haroldsnepsts

Why is it I'm only able to watch the crap games and miss most of this one? Mule speared someone??

I only caught the tail end of the second period, but I see Backes has continued to prove me right. Anyone got a clip of the boarding on Dats? I'm guessing no one did anything to Backes afterwards.

I think the most surprising part of Brunner's goal was that Ericsson got a quick shot off from the point. He didn't get it through but it's good to see he's learning that he can't take that giant windup.

Well he was suspended by the Bruins for not reporting and I think is somewhere in Colorado. He may not even be aware he was traded. Bill Daly's take on the trade. Pierre LeBrun‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun NHL's view on Thomas trade, from Bill Daly: ``As long as a Player has an active contract that he has the right to return to absent unusual circumstances, our view is that he remains a "hockey asset" that a Club has a right to trade or acquire.''

Honestly I'm pretty terrible at predicting contract amounts. Especially given the new CBA, it'll be interesting to see what that does to the free agent market. Given the new rules if they sign him long term Jimmy's first few years may be at low value, then jump up significantly. Because I think on the front end you can make 100% leaps up in value, it's only the back end that is subject to the variance rule. Plus the lower first few years can help avoid escrow payments as the dollar amount of the cap (ideally) increases each year.

Technically his contract ends this season but as Lebrun points out, they may try and toll it. Then things get interesting. It could be Nabokov all over again.

To get to the cap floor, Isles acquire Tim Thomas for conditional 2nd rounder in 2014 or 2015. Arthur Staple ‏@StapeNewsday Reports out there are correct: #Isles have acquired G Tim Thomas for a conditional 2nd-rounder in either 2014 or 2015. Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun Just so people are clear, Tim Thomas still doesn't plan on playing this season. This a cap move by the Isles. Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun The question is, would theIslanders want to ``toll'' Thomas' contract for next season? Don't know that... that would be interesting If there's a record for most money spent on goalies who don't play, it must be owned by the Islanders.

wow you guys will debate anything. Instead of getting side tracked in a fictional Hart Trophy debate, I'd like to get back to my original points. All I said was Quick has played at a level Jimmy hasn't yet. That's my opinion based on having watch them both play a lot the last few seasons. Second, as I said earlier, of the problems this Red Wings team has, Howard is not at or anywhere near the top of that list. Lastly, I think Jimmy is a very good goaltender and it's probably an advantage of the Wings to be able to sign him at a "very good" and not "elite" rate, especially with the cap getting cranked down again. Very few of those goaltenders turn out to be worth the money. I think Howard is more than good enough to win a Cup with the right team in front of him.

Sure, in a universe where they determine the Hart trophy candidates by looking at a single statistic without taking into consideration how they actually played the games and what they meant to their team through a course of a season, I guess you could say Howard would be .09 SV% away. I was basing my opinion on having watched a ton of Kings games the last few years along with Wings games. All I said was Quick has played at a level Howard hasn't yet. It's not really that outrageous of a statement, especially considering all the positive things I've said about Jimmy. It remains to be seen if Quick himself will even be able to maintain that level of play long term. Jimmy is very good, not elite. And that's probably great for the Wings. There are very few elite goalies out there and it takes a ton of cap space to keep them.

Avery could've been a pretty great hockey player if it were anywhere near his number one priority in life. It's hard to believe the guy is only 32 and pretty much washed up because of his own doing.

Yes. Quick was elite all last season. The Kings couldn't score goals to save their lives and he held them in a lot of games they had no business even being in. I know they don't really like to include many goalies in the nominations but he would've been a deserving candidate for the Hart. Kings fans were chanting "MVP" when Quick stole another game even before the playoffs began. The playoffs and Cup run brought attention and legitimized his performance to the rest of the hockey world. As for before last season, it's hard to say. He was very good on an underachieving team but honestly it is hard to call someone truly elite when they don't have some hardware or at least stellar playoff runs to back it up.

Having seen him play a lot, Quick is capable of playing at a level I've not seen Howard reach, but in general Howard is plenty good. as I think I said earlier, of all the problems to complain about with the Wings, Howard isn't anywhere near the top of that list.

I'm half wondering if we should start a thread for these majorly blown calls. Desjardin catches Mayers with his head down and crushes him with a clean hard hit. Refs eject him and give him a major penalty. Hawks get 5 minute power play and score the go ahead goal on the ensuing 4 on 4 (Keith got 2 min for instigating and another 2 for instigating with a visor). It doesn't give me a lot of hope for the officiating when the supervisor of ofiicials is Mick McGeough. That guy was an awful ref.

You forgot "active stick" and Detroit's "subtle interference."

That is both hilarious and great analysis of defensive breakdowns. It looks like on that play Suter was being lazy and was just hoping to circle around in coverage instead of having to stop and start to stay with his man. The announcers were talking about that for Jagr during the latest Stars game. Apparently the coaches were pointing out how he was circling too much in his own end, trying to save energy, instead of stopping and staying with his man. To his credit, Jagr apparently worked on it and joked about it being hard to break 20 years of bad habits. I love this one as well. "Analysis: maybe don't defend like this" http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2013/02/05/backhand-shelfs-shortest-systems-analyst-post-ever/

Well, by simple virtue of not having Lids on the blueline any defensive corps is going to take a major step down so yeah, you'd have to go back to the days when #5 was Darren Veitch. And right now Kindl is looking like another Yves Racine. (i'm old ) But yeah, this is a very piecemeal looking collection. A lot of middle pairing guys at best, many of whom aren't even playing like a middle pairing. Howard isn't anywhere near the top of the problems with the Wings right now. He's not elite but very good. And with the cap continuing to get ratcheted down it's probably better to have a value goaltender than having a ton of cap space tied up in one player.

This one is more borderline but another waved off goal. IMO, Kopitar is out of the paint and it gets called because of Mason falling. For fun listen to the Blue Jackets announcers. Those guys are awful.

I understand that, but depending on the injury if guys play hurt now they may miss months instead of weeks. In the playoffs they can do that because they've got the offseason to recover. Here they could just end up missing even more of the season.

One of the stories on Ilitch (in the USA Today I think?) made reference to how much he hates the salary cap in hockey and is glad in baseball he can still spend what he wants. I'd have to think the Tigers are getting most of his attention these days as he tries to win a world series.

If it were playoffs or even close to playoffs some of these guys would be in the lineup. But 9 games into the season when guys play hurt they can end up injuring themselves more and missing even more of the season. The injury bug stinks. I think the Wings as a team lack speed, size (forwards anyway) and dare I say it grit, but that's a separate issue than these injuries.

This is a thread for discussing the game. Like it or not, complaining about players is on topic and relevant to the discussion. Lecturing other members about their level of fandom and name calling, even when it's not directed at anyone specific, is still off topic and against forum rules. People continuing to make those kinds of posts will have their entire post deleted and will be receiving suspensions. EDIT: TO CLARIFY, complaining about players is not inherently on-topic. My point was that if it is on topic, it is not against forum rules to criticize players even though it may be an unpopular opinion. However, incessant complaining about a player not relevant to what is happening in the game may still be considered spamming, derailing the thread, and or/trolling. Basically use common sense. If you're not sure a post meets forum guidelines, consider whether or not it contributes anything to the discussion at hand. And though it may seem surprising, the evil mods here will usually give you clear warnings before they bring down the hammer. Thank you, carry on.

When you lump dozens of people's opinions together, of course it's going to seem contradictory.

While of course he's done things that benefitted him financially (he is a successful businessman after all), he's also made business decisions that benefitted Detroit when he could've gone elsewhere. I wasn't saying the guy is a saint. My main point is I think it's a little childish to slander someone as senile and drunk, particularly on a website called "LetsGoWings" when he's a large part of the reason there's something to root for with the franchise.

I guess this is how Vancouver figures they can say the've won a Cup? For the press photos to be more realistic Kesler should've been laying on the ground with his arms up whining to a ref.

I know there's some dispute about taxes he owes and whatnot, but that doesn't erase the good that he's done for the city. Of course he wants to make money off it but he's carved out an area of Detroit people can go to sporting events, concerts, eat, drink, etc. And dealing with the city of Detroit and the city council in particular cannot be an enjoyable or easy task. Point being, Ilitch has done a lot of good for Detroit and certainly deserves praise for buying the Dead Things and restoring the Wings to their former glory. It's one thing to poke fun at that awful rug on his head, but implying he's some senile drunk is pretty classless.