haroldsnepsts

You don't think it was from the blindside? To me it looked like a lateral blindside hit where the head was the principal point of contact. As I said another thread, this is a situation where Horton was watching his pass, but because he's about to gain the zone he's likely watching to stay onsides. When the pass is on his teammate's stick, you can see Horton start to accelerate into the zone. Yes he should've had better awareness, but this isn't as simple as "keep your head up kid." He's trying to stay onside and the hit was late. As Doug Weight said, after the puck is gone like that you start to relax and make the next move. With the video review they counted it at 29 frames after the puck leaves Horton's stick. 30 frames of video is a full second. The NHL apparently uses up to a half a second as a sort of buffer as to what's not late. Absolutely agree. Shanny should make guys where shoulder pads like his. You shouldn't see knee injuries as long as the guys do it right and don't go Lebda submarine style.

The thing is, what's probably keeping him in the lineup is his passing. He has a better first pass than Salei and Stuart. I know people like to pretend he turns it over every single time he touches the puck, but Ericsson's passing ability is actually an asset on a puck possession team like the Wings. It's like what's made him tolerable to management in spite of his slowed progress in nearly every other regard. I'm not saying he should stay no matter what. If the price is right I'm okay with him as a decent bottom pairing D-man. If he wants too much and there's better guys available, let him walk.

Good to hear Rome was suspended. It's unfortunate that taking out Horton for the rest of the series, and probably not having Rome in the lineup, really helps the Canucks. But there's nothing to be done about that. Just too bad the Bruins lose their second leading playoff scorer on a late hit.

I agree that players should keep their heads up, but that hit was seriously late, and Horton makes his pass and is likely watching to make sure he stays onsides. Enough time has passed that you can see Horton taking quick strides starting to accelerate into the zone when he gets hit in the head.

The Sedins are such talented players, but a friggin embarrassment with their constant diving in the Stanley Cup finals. They only help justify the crap people say about European players in the NHL.

Nice of the refs to protect Vancouver when they pull their cheap crap. God forbid players have to answer for the little chippy stuff after the whistle.

I doubt Rome will get suspended. The league will say they could find no conclusive evidence that a hit took place.

Are you implying that Rome's hit on Horton was somehow Boston's fault?

Agreed. Lindros wasn't a flash in the pan. He was a dominant player who's career was cut short by injuries, particularly the concussions (no thanks to the Flyers coaching and medical staff). If anything he should be in the Hall for helping the Avs win their first Cup.

That's awesome by Cherry. "No you stop it!" But I thought all the douchey s*** like Burrows does is as old as the game of hockey? The diving, hiding behind refs, biting? Ahh Harold, what a crazy bastard that guy was. Laughing at Clark. Just awesome. The thing is, it's not like Burrows is a marginal player doing whatever it takes to stay on the team. That's the disturbing trend. The diving and antics like Burrows is happening more and more with star players. H. Sedin is a friggin Art Ross and Hart winner, and he's diving out there worse than Forsberg ever did. And Floppa at least had the excuse that it was the clutch and grab era so he had guys waterskiing off of him the whole game. The Sedins, Kesler, Thorton, Dustin Brown, and on and on. It's annoying. If I wanted to watch guys flop and then cry to the refs all the time, I'd watch the NBA. Or worse, soccer. Instead of Roenick calling out Marleau for being gutless, I wish former players who are analysts would call out these guys for diving and crying so much. Biting a guys finger, falling down like you've been shot, that's not old time hockey.

That's pretty much why they do it. The simpler solution would be to knock his hand away. It's pretty hard for a guy to stick his finger in your mouth while he's wearing a hockey glove, unless you were opening it to bite him. As you bent your head down and grabbed his wrist with your hand no less. Given Burrows history, a couple spears, punching a guy from the bench, some questionable hits, it's not like they didn't have cause to suspend him. But his douchey play goes unpunished once again.

Ohh the irony of that statement. Good thing we have a Vancouver fan here to tell us how we should feel about this. If it were a Bruin chomping down on a Canuck, I'm sure your stance would be the same. (no need to answer that. I know the response that's coming). Facewashes are as old as the game of hockey. Funny how so few end in biting fingers like a little girl. Burrows continues to embarrass himself. Beyond that, the league has suspended for the offense before, so regardless of how people feel about the incident, Ruutu got 2 games for a very similar move. It's not like there's not a precedent.

Is there anyone higher than Oates on the all-time points list who isn't already in the hall? (of those eligible of course) I know, I know, no Stanley Cup or personal awards, but 1420 points. a very respectable 156 points in 163 playoff games. one of the best passers the game has seen and a major factor in Hull's success. Oates should get in this time.

Yup. I guess Campbell wanted to spin the whacky wheel of NHL justice one last time... Obviously this isn't so much about protecting players as it is protecting the game and its image. If the NHL wants to appear to be a legit sport, they need to handle stuff like this better. Can you imagine an NFL player biting an opposing player and not getting punished for it? Hell they wouldn't even allow that to go unpunished in a UFC bout. Biting a guy is bush league, and Campbell seems more than happy for the league to go back to bush league days. I'm a little surprised Bettman didn't can Campbell much sooner. He was regularly involved in making bad situations for the NHL worse via his ridiculous punishments, thereby making Bettman's job harder if his goal is to increase the popularity of the league. This was a minor incident, but it got press. First game of the Stanley Cup playoffs and non-hockey media mostly talked about is that a player bit another guy. Now they have a follow up that he didn't get any punishment for it.

Ericsson on re-signing: "I know there will probably be more money somewhere else, but my first priority is here. I really like it here, and hopefully things will work out here." http://www.freep.com/article/20110602/SPORTS05/106020452/1053/sports05 What's next, Ericsson kicks puppies too?

I know. It's staggering that Babcock would keep putting him out there almost 19 minutes a night, when Ericsson is singlehandedly responsible for giving up a goal in every single game.

I saw this and wasn't sure if it had been posted. I know Lidstrom had said he'd decide before July 1st, but it's actually going to be before the entry draft June 24th. http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2011/06/red_wings_gm_ken_holland_set_t.html

Aside from his 3+ seasons with the Griffins and the training camps every season, he's played 126 regular season games with the Red Wings (Ericsson, for reference has played 37 more games). Don't you think the Wings have given him a serious look at this point?

Playing the game like men?

Wow. That's brutal. When the refs put their whistles away, there was actually some great hockey. There's a lot to like about the Canucks, but with the Sedins flopping like they do, Burrow's antics, and having some of the most obnoxious fans I've ever seen, they're friggin hard to root for. hopefully the refs manage the game better than they did last night, because the first two periods felt like a carryover from the western conference (diving) finals.

Yup. Awful decision by him that late in the game.

Boston better hope so. If the Canucks successfully continue the diving from the Sharks series, it's gonna be a short series for Boston.

Are you a friend of Shanny's? He's married to Janney's ex-wife, as for when it all happened has been a matter of rumors and speculation. As for crap that actually matters, I'm glad they're talking about starting a committee for handing out punishments. It seems so obvious to have more than one man's opinion it's hard to understand why it hasn't been that way.

Holy s***! How did I not hear about this! This is awesome that Campbell is gone! Though honestly I'm a little surprised Shanny would take a role as disciplinarian. He seemed to be doing a great job with ideas to improve the game and its marketing. Now he has to spend his time trying to keep douchebags like Cooke in line.

It's a tough argument to make, considering Salei had to fight for his roster spot with Kindl this season. And it's not because Kindl was playing awesome. http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2011/03/ruslan_salei_jakub_kindl_compe.html He didn't do a better job than Ericsson this season. In the playoffs Salei's value increased a little because of his experience (and even then Ericsson played over 2 more minutes per game), but the regular season he was a disappointment for a lot of the same reasons as people say about Ericsson. Bad turnovers, not physical as he should be, bad penalties. And doesn't have nearly the first pass that E does. Most of the time Salei just goes up the glass or ices the puck. Salei's value was also less at the start of this season because he's a 36 year old D-man with a long history of injuries. Health is always a question mark with him, so he's not really the best measure of market value of Ericsson. Also, to correct something mentioned earlier in the thread, Ericsson has said he hadn't started negotiating with Holland, so he doesn't know where mlive got the info that he had turned down a deal for $2 mill a year. EDIT: And isn't there already a long thread about Ericsson?