sibiriak

Or yeah, my mistake. As soon as I got my loupe out, I could see that the benches are indeed labeled.

How? You'd have to know first which bench the home team seats at. The man asked a legitimate question. Why are you being a wisea*s?

As far as +/- is concern, Datsyuk has +36 in 77 GP, when Savard has -19 in 80 GP. If you prorate to 80 GP, Datsyuk has 0.705 better +/-per game, not 0.36. To see the scale, Tomas Vanek, who leads the NHL in +/-, is better than Savard by 0.77 per game. So 0.705 per game is NOT a trivial difference. Datsyk is 3rd in the NHL among forwards in +/-, and Savard is 3rd from the bottom among Boston forwards. Again, that is not a trivial difference. If Savard was at least close to leading his team in +/-, then your argument about the difference in teams would have been valid. But he isn't. Last season, Datsyuk was 14th in takaways and 13th in +/- among all NHL forwards. This year he is 1st and 3rd respectively. He is better than last season, but 13th among all forwards wasn't no slouch either. Seems, Datsyuk was fairly good defensively last year as well. I agree, that PK time stat has to be taken in context, and can't be directly compared. To summarize, their offensive stats are close, but in the defense department Datsyuk is head and shoulders above Savard.

If ANA wins the last 3 games, their goal diff will be +54 at least. It is VERY unlikely that Detroit will end upwith the same goal diff. And the 4th tiebreaker after Wins, Head-to head, and goal diff, is goals scored isn't it?

What? I didn't say "shutout".

Weak call on Chelios.

2-0 Game over. There's only one thing left to play for tonight.

Zetterberg is signed at his current bargain salary for another 2 years. How do you expect the parity with Datsyk's salary to come about?

Savard is 5'10''. Is there a reason to think that he will be so much better than Datsyuk in handling "the pressure or the physical play that comes with the playoffs"?

Going on last year, CenterIce shows the games that are NOT on NBC or VS. If NBC shows 1of 3 "regional" games, then the other two will be on CI in your zipcode. See NHL.com for the TV schedule to figureout who shows what playoff games.

NHL Center Ice On-line has decent quality and costs $120. And then there's the TV version...

The last time Lamoriello did it, the Devils went all the way. My money is on Lou, he knows what he's doing.

OK, lets list the possibilities. Case A. Datsyuk's playoff experience/struggles detracts from his development as a player. I can't imagine what an argumnet supporting that would be. Case B. Datsyuk's playoff experience made NO impact at all on his developnent as a player. You are supporting this, right? Do you think he just forgot all about every playoff game he ever played, so it didn't affect his game at all? Case C. Datsyuk didn't play well in the playoffs, but learned from his mistakes/difficulties, and adjusted his game. That is what I argue. He played 42 playoff games. That is half a regular seson worth of games. If nothing else, a player with 315 NHL games under his belt, is a little less experienced as a player with 357 of them. And those 42 games are high stakes/high intensity games that arguably would provide one with more challenge and more experience per game then a December game against BJ or Phoenix. Also, the tighter, less strictly refereed playoff games challenge Datsyuk more because of his relatively small size, so he has to develop adjustments that would allow him to compete in that environment. Without actually playing in the playoffs, it would be very difficult to adjust one's game to such style .(BTW, Marc Savard is not big either, so he'd need to make that transition at some point, and without actually experiencing playoff hockey, he'd be hard presed to do that.)

If you extrapolate the winning percentages against other divisions teams, the Wings'point total would decline by 2-3 points at the most, if they were in the NW and would not decline if they were in the Pacific. This assumes that the Wings keep flying to the west coast for all 16 of their away NW division games, which is a significant factor, that no other teams in the NW divisionwould have to deal with. This means that the Wings Would be trailing the Ducks for the conference lead by 0-1 points right now, instead of leading them by 2. Not much of a difference at all.

Congrats to wingslogo19 for the record score. 20/24 I hope you put some money on the games this weekend I got 18, my personal best, but it wasn't nearly enough to win this week.

I was at the game in Columbus, and it felt kind of wrong, when Fedorov got booed everytime he touched the puck , in his own building. If you go to the game as an away team fan, cheer for your team, but don't be Nashille-obnoxious. I was glad that the home crowd reacted promptly, and drowned the boos out with their cheers every time after the first few minutes.

So, are the playoffs different from the regular season, and Datsyuk's non-performance in them is a huge knock on him, or are the playoffs almost the same as the regular season, and Datysyuk's progress will surely carry over into the playoffs? I am confused as to what our difference of opinion is. I seem to argue for the same exact point as you do in the latter quote, but against the point that you make in the former quote.

I can't really see them hanging out together much, given the difference in age, temperament, and family status, but they did play together for a year for Dinamo Moscow during the lockout, as well as for the Russian national team in the WC and the Olympics. So they must know each other well.

Well, if, as many ppl here suggest, playoffs are totally different from the regular season, then experiencing that difference first hand should help one realize his shortcomings, no? Things which made Datsyuk successful in the regular season, supposedly, do not translate well to the playoffs, so finding this out first hand, and trying to adjust to the difference when playing in the actual playoffs, should be a lot more useful, then just hearing the coach talk in abstract. If we exclude his first (and most successful) playoff year as an abberation, then Datsyuk's PPG in the playoffs go from 0.0 in 2003 to 0.5 in 2005 and 0.6 in 2006. Small sample, I know, but it's all we've got. Extrapolating from this, Datsyuk should get 0.7-0.9 PPG this year. That's not bad at all. And if we believe that there has been a qualitative change in his game this season, then he may do even better.

I couldn't tell you, I don't know hockey well enough. But you yourself said that Datsyuk's game changed this year. I would add to that IMO his game was already changing in the same direction last year, and during his play in Russia in the lock-out year. Don't forget that this is only the fourth year in the NHL for Pavel. He got here in 2002, and was lucky to be on a great team and go all the way. Next year he (as many if not most rookies do) struggled in the post-season. He did poorly in the playoffs, and discovered that what worked in 2002 didn't work anymore. In 2004 he got 6 pts in 12 playoff games, which is not very good, but not pathetic either, so he must have adjusted somewhat. Then there was the lockout, so Datsyuk had to adjust back to the Russian game. Last year he was hurt in the playoffs, but I think his game in the regular season has been more responsible defensively then before and more mature (the stats bear this out BTW). And then this season we see a Datsyuk who's become an excellent defensive player,without sacrificing his offense, and who learned to create chances with any set of linemates, not just Zetterberg. Am I mistaken to see a progression in Datsyuk's game? Edit for content and clarity.

Although the Western playoff teams don't have the relative gimmies among them, like Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Montreal, the Rangers, or Toronto are in the East. I'd rather the Wings played any of those teams in the first round.

Happy April's Fool!

Because unless a player is a total moron or is totally lacking in work ethic, he will learn from his playoff exrerience, good or bad. The player who knows what mistakes he's made in the past is better for it. A player who has never been in that situation will have to learn from his own mistakes. The same applies in other areas of life. Companies prefer to hire former executives of failed companies over the inexperienced candidates. They figure that the second time around the same mistakes won't be repeated. So when two players of the similar level of talent (or with similar stats) are considered, the one with the playoff experience, good or bad, will get the nod. Slegr or Kohn probably made more money than the players with similr stats/talent who didn't have the ring. I dont have time to check now, but I think that is a resonable assumption.

I don't think that. I'm just saying that when we compare a player with "bad" playoff history, with a player without any playoff history, I'd rather have the one with the playoff experience.

Failure is relative. Without getting to the old debate, your name on the Cup stays, and the stats are forgotten. Datsyuk wasn't the only one straggling in the last 3 playoffs, and his "failure" is mostly in not reaching the very high expectations of Detroit fans. On any other team, it wouldn't be as much of an issue. I understand your scepticism, although I don't share it. In any case, it looks like any further contract talks will take place after the playoffs are over, and Datsyuk's playoff performance will factor in, surely. For the purposes of comparison between Dats and Savard, as of this moment, it wouldn't be fair (to say the least) to include the postulated future playoff failure into the comparison based on the present day data. How do you know, maybe Savard will suck in the playoffs, whenever the Bruins make them. I'd guess that Yzerman and Shanahan departure has reduced the merchandize sales, or shifted them to the new heroes. If you can attend the games at the Joe regularly (since I don't live close to Detroit), you can tell me, whose jerseys are showing up in the stands now in relatively greater quantity? Would I be correct in assuming more #40, #13, and #44 showing up than before? It's not a matter of how much money the team makes overall. It's a matter of how much more money they'd make because they sign this or that player. It is difficult to measure, yet the GM must have at least some estimate, before offering a contract. EDIT-spelling.