haroldsnepsts

I was speaking more of the general policy towards hitting, not so much Edler's hit specifically. I had a much stronger opinion of the Edler hit when I first saw it. But after watching it multiple times, it's a tough one. Solid body contact there would've been boarding and likely even more damaging to Hertl. Edler is sort of making a play on the puck, but sort of trying to hit Hertl. Hertl is reaching for the puck with his head low. In terms of protecting players there's a lot of flukey variables on this one but the hit does result in a headshot with almost no body contact.. Mcleod and Lapierre's hit were much more intentional. Edler may have gotten screwed on this suspension, but in terms of the larger implications this hit probably comes around once a blue moon.

I think the key is to make solid body contact. If you hit a guy hard to the body, head contact is legal. It won't take hitting out of the game. It should get hitting back to how it used to be. Skates on the ice, no exploding up, no fly by hits that only contact the shoulder/head area. The league is trying to send that message but gets in its own way with the erratic suspension lengths. Grabner's hit, for example, should've gotten more than 2 games.

Actually it's all true. You just may not be happy about it. You may not trust him out on the ice at the end of games, but Babcock must because he constantly puts him out there. And I never implied he was great on the PP. Simply that he can play there. He's a utility guy who makes less money than Tootoo, though it's not really "losing Tootoo for Cleary." Babcock has been swapping Sammy and Tootoo. Cleary should have little to do with Tootoo's ice time as they don't fill the same roles and play on different lines. I do agree though that Holland screwed the team with a few signings. First and foremost with the Sammy signing. Then he overpaid for Tootoo, who Babcock obviously had little intention of using. Does he not talk to Babcock before he signs guys? Cleary's signing seemed unnecessary but he's at least earning his money.

I wouldn't get your hopes up. Not that Smith won't be good, I think he will. But some people here still have heaping leftovers of crow from Ericsson that they haven't touched.

That's good to hear. I didn't see the game but noticed he didn't even register a shot on goal. Given him playing center and what the defense looked like, I'm guessing responsibilities were different than they normally would be.

Dekeyser has been awesome so far. Very poised. There's still gonna be some growing pains but man has he been great. He already does surprisingly well in corners and in front of the net but he could still probably stand to put on 10 or 15 lbs for the battling he's going to do.

Though I thought they should probably part ways with him this offseason Cleary costs less than Tootoo, plays 14 minutes a night, kills penalties, is trustworthy to be on the ice at the end of games, can be out on the PP if need be, and has a goal and an assist. He's looked pretty good for what he is. Sammy on the other hand is a $3 million 4th liner who has been a healthy scratch multiple times already. He has to be one of Hollands worst ever signings.

That's extremely disrespectful to Mike Ricci.

Not able to watch the game but this is so not how I would've thought it would go. 0-0 to a shootout???

I think it's about how most of them have been. Even if people disagree with Shanny's ruling, he gives a clear indication of his reasoning. Grabner only got 2 games for what I think was a much dirtier hit. But Gerbe wasn't injured. I'd have given Grabner 5 and Mcleod 3. Mcleod's had a very bad result but Grabner's was complete headhunting.

Mcleod gets 5 games. NHL Player Safety ‏@NHLPlayerSafety 7m Cody McLeod suspension video. http://s.nhl.com/q2rbN

I didn't know if anyone had posted this yet, but Dreger is saying the Wings are actively looking to move players right now. I'm guessing that's been their position since the start of the season but he at least makes it sounds like it's gotten more active lately. http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=434695

I can understand Penner's frustration. There was no penalty on the play and it's very clearly a headshot. Penner had the puck at the time so you'd think the refs were looking his direction. Still, not really the best forum for venting. Pancakes is generally pretty funny on twitter though. He needs to work on his game as hard as he does his tweets.

Holy crap that's a thin blueline. You know you're in for a bumpy one when your #1 d-man has 22 games in the NHL and that doesn't make him the least experienced guy on defense.

Yes but wasn't Ericsson paired with Lidstrom a lot during that great stretch? You could put me on the ice in my socks but if I'm paired with Lidstrom I'll probably end up looking ok. Pair me with Quincey and it's a different story.

Smith is the new Ericsson. People had overly high expectations of him when he came into the league. Last playoffs he played more minutes than he probably should have given his experience level (more minutes per game than all D men except Ericsson and Kronner), and it showed at times. Now some people have decided he absolutely sucks and only see the plays that reinforce their perception of him. He already looks better than Kindl did after 60 some games. And Kindl and E got to develop behind a very solid blueline. Smith is on one that's very inexperienced. Ericsson at one time was considered about the worst defenseman in the NHL here. Look where he is now. He didn't make some unprecedented transformation. He was never as bad as people said he was, and he improved with experience. Hopefully Smith will do the same. As Babcock said, he needs to keep it simple. Then hopefully he will develop confidence and grow his game. EDIT: Just read Echolalia's post and realized I'm saying basically the same thing. So what he said.

Smith was ok tonight. Not great, but neither was the rest of the team. The problems were much bigger than him, people just tend to look for a single reason. He let Doan get behind him, which was a mistake (that didn't lead to a goal). . But Hanzal's first goal was a fluke bounce off a linesman and it looked like Quincey was skating off for a change. Smith was the loan man back with Hanzal way over to what would've been Quincey's spot I think. Not Q's fault either really. a premature change attempt and a linesman in the way. All in all I don't think you can really judge Smith good or bad by tonight. Bigger problem is the whole team coming unglued in the third.

Honestly I've barely noticed him out there, good or bad, which is still disappointing.

Honestly what Mike Smith did was ridiculous, but I'm angrier about the b.s. diving call on Lashoff that negated what should've been a Wings PP.

Well that was a thoroughly infuriating game to watch.

old Mule is back. zzzzz

Smith blocked the shot, but that's not contributing anything? I'll be done with it when you stop lecturing people here about giving up on the team while you scapegoat the player or two you've deemed acceptable to blame for everything.

I guess the Coyotes got a big enough lead that the refs suddenly see penalties against the Wings.

You can disagree but you're wrong. It's confirmation bias. That you blame Smith for that last one is a hilarious example of how skewed your perspective is.

Good thing that's not Smith.