toby91_ca

I'm not sure what all the fuss is over all of this (in terms of Crosby hate.....again). I'll admit that I have not been paying much attention to what has gone on in the past week, but I have to imagine that the phone call Crosby made was probably along the lines of "I'm truly hurting and need the rest so I do not hurt my team in the long run" - Crosby did sustain a knee injury and ended up missing a game (it just wasn't the game right before the break, it was 2 games prior), he came back and played the next 2 games, but was hurting. I think the conversation probably concluded that he could show up to the event, but not play and would be okay regarding this rule. Surely it must be absolutely clear to everyone that Crosby would love to be participating in the actual game (like most young players would). The issue the league has is that some players choose to simply skip it and relax. Clearly, in Crosby's case, it's not that he's getting special treatment because he is showing up, but doesn't have to play.....it's not the playing that players are trying to avoid, it's skipping the weekend and relaxing somewhere else that players are trying to do. Granted, I have no idea why the league wants Crosby to be there, but not play, as a fan, what are you really going to get of him being there, but not playing. Lidstrom and Datsyuk could show up as well and not play, but they have chosen not to. I think it is a stupid ass rule, but to think there is some favouring of Crosby here is even more stupid. While I think the existing rule is stupid, I do think there needs to be some form of the rule in existence as it is important for the games stars to show up for these types of things.

I didn't think you were able to skip the game due to injury unless you actually miss time before or after the game (i.e. Lidstrom did not and pressumably he won't after either).

I, for one, don't mind the extra thread to talk about a game. I very, very rarely post in a game day thread, I just find them frustrating. You really can't have a discussion, the pages fill up every 10-15 minutes and it's on to the next page, that goes on for 30-40 pages, there really isn't much discussion.

Pretty sure smaller pads and bigger nets were not Bettman's idea. Not that I think he's against either.

I saw the STL goal and to be honest with you, it's very hard to tell, as are most goals of that nature. Normally, on the ice it is called a goal and for it to be waived off, video evidence would need to be conclusive that it was a high stick. More often than not, the video evidence will not be conclusive and based on the replay I saw, it certainly looked like it could have been good, looked like it could have been a high stick as well, but certainly not conclusive, so....goal stands.

Yes You Can The only thing a NTC really does is allow a player to avoid being traded out of nowhere to a team or city he doesn't want to go to. Players with NTCs get traded, ALL THE TIME. It is certainly easier when there is no such clause though.

Please explain.

I'm reasonably confident that Getzlaf will turn out to be a better player than Neely.

Carolina finished 2nd, 1pt behind Ottawa.

I think you need to do a little research. Post 1967 expansion cups: Montreal - 10 Edmonton - 5 NYI - 4 Detroit - 4 NJ - 3 No one else has more than 2

Let me be clear....I don't think Malkin deserves the Hart. I did think about the past tense, but forgot to talk about that. But regarding your comment that, without a dbout, Malkin has more to work with "this year" than Ovechkin, I can't agree, at all. You say Crosby has been healthy all year, which isn't true, sure, he's played every game, but he's far from healthy.....ultimately, it doesn't really matter, they are rarely on the ice together (I understand playing separately still takes away from Hart worthiness, but I'm just pointing out that his stats are not inflated because they don't play a lot together). Apart from Crosby, that team right now doesn't have a heck of a lot to work with. Gonchar hasn't played a game this year, Whitney just started playing, Fluery has been out quite a bit. Fedetenko is injured for awhile now, etc., etc. I'm not even sure what I'm arguing anymore, because I think I'm sounding like I think Malkin has nothing to work with and should get lots of consideration, which I am not. I think all I wanted to point out is that Ovechkin didn't have much to work with in his rookie year, had a little bit more to work with in year 2, even more in year 3 (say what you want, but Huet was a big reason that team got into the playoffs as well) and now this year, his supporting cast is that much stronger. The personnel on the Caps probably aren't as good as the personnel on the Pens if everyone is healthy, but that certainly hasn't been the case so far this year. The Pens have been garbage for the last month or so as well, so that hurts Malkin's chances for Hart. I caught some of CBC's hotstove on the weekend and there were some interesting comments. Something along the lines of everyone hating the coach and players have approached Crosby to speak to management to try and get something done about it. Doesn't sound good.

Are you serious? The suggestion that Ovechkin plays with scrubs can only last so long and we are well beyond that point. The Caps have several strong players now.

You make it sound as if the most important stat when determing who should win the selke is the takeaway to giveaway ratio. I doubt many voters actually look at it that way. In fact, this award is probably based less on stats then most of the other awards. Regarding Malkin, a lot of people here didn't have a problem giving Ovechkin the hart even if his team didn't make the playoffs and he wasn't even leading the league in scoring by very much. That said, I don't see Malkin getting the hart, he'll just need to get a look right now just because his scoring is currently so high. However, if I was voting and taking a deeper look, don't think think he's deserving.

Well, I thought Peters' reaction was a complete joke.

For a quick comparison, Marc Savard was suspended for 1 game for biting a few years ago. I think it was stupid, but not that big of a deal. I can't imagine it really even hurt that much, considering Peters was wearing a glove. Much more dangerous incidents happen every game.

I thought it was just me that saw that. The announcers didn't mention it at all, so I just passed it off as me dreaming something up that didn't happen.

Crosby's world junior jersey sold for over $22,000 back in 2005.

Agreed, and defense from their defenseman is actually their weakness.

What is your explanation for no penalty on Hedman? In terms of embellishment, not sure, but all Esposito did was skate in, reach for the puck and the goalie ran into his left leg and went flying like he got by a truck. Now, I'm sure it was just a matter of being off balance and wearing all that gear, but I wouldn't know as I've never been a goalie.

Actually, the Wings' philosophy appears to be somewhat based on paying for potential. Datsyuk wasn't worth the contract at the time of signing, neither was Kronwall, I don't think Filppula is quite worth the $3 million yet either....I could go on

I agree with your comments somewhat. While I do think his obsession with the Ovechkin hit is disturbing, I definately do not think it was clean, probably somewhere in between the 2 views. Ovie's hit was definately not dirty, but it was not clean either. He clearly hit him from behind while he was in a vulnerable position in regards to the boards. While the player being hit turned his back, which everyone seems to do now, Ovie still had plenty of time to let up (even if he didn't have time, it would still not be a clean hit). I think these kinds of hits are #2 behind hits to the head in terms of the NHL's agenda regarding hits. Based on past practice, I think the NHL could have suspended him for it. I think someone compared it to the Komisarek hit in which he was suspended for 3 games I believe. I think the difference between the two (reason for suspension) is that the Komisarek hit was on an icing (which the NHL is looking at closely these days) and the hit was harder. I don't necessarily agree with differentiating like this, but I can see where hte NHL is coming from. I actually think Komisarek had much less time to let up than Ovechkin did. I don't think either should be suspensions. Anyway, no big deal, it was an unfortunate play that really should have simply be a 2 min boarding penalty, definately not intent to injure or dirty.

Unless I'm missunderstanding your comments, I think your recounting of the hit is almost completely false, although, I agree with the general idea that Perry is an idiot and the hit was dirty and deservced suspension. Giroux is much taller than Perry? Again, maybe I'm reading wrong, but Giroux is about 5'11" and Perry is about 6'3". And Perrty did not jump into him at all, in fact, I'm not sure either of his skates even left the ice, other than to rebalance himself. Let me be clear again so no one is confused with my opinion of the incident, I do think it was dirty and suspendable, no question.

The 10 minutes was the visor penalty, which is automatic. There is nothing wrong with fighting with a visor on, there is no penalty for that, but if you are assessed with an instigator and you are wearing one (in Crosby's case), the 10 min is automatic.

I don't get it......

Are you referring to Ken Dryden? In those 8 years, he won the Calder, Conn Smythe, 5 Vezinas and 6 Stanley Cups. There should be no argument with him. Bobby Orr didn't play very much for the Bruins either. For the record, Montreal does have a lot of retired numbers, but they also have far more players in the HOF that don't have their numbers retired.