betterREDthandead

Thou art forgiven, my son. Just don't let it happen again. EVER.

The honorable thing? Or simply the smart thing in not wanting to work in such an awful ownership atmosphere in Toronto?

For chrissake don't scare me like that....I'm not watching the game and all I saw at first was "ties it." Phew.

Bweh heh heh. If you think Paul Stastny - that's "1-goal-no-assists-in-6 games-and-minus-2-against-Minnesota Paul Stastny" - is the guy to focus on, I'm really glad you don't coach. Pop quiz time: Who led the Avalanche in scoring in the first round with 2 goals and 4 assists for 6 points? Answer: Joe Sakic. Who scored the OT winner in Game 1? Joe Sakic. I've shown you tons of proof he's producing at exactly the same level he did ten years ago. What proof do you have he's declining? Any? Bring some out if you've got some. All you have is that he's 38 years old. I bet you don't think that that's slowed down Lidstrom any.

Thanks. And welcome aboard! Intelligent and respectable hockey fans are always welcome at LGW no matter what team affiliation. So even after your Avs get the whuppin' they so richly deserve hopefully you'll stick around.

Whoa! Got me! Golly gee whiz, you sure pulled a fast one on me. You must be so proud, finding typos like that. Now, care to explain why 4 points makes all the difference? Also requiring explanation: How the "durable" Sakic missed 17 games in 96-97 (lacerated calf), 18 games in 97-98 (knee injury), 22 games in 99-00. Why, if he's lost his durability, he played all 164 games from 2005 to 2007, yet missed 66 games - nearly a full season - between 1996 and 2000. Further: Why this defensive superstar has never won a Selke, and why his career +/- is a whopping +36. That's not even +2 per season his whole career. A -4 is about par for the course. In fact, the durable, fearsome two-way player you claim existed 10 years ago missed 18 games, and was even on the year, neither plus nor minus. The durable, two-way star you claim existed 11 years ago missed 17 games and was -10. Minus 10! Joe Sakic is the same model of consistency he's been since 1988. I'm certainly glad it's not up to you to decide matchups on him. He's still by far the best player the Avs have.

Actually.....Sakic is the exact same Sakic as 10 years ago. 2007-08: 44 points in 40 games. 1997-98: 63 points in 64 games. 2006-07: 100 points in 82 games. 1996-97: 74 points in 65 games. His offense hasn't slowed down the tiniest bit.

Depth isn't as important if you only look at one series. It's all about the matchups. Depth is supremely important in a playoff run if you're going to win it all. You've gotta get contributions from everyone. Your bums in one series may be your stars in the next. I can kinda see if you want to make the argument that depth isn't real important in one series. Goaltending can turn everything upside down, as it did against the Oilers in 2006. But to say it means s*** for the whole playoffs? That's just ignorant.

I would think the NHL would be worried that the center of the hockey universe and one of their marquee franchises is so completely in the s***ter. But I doubt it.

I am biased. But even speaking objectively, Long is unquestionably the best defensive end in the draft. Gholston is a pure pass rusher, a Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila type. Gholston and Long each had 14 sacks, and Long had more TFL - in fact, Gholston only had 1.5 non-sack TFLs. Long is a game-changer. Gholston is a third-down changer. I believe the Rams will take Long 2nd overall. It comes down to Dorsey or Long for them, and an end fits their team better than a tackle right now.

Absolutely no way in hell Gholston gets drafted ahead of Chris Long.

Did a Ducks fan just answer a Leafs fan's question on a Red Wings site? Word. I love this place.

Too bad we won't get seven games of Sidney vs. Alex. That would have been fun. I don't tend to watch a lot of non-Wings games until the Cup Finals, but I'd have watched that. That said, I'm off to take a gander at Sharks-Flames.....mainly because it has a direct effect on our next opponent.

Re: Theodore. I have a hard time getting worried about a goaltender who shut down the 18th-best offensive team in the league. He did great against Minnesota, but he had to; the Avs gave up over 6 more shots per game than Minny got during the regular season (33.3 SPG) - that's fourth best in the playoffs so far, and would have been 2nd best overall in the regular season. If the Avs' defense really is that porous, then bring 'em on, I say. Can Theodore stand up to it if the Wings bring their shot-happy attack through that kind of defense?

Glad you thought it was total domination I think it's just the chance to play the Avs again that people want, not so much because one team is easier than the other. There hasn't been a Wings-Avs series for six years, where in the seven years between 1996-2002 there were five. And I know the fire has mostly gone out of the rivalry on the ice, but for me at least the hatred is still there. Kind of latent, but still there. I have very vivid memories of the whole thing, from that fateful Game 6 onward. (I remember, for example, that Draper wasn't the only Wing that Clod the Turtle injured in that game. Earlier he had cross-checked Igor Larionov (or maybe it was Fetisov) into the boards from behind and broke his toe.) I'm glad to see that Wings fans are confident enough in our team that we think we can beat either one and would prefer the Avs whether or not they're the better team. Me, I'm tired of waiting. 10 PM can't get here soon enough.

No, he gave the CHL attendance number, followed by calling the expansion of the ice to an "NHL sheet". The AHL plays on a 200' x 85' rink which is NHL size. He never mentioned an NHL team. And there is very little Bettman can do about putting a team anywhere. He cannot force a team to move, and he cannot arbitrarily put a team in the city of his choosing. The only thing he can do is introduce expansion, and then the owners would have to vote yes or no, and then the owners would vote again to choose applicants, if a group from Tulsa applied. Bettman can't wave his magic wand and have an NHL team appear.

It's cute how you think Gary Bettman can possibly be responsible for putting an AHL team anywhere.

Random observation: I will spit if the Lions take Derrick Harvey. Seems to be this year's combine-and-workout darling. Any time the experts tell us we should be excited about someone because he's "flying up the draft boards" all I see is "bust". Acceptable picks: Talib, Jenkins, Mendenhall, McKelvin, Otah, Clady. Unacceptable: Harvey, Devin Thomas, and I waver on Jonathan Stewart.

Bookmark this post and come find it in two years. If Burke goes to the Leafs, the Leafs will turn into classless, leg-stomping, elbowing, sucker-punching, dirty rotten goons. That's what Anaheim is now. That's what Vancouver was when Burke was GM there. Remember Bertuzzi-Moore? Remember Bryan Allen and Z? Marc Crawford? Hell, Toronto wasn't far off that a couple years ago - just wait til Burke gets into town. I have less than zero respect for Burke because of the way his teams play under his "leadership". Burke was the league's disciplinarian, the one and same guy who handed down a whopping one-game suspension for Clod the Turtle's hit on Draper. If Burke goes to Toronto, the Ducks will fade back into both mediocrity and a semblance of respectability for their conduct. And the Leafs will go right back to their Darcy Tucker, Bryan Marchment ways, only twice as bad. Just watch.

Definitely wrong. Just ask Pierre McGuire. It was only after staggering to their feet in between skull-crushing blows delivered by the Predators that the Wings managed to even shoot the puck let alone score.

It actually looks like they feel the same way as us. Wings/Avs would be great for old times' sake, but Avs/Stars would mean San Jose was out, etc. etc.

True enough, and to add to that, blocked shots by a non-goalie are not shots on goal, no matter where the player happens to be. So that one time Lilja "played goalie" because the goalie was caught out of position and went down like he was stacking his pads and kept the puck out - not a shot on goal, despite the obvious trajectory of the puck toward the net.

Miami is a notoriously bad sports town, so the Panthers aren't much of an example. I'm all in favor of the push to non-traditional markets and even I think the Panthers ought to move somewhere else. Given time I think hockey will catch on great - there just needs to be a generation of kids that grows up with the sport. Nashville too. Miami, probably not so much. I'd like to see the Houston Panthers.

Last year neither of them even made the playoffs. Does that count? If not, you still don't have to go back too far. The year before (2006) the Lightning and Flames were both eliminated in the first round.

I dunno if I'd say I'm "seriously impressed." Certainly very pleased. Dude's MUCH better than Hartigan. With all of seven games' NHL experience before his baptism by fire in the playoffs it probably would have been a plus if Helm could hop on the ice without tripping on the boards, but unlike with Hartigan, I never felt like he was in there just to rest the starters and we'd be doing good to escape his shifts unharmed. But I think Hudler being "demoted" to the fourth line is more like Babcock's way of rewarding Helm by giving him a linemate who can help him produce, and it worked.