sibiriak

Of course, hockey players never dive to get a call. I've played all 3 sports and while you get hit harder in hockey, being hit with studs on unprotected leg or landing on someone foot and rolling an ankle hurts a lot more at the moment. While you can skate with a fractured foot, you can't run on one. I've seen plenty of soccer players play on with heir heads bandaged after a head on head collision or being hit on a head with high kick. A lot more play on sprained knees and ankles having had an anesthesia shot before the game.

And your point is? I didn't realize things were that bad in Canada.

If anyone here has experience with the justice system, could they comment on what this means? If the DA decided to actually charge Varlamov, does that mean that the evidence is sufficiently strong for a reasonable chance of conviction, or could this be just a DA courting publicity, because the case involves a celebrity?

Supposedly, Florida is shopping D.Kulikov. Could be a good fit. Not a panacea but a good long term fit.

If that is directed at me, I did quote your post in its entirety, and responded to the part that was a new argument, while the rest was just a stronger restatement of your previous argument. I said all I wanted to on this issue. I can't add anything useful. See ya around

In real life your credibility is based on what you've done historically. Not recently. If Brezhnev said that the sun rises in the east, American politicians and media would have found something to dispute or denounce. And the other way around for Reagan. Basically, whatever Russian politicos or media say or do, right or wrong, it is suspect in American eyes because of the history. I don't mean that to denigrate the US, they certainly have enough justification. But it is a fact of life. I totally agree with your last sentence. I just would encourage you not to assume responsibility for whatever Russian gov't or media do. You a Russian but you are not responsible for some a-*ole or bigoted fool just because they also happen to be Russian.You'll save a lot of nerve cells that way. Decent people of all nations, unite!

I disagree. In Soviet times TV lied way more professionally and convincingly and as a result was taken seriously in more places than it is now. However, it still had no credibility over here. So one does not necessarily flow from the other. It does not make me look bad. Just like when Speaker Boehner says something stupid or hypocritical, it need not make all Ohioans look bad. Those guys in politics represent themselves first and foremost. So I feel no responsibility or their behavior.

Noone of consequence repeated this rubbish, and nobody takes (or should take) Perviy kanal seriously. And as you might have guessed from my nick, I am also far from home.

If by "a lot" you mean one (1) idiot MP, and by "media" all the Russian papers that scoffed at him for saying that, then OK. One might gain prospective if one considers the idiotic/politically motivated things that regularly come out of the mouths of US members of Congress, before reacting to the same coming out of a foreign parliament member.

Exactly. The run-up is the same, so the goalie has no idea which way Datsyuk is going. It's the best combo of moves one could have.

Not sure why they signed him. He's way too slow for the big ice. Admiral Vladivostok has an arena of a size close to NHL standard, so I guess they can only dress him for the home games...

Serious back and elbow issues happened. Back problems were the reason he retired the first time. Same way as you can be an owner and a player, e.g. Mario Lemieux. I guess anything goes in Mother America... He was asked about it in a n interview, He joked that Fedorov the GM will put a no trade clause in the Fedorov the player contract.

According to the Russian papers it was mostly cash, nothing hockey related. Some other flats in the same building were burgled as well. Datsyuk was at the Russian Olympic camp at the time. Ekaterinburg police better catch the bastards, if they can't even solve a crime against Datsyuk, what are they good for?

Now, that is a really real great idea. Imagine how cool it would be, if there was a pair of outsize hockey gloves hanging up on the rafters, with a #13 on them. IMO, that's way better than having Dats' jersey retired.

A hockey player that got beat up by a figure skater may not be elected to the HOF. I think it is in the by-laws.

I just saw that Brad Boyes is available (UFA) could be a very good pickup. Physical RW, scored 35 pts in 48 games last season. If his health is good could be a nice pickup.

I doubt that ALL the teams picking between 11 and 18 would have passed on Nichushkin.

Does anyone think that Grabovski may be a good replacement for Philppula? There was an unsubstantiated rumor in "Sovetski Sport" - a Russian sports paper - that Detroit is in talks with Toronto about Grabovski. He's signed till 2017 for 5.5 mil. with a limited NTC. With Kadri's progress, Grabovski may have become expendable.

The Rotenbergs bought the arena and a minority share in Jokerit. If you were buying an arena, would you rather buy one in Helsinki or in Novokuznetsk? Not to mention the business and political access in Finland that they must have gained with this purchase. You must not follow KHL much. After the last season Vityaz Chekhov has been told by the league to tone the rough stuff down, and they did. Now they are still mediocre and are no longer exciting to watch. I bet you that there WILL be an Austrian or/and a Northern Italian team in the KHL within 3 years. And KHL went to unbalanced schedule, so it's no longer required that every team plays every other team the same number of times, and they went to heavier intra-conference schedule instead. Therefore the more Western European teams there will be in the Westernmost conference, the more of their games will be within their geographical area, and the less travel (relatively speaking) they will have to do. The thinking of he KHL brass is that in order to compete with the NHL for players and popularity, they must expand into Western Europe. That's where the money is, after all. They believe that the existing European national leagues will at best continue to exist in their niche markets, and at worst will lose market share to the NHL and to other sports (e.g. soccer). That's why they are expanding so quickly. There's a grain of truth in that idea, IMO. I just hope they won't overextend themselves.

I wouldn't argue with you about the long-term prospects of the KHL, and while it is mostly Russian at the moment, it is 180 degrees from "former USSR". It was conceived by Fetisov and others, specifically to be a polar opposite of the then Russian superleague. Its business model and structure have nothing whatsoever to do with the old Soviet league. And with Jokerit joining, and perhaps an Italian and an Austrian teams to follow, the number of the non-Russian clubs will reach a third of the KHL. That's getting close to a truly pan-European league.

What do you mean by rules slanted to the advantage of Russian teams? In fact, the only difference in the KHL rules is that the non-Russian teams don't have any limit on the number of foreign (non-Russian) players they can sign. That is an advantage to the non-Russian clubs, as they, theoretically, can ice as many as 25 Canadians for their teams, if they want.

You are probably right about Doan. But I watched the clip and I watched that NYR-Was game. On that play, it looked for a second like Was had control of the puck in their zone. OV released up ice in anticipation of a pass, like he always does, and like 9 of 10 scoring forwards in the league would do. When the puck was turned over, he started back, but didn't hassle because his defensmen (his check) was even farther away than he was. When he saw how the play developed, it was too late to hassle back because he knew he was too far away to do any good. Doan would have, Datsyuk or Zetterberg would have, if only in case of a miss or a rebound. But not many other forwards would have. In this clip it looks bad, but if OV hassled the result would have been the same, it would just have looked cosmetically better.

OV and Kovalev played on the same line in Turin in 2006 vs Canada, IIRC the result was 2-0 Russia and they both scored.

He was covering his man at the right point. Covering the man in the crease was not his assignment. When the pass to the goalscorer was made, OV was too far away to do anything and he new it. He did not anticipate the need to come down and help out the D, but that play was a result of a turnover in their own zone, so he'd have to have the defensive hockey sense of a Datsyuk or a Guy Carbonneau to be able to anticipate that. He ain't a threat to win the Selke any time soon, true, but on this play he was not lazy. Just looked that way because of how quickly the play happened.

Nice win Great poise, especially from the less experienced guys, absolutely awesome work rate, stellar goaltending. Chicago is still a favorite, but they will have to really work for it. I'm much more optimistic about facing the Hawks after tonight's game.