haroldsnepsts

I know what you're saying, but I would never want the Wings to be this way. Big, physical and feared, I'm all for it. Like the days when Probert and Kocur patrolled the ice. Plus they had Gallant, Norwood, Snepsts, and a lot of other guys who would mix it up. But the Flyers have had 5 players suspended in 25 games played, all but one of them being pretty intentional cheapshots. I'd be embarrassed if that was the Wings.

There was a massive size mismatch, but the Phaneuf hit on Hudlum was clean. The only time he came up off the ice was as he was hitting Hudler, which happens a lot with open ice hits. Kronwall does it all the time as he follows through his check and crushes a guy. EDIT: Kelsey Grammar

Downie 20 shots for a head shot on McAmmond Boulerice 25 games for a crosscheck to the head of Kesler Jones 2 games for hit from behind on Bergeron Hartnell 2 games for the headshot to Alberts while he was on his knees. now 3 game for Cotes jumping elbow to the head The Flyers have racked up 52 total games suspended in 25 games played. The thing that kills me is that Hartnell got fewer games than Cotes and to me Hartnell's hit was at least as bad. Albert dropped to his knees to play the puck, and Hartnell followed through and hip checked/elbowed his head to the boards. This quote from the Flyers GM kills me too, especially if it's true about Bettman. A series of coincidences? Jones hit was the only one that was really a matter of circumstance. Every other play was a cheapshot, and most were guys "following through" on checks with headshots. How is this not a team problem?

Left his feet and threw an elbow. Nice. Seriously, how many suspensions will this be for the Flyers in 25 games this year? At what point is the league going to start penalizing the team? If you want it to stop, you've got to start hitting the coaches and organization with fines.

True. If Niedermayer came back and the Michelin man gets hot, they'd still be a tough first round opponent, even with their scoring problems.

I hope that when scoring decreases and the league starts considering increasing the size of the nets, the goalies will give in and go for the smaller pad size. Using smaller equipment seems like an easier adustment for them to make than suddenly having a bigger net behind you.

I've lost so much respect for Niedermayer. If he does end up retiring, what a crappy way to end your career. Leave your team hanging for half the season then call it quits. If he does come back, he's basically abandoned his team for half the year while they struggled. Nice job captain.

Maybe insted of "Fire on Ice" the Wings new slogan should be "Let's hug it out, b*tch!"

The study said 9 out of 10 Swedes hug somebody at least once a week. So Franzen said he's the 10th guy.

ah. yeah, you would hope that at this level a lot of guys could roof it like that. And it wasn't the greatest goal of all time, but I really like seeing Kopecky showing the instincts and patience of a goal scorer like that. He didn't panic, made a nice move and buried it.

wow. I remembered that as being Turco as well. And to me, Modano catching the skipping puck on the backhand like that was as impressive as the pass.

I don't think dom sucks really bad. But he hasn't been very good this season, and I don't understand some of the excuses people make for him. He and Ozzy have the same team in front of him. Few shots, lots of shots, doesn't matter. Dom needs to play well. If he's not injured, he's totally capable of doing that. I'm just tired of all the weak excuses for his poor performance so far.

Then how do you explain Dom looking like crap so far?

what are you talking about? He made a nice fake to freeze the goaltender, then roofed it on the backhand.

you must be rounding up. I have to agree about Hudler. I think he'll always be a streaky goal scorer, but there was a part of me that thought he's just not gonna cut it at the NHL level because of his small stature and lack of foot speed.

I'm confused. Don't Ozzy and Dom have the same team in front of them when they play? Hasek has a 2.90 GAA and .864 SV % (which is worst in the league. there's 42 goalies ahead of him) with the same lineup in front of him that Ozzy has. Just something to think about. EDIT: The more Hasek plays, his numbers will likely get better. I can't see how they can get any worse.

Here's a good update from TSN. http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=224045&hubname=nhl Basically it says that they're going to the old format for next season, but there's support building for an 84 game season that would allow more inter-conference play. It's Devellano's brainchild, and Yzerman is in support of the schedule. It sounds like the teams in the West are all for it, but the Eastern Conference is not wanting to travel. some interesting points from the article:

Like everyone's pretty much said, I'd go with Turco and Brodeur. Ozzy's no slouch either.

No kidding. First it's that he wasn't seeing enough shots. Then he sees a lot of shots and still doesn't play well. Now it's the team's fault even before the game's been played??? The team is playing well. Dom isn't. It's up to him to change that, not them. And I'm sure he knows it. The guy's got six Vezinas and has played in the league for 15 years now. He's a veteran goaltender, not a child that needs to be coddled.

Well no matter who he starts against, Hasek should definitely be feeling the pressure.

I agree about his performance, but that's also what will make him better trade bait. I'm not saying we should, just that his playing well means the Wings could actually get something for him. I always forget how young Hoodlum is, because I've heard his name for a few years now. I don't know that he's a legit 2nd liner quite yet. He does show promise, but I could still see Holland pulling the trigger on someone like Hudler if it brought in a big enough name. He might be wiling to trade a bit of the future to take a serious shot at the Cup this year.

This quote is the crap that makes me hate Gary Bettman. It seems like pretty much everyone wanted to go back to the old schedule (which is exactly what they just did) except for a handful of cheap owners. Yet he once again invents "facts" to justify his move and basically insult the fans. It's like he's saying "I'm still right, but in spite of that I was nice enough to change it for the fans."

It would take a massive transformation for McCarty before I would ever want him back on the team. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but he'd have to get healthy, then get his act together. Then maybe it's worth the Wings offering him a contract like Drake's.

Agreed. He's 30 years old and spent the majority of his career in the AHL, and is a UFA at the end of the season anyway. We're not talking about some young prospect for the Wings. If some other team grabs him off waivers, good for him.

We're talking about 2014 here. Hopefully the game will have worked its way back onto ESPN or have some coverage that's better than it does now. I'll be extremely disappointed if by that time it is still the marginalized sport it currently is, and Bettman is still running things. You can pick apart the couple examples I threw out there, but it's all just speculation. All I was saying was that there is some potential benefit of having the players play in the olympics. I don't think it's the be all end all of promotion and is going to turn millions of fans onto the game. But the Olympics are a huge event around the world. There's definitely some chance of it highlighting some of the stars of the NHL, no matter where they're from. What's funny is that in the same article, Bettman talks about expanding the number of games played in Europe. Okay Gary, so you say the olympics are a strain on the players and us fans, yet playing in Europe is at the same time a great idea?? yet he says this about the Olympics: Classic Bettman doublespeak. He should go into politics. EDITED for grammar.