Nightfall

Meh....maybe. Anytime you allow a forward in clean on your goalie you run the risk of your goalie not being able to stop it. Especially if the only guy back is a forward.

We have a winner

No defense had nothing to do with it then?

Nice goal by Sammy. Kipper is in the zone though.

While I am a huge fan of Thorne and Clement doing the NHL games, on ESPN or otherwise, I am leery about ESPN getting back into hockey and here is why. I am a big hockey fan, and I know memories are short here but does anyone remember how ESPN treated hockey back in the mid to late 90s and through till the NHL signed with Versus? There were games, both regular season and playoffs, that were cutoff because of other scheduled events. I remember at least once a month I would tune into a game and not see it because some golf thing was going into extra time or some other event was starting so they had to cut the game off in the 3rd period before OT started. There were even times where games they were going to televise were canceled in lieu of other events that were more popular. ESPN treated the NHL like dirt and a last tier sport. Now, if ESPN wants to get back into the business of hockey, I applaud them, but this buffoonary of them preempting games or shutting games off early isn't going to fly with me. They won't fly with wings fans either who find themselves in a situation where ESPN has exclusive rights to a game and yet ESPN chooses not to put it on because some sports figure is coming out of the closet and that news is more important than hockey. Versus does not do that crap and thats why I do like them for hockey coverage so far. They do give the NHL more coverage than ESPN gave them, but they are a smaller network. I acknowledge that. The more networks that hockey is seen on the better off hockey is. That means a bigger audience and hopefully more people will tune in. ESPN is bigger than Versus so I do hope that ESPN gets to air some games. With thousands of games being played, there is more than enough for every network to have a cut of the action.

Never like to see anyone with that kind of competitive drive and determination forced to retire. It sucks, but at least Roberts played hard until he was 42 and accomplished more than 99% of the hockey players out there will ever accomplish in their lifetimes. Winning a Stanley Cup, played in 3 all star games, and a ton of great stats. 1224 games played 438 goals 472 assists 910 points +229 over the course of his career :beerbuddy:

Am I the only one that thinks Neil isn't that good of a depth pickup for the Wings? If they can get him for nothing, and I mean nothing, its fine. With Leino and Helm though, they have plenty of depth past the starters.

There are times I am glad that the NHL has set rules for players getting their names on the cup. Players who worked hard to come back like McCarty and maybe only played 1 game in the finals should get credit. Maybe someone played all through the regular season and then got injured for the playoffs. That person should also be considered a cup winning player. As for goalies, even Brodeur's backup played all season, practiced hard, maybe played 15 games, and so on. He worked his ass off as much as Brodeur did and deserves his name on the cup and gets it. I think this would be a good topic of conversation for the main forum here. Seems that some people are anal about who should be put on the cup and who shouldn't.

My main point is that it should and does count especially if the goalie has made a significant contribution in the regular season and playoffs. Gerber won a cup with Carolina and deservedly so. Like it or not, the record books support it.

You are right, he is a 2 time Cup winning goalie. Most people understand that getting to the playoffs is what matters first. Apparently, Haseks play in the regular season in getting us there doesn't count to some people. Whatever, time to move on to the topic at hand.....

I don't know about that one. Time will tell because chemistry is everything.

I think that anyone who makes a significant contribution in the regular season or at least some in the playoffs deserved to be rewarded. Should we just start nixing players like McCarty who played only one finals game from the cup because they weren't in every game? Chelios too? Meh. You are right, just a difference of opinion. I choose to go off of the NHL Record books not the "what I believe to be true but isn't" book.

Burnside (12:25 p.m. ET): Interesting waiver wire moves Wednesday, including the Stars picking up good guy Brendan Morrison, whose career has hit a significant bump the last couple of years. With injuries in Vancouver, and then not really fitting in with Anaheim this season, look for Morrison to get a chance to showcase some decent offensive skills with the injury-plagued Stars. Morrison was a great player but hasn't been playing well as of late. Still, I think he has great skills and should be able to fit in well with Dallas.

What is it with people these days? Thats such a bullcrap statement. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?i...e=nhl-red_wings In 96-97 he played half the games. He made a major contribution. Yet, I haven't heard any reason why it shouldn't count other than the fact he didn't play playoffs which is such a copout. Point is that it counts.

He played a major part of the season in getting them to the playoffs. Without his contribution, they don't even make it. IMHO it should count and it does. I think its cheap of anyone to slight any player like that. Especially someone who did his job and maybe got injured in the first round of playoffs and was unable to compete. Either that or won a ton of games in the regular season then sat backup for the hot hand which makes sense. He still did his part though and thats the point.

3 time cup winning goalie. 97, 98, and 2008

Making a trade for the sake of making one isn't a good strategy. I certainly don't want the wings to give up picks for a depth player. Trust in Ken Holland. He will make the right call.

I think you could tell the people on this board the same thing. All the people thinking this is a finals game and bitching about the Wings....its just overreaction.

Definitely not an insipred effort so far tonight. Not just the defense, goaltending, or forwards. Nashville is just taking it to us at home and getting all the bounces to boot. Ah well, its just one game. Some days the puck goes in for you and bounces your way. Others it doesn't. This is just one of those days where it doesn't and they picked a day to be lazy as well. Lets hope Babcock kicks these guys in the ass during the intermission.

As a freelance photographer, I can tell you that you have some good shots there. I got my start doing college hockey games for Ferris State, Western, and Michigan state back in 1998. I haven't done anything professional in the last couple years but I am stepping back into the photography arena at the end of March for some college hockey at Van Andel. The point is if you want to do this as a hobby or professionally, getting practice is the first step. You are getting that and thats great. If you can do some high school photography like of hockey, thats another good step for you to take.

I also recall them yanking the offer off the table and it wasn't 3 months. More like 2 weeks. I could be wrong though, but I can't find any sources on this online. Would be helpful to find a source though if you have a disagreement on something like this. As for Rafalski, he is worth the money in my mind.

Excellent first post. I agree!

I have to agree with this. I have become a very big fan of the Capitals since last year. Not as much of a fan as I am of the Wings, but so much to the point where I catch as many Caps games as I can on my Center Ice Package. The team reminds me of a college hockey team where they have so much enthusiasm and the fans bring forward a lot of energy for their team. I approve of Ovechkin's goal celebrations. He doesn't celebrate to the extreme for every goal, but for the ones he does they are warranted. I loved the goal he scored in the playoffs last year against Philadelphia. His goal celebration afterwords was awesome. I think the NHL needs more players like this. High energy, highly skilled, and very exciting to watch. At the same time though, they are respectful as much as any player is. It isn't like he is taunting other players with his celebrations or talking smack. Which is more than I can say for a couple of the rec leagues I play in.

Fedorov is a great player. I know some people don't like him for one reason or another, but I do. Without him, the Wings don't win the cup in 1997, 98, or 02 for that matter. He scored some big goals for the Wings through is career and is doing a good job in Washington. In fact, I catch a lot of the Washington games on my center ice package and I enjoy them a lot. Not as much as the Wings, but the Caps have a high energy style to their game which is fun to watch. Fedorov will probably be in the hall of fame someday. He has deserved it with his play on the ice thats for sure.

It was a bad outing. The Griffins had 3 5-on-3 power play opportunities of over 1 minute. One of them for a full two minutes and couldn't score on any of them. The boarding call was pretty bad, but the Griffins were their own worst enemies here.