Hank

I might be completely off about this, but I could have sworn that Dave Andreychuk didn't know how to skate backwards until he was in junior, or maybe even the NHL. I'll have to do some digging on that. EDIT: Found a link 'confirming' this: http://sportsguynorth.blogspot.com/2006_01_01_archive.html

I like Sutton. But I think if they don't resign Markov then we'll have Quincy, who's NHL ready, as well as Meech, who's no longer waiver eligable.

I don't think it's that hard to understand. Afterall, this is an organization that kept Bobby Clarke employed for many, many years.

Bingo. I like Hudler but you can tell that Flip is already better than him and has a greater potential curve than Huds. Yzerman has said it, along with others in the organization, that Flip could be just as good as Zetterberg. Jason Allison anyone? Or what about Dave Andreychuk who's nickname was 'wood'.

Joe Sakic was actually given #88 at the start of his career. The Nordiques wanted to give him a number that portrayed him in the same class as Gretzky or Lemieux. But eventually, they decided against it, because of all the pressure that comes with a number like that. In the end they gave him #19 as they felt Yzerman's level was closer to Sakic's potential. P.S. Yzerman did choose #19 after Brian Trottier who he's mentioned, several times, as his boyhood hockey idol.

The only issue I have is that you have the name of the team wrong. Shouldn't it read "Hamilton Predators"?

Yup. His knees never recoverd and he basically faded away with little fanfare. Too bad considering that guy was one of the most exciting players I've ever watched.

I don't know if Yzerman was his idol but Pavel Bure said in his biography that Steve Yzerman and Mario Lemieux were the two best hockey players he's ever seen in his life. That's a pretty big endorcement considering that Bure might be one of the top 5 purest goal scorers to ever play the game.

Cucumber? You got off easy! Try sqaush!!! Okay, now we've really crossed the 2nd grade barrier.

I've been hearing strong rumours about this too. LA desperately wants to make the playoffs and they have a lot of room under the cap. Add in the fact that Giggy's pads will want at least $6M while Anaheim has a very cheap, capable backup in Ilya Bryzgalov (who led them to the conference finals in 06). I just don't see Burke commiting $6-7M to Giggy's pads, along with the huge salaries of Neidermayer and Pronger. Especially when you think about the upcoming contracts needed to keep Getzlaf and the rest. They could probably do it, but things will be tight.

Only *** people that sodomise you with objects without asking first. At least take me out to dinner for crying out loud!

If you think that one was good, check out this one of Brind'Amour that Brent dug up:

I'd be absolutely shocked if Neidermayer never mentioned one word of this to Burke prior to the playoffs. In fact, I'd put money down that when he signed with the Ducks he more than likely mentioned to Burke the idea of retiring if he won the Cup. If he does retire I imagine the Ducks will resign Giggy. But if I were Burke, I'd use that $6M to sign two dmen.

I just remembered what the hazing incident was: I believe all the rookies had to take their clothes off. The vets then threw the clothes into the tiny bus bathroom and forced 4 of the rookies to go in there at one time and get dressed. Akim refused to do it. Speaking of hazing, I've never understood what the obsession with nudity was. There was an article in SI a few years ago about a traditional hazing ritual that went bad for a high school football team. In it they had the freshman simulate oral sex using a banana and in a couple of cases two students were viciously sodomized with certain objects. When the victims came forth, a lot of the town blamed the victims and stood behind the vets. That's unbelievable. I don't mind some harmless initiations but if you're into simulated oral sex or sodomizing dudes, then you have some serious problems. And you're more than likely ***.

I think it's a totally different culture in some sports and part of the country. Hockey is such an 'old boys club' that when someone doesn't toe the line in regards to a certain tradition, they get branded as an attitude problem. Maybe Akim does have issues with authority or perhaps some are put off with how open he is with his opinion. But like that London Press article suggested, at least you know where you stand with the kid. I think the Wings can show him the way of fitting in to a system and with a team. Afterall, they were able to tolerate Sean Avery and Aaron Ward. Both had reps for being loud mouths and going against the grain.

hahaha! You don't hear 'jerkoff' that much anymore. But it's a perfect adjective for Downie.

I'd love to take this kid. The only reason why he gets a bad rap is because of his incident with Steve Downie on the Spits. But there were numerous people that have said Downie was always a prick to all rookies. Aliu was just the first one that stood up to him. Add in the fact tha Aliu can speak Russian and that's a bonus. The kids big, fast, has a great shot and is North American. He's exactly what we need. Especially for those that miss having Mac around. He has a shot to do exactly what McCarty did only with much better wheels and a better scoring touch. Just less fighting. Another kid I'd love to take is Colton Gillies. Big, fast, honest with some good offensive skills. EDIT: I never heard anything about the issue between Downie and being over a hazing incident. But someone said that they got off on the wrong foot when Aliu was looking over one of Downie's sticks. Aliu asked him how he prepared them when Downie lost it on him, telling him to 'never touch my f'ing sticks again!". Aliu didn't like to be talked down to like that so the beef began. Downie's a prick and it makes perfect sense Clarke drafted him. I'm sure Downie will try to knock Gagne's teeth out if he looks at his car wrong. But if all of this did occur over hazing, I'm glad Aliu stuck up for himself. It shows character and confidence. Being a 16 year old in the OHL can be intimidating enough. And this kid showed that he wasn't going to do anything he didn't want to do. That tells me he has character, dignity and heart.

I wasn't able to go and now I'm glad I couldn't. Last year someone claimed they got a $300 composite stick for $65. I didn't want to buy one as memorablia but simply to use myself. Looks like I saved myself the gas money.

Hahaha. That's basically what it would be. LeftWinger, I understand your anger but the NHL does need to open things up yet. We need to find a way to force coaches to rely on offense at least as equally as defense. During the finals I couldn't help but laugh when Sens fans began a small roar when the Sens were cycling succesfully for over 30 seconds. This is what gets fans excited now? Cycling? Really? I grew up with 80's hockey and it was awesome. Lots of hitting, fighting and scoring. In fact, I would say 25% of the time the offensive team entered the zone it was an odd-man rush. Odd man rushes occur maybe 2% of the time now. Add to the fact that every player in the league is expected to block shots, your average shooter is really facing 3 goalies when he lets it rip. The creativity and flow of the game is better with the new rules being enforced but it's still not close to what it was like in the 80's and early 90's. Unfortunately, because of how the game is played today, it will never return to what it was. This is why, if the NHL wants to create more offense, they need to tinker with things. I still think the easiest solutioni is force the goalies to wear smaller equipment or make the nets bigger. Give them the choice of what direction pro hockey will take. I don't want to see radical change either, but I don't want to get excited over continuous cycling either. As Detroit fans we're spoiled because we've had one of the most exciting, if not THE most exciting team to watch in the past 15 years. But I'm a hockey fan first and a Wings fan 2nd. I enjoy watching other teams and other players. And it frustrates me to no end when I tune in to watch a great player like Crosby or Ovechkin get stymied because the other team refuses to leave their zone. Only when you make it harder to prevent goals will teams try to score them. I realise it'll never be like it was back in the day, but they can still do more to make the game entertaining to watch. And that's what sports is supposed to be; entertainment. I can almost guarentee you that NHL ratings and it's popularity would be double what it is now if the hockey being played was similar to how it was from 80-94.

That's 7300 tickets sold already for a team that's not even guarenteed to be there. Meanwhile Nashville has a measly 8,000 for a team that's already been established and has one of the best young teams in the league. When Hamilton put in for an expansion team in the 90's they sold 15,000 seasons tickets in 24 hours. Nuff said. But you did spin it. You say they have great non-corporate support despite the fact that they averaged under the league average. And now, when it's all but put on a billboard that the Preds need to sell 14,000 tickets, the city has responded with a whimper. And I know that Calgary and Edmonton had similar issues, but their problems were from different circumstances. The Canadian dollar was horrific and neither team could afford to keep or buy their top players. That hasn't been the case for the Preds. With the cap and revenue sharing the Preds could afford to keep a lot of their players and in fact went out and purchased two highly coveted free agents in Paul Kariya and Jason Arnott. And let's not forget that both Edmonton and Calgary were established hockey markets with a rabid fanbase. I know that neither of us is going to change the others opinions so we might as well drop it. There's no evidence that shows Nashville to be a great or even competent hockey market. The evidence points to the contrary. If the Preds sold out everynight I would say otherwise. But they don't. They average over 10% less per game than the rest of the league. They are getting lukewarm support from fans and ice cold support from the corporate sector. It's time to move. Have a great weekend. Hank

I don't. I have absolutely nothing against the city of Nashville, their fans or the team. But I want NHL teams to be in cities that actually want them there. And the thought of Detroit playing a hockey hotbed team like Hamilton 8 times a year is as close as we'll get to a Detroit-Toronto rivalry. Here's to the Hamilton Steelheads!

Nick's wife is hot.

They tried it during the lockout in Boston and everyone there said it created a crap load of offense. The only downside they said that it made for far less hitting. I wouldn't mind seeing this in an exhibition game. But what they should think about is bringing back the Bowman lines. If you pass a line around the hashmarks you can pass all the way down the other end without icing or offsides. It forces teams to forecheck, because you wouldn't want that dman to get past the line to open the ice up. What I really like about the idea is that while some trumpet the insitution of a larger ice surface, why not open up the ice that you have now? What about these rules? 1. Bring the bluelines in 4 feet. 2. If you cross the blueline you can pass all the way down with no offsides or icing. 3. Once you enter the offensize zone, the blueline no longer acts as an offside marker but rather the redline would be(taken from roller hockey). So in essence, the defending team would have to get the puck across the redline to 'clear the zone'. With this, you force the defensive team to forecheck, trying to prevent them from crossing the blueline. You also increase the offensive zone by almost 50% once you get past the blueline. There would be a lot more skating and neutral zone traps would be abolished because you'd have to spread your 'trap' over 150 feet of ice. Can you imagine seeing a quick player like Marty St.Louis in this system? Dan Boyle crosses the blueline. Once he does, Marty takes off, Boyle fires it into the corner or on net and Marty beats everyone to it. The d might decide to sit back, but by donig that, they'd be allowing the team to enter the zone, extending the offensive area to the redline. It would make little sense to allow teams to come in. You'd be forced to attack more.

I appreciate the feedback but you're putting a very nice spin to the stats. They sell (not fill) to a little over 80% capacity. But the league average is close to 92%. The Preds were in the bottom 3rd of the league when it comes to attendance. And like you and I have both already mentioned, corporate support has been beyond abysmal. With a new owner basically waving Hamilton in their faces I don't see that changing anytime soon. The league isn't as healthy as the other leagues but it's still doing well enough to increase the Cap in successive years. Regardless, it says a lot if the whole heard is dying and your team is the sickest animal. The argument could be made that the other 29 teams in the NHL are currently better off with corporate, fan and owner support. That doesn't shout "Nashville Deserves to have a NHL team" to you does it?

In all honesty, how can you say that would be the best thing in the world? Sure, for the 8,000 fans that show up and care it would be, but as far as the league is concerned a team in Nashville has been a disaster. The Preds had one of the best seasons in the league and certainly in their short existance and yet the attendance was beyond pathetic. It's no different than when Montreal had the Expos. They didn't deserve to have a team and it dragged the league down having such a horrific franchise. I know that stings for true Preds fans, but I'm sure you could get 8,000 diehard fans in any city in any country. It doesn't mean you should have a team there. And this isn't even talking about corporate support, which is essential in todays NHL. In a recent article 250 local companies were contacted regarding tickets and suites and only 30 of them gave the Preds 5 minutes to plead their case (it might have been less than 30 - I can't remember now). Say what you want, but the Preds are horrible for the NHL. It's time to move on to a place that actually can support the sport. P.S. I don't believe for one second that the BOG is angry with Ballsillie. How could they be? The Preds have dipped into the revenue sharing cookie jar more than any other team the last 2 years. With them moving to Hamilton, where they'll get tremendous corporate and fan support, all that money will be back in their own pockets.