haroldsnepsts

My problem with the article is that is furthers the myth that Stevens was a headhunter or that his hits only contacted the head. People watch a couple Youtube clips of his hits on Kariya and Lindros and act like his career was full of those. When he KO'd Kozlov, he still contacted mostly body. Even if the hits did involve the head, they're usually dead on to the body, skates on the ice and would be legal by today's rules. In his 22 year NHL career, Stevens had maybe a handful of hits that would be suspension worthy under the current climate. In general he had a sixth sense for catching guys when they weren't paying attention, in a similar way Kronwall does now. That's still legal when you hit the body.

Smith absolutely played that wrong. Even without the head contact, it was an all or nothing defensive move, with the much greater chance of getting nothing and leaving Ben in for a clean breakaway. It doesn't matter that he's 6'2". Rob Blake is 6'3" and threw devastating hip checks. They just have to be done properly. But when you line a guy up at that severe an angle, there's a high potential you'll miss. And if you throw a shoulder to try and catch some of him, there's a high potential you'll clip him in the head.

I couldn't believe how similar the two hits were when I saw them. I'm not knocking Smith for not being able to hit like Vladdy, but that's kind of the point. You've got to get it exactly right to pull of something like that. It is a prime example of how the hit should be thrown, and why Brendan's was high risk and incorrect. If Vladdy had missed, he never would've come near Lemieux's head. Plus Claude could have just retracted it into his shell.

Doughty is more talented than Phaneuf. I don't know a lot about Phaneuf's early years, other than he seemed to get a lot of hype for his size and big hits. I can't imagine Doughty disappointing like that, unless he gets his brain rattled again.

My worry is how these 5 games get served. Assuming they have to be served when he's on the NHL club's roster, this ruins Smith's chances as a call up this season, doesn't it? If there's injuries to the defense and they need another body, I can't see Babcock calling up Smith only to have him sitting due to suspension. I'm hoping I'm not understanding the circumstances correctly, but if that's the case then 5 games is way too long. They just screwed this kid out of playing in the NHL at all this year.

Ben didn't headbutt his shoulder. Brendan threw a high risk hit and missed, only clipping the head. Now he's getting punished for it. Here's the way it should be done. compared to the wrong way. Vladdy takes a better angle and is coming in low for the hip check. He's got his body lined up properly with Lemieux's, so even when Turtle tries to avoid the hit, Konstantinov makes solid contact with him. Brendan came east west and was going to miss, so he threw a shoulder, which has an extremely high chance of clipping a guy in the head. Ben Smith didn't have his head extraordinarily low. It was where most guy's would be when they're carrying the puck. I think the suspension is too long, but this was not Ben Smith's fault because of a toe drag move or having his head too low.

Wow. I was thinking rest of preseason and a couple regular season games. This is a young player who made a bad decision and threw a high risk hit. Not a repeat offender in the NHL, and obviously still learning to play at this level. I love what Shanny is doing overall but this seems a bit harsh. It's not like Brendan was headhunting out there.

He's no Lidstrom, but you have to remember that Doughty is 21 years old and a Norris trophy nominated defenseman. He's the real deal, he just has some maturing to do. I don't think it's any coincidence that his best season he was paired with Sean O'Donnell (He put up 60 points in his second season in the NHL). The concussion last season definitely affected his game and accounts in part for the low numbers, but he also tries to do too much by himself at times. He's very talented, but he's not Bobby Orr out there. It's a big paycheck, but it's for the player they think this kid can be, not just who he is now. Doughty is their franchise, even more than Kopitar. Add to that he's got that super-****** for an agent, Meehan I think? Practically any star player who has him represent them, the negotiations go right up to or into the season.

Ah. I knew it would be close but I didn't totally work out the math. I guess he was technically clear by a couple weeks. Still, the Seabrook hit, Wiz came up elbows high on a guy without the puck. So when he elbows Clutterbuck (who didn't have the puck either), it definitely makes him look like a repeat offender. Then throw on top of that all his other suspensions.

On top of his general history of suspensions, I'm pretty sure Wiz was still under the 18 month window for his suspension on the Seabrook hit.

we should just turn this into the Wings injury thread. Clearly, Stu, Commie, Dats with a sore back. And away we go... And I'd rather Cleary sit and get closer to 100% healthy than come back injured and play through the pain.

I don't usually watch a lot of pre-season hockey so maybe it's always this way, but my question is, borderline plays aside, are there always this many stupid plays in the pre-season? suspension or not, this seems like a hell of a lot of clear hits from behind for preseason hockey. On any given two week period of the regular season it would be more than usual. maybe because it's not the regular lineup more of this kind of stuff goes on??

Agreed. And it seems like he will have to frontload fairly high given what other guys are signing for, and also so it looks fair relative to Ericsson's deal. Even if he were to make more than Lids, that doesn't mean he thinks he's Lidstrom's equal. At 30 Kronwall is fairly young, and the very fact that Lidstrom will be retiring soon makes him more valuable and will drive up the price of his contract. That's a giant hole in the lineup to fill, and while no one can do it completely, Kronner is the one currently on the Wings able to pick up the most slack.

Agreed. Terrible decision by Smith. Looked like he overcommitted and got burned, so threw the shoulder to try and catch a piece of him.

That pretty much sums it up. I think he takes a lot of abuse because of the high expectations from his rookie season, and he has a lumbering skating style that makes it seem like he's not working hard. Pronger has a similar skating style (I am in no way comparing the ability of the two). Ericsson is a solid #5 guy, but because of the circumstances this summer got himself a nice contract. Honestly as much as I respect Raf for his decision, I think he kind of screwed the team a little if he really didn't even let management know he was going to retire. It would've really helped Holland to have that information when planning for the offseason. Unfortunately I'm not optimistic that Ericsson will develop enough to make that contract worthwhile. I hope that Babcock and Holland are seeing things I'm not, because while he's not bad, he doesn't seem to be making any great strides either. It's the same mantra with him. Be more physical. Make the simple play. Get that slapshot off faster. Kindl has more potential because he's younger and a natural defenseman, but he's got similar issues. Not nearly physical enough, needs to work on his positioning, and boneheaded turnovers. Kindl doesn't have the heat that Ericsson does on his slapper, but he does seem better at getting it off fast and through traffic. I haven't seen enough of Smith to really have a handle on him. He's clearly got skills and good size, but at this level he's going to have to be much more defensively responsible and not always be thinking up ice. Hopefully that part of his game will develop and he can be like a Rafalski (preferably the Olympics version).

To clarify, my comments on Ericsson were specifically about last night's game. I haven't seen him play any other time this preseason. And honestly I don't think Ericsson was that great his first season. He was very good for a rookie. So the expectation was that he'll be great once he gets experience. Unfortunately, he hasn't really developed much. It's like with Kindl. He's not better than Ericsson right now, but what he has going for him is he has a lot less experience than Ericsson, so there's a lot of potential and hope for his development. I still hold out hope for all these guys, because it'd be a great problem to have if Ericsson, Kindl and Smith are all playing well and fighting for ice time. My worry is that the knock against all of them is ill-timed, boneheaded turnovers. But maybe that's common for developing defenseman that aren't stay-at-home dmen.

Maybe you had the wrong play? Ericsson wasn't even on the ice for the goal you're talking about. So you're going to use a ridiculous statement like that to avoid backing up your statement? It's not even about Ericsson specifically. It's about this people here constantly needing a whipping boy. If you've read anything I've ever posted about Ericsson, it's far from me thinking he's awesome. People just talk about how much he sucks and I seriously just want to know what they're seeing that makes them say that. I watched the game. He looked ok, even had a few plays that showed promise for him finally improving. He didn't struggle to get out the zone in the 2 periods I saw, and he wasn't the one primarily at fault on the third goal (which is the one I think you meant). You say he's partially at fault for that goal, but Kindl was the one who made the awful defensive play, yet you apparently didn't see that part? Ericsson doesn't suck. He's just an average bottom pairing guy. Now he's an overpaid #5 guy, but there's a small chance he can improve to earn his contract.

http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/7006283/jody-shelley-philadelphia-flyers-gets-10-game-suspension-hit-behind I honestly think this is a great start for Shanny. 10 games seemed harsh at first, but this was such a clear hit from behind that could have easily been avoided. When there's as little grey area in what happened as a hit like this, I think the league should come down hard. I don't want to jump the gun, but here's hoping there's no more Campbell Wheel of Justice.

The play starts with Ericsson making a nice breakout pass right to Abby's stick, which Abby couldn't handle and turned over. E probably should've taken a better look around to see who was coming when he was in front of the net, but the biggest culprit on that goal was Kindl who overcommitted and got burned, then Miller for leaving his man wide open by not backchecking. Yet you only mention Ericsson? I must've been watching a different game because honestly I thought he was better than usual breaking out of the zone. He seemed relaxed and didn't make his characteristic panic moves under pressure (unless they all happened in the 1st period that I didn't see). His performance this game actually gave me a glimmer of hope. He knocked a guy on his ass and put a few guys into the boards. Ericsson typically doesn't think to do that. As I said, the main thing that scares me is a Kindl-Ericsson pairing. I think they bring out the worst in each other. Like on Frolik's breakaway. Ericsson stepped up to make a slap-pass, which would've been fine had he not missed everybody. Then it comes hard out of the corner and Kindl, not looking to see where Ericsson was, steps up to challenge the breakout, and now it's a clean breakaway. I'm guessing he meant second goal. With the grief he gets here though, who knows.

what exactly did Ericsson do that was so bad? I caught the 2nd and 3rd periods, but honestly I thought it was a pretty good game for him. He actually knocked a guy on his ass and put a few people into the boards. He got a couple slappers off much quicker than he usually does. My biggest concern is he and Kindl as a pairing. The brainfart potential is so high, as seen on the breakaway they gave up. Ericsson stepped up and put a shot on net, Kindl doesn't pay attention to where Ericsson is and he also steps up at the blackhawk player leaving the zone, instead of falling back, leading to a wide open breakaway. Ericsson isn't nearly as bad as people make him out to be here, but regardless I don't think he's a good pairing for Kindl's development.

I only saw the 2nd and 3rd period, but he definitely looked good out there. He finishes like Draper though. Don't know if that's how he is in general, or just bad luck this game.

Z fakes a Hudler slapper and then puts it 5 hole. Conks with the pokecheck to win.

End of OT. going to the shootout.

Wow. Ericsson actually knocked someone down. Then checked a guy into the boards after the play. pretty please keep it up. Nyquist looks good carrying the puck through traffic. Just having trouble finishing this game.

He made a nice play at the blueline to keep it in the offensive zone. Then unfortunately he followed it up with a bad pinch and got caught out of the play.