norrisnick

The Wings will never again be rock solidly defensively so long as Rafalski is seeing big time minutes. His $6M/yr contract will be an albatross. Doubly so should Nick retire within the next 3 years.

Kolzig had 301 with the Caps.

Right. When was the last time a heavyweight grabbed a random player from the opposition and went to town on him? A. It would mean in all likelihood a 7 minute PP for the Sharks to feast on. B. It would mean in all likelihood that Laraque gets suspended (ie loses money) You're completely out of touch with reality, GMR. Shelley fighting in that situation was stupid. No ifs, ands, or buts. Remember when Laraque challenged McCarty in game 1 of the Finals? Remember when Mac pussed out? That's the smartest play he'd made in years.

:rotflmao: Wow... I'm honestly stunned. As a teacher I hope you aren't as naive to believe that mentioning dicks is going to somehow irrevocably corrupt some kids. And personally I thought it was a perfect way to illustrate the point at hand when countering a claim that the Wings could be thought of as a bunch of *******. Who cares what others think of you if you're the one that gets handed Lord Stanley's Cup.

Am I wrong? None of this "9 out of 10 GMs agree..." horses***. Am I wrong? Maybe Shelley shouldn't have fought, right? His team was owning the opposition and they had all the momentum. Way to go, Jody! You gave away the mo' by letting Georges Laraque call the shots. That's something the "fighting can make a difference" crowd just doesn't grasp. Not fighting can do the very same. When a team is getting owned all over the ice and are itching for a fight to try and grab a thread of momentum, why in the world would you ever oblige them? That's beyond stupid. You're giving them what they want and allowing them to dicate the way the game or even series is going to be played. If your opposition is frustrated, keep them frustrated. That's a big problem with fighters that can't do anything else. They feel compelled to fight to prove their worth even when they shouldn't. Shelley should have gotten off the ice, not let Big Georges beat him silly.

Injuries. Your guess is as good as mine as to why we'd sign a 34 year old scrub that has nothing to contribute. We also signed Chelios to give him a hobby during his retirement and signed McCarty as a charity case. Sure Downey might be nice to have around in case there's a linebrawl as he's the most expendable, but we haven't had one of those in a while. Trying to plan around it is kind of pointless.

If the Wings were better with him, he'd be playing every game and in the playoffs. That obviously isn't the case. He's a warm body.

The Wings are the best run franchise in pro sports, let alone hockey. They've dressed a fighter less than a dozen times this season and they won't in the playoffs. Obviously having a fighter is critical to success.

The softest team in the history of mankind (as some would have us believe) cruised to the Cup last year. Euros are hung like skittles but they sure did alright last spring...

It's pretty simple. 1. You don't give Laraque what he wants (ie a way to change momentum). 2. This in all likelihood would lead to Big Georges taking a stupid penalty trying to goad Jody into dropping the gloves or venting frustrations elsewhere. 3. PP time. The Stanley Cup isn't won in a dick measuring contest contrary to what guys like Cherry would have you believe. You actually have to win 16 games of hockey come playoff time.

I was talking about that specific scenario. What good did Shelly getting pounded by Laraque do for the Sharks?

Why badmouth a mediocre player? The far more important question is this, if "keeping the flies off" is so vitally important why has Downey only played 3 games this season? How useful was Shelley for the Sharks?

I'm not anti-enforcer/fighter. I'm pro-hockey player. The ability to play hockey should never take a back seat to fists and a willingness to get punched in the face. There is a reason fighting and fighters take a seat come playoff time. NHL coaches know that when push comes to shove and the games matter, you can't risk tapping guys on the shoulder that wouldn't be any less useless if they didn't bother taking a stick out on the ice with them. Which boils it all down to this, if they aren't good enough to play in the playoffs why bother with them during the regular season? It's a waste of time for everyone involved.

Yes and no. Yes, in the sense that the league's "tough" guys fill out a dance card during warm ups. No, in the sense that the quality of hockey and skill on display on any given night is only improving and that all coaches still know what is important come playoff times and the silliness goes away.

So the league should just create an extra roster spot for the designated fighter for every team. And rather than wasting room on the bench and various shifts here or there they can brawl during intermission rather than having the 5 year olds play hockey, or weiner races, or score-o competions or whatever else teams do during intermission prior to the zambonis hitting the ice. Fight fans get their fights. Hockey fans get their hockey. Everybody wins.

My thoughts are this. If Downey sees a single shift in the playoffs something catastrophic has happened. The less we see of Syndrome the better off we are.

1. Z and Franzen don't like to give up the puck, so give them a guy they shouldn't be giving the puck to but will clean up their scoring chances. 2. He has. The numbers have kept him in GR (much like Helm).

Barring a core altering impact player being brought in, no minor deal would have helped. I'm very glad Kenny didn't feel compelled to trade a 4th for a 7th and "upgrade" Jamie Rivers into a Cory Cross like he did in '06. No other contender has a trio of guys like Ericsson, Helm, and Leino to drop on the roster on a whim. The other teams are already leaning on those types of guys.

A couple things. A. It doesn't take much to be above Lebda or Meech on the pecking order. B. He has a massive/mobile frame who plays a very steady game. C. Babcock said he made the team in training camp (along with Helm and Leino) but were down because of the numbers game/waivers exemption. E will be on the roster. As will Helm. Leino will rotate in with the other forwards.

Hudler - Datsyuk - Hossa Franzen - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Cleary - Filppula - Samuelsson Kopecky - Draper - Helm/Maltby/Leino Abdelkader/Ritola/etc... Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Lilly - Ericsson Chelios/Lebda/Meech/Kindl/etc... Osgood Conklin Howard

The only negative I saw with E is that his passes aren't quite crisp enough. They're on target and he's sending the passes where he should, but he needs more zip at the NHL level. I saw 2 or 3 longer breakout passes get easily intercepted by the opposition because it didn't have enough pace on it. Beyond that, it's all good. He'll realize that things have to happen a bit quicker up here be it passes, getting his shot off, angles, etc...

"Just seeing him in his suits brings a lot of laughter to a lot of people." -Nick Lidstrom on Don Cherry

Apparently, if you remember it. I like a hockey fight as much as the next guy. But the fighter better be able to play hockey. The ability to play trumps anything else.

I'm pretty sure I haven't posted there in over a year, though I may be mistaken by a month or two.

Was he in the lineup against San Jose last week? They wanted to work because they had something to prove. Being the Cup Champs greatly lessens the "something to prove" factor. Cup Hangover is alive and well.