toby91_ca

I think consistency is still the problem, they call some stuff not others. I really think they need to either call everything or don't. If they don't call anything, it takes a lot of the skill players out of the game, but if they call everything, the games are crap, you just hope the players stop commiting the penalties. It's tough, but it's clearly inconsistent now. For clarity...the penalties in the Pens/Flyers game currently are 5-5.

You know, the whinning about calls on here is absolutely unbelievable. The penalty calls have been about even all series with the exception of the end of game 1 when Philly went head hunting. Anyone watching today's game that thinks the refs are favouring the Pens are plain blind or purposely hating on the Pens for no other reason than the usual. The only suspect calls in this game have been on Staal and Malkin. Does anyone here really think that Malkin should have just got a penalty there? Let's pretent know one saw that though and the next time the Flyers get a penalty, it will obviously be uncalled for. Did Crosby get away with stuff in front of the net, sure, but do you think the 2 or 3 Flyers were just standing there, they let things go both ways.

I think it's starting fresh as well, but also, you are supposed to grow it "during" the playoffs, you don't start the playoffs with one already there.

I didn't really think it was either. I thought it was just an article about what the BJs had to do to be successful.

I think we need to be careful on the drafting perspective and putting the Wings too high up on a pedastal. I was reading the Hockey News yesterday and there was a piece in there on the past 10 years or so. In terms of players each team drafted in the past 10 years, Detroit was dead last in terms of the number of those players playing in the NHL. Of course, some of that may be a function of them having low picks each year, but on average, they are picking 10-15 spots lower in the first round, shouldn't make that big of a difference.

Not so sure, not that it matters much, but they won 9 in a row, were the hottest team in the league before losing their last 2 games of the year (1 of which was to NJ of course). In those 9 wins, 2 were against NJ. NJ lost 8 of 11 games before winning their last 2 of the year. Edit: If I really had to pick, I'd guess that there would be no sweeps in the first round.

I think you need to work on your math. Moving the winning percentage from 81% to 90% when ahead after 2 would result in a maximum amount of additional wins of 7. Of course, this assumes they were winning after 2 periods in every single game of the year, which is obviously not true. Moving that stat to 90% probably results in an additional 4 or 5 wins tops.

Everyone talks about it, but I don't think the travel is that big of a deal in the playoffs, at least not to the degree you'd think based on the airtime it gets. If you think about it, yes, if the Wings played Anahiem, they've have to travel all the way to California and then back to Detroit, etc., but if the series were to go to 7 games, you are only talking about having to fly to California twice and this would take place over a 2 week period. You'd fly there after a few days at home, stay there for a few more days, fly back for a few days, then go back to California again for a couple days, then back to Detroit. The travel can be tough during the regular season, but I don't see it being much of a factor in the playoffs. The intensity of the games is the big factor in the playoffs, not travel.

Unless Hossa and Hudler can be signed for a combined cap hit of about $1.5 million, this line up will not work.

You also only have 12 forwards on the roster, which really wouldn't work.

You're right, it is a stupid question. Seriously though, no, this is not possible. I don't even think incentives are allowed period....unless you are on entry level or if you are an older player...but even then, they count towards the cap (possibly whether they are paid or not). If your scenario was possible, wouldn't every player in the league be signed to a similar deal?

No kidding, I'd also like to understand excatly how Bettman is going to impact the playoff games anyway.

Their captain is Marleau right? Last time I checked, his career year was a few years ago. Just because he has 3 more goals this year, doesn't make it a career year, he's 16 pts behind his total from 2006.

Hurricanes. On the orginal topic, whine fest why no one talks about not wanting to face the Sharks....this time of year the experts always talk about what team you wouldn't want to face in the first round of the playoffs. These discussions always come from the perspective of what "6-8 place team" would you not want to face. If you are 1st or 2nd overall in the league, I think it's pretty obvious that no one is going to want to face you, no need to discuss.

Also can't lose sight of the fact that Ballard was the first to drop the gloves, not Crosby.

My gut instinct at the Crosby bashing over this "from some" here was surprise, but then after about 1/10th of a second I realized my error, a lot of people around here are simply irrational and blatantly bashing the guy for no reason. Someone mentioned earlier that if it had have been Datsyuk or Zetterberg, you'd love it. You might say I don't want the guy doing that because he's more important to be out on the ice, but you'd love the fact that they'd stick up for one another. I know the NHL has changed, but back in the day, dirty hit, clean hit, didn't matter, if you hit a star player like that, you were likely going to have to drop the gloves with somone. That said, in the heat of the game, Crosby thought the hit was low and even looking at the replays, one could argue it was low, it was dangerous. It was a clean hit, but the results could have been bad. Lastly, did anyone even listen to Ballard??? The guy who through the hit??? He expected to have to fight after that and he suggested it was the right thing for Crosby to do at that point in the game.

No, they are mathematically eliminated. Buffalo has 85pts with 2 games to go, therefore, the most they can finish with is 89pts and the Rangers are currently in 8th with 91pts.

No

Where is Bobby Ryan's goal?

If you are ever watching a Rangers game, do your best to go out of your way to watch the guy. He does this kind of crap ALL THE TIME when no one is looking. It's not that big a deal and does really cause any damage, but it just shows the kind of dick/pest he is. Someone mentioned earlier that Thomas didn't react at first until he saw who it was....which I thought was totally understandable. You know if it was someone else, nothing would have happened, but because it was Avery, Thomas knew damn well that it wasn't an accident and even though there was nothing dangerous about it at all, he wanted to get at Avery. As much dislike as I have for the guy and think he's an huge dick, this play actually worked for him, got under Thomas' skin.....plan worked. However, unlike the normal pest (guys like Maltby) who do their job and piss the other team off...Avery generally takes it too far and ends up hurting his team.

??

I really hope they don't give it to Ovechkin, but I worry that it might be likely. The reason I worry is that I don't think he deserves it at all. There is no doubt that he has had a great year and he's the best goal scorer in the league, but that doesn't make him the MVP. He hasn't had as a good of a year this year as last, yet his team is way, way, way better this year.

Even with getting rid of the players you mention, they wouldn't be able to fill out the roster and get under the cap

Doesn't really mean anything at all actually. The combined cap hit of Thomas and Fernandez is over $5.4 million, so they will actually be reducing their cap hit with this signing when they say goodbye to Fernandez at the end of the year.

To tie Crosby, he'll need to score 6 more points than Crosby over the next 5 games. Crosby is on a 14 game scoring streak and has scored 19pts in his last 11 games. Plain and simple.......it's not happening.