egroen

IMO, Holland's thinking was Filppula + Hudler > Hossa + picks at a similar cap hit. I do not really disagree with that, but obviously he did not plan well with Hudler. As it is, Filppula + Bertuzzi/Williams + Miller/Eaves is still arguably better than Hossa + picks... so I'm really not complaining. If Hossa had a stronger playoffs, I would have been a hell of a lot more upset, however.

Reading Rangers boards -- They don't like it Younger kid with decent promise (to play on a lower line in the NHL) - plays with a ton of heart and has speed. Was actually voted "fan favorite" on his AHL team.

Way to go Cheli! Hope he plays.

In addition to his reputation, I bet it helps that every goalie and defenseman from every team the Wings play ******* nonstop about Holmstrom "interfering". You can just see every head turn to the refs after any play in front of the net.

Babcock is now the first ever coach of the Triple Gold Club (World Championship, Stanley Cup and Olympic Gold). Eric Staal joined it as well.

This thread reminded me of PJ O'Rourke's study: CANADIANS Racial Characteristics: Hard to tell a Canadian from an extremely boring regular white person unless he's dressed to go outdoors. Very little is known of the Canadian country since it is rarely visited by anyone but the Queen and illiterate sport fishermen. It is thought to resemble a sort of arctic Nebraska. It's reported that Canadians keep pet French people. If true, this is their only interesting trait. At any rate, they are apparently able to train Frenchmen to play hockey, which is more than any European has ever been able to do. Good Points: Still have plenty of Indians to abuse. Proper Forms of Address: Bud, mac, mister, hey you.

Yeah, I couldn't believe who was on the ice at the end of a tight game like that.

Holy crap - Kopecky just banged in the 4th goal for Slovakia over Sweden with 2. He actually looks good out there.

So true... good point.

Russian hockey has really taken a nosedive in the past couple decades. Man, I am really missing the green unit right about now. Russians used to play almost perfect hockey, with tape-to-tape passes, incredible positioning and solid two-way play. Last night I watched the defenseman simply stare at canadian forwards entering the zone and do nothing but follow them around while the russian forwards cherry-picked at the blue line hoping for a (never coming) breakout pass. It was weird seeing the russians literally not completing half their passes and coughing up the puck on a constant basis. Canada was awesome, but russia did not help themselves in any way. While one game does not make this a fact, the implication is the KHL is a LONG ways away from the NHL -- which makes me happy. I want top players in the NHL, not the KHL.

Didn't like seeing Sweden lose, but can't complain about these guys being healthy and getting some rest.

Milbury is not the brightest bulb out there, that's for sure. I know how he meant it, but why open yourself up to that?

Seconds later alfredsson makes it 3-4. Good game! Kopecky's played pretty awful in Chicago, but really looked good this game - he was even out in the final couple minutes for Slovakia. Do not regret letting him go, but like seeing him do well (not for Chicago).

LOL - Fischler is hilarious - "If they did not play for a New York team they sucked!!!" He has Bobby Orr as the #13 player of all-time. That said, I could listen to his stories for months... the guy has been watching hockey since the 30s. But yes, obviously Ron Wilson is the better coach, what with all his success in the NHL playoffs.

Babcock is using every opportunity to exploit Crosby as a fraud

NHL players did not compete in the Olympics until 1998. Given that the Red Wings have not only been by far the strongest team since then, but also one of the most 'international' teams since then, I would actually be shocked if they did not have this in the bag.

You really underrate Orr's defense... which is understandable if you have never seen him play (just like many nowadays can not believe Gretzky was really as good as he was, having never seen him). It's kind of hard to imagine a defenseman leading the league in scoring without running around like a 4th forward out there. But Orr did, he literally transcended the game. At his best, he was better than Gretzky, Howe, Lemieux - anyone. He just did not have a long career. If Lidstrom is a 9.9 defensively (I reserve a perfect 10 for guys like Doug Harvey, Serge Savard and Rod Langway) then Bobby Orr was a 9.5 --- If Bobby Orr is a 10.0 offensively then Lidstrom is a 7.0 How much do you really believe the human species has evolved over the past 30 years? Seriously. Yes - hockey players are "better" now; but could it possibly be because of better equipment, better training and better nutrition (and yes, the fact that players today get to learn from and stand on the shoulders of giants like Orr)? Chris Chelios and Ray Bourque, in their 40s, were runners up to a prime Nicklas Lidstrom in the 2000s -- Chelios and Bourque were also dominating Lidstrom in the 90s and winning Norris trophies in the 80s. Here's a hint: these guys were better in their 20s than they were in their 40s. In the early 80s Bourque and Chelios were dominated by Dennis Potvin who captained the Islanders to 4 straight Stanley Cup championships. When did Potvin win his first Norris? 1976 -- the very year Bobby Orr's knees gave out and the year after Orr scored 135 points. Dennis Potvin never held a candle to Orr. At what year did the human race evolve to such an extent that all previous players sucked?

The feed to that camera angle was lost.

+/- without context is pretty useless. But there is a reason Lidstrom has consistently led the Red Wings in +/-, including this year despite his offense being down. To put Orr in perspective - In 1975 Orr's +/- was +80 and he had 135 pts. Esposito was the Bruin's leading forward with 127 pts, but he was only a +17. Pretty much every single year Orr would literally double the next highest player's +/- on his team.

Well go ahead and watch a game then: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=75...7941&hl=en# http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=19...597282546641557 You'll notice Orr (in addition to being by far the fastest skater on the ice and the best puck handler) is almost always the first Bruin's defenseman back, is physical, blocks shots, goes into corners, is always in position and is out there for every single Bruin's penalty kill. Boston was an offensive juggernaut at the time, but they were also defensively solid. They had the #1 PK in the NHL as well, and Orr was their #1 penalty killer, on the ice for a full 65% of Boston's PKs (not even Lidstrom is that high). Bobby Orr's Legends of Hockey clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcvrUF5l7Y...player_embedded If Orr only scored 60 points a year, he would still be one of the greatest defenseman ever... but the fact is he doubled it.

Anguish??? It's fun!

I just went over it -- and I was very surprised to see, outside of Richard, the list is absolutely correct. Very surprised. Ultimately - lead scoring forwards are not captains as often as you would think. Defensemen and defensive forwards are actually more common. There are a bunch of guys who fall barely short - finishing 2nd in league scoring (like Abel, Messier, Richard, Nighbor, Clarke) or were surprisingly not captains when they won (like Howe). Good trivia question, but I put it up there in importance with Messier being the only player to ever captain 2 NHL teams to a Cup, or Lidstrom being the only european captain to win a Cup (interesting, but not necessarily indicative of their greatness).

Which is what Gretzky did in 2006 and the reason many blame their 7th place finish that year. Canada is like the Red Wings - heads will roll if they do not win it all.

This is ridiculous. Orr was fantastic defensively - fantastic. In fact, a 1971 Coach's poll had Bobby Orr as the #1 defensive defenseman in the entire league - how many times can Coffey or Green say that? Lidstrom is slightly better (defensively), but so are a lot of guys -- Harvey, Langway, Chelios, Stevens, Savard, Hitchman, Seibert, "Black Jack" Stewart, Horton, Borque, Konstantinov........

Where did you get this list? Richard never led the league in scoring.