kliq

Ya, Babcock always changes things in the playoffs. Its like this year with Qunicey/DD.

Those were the pairs against San Jose.

I dont see how getting rid of Ericsson makes us better. If you were saying to put him in the 2nd or 3rd pairing, I could see your point, or even if you wanted to trade him and someone else for a superior D-man I could see your point. But completely taking him out of the lineup for Smith or Kindl does not make us better.

Unless McDavid pulls a Lindros. Though I doubt it.

Those teams are struggling, but thats a given for a team who gets #1 in the draft. The big difference is that they don't have a reputation for ruining young players. Maybe the Leafs throw something like Pheneuf, 2 first rounders & JVR for McDavid. Who knows, what offers could come there way. For the record, I'm not saying the Oilers should take this, just giving an example of what could be offered to them.

I wonder what the reaction would be if he pulled a Lindros and refused to report? I actually wouldn't hold it against him.

There was that one odd man rush that was a result of Marchenko pinching, I believe it was the one where Mrazek made that really nice glove save (I could be wrong). On Sportsnet the announcers pointed it out, this would be my guess as to why. I only noticed it the one time, I didnt have a problem with having him in.

The guy needs to retire. Not because it helps us with the cap, not because he isnt the same player, not because he floats around. He needs to retire because enjoying the next 60 years of his life is more important then a game. I wish him the best, nobody deserves this. Just sucks.

Its like this team just isnt built for the playoffs. Remind me of the Sharks a few years back.

Agreed, this is my biggest issue with baseball. As cool as it is to see all the different style parks, to have the exact same hit be a homerun in one park, but a fly out in another park is ridiculous. It would just as ridiculous in hockey.

Lets keep this mature. I think Yzerman would have veto power, you dont. Okay, enough said.......I dont see the point in discussing this further. To call me ignorant because I dont consider you calling the Tampa Bay Lightning over the phone and talking to Tony proof, then so be it. But I would guess 99% of the people on this board would not consider that proof either. To me proof would be a media release, or a quote from someone in power in the organization. Also, what does this prove anyways, I never disputed where the policy came from. You are creating an argument with me that I didn't make. I'm sure your going to reply to this with some more insults, truthfully I just don't care enough about something as silly as this to keep going back and forth with you. I think that every organization has people that have power. When these people that have power feel very strongly about something, they typically have the influence to change things. In the TB organization, I feel that Yzerman has that kind of power based on what he has done for the team, and yes his name. I said multiple times, if this policy came from the owner or president, then I don't think Yzerman could change anything. I just believe that if some random person in marketing came up with this, and it pissed Yzerman off, he could probably veto it. Here is the issue, there is no way to prove me right, or wrong. I admit, this is my opinion. I work in business, my role for the company I run is "general manager". There are certain things that do not fall under my job responsibilities that sometimes I do get involved in. There are also things that have nothing to do with me, that if I feel strongly about, I do have the influence on ownership to change. I fully admit I dont know Yzerman personally, I dont know anyone in the TB front office personally and I could be wrong. But, I do feel that Yzerman would have influence. I dont know why this is working some people up so much (not you robo turner). I'm done on this topic.

The argument is that concussions can lead to depression, and that depression can lead to substance abuse problems. I'm sure in come cases this is accurate, in some cases its not.

I think if they held on to him they wouldn't have made the cap....though that is on Chiarelli, shouldn't have put them in that position.

Also, with every concussion you get you become more prone to getting more concussions. If he does come back, I'd say its almost a sure thing that at some point it would happen again. Given what has happened to him, it just pisses me off more that Gary Roberts took that cowardly cheap shot back at him back in the finals. Not saying that caused all this, but it definitely added to it. To help prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future, the NHL needs to take a zero tolerance policy on cheap shots to the head. Fighting is one thing, and while I think that should stop as well for the health of the players, at least in a fight you have 2 guys engaging. No player deserves to get a random punch to the temple or jaw. For those who don't remember:

I think this move is a huge overreaction. Boston has been a cup favourite for years now, including 1 win, and one finals loss. Stupid "what have you done for me lately" move. People reference his cap management, the Boychuk trade hurt them, but the guy had 1 year left on his contract and was about to be a UFA. Who knows what was said behind closed doors. Maybe Boychuk flat out said "I'm not re-signing"....who knows. Losing Iginla to me is not a big deal, the guy signed a 1 year deal. Its not like Iginla was a fixture on this team for years. The Seguin trade is very suspicious. I have a strong feeling that there was influence/pressure for him to trade him by someone else (my guess JJ). He easily could have held on to Seguin and traded him for a much better package then he did. Just a weird one.

For the third time, I never said Yzerman created this policy. What I said was if this policy was NOT created by the owner or team president, I'm sure with his standing in the organization, Yzerman would have veto power. Also, if my argument was that Yzerman created it (which is wasn't), telling me that Tony from the Lightning told you otherwise is NOT proof LOL!

Bishop is actually older then you would think, he's 28.

My gut tells me TB is 6, but I think the Wings definitely have a strong chance. I think it may come down to Special Teams and goaltending. Lets hope Mrazek can use this opportunity to prove himself.

My bad, I assumed you were talking about Orr & McLaren.

It wouldn't even be close, Lesnar is a freak of nature. I would pay money to see Lesnar on skates give McGrattan an F5 though! Then if you had Heyman skate out to cut a promo, best moment ever! lol.

I never said the GM set ticket policy, what I said it that the GM has power, and unless its coming from the owner or president, if the GM is firmly against something, I'm sure he has pull to veto it. Also, if you are going to say I am "100% incorrect", please post a link or something to backup your statements, otherwise you are just sharing your opinion.

As everyone knows, we played our final regular season game today, and we finished 43-25-14 and got the 3rd seed in the Atlantic division (equivalent to 6th seed in the conference). Was this regular season a success or a failure?

I'm going with the Caps in 5. Washington strikes me as a team that's hungry. Similar to the Wings in '97.

But Frank, its not just fans or non fans that are moving it in this direction and thinking the game is too violent, its former players and former fighters. Just from doing a quick Google search the lawsuit launched this past February came up. http://www.thehockeynews.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Adams-v-NHL-COMPLAINT-as-filed-02-09-15-2.pdf Here is a list of players suing the NHL (in this lawsuit): Greg Adams; Rick Be rry; Richard Brodeur; Shawn Chambers; To dd Elik; Robert Goring; Mark Hardy; Michael Hartman; Todd Harvey; Tony Horacek; Garry Howatt; Dave Hutchinson; Jean Francois Jomphe; Edward Kennedy; Mike Lalor; Darren Langdon; Emmanuel Legace; Jamie Lundmark; Sergio Mo messo; Jeff Parker; Stephen Patrick; Cr aig Redmond; Terry Ruskowski; Brian Savage; Jeffrey Shevalier; Turner Stevenson; German Titov; Todd Warriner; Vernon Westfall

I don't know what I think about this. When I first heard the news I felt disappointed and a bit nervous, but if something is wrong with Jimmy which I think there is, then this is the best option. Plenty of young/inexperienced goalies have had great runs in the playoffs. Kipper in 2004, Cam Ward in 2006 etc. just off the top of my head, so hopefully Mrazek can be one of them. He does have playoff experience at the AHL level, and he did win a Calder Cup, so hopefully that run helped prepare him for what going to be the most important string of games in his career.