Earthhuman

Who else watching justin.tv thinks the French canadians are annoying in the chat. "KOVY FLY...AND HE SCORE!!!" I thought I was behind, I was dreading it!

Thanks a lot!

Can anyone tell me what happened?! I'm in Ohio, I can't watch!

Ugh. So the question, instead of "Franzen or Hossa?" has become "Franzen and Hudler, or Hossa?" I'm telling you (the general LGW body of viewers), signing Hossa after this year would be a major mistake.

Don't act like you don't know what he's talking about!

Alright, good to see! Thanks.

Who scored?

How about a smile Boyes! That jersey looks like the Predators' jersey... those games have the potential to be confusing. Those Sabres shots look like fetish porno with the smoke effects and whatnot. Neither are too bad.

Eternal Life by Jeff Buckley. Every song this guy makes or touches turns to more than gold. I'm sure many of you have heard his cover of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah," well, I recommend checking out his first album, Grace.

The Lemieux hit occurred to me, but not that Downey might take Mac's spot. That's a good observation. Hey, if there are 4 guys that can fill in that last spot, I'm not complaining. There are bound to be injuries.

7 points (4 goals) in 8 games last year, +3, only three minor penalties in the playoffs. I would think he was an even better pest than Tootoo for two reasons: A) Avery took NJ off their game, Tootoo didn't impact the Wings very dramatically (in fact, his 2 goals were his only real contribution), and, B) Avery played against division rivals that had despised him all year.

Let's just hope it really is a jammed thumb; you never know. I don't think he'd skip a practice over a normal hit, because they get hit all the time during the season and come off worse than a jammed thumb occasionally.

Bias against Russians... Swedes? All Swedes are soft, everyone knows that. I don't think it matters too much, physicality is among the most overrated of abilities. I think the list had some glaring mistakes, all of which are highlighted in the comments below the list. The top 10 was pretty decent, though.

Datsyuk is the best in the league at hitting without making contact.

There are better choices on the market. I don't think Atlanta is anywhere near the cap... they need some star power, too.

Weirder things have happened. Believe it or not, the East usually has a decent shot at winning the cup. They didn't last year because Malkin and Sykora dropped off just before the finals. And the Wings went to the Finals.

Awesome, can I get his autograph? You know, just in case?

This is not such a bad deal. I've seen much worse.

Honor isn't the issue in the article. If all the best hockey players are going to the NHL constantly, then foreign countries get pissed, invest less money in their leagues, and turn out less big players. If Russia says to Hell with hockey, then no more Malkins, Ovechkins, Zherdevs. You need to keep the foreign leagues happy to pilfer at a controlled but consistent rate. Make sense Doc?

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Montreal. For having lost but once your prime, you may for ever tarry. Out Ryder, in Lang? Ouch.

Er, what? That seems... impossible. I mean, he was a good hockey player a couple of years ago, but I wonder how he'll do in September. Is the Michigan economy that bad? I know that season tickets aren't selling, but that's what it seems like this boils down to. Although, Sundin and Sakic may have gotten him thinking. Man, I want him back of course, but I hope he does well. Lafleur well, hopefully.

The list of people who would willingly leave Detroit is, oh, 80 years long? It's a mistake to think that Hossa will be around longer than a year. It would be cap suicide to re-sign him. Holland heard that Hossa wanted to be here the day he signed him. How many steps ahead can he possibly think. He at least had the foresight to call Filppula first and tell him he'd make room, but I doubt he thought beyond that.

I think the Kings are/were below the cap floor. They had to sign /somebody/, and they were bound to overpay for payroll to meet the minimum.

It's not enough being considered cup favorites every year.

The declining values at the ends of contracts lowers the average salary cap hit over the course of the contract. I'll use your example from before- Lecavlier: If he didn't have 4 years of declining pay at the end, and he was only signed to 7 years at $10m, it would count at $10m against the salary cap every year... which is too much for one player. This way, his cumulative hit of $7.7m is more manageable and allows TB Lightning more room under the cap. Put more simply, the GMs want the cap average to be lower so that there's more room under the cap.