kozac

Afinogenov is certainly not a newbie. Also he has traditionally done very well on the national team. I would like to see Kovalev on the team and still hope he will be added last minute because I know that when he has something to prove he can be the best player in the world. Zubov absolutely should have been on the team, however, rumors have it he was left off the main squad for personal non-hockey reasons. Another one of those coaching staff versus player situations. When he was named on the reserve squad, he deemed it an insult and refused the spot. Zherdev is an extremely talented underachiever at this point. No place for his type on the national team. Hopefully this guy gets his s*** together sooner rather than later and not waste all that talent.

I'll be watching every game available to me for sure. Speaking of which, does anyone have a nice easy to read US TV schedule handy?

Found a random cool picture on the internet. Is this Gordie?

Yes!! Stumbleupon is the greatest cure for office boredom bar none

Williams was one of the 3 main shooters for us back before we traded him. He usually did pretty well as far as I remember so this was a pretty easy choice to me.

However, another big difference between those days and now is the rate of said "full speed". The game was much slower, the players were smaller, the hits and the shots were weaker. The better protection came out of necessity. Seriously, how many guys had their feet broken by a puck even 10 years ago? Way less than today I'm sure.

I think the Olympic break is a good thing. Thornton-Heatley-Marleau could all get injured and we will knock SJ off in the first round after sneaking into the playoffs with a shootout win in the last game of the season. I kid, I kid....

In other "Russian Olympic Hockey" news: Sergei Zubov (who is leading all KHL defensemen in scoring) declined to go to Vancouver as a reserve. Apparently he's got a big ego and got offended that he didn't make the main squad.

I wouldn't say he was a "big bum" the last couple of years. He did really well in Washington. But him being on the first line with Semin and Ovechkin seems like a big defensive liability to me. He just can't keep up with the backchecking aspect of the game anymore, and lets face it, both Ovechkin and Semin need all the help they can get with their defensive play. Datsyuk seems like the only logical choice at center for those to, but I guess the coaches know better. I wonder if Datsyuk's decline in offensive production this year had anything to do with this

Kronwall and Franzen. And a pick is needed

Playing the worst team in the league, I think we have a chance for a win here.

And I was about to get tickets for this game, thank god I didn't....

This lineup just looks funny... or sad.... you decide.

Didn't a lot of people pick the Flyers to win the East in the beginning of the season. They have a hell of a roster on paper. The coaching change didn't seem to help so far. What the hell happened to them?

I'm going to the games tomorrow and on Sunday and really hope they respond.

I live in New Jersey so I go whenever the Wings come around this area (Devils, Rangers, possibly Islanders and Flyers). I also went to the game in Carolina the year the Hurricanes won the cup and was fortunate enough to witness a great Yzerman goal while wearing my Yzerman jersey!

Yeah I remember that. At the beginning when Brodeur went down they were promoting Weekes heavily and empathizing the fact that he was black to try to attract all the black people from Newark to go to games. Needless to say none of that worked out like they wanted to.

$20 says that somebody will be Maltby who will be more than happy not to fight.

People always make these topics.... Its only been 7 games. I if remember correctly Aran Voros was putting up big numbers in the first few games for the Rangers last year and they started the season like 10-0 or something, then later on he could barely crack their lineup and the Rangers barely made the playoffs. A couple of years ago, Maxim Afinogenov was leading the league in goals and points through the first 10-15 games. Earlier this year he wasn't sure if he was gonna play in the NHL until crappy Atlanta took a chance on him. Give it 15-20 games.

Just give up on Howard already for god's sake. How many chances are we gonna give this guy? He ain't Martin Brodeur, he's not gonna respond because he ha nothing to respond with.

Paul MacLean Ass Coach Detroit ROFL!

That one is insane. Also notice how high his lower hand is on the stick. Usually for a strong backhand you need to grab the stick lower. He's got some serious power in those arms and wrists.

Here's another vote for Paul Kariya. He has great coordination and really gets under the shot for just an awesome backhand.

He killed us in that Edmonton series, good player, all the best to him.

When will the regular tickets be released? And how did you get tickets? Season tickets?