Heroes of Hockeytown

And conversely, Jimmy seems to be on the ball.

Crawford definitely seems shaky today. Keep throwing more pucks on him.

Ugly one, but congratulations kid.

Christ almighty, 2-on-0? How on Earth did they manage that?

Their away jerseys are mostly white and black, really. Ken mentioned that Holland and Bowman agreed to do it for today's game, but wasn't any more specific than that.

Nice starting shift. Bottom six continues to play great.

Last time Flip was out they had Franzen center the second line.

That they're acquiring a player that might actually help them win a couple games, when up to this point in the season they've been dealing any player they can (Wisneiwski, Roloson) to try and plunge to bottom of the standings as quickly as possible. They can't even trade him for anything, and it's likely he won't even report to the team, in which case they're stuck with him taking up a roster spot until they probably just waive him again.

I don't know what the Islanders intend to gain by this. They are obviously in tank mode and they can't trade him without exposing him to waivers again. Oh well, if it wasn't them it probably would have been somebody else. Worth a shot, Kenny.

Then put your little hand in mine, there ain't no hill or mountain we can't climb...

And all these waivers, I don't understand... It's just my job five days a week. Red Wings faaaaaaan, oh Red Wings fan...

In other words, the Maltby Contingency. I must reiterate though that Kenny said he expects Ozzie to come back in a couple months. And that that could be a complete lie, of course.

I agree; GMs are in the winning business, they aren't about to pass up on opportunities to try and better their team just because the other guy is a buddy of theirs. What I do think Kenny is trying to do, or at least was speculated by Bob McKenzie, is create a contract that in some way makes Nabby unattractive (or unavailable? I don't know) to other teams. What that could be, I can't begin to speculate. But we might anticipate something clever from the pioneer of the "billion year contract with throwaway years at the end" that Hank and Franzen currently enjoy.

Ho ho, and to think I underestimated you, Kenneth. What delightful little loophole are you sneaking through now?

Not that it would be beyond any GM to lie about the state of things, but at this point Kenny says that Ozzie will return.

Talk is cheap, but here's more of it.

Could be that he doesn't want to go just anywhere. Which would be tough s*** for him in the very likely scenario that he gets claimed by some other team.

Players from the Super Bowl bound teams are automatically exempt from the game. But players from teams that didn't even reach the postseason bow out regularly. Despite the fact that the game is considerably more gentlemanly than your average football game, it's still easy to get injured doing routine things like starting and stopping. Because absolutely no one cares about the Pro Bowl (just like the NHL All-Star Game) there's no controversy about players skipping out.

Nobody plays in the Pro Bowl for the NFL; last year they were down to their 5th and 6th string QBs in one conference. Not sure about baseball or basketball, but those aren't as physical of sports so it seems less likely players will be begging off to nurse an injury.

The Wings didn't win, so of course not.

Perhaps I am misinterpreting the following (emphasis mine)... “The Player agrees to give his services and to play hockey in all NHL Games, All-Star Games, International Hockey Games and Exhibition Games to the best of his ability under the direction and control of the Club in accordance with the provisions hereof.” ...but everything seems to be on the straight and narrow to me.

Yes, and it was the cause of much face-palming across the land. He seems determined to undermine any positive plays he does make with boneheaded moves like that. Worst part is, that's not even close to the first time he's done that very same thing. He could easily have double or probably even more goals if he would just shoot it when it's the most obvious thing in the world to do.

I can't really complain about their play. Columbus got a lucky bounce off the backboards, a cheesy 5-on-3 thanks to Exploding Stick Syndrome. The Wings played well and dominated in the third, but couldn't score; them's the breaks. And after having the unusual fortune of winning two shootouts in a row, it's no wonder they blew it this time around.

Everything Is Terrible And Nothing Is Good: The Sequel. If there's something to hold on to, it's that there's only five games between now and the All-Star break, which signals the return of Pavs and Dano.

The worst belongs to Randy Carlyle at -16, though it's quite the outlier. Runner up is Rob Blake with a -3. Lidstrom has won the Norris with the fifth lowest all-time plus/minus with a +9 in 2001.