calfan

He doesn't speak french. He said so last night when he was interviewed about the trade.

You're right Toby. He never retired previously, he was under suspension. I think he made a legitimate attempt to come back and I think the Flames gave him a legitimate shot at it, but ultimately it was a nice way to get him back in the league, allow Flames fans to say a proper goodbye and allow him to retire with some dignity. A nice end to a difficult story.

"Sending a message" to me is contrived, it's like watching the WWE. Playing with emotion and having the balls to push back and say I'm not putting up with that $hit is more than ok in my books. I was at the Saddledome last night. Burrish trying to break his stick in Bourque's face last night (stick broke, but he only caught his shoulder, not his head) has no place in the game. The reactions of both teams after is ok in my books. Hearing McGuire yelling that the Flames needed to get Iginla off the ice at the end of the game and that he had never heard that type of verbal abuse thrown at a star player before sets up great expectations for the next game. Builds excitement. (You're asking, if you were at the Saddledome, how do you know what McGuire said on TV? Watched game live, went home, watched replay on TSN2, went to bed at 1:30am...very tired today ) Avery's poke at Varlamov (sp?) needs to be eliminated. But after it happened, if someone on the Caps had had the balls to beat Avery into a puddle, that would have been ok in my books. Emotion is what makes playoff hockey. The rest is bull. If the league truly wants to eliminate this end of game "message sending", I have the perfect solution. Instead of suspending the meathead the coach put on the ice, allow the opposition to pick the player that serves the suspension. Instead of Avery, the Caps could chose to suspend Lundqvist. Instead of Burrish being suspended, the Flames could chose to suspend Toews. No more message sending.

Edited on your behalf. This is a thread whining about the ice and you're whining about a goal that got disallowed. There's no truth to that, just speculation on your part and on the part of a bunch of talking heads who most often apparently don't know what they're talking about unless they are kissing the Wings' asses.

Which you have to admit looks like an eclipse from the goalie's point of view.

How do you determine if the goalie moved into the player or the player moved into the goalie? Homer's feet are 6 inches outside of the crease. Are you going to look to see if there is conclusive evidence his big ass is over the blue line? Y'all are the last fans in the league who should want a review for this. Far fewer goals are called back on Homer than are allowed. A video replay analysis is going to change that ratio for the worse for the Wings because more often than not he's making contact with the goalie. This is just a bad idea that takes away from the flow of the game.

See my edit. For all we know Dallas could have gotten fired up and won 5-1 instead of 3-1.

Hardly. Let's grab a dose of reality people - it was one call. Sure it negated a goal, but it wasn't like it was an OT goal to win or lose the series. Earlier Homer backed into Turco and the puck just missed going in. Earlier in the series he interfered with Turco and the goal counted. These were clearly interference and there was no call. The Wings still had their chances - Dallas was simply better on the night. Let's face the facts. Homer plays on the edge (of the crease, of the rules, etc). There is no one better in the league and if he didn't play that way, its doubtful he'd still be with the Wings/in the league/get the ice time he does (fill in your own preferred ending). How much of his ice time does he spend parked in front of the goalie? How many shots come when he's there? Each and every time the refs have to make a judgment call on what he's doing. And in the split second without the ability to slow down, rewind and over-analyze they make a judgment call. More goals count than are disallowed. Babcock knows that. He's simply posturing for the next time. If he said nothing, then perhaps the next time it goes against the Wings again. Homer knows that. If he was truly concerned about his play hurting the Wings, he'd be a foot in front of Turco instead of an inch. The fact is, the Wings are willing to have the call go against them because the inch is much more effective than the foot.

No - he'd like the team to be more like it was in 97 and 98. Based on the amount of calls for blood in the thread about Rebeiro and Ozzie I think y'all agree with him.

And I recall a newspaper article saying that Sakic was offered his normal number. At least we can agree he didn't wear it.

Yes of course, cuz everyone knows that playing a cheap retaliatory style is so in keeping with the talentless thugs that Detroit has up and down its lineup. You can tell that the coaches keep sending guys over the boards with one purpose in mind - physically beat the crap out of the other team. That's why Franzen and Homer have so many roughing penalties when they don't put up with anyone even looking like they might give them a face rub or a whack across the back. Child.

But guys can hit others in the face with a butt-end? I think the NHL, in not suspending anyone, did a favour to the Wings. Ozzie hit him in the face with his stick - and he was watching him come in and timed it and did it intentionally. Ribeiro hit Ozzie in the chest protector. What one got, the other was going to get. Hence the benefit to the Wings. Suspend Ribeiro, Suspend Ozzie. Did you really want Hasek back in net?

No, I think he had it right. Sakic, as the next most "senior" player, had the opportunity to wear the number if he wanted. However, having worn 91 in the 2002 Olympics and out of respect for Yzerman, Sakic indicated he would not wear 19. Having done so, it would have been pretty hard for anyone else to step up and say they would. To the best of my knowledge, Hockey Canada has never retired any numbers.

That's interesting - not sure why there's no content. Please see below

I too think the puck was in, but I agree with the call and I agree with the rule. AND had the review taken place in 2004, many would argue my team would have lost the Stanley Cup because of that rule. The on-ice official has primary responsibility for making the call. He indicated no goal. Because of that, the off-ice official can only override the call if he can clearly see that the puck was over the line, which means that they have to see the whole puck or see that whatever is obstructing the puck is fully across the line. In this case, Biron's glove would have had to be completely across the line. The on-ice official makes a judgment call based on what he has observed. I don't think it should be overridden because the off-ice official "thinks" he was wrong.

Somebody should. In the same number of playoff games prior to this year, Pavel Datsyuk has exactly 4 more points than Morrow. The difference - Datsyuk is expected to be a team leader in points whereas Morrow is expected to be a team leader all over the ice, with less emphasis on his points. He brings much more to the Stars than just getting points. Need a big hit? Need to shut down an opposing star player?, Etc., etc. He's been good at what he brings to the table in all of those years. His points have been pretty decent for a guy not expected to put up big numbers. And he's having a great year this year. I see no reason for that to not continue. Do you expect Datsyuk is suddenly going to be the playoff performer he has been in all years except last year and so far this year? Do you expect Franzen is going to suddenly disappear? Give the guy a break. Kidding or not, available or not, Morrow would make Detroit a better team.

Not necessarily. Detroit has the luxury of two very good goaltenders. Does Dallas really have a realistic choice other than to ride Turco?

Not sure I should bother. If I recall correctly I was top 10 after round 1 and I'm now 44th due to my failure to pick an underdog (mine was NYR) and being wrong in 3 of 4 series. Anyway, may as well see if I can buck that trend or go out in a blaze of glory(mediocrity?) Dallas 4-3 Philadelphia 4-2

Since there's ultimately only bragging rights to be earned and since its more work for you and not me, why not do both. If someone was perfect through 3 rounds and was wrong in the final, they should have recognition for picking 14 of 15 rounds. BUT, they missed the most important pick, so it might be good that someone who was right for the final, but 12 of 15 for the playoffs also gets some bragging rights. I would add a little weighting to the later rounds, but I don't think I would make it an equal mix of points in each round.

He can't - they keep knocking it out of his hands.

Exactly. Even the suggestion the Wings throw a game ("should") is dangerous. I've been on both sides of that situation in competitive sports. Tried to extend a volleyball game to try some new plays - other team caught on, got pissed and we barely hung on to win. Had another team do the same to us and we kicked their ass. You play hard all game every game. Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose. Sometimes it rains. Think about it.

Agreed on the they're vs there. Would have been better with "I see Red People". It was a constant sign at the Saddledome during the Flames short stint in the playoffs.

It's going to be interesting to see how well Dallas matches up with Detroit. They are certainly playing better than I thought they would, but that's more out of ignorance on my part than a suggestion that Dallas is playing over their head. San Jose is playing like garbage IMO. Their goaltender is coming unglued and barking constantly at his defensemen (who deserve to be barked at). The whole team are giving up horrible turnovers with alarming frequency and quite frankly keep putting the puck into areas where a turnover is going to kill you. I don't look at them as a clear choice because they did finish 8th overall and two of the teams pushing them down to 8th were from their own division.