haroldsnepsts

When I first heard Kiss would be playing, I thought they were joking. The beach volleyball and roller rink is weird but I can kind of get that they're playing to the novelty of a hockey game going on outside in Southern California. But Kiss?? For everyone's sake I hope they'll be wearing their makeup.

I agree that Penner will likely stay in California. He's playing his best hockey again with the Ducks and he seems to love the life there. Agree also on Jagr. As for Ott, I can't stand the guy but he and Tootoo aren't equivalent. Ott can play the PP, PK and handle a lot more minutes than Tootoo without being a defensive liability. ugh. I feel nauseous saying nice things about Ott.

Stick to the topic please. If you don't like the thread, then simply don't participate.

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 34m Franzen said he's still experiencing dizziness and doesn't feel good. Status for Thursday uncertain.

The first official outdoor NHL game was actually in Vegas in 1991 with the Kings. The temps were in the 80s I think but if memory serves the ice held up okay. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_outdoor_NHL_game_in_Las_Vegas It's too bad the NHL insisted on having so many outdoor games this year, because it would've been cool to just have one for each conference. It could've really spotlighted two very good hockey teams in a non-traditional hockey market. And in the pacific time zone at that. I'm not sure hockey writers east of the Mississippi have ever seen two California teams play each other.

That's not completely accurate. Regardless, it doesn't give any more credence to your theory that Franzen is faking symptoms to take a vacation.

Great game tonight by Jimmy, Tatar and Sheahan. Feels like they kinda stole this one.

Right. As I mentioned he's played over 17 minutes 4 times. and tonight he finally played over 18 minutes tonight and the Wings won. He even scored a goal. Fancy that. Let me make it simple. This thread is about Flip. Save the complaining about Cleary for the thread dedicated to hating him. I don't think Flip was in any way an epic failure. An underachiever, maybe slightly. Because you could see had the offensive skills to produce more. Blaming the wingers is an excuse I don't put a whole lot of stock in. Of course great wingers help. But the criticism many had of Flip the time he was here was to shoot the damn puck.

To be clear, when the deal was actually finalized it makes perfect sense. But Johnson was in trade talks a lot of that season. I just meant at the time it seemed counter intuitive to trade an offensive d-man. But Carter was exactly what the Kings needed. Voynov definitely made it easy for them to let Johnson go. And I would do a happy dance if Kindl got traded for a top six winger.

Cleary has never played 18 minutes this season and has only played over 17 minutes four times. His average ice time is 13:38. 1:29 of that is on the PK. It'd be a dream if people would stop ending every post about the team with some whining about Cleary. At least Robert Lang being Lazy and Sucking™ became a tongue in cheek meme here and got funny. As for Flip, it's not surprising he's putting up more points with Tampa. There he's not behind Dats and Zetterberg and he's playing 2 more minutes a night on a very good team. Here in Detroit he seemed to play to the spot he was given as a third line center instead of breaking out.

The hit that actually took Crosby out of the lineup was from Hedman and didn't look like much of anything. The headshot by Steckal during the Winter Classic very likely played a big role, but Crosby either didn't have symptoms after it or they were mild enough he could continue playing. After what looked like a relatively harmless hit into the boards from Hedman, Crosby didn't play for almost a year. Point being concussions are cumulative and if you've had 5 documented concussions then you know how random and mysterious the symptoms can be. I harp on Franzen all the time for taking shifts off, but I find it extremely hard to believe the guy would play up concussion symptoms to take a mini-vacation midseason. Especially headed towards the Olympics.

Agreed. I don't think of the Sharks as particularly dirty, but definitely have a few top divers. Couture being the worst.

I never heard anything about an attitude problem when he was with LA, but there was definitely a lot of buzz about trading him for the whole year before they pulled the trigger. He's got a lot of skills but had terrible decision making. Trading one of their more offensive D-men when the Kings were already having trouble scoring seemed like a crazy move, but their defense definitely improved in his absence. I was surprised when some GM in the article mentioned taking a d-man with more defensive upside like J Johnson if they passed on Yandle. Admittedly I haven't seen much of Johnson this season but I wouldn't consider him having a ton more defensive ability than Yandle.

I really don't understand why the league seems to go lighter on elbows and stickwork to the head, when those are usually obvious dirty plays that have a clear intent to injure. Most elbows or sticks to the head are not a hockey play gone bad, and should be among the easiest to crack down on and eliminate from the game.

Stupid play by Cleary but he isn't a dirty player. If the league were really making a consistent effort to protect players heads then yes, Cleary should probably sit for a game. Or at least get a fine. But since Cowen wasn't suspended for his chicken wing on Dats, it's not surprising he didn't get anything. Funny how people here suddenly wants to take a strong stand on blows to the head when Cleary is involved, but love it when Franzen suckerpunches a guy to the head.

Aaron Ward ‏@aaronward_nhl 7m Rafalski to ECHL (resides in FL) to gauge what he has left.Good conditioning/no injuries post #AlumniGame.Told there is NHL interest. #TSN

It started out as friendly ribbing so I initially let it be. But then it derailed the entire thread and turned into outright trolling, so let's keep it on topic about Team USA. You can save the friendly taunts for the Olympic GDT's

According to Khan the Wings had to release him for him to play in in the ECHL. http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/01/former_red_wings_defenseman_br_2.html

It's the maximum amount allowed under the CBA, which is why he should've gotten at least a game.

Unfortunately I can't say I'm surprised. I think he should've gotten a game because of his history of hitting guys heads. The play wasn't particularly vicious but Lupul could use a wakeup call. For whatever idiotic reason the league goes easier on hits to the head that aren't the result of a check.

NHL Player Safety ‏@NHLPlayerSafety 12m Toronto's Joffrey Lupul fined $10,000 for cross-checking Detroit's Patrick Eaves.

If they know the D is going to be a weakness and want puck moving guys to get it up to the forwards effectively, why not Yandle exactly? It was interesting to see how hard Lombardi was lobbying for Yandle. Lombardi is a good GM and his team plays against the Coyotes an awful lot. And I don't think he's wrong about this either: Yandle is the highest scoring American defenseman over the last 4 years. If he played for the Rangers they'd probably hype him like he was Brian Leetch (I'm in no way claiming he actually is).

NHL Player Safety ‏@NHLPlayerSafety 17m Toronto's Joffrey Lupul will have a hearing Friday afternoon for cross-checking Detroit's Patrick Eaves

Burnside gives a good look behind the scenes. It's pretty lengthy, but interesting. http://espn.go.com/olympics/hockey/story/_/id/10195703/how-us-hockey-team-bound-sochi-olympics-was-named Even reading through it, Ryan is still a headscratcher to me. Their knock against the guy seems to be that all he can do is score? Jack Johnson I can understand more. He's a talented player but is hockey sense just isn't there. All the good he does can unravel in one inexplicably stupid decision. So I can understand them not trusting him. Yandle is still a surprise though too. They make him sound like he's awful defensively.

Because Bylsma gets a homer card? No Ryan or Yandle is a head scratcher. Or even Jack Johnson, though I'm not really a fan of his.