I don't think he should have to fight for clean hits, but having said that, I'm really surprised that more teams don't make him...or someone else on the team. The fact that he does it and gets away with it so much is a real surprise. Note: On a positive note, seems like we'll never have to ask this question about Smith.

Yeah, it all seems to dead end back at the same place, the only reason I even noticed it was because of the news feed at the top of the forum here. As I said, I don't really know much about him, but he seems like a pretty tough dude. Edit: The scouting report I read on him suggests he's a good stay at home d-man with shutdown capability. I'm sold.

Any credibility to this Keaton Ellerby to Detroit rumor? I don't know anything about the guy except he was a tenth overall pick. Anybody know anything about him or the rumor? Edit: After looking into it I found that this kid is 6'4 220 lbs, hits, fights, and is Shane Doan's first cousin. Still don't know anything about his overall game though.

I don't know the answer to the op's question, but I wonder how it would work with the KHL given that I'm pretty sure each league has to honor the other's contracts? Anybody know if this would be a problem or no? There are all sorts of streaming sites that you can choose from, and usually they'll have KHL games at least. Plus, I'd imagine if the NHL locked out and all the talent was in other leagues then more international streams would pop up to deal with the demand. Here are a few I use: http://www.thefirstrow.eu/ http://www.vipbox.tv/ http://www.slipstrea...heduleframe.php

Both the NBA and the NFL labor talks went down to the wire, that's just how these things work. Meaningful negotiations in Congress do the same thing. The fans have not lost a single thing yet, and would probably do well to lose a little of the collective anxiety this whole thing is producing. Ever wonder why there are waaaaay more trades at the deadline than there are during the season? Because nobody has to make a tough decision until the deadline. Take a deep breath gents.

The reason I like Cleary with Dats and Franzen is because he'll do all the dirty work and allow Franzen to play his perimeter game (he's going to do it regardless so we might as well expect it). And that does relegate Sammy to the third, which I'm not in love with, but then again, I'm not really in love with him playing on the team at all. For me, I guess it just depends on who's having the better season as they're both capable of playing in either scenario.

Huh?

Looks pretty accurate to me, though I think if Cleary has a rebound year then he and Sammy might be switched on the second line. Probably depends on who's playing better and who finds the right chemistry with Z and Flip. However, the possibility of a Z, Flip, Brunner line really intrigues me. They could flat out fly. Plus, Cleary had career numbers when playing with Dats and Franzen two years ago.

I wouldn't mind trading either of these guys if it meant bringing back a top six forward at least as good as Ryan, but not for a defenseman, we've got a weak top six as it is and I wouldn't want to see it get weaker by moving another top six out and not getting one in return. All of this could change if Brunner or Nyquist are having stellar years but as it stands right now, I think our best bet is to sign a seventh defenseman and then wait until the season starts to see what we've got.

Hope for a trade all you want fellas, but I wouldn't hold your breath. Cleary, Bert, and Sammy all have NTC's. Miller, Eaves, Abby, Emmerton, and Mursak have little to no value on their own. Datsyuk and Zetterberg aren't going anywhere. Which leaves Flip, Nyquist, Franzen, and Brunner. Only two of them are proven enough to be center pieces in trades as the other two haven't proven anything at the NHL level, and losing a top six from an already depleted top six really doesn't make any sense unless we're getting one back. Oh, and we've only got six defensemen under contract, so there's no way we're trading one of those either.

Wait, you mean you don't want to see the Wings toss someone like Colton Orr on the ice every time Datsyuk or Zetterberg gets a bruised knee...er...gets run at? You obviously hate tough hockey sir!

There was retribution. Bertuzzi fought Weber, he didn't win but he fought him. Winning against Weber is no easy task but he did have to account for it. So to say that there was no retribution is silly. Unless you think we should have run at some of their guys too? Also: Zetterberg didn't "get run", and he missed zero minutes of zero games due to the obviously vicious nature of the attack.

Sure, and I'm not setting here saying he's a superstar or anything. All I'm saying is that Kindl wasn't nearly as bad last year as everyone made it seem. And I'm expecting better for him in the coming season. He may never be a top two guy, but I think he could easily be a top four with a little more development, and he's certainly better than he's been portrayed here at LGW

Which guys get run at and how often do they miss time with injuries sustained by getting run at?

Again, that's exactly how everyone felt about Ericsson a couple years ago. Kindl is still young and is still developing, but he has all the physical gifts and skill in the world. As this thread is about surprises I'm simple stating that he'll surprise. Confidence works wonders for players, and (for me) there was a noticeable improvement in Kindl's game last year when injuries hit and he was no longer battling for a spot. With a roster spot pretty much assured this year, I look to him to continue his development, build a little confidence, and have a solid year for this team. Solid in this case means he'll be a plus player, and I'm thinking 4 goals about 12-15 assists on the third pair.

I completely understand that, but like I said, until it happens there's really no need to be so reactionary about it.

Getting ahead of ourselves aren't we fellas? Just because Bettman says they will lock out doesn't mean there will be one. That crazy bastard in Iran keeps saying he's going to wipe Israel off the map but we haven't see any of that either. So far, it's all theater and should be treated as such.

I agree with the OP on the Kindl thing. Everybody is down on him because they can't be down on Ericsson anymore. For years Ericsson was the whipping boy and nobody noticed how good he was on the PK until he was injured and Babcock made it clear that the the failure of the PK was largely due to Ericsson's injury. As soon as that happened everybody jumped ship and started chiding Kindl, as if our seventh defenseman was somehow to blame for last season. My guess is Kindl continues his develpment, comes into his own, and nobody notices for another year or two, until he's injured and his services are noticeable. Then it will be someone else's turn.

don't know if this will help, but just something I found on the net: Corsi: the most popular advanced stat in the hockey blogosphere, Corsi is a possession metric developed by former Buffalo Sabres goaltending coach Jim Corsi. At its most basic level, Corsi is the plus/minus amount of shots directed at a net while at even strength-blocked shots, shots high and wide, shots that hit, shots that get tipped, etc. A player who has a positive Corsi has more shots directed towards the opponents net while he is on the ice at even strength then shots directed towards his own net under the same criteria. All 10 players on the ice are used when calculating this metric. For example, if Mark Giordano is +7 in Corsi over the course of the game, that means he & Flames players he was on the ice with at even strength directed 7 more shots towards the opponents net then were directed by the opponents towards the Flames' net. Most of the time we'll stop there, as any score effect bias generally evens out over the course of a season (unless a team really sucks or is really good, but there's that context thing). Basically, score effect means that a team will play differently depending on how far ahead/behind they are in a game-if a team is 3 goals up, they'll sit back and take more shots against then they would if they were 3 goals down. So, to combat score effect, we can break down Corsi into 4 categories: Corsi Ahead (Corsi while the subject's team is leading the game), Corsi Even (Corsi while a game is tied), Corsi Close (Corsi while a game is within 1 goal either way relative to a subject) and Corsi Behind (Corsi while the subject's team is losing the game). With these tools, we can eliminate most scoring bias within the stat. All of the breakdowns have their purpose, but when trying to evaluate a player, the most important breakdown is Corsi Even-a team won't be taking risks and won't be sitting back when a game is tied, they'll be playing as "normal" as possible.

Fedorov was a great player, and during his time with the Wings arguably the most skilled player in the world, and certainly the most skilled on the team. But with that said, no way does his number get retired. That's pretty illustrious company up there, and though they were all different types of players, and all with varying degrees of individual and team success, the one thing they all had in common was their commitment to the Detroit Red Wings above all else. You simply can't say that about Fedorov.

Didn't the NFL and NBA labor talks come right down to the wire? I'm sure that things will get worked out in the end, this is all just posturing. There's too much to lose for both sides if there's a lockout. As I've said before, players strike when there's nothing to lose, owners strike when there's everything to gain. Neither is the case currently.