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Datsyuk looks hurt - hope I am wrong.

Exactly. The "Powers that Be" know we are onto them. This is just a coy plan to throw us off the trail.

I prefer this one: http://rinkworks.com/dialect/ "Swedish Chef": -- Sounds like Holmstrom

If you read a game day thread of the Ducks, doesn't matter who they are playing, almost every third post is "OMG, _____ just dived so bad there - What a wus!!!" They take so much pride in having the biggest, baddest team in the league, but then can not understand how their players could possibly take down another.

I do not expect the Joe music to cater to me personally -- though I have noticed they tend to pump up the crowd too early during commercial breaks - so by the time the game is back on, the cheering has almost completely died down.

I'd like to see Leino for a spell over Abdelkader and Maltby -- and Chicago is a great series and team to see him out there for. Leino has always impressed me because he goes straight for the net.

That first game doesn't really count -- most households tuned in to see Crosby talk during the intermission.

Whn Mark Messier signed with Vancouver part of his requirements were to wear the "C" (The current captain was Trevor Linden, a highly respected captain and the team's most popular player) and to wear #11. So Wayne Maki's (whom had died in an automobile accident) number was unretired and Messier, the "greatest leader ever" took that team to win a Stanley Cup.... or not.... Linden was later traded and with players like Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny, Kirk McLean, Markus Naslund and Mattias Ohlund, Messier would lead the Canucks to a grand total of 0 playoff appearances.

He's not paid to steal games... yet he has. He is paid to keep the Wings in the game, so that Detroit's high-paid forwards and defensemen can win it. Which he does on a consistent basis. Though these past two post-seasons, he is playing a hell of a lot better than anyone can expect from a $1.4m goalie.

Osgood is playing with a huge chip on his shoulder this year and has a lot to prove - which is great, methinks.

Hasek and Sawchuk (1952 particulary -- playoff GAA of .63) probably have the best single seasons for goalies in NHL history... going back to Hainsworth's 1929 season (22 shutouts in 44 games). Beliveua's '56 season should be up there, as well as Hull's '66 season where he was 69% above the next leading scorer. Fedorov's '94 season is one that deserves honorable mention.

The league was weakest during WWII and 70s expansion -- so I always take those years in context.

Man, Crosby hoopla really cracks me up -- You know there is a decree coming down from on high at the NHL offices, that they must get so much air time of Crosby, so it really must suck at times because he is usually a terrible interview, and at times he just isn't that great. How desperate were they for a great play from Crosby last year in the first two games of the SCFs??? Most clips showed him skating in circles and huffing and puffing on the bench. They did capture and replay a nifty move he had to cross the blue line.... and do nothing. But now that stick exchange he had, that was a thing of beauty, and I did need to see a slow motion of that, and then in regular speed again, to really appreciate it.

Didn't Osgood have about as many assists as Datsyuk the last series?

Which is what frustrated me about the first few games against Anaheim, when the Wings were trying to outplay Anaheim at their own game. Although the Oilers suprisingly went from a run and gun team to a full on trapping team in 2006 - which was totally unexpected, and it worked for them.

So on the front page of NHL.com, they had opposing images of Crosby and Ovechkin, framed by Gordie Howe and Rocket Richard. My first initial thought was, "Oh no you did not [compare Crosby to Howe]... " -- It's just a bit early to be making those comparisons, don't you think? But I read the article anyways, and sure enough: Full Article Give me a break. The next one is the doozey, however -- Crosby raises his game -- again I laughed, but I'm not gonna lie, I also tasted a bit o' byle. Try reading it with "Eye of the Tiger" playing at full volume, to get the full effect....

Boy, Albom really rubs me the wrong way... He's like the dork who shows up at his twenty-year high school reunion in a helicopter.

You mean Hal Gill is still not being called for interfering with his own goalie?

Oh, come now... even a tweener in Pittsburgh is going to admit those articles go a little overboard. They really cracked me up... Don't get me wrong, both Crosby and Ovechkin are having/had a sweet run, but I do not think grown men are running scared yet from that gleam in Crosby's eyes!

I said "those comparisonS" -- Howe is one of the 4 best players of all time, and the Rocket is 5th or 6th. No, not too early for those comparisons at all....

Tie Domi was a freak of nature. 5'10, 210+ lbs and strong as an oxe - yet could actually still play the game (though not towards the end of his career).

There's no question Maltby and Draper are taking up spots that could and probably would go to more of a mucker type. But it is also no question that Holland will not get rid of them until their contracts run out.

I don't recall many singling out Getzlaf for a suspension. Whatever Hossa did to Getzlaf, or Getzlaf did to Hossa is not a free pass for Neidermayer and Perry to go after Datsyuk and Rafalski. I am fine with no suspensions, but it is contradictory to current NHL rules. It just would be nice if the refs and actual NHL rulebook were on the same page. Don't create stupid rules out of thin air and then not enforce them, or enforce them only once in a blue moon - and only when it involves fringe players and not star players.

Who the hell is going to be on the ice in the final minute of a 1-2 playoff game? Would you prefer the Wings tank a few years, and trade away their assets in order to stockpile 1st round picks? Because that is when north american players with size and skill are drafted. (Getzlaf, Perry and Ryan -- all 1st round picks) Datsyuk was drafted in the 6th round and 171st overall and is now a Hart, Pearson and Selke finalist, and there is a certain element on this board that holds it against him that he is not a fighter???? Give me a break! The Wings have stayed competitive for over 15 years, and unfortunately the price of doing so included trading away 1st round picks, and having to uncover gems late in the draft.

I thought he deserved a 5 minute major and would not have bitched if he got a suspension (it was not an intent to injure per say, but he definitely did not make much of an effort to not injure Gonchar). But the NHL is obviously reluctant to suspend star players, especially in the playoffs. Ovechkin's hit was questionable - and during the game. The Ducks antics were at the end of a game, after a whistle and without question. There is no question, according to the rules, that suspensions should be handed out for that. I bitched a lot when that rule came out in '06, and think it should be stricken from the rulebook - but it's still there. The refs were calling everything on the Ducks at the end there, BUT instigating. It's a joke.