haroldsnepsts

I haven't seen as much of the Kings as usual this season, but come playoff time it's a matter of if Quick will elevate his game (which he likely will) and if they'll be able to score goals (which who knows). It's crazy how a team with as much offensive talent as the Kings can go through such scoring droughts. Even it weren't against LA though I'd be rooting against the sharks. Something about putting a marine animal on the front of a jersey seems to lead to more diving. Go Kings!

If you think back to the whole season it's Zetterberg, for all the reasons Nev stated. Nyquist is a very close second, also for all the reasons Nev stated. He got crazy hot for two and a half months, but that isn't the same as being the team's MVP to me. A honorary mention to Dekeyser. Where would our defense be had this kid not fallen into Detroit's lap?

The point is there's a significant different between putting up 28 goals in 56 games one season and being a consistent 30 goal scorer. Hopefully Nyquist will become one, but now that everyone knows who he is we'll have to wait and see what kind of pace he produces at consistently.

I think he should go, but according to Lebrun the Canucks apparently ate the remaining 4 years on Gillis's contract and still owe Tortorella $8 mill over the next 4 years. So they may give Tortorella more time just to spread the financial (and ego) hit. http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/10750619/vancouver-canucks-fire-gm-mike-gillis-save-brand

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie 4m It's expected Shanahan's deputies -- Steph Quintal or Brian Leetch -- will head up @NHLPlayerSafety on interim basis for balance of season.

You don't decide what is threadworthy or not. We welcome fans from other teams here as long as they abide by forum rules like everyone else. If you don't like a thread, don't participate in it. If it is against forum rules, report it.

Yeah. Trotz seems like a good coach and in the past he's done a lot with very little. I don't think he's the source of the Predators problems but after 15 years it probably is time to mix things up. If he's let go in Nashville I have a feeling he'll have a new job in the NHL very soon. And it'll be interesting to see who they get that's an upgrade.

I wasn't directing that comment at any specific one post. Like I said, I think he's the best player in the league but I still pretty much cant' stand him. But I also don't go seeking out videos about him that will only irritate me. Especially when one of the biggest complaints is about how much attention he gets. It's like drinking spoiled milk repeatedly and then asking someone else to drink it. "Doesn't this taste awful! Here, have some!" I prefer to go the route of "He Who Shall Not Be Named" when it comes to Crosby.

Because it's not true. He had a temper, but In his younger days Yzerman was as softspoken as Datsyuk. It wasn't until he felt comfortable in the league and in his role as captain that he wouldn't hesitate to let the refs and other players know how he felt. I don't remember him doing anything approaching Crosby's antics his first few seasons, but the league was also different back then in terms of exposure. And there were no internet forums to pick apart his every word. That being said, the Crosby obsession has reached jilted ex-girlfriend status here. A lot of those clips were from 4 years ago or more. I can't stand the guy when the Wings play him, but I don't think about him otherwise. Regardless he's still the best player in the league. People also forget Crosby said this: (skip to 1:55 so you don't have to look at his stupid face any longer than necessary)

I try not to be this way because what comes around goes around, but I must admit that after my bad experiences with Nucks fans in person and on the internets a couple years back (when they won the presidents trophy and acted as if they were a dynasty), it's hard not to enjoy the absolute implosion taking place over there.

I was hoping for 5

And only a week before that hit he was fined twice for two cheapshots in the same game, which was an NHL first. He's also been tossed from a game for jumping a player who didn't want to fight and punching him when he was lying on the ice. He's a dirty player who just doesn't get it and is on his way to being the new Matt Cooke.

Blues didn't like the hit on Shattenkirk, but it looked clean, maybe arms a little high. And Mackinnon had nothing to do with that. This was gooning it up with 5 minutes left in a blowout game. And for me that he's an 18 year old rookie does factor into it. When you're a seasoned vet you don't go dropping the gloves on an 18 year old rookie who doesn't fight, especially when all he did was hold his own when you came at him and tried to knock him down. Backes was running around like a little ***** because they were losing. It's the kind of thing you'd expect from a 4th line scrub, not from the captain. I didn't like it when Iginla did that to the Wings, and overall he is a lot more of a standup player than Backes.

I feel like the NHL has gotten very generous when it comes to the puckcarrier entering the zone ahead of the puck. By the letter of the rule, the player still needs to gain possession of the puck before his skates cross the blueline, then he can go in ahead of the puck and still be considered onsides, but as long as the guy has made contact and has it near his stick I feel like they don't really enforce the skates part. Watching the highlights on Mlive the bigger question to me is how was that not a penalty for taking down Smith on the very first highlight? He hooks Smith from behind causing him to fall down and turnover the puck, which led to a great scoring chance.

For people wondering what I have against Backes, it's crap like this. St. Louis losing 3-0 with a little over 5 minutes left in the third period, Backes gets outmuscled by Mackinnon so he gets up and drops the gloves on the 18 year old rookie, pushes him down, then punches him when he's on the ice. Then there's Jackhole playing the toughguy with some gloved punches when a ref is right there. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoYMetw0zRo I would want to root for St. Louis, but just can't with those two d-bags on the roster.

I understand why they did it from a marketing perspective, but from a team perspective it was a big mistake to name Ovechkin captain. He'd be better served being able to be a loose cannon and not have to worry about answering for or leading the team. Then it's at least more of a sideshow instead of the main event. After being singled out for quitting on the play (which he absolutely did), his response is to say everyone quit. He's a joke of a captain. Maybe try leading by example OV?

Justin Bourne's System's Analyst breakdown of Nyquist schooling Chara. http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2014/04/03/systems-analyst-gustav-nyquists-incredible-goal-and-the-bruins-mistakes-that-made-it-possible/ A few excerpts:

I think Iggy's own teammate screwed him up by trying to get involved right as Rinaldo is throwing haymakers, but as much as I don't like Rinaldo it's hard to feel sorry for Iginla when he's going after a him for a clean hit. Had the refs not stepped in when they did I'm guessing Iginla would've squared things up a bit. I don't get why NBC would keep talking about it though. Iggy got caught with a couple good punches and knocked down, the refs stepped in.

He doesn't fight. Ovechkin has three "fights" in his NHL career, two of which were after he threw a dirty hit. And they were mostly scrums really.

Better than most staged fights...

What's hilarious is the ref let the first two penalties go and finally called the third one.

Brodeur should know better when it comes to Avery and have just said no comment. Why feed the troll? This kind of thing is exactly what he lives for. It says a lot about Avery's maturity level when as a 33 year old he's making reference to "waking up next to a supermodel" as his comeback. Whether it's true or not if you're in your 30s and your comeback is essentially "oh yeah well I'm banging hot chicks!" It's time for some serious self reflection. Brodeur is one of the greatest goalies of all time and a HOF lock. When people talk about Sean Avery it will only be about his antics and what his NHL career could've been.

Agreed. That's the only thing that would've made it better is if it happened to one of those idiots in great seats who are standing up waving at the camera with their back to the game.

The team absolutely needs a new philosophy and identity. Holland keeps bringing in players to try to tweak the Red Wings machine and keep it running for another year, but it stopped working a few seasons ago. This offseason they can shed a lot of dead weight and have a big opportunity to change the philosophy and identity of this team.

Where did I say anything about Cleary over Nyquist? And where is your proof that Babcock had anything to do with the Quincey trade? I'm sure as the head coach he is at least partly involved in all roster discussions, but it's also been established that Babcock doesn't always agree with Holland and doesn't hesitate to let him know. http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/do-ken-holland-and-mike-babcock-disagree-about-personnel-yes-and-they-like I never said Babcock was blameless, but you were just blaming Babcock for bringing in Samuelsson. There's a huge gap between blameless and saying he wanted Sammy on the team. I've never read or heard anything to even remotely insinuate that Babcock was pushing for Sammy. People can talk about firing Babcock but but he'd have job offers from other NHL teams before he even made it out of Joe Louis. This is a team with a ton of injuries, a lot of inexperienced players, and a lot of dead weight on their roster. The problem is not Babcock.