therock48880

I was there and thought Flip played great last night. Being with Datsyuk helps. I agree with the OP that the game made me feel better about the playoffs than I had been feeling. Osgood played extremely well and he's been a rather large question mark. Take away a horrible give away by Lidstrom and a rather weak call against the Wings at the end of regulation and they win. The wings outhit them for the game and hustled. I still so no reason why Maltby plays, though. Hopefully, he sits when Helm goes in for the playoffs.

I was at the game and we were sitting down at that end of the ice. I thought when it happened that he got hit in the head. You could tell when he got up, that something was wrong. The guys in front of us turned and said, "Hossa just got hit in the head and he's hurt." With his concussion problem this year, I was worried he might have another concussion. And now I read it's a "lower body injury." I hope it's a lower body injury and not something with his head but it sure looked like he got hit in the head in person. This time of year, lower body injuries can be rather wide-ranging. Basically, anything from the head down.

It's great that a moderator, who should be setting an example for others to follow, chimes in with brilliantly worded comments like this. I'm a teacher and I KNOW that students come to this site to read comments. It's great that they get to see comments like this that add so much to the conversation.

Well, you certainly have ALL the answers don't ya? For some reason 25+ GM's in hockey see things differently than you do. What a bunch of morons. In terms of the Shelley situation, nice job of twisting around what I was talking about. (are you actually my wife logged in as norrisnick?) The fight COMPLETELY CHANGED THE OUTCOME OF THE GAME. THAT was my point.

For those who are anti-downey and think that enforcers have no impact on the game, can you explain to me why Babcock says that Downey is here to "Keep the flies off?" I thought he was referring to teams being physical with the stars but that must not be the case since he's useless. So, please, feel free to explain that comment. Also, I've read in this thread that fighting is dying in hockey. Really? Fighting is up 25% this year compared to last year, which was up dramatically from the previous year. Anyone watch the San Jose-Montreal game a week or so ago? The Sharks came out on fire and dominated the early portion of the first period. Laraque and Shelley had a fight in which BGL destroyed Shelley. The crowd went nuts, the players responded and Montreal scored 3 straight. The ENTIRE momentum of that game changed due to the fight. Yet, fighters are worthless, right?

He was -2 in that game.

Having a roster spot and playing are two different things. Rosters are expanded for the playoffs. Downey was on the roster last year for the playoffs, but didn't play. (and don't forget, Helm is a -7 in his short time up this year). Right now, Kopecky and Draper are playing extremely well. Maltby, on the other hand.................

No way. Babcock loves his size and is using him in almost everyone situation now. He may sit a game here or there, but he will definitely play in the playoffs. I think Maltby is more likely to sit.

No crow for me. Here's a quote about Kopecky that I posted in a thread about a month ago: "I keep thinking back to how Kopecky was playing the few weeks before he was injured. He was becoming a physical force on the ice and his ice time was climbing. Whenever someone has a serious knee injury it will often take them up to two years to regain their form, not so much physically as mentally. For those who don't remember him playing well: http://blog.mlive.com/state_sports/2008/04...ps_red_win.html Considering it hasn't even been a year since he blew his knee out, (April 2, 2008) I think we need to exercise some patience as fans." It's still only been 11 months since his injury. Ironically, as has time has passed, his play has improved. Honestly, it's pretty amazing that he was only off the ice for 4 months after that surgery. Here's the old thread, by the way: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...55650&st=20

Maybe you should ask Lappy about that. I haven't seen anything even close to resembling a cheap shot from him since Downey beat his ass. The perfect argument in favor of enforcers was seen the other night in Montreal. San Jose was ALL OVER Montreal early in the game. Laraque and Shelley fight and BGL destroyed him. The place erupted, Montreal scored 3 straight and the Sharks disappeared.

Hudler.

That WAS boarding. I can't see how anyone could say any differently. Yes, he looked over his shoulder, and that's probably why it wasn't 5 minutes. But it was still boarding. Edit: I agree that Thornton was acting, though. On a somewhat related note, why is diving never called?

One guy that is slowly climbing up my list of disliked players is Turco. I just can't stand the way he plays with his slashing and diving and crying. After the last Wings/Stars game he said the Homer has made an art out of pulling d-men into him so he could run into the goalie without it being called goalie interference. What a stupid comment. The other guys I can't stand, there's a really good reason for it: Roy Claudia Foreskin Pronger Ott etc....

They "yanked it off the table when he went to sign it?" The offer was on the table for over THREE MONTHS. That's "yanking it off the table?" Plus, where have you seen that he "went to sign it?" I've never seen one source say that Fedorov went to sign the original contract offer. Back on topic. I'm not convinced Rafalski is worth 6 million, let alone 8 million. I like him, don't get me wrong, but that's a lot of money.

You are correct. In surfing through various boards, it seems that the dislike for Crosby from a fan's perspective is increasing. I've even read some negative comments from Pens fans about his whining and his on-ice decisions. Now we get an article in SI discussing how he needs to step up. The media overexposing this guy has turned him into one of the more disliked players out there. It seems that people either love him or hate him, there's not much of an in-between. Either way, it works out well for the league. People that love him will watch his games and those that hate him will watch the game to see him lose (like I did yesterday). It looks like the league marketing people accidentally did something intelligent with their marketing of this guy? It's kinda like the WWE in that they have good guys and bad guys. People watch to see the bad guys lose.

Part of the problem with Crosby is the way the media has overexposed him. I think most fans (players too) are tired of hearing about him. It may not have been the league's intent, but I specifically watched the game yesterday because I wanted to see him lose and I think a lot of hockey fans (non-pens fans) watched for the same reason I did. I love it when people come on here and defend the guy. 52 percent of the players polled by SI rated him as the biggest whiner in the game. However, I didn't think his actions from yesterday deserved anything more than adding to his legend of being a whiner. It seems to some that he feels a sense of entitlement and I think that irritates fans, and yet the media has made him the "face" of the nhl. Meanwhile, there are better players in the game (possibly even on his own team) that have proven they can make other players better. Crosby has never proven that. The article in SI this week pointed out that it's time he made his linemates better like other great players have done. Even Hossa's numbers as a Pen were the worst of his career, in terms of points per game. Another thing is that it's becoming obvious that many teams are making it a point of being physical and chirping to him to throw him off his game. The Rangers did the same thing and it seems to work. He lets his emotions get the best of him and his game suffers. The more he responds and whines about it, the more teams will do it.

Not if it frees up cap space to sign Hossa, Franzen, and Hudler.

No way Burke would do that deal. The Wings would have to throw Downey in too for Burke to like it.

He was skating quite well before his injury. People are so quick to forget how well he was playing before he got hurt. Most players with that type of knee injury don't fully recover for two years. Jiri Fischer is the most recent example. He came back the next year and played terribly. http://blog.mlive.com/state_sports/2008/04...ps_red_win.html

For those who are dismissing Flip's defensive abilities as meaningless and using scoring stats to show he's useless I've got a hypothetical situation for you. Game 7, Stanley Cup Finals against the Pens, 1 minute left in a tie game. Homer gets a goalie interference call as he crosses center ice. Pens have last line change, who do you want as your center against Crosby, Hudler or Flip? Obviously hypothetical and in jest, but to disregard Flip's defensive play to quote nothing but offensive numbers is silly. However, if trading him means keeping Hossa, Franzen, and Hudler, then I'm all for it.

I agree that they can retain all of those guys if they're willing to accept those types of contracts. I have a gut feeling, though, that Franzen might test the market if they sign Hossa first. To be honest, I wouldn't blame either one of those two if they tried to get a huge payday this summer. If all three stay, though, I think we may be looking at the closest thing to a dynasty this sport may ever see in the cap world. In terms of Hudler-Franzen, which I think you and I argued about in a different thread, if salary wasn't an issue, I'd take Franzen. However, in a cap world, Hudler for 3 million is more attractive than Franzen for 4.5-5 million, or whatever he can get on the open market. I think it's really a silly dispute because Hudler's an rfa and isn't going anywhere. I doubt if he'll get a huge offer and if he doesn't get a huge offer, the Wings would match. Hudler=arbitration, imo.

I wish I could say I did that on purpose, but I truly didn't. I wasn't even considering the other pronunciation of Satan. lol

Free agency began on July 1, Hossa signed with Detroit on July 2. That's not really what I'd consider "dragging out the decision." Shero should have probably had a clue that he may not re-sign when he turned down their contract offers in the regular season. Hmmmm, maybe a backup plan in place would have been a good idea? Satan isn't much of a backup plan.

I said almost EXACTLY the same thing over the summer of letsgopens.com and was ROASTED by Pens fans. I should dig up that post and show it to them again.

I had forgotten about Fischer's knee problems. He was horrible the year following his surgery and gradually improved from there. I agree with you, I'm not a huge fan of Kopecky when he's playing like he is now. However, I think it'd be worth signing him to a small contract based on how he was playing before he was injured. Plus, it would help with re-signing Hossa. I had my knee done last March and I'm not even close to 100%, I can't imagine how he only missed 4 months of playing time.