egroen

I've gotta believe Iginla is injured - if not, then yes, bad call from Babcock.

Rafalski ups his game in the playoffs - we didn't see it last year because of his numerous (serious) injuries... and yet he still played. He takes way too much s*** on this board (for not being Lidstrom).

It's funny, because Gretzky built the team with more grinders (like Draper) and Canada still was upset - I dunno. Maybe Canada is going with too many veterans and not as much younger players who play as if their lives were on the line (which appears to be the case with a lot of other teams). The vets and stars for Canada just do not seem to be taking it as seriously. Definitely time to yank Brodeur.... amazing how badly he was outplayed. Babcock's biggest mistake was not pulling him (but then if Canada still lost, can you imagine the heat?) And Thornton has done nothing to suggest he should ever be chosen for the team again. Crosby was a -3 Rafalski needs to play like that for us! I have trouble seeing the US beat Canada in a 7 or even 3 game series, but them's the breaks in only single games. They'll be hell to pay in Canada - I'll say that much. How can you blame Babcock for this:

Your earlier comment was anything over $2m and Lidstrom was "handcuffing" the team, which you are justifiably backpedaling from. "Top dollar" is of course a far cry from $2m.

And the last time this team was "handcuffed" by Hasek they won a Cup.

You blithering maroon... The best defensive defenseman (who also contributes heavily offensively) would be the best free agent signing imaginable. It would be like the Wings signing Ovechkin in the off-season and you bitching because Mario Lemieux was better. So what if Lidstrom is not playing like a Top 5 defenseman of all-time? He's still amongst the best in the world today.

I agree that Crosby deserves kudos for producing with some questionable linemates over the years, but so has Ovechkin - 52 goals and 106 points his rookie year followed by another 92 points playing with Dainius Zubrus and Chris Clark (those two's production skyrocketed those years, not surprisingly - he actually made Zubrus a fantasy pick). EDIT: I misread that - thought you were implying Crosby was the only one to have subpar linemates!

Sense of humor -- it's the latest rage

Ovechkin takes more shots than... anyone.... ever (at least as long as the NHL has tracked shots). To assume Crosby could simply match that is quite a stretch. You have to get open in order to get those shots off and create opportunities for yourself. Heck, half of Ovechkin's assists come off rebounds from his shots. EDIT: Ha, did not notice who I was responding to -- we had this exact same conversation a little while ago and are not that far apart. That said -- I think Hudler has a much higher shooting percentage than Crosby, but that does not make him a better natural goal scorer.

I think it is the 2nd part that is much worse! Crosby is arguably the greatest hockey player right now (though Ovechkin has probably a better case), but he is not even close to the greatest player since Gretzky. Hello? Mario?

Did someone dare imply Red Wings fans favor the Red Wings???

I believe Bettman still only needs 8 owners' votes to act - that is a lot of power. I do not believe the BoG meets that often - a few times a year - but I am having a hard time backing that up. Those are closed meetings with no journalists.

Recent issue of Time Magazine listed Crosby as one of the 11 olympians to watch: "... the greatest hockey player on the planet, probably the best since Wayne Gretzky." LOL

Not much hockey going on, huh?

Heh, working through a pack of HopSlam - 10% alchohol.... Not to worry folks, not driving

I agree on the 16, and that is changing... But 1 beer gets you drunk??

That made me laugh. ... definite fine and suspension coming. You can't disrespect the game of hockey like that!

You don't know anyone who drives after one beer? Not driving at all the next day? Where do you live... the Vatican? Anyways, drunk driving is bad - but .08 is too low.

Turns out that other $2m+ was Hudler.

Why would they not make a move? Unless someone is going on LTI... Lilja officially counts against the cap now - playing or not.

To a certain point - but eventually as you get older and progress the coaches are going to put you at the right position... versus letting you play whatever you want. Most kids will also want to play at the position they are best at, naturally.

If you took the top 2 forwards from each team, and the top 2 defenseman from each team and compared them to goalies - then I am sure you would see equal distribution. But tacking on an extra, inferior 10 forwards and 4 defenseman from each team is obviously going to dilute the talent level much more.

I disagree -- growing up playing hockey, everyone had a chance at every position and those who were best suited to play goalie played goalie. Sure, there were not a lot of positions at goalie, so you can't just throw the kid with no coordination in as a goalie as you could with him as a forward on the 4th line. Because of this limit, the average goalie is a heck of a lot better than the average forward. It's the same thing with the quarterback position in football. Just because the quarterback position is limited does not make the #1 quarterback in the world less impressive than the #1 lineman in the world -- playing the sport for most of your life, you are going to play the different positions and end up where you are best.

This is such a weird conversation.... So because there are simply more forward positions in the NHL are Top 10 forwards automatically more impressive than Top 10 defenseman as well? What a strange way of looking at things. I'm not changing the perspective at all -- the very best hockey players in the world are in the NHL, can we agree on that? So a top player at his position in the NHL is a top player at his position in the world, right? So saying Howard is Top 10 out of 12/30/60/1,000/1,000,000 goalies is a true statement. I can't believe you are devaluing the goalie position in the NHL simply because you don't have a bunch of scrubs like Kopecky playing goalie in the NHL.

You have an extremely myopic view... Take the top million goalies in the world and Howard is in the Top 10 right now. Take the top million forwards in the world and Duchene is in the Top 100. Which is more impressive?