akustyk

one lesson from this game: Cleary + Miller + Helm look more and more like the dream checking line, one like Mac + Maltby + Drapes. Line that come playoff time is invaluable for your team. and with Flip emerging as regular point producer... you can only wish Kenny to land a cup-hungry veteran and this team looks great for a deep playoff run...

love it!

the league needs the media spin created by this event. but it can't really be better... the event itself... just watched the 3rd period.... holy cow, what a snooze fest. guys are under contract and don't want to risk any unnecessary injury so everything is slooooooooow and eaaaasy, despite refs whistling no offsides whatsoever... I mean.... even Devils games back in dead puck era were more exciting than this. yet, since there's no real rewards or incentives for the players, just unnecessary risks, there's no way of making it entertaining any way.

I'm fine with Conklin as a backup, as long as Jimmy is healthy. Conklin hasn't been great this year (I liked him a lot more in his previous stint with Wings) but the team can win games with him in the net and that's OK. Nittymaki could be a good depth signing, but there's no apparent need for that, and there are teams in dire need of better goaltending as of now (read Blackhawks or Tampa to name just two).

I have to say, I have similar impression of his interview. am not Ovie's hater, I actually always liked this kid,but his body language during whole interview leaves you with an impression that he just doesn't care and wants to show how hurt his feelings are, so "just screw yourself NHL"... he has a point, that beings suspended he should probably avoid controversy and sit down away from mediato not generate negative coverage for the NHL during the prime time for the league... on the side note... it's not like he has to speak with Sheriff Shanny about the reasoning. the video with explanationis available on NHL.com, just watch it and learn what is exactly that the league does not want you to do any more.period. you're here to play hockey, the league is responsible for setting and enforcing the rules.

I'm actually wondering how is it, that Hartnell hasn't yet made it to the All Star Game before. he's Flyers workhorse and one of the hardest working guys in the NHL. He belongs to this game more than a good number of other choices. not that I cared about ASG anyway, just to make a point, that this very guy deserves this nomination like few other in this league...

to be honest, with Ovechkin's decision it looks more and more like "Datsyuk and Lidstrom was 2009, we don't want to do this anymore". frankly, as a Wings fan, I do feel cheated on this one. apparently, the league can hit Wings players with consequences, yet others have green light to do practically the same. and yes, I understand the rules. but it doesn't look much different. especially in case of Ovechkin. he's free to go and opts by his own choice to not do it. it's his right, but I'd like the league to suck it up and admit what was done to Datsyuk and Lidstrom was not really fair.

to be fair in this situation, you can't with 100% certainty say from this video replay that there was a slewfoot not an embellishment from Kunitz. that's a far shot and I'm absolutely not going to defend Subban - Kunitz isn't saint, but in terms of reputation I've much more belief in his fair play than Subban's.

looks very much like classic knee on knee. I'm all for Shanny making this an example suspension. frankly, there has been enough injuries because of such hits in 2 recent seasons...

speaking of Beauchemin... http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=385627 3,5 a year... not to shabby for him. he's decent but I'm not sure that it reflects his real value...

if this wasn't Montreal these would exactly be my thoughts. but Habs are a mess and I can't blame the situation 100% on Subban. it doesn't mean that I'd like him on Wings anyway, but it's tough to blame him for all the tension in Canadiens locker

not so sure... Kaberle = 1st round pick, conditional 2nd round pick, depth player (former 1st round pick) Versteeg = 1st round pick, 3rd round pick Mike Fisher = 1st round pick, conditional 2nd round pick Kovalchuk = 1st round pick + 2 veteran regulars Stuart is worth more than White, Brewer or Wideman and I'm not even going to bite on the old goat McCabe... Wings can't expect to get for him same as Kaberle got, but Versteeg of Mike Fisher... if there's willing buyer on the other end... ? Stuart is no Lidstrom, but he's no slouch either. and most certainly a veteran with significant playoff experience...

Sens and Blues were stacked with decent prospects who just needed a good coach to melt them into decent teams. I'd say Blues did surprise me... that it took them that long to reach this level. I expected them to be good last season already. as for Sens... right now they seem to be performing above the usual development curve. good for them. I pretty much expect them to reach the playoffs without much trouble and then exit in 1st round because of insufficient experience of the youngsters. it'll be 2012-13 that will show if they're here to become real contenders. or just pretenders having said that... I'll be cheering for them come playoffs. can't say the same about the Blues...

kid has talent, but do you think he'd fit into Wings dressing room? isn't he actually known for causing tension with other players, because if so then I'd surely not want Wings to risk introducing dressing room cancer. I like his skills but am not convinced that he fits with the Wings.

let's get honest for a while. with the trade deadline "prices" of recent years player like Stuart can land Wings a ton of high draft picks or quality prospects. and I mean youngsters who are expected to become regular 2nd liners or 2nd pair D-men. so, yes, if Kenny has a good option, I definitely think it is at least worth considering. it sure isn't the best thing to weaken our defense corps that aren't exactly league's best right now, but if there was a chance of Nick coming back next season trading Stuart it's absolutely worth considering. with Howie in goal we have the luxury to go with weaker defense. on the other hand - at this point Wings seem to be pretty deep with prospects and they're more likely to be shipping picks/youngsters for star players not the other way around. and I certainly don't see them trading quality players with Sharks. maybe with Kings but that's still tough call. then I don't see Ducks having decent D to trade for prospects. Beauchemin is OK, but it'd take something extra to trade Stuart for him... and since they're not a playoff team right now, it's tough to imagine them being prone to milking at trade deadline

beauty. keep your head up and stop admiring your stick work, buddy! or else...

QFT and yes, my favorite worst is indeed Bernstein. but hey... local tv is local tv...

2 Wings too many. but I can live with that. I'd be OK with both Pavel and Jimmy having some mysterious "injury" just prior to the All-Star Weekend. as I said multiple times: I'd rather watch Wings players participate in All Star games in June

physical size of the screen isn't always indicating to the resolution. you can have FullHD on 19" screen and if you sit 2 feet from the thing there's more than enough detail to decide. FullHD is anyway more than TV broadcast provides.

http://freeredwings.tv/ works for me

close call, but you didn't get this one totally right... this is really atrocious...

double post

to the defense of Cunneyworth - he didn't even have a chance to react but was slammed directly by the media. I understand it's mostly "garbage" journalists, but come on... the guy should at least get some time to get his French to decent level. he should be fine after living in Montreal for a while (I can't really imagine that he doesn't understand a lot passively) so the only thing he needs to do is to get hold on some basics to be able to produce some correct sentences. for now. I have myself moved from Poland to Netherlands 4 years ago. despite knowing best that 90% of Dutch are perfectly fine with English at daily basis, on the very second day in NL I started learning the language, for the pure sake of my own comfort of living in this country and out of respect to people with whom I'd have to work. you don't really have to convince me that learning the language of the host country/province (or at least putting an effort to do so) is a must - I know it first hand. what I don't get is so much outrage directed towards an employee. Poor guy is just trying to do his job... oh yes, thanks for the knowledgeable opinion that adds so much value to the discussion... unfortunately, I'm not 15 years old any more, and won't bite on this crap...

I don't want to start a flame war about politics but... it's perfectly ordinary to see politicians stirring the pot with statements whenever they think they can gain any popularity, nevermind the subject and any common sense about issues really having anything to do with politics. so, apparently, Quebec officials decided, that their electorate is likely to appreciate government doing its best "Francophone small **** syndrome" impression. If anything, this speaks volumes about... the electorate. Aparently, French-Canadian are more concerned about the language than the fact that their team is worthless...

please don't get me started about Francophones and their approach to "ze-uerlzd", especially when ze-uerlzd is speaking English, towards which they have an utterly prevailing small d* syndrome (not French per se, but Canadian Francophones are prime example here). I live in Netherlands and am quite often in Belgium, Luxemburg, Switzerland or France. wherever there is a French speaking community there are people who show zero effort to try any other language. even in bilingual Belgium (where there really is no escape from bilingualism) people in Wallon refuse to speak Flemish which they learn in school. same goes to French part of Switzerland - where the German speaking part is generally modern, tech savvy and open to other cultures, Francophones are just hopeless... they answer English or German emails in French, provide no translations of their web pages (if they have one at all!) and generally show little effort to help you. anyway, we do have some friends who are French here, and at personal level they are quite OK. zey onestly do spiik inglish diferónt, meehh... zey ah generalement tres bien. unless they start complaining about things not being to their liking (very easy in spartan Dutch culture) - then you instantly get the impression, that every French is raised in profound conviction that the only reason other people exist is to kiss Frencj in the *ss. and they sure bi* a lot...