gcom007

Pity handout. Nothing more, nothing less. Did he play bad? No, but the two games that I believe would've counted for the week were utter and complete jokes. I think he'd even tell you that. Even yesterday, 2 goals on under 20 shots for a sub .900 sv%? Good for him for getting the nod, but if his name weren't Dominik Hasek, this wouldn't have happened.

Not sure we absolutely need it, but a speedy power forward who can get the fans going and isn't afraid to fight would be huge. Doesn't need to be a 40-50 goal scorer. 20-30 would be fine...I think we'll pull something off before March...

Umm, but he lost, Osgood won...ain't knocking Ellis, just saying...

I hate that Detroit had to play lousy to get a game to watch, but damn, that was fun getting all tied up in knots in the 3rd. The ending was so much more exciting. Hopefully they pick their game up along with the other teams as that was some entertaining hockey despite the sloppiness. Great game by Ozzie. 14-1-1...unreal and just an outstanding effort tonight to get that 14th...it was all his.

I've got to say I'm enjoying this more than the last few games though. It's nice to actually be watching a game as opposed to street hockey.

I guess that makes sense...it seemed way too odd...not the type of goal he's been letting in this year. He's looked great other than that. Note to Hasek fans, observe the kind of game Ozzie's playing tonight which is typical of his play this year. When Hasek starts playing this well against this many shots and good pressure, you can consider thinking about "The Dominator" actually being back. Until then, the only one worthy of being called dominant is still clearly Osgood.

Sloppy play sans Lidstrom getting back. Don't quite know what Osgood was thinking there. Seems like he should've had it from what I saw but the play never should've happened to begin with. Either Nashville's playing a lot better than the Wild and Habs or we're not playing too hot. Probably a bit of both. I'm fine with giving up goals. It happens. I'm not cool with giving up shorthanded goals at the end of the period. Not cool.

You are irrational because you can't recognize that my distaste for the play arises from a distaste for the rules on the matter. You continually keep saying "rules are rules" which is a relevant point in some arguments, however, it's not a logical rebuttal to what I as well as others have said about not liking the rule. You either don't understand what you're reading or don't take the time to process the opposing sides argument as anything more than slanted anti-Hasek propaganda...and that as if the converse of the statement couldn't just as easily be turned around on you with the same amount of argumentative power. You don't have to agree with what I say at all, but stop assuming so much and deal with what's there and you'll start developing a more logical, rational habit of posting. And I don't mean that in a small way.

Hudler's looking great. I think the Kozlov comparison was quite appropriate and a big compliment as Kozlov really has had a great career. He'll be a great 30-40 goal guy before too long.

Odd game if you ask me. Not complaining about the win or that it was close for most of it though. I almost want to root against our defense though. It's just gotten to the point where they seem too good. Again, not really complaining, but after awhile, it's just kinda mind-blowing how completely stifling our D is in every way. Then when we can turn it around and be a huge force on Offense as well, you don't leave the oppositions D much room to sneak in and take chances that might give the opposition the edge. It's just nuts... Overall, nice game for Huds. Lilja goal was nice...Datsyuks as well. Carolina's goalie deserved better. Hasek was eh...not really bad but not really good considering how little he has to do behind our D. Again on that, my mind is just blown...our ability to shut down teams is insane and as I believe Mickey said, they work harder than about any other team going back so it's not surprising. Just insane though...

People don't like the instigator rule. But it's a rule. Rules are rules. It's ok for them to *****. I don't like that goalies can do this. Never have. So I can't *****? You're beyond irrational.

I don't like Hasek much at all but I think most will attest that my reasons are different than the bandwagon Osgood fans primarily because it's not like I'm Osgood's biggest fan by any stretch. I've been more than fair about giving Hasek his due and have supported him getting starts to prove if he can handle it more than half the Hasek-bandwagon. I've also said all along that I want the best guy starting in the playoffs whoever that may be. I don't think Dom had intent to injure at all. I'm not arguing that at all. I believe 100% that he was trying to make the save. However, by no means does that mean that I think that the type of play isn't dangerous.

I love to see Zetterberg step in but at the same time, nothing scares me more especially with his history of wrist issues. I really, really think a Shanahan-esque player would be huge for this team down the stretch. A guy who can score, hit and fight...the typical power forward...I know, I know, same old fantasy. I think it could be a deal-breaker though in the playoffs. We've certainly got plenty of potential to be successful with what we've got, but a power forward would be huge. He doesn't even have to be able to score as well as Shanahan. A 20-30 goal guy is fine. Just someone's who's offensively solid enough for line 2 but who can bring it physically too...balance.

If Osgood does this tomorrow, I'll post all the same s*** and worse. I don't like the play. I never have. If I was making the rules, it wouldn't happen without serious consequences. As we saw in the last game, you're asking for serious trouble in plays like this. Anytime someone's skating in and you dive at them, something like this could happen. It just hasn't yet. Now it has. If he landed funny on his head, this would be a totally different situation, and again, a play like this begs for it to happen. It's not worth the risk and besides, I'd rather see a clean breakaway anyways. It's better for the game to and to be able to see guys make those breakaway plays as well as not having to worry about another way guys might get their necks broken. I don't get how some people don't see a serious potential problem when you've got two people charging full speed at each other and one of them (loaded with all the padding in the world) drops and slides right into them. There's some serious physics issues working against the skater here. We saw it in full action Friday. If some guy pulled this on Dats or Zetterberg (let alone if they got seriously injured or not...), this place would be a marching mob headed to Gary Bettmans office. And don't even try to act as if you wouldn't...

Fine, you can say it, but turn it around. If you're going to suggest that some of his think it's a stupid play because we dislike Dom, than the contrary is just as plausible. I feel I've been more than fair and objective about Dom when things really shake down. I have my preferences but I'm team first guy who values winning. I know you don't always deal well with that kind of rationale and objectivity, but that's the way I roll. And I don't think it's so much dirty as the intent is to stop the goal. I think it's just blatantly stupid because you put yourself and the other guy at serious risk. I don't care who does it. If Osgood tries to do it in the next game, I'd rip it more because I'd see it as a developing trend. I call it how I see it. If I was making the rules, plays like that would absolutely not be allowed to happen. They want to challenge with their stick or shoulders fine, don't dive at a guys knees. No one on the ice should be doing that to anyone. Common ******* sense. Get some and get real.

I know, I was more or less agreeing with you. I stated that he certainly played a big part in that Game 6 loss but the rest of the time you can't really blame him and you can't put it all on that one game.

My mind was blown when Ken Daniels said that. I mean, what was he supposed to do? Take the play like every other goalie in the world does? I mean, geez, call me eccentric, but...........

I don't know how much this has to do with it, but I'll tell you, as a former player, the idea of a goalie flying out at me like that scares the s*** out of me. All I can think about is how my knees would handle it. You guys gotta remember, this stuff happens on the ice so much faster than we can imagine watching at home and when you've got six feet of mass sliding at your knees on a breakaway, it can be tough to get around it. It's like a car crash...it can happen in an instant. In this instance, I don't like it. It's entertaining to watch in retrospect but plays like this take "challenging" to the extreme and you're just asking for trouble. Then as soon as someone actually does get hurt everyone changes their tune. I don't care if it's happened before, tonight was extreme and was very close to being really ugly. As opposed to basing justification on the previous existence of the play not yielding issues, shouldn't this close-call serve as a warning to the danger of the play as opposed to it being celebrated and justified even more so? Again, if this was a player diving at another players knees, this would be a different story. I don't see why the goalie should be different especially considering an even greater potential for damage based on sheer mass.

Here's how to accurately measure this hit: if Gaborik landed on his neck and broke it, how would you and the world perceive the hit then? While Hasek is certainly a better goalie than I've ever been, his logic here is pretty shaky if he's trying to justify himself. Sliding into the puck first a millisecond before you invariably are going to slide into the player doesn't really negate the fact that you're taking a pretty good risk when you dive into the knees of anyone especially someone sailing in on a breakaway.

Honestly, while in the aftermath with seemingly no injuries, it's fun to laugh about and make light of, in the moment I was freaking out pretty bad because that could've so easily gone really, really bad. All fan bias aside, honestly, it was a stupid thing to do. The guy above is right about the challenging completely as well. There was no race. Should he have had his head up? Yeah, but lots of guys who have gotten injured bad on dirty plays didn't have their heads up either because certain things you just shouldn't expect to happen even though they sadly do. While this isn't on the same level of "dirty plays" as some, given the score, the time left in the game, and level of control of the puck, this was completely unnecessary and it's just a damn good thing he wasn't injured. This kind of showmanship isn't worth the risk. If a skater pulled something like that he'd be crucified and a goalie is a bigger target. If this kind of "challenging" happens more often, someone will get hurt or something will be done. At the very least, it's excessive.

Honestly, while in the aftermath with seemingly no injuries, it's fun to laugh about and make light of, in the moment I was freaking out pretty bad because that could've so easily gone really, really bad. All fan bias aside, honestly, it was a stupid thing to do. The guy above is right about the challenging completely as well. There was no race. Should he have had his head up? Yeah, but lots of guys who have gotten injured bad on dirty plays didn't have their heads up either because certain things you just shouldn't expect to happen even though they sadly do. While this isn't on the same level of "dirty plays" as some, given the score, the time left in the game, and level of control of the puck, this was completely unnecessary and it's just a damn good thing he wasn't injured. This kind of showmanship isn't worth the risk. If a skater pulled something like that he'd be crucified and a goalie is a bigger target. If this kind of "challenging" happens more often, someone will get hurt or something will be done. At the very least, it's excessive.

Oh, I think Dom showed signs last year that things were declining. I hate pointing to this as it's the cliche people who don't know how to watch the game cling to, but you've gotta look at that Game 6 loss to Anaheim as a prime example. There's no way in hell you can convince me that Hasek would've played so poorly if it were 2002, and even then he wasn't quite the Dominator of the Sabres years. There was some serious mental toughness lacking there especially in the 3rd when then teams (finally...) turning it around and you let in yet another soft goal to put a nail in the coffin. I'm not saying he sucked all year and like I said, I hate picking that out, but it's a blatant and profound example of how much things have changed between 2002 and 2007. I don't think he's had the composure he once did and I've noticed it since his return. It's not so obvious on this team that's so strong defensively and giving up so few shots and scoring chances, but I just don't think he's looked so comfortable out there especially the 2nd half of last season. Again, that's not to say he's horrible, but I have definitely seen signs of the decline and even last year, once Osgood got healthy I think he was playing as good or better than Hasek. This isn't a new thing for me. You can probably find old posts of mine from last year expressing this concern with no expectation of Osgood gaining anything attached as Dom was obviously the starter. This isn't a new thing or a bandwagon thing from my end. Now we can argue about the perception but not the rationality. Yeah, Game 5 was about really stupid calls by the refs and the team not having it in them to get it done. Even with the refs making stupid calls, the team didn't overcome. You've gotta allow for that sort of thing. Game 6 though was pretty ugly on Dom's part. While our guys didn't show up offensively until the 3rd period, they did show up and put us in a position to win while Hasek never showed up and let in a soft goal right as we had the momentum going. So game 6, I think Hasek deserves a good deal of blame. The rest of the playoffs, can't complain even with the team he had in front of him. He managed to get the job done. But game 6...still blows my mind.

Like I said, I'm not saying he played bad. I'm not remotely disappointed with anything related to Hasek in terms of the last two games and the hit was great. Generally speaking though, you could double Minnesota's good chances and amp up the "good" and it's still not half of what he'll face against a descent team in a good game. If you're worth league minimum money, you better only be letting in 1 goal at most in games like these. Now jack the price up to $4 million and play him against some real teams in real games and see if he's worth it. You have to be objective about this: with Osgood playing as well as he is for under a million, even if Hasek manages to squeak by and play a little better, why are we paying $4 million for absolutely minute advantages? Instead, you've got another $3 million to pour into your offense or stacking the D up more than it is. I see a lot more upside on putting that money towards the skaters at this point. That's been a sticking point for me since Osgood's returned in general. Granted, we weren't paying Legace much, none the less, when you have a goalie as capable as Osgood has proven to be, why not role with him and see how it goes and put money elsewhere and see if you have an issue come trade deadline. Given that we never really have had rational reasons to blame the goalies for playoff defeats (sans Legace who shared an equal role) I don't see the harm. It feels like it's more about the hype of having a big name goalie than addressing what we actually need. To recap, if either goalie can play as well as Osgood has or we suspect Dom is capable of, what's the point of paying Dom $4 million a year? His best last year wasn't much better than Osgood's consistently been this year. To bring it back home, considering that, there's no way I can get jazzed up over these last two victories. He better play infinitely better than Osgood for the move not to be a bust in my book. That's not even so much a knock at Dom as the situation. In the cap era, if you can get it done for $1 million, it's stupid to pay someone else $4 million. It's as simple as that.

I'm not trying to degrade Hasek or put him down in any way. I have no complaints whatsoever about his play in the last two games. As I've said, despite my preference towards Osgood, ultimately I want the best guy in net when it counts whoever that may be. That said, the whole "Dom's back" thing is still really premature. Again, I'm not saying he's played bad at all. He's been fine, but both of these games were utter and complete jokes. Besides the fact that he faced very few shots in each game, the even fewer actual "chances" he faced were as mediocre as they come. You're talking two totally lopsided match-ups where the opposition could barely hold onto the puck even on the power play. He hasn't faced anything close to a real challenge and I'm not saying he won't deliver when it comes but if these two lopsided wins is all it takes to convince you, then I guess a lot of y'all are even more irrational than I thought. Again, I wish him the best and I hope he improves and I've said all along that I hope he can get back to "Dominator" form as few can compete with it, I think it's still a bit too early to assess where he's really at. I'm not trying to rain on the parade either, I'm just saying, rational responses don't make you any less of a fan. "Men against boys" isn't a strong enough statement about these games. Give it time.

Street Hockey Part 2...these last couple games are kinda boring...I love winning and all but it's almost just a joke...how many shots on goal does MN have? 5? There power play was just abysmal and then we go and cap it off with a short-handed goal...I can't believe I'm complaining about winning, but you know, competition and close games really do it for me...I hope the Wings keep playing this well but I sure hope some of the other teams decide to rise to the occasion for a change...