akustyk

call me a spoiled Wings fan, but to me it only matters as far as it gives the home ice advantage and chance to avoid better teams in earlier rounds. but personally I'd rather see Wings finish like 2nd or 3rd to still avoid quality competition but also to not run into a hot team that clinched playoff spot after going very hot at the end of the season. read: Ducks or Oilers trauma. nope. I'd rather see the team rest veterans, give'm a day off to enjoy with family. what's even more important: steer clear from any chance of freak injury right before playoffs, especially as those "miraculously" happen when playing against potential playoff competition. in short: absolutely not. I'd rather have healthy, rested team entering the playoffs against better opponent, than top berth with incomplete roster.

apparently, this is not "this year"... :hockeysmile:

to be honest, their goaltending as of now is so bad, that it makes more sense to cheer when they play around the level of decency, than to boo them when they're at their usual game... the later is way too frequent to care the Swedish "Monster" is not really monstruous and Reimer... boy, oh boy... truth being said... couple of years ago they had very decent goalie in Joseph who was often left to dry by the D, and yet it was CuJo who was mercilessly cursed by the fans... but yep... Maple Laughs fans are strange... they cherish guys like Void Devereaux or Lebda who were whipping boys for Wings truthful...

too me it looks like they're tanking the season to bolster up the roster. that's different to past years when they were horrible but GM was too proud to command tanking and instead of going for 1st pick Laughs did some desperate effort to sink down to around 8-10 th pick... it probably is better long term for the team, though

wear the visor, Todd! it's freaky, the whole incident.

if you listen to the interview Nash sends pretty obvious message: this management is s***ty, the team, city, fans and he himself deserves better. he's making it a bit to "bright" and trying not good enough to hide his own desire to get out of the mess, but he clearly repeats that the ask for trade was for the good of "team, city, fans and myself" blatantly and continuously omitting any mention of management. and he's not trying to be overly political and nice so you get pretty obvious impression that he's not happy with the situation. I think it has something to do with him simply wanting to get out and playing some real hockey in playoffs. he probably thought it's gonna happen and now is sore it didn't work out and even got out to the public. can't blame him for this, although he could be a little bit more political about this thing. Howson going public with "it was him"... is pretty classless here and smells a lot like a guy trying to save his a$$ when his whole resume is 1 playoff appearance in more than 10 seasons. even Maple Leafs achieved more in this time...

hope he's OK. as for Sharks team... dunno if it's karma, but they sure seem to be having it tough right now.

I still think it's just him floating and trying not to catch any injury and ensure he's healthy in playoffs. and I definitely refrain from any evaluation before the season ends. and yes, I think he still has it in him, it's just a matter of catching fire and excitement. of playoff hockey

QFT. a huge. clean hit. and it looks like Neil isn't really skating fast towards Boychuk. SOB is simply one huge rock and Boychuk should've kept his head up... I can't say that I hate the Bruins but this serves them right. take some of your poison and swallow, dirtbags...! as for comparisons with Kronwall... not quite... Kronwall normally nails guys with his back to make sure his arms are not hurt. watch Neil after this hit to understand why Kronner does it. plus: on a hit like this Kronwall would probably finish with his skates launched around Boychuk's head height. Neil stays low and his feet absorb some energy. different technique, at first glance more demanding on you body than what Kronwall does.

seems logic, but apparently not what Holland thinks at this point Wings are scoring in bunches, but Kenny just landed Quincey, Divealanche top scoring D-man who pots like 30-40 points a year. as for Kindl/Commodore debate... with Quincey in we are pretty damn stacked on D and with Ericsson's $3M/y I hardly see Kindl getting regular minutes. and if the team is in need for a defenseman in playoffs (because of some injury) I can easily imagine Babcock picking Commodore with his experience over Kindl. whether Kindl is a trade bait... dunno... 3 years ago I though the same about Jimmy Howard, so let's give Kindl benefit of the doubt and assume he's still to fully develop. If Wings are to miss Lidstrom or Stuart next year, it's worth to keep Kindl around rather than to shop him for a bag of pucks right now.

not sold on this trade. hope to be wrong

the point is: is it worth to sacrifice some future for a better shot at the cup now? if this means 1 Cup now and then quick rebuild (Nick is retiring anyway) rather than 4-5 years of making it to 2nd or 3rd playoff round but not further... then I say, sure as hell, it's the way to go.

gotta agree on the diagnosis. would be nice to steal points in the run for top spot in West, but other than that it's just another game. if anything Sharks game was big from Wings perspective as we needed to beat this ** for the sake of excorcizing demons. for the rest I'd say - starting end of March I'll bother about any games featuring teams from Pacific and from Alberta which creep around those last playoff spots. this looks like sure match right now, but if there's any way Wings would have spared air miles and still play an easier opponent - I'll be rooting for it.

in general much love for Pavel. more than you'd normally expect, but it's nice to hear. couple of things stuck me, though... VanMassenoven getting 9%. Canucks as 1/30 make up for 3% so who are the other 2 teams that get free ride from Don VanCouver? Tony Granato in top 5 of assistant coaches deserving full time job? like really, really? Avalanche 2004 anyone? worst ice/best ice - anyone stuck with correlation between this and geographical latitude? hardest players to take the puck away from - anyone stuck with the apparent correlation between the position in this rating and European provenience of the player Howard 5th in goalie ranking... pretty high I'd say. nice to see him getting the credit though...

I don't know what reffing standards are they used to, but Walkom did a fair number of weak calls to hand the Sharks game back. anyway... good win, but also kudos to Sharks for doing their best to close the game despite being tired and decimated by injuries. at some point it was their legs, not hearts, where the game was lost...

I liked Conklin with his first sting with the Wings, but boy oh boy... this time he's pretty brutal...

I smell a disciplinary hearing :hockeysmile: now honestly: congrats to Teemu. one of the classiest, hardest working and flashiest players of recent era. and I definitely hope he has more hockey left in the tank...

at this point it's Lundqvist's to lose. he's been one tough sob in goal and this year he'll likely grab this trophy. long overdue if you ask me...

personally, I don't like this decision. Rinaldo makes two bad decision in short span of time, agreed.... but suspension? I'd rather see Ericsson stop admiring his own passes and watch out when standing behind the goal and being free target for anyone charging from middle field. period. I can only repeat Clarke's comment after Umberger got destroyed by Campbell (see: ): "kid needs to grow up and stop admiring his own play". sure, it's different part of the ice and Rinaldo's hit is not clean. but come one... don't like this call, at all...

that definitely makes him more Italian than Dutch to me, considering the fact that Belgians and Dutch are two different (and veeery distinct) nations and if his dad was of Belgian descent, than Vanbiesbrouck could even be original (Flemish) surname...

as for 1 we could make a point, that it would be possible. and 4 is not a point if we're talking about playoff rental. as for 2 and to some degree 3 - this is definitely my main point against Carter. I was rather pointing out that stars are aligned for Wings to go for a really big name as a playoff rental right now. and there's more chance for me that Holland makes a big trade, than not. but you never know if it's going to work out before it happens.

touche! probably Van Biesbroeck in original version. add to this: Van Massenho(e)ven, Van|der|Meer, Versteeg, Bouwmeester and.... Yzerman (modern version: IJzerman, iron-man ) speaking of all-star Polish team (we are better than Aussie, though not by a long shot ) Czerkawski Oliwa Wolski Zolnierczyk Sidorkiewicz Konopka (that could be other Slavic, though)

at this point Wings: 1. are well stocked in terms of prospects in minors 2. have very decent NHL regular 3rd and 4th liners 3. have all 2012 draft picks available 4. have a lot of cap space 5. would love some skilled forward for a deep cup run 6. have Nick Lidstrom in what very likely is his last season 7. are high in the standings and will approach the playoffs healthy and in good shape if this doesn't smell like a mother-of-all-trades then I don't know what does it could probably need 8. Bobby Clark is the GM to make it better :hockeysmile: yes, I absolutely and fully expect Holland to pull a trigger for Jeff Carter or someone of this calibre. this team looks poised for a good cup run...

not bad... as for European roots... 200 years is not a history, it's merely a couple of generations and those couple of generations later, all Americans are grandgrandgrand(...)children of some Europeans. or Asians... see: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/02/geography/usa-surnames-interactive

every trade deadline report I read says there are no decent goalies on the market this time, so unless Blackhawks dig deep into the prospects pool or draft picks or decent regulars, this isn't really happening. Crawford is brutal and this isn't really a big surprise. this is a very big "if" about Blackhawks improving their goaltending. every GM in this league knows they badly need a decent G, asking prices will really start high...