TheUltimateWingsFan

Jesus, why do they change their jerseys every 2-3 years? I personally liked these jerseys the best: The old home whites were especially good.

Actually, not to burst anyone's bubble, but for a long time Yzerman had the reputation for being a great regular season player who didn't play to his potential in the playoffs. It wasn't till Scotty came on board that the Wings started having playoff success, and Yzerman started to rise to the occasion.

Ah, those were the glory days of NHL popularity... LA made the finals the year before on a classic run by Gretzky, then New York won it that year. The playoffs featured game 7's (including two in OT), Messier guarantees, Bure's explosiveness, penalty shots, and the mystique of the 54 year curse. There was no stopping the NHL.......until the lockout the next year. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. Then we entered the era of neutral zone traps, outstanding goaltending (some with the help of questionable equipment..Snow's pads), and hooking and holding. It's never been the same since. And with the NHL on Versus, the future doesn't look very bright..

Yes, yes, yes!! I've been wanting to see the TSN compilation for quite some time. Thank you.

Actually Lundqvist was injured by a Geoff Sanderson shot. The puck hit him in the shoulder and he seemed to sting him pretty good. But yeah, it was all today, the Rangers were dropping like flies out there...

The last report before my MSG feed went off was Shanahan was alert at the hospital and able move everything. Mark March 21st on your calendars, that's the next time the Rangers and Flyers meet, should be interesting to watch...

Aaron Ward just handled himself pretty well in a scrap with Picard (although now they're saying he hurt his hand in the fight). This game has the potential to really get out of hand....unfortunately the Rangers don't have many players left capable of handling the rough stuff (Hollweg, Orr, and Avery that's it) Edit: Sweet goal by Cullen, made Hatcher look ridiculous

That was a pretty brutal collision. He collided with Knuble, neither guy saw the other one, and Shanny looked like he hit the back of his head on the ice. Knuble was injured as well, looked like a leg or lower back injury (their saying his face is swollen too), and had to be helped off the ice and has not returned. Shanny was out cold though. When the trainers and medical staff came on the ice, he was asleep, and remained that way for a couple of minutes. Pretty scary. The Flyers have really played physical, the Knuble-Shanahan incident was accidental, but Jagr took two of the bigger hits I've ever seen him take from Fedoruk first, then Hatcher.

Wish we could've landed him, and really wish he stayed in the East. Nashville looks awfully dangerous. And no, Nashville did not give up too much. A couple of picks and a couple of prospects with little NHL experience is not a lot when you get perhaps THE best player in the NHL in return. Obviously, the big question is whether he can stay healthy, but if he can.....oh boy. The Preds have been struggling to draw crowds, and I don't think there was any other player out there, that was quasi-available, that can generate excitement and draw fans like Forsberg. So aside from helping the team with a Cup run, it just made business sense. Hope we respond by getting Guerin. Tkachuk would be alright too, but his personality might disrupt the locker room.

I thought we were talking NHL experience, so Kovalev's Olympic gold is nice but irrelevant, and Kovalev didn't win the Calder, a guy by the name of Teemu did. Kovalchuk already has one 50 goal season under his belt along with a separate 40+ goal season that was tied for the league best, making him a Richard winner. Kovalev only broke the 40 barrier once. I view Cups as more of a team thing. Unless the player in question stood out in the playoffs it shouldn't matter. Edit: Also Kovalchuk didn't win a "Half a Richard"....he won a third of a Richard, along with Nash and Iginla

Wow, interesting question, surprised I never considered it before: 1. Bure - One of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history. Sure his career was cut short by injuries, but he still managed five 50 goal seasons, earned the Rookie of the year award, and led the league in goals on three occasions (he placed in the top 5 on two other occasions as well). His playoff performance in '94 was unbelievable nearly carrying the Canucks to their first cup. 2. Fedorov - Probably the best all around player out of all the Russians. Had a breakout year in 93-94 becoming the only Russian to ever win the Hart trophy as league MVP, and he also won the Selke trophy for best defensive forward. Has consistently played well in the playoffs. Only knock against him is that he has a tendency to underachieve. 3. Ovechkin - Too soon to really judge him, but if his first two years are any indication, he could be one of the all-time greats. His rookie year was among the best in NHL history with the likes of Selanne, Stastny, and Bossy. Plus, he hits. 4. Mogilny - Another prolific Russian goal scorer. He's not quite on the same level as Bure, and doesn't have the all-around game of Fedorov. 5. Kovalchuk - He's basically a slightly smaller version of Ovechkin without the hitting. He can score with the best of them. 6. Makarov - A lot like Larionov in that he would rate near the top if we could consider non-NHL experience. He won the Calder trophy as NHL rookie of the year at the age of 32 (it was actually kind of ridiculous that a player with his experience won it). 7. Gonchar - Scored more goals than any Russian defensemen in NHL history. His ability to control the power-play ranks among the league's best. 8. Zubov - A lot like Gonchar but not as fast, better defensively though. The highest point scoring Russian defenseman in NHL history (thus far). 9. Konstantinov - It sucks balls that his career ended so soon. He was a tough, rugged, hard-hitting defensemen that was among the league's best before tragedy struck. 10. Larionov - Again, if we were judging based upon non-NHL play, he'd be near the top. But regretably, we only got to see him in the NHL on the downside of his career. Still, he was an incredible playmaker with Gretzky-like vision. A couple of notes: -Bondra would've easily made the list, except he's Ukrainian, not Russian. -Fetisov would've made the list as well but he again suffers from the fact that he broke into the NHL so late in his career. -Kovalev probably should be on there, but it was either him or Kovalchuk, and I think Kovalchuk has already accomplished more individually than Kovalev.

I'm still looking for that fight Yzerman had with Dana Murzyn sometime around 1995. As the period was winding down, the puck went behind the Canucks net and Murzyn whistled the puck by Yzerman's head down the ice as the buzzer sounded. Yzerman took exception to that, as did a lot of Wings, and Murzyn had his back to the glass as the skirmish ensued with Stevie landing a couple punches. This was also the game Ciccarelli fought Vancouver goalie Kay Whitmore. I remember watching this on PASS Sports via a satellite dish at a friends house (no NHL Center Ice package back then), and I'd love to see it again.

I think an unofficial stat that is tracked is go-ahead-goals. It is probably much more meaningful than game-winning-goals.....then again if you score first, and your team gets shelled, you'll get credit for a go-ahead-goal in a losing effort (think about that Wings-Sharks game a while back), still your goal was important early on. Plus, in games that swing back in forth, a player could get multiple go-ahead-goals in the same game, and that's the way it should be. So yeah, go-ahead-goals are what we should be tracking. The problem with trying to come up with a clutch goal stat that requires a set of circumstances (last 10 minutes, close game, etc.) is that not every team will find themselves in that situation with the same frequency. It'd be impossible to compare stats.

Thornton came awfully close last year with 96. That was the most since the 92-93 season, when Oates had 97. Like HoHT said, looking at Crosby's stats, he's on pace to get 96. So, 100 assists is definitely reachable. That'd be quite an amazing feat. He'd be only the 4th player in NHL history to do it, the first to accomplish it since the 90-91 season, and the youngest to ever do it (He'd beat Gretzky by about 7 months). Hope he makes it. Maybe in the next few years Ovechkin, or Malkin, can make a run at joining the 50 in 50 club, something only Richard, Bossy, Gretzky, Lemieux, and Brett Hull have done.

My hatred for Lemieux pretty much ended when he retired. Yeah, from a Wings fans perspective, he was a prick, but you know he would've been a fan favorite if he wore the winged wheel. I was actually rooting for him on the show. I just thought it was funny that the first thing he did was highstick the poor Joe.

I missed the very beginning of the show so I missed the trash talk, but I did see the hockey event. That highstick was on purpose, and I laughed my ass off. This guy just doesn't know how to play clean. It was also funny because it was the very first play of the hockey event. Literally, 5 seconds in and he's already committed what would be a double-minor in the NHL. On a side note, usually the Joes don't fair so well in the hockey events. These guys clearly had some hockey experience and looked pretty comfortable on skates. One dude even tried a bit of a spinorama before Lemieux knocked him down. It's good to see hockey events where the Joes can at least skate.

Quick question, has Eklund ever been right?