sibiriak

Actually, many of them are Russian by heritage. Their first language is Russian, their parents are both or one Russian, their passports say "nationality: Russian, citizenship: Russian". Admit it, you read their birthplaces on nhl.com and went with those without further thought, when you claimed that those players were not Russian. When in actual fact and by any reasonable criteria they are. So quit trying to back up your initial erroneous statement by making further claims that don't hold water. Normally, I would just let it go, but there are few enough Russians left in the NHL for me to give up even more of them.

Do you mean Russian as a nationality or Russian as a citizenship? Because there ARE ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belorussia, Latvia etc. As there are other nationalities than "American" in the US. Nabokov is Russian by nationality, as both of his parents are Russian. He is also a Russian citizen, born in what now is Kazakhstan. Fedorov is Russian by nationality, but an American by citizenship. Yzerman is a Canadian by nationality, but an American by citizenship. Ulf Samelsson is Swedish by nationality, but an American by citizenship. What do you mean exactly, when you say "so-and-so is Russian (not Russian, Swedish, etc.)"?

Well, if you want to define players' nationality by the country they were born in, then there are NO Russians, Ukranians, Kazakhs, Czechs, Slovaks, or Belorussians playing in the NHL right now. They are all Soviets or Czechoslovaks. The ones who were born after the break up (1990 and up) are not yet eligible for the draft. The players who grew up in the USSR or CSSR were allowed to choose what country they wanted to represent. Thus, Nabokov, Vishnevski, Zherdev and Zhitnik are Russian, while Fedotenko is Ukranian, Salei, Grabovsky and the Kostitsin brothers are Belorussian, Antropov is Kazakh, Lang and Jagr are Czech, and Bondra is a Slovak (although according to you he should count as a Ukranian since that's where he was born - to Czechoslovakian parents). And the transfer agreement is about mutual recognition and respect of signed contracts by the NHL and the Russian league. No agreement means that ANY player can abandon his Superliga contract and be allowed by the NHL to play there. And vice versa. The player can be Canadian, Russian, Czech or Swedish. Randy Robitaile started this season in Russia but then bolted for Ottawa. Kondratiev did the opposite instead of going to the Annaheim farm club.

Friday: NY Islanders @ Boston Washington @ Philadelphia Columbus @ Minnesota Phoenix @ Anaheim Tampa Bay @ Carolina Montreal @ Buffalo New Jersey @ Atlanta NY Rangers @ Florida Vancouver @ St Louis Toronto @ Dallas Saturday: Toronto @ Phoenix Calgary @ Colorado Buffalo @ Montreal Philadelphia @ Ottawa Boston @ NY Islanders Carolina @ Washington Detroit @ Columbus Atlanta @ Pittsburgh New Jersey @ Tampa Bay Minnesota @ Nashville Chicago @ Edmonton Los Angeles @ San Jose Sunday: Dallas @ NY Rangers Calgary @ St Louis Los Angeles @ Anaheim Chicago @ Vancouver

I sat closer to the Wings end, so I didn't see that it was Downey in that scrum. He drew the 2 min rough on Leclaire, but Shelly got his 2 min for delay of game, so that wasn't Downey. I like his energy, its justtoo bad that his skillis are not enough to be really useful. I'd love to have someone like a young Peca or Barnaby on the Wings, Downey just isn't quite talanted enough.

Is that why Downey sat the last 10 min. of the game + all OT and only played 4:33 total? Seems that the coaching staff doesn't share your high opinion of Downey. Apart from a couple of hits, he didn't do anything useful tonight. And he did takea bad penalty.

And he is a UFA after this season. If he plays well, he'll have his pick of what team to go to next year. I still can't believe Burke couldn't even get a pick or a prospect for him.

Friday: NY Islanders @ New Jersey Atlanta @ Carolina Montreal @ Buffalo Washington @ Tampa Bay Columbus @ St Louis Colorado @ Dallas Minnesota @ Vancouver Saturday: Phoenix @ Los Angeles Ottawa @ Toronto Boston @ Montreal New Jersey @ Philadelphia Florida @ Carolina Chicago @ Detroit NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh St Louis @ Nashville Calgary @ Edmonton Anaheim @ San Jose Sunday: Detroit @ Columbus Colorado @ Minnesota Calgary @ Vancouver

So, what we saw yesterday, was Datsyuk playing LW, and yet by my count he attempted 6 shots, one from each point, two from the prime scoring area in the center slot, one from near left post on a backdoor stuffing attempt, and only one shot (which came closest to going in, by hitting a post, BTW) from far left boards. I fail to see any correlation in his shooting spots with his nominal LW position. In fact, whenever the DZH line gained sustained pressure, Datsyuk was more often to be found in the right corner or on the right half-boards, rather than on the left side. I repeat Datsyuk attempted 1(ONE) shot from the nominal left wing position and 5 from elsewhere. I don't see how his playing a nominal LW affects his shot selection or his offensive zone positionong in the slightest degree. EDIT And as I mentioned in the earlier post, Datsyuk's goals per game are down, but the combined goals per game from Dats, Zetterberg and Homer are UP compared to the last season. I would take 10% more goals from the whole line every time, no matter if only one or two or all three are scoring those goals. There's no problem with that line at all.

Provided that the game doesn't get blacked out because of the damn NHL Network again. Time Warner Columbus doesn't planto launch the NHL Network till Jan 2008 at the earliest, and the NHL CenterIce has lost the rights to the games that the NHL Network broadcasts. And this Sunday's game is on the NHL Network... BTW, what the heck happened in the DAL-LA game? The Stars were up4-0 after two and they managed to lose in OT???

Sorry, I don't see it. Datsyuk has been shooting from all angles this season. He and Zetterberg don't have fixed positions on offence. Homer goes to the net and the other two are circling around looking for a hole in coverage. They are equally likely to be on the right, left or center of the offensive zone. And the Wings don't really use the left wing lock anymore, so Datsyuk doesn't have a larger defensive responsibility.

GS+T, I just crunched some numbers and here's what I found. Compared to the last season, Dats, Zetts, and Homer play more minutes, have more shots and more points per game (except Dats). The only stats in decline are Dats shoot% (by 9.4 % pts), PtsPG (-0.1), GPG (-0.22),and FO%(-5.7% pts). If Datsyuk shot at his last year efficiency of 13% he'd have 9 or 10 goals and 20+ pts now, and we wouldn't be having this conversation. Homer would have had a couple fewer goals (no rebounds to put in). So you do have a point as far as this stat goes. But since Dats is taking more shots per game than last season (+0.88 SPG), his lack of goalscoring is not because he doesn't have chances. Unless you think that his shot selection suddenly deteriorated, or that he lost his aim, the goals will come. I don't see any statistical reason to think that Dats move to the wing has caused his lower scoring. He gets shot opportunities. And it's not like he and Zetts ever had fixed roles on offense before. It never mattered which of them was a nominal center, they were all over the ice anyway.

GS+T, the fact that I and many others are trying to get across to you is this. Yes, Datsyuk's GPG faceoffs and shooting% are down compared to last season. But when you watch the games you must see that the stats here are opposite to the truth. Datsyuk is dominating both sides of the pack, and the phenomenal scoring of Zetterberg and Holmstrom is in a large part due to the play of Datsyuk. Yes, he changed his game a bit. But his whole line has become MORE effective because of it. So I don't see any cause for concern. As I said earlier, Datsyuk is scoring less, but both his line and his team are scoring MORE because of it. If Datsyuk was trying to get into a shooting position more and tried to shoot more, insted of working the boards and the corners, pulling the D to himself and dishing off to Zetterberg, who is open in a prime scoring area because of it, Zetterberg would have FEWER goals. Why would any coach mess with a dominating line? Datsyuk is doing exactly what he ought to be doing. The goals will come. He already hit several posts. There is NO problem with Datsyuk's play whatsoever.

Actually, the Wings are scoring at a higher rate then last season, 3.23 GPG vs 3.08 last season. They let in fewer GPG, they won 84.4% of all possibe points compared to 65% or so last year. Give it up man. The Wings are playing great, and better than the last season average. And noone is sagging or slumping or anything like that. Your original assumption was groundless. Let it go already.

Sorry about that. I overreacted. Dats has "the worst season in 3 years" statistically ONLY. His line is dominating more than I ever seen them do in the past. And if the team is winning, then it does NOT matter if Datsyuk hadn't scored a goal. The Wings are winning BECAUSE of Datsyuk's (and Zetterberg, and Holmstrom, and Osgood, and Hasek, and Cleary and... ) play. Not in spite of it. Datsyuk's linemates do not have to carry him. He makes their success possible. How can Datsyuk's "sagging" be a factor if his line is responsible for half of the Wings goals? You can't score twice on the same chance. I don't care if it is Zetterberg scoring into the empty net from Datsyuk's pass or vice versa.

GS+T, do you actually watch the games? Nearly every goal by Zetterberg (and by Holmstrom for that matter) is either directly set up by Datsyuk, or are made possible by his work in the corners, or on the boards, or forcing a turnover in the offensive zone. Datsyuk is carrying the piano for Zetterberg to play on. I'm sure that later in the season Zetts will return the favor. Somebody has to do little unglamorous things for the line to work. The only stat that that matters is 13 W 2 L 1 OTL, first palce in the league. Datsyuk would take a 10 goal season in a second, if it ends ina Cup.

Friday: Toronto @ Buffalo Atlanta @ Florida Columbus @ Detroit St Louis @ Chicago Colorado @ Vancouver San Jose @ Anaheim Saturday: Montreal @ Ottawa Buffalo @ Boston NY Rangers @ Toronto New Jersey @ NY Islanders Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia Tampa Bay @ Washington Carolina @ Atlanta Columbus @ Nashville Edmonton @ Calgary Dallas @ Los Angeles Phoenix @ San Jose Sunday: Detroit @ Chicago Minnesota @ Colorado

In this scenario, by January half the teams will have lost any reasonable shot at the playoffs, and will have nothing to play for. And the fans of these teams will have nothing to come to the arena for.

Not to mention Canadian and not Russian.

Bertuzzi's guilt is no longer at issue. He already plead guilty to the criminal charge in this case and served his community service/slap on the wrist sentence. The only issue remaining is how much money Moore gets ina civil suit.

EDIT Los Angeles @ San Jose The team I wanted didn't get bolded originally for some reason, it's a good thing I noticed that before the game started. Please note the time of edit.

Friday: Toronto @ New Jersey Philadelphia @ Washington Florida @ Buffalo Phoenix @ Dallas Nashville @ Edmonton Los Angeles @ San Jose Saturday: Toronto @ Montreal Boston @ Ottawa Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders New Jersey @ NY Rangers Florida @ Carolina Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Calgary @ Minnesota Chicago @ St Louis Anaheim @ Phoenix Vancouver @ Colorado San Jose @ Los Angeles Sunday: St Louis @ Columbus Nashville @ Chicago Ottawa @ Boston

Friday: Vancouver @ Washington Montreal @ Carolina Buffalo @ Florida San Jose @ Detroit Colorado @ Calgary Saturday: Philadelphia @ Boston San Jose @ Columbus Ottawa @ New Jersey Carolina @ NY Islanders Toronto @ NY Rangers Montreal @ Pittsburgh Buffalo @ Tampa Bay Florida @ Nashville Atlanta @ Chicago Washington @ St Louis Dallas @ Phoenix Edmonton @ Los Angeles Sunday: Minnesota @ Colorado Edmonton @ Anaheim Detroit @ Vancouver

What doesn't work in any job is when your are trying to entice away someone else's employee, but only offer him the minimum wage with a chance to earn about half of what he made at his old job, IF he proves himself. Anybody who takes such an offer would only do so if he REALLY wants to work for your company. And if Grigorenko doesn't get to play for the Wings, whyever would he want to stay in GR and earn $70,000? If the Wings management thinks that Grigorenko will play in the NHL this season, they should let him adjust while paying him something close to his salary in Russia. Whether he plays in the NHL or not. If they don't think he can make the team, why waste each other time and money? This was precisely why the 11/1 deadline was written in the contract. Both sides recognized that Grigorenko is sacrificing a lot of money for a shot to make the Wings roster. And if he can't do it in 2-2.5 months, then he can cut his losses. I think it's fair. Do you think that if Downey or Ellis could earn $1,000,000 elsewhere, they would give that up for a two-way contract with the Wings? Dream on.

1. The degree of his "being out of shape" is unclear. It could be that he is just this slow. Compared to his 19 year old speed that is. He used to weigh 210 when he was a rising star pre-injury. He is much less than that now. What IS his ideal weight? If you don't know, then you don't know if he is overweight either. 2. As has been mentioned already, a lot of Europeans (I'd bet about half) went staright to the NHL without playing in the minors. So one can adjust to the NA game when in the NHL. In fact, last years' IIHF study showed that the chances of a Euro prospect to be successful in the NHL were less for those who went to play in the NA juniors/minors instead of staying in Europe until they were more mature. 3. For a man with a young family, giving up close to a million dollars for $50,000 after tax is not a thing easily done. What if he gets hurt and can't play anymore? Are you going to provide for his daughter then? If not, you don't deserve the right to curse at him in the language you've used. 4. I resent your generalization about Russia. Even if Grigorenko were a indeed lazy unmotivated greedy whiner, still that reflects on Grigorenko only, not all Russians. 5. Fer Chrissakes, let the guy play a few NHL games first, before loading up on tar and feathers. If he sucks, Detroit won't keep him in the line-up. And if he goes back to Russia then, the only person to have lost anything will be Igor Grigorenko. I don't understand the motivation for your vitriol towards him.