Feldmarschall

Yes. I've been playing since age four. At my best I skated off and on with a CCHA team in practice, and was looked at to join their club team (I didn't have the money). All ice, I could never skate on wheels. These days my opposition includes former minor pros, current and former collegiate players, and some guys that are just flat-out good. I'm looking forward to the end of the off season. Hockey is an expensive habit, but worth every penny.

Good for Mess, good for the Rangers. Organizations that keep their stars even after retirement will stand to reap the benefits, even if these guys like Stevie and Mess don't make it as GMs someday. Hockey knowledge is hockey knowledge.

You guys shouldn't talk about him like he's not here. That's rude.

The team is in fine shape. They've got something to prove this year, so they'll play better and show up more focused. We all know that the Red Wings have the talent to win. This year their motivation should be back up a notch. Any lingering question marks on guys like Cleary and Flip as top-sixers will be resolved. The bottom six will be faster and grittier with the addition of some youth. If overall defensive play is up to par, the Wings can look forward to another extremely successful season.

I recall seeing that they waived him after the trade with the intent of buying him out.

I'll agree - without Pronger there isn't much of a rivalry. But hey, Ducks fan, be positive. At least Parros won't have to be so scared of getting his face beaten in by a much smaller Aaron Downey anymore.

I believe you're correct on both counts as far as Calder eligibility is concerned, but don't quote me on it. I don't expect that you'll find Rafalski on the third pairing. When he's healthy, he's just too good to leave with Lilja or Lebda. As long as Lidstrom's mobilty is intact, the team will continue to look at him as the number 1 guy, and Babs can roll the top two pairings with roughly equal icetime while handing ten minutes at most to the third pair. In that case, Ericsson will make up for a lack of even strength icetime by getting plenty of special teams play. He's good, but he's not in an position to steal icetime from the Wings' top four unless there are injuries or freakishly bad play. As for the defensive depth, I get the strong impression that the Wings system has a lot of potential 4-6 guys - either specialists that lack the all-round game of a top-pairing guy, or people whose overall skill just isn't high enough. The feeling is that the Wings haven't got a certifiable all-star prospect on the back end but do have a lot of solid players. That's expected as a product of the Wings' success keeping them from getting top-ten picks. Kolosov is an interesting case as he's the only shutdown guy I ever hear anything about. Kindl needs a badass AHL season next year or his stock is going to start falling, his decision-making and defensive play have not at all been up to par from every source I've read. Nicastro and Lashoff seem to the the guys that the organization is highest on these days, along with Smith. I would definitely agree that the Wings have awesome organizational depth on the back end right now. It's pretty clear that they've geared up to make sure the transition to life without Lidstrom is as smooth as it can be. There may not be any blue-chip guys but somebody is going to come through for the Wings in the next couple years and really blow people away.

I feel stupid for reading that. Bettman isn't going to build his cap policy decisions based strictly on screwing the Wings. Take off the tin foil.

Jaroslav Halak is a damn good goaltender, but the Habs have an embarrassment of riches back there and won't have any need to change that for a bit. Price experienced a sophomore slump and has been poor in the playoffs, but Gainey's not going to ship out a 21 year old first round goaltender especially given how long goalies take to develop. Personally, I believe Price would've really benefited from another year in the minors. Rushing a player's development doesn't always work. Maybe it did rock his mental game a bit, as F.Michael is suggesting. Either way, I don't see him backstopping the Habs to a Cup any time soon, and not just because the team in front of him is poor.

There we go, I kinda thought it sounded too good to be true. Okay, so that's overpayment. He's definitely a Ranger.

It's only a red flag if they're paying at or above market value, in which case the player immediately flops. I think they just got a smart deal here, so it'll probably work.

That IS a damn fine deal for a 40ish point guy like him, looking at what Sammy got.

Hahaha, they got Kopecky too. Those guys have a seriously close relationship.

1.3 per year, apparently. Good for Conks, but what is with these guys going to division rivals? Next thing you know Sammy will be in Columbus.

Good for him. A smart deal for both sides.

Apologies if this has already been posted. Details forthcoming, but I wouldn't have pegged Gomez as the number one guy they wanted. He's a far cry from Vinny.

Well said.

Ruff hit it pretty well. The Sabres' big mistake after 2006 was letting Drury AND Briere go, while not managing to get anything at all for either one. Vanek was almost poached as well, and Campbell left. Their back end was already weakened pretty considerably by losing Jay McKee the previous year, who is pretty unheralded but was one of the top shutdown defensemen in the Eastern Conference at the time. Add in that they kept a worthless floater like Max Afinogenov and let go of JP Dumont, and suddenly they're missing their top two centers, a top-six winger, their top offensive defenseman, and their top shot-blocker. So their nosedive was pretty much assured. Add in Ryan Miller coming back down to earth and they looked pretty bad at times. As for the Sens, there are too many places to start. Top-heavy lineup without secondary scoring, lack of puck-moving defensemen, inconsistent coaching, and the drama bomb that was Ray Emery. I'm surprised they did as well as they did for as long as they did.

Centers have more responsibility to come back into the defensive zone and play below the hash marks while wingers are expected to stop between the hash and the blue line, and watch the enemy's defensemen while being prepared for a breakout. Also, Pittsburgh's most dangerous two players are typically at center, which means that the players assigned to shut them down have to be completely mobile. Malkin and Crosby are both strong skaters. In short, a center has to be more mobile than a winger in most cases, and therefore is more stressful on a foot or ankle injury.

Zing.

Am I the only one that caught the massive pitstain on that girl? He looks like he'd rather be knocking her ass unconscious for being sweaty but she doesn't look enough like Stephane Robidas for that to appeal to him.

Should've been a charge based on how many strides Clutterbuck took. Watching the TSN clip, he definitely took more than he should have to deliver a healthy hit. He accelerates from just inside the blue line to almost the edge of the crease and then coasts into Lebda with all that momentum. Excessive. That may be his role on the team (and the only thing keeping him employed at the NHL level) but that was a bit over the top. Here's hoping Brett recovers quickly.

Pretty spot-on analysis of Ken and Mick. I don't watch too many other teams but the one guy that always stands out is that hyperactive Buffalo announcer. That guy is a raging homer and he gets so excited I sometimes watch Buffalo clips just to get a quick laugh. I was getting quite seriously worried about the possibility of him having a heart attack on the air when Campbell destroyed Umberger a couple years back.

The thing about Tootoo that makes him so unpredictable is that he's completely spastic, so far as I've seen. In fights, in shifts, in practice, the guy just doesn't ever slow down. Period. So when a guy wants to fight, Tootoo is a step ahead (which isn't acceptable in most cases, as seen last night), but even in fair-start tilts he often just throws more punches than the other guy. Combine that with the fact that he works out like a monster and is pound-for-pound the strongest guy on the Preds, you get a half-crazed, hyperactive maniac with no hardwired restraint. It's dangerous and he knows it, the team knows it and everyone he lines up against knows it too.

Best of luck to him - eye injuries and infections can be frustrating as all hell. Scary too.