akustyk

nice shot from Recchi. but it's so f* unfair to see us attacking their net and them scoring a fluke... argh...

of course. why did you even think it could be any different, huh?

according to Toronto media even very Jesus Christ is going to drop his current job and gladly pick up Leafs GM post

Friday: Washington Buffalo Atlanta Detroit St Louis Nashville Saturday: Toronto Montreal New Jersey NY Islanders Boston Pittsburgh Minnesota Dallas Colorado Los Angeles Sunday: Tampa Bay Montreal San Jose Philadelphia Anaheim

this sucks. I mean, sure I do love him being kicked in the ass but I hoped to see him continue with Goons and bring then even more down. because the "best GM in the NHL" is brutal after he sells most of the young assets of his team and Goons already reached the level when Brian Murray's picks are gone and they're left only with Burke's era draft decision which are... not exactly spectacular. Burke now had little good prospects to sell, huge salaries commited in small number of players and some money burned in bought-out contracts. and the Goons future seems anything but bright for me right now. what we now see the same "Brian jumps off the sinking boat" we had with Canucks before. and it will likely take the new guy a couple of years to clean this mess. if the rumours of Burke going to Toronto are true I already feel bad for their fans. looks like there will be even less ppl in Ontario who ever saw Leafs raising the cup. I hope I'm wrong because the team finally is looking fine and seems to have shaken off gloomy Quinn era

honestly.... I don't think so. I can recall maybe 4-5 games each of last 2 seasons under Babcock when the Wings were playing more than 40 minutes. all of them on very special occasions we were playing a quality team from the West the team wanted to measure itself. on many nights they even limited themselves to one single period of play - typically a third when they come out and try to get back some goals and possibly even win. with Scotty Bowman it was more about letting up games rather than periods. so you typically saw 2-3 wins followed by a miserable loss to a team like Chicago, Columbus or Edmonton where the Wings barely put any effort into skating. this is typical Wings and I don't blame them for not playing 100% through all 82 regular season games. that just isn't worth this. what I want is to see this team being able to win games against powerful foes with sufficient effort starting with April. that's it. the other Wings regularity: wave of "concussions" and "lower/upper body injuries" startin in first half of December and ending up at the All-Star Break. usually including one or two of our star players who get some rest. I mean this annual "let's get some good guys from the AHL and see if they're ready to substitute our regular guys" and also "let's see who can step up his game and fill the Hank/Pavel/Nick/...* void" action I'd say this is very normal for the Wings and if it happens as early into the season I see no reason to be concerned. at all

MO is part of Wings culture and he's about as integral to our fan tradition as octopi throwing. dunno what happened with him, though

same has been said about current financial crysis. yes, it can happen. GM is huge but so were a lot of companies in US or Europe who either needed government help or partial buy out. this is still far from happening but it's pretty bold to claim GM will never fold right now when oil prices and crysis make car sales dive like crazy. without GM Michigan economy is down and Wings attendance will get low. maybe not to Nashville level but still low - most certainly for JLA standards. I can't see Ilitches taking the team out of Detroit but I'm sure they would face huge financial problems and would need serious consideration as to which businesses in Detroit to keep

yep, no kidding. I don't know how TSN is unbiased in their video reviews but boy... it looks like all Habs did was taking runs and cheap shots. glad they got their a* handed

sorry Weekes, but you're no Obama not Lewis Hamilton

this Parise kid is no slouch... he had some really nice moves tonight. go Oz, anyway!

the hit was OK, nothing fancy. but Gionta fell in pretty ugly fashion oh my... this Gionta kid isn't exactly huge...

bacause they're using the same data feed

nope. count me in. Shanny doesn't fit there. he's not a goon nor a d!ck. bad match therefore. it's like Jessica Alba playing in Adams Family or A-Team....

I'm not much sold on those Sharks after so many years of playoff chokes and subsequent failures. they sure do look good and have all the tools to get the job done but I'd like to see how they look at the end of regular season to evaluate their playoff chances.

nope, this wasn't implied. the thing I was talking about is that .24 is far from the records set in Eastern Europe. but it isn't implying that those "record beaters" are usual people. it just says that while in normal countries .24 is considered serious state and at .4 there's very low likelihood of the person surviving such abuse, the margin is much wider for many Polish, Russian, etc. it doesn't apply to most Poles or Russians but from statistical point of view if you take a Russian and an American with same weight and let them drink as much to reach certain promile level the Russian fellow is likely to be in (much) better shape. almost all people would be dead at such level. basically, .4 is sufficient to kill average person and .5 is simply beyond talk. you need years of "training" and good "coaching staff" to achieve this level of resistance against alcohol.

.24 seems huge for US standards but in some parts of the world (Eastern Europe that is) this is by far not a big achievement there's been cases of people driving bicycles with almost .5 and still being able to somehow conversate with the police

Friday: Ottawa @ Carolina Montreal @ Columbus Atlanta @ Buffalo Dallas @ Anaheim Saturday: Buffalo @ Boston Montreal @ Toronto Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders Tampa Bay @ Philadelphi NY Rangers @ Washington New Jersey @ Detroit Calgary @ Columbus Nashville @ Colorado Florida @ Phoenix Minnesota @ Vancouver Dallas @ San Jose St Louis @ Los Angeles Sunday: Atlanta @ Carolina Calgary @ Chicago Edmonton @ New Jersey Florida @ Anaheim San Jose @ Phoenix

it's been ages since I learned Russian at school so I'm not 100% through that but it looks like the original version is pretty different in accent than it's translation. and to me it's perfectly clear what Semin is talking about. and it's by far not a personal rant. not even remotely refering to criticism except for the general idea of playing hockey and what is it for the fans in US/Canada and what in Russia. which, even if Semin was speaking good English, would not be possible to explain to Americans or Canadian people.

in such case I clearly miss any explanation other than Burke being indeed headed to Toronto. which, if I was a Leafs fan would scare the death out of me as it looks like another Nucks story in making I kinda keep my fingers crossed for this not to happen. the Leafs team now looks like it's finally good and headed into right direction. 2 years cup chase with so-so shot to win and then subsequent 5 years of league bottom misery... there is only one team in this league I'd wish to undergo this. and they already have Burke...

I don't get the logic behind that other than Burke making a show (yet again) to focus media attention on himself. I'd sure love to see Burke sell out Ducks young prospects and f* this team's future even more but it simply (unfortunately) isn't possible that he gets Sundin this way. in all honesty... it's too early for this kind of trade. if Sundin waits he gets grand prize and a chance to go for the cup prior to trade deadline. and at this moment it's too early into the season for most potential GMs to pull a trigger with such "playoff rental" trade

welll, Gordie.... I'm not in the Crosby bashing camp although I'm not big fan of him either. IMHO the main point here is not the fact that it's him instead of Wings player but rather that whenever you turn some NHL game on TV you're sure bet to see Crosby ad and have great chance of hearing how great he is. yes, he's great but he's not that much better than anyone else to justify number of other NHL prime stars being blatantly omitted. it's not that Crosby is walking on the water and guys like Joe Thorton, Ovie or even Gino Malkin are wuss. I think theman19 gave prime example of what many users feel about Crosby. we would just want not to be told Crosby's second coming of Jesus Christ every time we turn on TV's or sopasts we'd instead gladly hear about Thorton's, Ovechkins or Lidstroms, too. that's it basically

QFT then

except, you don't usually call jumping on other player (with both feet off the ice) a clean hit. this is plain and simple a cheapshot. period. and you ought to get your share of s*** for this. yes, I understand what agitator is, but I'm also of firm belief this type of players deserve good beating once in a while because ultimately they are those who take the appeal out of the game and are responsible for most bad stuff that happen on the ice. it's one thing to be a man and face the other guy and another just go after and sneak-attack him. and yes, I include Maltby on this list too. I know he's needed by this team but I'm OK when he gets his ass handed because this is what he's earning most of the time. if you gave me a rule set that would free NHL from such guys I'd clearly embrace this idea. I'd rather watch skilled guys play than pests hunting them. it's that simple

crazy game. zebras shouldn't have let this happen and should get the f* away from the players once they try to settle something (meaning let Thorton pummel Ott and stop protecting the wuss). in the end, Stars were looking for some beating and got one. on the scoresheet and on the ice. you have to give it to Avery for not turtling at least this single time and being a man to drop the gloves. overall I'd say I'd love to be in this barn and live this game in person. must have been a huge boost for Bruins fans. and finally... this Lucic kid may bring those Bruins a cup some day. if their GM doesn't f* this up and builds a solid core around Lucic they will be a contender. because this kid gives them tough and eager identity which fans will love and which could carry them much further than their talent can. I've officially jumped Bruins bandwaggon