haroldsnepsts

From his facebook page. An explanation that contains two product placements. I can respect putting your family and faith first, but with basically only a season or two left in his career at most, taking a year off is still an incredibly odd move. Why not just retire?

Agreed. As happy as I am that the Kings won, the actual games haven't been very good. They're letting so much interference go that it's gotten a little ridiculous out there. And as much as I would like Parise on the Wings, I'm disappointed to see him flopping a couple times tonight.

Dead puck era hockey is basically back in the Cup finals, minus full on waterskiing off a guy. The refs have let a ton of interference and hooking away from the play go. Both those penalties were good calls in general, but they adjusted their standard with 3 minutes left in the game. They should've been calling those from the get go.

I think it has to do more with how he handled that situation than his actual political affiliation. More than any snub of the presidency or anything, for me it was just a shame how he created this major distraction from what should've been a great day for his teammates. And honestly, let's keep this thread about him taking a year off and away from politics. There's a thread about Thomas skipping the whitehouse in the political forum, so any discussion of that should go there. This forum is one of the few safe havens where I don't have to think about that crap.

It's not so much the numbers he put up (or didn't put up as the case may be) it's the lack of "compete level" as Babcock would say. If he were working hard out there every shift and they just weren't going in, I think people would cut him more slack.

Even for a goalie, Thomas seems bats*** crazy. He had a .920 regular season save percentage and .923 playoff percentage this season. Those are both fairly consistent numbers for Thomas, just not the record setting performance from the previous year. Either way, I don't get why he'd choose not to play a season at the end of his career.

Honestly I think they could set it at a bajillion dollars because it's fictional until they re-negotiate the new CBA. If anything they probably want the highest, most optimistic projection for next year's cap so they can ratchet it down a bit in the new negotiations.

It's kind of a sad time for us as fans, but I have to remember that for Lidstrom himself it's an end to an incredible career and an overall positive thing. Who wouldn't want to have the kind of career Nick did? Sure it would've been nicer if the Wings won the Cup one last time for him, but he was one of the best to ever play the game, was insanely healthy through most of his career, and left the game on his terms while still playing at an elite level. How many players actually get to do that? I started watching the Wings as a serious fan the year they named Yzerman captain. In all my years as a Wings fan I have been incredibly lucky to get to watch franchise players like Yzerman and Lidstrom play for 20 years a piece. How many fans get to have not one but two superstar players who remained with the team their entire career and brought nothing but honor to the organization? Congrats Nick. And thank you.

That is a brilliant idea. Just getting to watch O'Halloran have to talk with Homer after disallowing one of his goals would be totally worth it.

NHL network showing the NHL 36 on Lids. That restaurant he went to before every game should name his usual pre-game meal after Nick. Gotta be a sad day for Homer. HIs close friend is hanging 'em up and going back to Sweden, and it sounds like Holmstrom still wants to play but may not have a place in the lineup.

It shows you how high of a standard Nick holds himself to when he starts the press conference talking about how you have to face your career not lasting as long as you wanted (after 20 years) because your body and drive just isn't where it needs to be to play at the level you want (as he retires as the teams #1 d-man and still among the best in the league).

I feel like he and his family probably walked out to the parking lot, got in a spaceship and flew home to whatever hockey god planet he came from.

Now that he's retired I feel like his accent has already gotten more Swedish.

The tank is definitely not empty Nick, it just started to move down a tiny notch from "god" closer to "mortal."

I'm confused. When does he get to the part where he says he's pleased to announce they've signed Suter, Weber, Doan and Parise and he's really looking forward to playing alongside them next season?

Me. The lack of moves at the deadline definitely stings more now.

I thought you'd enjoy that clip. Kopitar absolutely undressed Marty.

Kopitar is a stud. Go Kings!

I'd still say no thanks to Tootoo. Not just because of all his cheapshots and antics. He's still just too much of a liability in his own end.

Really sloppy game so far both ways. Does Jersey have crappy ice or something? The puck is bouncing all over the place.

I meant the league. If a goal is getting reviewed in Toronto, no way it happened that fast. If it did go off Voynov, it stinks to see the Kings luck hasn't changed with goals bouncing off their own guys. I swear it seemed like half of Phoenix's goals were actually in off Kings guys.

How is that Devils goal not even looked at? I honestly couldn't tell from the replay but it looked like there was at least a chance it was punched in.

Because no one other than Kings fans probably knows that Ponikarovsky played on LA last year. No one out east stays up to watch the games.

It kills me the glacial pace with which these negotiations proceed. You'd think they were communicating by pony express. In the next few weeks they'll begin to set the table of what they might talk about??? what the hell? Everybody pull out your iphones and set some dates, put the agenda on google docs and let's get this s*** going!