Mark THS

Our toughness problems are solved. We'll just let the other teams toughguys break their hands on Clearys face in the 1st period and we'll be set for the 2nd and 3rd!

That has to be one of the stupidest statements I've ever seen. He was the most effective enforcer in the history of the NHL. Unparalled in his role. Not to mention, he was an all-star and put up some very respectable numbers for the Red Wings when he was healthy. 87-88- 29 goals, 62 points, 398 pims 90-91, 91-92, 92-93 were all good years for a guy who was putting up at least 275pims. As a current player- I agree. I think they have an obligation to the fans But for a retired player, I have no issue with any of them charging for sigs.

Well for starters, it was built for 57 million, and its 25 years old. Its a dump and camera sightlines are a big problem, but when JLA was built, the primary focus wasnt on building TV friendly arenas. The camera stands sit level with the 2nd half of the bowl (over the bowl entrances), so they really cant be anywhere else. The big positive of the Joe is that it has great sightlines for those in attendance. Despite how cruddy the ammenities, there really isnt a bad seat in the house

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aB5TXbXqW8 God I love Boogaard. Listen to the ovation he gets as he steps over the boards. And the Wings couldnt use any of this type of intimidation, could they?

In a two-on-one, rules, respect, and code go out the window. When you double up on an opponent, you open yourself up to what Tootoo did there. He was perfectly fine for dropping the gloves and throwing immediatly.

Maltby is the king of throwing gloved punches from behind the protection of the ref and as you say "acting tougher than he is". He also keeps his neck on a swivel, ready to jerk back at any given moment

Kirk Maltby, anyone?

Yes, he's had 4 fights since the Moore incident. Ryan Hollweg x2 Ryan Craig Alex Henry All 4 were wins or edges in favor of Bertuzzi. Fact check next time

If I'm not mistaken- that their 4th or 5th fight together

I would take him back on the Wings in a heartbeat. I think he's the most exciting/entertaining player in the league right now

Duck and cover. It will get ugly!

Mickey Redmond, bless him, hasnt been relevant or worthwhile in years. I appreciate his spirit- but he's just a huge collection of repetitive cliches and tiresome phrases.

I've enjoyed them. Its off-beat and witty. The typical natioanl broadcast teams are dry as hell and spew out the same cliched garbage for every broadcast.

"us"?

I'm pretty sure he answers that question in his post

I've had so much hetero, man-love for Lou lately. (it just got uncomfortable, didnt it?)

He didnt "beat" Iginla or Bertuzzi. He "fought" them. Barnaby- Edge Fischer Lappy- Draw Boucher- Win Fischer Hartnell- Win Fischer Bertuzzi- Draw Iginla- Edge Iginla Thornton- Win Thornton Kilger- Win Fischer Moro- Win Fischer So to solidify my point, Fischer did great against the little guys, as he should- and struggled against the bigger guys where his power and strength was neutralized. And Kuztensov got destroyed by Reed Low. He clung for dear life against Laraque, and he held his own against Odgers. Again, a big guy who can handle smaller fighters but gets exposed when he fights someone who can negate their size. 5 fights. Moen- Win Moen Jovonovski- Win Jovonovski Simon- Draw Corson- Win Corson Goddard- Win Goddard

Todd Fedoruk isnt tough?

On the contrary- they were far less apt to hand out misconducts and FM's in that era. In fact, if you put on a s***ty fight, often times they would just slap each combatant with double roughing minors. Nowadays you dont even have to drop you gloves to get a 5 minute major. Also, in this era, if youre the instigator you get slapped with a 17 minute PIM package. 20 years ago, that was unheard of. You could jump a guy and only walk away with 5. I'd venture to say that with todays habit of handing out instigators and misconducts, tough teams of the 70's could have easily racked upwards of 3500-4000 pims

While that list is impressive because of size and strength, all 4 of those names lack an intangible "crazy factor" possessed by guys like Fotiu, Probert, Schultz, etc etc. Guys like Laraque and Brashear fight for different reasons than guys of the bygone era. They fight for momentum and for heirarchy. A guy like Nicky Fotiu just fought because he was a damned lunatic. Now I'm not saying that a prime Fotiu is going to fight a prime Laraque. The sheer physics of it are insane- but that intangible 'crazy' factor would put a freakish spin on era vs era.

Its a sad state of affairs when a god awful fight, involving Andrea Lilja of all people, is getting this amount of attention. It was an awful fight, he ended up turtling- and people are talking about how much of a message this sends to the rest of the league. I mean, props to Lilja for stepping up to a guy way out of his league- but the rest of the league still knows that Detroit is hands down the softest team in the league. Its just hilarious that such a pathetic fight gets people so worked up. See, its homer garbage like this that gives decent LGW posters a bad name. Lets get one thing straight here, Lilja was LUCKY he didnt get hurt. I give him all the credit in the world for stepping up to the plate against Moen, but make no mistake about it- Moen is the overwhelmingly better fighter. Lilja threw a nice first punch that missed and followed it up with a couple non-damaging blows that may or may not have GLANCED Moen. At that point, his inexperience was exposed when he started leaning with his head and Moen easily threw him off balance and landed a couple shots. Lilja realized he was overmatched and clung to Moen's leg for dear life. Again, nice to see a Red Wing actually step up- but dont get cocky. He had no clue what he was doing and was lucky to escape without any damage CC that message to Max Kuznetsov and Jiri Fischer. They are great big guys who have an advantage over the other non-fighters of the league because of their sheer size- but they lack the 'fighters spirit'. They will answer the bell occasionally and because of their overwhelming physical size, can do decent- but as we've all seen- the gunshy, reserved nature of their fighting style can get them hurt.

Any cheapshot that Maltby gets, he heartily deserves.

Did Bootland get reassigned to GR?

Chelios? The guy is pretty much universally hated by fans across the league- I cant imagine him recieving any 'good sport' treatment from any American franchises or their fans Also, has it been mentioned that during the lockout, Modano came out publically and said that he felt Nashville shouldnt be in the league? He championed the idea of contracting Nashville. Its no wonder that the organization and fans dont like the guy

I agree with everything except your assesment about Draper being a goon. What the hell are you smoking?