kipwinger

I've had about enough of all this lockout talk. As best as I can tell given that I don't speak Swiss, Damien Brunner is tearing it up in the Swiss League. 5 goals and 7 assists in 9 games. Additionally he's got nearly twice as many shots on goal as the Omark (who leads the team in points, though with two more games than Brunner). Absolutely can't wait until Hank gets over there and suits up with him, I'm dying to see what Brunner's shot can do with Z creating space for him. His release is quick and should be very effective in the NHL, and his finishing ability seems (admittedly based on not much) to be better than Hudler's. Here's hoping all that success isn't do to shoddy Swiss defense. I've got high hopes for this guy!

Agreed. There's a reason they're all playing here in the first place. I assume it has to be a combination of the inordinately large amount of money they make, paired with the fact that they don't have to live in a country which ranks just below Belarus (the last remaining dictatorship in Europe) on the UN's human development index. Then again, its pretty clear that some people think Bettman is much worse than crime, poor institutions, flawed democracy, and abject poverty. Priorities!

This fan doesn't want to see superteams. It would get awfully boring watching the same teams win every year, even if that includes Detroit. Baseball got real tedious when the Yanks won in 96, 98, 99, and 2000. Or look at the superteams in the NBA, they don't seem to be creating any more excitement for the fans. Sort of reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters playing the Washington Generals. How exciting! Obviously this is just my opinion, but I actually liked the fact that Phoenix, LA, NJ, and the Rangers were the final four last year. Something different than the norm is good as far as I'm concerned.

The same sentiment was expressed by Bryzgalov recently. So given the credibility of the sources, I'd say it's safe to say that this position is CONFIRMED with a hard "C". I'm sure Bryz and Hank can think of hundreds of reasons why Russians would stay in a piss poor league for roughly 60% of what they make now.

Didn't that hack put up 30 pts. last season? On a team that doesn't score much no less? Which would give him more points than Helm, Miller, Abby, Emmerton, and Holmstrom. And he plays physical. And he scraps. Not mad about this one dude.

I didn't hear that Bettman was behind facebook, but I did hear that he is the one secretly sending you game requests for farmville, mafia wars, and most recently...BUBBLE BLITZ! "He must be stopped," says Henrik Zetterberg, "fired, beated, killed, and eaten. For the fans, and for all of facebook."

He's also the cause of global warming.

Any player that wants Bettman fired is a fool. The current lockout is based on the fact that the players want to retain a high percentage of the revenue that Bettman is largely responsible for creating. No reasonable player has any intention of going back to the "good" old days. Edit: As evidenced by the fact that the players' whole position in these negotiations has been to keep everything exactly the way it is right now.

huh?

God it's weird to see Radulov wearing the "C" on a team with Datsyuk on it. It's like bizarro world.

Well this just in, apparently the league is fining the Wings and undisclosed amount due to Jimmy D's comments. Here's the link. http://mobile.mlive.com/advannarbor/db_/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=LbsRCHLd&full=true#display

Great read and dead on. If some vaunted NHL icon like Scotty Bowman or Mr. Illitch had said the exact same thing it would be taken as gospel and the whole debate over the lockout would pretty much disappear.

Again, you show me where to find the total number of goals scored league wide during Fedorov's Wings career, and then Datsyuk's and we'll do it. I cannot for the life of me, find one reputable list of all the goals scored from 90/91 until 02/03, and from 01/02 to 11/12. Also, you wouldn't divide it by 13 as that would give you a goals per year total, not a goals per game total. You'd need to know how many games where played during Fedorov's Wings career and divide the total goals by that. But I'm fairly sure you just misspoke there.

Ok, will do. You provide me a link which shows the number of goals scored from 1990/1991 through 2002/2003 (to determine Fedorov's stats) and another which gives the goals from 2001-2002 to 2011-2012 (to determine Datsyuk's) and I'll do the math right here.

Haha, perfect. Of course you realize that shootout goals, which don't benefit Datyuk's stat line, also don't inflate Fedorov's right? It's a moot point, neither of those players stats were affected by the shoot out.

1. I didn't realize we rounded when citing statistics, how convenient for your argument 2. Goals per game was above 6 in 2005-2006 when Datsyuk had the first of his back to back 87 pt seasons.

NO...HE...DIDN'T. Of his first 6 seasons 1991-1997, both 1995 and 1997 were below 6 goals per game. Go back to the link YOU provided on the last page and double check. Actually, here's the link. THE VERY SAME ONE YOU PROVIDED ON PAGE ONE. Look at 1995 and 1997. http://hfboards.hockeysfuture.com/showthread.php?t=97918

Neat story. Go ahead a remove the first FIVE (in 1995 gpg was actually lower than some of the seasons Datsyuk has played in) seasons from Fedorov's goals, assists, and points totals and he's still a more prolific scorer for the remainder of his career. Remove roughly one third of his career and pretend it never even happened and he still scored more than Datsyuk has. Leave those same seasons in, but reduce the numbers by about .50 pts per game and he's WAY out front. I'd recommend you ready Harold's post above...twice. From 1991-1994 gpg was higher than post lockout. 1995 was lower, 96 higher, 97 the same (roughly), and 98, 99, 2002, 2003, 2004 lower than they've been in 50 years. No matter how you cut it your argument rests on nothing. Several people have already proved your "goals against was higher during Fedorov's career" hyperbole wrong, and so you're now resting this absurd argument on the already tenuous premise that if you exclude the most productive seasons of Fedorov's career then his numbers aren't as good as Datsyuk's, which would dubious even if it were true...but alas, like most good pipe dreams, it's simply a figment of your imagination.

Stats don't lie, goals per game was roughly the same or lower during Fedorov's prime years as they are now. Plus, Fedorov had ten 30+ goal seasons, two 100 pt. seasons, a Hart Trophy, and three Stanley Cups. He also won the Selke twice, and actually played defense for every team he was on. So it's not like the guy was Ovechkin during his career. I know none of that is as legitimate as an EA sports poll or an urban dictionary entry, but it's pretty impressive none the less. Which reminds me, did I ever tell you guys about how my students once voted "The Fast and the Furious" as the greatest movie EVER made? Anyway, to sum all this up: something, something...appeal to probability...something something...psychologist's fallacy...something, something...you can't see the forest for the trees.

Like I said, that part of it is a reasonably valid point.

You've got a fairly credible point with the goalie pads thing. However, Fedorov played just as defensively responsible as Datsyuk does, so your argument's logic holds true for him as well. Also, Fedorov played eight seasons with the Wings before winning a cup, it's not like he walked on to a Stanley cup contender and reaped the benefits (and the cups) that Mike Illitch paid for. As a matter of fact I'm pretty sure Datsyuk joined a team full of Hall of Famers and reaped the benefits (and the cup) that Mike Illitch paid for did he not? Again, I love the guy, he's wicked good, but he's not better than Fedorov.

We must be thinking about two different Sergei Fedorovs because the one I'm thinking of had ten 30+ goal seasons, two 100+ point seasons, a Hart Trophy, and three Stanley Cups. Datsyuk is slicker, not better.

Our defense isn't as bad as people think. Kronwall-White is better than last year's Lidstrom-White. Ericsson took a big step forward last year and will be as good as Stuart was last year. Quincey will be better than last year, and a fifth, sixth, and seventh combination of Smith, Kindl, and (potentially) Colaiacovo is better than the Ericsson, Kindl, Commodore we started with last season. Granted our defense wasn't that awesome last season, it was still pretty good, and I think we've got as good or better this year. Controversial? Maybe. But I think it's going to surprise a lot of people.

Lidstrom is the best defenseman I've ever seen...by a country mile. Datsyuk isn't the best forward all around, but he is bar none the best stickhandler I've ever seen. All things considered I'd say that Sergei was the best all around forward I've ever seen, as I didn't really get a chance to see Stevie in his prime.

I think my biggest concern with the forward core is the lack of size up front, I really worry that we'll be held to the perimeter against good defenses. We obviously have some pretty good skill up there though so I'm sure we'll see some highlights throughout the season. I'm REALLY interested to see this Brunner kid though. If his shot is half as good as people say it is we might see a pretty dynamic top six this season.