Hank

I've heard a lot of words used to describe Giggy but 'quick' has never been one of them. He is basically a table-hockey goalie; no glove, no blocker and moves east and west. When is the last time you or anyone else saw him make a desperation save? It doesn't happen, because he has no athleticism. And Giggy said so himself in last years playoffs. Yes, the goalies are very good. But you can't tell me that in each game there aren't at least 2 'saves' that occured with the goalie not even moving and the puck hits a peice of equipment that stretches way too far from the players skin and bones. There have been 2-1 games that should have been 5-4 but the puck manages to hit one of the goalies mud flaps above their shoulders or a peice of the XXXXL pants that a goalie with a 30" waist wears.

I have no problems with that. As long as the saves are made through skill, not extra padding.

Playoffs are one thing but when you get 5 goose-eggs in one night during the regular season, something is wrong.

Thanks for posting this. I agree with a lot of what he's saying but you're never going to get rid of inconsistent penalties. It's been in the league since the 30's (as researched by Kevin Allen when going through past articles). Head-hits and goalie equipment are probably the two biggest issues the league faces. And the last thing this league needs to do is glamorize defense even further. Maybe 5% of the hockey loving public crave 1-0 defensive battles. A great, great majority of people that watch the game or pay for the game want to see more offense. It's why I don't understand when some people trash the league for not having a better TV deal or partner but then scream bloody murder that low scoring games are crazy exciting.

I'm surprised at myself. I haven't shed a single tear. I wonder if he's wearing his visor while he's recovering from his injury.

How wrong of me and jwo to question why we hate basketball??? If only you had straightened us out sooner. You obviously have a self inflated sense of worth. Just because YOU like how much scoring in basketball doens't mean anyone else does. JWO and I gave reasons why we hate it and just because those are the reasons you love it, doesn't make our opinions wrong. And yes, the fact that the last 5 minutes in a basketball game takes 40 minutes does make me hate the game even more. That doesn't happen in any other sport and it's because there's too many timeouts in basketball (about 3 too many for either side). 1 should be enough. I'm still amazed that you're allowed to take a time-out during real play. What's next? A cookie's-and-milk break? P.S. Prepare to have your world rocked and your mind blown; some people don't always like the same things. There are people on this planet that adore NASCAR, Cricket, Soccer, Midget Tossing, Bowling, etc. Not all people like those and for all different kinds of reasons. Get over yourself Draftee.

I know why everyone hates the way the Ducks play, but some of us are acting a little hollier than thou. I don't recall hearing any fans complaining about the way the Wings played in the late 80's. If you crossed the blueline while Snepts was out there, you'd get a stick in the head for your troubles. And Wings fans loved him for it. And what about Maltby? He's past his prime now, but in the 90's he was one of the dirtiest players in the league and he never dropped his gloves to pay any kind of price for his actions. Vlad was the same way. He rarely, dropped his gloves either. And yet, they're both revered in Detroit. Say what you want about Pronger, O'Donnell, Perry or Getzlaf, they'll all drop the mits. Make no mistake, if our team was the Ducks we'd love them for the way they play. "That's not how you play hockey?" Try telling the 50's Wings who won multiple cups. Gordie Howe and Ted Lindsay were probably the two dirtiest allstars to ever play the game. Detroit loved them for it and it's why Lindsay is still one of my favourite wings despite not being born until well after his retirement. This is just another case of fans hating whatever their top competition is doing. If we had a team like the Ducks and we got beat out by a swift skating team like the Wings who are the softer end, we'd be yelling "Sure they won, but at least we're not *******!". And make no mistake, if we had the Ducks team, we would all LOVE them. And if you think otherwise, I only have two words for you; Chris Chelios. This guy was HATED. But he comes to the Wings and people LOVE him now.

He has tools, but no toolbox.

Haha. That's EXACTLY what Bill Clement was saying yesterday on XM. That the Ducks know that the officials are only going to call x amount of penalties and that once that x has been covered over the first 2 periods they can basically do whatever they want the rest of the game. It's how, he said, the Bullies and Big Bad Bruins were able to have much success. And it's how the Ducks won the Cup. It's certainly how the Ducks were able to beat the Wings in Game 5 when Datsyuk got called for interference minutes before the Ducks committed the same foul uncalled. It's how the Ducks will routinely get close to the same amount of PP's as the other team across the redline. Seriously, how is it possible that the Ducks only get 1 or 2 more penalties a game than their opposition night-in, night out. You could almost call an interference or roughing penalty on them every shift. And love 'em or hate 'em, I would absolutley LOVE a team that played that way. Where every time a team entered your barn they had to be prepared to pay the price and do the tango with someone. MAN I miss Snepts, Probie, Kocur and Gallant.

Very true. His best season came after the lockout ended. But in that year everyone was still getting used to the new standard of officiating so there was a lot of PP's. And a lot more space. Sammy took advantage of both. But now that the game has tightened up to pre-lockout standards, Sammy has crashed backed to earth and settled in as a decent defensive player who can cap you 12-15 goals a year. Like I said, he's valuable as a 3rd or 4th line player making under $1M/year. So in that regards he's pretty useless and overpaid. Nobody here can seriously tell me that there isn't anyone else in the NHL that can get as much PP and ES time as he does and not score 10 goals in 64 games. Especially playing with the likes of Zetterberg almost every night. I'm almost positive you could throw Dick Axelsson, Cory Emmerton or Justin Aebeldecker (sp?) in the same position as him and they'd put up the same numbers. And for far less $$$ too.

I agree. But the sad thing is, these days in the NHL, defensive depth will get you further in the playoffs than scoring. Look at Anaheim last year. Yes, they had 2 very good lines, but it wasn't like they were blowing people out with their offense. They're defense is what won them the Cup - in all 3 zones. The same thing is happening this year with both Anaheim and San Jose. Detroit will be no different. We'll have to get lots of support offensively and defensivley from the back end while pray to the hockey gods that players like Drake, Franzen, Sammy, Hudler and Cleary score timely goals and Osgood can make the big save when needed. I know this is off-topic but Babcock said on XM last night that when the Wings are forced to dump and chase and battle for loose pucks, it's amazing how small we are. That's why he said it's imparitive that they never just throw the puck away. They're far too small to play teams like Anaheim or Calgary in that crash-bang kind of way.

On a good day! 90% of the time he shoots it into the netting, the glass or the hotdog vendure in section 216B! Sammy's just far too inconsistent to be on the top two lines. He'll score 3 goals in 4 games and then go 20 games with 0 goals and 4 assists. His offensive game is very limited. I do like that he shoots more than anyone else on the team. It's just a shame that he has the accuracy of a 90 year old with prostate issues. If Zetts or Dats shot as much as him they'd both be 60 goal scorers. And they should shoot more. They're by far the best goal scorers on the team but they waste too many opportunities passing to stone-hands wingers like Sammy.

I might be wrong on this but I think the NHL has the highest avg ticket out of all the major sports. I just think people are getting tired of the 'thug-life' mentality the NBA has gotten. It wasn't always like this. I actually followed basketball somewhat in the 80's and early 90's. I loved the rivalries between the Pistons and Bulls or the Lakers and Celtics. And then Jordan took the league to a whole other level. But somewhere after he left the league started getting too many 'gangsta' rapper wannabes in there. Guys like Artest or A.I. that seemed to want the image of slinging rocks instead of basketballs. Attendance for the NBA has been steady (just like the NHL's) but I'd love to see the numbers, from both leagues, that show the actual amount of paid attendance in each building on any given night. I know that Nashville was reporting over 12,000 on some nights but they were giving 3,000 tickets away per game too. I suspect both the NBA and the NHL would have far different numbers if that were the case. In any event, I think both the NBA and the NHL are suffering through the same things - disconnected fans and a weak product. Watch an NBA game from the late 80's compared to one now and then do the same for hockey. While both sports might seem slower, the games 20 years ago were far more entertaining. And fans could connect to the players on the floor/ice better. The NBA has too many thugs and the NHL has too many players with names that need 2 tongues to say. Call that racist but I know for a fact that a young kid in Minnesota, Detroit or Moose Jaw would connect far better to a player named Joe Smith than Igor Bryzgerlov.

The only reason I'd rather have Markov is because we could get him much cheaper. I like Stuarts size more but I think Markov is actually more reliable in his own end and both seem to be willing to drop the gloves when needed.

Exactly. He could probably get between $4-5M on the open market. While I'd love to have him for the reasons you described, I'd rather spend it on a power forward and go with what we have on the backend. P.S. If we were going to spend that kind of money on Stuart I'd rather have Markov.

I've never been a huge Sammy supporter, but it's not his fault he's a top 6 forward on this team. He can't hit the net and he seems to have too many brain-farts in the offensive zone. He's a perfect 3rd line player. This team definitely could use a true scoring winger on the top two lines.

Thanks for posting this. Doesn't this ring 'de ja vu' to anyone else? I recall Bertuzzi saying the same things. I'd love to have Stuart here but I don't think the numbers add up. If we were to keep him, Lilja would be gone for sure and so might Chelios. Or Lebda might get dealt. I think Babs wants Ericsson here full time next year and we'll lose Meech and Quincy to waivers. The Wings would probably prefer to re-up Cleary and re-sign the other RFA's while keeping some space for another dman/winger rental at the deadline (heck, it'll probably be Stuart again )

2 excellent points. There's really no reason to watch a full basketball game. Just watch the last 5 minutes. By then, it's either a blowout or a close game. The game is a slow progression to either outcome. And the timeouts are very annoying. They should cut them in half and then limit the ability to call one only when a whistle is blown or a point is scored. None of this "Ooh! I'm in trouble! I better T-Up!!". Can you imagine that in any other sport? Cop-out!

I'm sure some of you might have read this, but ESPN had an article outlining how the general public views the NBA; and it's not good. They asked people to rank all the 4 major leagues in certain categories and the NBA came last in several of them (wht the NHL finishing 1st). Some of the highlights (as best I can remember them): Do you feel the league is more about image than the product? NBA - 63% MLB - 24% NFL/NHL - 21% The NBA was last in: Do the athletes in this league work the hardest every single night? (NHL was first) Do the athletes in this league care about the fans (NHL first) Do the athletes respect the coaches (NHL first) Are the athletes humble (NHL first) The article then went on to say that in other polls the general public felt that NBA players were more likely to have criminal records, engage in drugs, carry guns and have a hip-hop attitude. David Stern said that if you take any group of men between the ages of 18-35 and give them money and fame they'd have just as many problems. That's where I really wished the author would have pointed out that NHL players seem to be doing pretty good with all of that too. And while baseball does have problems with 'roids, you really don't hear many stories about it's players brandishing guns or getting into a lot of trouble. It does happen but the NBA and the NFL are the worst for this.

And why shouldn't you? Suddenly it comes down to not wanting to feel any pain. The two sports are different, but I see boxing and hockey to be quite similar. Both are aggressive sports that are not for the feint of heart. Would you ever think a boxer would come out and say "Those punches hurt! They should make the gloves softer!". No. The puck is hard. It should hurt. It's the reason why I used to respect goalies. Not anymore. They feel they're even above feeling shots now (which isn't even the issue. Goalie pads in the NHL is comparable to steroids in baseball. It's just players looking for an advantage. It has absolutely nothing to do with safety). Again, Broduer has played over 700 games in the past decade using the smallest equipment (ratio wise) of any goalie in that time span. He's never hurt, plays a tonne and only continues to break records. Why is it that he's been able to survive death with 34" pads and shoulder pads that don't go over his head, while others scream it's necessary for survival?

I have. And I've played goal with old equipment and new. The new stuff can be shrunk down bigtime. Most goalies wear pants that are 3x the size they should be. I know guys that have a 30" waist wearing XXL pants (see Legace). Chest protectors come up over the guys ears and puff out 18" from their chest. Trappers that you could stuff a turkey in. And the leg pads come up to the naval. All of this can be tapered down without sacrificing any safety. In fact, I grew up with a goalie who now works for a major goalie equipment company. He told me that it's very possible and very easy to shrink gear and make it just as safe. But they would never do it, because the minute they, or any other manufacturer showed the world that goalies could be reduced half their size, no goalie would ever endorse them again. Who would endorse anyone that just made their jobs twice as hard? And finally, if bigger equipment is necessary to protect, why is the gear shaped like boxes? Or a rectangle? The human body is curved and rounded. Shouldn't the equipment be the same? Oh wait! Isn't the net shaped like a rectangle? Strange.

Agreed. And what's wrong with wanting an average of 6-7 goals per game? That's how it was between 1960-1995. And 95% of the time a 1-0 game is boring as hell. You could watch ten 1-0 games and ten 6-5 games and I guarentee you, you'd be far more entertained with the higher scoring games than shutouts. What makes me laugh is that all these 'new' fans that grew up on Dead Puck Era hockey have no idea what real hockey looks like. For decades hockey was played with flow, creativity, toughness and GOALS. Now they think that hockey was always meant to be played with a 1-3-1 system, goalies that are shaped like giant billboards, and turtle defenses. Go watch a Wings game from 1987 and then watch a game from 2007. It's not even close in entertainment value. I'll take 60's, 70's, 80's and early 90's hockey any day over the garbage we have to watch now. In the 80's the top players were on the ice for over 30 minutes a game and made something happen every shift they were out there. Now we have Crosby, who's one of the best players in the world averaging 18 minutes a game and trying to generate offense off the cylce against sumo-goalies, turtle defenses. People forget that there was a time and age where goals were scored from odd-man rushes (for the young 'ens, google it) or clean shots that the goalie saw and wasn't screened on. And most of those goals weren't considered gaffaws on their part. It was just a 'good' goal.

Yes, do a google search on it. In fact, Mlive has had at least 2 interviews where he's talked about these skates and Home Ice XM204 talked with him about it prior to the Christmas Break. So far, only a handful of players use them because they take some time to break in from their stiffness. And from your last point we went from 'safety' to "I'm a big p*ssy who doesn't want to get a boo-boo". What makes these new-wave goalies so pussified that they don't believe they should get a bruise when goalies for decades before them had welts all over their bodies? IT SHOULD HURT! That's what makes goalies so unique is that they're willingly throwing their bodies in front of frozen, vulconized rubber!!!! Their argument is that the gear needs to be big to keep them safe. By 'safe' I assume that means from not dying, breaking bones or being cut. But to hell with them and everyone else who supports them if this is to mean they don't want to feel a thing. This isn't ping-FREAKIN-pong! This is HOCKEY! MEN play hockey! Be a man and shrink the equipment! For crying out loud, goalies didn't wear masks for years and we have people complaining that they might get an 'ouchy' if they don't have belly pads that stretch out 18"! And then these same people blame Bettman for pussifying the game??? What a bunch of hypocricy!

Excellent post all around! P.S. I've met Legace and while he's a very nice guy he's a Smurf. No way he should look as big as he does with gear on. Ryan Miller's another one. His calves are the size of my 4 year olds arms.

Yup, goalies have been hiding behind the 'S' word to save their inflated stats for years now. They're so concerned about safety they don't even wear neck guards. Anyways, that's why this has to come down to the goalies decision - shrink or the net grows. Let them make the decision and possibly alter the game from how's it's been played for nearly a century. I've said it 1000 times already, if Nick Lidstrom can wear a boot, made out of the same material as a composite stick, that allows him to take a 100MPH slapshot off the ankle with no pain, then surely you can keep the goalies safe with gear half the size!