ltgator333

Well.. I've been trying to avoid this thread, but before I deleted the game from the DVR I went through and watched the goals vs Detroit and... Those were all decent to quality scoring chances. And Minnesota buried them. And would've irregardless of who was on the ice. It just to me further cements my ongoing suspicion that some people just absolutely love to hate Chris Osgood. I see on MLive that apparently the sensationalist sports media has fully figured it out as well. Awesome. At this point I'll be out with it- I honestly think Ozzy's a slightly above average goaltender for the whole of his career thusfar. And really, considering how long he's just did what it is that he does, there's only a few franchises that could've properly benefited from his talent, Detroit being one of them. It just sickens me that a nearly HOF-worthy goaltender that has played most of his career in this town and really for the sake of his legacy, he'd be better off playing anywhere else. I'm not going to bother explaining it, and I'm not arguing points with anybody, period. Being as the way I think about it there logically can't be any point.

I'm cookin' crow for EVERYBODY who spoke ill of Mickey Redmond.

I voted for Pronger. The Yzerman hit/fail being the one time I've seen Pronger get what he deserved. When Dmitri Mironov stopped Pronger's heart, I felt slightly bad for him. I would've took a broken rib instead. Pronger has years of cheap play behind him to back him up, and is the candidate to vote for here. He is, to me, the stereotypical prick and a perfect Philli Flyer. JMO, he would've fit in with the broadsteet bullies just fine. Crosby, either the actual man himself or the one the NHL PR paints and crams down everyone's thoat, is talented but largely harmless. If you don't mind the BS it doesn't matter.

I don't know that Howard is any Ryan Miller, but anything's possible. I'm thinking that Jimmy's potential is pretty up there, it's just a question of whether or not he develops that far or not. He's got some things going for him that'll help for sure, jmo- he's got the (speed, hand-eye, strength) physical ability and he's not a small guy which are natural advantages to go along with the fact that for a rookie goalie he seems to be good at predicting the game. Then of course he plays for a good team and a good organization. His flaws, the positioning and rebound control, are like buying a car that needs tires and a paint job- fixable. I have hope for him because I like his attitude, and he just seems like a very focused, intense character. That and the organization and players he plays for/with. It seems like a vast majority of players that come here with a will to succeed do just that.

I saw the deal with Mickey during the game as well, and I can also say that there was no way Mick was talking about Kronwall, for reasons stated above. He circled his picture on the tellustrator (sp??) I definitely remember that. I agree, with the cap situation that's going to be coming up very soon, I think Mickey just let the cat out of the bag that Holland wasn't ready to acknowledge- there's going to HAVE to be some roster moves soon whether or not Lilja returns. The whole deal with Lilja suddenly feeling better- that's what he's been waiting for all this time and it's very possible he does. One thing I saw back on page 3 (I think) of this thread was also a very viable question- Lilja's not played in a long time and, jmo, could benefit from a conditioning stint in Grand Rapids to get back up to speed. Practice just isn't a game.

Hopefully Kronner's at least 90% and gets his game legs going quick. Would've loved to see Kronner do his thing to Clusterf*ck last night! And on the who sits issue- Meech has been playing better than Lebda by a lil bit, but, Meech isn't a fully developed NHL defenseman and Lebda has been playing NHL games for 4 years now. I'd just as soon see if Meech has anything more to offer vs what you're going to get from Lebda. edit- can't spell

wow, wish I were near that! I actually really like the RW alumni roster, looks like a winner to me!

Me three. Because I seriously doubt, after having read the full article again, that this is really anything more than Ozzy going 'hey, being off for a month as a goaltender is bad'. And if you actually read the dang thing, he wasn't just talking about himself. Generally, it's not such a good thing and that fact is hard to debate provided you know what you're talking about. The whole deal with Babcock vs veteran players deal, I could totally see that. It happens in the workplace when you have employees that pre-date the current boss- they're not 'his/her people' and sometimes they're quick to question a boss that does something that they've known to not be a good idea in the past- I've done it. To me that's all this whole deal boils down to, and really this thread (as I thought it would on page 11) has just morphed into an off topic Ozzy hate/defend $hitstorm. I still do not understand why some people dislike him to the point of going out of their way to villainize the one successful goaltender that this franchise has brought from Joe (nobody) to pro in the last two decades.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqNPG4EaN6w http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=306945 Is two games good for this? Another example of the NHL talking the 'hits to the head' talk and leaving it at that? I would've given him 3-5.

I would lean toward him retiring, but with his history with the team, and Holland's history with guys that have a history, I wouldn't be too surprised if he was back next year. That said, I haven't appreciated his lack of effort in the regular season the last few years, and I really think this year is some of the best hockey I've seen him play since before the lockout. But, at 38 his upside peaked years ago. He's replaceable, redundant, and all those other things said above. I suppose I'll miss him a bit, but I hope he retires.

I seriously doubt he was crying his eyes out or anything. That would get on my nerves. I'm sure the quote selection for the article painted it that way to an extent, that's what news writers do. OH- and it's not much of an internal affair, imo- it's as public as who's between the pipes and who isn't.

Yeah worked out really well too as Hudler's been lights-out for the wings this year. Figures that a so-so first start in a month and a couple harmless quotes by The Most Controversial Player to Ever Play Hockey according to LGW.com, ***I said it here*** and there's an epic, dozen plus (wait for it) page thread with people going ape-$hit. It amazes me how much some people hate the guy. I mean, how DARE he say what's on his mind as opposed to the Gary-approved standard media statement for NHL players v2.2!? Here we go...

It's not an assumtion, I assume the majority of leagues would but, there might be some smaller league that unfortunately would not honor the suspension. It's what I would like to see happen to make suspensions, which are the proper course of action in incidents at this level of severity, more of a real punishment for the action. I would at very least like to see leagues in North America honor eachother's suspensions. This incident, imo, it's borderline that the law be involved. If the victim pressed charges or wished to, by all means that's their right to do so and the prosecution may be able to build a case. I don't think they should just take charge of the situation.

I say lengthy suspension. Criminal charges are not appropriate here- do people realize that when you call the law into a matter you're throwing up a big 'the situation is out of league control' flag, and this is not the case. edit- It doesn't have to be the case. If the league he plays in suspends him for a length of time, I'd like to see other leagues honor that. As it's been pointed out Cormier has the option to bolt to another league, then it's out of control. If it's not an option for him, then it's not out of control.

Next 3 games are going to be huge, with the finale against the team they're hoping to knock out. If the wings can get 2 points in the next 2 games (I predict LA will lose to either San Jose or Boston, quite possible they lose to both) then beat LA @ home Saturday, they'll pass LA. That's do-able for the RW.

I imagine sometime here next week Howard would have to get a break. Two SO games in 2 days after all this play... Howard's young but he's still human. I hope he doesn't get ridden into the ice here.

Oh I'm not trying to rip him, he was playing ok-ish at one point this season. This whole thing is much more about Jimmy Howard going from a virtual nobody to Calder trophy talk than it is about Osgood.

Canada lost and Don, as far as I've ever seen, is a big fan of his country's hockey programs. Understandably pissed imo.

When Osgood played in NY, it showed the reason why he's not and isn't going to be playing- the rust is already set in due to not playing. To me, he looked out of place for the first 5-10 minutes. Practices aren't games unfortunately. It would take at least two games to get Osgood going again and Babcock doesn't have two games to flush down the toilet as long as Howard's playing well.

I'm of the opinion that the game last night was one of the worst I've seen in a long time. Worst of the season for sure, the fact they could've had LA makes it that much worse. I really hope they don't play like that against Carolina, and I really hope they keep Osbad on the bench, he's obviously out of the loop at this point.

Great excuse for incompetence. That was a goal, I saw a cam angle they showed on TV and it was pretty clear, it was the last shot they showed before the game resumed. It was a goal as much as May's was earlier this year. Total load.

Burrows is probably right, so he'll be suspended. Hard.

Typical Ozzy, imo. The guy has his lighter side that's well known. Every so often the evidence presents itself and it's usually good.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100108/SP...n-final-seconds Toward the bottom it spells it out for sure. Derek Meech's stock is officially higher than his by a longshot. Doug Janik's is like comparing the local coffee shop to Starbucks. Why this guy would not be scratched when the first of Kronwall or Ericsson return, and then waived when they both return, would be totally and completely beyond me and an absolute waste at this point. Happy trails, Brett Turnover.

I agree with the sentiment, but I do not agree with the cause. How many times in an average game do you see almost-icings get waived off? DRW do it a LOT, and I hate to call them on it but every time a defenseman has to skate from the opposite side of the red line to collect the puck lazily moving along somewhere around his own faceoff circles is an opportunity for me to yawn. I regret not saying this in another thread a few weeks ago- with no-touch icing they don't waive it off generally. Watch some college hockey and you'll see what I mean. Another thing is apparently it takes half the defensemen in the league 6 to 8 feet of side to side space on the ice to turn around. It's a gray area, and if the opposing forward pushes him aside it's asking for a penalty. It's garbage, and anything short of the offending defenseman getting pushed onto his can should just be let go. The trapezoid- enough said. Either you want goalies in front of the cage at all times, or their half of the ice is fair game. The latter is how it's always been before and I'll take it. Lastly, I also don't really like throwing goalies under the bus because they have a very, very difficult job, but the rules that limited the size of goalie's equipment were about not effective for $hit. Our own Jimmy Howard, hockey Gods bless him, is sitting in about 5th-ish in save percentage with a freakin' 92.7%. Fifteen years ago, in the latter stages of the golden age of the NHL, that would've been Vezina consideration numbers. Are goalies now just THAT good? No, they're not. They've gotten bigger, and their equipment, irregardless of size is very effective and very well researched. Anything shy of a rocket shot can be smothered relatively easily and it's no coincidence. The shape of the pads is also no coincidence. And our own Jimmy, at about 6' tall is getting to be on the smallish side. These days Ozzy fits well into the 'small goalie' category unquestionably. Now there's nothing wrong with any of this, but the size of the net was designed with a goaltender more along Ozzy's size, with not nearly the pad technology that he or any other modern goalie has at their disposal. I hate to say "OMGZ MAKE THE NETS BIGGER", but what else are you going to do? Goalies have grown, maybe it's time the net does. And if you're going to think of that, you have to consider the size and athleticism of the average NHLer compared to even 15 years ago. Long gone are the days when guys can get into shape at training camp. Long gone are the days when a defenseman @ 6'-2" 200-210lbs is considered a big guy. These guys are in very, very good shape and skate with much more skill and speed than they ever have. And a legitimate big guy in today's league is 6'4" 220 minimum. Make the ice bigger. Before you go all conservative on me- they used to be bigger (and smaller) back when. They didn't all used to be the same size back when either- I for one don't mind that idea either. That's my take, disagree/fine tune/elaborate/prove me wrong.