haroldsnepsts

I'm guessing it'll fall on deaf ears in this thread, but it was Fox Sports Pittsburgh that did this, not the Pens organization. It's actually pretty funny to me. It'd be like Redmond telling the guys in the broadcast trucks to "lose" a certain camera angle.

That's all based on the assumption that Ozzy is still rusty at the end of the season. For me, there's still too many games left to know much of anything. Ozzy could flip that switch again, Jimmy could go on a cold streak. Who knows. I will say this though, unless Jimmy is clearly playing better than Ozzy come playoff time (like he is now), they're probably gonna start Osgood.

Seems like a reasonable viewpoint based on Jimmy's 37 games in the NHL, and 0 games in the playoffs.

One potential upside to the Wings being low in the standings is that even prior to the start of the playoffs, I think they'll already have to be in playoff mode, keying in on every game and needing big wins just to get into the postseason. It's obviously not quite the same as actual playoff hockey, but I think there's a similarity in mindset.

damn straight! When Snepsts dropped the gloves, it usually ended up looking like a street fight out there.

Yeah, it's hard to beat Tie Domi in terms of size, though the guy was built like a fire hydrant. Even though he was only 5'10" he was around 210 lbs. Most of that weight was probably in his cement head. And Joe wasn't the best pound for pound, but he probably had the most feared right hand. If he connected, he'd crack jaws, helmets, skulls...

Agreed. Though for me I'd say: 1. Probert 2. Kocur 3. Grimson

So is Rafalski. That doesn't mean I want him as the #1 defenseman. Right now Green is a defenseman who will score you a lot of goals in the regular season, but not someone you can trust out there come playoff time. Granted he's only 24. There's plenty of time for his defensive game to develop. I'm just tired of hearing how great he is when he is a mediocre defenseman with minimal defensive responsibilities (for a 5 mill a year D man) and a great offensive game. There's a reason Stevie didn't pick him for Team Canada.

That would probably ultimately be a good thing for his career, as somewhere along the way someone in the Wings organization would've taught him defense.

you're right. That was his Conn Smythe year. Giggy won in 07, so I guess that part of the analogy is similar, though he kind of crapped the bed the next year in the playoffs. as for the part of your post that I bolded, I couldn't agree more. I got flack for not over the top praising Jimmy enough a couple weeks ago. We love to put our goalies on pedestals here, then grab em and throw them right under the bus. There's half a season left. It'd be a nice problem to have to decide between a hot rookie goaltender and a Cup winning veteran (who hopefully by then will be playing well also).

Agreed. Right now it's not an apples to apples comparison. Kronner is much better than Ericsson. But that's comparing a guy with 80 games under his belt to one with 330+. Ericsson was basically playing his rookie season and going through growing pains as he expanded his role. Being injured isn't gonna help any. But for a converted forward in his first season, I think he shows a lot of promise. I think Ericsson was getting better at getting his shot off. He's got a cannon but I think he found out it was too long of a windup at the NHL level. He shortened that up and was getting it through. I also agree that Ericsson needs use his size more and play with more of an edge. If he turns out to be as good as Kronwall, it will be yet another huge find by the Wing's scouts.

hmm. it's hard to even think of red wings trades for the last decade, even though Holland doesn't make many. Cory Cross for a 4th rounder? That could've been the next Ericsson!

Yet in all the years with the previous rule, there weren't really any incidents. You're forgetting that during that point of the game, the players don't actually know for sure if it will be a goal or not. So they don't know for sure if the ensuing plays will be erased. So they essentially are playing under the same rules as always. The rule makes more sense if the clock is reset to the time of the goal and all play after the goal is essentially erased. In the case of an accidental play, I guess they could take the player off the ice for a couple minutes but not give a power play, but I could even live with the guy not serving the penalty. that's not a license to do whatever the hell you want. The current situation is totally nonsensical, especially since the team who was scored on will already have any infraction erased. So the only team who can get penalized is the team who just scored? That makes even less sense. In that case it seems more like trying to even out scoring than anything else. It's a bad rule.

Picking a favorite what? thread? that still doesn't keep other topics from being pushed off the page. And it doesn't even have to be a perfect world. It's in the forum rules. I won't derail this thread from more Ozzy discussion. I just think it's unnecessary considering the existing threads.

because all these redundant threads push other conversations down off the main page of the site and create more crap to wade through, especially when it comes to Ozzy because the threads tend to beat the same point to death. If there is an existing thread, why not post it in that conversation?

atrocities? It's not like it gives them diplomatic immunity or something. If a player was to smash someone in the face with his stick, he could still be ejected and face suspension. The rule was fine as it was before. It's a rare circumstance and when it did happen they somehow managed to avoid total mayhem on the ice. This new variation is a nonsensical attempt to increase scoring.

seems like it could've gone in the existing Ozzy thread since it really isn't a new conversation.

Hey! Great! Another Ozzy thread!

Which is why I said no one is a lock. But Giggy won the Cup in 03. Not to mention Giguere played poorly in the previous playoffs, whereas Ozzy won the Cup two seasons ago and played well all the way to the finals just last season. As I said, no one is a lock. There's still a half season to sort it out. But the goaltender who played in the last two stanley cup finals is probably going to get some extra consideration. That's all.

They interviewed him after the game and you could see a huge bag of ice on his shoulder. He even laughed when asked about the fight, saying he didn't really want to go because he didn't want to mess up his shoulder.

No one's a lock, but the guy who has to take off the two Stanley Cup rings (as starting goaltender) to lace up his skates is gonna get some extra consideration over the rookie who's playing well in January. And before anyone freaks out, I'm not knocking Jimmy. He has been a nice surprise and playing great for this team. But when you talk about playoffs, experience is obviously going to be a factor. Luckily there's still half a season to try and sort this out.

Well, basically to me people who are fans of the shootout are also fans of the loser point, because the two are tied together. The league pretty much admits the shootout isn't a legit way to win because they give the loser a point. Kings lost, and the Preds lost, which is great. Unfortunately the Avs won in shootout and Canucks get a loser point. Honestly though, I know this is an unfamiliar position for us as Wings fans, but there are 38 games left in the season for Detroit. I'm trying not to obsess about it yet.

Word. If the Wings were to miss the playoffs by a point or two, I wonder how many people here would still be fans of the loser point.

Good point. I hadn't factored in that they don't reset the clock. Otherwise I figured keeping the penalty was a lame attempt at trying to increase scoring. so you could have the original goal, reset the clock, and keep the penalty so someone gets a powerplay. So Bettman gets the best of all worlds. Increased scoring and increased ref influence on the game. But if they don't reset the clock then I have no idea what the thinking is, other than to get the game with over faster. It makes no friggin sense.

I hadn't realized they made that rule change, because I know it used to be that they reset the clock and essentially erased everything after the goal. My only guess is it's another stupid ass rule in hopes to increase scoring, even if it makes absolutely no sense.