toby91_ca

Definately not 100%. He left game 5 early, but came back late in the game and played game 6.

I'm not disputing that there may have been poor press during those first 4 years, my point was that, if there was, it was unwarranted. I don't recall, because back then, I didn't spend much time reading what others were writing (I don't think anyway), I think I just watched. Even in his first 4 years in the league, NO ONE on the team had more points in the playoffs as him, why should he take the heat for the team not going anywhere, why not Yzerman, who scored less? In terms of ppg increasing thereafter....no, not the case. In his first 4 years, he had 33pts in 32 games, he had a big year in his 5th (24pts in 17games), but in general, he's simply been consistent from the get go (33pts in first 32 games) and 130pts in final 130 games with the Wings.

To be fair, Fedorov had 33pts in his first 32 playoff games (91-94). Any writer that suggested he was a playoff bust was surely a bit of an idiot.

But Hossa and Crosby combined for 5 goals and 13 pts in the 6 games, I wouldn't say that was shutting them down entirely. Compare that to Zetterberg's and Datsyuk's 3 goals and 10 pts. What you can take from that though is that the Wings still went on to win and that's all that matters. The Ducks top line can score a bit, but if they don't get much from other lines, they won't have much of a chance.

Just shows how hard it is to win the cup and that it is more of a team game than most other sports, especially basketball. For comparison, in the last 28 years, the Art Ross winner has won the cup 5 times I think (quick adding in my head), compared to 3 I think for Selke winners.

Luongo played the same number of games as Thomas and only 7 fewer than Mason. I wouldn't be surprised if he finishes 4th in voting.

Are you serious? I'm not convinved it's an elbow/forearm based on video, but if you hit a guy with your forearm, it's the same thing as an eblow, I think you are too caught up in anatomy.

The only thing I heard is potential biting (earlier in this thread), but I haven't heard it anywhere else. If that is the case, I don't think he can be suspended unless there is video evidence, otherwise, it's just hearsay. If he did bite someone, he should be suspended.

Brashear will get suspended for the pre-game incident alone. While it is nothing signficant at all, the league rules are pretty specific on this and you are not to make physical contact with your opponent at that time. I think that would get him a game. I think the hit on Betts warrants a suspension as well. I'm not sure if it is an elbow or not, looks like one, but it could be one of those situations where the elbow comes up on the follow through, haven't seen good enough video to make that call (and I was watching the game, so I'm not sure one exists). That said, the hit was dirty. Betts dumps the puck in and turned to go off on a change....there was no need for the hit.

Anyone notice how dominant he's been on faceoffs so far in the playoffs? Granted, I don't think Philly is a great faceoff team.

He's 21.

A lock? How so? Because he has 3 more points than Parise? Parise has 45 goals to Datsyuk's 32. I think it's a toss up, but since Parise had his breakout year this year, I think he wins it, same way Dats one his first in his breakout year.

Parise probably gets it this year regardless of the past winners, but I think the voting results on this one are close.

Really? I think it's been about 10 years since the top goal scoring defenseman has won the Norris. FYI, Mike Green led all defenseman in goals last year too.....did he even get a sniff of the Norris? I agree that Green will get a lot of votes this year due to the wide margin he outscored the other defenseman, but I don't think he'll win.......which is quite a different story to your "the trophy is Green's plain and simple" or "if you truly think that the 30 goal season didn't win this trophy for him lock stock and barrel then you are delusional."

I agree that missed games might hurt him a bit, I was just using that to illustrate that offensively, he was blowing everyone else out of the water. Does that mean he should win the Norris? No, but obviously, he got a lot of votes, so you never know. I've I were a betting man, I'd say Lidstrom comes in 3rd, but it's hard to tell. Honestly, I think some probably voted for him simply due to reputation which is wrong, but at the same time, I think some might have not voted for him because they wanted someone new, which is also wrong (I think the thought process here might be that they consciously thought about whether he was really deserving or it is just reputation, so they didn't vote for him). This is just a guess of course, Lidstrom may win by a landslide, you never know.

Check your math, based purely on the numbers, Green is 14% better than the closest competitor in pts and 31% better on goals. However, if you adjust his stats to take into account the fact he played 10+ games fewer than most, he'd be 31% better on pts and 61% better on goals.

There are no nominees that voters pick from. If you think about it that way, there are actually about 200 or so that the voters can vote for. The 3 you see here are simply the players that received the most votes. They are not nominees.

No, the winner was already determined (voted on) about 1-2 weeks ago.

Ryan is younger than Versteeg and had less NHL+AHL experience coming into this season than Versteeg.

Pretty sure Rinne is too old to be eligible.

Pretty much a career minor leaguer.

As I already pointed out, voting has already happened, so it would be impossible to have any bias regarding playoffs. Also, voters are not given 3 different people to vote for, they are simply asked to vote. The 3 you see released today were simply the ones that had more votes than the rest.

Yes, based soley on regular season and voting has already happend. WHat is being released really isn't the nominees, it's simply the 3 that had the most votes.

How is that different from the start of the playoffs?

To be honest, I would really only watch San Jose in the playoffs if they are in the later rounds, which they never really seem to reach, so I haven't watched much, so a lot of what my response is based on will be stats. I think it is a bit unfair to paint Joe as a playoff choker. His playoff stats aren't that bad, especially in the last few years. He does not score a lot of goals, but he's not a goal scorer. We're also putting him back under the microscope now after 2 games and also suggesting he doesn't have the heart like Ovechkin...at least one person said this anyway. Last I checked, Ovechkin's team is down 0-2 as well and Thornton has just as many goals in the playoffs as Ovechkin. If you want another comparison, Joe's career playoff stats are better than Datsyuk's and yes, he has a drop off from regular season production, but so does Dats, even the past 2 years where Dats produced well. Again, this is based purely on stats, I know Dats brings a lot more and I haven't watched enough SJ games in the playoffs to comment on Joe's intangibles.