haroldsnepsts

The team is playing great now, and some guys have stepped up on the 2nd line. I would still feel better with a physical, proven scorer on the second line though, just because I don't know how Flip, Hudler, and the rest will hold up once it gets into the playoffs. If they can carry the weight of the 2nd line. They're doing well now, but our 2nd line doesn't exactly strike fear into the hearts of our opponents.

hopefully the Wings bring their A-game tonight for the back to back. Is Chelios not playing? He got a ton of minutes last night. 22 minutes, more than anyone else. And Lids and Rafalski were rested by "only" playing 21 minutes and 18 minutes respectively. Babs clearly is planning ahead.

Of the Philly suspensions, honestly I would only say Downie's and Boulerice's were worse. The Jones hit was really not malicious. The other ones were cheapshots that occurred during a hockey play. And I agree it had a lot to do with the player involved. As I said earlier, Simon didn't even make it 26 games before he made another completely boneheaded, dirty play that really could've seriously injured another player. I think using your skate blade as a weapon is in the same league as a cross-check to the face, or swinging your stick at a player like Simon did just last season. To me, it is cumulative. He obviously learned nothing from 25 games. Why would he learn from a shorter one?

I realize you saying we have the best backup in the league is a shot at Ozzy. If the names on the back of the jersey were different, Ozzy would be the clear starter. It wouldn't even be close. It's not nitpicking. It's an unscreened wrist shot from a very low percentage spot. That's a softie for an NHL goalie, especially Dom. I don't know if his positioning is a little off, or his glove hand is slow or what. And I really don't understand how the same people who think he's great simultaneously have such low standards for him. We dont' have two of the best goalies in the league. We have Osgood, who leads the league in GAA and is 2nd in save percentage w, so he is actually playing among the best in the league. And then we have Hasek, who is 43rd (last) in the league with a .882 SV % and 18th in GAA with 2.49. So Hasek is actually among the worst in the league. It's the name on the back of his jersey that makes it seem like he's a great goalie right now. But so far this season he has gone from awful to decent. I have only seen glimpses of the Dominator. There's still plenty of time left for him to get it together. I just think he started off so poorly that expectations are pretty low and people are saying he's back, when in my opinion he's still not looking himself. Great post. I rarely bash Sammy because he takes so much crap here as it is, but my patience has worn thin with him this season, for a lot of the reasons you listed above. For the ice time he gets and his role on the team, 3 goals is a disappointment. He really needs to pick it up in the second half of the season.

The team was rolling tonight for sure, though the Kings are an easy target. That second goal I'm sure is one Dom would like to have back. A bad angle shot from the top of the faceoff circle. Dom made some big saves tonight, but consistency is still a problem. (I don't want to say more or the Dom martyrs may jump in...)

well, the cage did reduce his effectiveness for a while. I'm sure he'll get back to headhunting soon.

I have to say, even at his bargain basement price, Drake has been a disappointment. He throws the occasional big hit and has fought a couple times, but is -8. That's a big number on this team. I'm just not sure he's worth the defensive liability he seems to be, especially with Downey in the lineup.

Is it just me or does the site lag during every game?

The result of Simon's stomp wasn't as bad, but the stupidity involved is worse than the Flyer incidents, with probably the exception of Downie's hit. But there's so many Flyers that have been suspended, I honestly can't remember them all right now.

Simon was suspended for 25 games last season for the stick swinging incident, and he couldn't even manage to finish his 26th game back without committing another dirty and incredibly stupid act. 30 games wasn't enough. He needs to sit for at least the rest of the season.

A 42 year old goalie with a .88 save %, a 26 year old defenseman who hasn't reached his potential and has a long history of injury problems, and some prospect, in return for one of the best players in the league?? That's a playstation trade if I ever saw one. And there's no way you fit Vinny in under the cap without losing Datsyuk anyways. I think Datsyuk and Zetterberg are great players, but I'd still make that trade. So would Illitch. With Crosby or Lecavalier in a Wings uniform, attendance numbers go up.

I can't say I'm surprised. Oooh, so he won't be able to play until February 21st? What a severe punishment for a guy who just came back from a record-setting suspension. I knew it wouldn't be, but it should've been the rest of this season and playoffs, at least. He is the definition of a repeat offender, and they give him a whopping 5 games more than last time.

what he said.

great to have Homer back!

Someone should go back through the thread and total up the posts actually bashing Hasek. Then go through and total up all the posts whining about how Hasek gets bashed, how he doesn't get the offense that they had the other night, along with any other generally whiny and mopey posts about how rough Hasek has it. I think you'd be surprised by the totals. Edit: on topic - wooohoooo!

At this point the Hasek pity party accounts for a lot more posts in this thread than the haters who just post "Dom sucks!" And they're both equally annoying.

I'm not a Hasek-hater, though I will start to feel more confident with him in net when his sv % at least cracks .90 and his GAA gets closer to 2.0.

Ah. therein lies the problem. As far as I know, there is no way to run ActiveX on a mac. Originally I think it was because of all the security issues, but now I'm not sure exactly why. territorial pissing probably.

I don't think proxies are the problem. I just get a question mark, like I don't have the right plugin. I'll give it a shot though.

That link never works for me, unfortunately. I'm guessing because it says it requires Internet Exploder, and they don't have that for Apple's no more...

As others have mentioned, there's no way he wins the Norris this year unless voters have lost their mind. He's have to win the scoring title and be +30 to have a shot at it after taking half the season off and leaving his team hanging.

Has this been posted yet? Islanders owner gave Simon a leave of absence to basically figure his sh*t out if he ever wants to play hockey again. I think this is a pre-emptive move before the NHL comes down, but still a good idea. Anything that gets this guy out of the league. http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=225410&hubname=nhl EDIT: ahh, just saw it's already been posted. I somehow missed it the first time through.

Just saw the highlights. What a strange, strange game. Lidstrom and Chelios with own goals?? 2 penalty shots? But another great win for Wings.

To be clear, I never thought he was colluding with Niedermayer from the start of that whole deal, but I thought there was a good chance that after Burke got Schneider and the regular season started, Niedermayer had pretty much given him a heads up that he'd be returning and when. But you're right, given how bad the McDonald deal was, it sure doesn't seem like Burke was prepared for this. So it looks like I was wrong. I just can't believe Niedermayer really didn't give Burke or his team any indication until a week ago; it makes him an incredibly selfish player. It's so out of character for him, but he really hurt his teammates and screwed his GM with his indecision.

The play itself wasn't that bad luckily, but he stomped a guy's foot with his skate blade. That cannot be tolerated. And Simon pulled a stunt like this just 10 months ago. He's used his stick as a weapon, now his skate blade. It's not so much the result of the play, but the incredibly stupidity involved from a repeat offender.