haroldsnepsts

Samuelsson has played 6 minutes tonight. He really is a $3 million fourth liner.

PK looks good. But let's also keep in mind it is Buffalo. I think they said their PP was 29th in the NHL last year.

Nice backhand Emdog.

Nice job by E clearing the crease.

Penalty shot Emmerton! The refs trying to make up for their bad call on Cleary?

I don't know. Miller came out and initiated contact with Cleary. That's what sent him spinning. That's pretty soft to cancel the goal and give a PP.

Holy cow the first PP unit looks good.

Sabres player grabs Z and trips on his stick. Z gets the penalty. Nice.

4 guys at the blueline and 1 in front of the net? Not exactly a great PP setup by the 2nd unit.

Wings players on the receiving end of some big hits. Miller, Kindl, Dekeyser.

Dats! Ericsson as sort of a lead blocker there.

Like I said, I'm not sure exactly how I feel about fighting being taken out of the game, but the more it gets talked about the more I see there's not a lot of strong arguments to support it. And I'm kind of hoping someone will make one. Because overall I like fighting in hockey. But think of the guys you just mentioned. Cooke and Torres have a long history of cheapshotting players. All while fighting is still a part of the game. It's apparently not an effective enough deterrent for either one of them to stop cheapshotting. What finally got to Cooke's attention was a 17 game suspension from the league. The league's suspensions clearly haven't gotten Torres' attention yet, but neither has any enforcer.

And unlike Cherry, Yzerman actually played in the NHL. For 22 seasons and over 1,500 games. I can understand you personally still wanting fighting to be a part of the game but if we're talking about the credibility of informed opinions, I'm going with Stevie Y over Grapes every time.

To keep it from turning into a duplicate thread, from here forward let's keep this specifically about Parros. Conversations about fighting in hockey are being discussed in a thread about Yzerman's comments here: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/topic/75362-steve-yzerman-wants-game-misconduct-penalties-for-fighting/

Even if what you're saying is true, the reasoning is flawed. Fighting is essentially something that happens outside of normal gameplay. So to reduce the risks to players, it's a reasonable argument that removing something like fighting can increase player safety while having little impact on normal gameplay. To be clear, I've watched hockey for 30 years. To me fighting is part of the game. But honestly with what we know now and probably me getting older, I'm not sure where I stand on it all. So I'm not saying they necessarily should eliminate it. But I absolutely see the valid reasoning behind it. Frankly a lot of them probably don't. Some guys do sure, but the research is still evolving. And some 22 year old straight out of a minor league may not have paid a whole lot of attention to the cutting edge research on concussion and CTE. And even if they had, many may be willing to risk their brains anyway for the potential of millions of dollars. Just because someone may think they know the risks and be willing to risk permanent brain damage for money doesn't make it the right thing for the league to do, ethically or financially. There's already been the class action lawsuit in the NFL. It probably won't be the last one for that league and seems only a matter of time before it happens in the NHL.

I just saw that Sammy will play on the 4th line tonight. As a $3 million player with a NTC now playing on the 4th line, he and Holland may be my new scapegoats.

For the Edzo drinking game you need to limit it specifically to him saying "subtle interference." If you drink any time he takes a jab at the Wings you'll miss most of the game unless they have it on the TV in whatever emergency room you end up in.

They're definitely a fun team to watch. And I've come to like them after watching Oil Change so it'd be cool to see them turn it around. But man have they got a lot of work to do defensively. If they get that settled down, they're definitely a scary team. And people who think Cleary is slow and falls down a lot should watch Ryan Smyth.

I know it's only one game, but Edmonton continues to look like a team with a lot of talent and no idea how to play responsible defense. Hall alone had three brutal turnovers. They also seem to be just winging it any time they're coming out of their own end. Don't they ever work on breakout plays?

For a second I forgot Vinnie was no longer there. Definitely the right move. Let Stamkos continue to develop his game for a few more years without the pressure and spotlight of being captain.

Agreed. He seemed like a character guy on and off the ice. Did some hilarious promos and great charity work in Anaheim. Watching him fight on the Ducks, he was often flailing and fell down a lot. Parros has never had good balance during a fight and this was a terrible fluke. I honestly don't think it'll happen in the next 5 or even 10 years, but it's starting to feel inevitable that fighting will be removed from hockey eventually.

Cleary is the frontrunner for sure. He's already getting a lot of misdirected anger for Babcock and Holland. He'd have to have a career year to avoid scapegoating, and even then the points would be discounted as lucky. I'd say Smith next, he'll likely play big minutes for his experience and make mistakes. Sammy's in 3rd just because I don't know how much he'll be in the lineup. If he ends up on LTIR, people will be mostly happy with his contributions. Franzen will move up and down the Scapegoat Depth Chart, depending on how much he feels like competing from week to week. But he'll have good stretches, people will point out his low cap hit and overlook his contract length, so he's a safe 4th overall. For the upset pick I'll go with Weiss. If he doesn't have a good season, people may freak out about his contract length and look to what Flip does in Tampa.

I think that's exactly what Babcock meant by tie goes to the veteran. It's not like he's locked into these lineups for 82 games. As frustrated as people are with him playing Cleary, remember what he did with Ian White. He's not afraid to sit vets if they're not performing in a way he thinks they should be.

No kidding. I didn't realize Cleary now made roster decisions for the Wings too. The scapegoating knows no bounds.

Everything is as clear as mud at the moment. Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 6m Cory Emmerton still on Wings' 23-man roster. Holland said earlier he was being sent to GR. Maybe they're able to squeeze him under the cap.