RyanBarnes!

Downey must play.

QFT

No doubt Berube intended to stir things up with his hit and Sawyer knew exactly what he was doing as you suggested. However his hit looked to have a little more to it than just a shove in my opinion. I'm sure Vernon exaggerated a bit though.

Comparing Purinton to Kocur is like comparing Samuelsson to Hull. Kocur was feared. Purinton was loathed at best. Either way, I don't doubt Quincey can take on someone above his weightclass occassionally, but that's very different from being an enforcer and dropping the mitts with the toughest boys night after night. I still have high hopes for Quincey to become a solid 4th-5th defenseman some day.

I don't think Berube's hit on Giguere was a big deal. The rule is you don't hit the goalie, but when the goalie is out of his crease I have always thought "why not?". Besides it was more of a bump. Sawyer's hit was "intent to injure", as was Berube going after Friesen. Both incident's were much more serious than the original Berube hit that started everything. On a sidenote, it was nice to see Iginla standing up to Lambert the way he did.

Colorado -simply because it would be the most interesting series. I'd prefer to not to face Vancouver and Luongo.

Quincey's a physical defenseman, not a fighter. He will not be able to take on the heavyweights.

Toronto is a horrible blend of players, so not playing well there doesn't mean much in my opinion. Overall, he's had two off years since being traded from Chicago. I wouldn't say he is finished based on this. Cleary's career was in way way more trouble when Detroit picked him up.

Not many are similar to Bell in stature and style though. BTW -Detroit gave up Dan McGillis for Maltby in 1996. He went on to a decent career.

It is difficult to understand the reason behind Bell's poor play the last couple of seasons. Perhaps it is something he can break out of and then, as argued above, Detroit could prove to be the place. It is all about signing the right deal. Signing someone coming out of a poor performance is usually a better deal than signing someone coming out of a career year at a much higher price.

Nice, finally some stats that actually say something!

You people obviously completely lack the ability to read between the lines. I know perfectly well what the above mentioned features brings to the game, that's why I used them in the first place. Also, this is about so much more than keeping status quo. The argument to take out touch icing is based on player safety, but the same argument could be used to eliminate all risks listed above and these are key elements of the game. Remove touch icing and you will have a very tough time to defend the logic behind not making additional changes to more vital elements of the game. These voices are already strong and they will grow stronger with each additional change. Finally what does touch icing add to the game? A natural game flow. Living in Europe I have plenty of experience of non-touch icing. Personally, I think it is a sad thing to watch. Suddenly, icing the puck is all about getting a stoppage in play. Zero chance of something more exciting to happen. Zero. Might not mean a whole lot to you, but that is my opinion. Then again I also think watching two players racing for the puck is exciting.

The same could be said about playing without visors, full cages, fights, hits and so forth. Hockey is full of possibly dangerous elements. What's next to be taken out? Soon enough, the game will change to be an entirely different one from the one I grew up watching. Sorry, but that is not why I watch hockey. If your opinion happens to differ from mine, good for you. Players should learn to respect each other enough not to slam one another head first into the boards. I don't see anything absurd in that... To be honest I find your post quite ignorant and unworthy of further effort.

What's the point in playing hockey if everything that is even remotely dangerous about the game is taken out? Sorry, hockey is fast, tough and not for everyone!

Mmm, yes. Ovechkin must win. He's dominating.

I hope there's a way to sign Stuart, he's a perfect fit in my opinion. I also think it would be a good way for him to find his game again.

Yeah, totally agree with you here. Chelios is not as sound as people make him out to be. Plus the whole mentoring aspect is overrated. Detroit has plenty of experince to mentor the kids, besides who is he going to mentor? There's never any room on Detroit's blueline for youngsters to play full-time. I hope Chelios and Lilja are gone next season and Stuart gets a new contract.

Sure they would, they would simply have to clear some cap space first.

Chelios should retire. Period.

I've heard a Stanley Cup ring is close to a $80K.

LOL Zetterberg for Ovechin is not a fair swap! No GM in the league would make that trade except Holland -GUARANTEED. Try Zetterberg and 2 first round picks and I'm still not convinced Washington would look twice at the deal. You'd probably have to give up two sure fire prospects -not picks. And this is strictly from a game perspective. Business-wise Ovechkin is close to irreplaceable.

I would exactly compare a forearm or dirty hit to a cross-check in the face like Simon did. Pronger got a game for each -Simon got rest of the season.

Definitely. Detroit has plenty of what Hudler brings to the lineup already, but who else is going to do Downey's job?

Speaking of one dimensional players. Downey > Hudler for reasons already stated.

Detroit is a contender with Babcock coaching, but chanceless without him.