FlashyG

If you think the punishment was warranted for spraying a goalie with snow, why then do you have a problem with the guy who doled out the revenge facing his own punishment? If he just left it at the crosscheck he might have gotten away with nothing more than a 2 minute penalty, if he challenged him to a fight without blindsiding him first he'd face only a 2 game suspension. He chose to take his revenge well outside what was considered acceptable by the court in Ontario and as a result got charged. If there is anything to be outraged about in all of this its that the other guy got a 2 game suspension for getting brutally beaten after taking a crosscheck to the face.

This wasn't a fight, it was an assault, hence the charge. I don't know why people think that because it happened in a hockey game it should be immune to being reviewed by the legal system. I think the threshold for the courts being involved should be higher in professional leagues, but even at the NHL level you aren't immune to all of societies rules because you're playing a game. In minor hockey you should absolutely be subject to legal punishments for infractions such as this one. And Crymson's response was to someone who compared spraying the goalie with what Claude Lemeiux did to Draper.

Notes courtesy (Joe89 of HFboards) Kenny: -Mentions Glendening in Grand Rapids success like he's our prospect. -Thinks Howard can be a top6-8 goalie during the course of his contract. -Helm feeling better, will skate at development camp. -Wants to keep Kindl, says due for a raise. -"If you got 10 good prospects, 6 will make it". -Backman "going to camp"(I suppose development), then back to Sweden for another year before "turning pro". -Says the veterans on the team are excited about moving to the East, play some new opponents. -Said multiple times they're disappointed with losing to Chicago even if it was a learning experience. -Says that both sides probably could've gone longer term with Pavel, but that both were happy with another four years(in total). Hopes for one year extensions afterwards, says Pavel wouldn't ever play anywhere else in the NHL. -Thinks true cup contenders are a thing of the past. -Asked if Howard/Mrazek might turn into a Luongo/Schneider, Quick/Bernier etc. scenario. Says they have the option to play him another three years in the American league without worrying about waivers. At 21 years of age, they need him to play 60 games, not 15. Says next year is AHL for sure as Gus is signed, and then make a decision next summer if it's time to bring him up. Says he will play som pre-season games in the fall. -Would love to get a legitimate top pairing/top3 defenseman, will make room if needed. -DeKeyser, Nyquist, Tatar, Andersson, Lashoff are expected on the team from the Griffins. -confirmed HBO 24/7.

That would be even better, I did it this way as a worst case scenario...If we could trade him we'd still have another buyout for next year should Franzen have a terrible year or if someone else fails to live up to their contract.

The price for snowing a goalie is a 2 minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The price for a blind side cross check to someone's head followed by a flurry of punches to his already concussed head is a criminal assault charge. As you said he played with fire, now he's getting burnt. He also knew exactly what he was doing and now he's paying the price.

Just because they anticipate it happening and have set rules and suspensions to deal with it doesn't mean its part of the game. Its something that happens, that they are actively trying to stop. Fighting is banned in all minor hockey, its not something players at that level should have to worry about. Technically speaking this should have been ruled a 1 person fight, which carries a far longer suspension.

Simply put... in that league if you fight...you no longer play in the game (or the next 2). I think from that its pretty clear...Fighting is not part of their game If it was you'd just receive a 5 minute penalty. You actually do receive a match penalty for fighting, they've just removed the league review and instituted a set # of games you miss for doing it. If you continue to break the rule, you're banned from the league. I know several players I played with who suffered this fate for repeated fighting. Well I stand corrected... if a random Youtube commenter has ruled that it was an appropriate response then how can there be any further debate.

Here's what I'd love to see going into next year (Note - not the line combo's but the personnel) The salaries might be a little high or low in places, but I think its conceivable we could ice this line-up with cap space to spare, especially if we trade Tootoo, then Emmerton would be one of the utility forwards. CAPGEEK.COM USER GENERATED ROSTER My Custom Lineup FORWARDS Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Gustav Nyquist ($1.200m) Johan Franzen ($3.955m) / Vincent Lecavalier ($6.000m) / Damien Brunner ($3.350m) Tomas Tatar ($0.840m) / Darren Helm ($2.125m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($2.075m) Justin Abdelkader ($1.800m) / Joakim Andersson ($1.000m) / Drew Miller ($1.350m) Patrick Eaves ($1.200m) / Jordin Tootoo ($1.900m) DEFENSEMEN Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Jonathan Ericsson ($3.250m) Kyle Quincey ($3.775m) / Brendan Smith ($1.750m) Danny DeKeyser ($1.350m) / Jakub Kindl ($1.500m) Brian Lashoff ($0.725m) / GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($5.292m) Jonas Gustavsson ($1.500m) OTHER Buyout: Mikael Samuelsson ($0.000m) Buyout: Carlo Colaiacovo ($0.000m) ------ CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled with the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $63,469,545; BONUSES: $1,010,000 CAP SPACE (23-man roster): $1,840,455

I'm all for signing Lecavalier, but signing him and cutting Franzen and Flip loose in the same off-season is a net loss for the Wings when it comes to scoring. Franzen would actually be a very good player to line-up with Lecavalier giving us a strong 2nd line. As far as the FA class is concerned its not a certainty that all those players will hit the market, rights can still be traded, agreements can still be made and when July 1st rolls around I expect that list to look much worse. (Also when I said weak I mean in comparison to Franzen). The guys that will be left will probably be the guys who are looking for contracts similar in length to Franzen's (but for far more money). There is no Parise or Suter in this years field, there are some risky veterans and a bunch of guys looking for a payday based on a good season or 2. Considering we'd have to buy Franzen out before we can attempt to sign anyone, how angry would everyone be if we bought him out and let Flip go, then failed to land Lecavalier or any of the other better free agents out there? Ideally for me I'd buyout Sammy, and make sure I left enough room to chase Lecavalier, leave a buyout open for next season and if Franzen declines use the buyout on him then. I see no reason to use it on him this off-season.

For all the bad that comes along with Franzen's contract, he is still our leading scorer more often than not. Lecavalier is not a goal scorer, and anyone we sign to replace Franzen will cost far more, I don't see any reason to buy him out this season. I'd use only one buyout this year though (Sammy) and save the other for next season in case Franzen's production drops or in the case of Tatar or Nyquist developing into players who can offset the loss of Franzen's goal scoring. Right now, he's still a massive bargain as far as Cap hits are concerned so why not at least keep him one more season. We know this years Free Agent class is weak, odds are the next one will be too, but it will be the first year until the tighter cap so maybe we see a few better options hit the market next off-season. The 3 Million threshold was only for the accelerated buyouts used before this off-season. (Gomez and Redden) Now that we are in the official buyout period there is no salary restrictions on who can be bought out.

Fights happen yes, but you get suspended 2 games for it as a first offence and 4 games for your second fight. The penalties keep escalating everytime you drop your gloves. Marty McSorley got charged for swinging his stick at Brashear's head, this isn't all that different, at least McSorley didn't throw a bunch of punches too, after he clubbed him. I'm not sure why people keep bringing up the goalie snowing as if it somehow mitigates the assault. It's possibly the most minor infraction in the sport, if the accepted response to snowing a goalie is crosschecking a guy to his head then pummeling him while he's down, then what is the appropriate response when someone runs your goalie? That is the slippery slope here, not the minor charges the Brantford player correctly received. He'll have to do a little community service and he'll face a stiffer punishment the next time he loses his mind and attacks someone, its not like he's facing jailtime.

Nobody is saying the kid was blameless...he deserved a 2 minutes unsportsmanlike penalty not a broken nose and a concussion. If that is the penalty for snowing a goalie, what is the penalty for bumping him? Broken legs and a Decapitation by skate blade? He absolutely has someone to blame...the guy who brutally assaulted him. This isn't really a slippery slope argument either. He's not the first minor hockey player to be charged with assault and won't be the last. Its not like its a professional hockey league where fighting is part of the game either, fighting is banned at that level and players don't play with an expectation of having to drop the gloves.

With Jarnkrok, Sheahan and Ferraro already there, they might prefer to just let Emmerton go rather than pushing far more promising prospects down the depth chart. he was our 4th line center if Helm comes back he's 5th and highly unlikely to be re-signed.

No matter which team in the league you're a fan of this kind of thread will always seem depressing.

I highly doubt they'd waste a compliance buyout on him either, but I think he's viewed as one of the most expendable players we have on the roster. They are more likely to just put him on waivers and if he's not claimed just send him to the minors, which would cost them nothing against the cap. They could even use a regular buyout on him since it would only cost them a few hundred thousand over 2 years.

I wouldn't hold your breath on Bert being bought out, a few things would have to happen for him to be one of our 2 candidates for one. I think he's at best 4th on our list of buyout candidates and possibly even 5th depending on whether they are just trying to free up a roster spot or trying to cut salary. I think the order would be 1.) Sammy, 2.) Colaiacovo 3.) Tootoo 4.) Bert or Emmerton

I'm sure he thought he might have to fight someone...not have a stick smashed into his head followed by several punches to his face when he's already down and defenceless. Even the most hardcore fight lovers agree that once a guy is down you stop throwing...He was done after the cross check. I also think that the offender would have just jumped someone else if it wasn't him...Brantford had already had several players tossed from the game for trying to start fights. If he wanted to stick up for his goalie then drop the gloves...cowardly is blindsiding a guy with a cross check to the head BEFORE dropping them. I guess he didn't want to fight when the other guy had a chance to defend himself...it was a sucker punch with a stick.

School of thought #1 is utterly idiotic. Committing an unsportsmanlike penalty doesn't warrant what happened to that kid. He also didn't "not defend himself" he was never given any opportunity to. Its not like the guy came up and challenged him to a fight, he threw a crosscheck to the side of the head of a defenceless player, then proceeded to give him a beating while he was already likely concussed. The guy was likely angry that his team was getting smoked and he was looking to exact some revenge from the first player who stepped out of line. I think the charge was absolutely warranted and I don't think the league gave him even close to a sufficient punishment. That the Woodstock player was suspended at all is a joke, but I wouldn't be upset if the Brantford player was given a permanent ban from minor hockey. There is no room in the game for that kind of cowardly garbage.

Unfortunately the NHL is already in the process of phasing it out of the game. McKee will be forced to wear a visor and any time he starts a fight he'll end up with an extra 2 minutes. Either for taking his helmet off, or for starting a fight wearing a visor. The OHL has already instituted a 10 fight per season limit before suspensions and fines, its only a matter of time before a similar rule is proposed in the NHL. I know there are still a bunch of heavyweights in the league, but McKee is probably around 4 or 5 years away from playing in the league...a lot can change in that time.

Doing that makes no sense. That is replacing one of the few goal scorers we have for another set-up man. One of our biggest problem is that we don't have enough top 6 forwards and too many bottom 6 forwards and defenceman, I'd rather keep Franzen to play with Vinny, then jettison one of the extra defenceman to free up space. Quincey or Cola would by my first choices.

Among Starting goalies he's 7th in GAA. 9th in Sv% 8th in wins The year before he was 6th in wins 6th in GAA 8th in Sv% Looking at those #'s its hard not to consider him top 10. I consider Elite to be top 5, so I'd agree he's not elite, but he's not too far off that.

I can only think of a handful who are definitely ahead of him. I think he's solidly among a group of goalies who could be ranked anywhere from 5 - 15. Personally I'd rank him around 9th or 10th.

Holland as much as said the other day that Mrazek will be in Grand Rapids until his waiver exemptions are gone. That is 3 years from now, he'd rather him playing 60 games in Grand Rapids than playing 20 in Detroit. I'm not sure why you think Howard has Far exceeded expectations he was the 3rd goalie drafted during his draft year behind only Marc Andre Fleury and Corey Crawford. Mrazek had 12 goalies drafted before he was selected in the 5th round. If anything Mrazek is the one who has thus far exceeded expectations.

You can have 2 compliance buyouts total, and you can use them this off season or next off season. Teams also had the opportunity to use them during this season provided the person they were buying out was making more than 3 or 3.5 million a season (I can't remember exactly where the cutoff was) Gomez and Redden were the only 2 of the accelerated buyouts used.

From what I've read "IF" that happens it won't happen this off-season but next years.