eva unit zero

I absolutely love that this thread got bumped today. Humor at its finest. That said, last night was pretty worthless. I watched the first half of the game at my parents' house then had to go home, so I missed the second. The score was 6-2, and they had given up somewhere in the mid-20s in shots, ...so I figured the game clock was just running slow or something maybe anyway. I did notice something last night I actually hadn't noticed before. I had put Joey MacDonald as a serviceable goaltender who's solid in all areas. He has always been very good at taking in the first shot and stopping the play dead. Some of you may recall I wanted the Wings to trade Legace after the lockout, while he still had value, and bring in Joey as the backup, and that 'absorption' ability is particularly why. Regardless, an obvious weakness that I hadn't noticed became hugely apparent last night. Joey has trouble covering the top corners; the Blues took particular advantage of this.

I'm not one to say a guy ever deserves to be cut open by a skate, but this is a great example of why players should wear cages. Why, you ask? Thornton didn't just "fall over." He hit Pisani in the head, and followed it up by boarding the guy, which brought him off balance due to the presence of Kaberle near the net. Thornton basically threw himself onto the ice so that he could waste this guy, even though the puck was gone. Hell, I've never played hockey at even close to that level, and I know to keep your balance in that kind of situation for a number of reasons because of the injury potential. I watched the video with the sound off, but maybe the Hawks were just telling Thornton he was a ******* idiot and that he got sliced open because he dove face-first into a skate?

I don't know where they ranked those two all-time, but on my list Selanne ended up #12 and Mogilny #14.

Gretzky also never won without Messier, or Coffey. Yet they both won two Cups without Gretzky. Gretzky must have been holding back those Edmonton teams all those years. Joe Mullen won one with Joe Nieuwendyk, but never without. Nieuwendyk won without Mullen. Clearly we've got a passenger here. And Yzerman? He won three Cups as a player, none without Kris Draper. But Draper won a Cup without Yzerman. I guess we know who the real key player is, right?

Bertuzzi came in with his arm raised. The contact was Bertuzzi's arm against Johnson's head. The league commonly interprets elbowing as a hit thrown where the arm is extended before contact and it is the principal point of contact. Charging could have been called also, but it wasn't and realistically, elbowing was the more clearly accurate call.

The list is not about the greatest player. It's about who had the most talent. Jiri Hudler was considered by most scouts to be far and away the most talented center in his draft year, and that is pretty accurate. He was considered one of the five most talented prospects. So why was he drafted 58th overall? He's small and he's not a fast skater. Give Hudler four inches, twenty pounds, and Helm's wheels and he might be scoring 90+ points every year. I'm just going based on the last thirty years on this, so players who played their prime before then are out. Mario Lemieux Wayne Gretzky Sergei Fedorov Alexei Kovalev Pavel Bure Kent Nilsson Jaromir Jagr Pavel Datsyuk Eric Lindros Peter Forsberg Before I take any slams, I'm going to say the following. Lemieux and Gretzky are pretty much automatic, so I don't get a choice there. Fedorov is the most talented, complete player I have ever seen in my life and was capable of passing, shooting, hitting, playing defense, wicked dekes, forcing his way through a defense. He also had one of the league's hardest shots. He could do it all at a high level. Kovalev possessed an even harder shot than Fedorov, and was a puckhandling expert. His defensive game brought him some haters, but his unreal puck talents typically dissuaded them. Bure was a one-shot deal, but he was great at it. Decent slapper, great wrister, excellent dekes and crazy speed. He could score goals, and that was it. Lindros was a monster of a player. He was the prototypical power forward, built big and strong with a heavy shot. But he could also skate very well and pass among the best in the league, and he was good on faceoffs. He was decent defensively, and he became much better defensively and on faceoffs as his career progressed. Lindros was the bull who would simply charge right through the defense, unstoppable, to your goal. Forsberg was a very good puckhandler whose skills lied generally in getting the puck to others, but he had the ability to score goals himself as we all know. He cut through defenses like he was using scissors, and there was simply no resistance.

Ah yes, the Pronger defense. To be fair, WorkingOvertime wasn't here back then.

As far as notable pre-Lillehammer players for Czechoslovakia break down, here's a few. Stastny brothers >>> Slovakia. Vladimir Ruzicka, Jan Suchy, Vaclav Nedomansky, Jiri Hrdina, Ivan Hlinka, Vladimir Martinec, Frantisek Kaberle, Sr. >>> Czech Republic.

You may notice in particular that under 45.1, the general description, it states that elbowing is the use of an extended elbow in a manner that may or may not cause injury. Bertuzzi's elbow was extended and his extended arm was what made contact with Johnson's head. Now let's get back to the rule. Bertuzzi hit Johnson in the head. It was a legitimate elbowing penalty. Johnson was injured by the hit. Whether it was the contact or his equipment that caused the actual injury is arguable, but the end result is Johnson's head was injured by a hit thrown by Bertuzzi which was, in fact, elbowing. Major penalty. As we've already all stated, the automatic game misconduct is tied into the major penalty based on injury to the head, which Johnson had. As for your alternatives; there is no such thing as a roughing major. All other major penalties have the same game misconduct clause that elbowing does. Bertuzzi was gone regardless of which major you pick.

Elbowing is not worth an automatic suspension. Relative to some of the decisions, Bert probably should have gotten a game or two. But with the Chara decision, it's shocking they even called a penalty. That said, the elbowing major and game misconduct was probably the correct call.

You are working against your own argument here. You argue visors are bad, and then say that players should be able to choose whether to have them. That visors impair performance. Yet as you said, the younger players who have been exposed to them keep them and still manage to dominate the league. The majority of players without visors are older players who came up playing without a visor. How many top players really even go visorless? Not many. As for the "it's different fro a normal workplace" well sure. But that doesn't mean that available safety equipment shouldn't be made mandatory to protect the millions of dollars the owners have invested in these players. If Brendan Smith gets a career-ending eye injury in his fourth season as a Wing, what is that? Ilitch has just spent a few million to develop him to that point, plus however many millions are remaining on his contract. It's not about should visors be mandatory. It's about when will it happen, because it will happen.

All this "look at this screenshot, he hit him with his armpit" bulls*** needs to stop. You're worse than a Nixon supporter after Watergate. You seem to forget that most hits in hockey (including this one) are HORIZONTAL, not vertical, so Bert's armpit being right under Johnson's head in that frame means what exactly? That Bert is clobbering him with his arm. It was absolutely elbowing, there's no question of that. Bert is lucky to avoid a suspension; it was likely the league looking back at the fact that he doesn't know how to throw a hit and just figuring that was why his arm was up.

The first hit could have been called for boarding or charging. Campoli was coming out from behind the net skating backwards having just scooped up the puck. Bradley comes flying in and doesn't target Campoli, but where he will be. Bradley knows that he will be hitting Campoli before Campoli even has the puck. By the time Campoli truly had the puck, he was switching to a forward motion, but Bradley was already on top of him. The second hit could arguably have been called elbowing, and it was definitely charging. Bradley left his feet before contact.

You guys say that it should be optional. Here's why it shouldn't. NHL players, when at practice, or games of any kind (exhibition, RS, playoff) are at work. Doing their job. Now think about that. Think about how much their employers pay them. Now consider that facial injury happens in hockey and is random and unpredictable. A visor protects in many cases, but can exacerbate or even cause injury in some cases. But a cage or a full shield protects the whole face, and would significantly reduce random puck and stick injuries.

Vernon came in during the summer of 1994. The Wings had just traded Tim Cheveldae, possibly the most hated Wings goalie ever, to get an "upgrade" in net with Bob Essensa, who lasted two playoff games. The 1994 season ended with a rookie Chris Osgood misplaying a puck and the Cup-favorite Wings being ousted in seven games as a result. Osgood has taken flak for "You cost us 1994" despite being the primary reason the team lasted past game five. Vernon was a Cup winner, and was only a couple of years off his prime as a Vezina contender. Vernon played tandem with Osgood for three years, being a significant factor in both the Cup finals loss to the Devils in 1995 and the Cup win in 1997. He never had a huge segment of doubters, and he went out winning the Cup. So your statement should be "last three cup championship teams" and not include 1997. Even just from that, the defense is clearly at fault for part of the increased goals against, but the goaltending also is not at the same level. Despite playing through injuries and seeing sporadic starts, Osgood has significantly better numbers this season, numbers not too different from Howard's. Joey MacDonald's numbers resemble, over a much smaller number of games, Howard's from last season. Given that, we can say that the primary factor is Howard's drop in play, and the secondary factor is the defense; both Osgood and MacDonald have been considerably better than Osgood's overall season was in 09-10.

Hating Hudler is what the cool kids do, Doc. They'd rather see Miller and Draper as top six wingers than Hudler.

Chara pressed him against the boards and shoved him in a way such that his upper body would go over the boards. If he wasn't trying to put him into the stanchion, he was trying to put him into the bench. Either way, Chara was trying to do something to him that could or would cause very serious injury.

Drew Miller was born in New Jersey but raised in Michigan, so he could be added as well.

Just because? Howard has been wildly inconsistent all year, with extended stretches of poor play. This is more noticeable because the Wings have been only average defensively, and have not been a team which can account for their goaltender's weaknesses and protect against them. If MacDonald plays a good number of the remaining games and looks great while Howard looks like crap, or if Ozzie comes back and looks great and Howard isn't getting it together, there's no reason Babcock "has" to start Howard. Starting a guy in the playoffs just because he's the guy you had intended to start way back when doesn't get you anywhere. In 1994, Bob Essensa was started in the playoffs despite the fact a rookie Osgood reclaimed the starting job and was playing more regular season games than Essensa - after having already won it from Cheveldae. You start the guy who is most likely to lead you to victory.

If you figure that a first line forward takes 20 shifts per game, then you could argue that at various points this season he has been on pace for nearly 250 points if he were given first line time.

MacDonald is a better goalie than Leighton. A year older, but for a journeyman backup I think that doesn't really make a difference.

Broken vertebrae means he's pretty damn hurt. A concussion of any level means he's hurt. Whether Recchi's calls of embellishment are true or not doesn't matter with regards to the hit; the hit was still an illegal hit that he should have been suspended for.

It can't be called streaky. That implies he's been worthwhile for extended periods.

He played like crap before his injury, and he has played like crap after coming back. He's been the team's worst forward this year. Behind Miller, Emmerton and Mursak, one of whom we definitely lose to keep Modano.

I blame Rick Dipietro for using Ozzie's old mask. Clearly, he took it from him when Ozzie was practicing and that's the REAL reason Ozzie hasn't come back yet.