grimace1970

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140314093652.htm "Henrik Zetterberg is among the world's leading brain researchers and has conducted research on concussions in sports for many years and in numerous studies." Wow, what are the odds? "Henrik Zetterberg" in Sweden must be like John Smith in the States. At least he's doing hockey-related work while he's out. Seriously, it'd be great to have a blood test for concussions. As much as the new process has improved things (tongue-in-cheek) from the old days, it would be good to remove a lot of the subjectivity.

Maybe they're related... you know, like, "This is my brother Henrik and my other brother Henrik".

This is probably the only time I'll get to see the guys live this year, and Z, Dats, and Mule are all out. Please, youngsters, give me a win. Only thing I hate more than having to put up with the Philly fanbase is walking out of the Wells Fargo center after a loss.

http://www.mynhltraderumors.com/2014/01/15/video-sportsnet-hc-trade-tracker-sabres-steve-ott/ These guys are nuts. Pass! Can't stand Ott.

Wait, Steve Ott is their away game captain? First of all, Ott as captain. Second, only for away games? Wha?

Yes. YES. YES! YES! YES! Let's do this boys! New season! Time to take back the Cup! Starting.......NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.hockeyabstract.com/luck Who got the "luck" last season? Not Detroit - looks like "if it weren't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all". At least we weren't Florida. Nope - it was Pittsburgh (and Toronto, to be fair). "Luck"... yea, that was it. Seriously though, interesting little simulation to play around with.

If you eliminate the effects of all factors except CHIP, the one some of you argue is most due to chance, only Ottawa, Florida, and Philly are lower. The Injuries (CHIP) statistic is based on the combined cap hit of all injured players. I presume a negative CHIP is built on the assumption that either a) a few of your best players (read best paid) are injured, or b) you have many injuries, thus proportionally more of your team is rookies. Either way that is going to eat into your number of wins. Detroit's CHIP value is -.879, which makes me wonder what the units of that number is. It can't be a proportion (87.9% of our cap hit was injured)... Detroit lost to injury this regular season (d*mn inconsistent stats): Helm 48 Bert 46? Sammy 44? Flip ? Dekeyser 6? Mule ? Brunner ? Zetts ? Eaves significant? Quincy ? White ? Gustavsson ? Howard ? Dats ? Smith ? Cola ? Ericsson ? Mursak Kindl ? JMac significant? By comparison, Philly lost (with # of games): Pronger 48 Meszaros 37 Shelley 36 Grossmann 18 Hartnell 16 Rinaldo 16 Coburn 15 Briere 14 Talbot 13 Leighton 10 Gervais 8 Read 6 McGinn 6 Sesitito 6 Huskins 6 Simmonds 3 Timonen 3 Couturier 2 L. Schenn 1 Gustafsson ? Walker ? We have at least 3 missing nearly the whole season, and a total of 19; Philly had the obvious one, two others for most of the season, and a total of 21 guys. Helm (1.8 mil), Bert (2 mil) & Sammy (3 mil) aren't making that much compared to Pronger ($5 mil), Meszaros ($5 mil), and Shelley (1 mil). Just wonder how they're calculating that number.

Babs said it best in his mid-game coaches interview. When we play like we played tonight, the Hawks look fast. I think we were right back to the tentative, no tape-to-tape passing, defensive zone turning-over team that shows up every game we lose. It's like every few nights the boys want one off. Let's finish this off next game with a little of the elevated play we've come to love.

This rocks so much. Please do it again game 4! Please? We'll reimburse your foam-board!

God I love this so much. Best thing - after the 5th goal the crowd started cheering for him when he made a save. OMG.

/rant on Flat out zero organization the whole game. Hardly any tape-to-tape passes - offensive, defensive, and neutral zone. More "throw it toward somebody and hope for the best" - not the way to be a puck possession team. I'd make the team do passing drills at speed from net to net all this morning. And just tentative as hell. If by some miracle we get it through the neutral zone it's almost like the blue line scares us. Can't enter the zone with the puck? Dump it in and fight 3 guys for it. Where is the support? I'm triple teamed - somebody is freaking open! Nope - they have two support guys ready to scoop up the puck if it squirts out. Nonexistant transition game. If it gets out of the zone, then go for a change - you've done your job. Move your feet! Bad decisions! Going to the net with the puck? Let me pass it behind me to someone who has two guys on him. The HELL? It's just you and the goalie, man! Shoot the puck! On PK, let me try to skate the puck out rather than lofting it when I get a stick on it. You get a stick on it, you freaking clear it! And Smith. Jesus what is his problem? Yea, he's green, but he's been increasing his defensive zone turnovers since game 1 of the first round. Sh*t, sit the kid and bring Whitey in. Anybody at this point. And WHAT is the deal with third periods this year!? It's like the guys are unionized to play 50 minutes per game with a 10 minute break, and by Gods they're going to get that break in. Ahead by 3 goals or even, we're having tea on the bench during at least half the third. Sixty minutes of effort! They left Howie out to dry last night. Hawks are good and all, but a lot of that the Wings did to themselves. The good news is, the Ducks series showed that the Wings can play (some games) with none of these problems. If you guys play like that again, you need to be shining up the clubs, because clearly you've given up on hockey for this season. /rant off

MUST take the lead in this series. We've been chasing too much this year. Fight! WIN!

Keep getting better Vladdy, we love you.

Don't remember who we were playing, but I'll never forget the night he said, "...and suddenly they're f*cking for their lives!" Rewound it ten times to be sure I heard it right.

I said exactly that three games ago. Tots and Anderson need a chance. Abs and Cleary aren't working.

Man, I know I haven't logged in a while when I can't remember my password. I want to see a Tater/Dats/Andersson second line for several shifts. More speed than Abby/Dats/Clears, and I don't think Abby's earned 2nd line time (others will debate vociferously about Cleary ) I think that line could go somewhere, assuming the D can stay focussed.

Lang, Lebda, Lilja, Avery, Bert (initially), and so far, Tootoo. Little punk bastard. Don't hate Legace, but I really lost a lot of respect for him when he went on camera after every game and denigrated himself - glad to see him go in the end. Federov for a while, until I remembered what he did for the club when his heart was in it. Ericsson for a while, when he couldn't be on the ice without screwing up (now I just don't like him very much and think he's way overpaid). Kopecky for being a little tool. Dave Lewis for obvious reasons. Sammy for not being able to hit an open freaking net. Williams for similar reasons, especially the 2nd time around. Wow, that's more than I thought it would be.

Anybody think it's really irresponsible for Bettman to make a "nuclear option" statement like this before both proposals are even on the table? This is like starting peace negotiations by saying, "We are prepared to detonate tactical nuclear weapons above your country if you don't sign". I mean, he's the commissioner of the sport.

Really not sure why Datsyuk isn't in the list of Athletes That Look Like Aliens

I have managed to get my mind somewhat off the summer FA nightmare and still get my hockey fix by digging around in: http://www.sportsargumentwiki.com/. Great place to start is http://www.sportsarg...troit_Red_Wings. I think Tootoo's name will probably need be added next to or replace Bertuzzi's in some of the "hate" sections. Same folks who brought us The Anatomy of a Hockey Rink (http://www.sportsarg...?title=NHL_Rink), with it's "Jesus what the $^@! are you doing way out here Hasek radius", which has been seen in the forums before. Let's talk about something else for awhile.

FISCH is playing! Man that's fantastic! C'mon Stevie!!!!!!

Hey, in similar news, I heard we were going to bring out of retirement and sign Sean Avery! I know, I know, but think about it! He's just what we.. Forget it, I can't hold it up. This sucks.

OMG! BOOOOO!! BOOOOOO!!!!! I HATE THAT LITTLE WORM! KENNY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!??!

This sums up my feelings about the Sammy and God Damn Tootoo signings perfectly. WTF!?!!?!"?"?!?!?!?":!!