Barrie

Stevie!!

I've been to Buffalo about 10 times, seen the Wings 8 times, the other 2 times were the Rangers and Maple Leafs. Yes I've noticed too they sing the Canadian National Anthem, even when a Canadian team isn't playing, which is cool. I agree with puckloo, I like the arena, and Buffalo has great fans. Buffalo's a great city... I have some "all in good fun" stories too... I got a compliment from a Sabres fan one time, which I'm proud of. We were having a conversation about Leafs and Canadiens fans, they were saying how obnoxious and annoying they were. Then one of them said, "Unlike you Red Wings fans, you guys are ok" toby, I live in the West end of the GTA too, in Burlington. We're probably neighbors, haha.

Larkin's only 19, he's being compared to Toews. He's the front runner to replace Datsyuk.

I hate to say it, but I'm not expecting Holland to re-sign Helm. It's not a knock on Helm, it's a Salary Cap decision. A lot of teams will be interested in him, and he could get a big contract as a UFA.

I thought he should have sat out the rest of the year, but I'm satisfied his 20 game suspension stuck. Wideman had no excuse. Players get concussed in hockey all the time, and none of them have gone after an official. As mentioned, I think if any reduction in the suspension would have made it open season on the officials, and the player could have said, "Oh sorry, I had a concussion".

Ok Babcock What about Larkin?

I guess the NHL will continue with the outdoor games, until ticket sales decrease.

13 and 40 should be retired the same night

Cue the jersey retirement debate

Great pics man! Can't wait until I go to The Joe on March 12th vs. the Rangers. I always notice Zetterberg always has to stand behind Datsyuk when he's in the faceoff circle during warm ups. Must be a superstition? I have a couple pictures of them, one taken in Detroit another one in Buffalo.

Yea I'd play it at the Rogers Center. It's has more seats, and BMO Field isn't much of a venue. It's just a soccer stadium. Rogers Center would have a better back drop with the big scoreboard, the CN Tower above it, and the Windows Restaurant.

I laugh when NFL to Toronto rumors start up every few years. Toronto doesn't have a proper venue for the NFL, they'd have to spend $1.5 Billion to build a new 80,000 seat Stadium. I guess Toronto should have an outdoor game though. 40,000 corporate fans will buy tickets for $2,000 each.

Wow, that only holds about 30,000. Ticket prices for that would be insane!

Rough year for the Canadian teams. If the season ended today, none of them would make the playoffs.

I guess they'll play at the Rogers Center. However, it only holds 50,000, a lot less then the 110,000 in Ann Arbor.

I know a few friends who've switched to the Sabres. Stamkos to the Sabres makes sense to me. They'd just have to figure out what to do with the cap in a few years.

Good point

I second that. Yzerman had his best offensive years in the late 80's to early 90's with line mates like Gallant, Probert, Burr, and Ysebaert. Nothing against those guys, but they weren't the same skill level as Shanahan, Hull, Kozlov, Fedorov.

As mentioned, I live near Buffalo and Toronto, so I listen to a lot of Buffalo radio, AM 550. Today they were talking about some Bob McKenzie comments about Stamkos to the Sabres. The Sabres have pieces in place (imagine him and Eichel on the same line?), and it's only an hour and a half drive to Toronto, so he can go home and visit. Interesting. Makes sense to me. Good one! As you can tell I have no respect for the Leafs organization. I have a number of friends who are Leaf fans, and all ownership has done is screw their fans over.

I've been to a number of sporting events, it's the loudest arena/stadium I've been to.

True, they spend top $ for mid level talent. He may do what a lot of hockey players do, play in Toronto at the end of his career.

I saw the game on Sportsnet last night, instead of watching Fox Sports Detroit online, it was a Phaneuf love fest Canadian hockey broadcasters are a joke! It's like when Pierre McGuire and Gord Miller are calling the game. They spend half the game talking about Jr. Hockey. It's like, "Hey guys, there's a game going on, enough of the Jr. Hockey talk"

As much as I like Helm as a player, he shouldn't be on the 2nd line. I've never understood having Helm and Richards on the 2nd line. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Larkin, Nyquist, Tatar, and Abdelkader should be on the 1st and 2nd lines.

I would think due to weather and the media, most Free Agents would pick Phoenix and Florida over Toronto. Why wouldn't players enjoy playing golf on off days? Until they build through the draft, there isn't a reason to play for the Leafs.

Wideman better not win an appeal, or else it'll be open season on the officials. Other players will take out their frustrations on them and say, "Oh, I was concussed". Expect the Union that represents the officials backlash if Wideman wins an appeal. I thought he should have miss the rest of the season. I agree, I don't care if Wideman was concussed or not, there's no excuse to hit an official.