toby91_ca

If the cross check was in the side of the head maybe, but it was mostly shoulder and caught neck/head on carry through. I think that only deserves a game, but especially with the second shot. 5 games is too much. He likely won't get any though.

"Great stuff" by Calvert? It's hard to explain...this is after the game ended, not that it matters.

My point was around draft position, moving up, etc., without the super high end (McDavid, Matthews types), I don't see it as that important as the person you pick at 3 likely isn't any more of a guarantee over someone at 8 this year. Picking in the top 10 is going to be huge for the Wings though as they'll have a better chance at getting a difference maker than they have in a long time. I get that.

I'm honestly not sure it matters too much unfortunately. There doesn't appear to be any gems in this year's draft. Very, very hard to predict with 18 year olds though. Patrick is the #1 ranked, but I don't see anything too exciting about him.

I agree with the logic, but you also never know, GMs value 1st round draft picks like they are big chunks of solid gold.

Yeah he is, you just don't know him well enough yet.

Do you think he'll hang around long enough to pass Messier in career points? - We know it is impossible to catch Gretzky - We probably think he has a very good chance to get to #4 - Passing Howe and Messier is probably the real tough question...I think getting past those two is unlikely but possible if he keeps playing.

The funny thing is, Montreal wins their division and NYR will be a wild card team, but finish ahead of Montreal in the standings. Disparity between Atlantic and Metro is pretty huge. Edit...I should have said "could" finish ahead of Montreal. They are 1pt behind right now and win on tie breaker....not that it means anything because technically they'd be lower in standings because of division.

What I don't understand is if it was so important to the players, why didn't they negotiate it in the CBA? It was included in the prior CBAs. Was it a miss, or on purpose (i.e. don't want to get it by giving something else up, so leave it out and try to get it later anyway).

But he's Canadian.

I honestly can't think of a valid reason as to why the NHL should participate. I get that the players would like to, for me personally, I'd like them to, but from an NHL perspective, it makes zero sense. Not only are you asking the owners to shut down during the middle of their season, it is also during a time where they face little competition (no baseball or football). That's a big Cost #1. Cost #2 is a risk of player injury, not only that, it's a risk of injury to your star players. So if you do the cost vs. benefit analysis, we have 2 big costs and for benefit....ummmm.....nothing. Even when the games are in N.A., there really is no additional measurable exposure participation brings to the game. I'll miss not having them there and think it sucks, but if I use logic, it doesn't make sense to go. Zetterberg's comment has some truth to it....owners probably want something in return, but why is Z being a whiner about it? Why shouldn't the NHL expect something?

One person really can't move the needle that significantly in the NHL. Edmonton is much more than just McDavid, there are a few key, new players that have moved them into playoff position this year. As it relates to Toronto, it's even more obvious that it's not one player making big changes. They have 4 very strong rookies this year (Matthews, Marner and Nylander who all will score 60+ point this year...amazing, and a rookie Dman, Zaitsev, who is threatening 40pts).

Fairly consistent what I heard from him on Toronto radio yesterday. Same station but different program from what was quoted above (I didn't hear that one). The things I honestly didn't like hearing from him were that they were really disappointed this year, they didn't achieve what they were planning and thought they'd accomplish, etc. Is this true? They were really thinking they were making the playoffs again....if so, surely they'd be thinking it would be a squeak in. He responds to a direct question about where they are as a team in their progression (in comparison to the Leafs and what they've done over the past 3 years to build. He point blank said he doesn't believe in rebuilds because there are no guarantees...he's got a bit of a point there, but it much more difficult taking a different route. He goes on to say that they hope to be competitive again next year, challenging for the playoffs. Reasoning is that there were several players that performed well below expectations and their norm this year....this the most troubling part for me as he doesn't see much need for change, the current roster will simply perform better next year and challenge to get in?

Doughty really shouldn't be fighting though. If he were to fight, it's already a win for the other team because you take him off the ice for 5 min.

It does come at a terrible time though....with new building set to open. I suppose you could look at both as new beginnings though.

Idiotic comment from the start to suggest someone looks "mentally retarded", but confirmation we was because he left off a 46 year old Chelios that could no longer keep up and a 43 year old Hasek? Come on!

I'm not sure if this is lucky or not, but I've been watching hockey for a lot longer than the Wings playoff streak, so I clearly remember a time when they weren't in the playoffs and not just a 4 or 5 year old. However, and it's a big however, if I really think about it, I'm not sure I've ever seen a year with them out of the playoffs while I've been a fan. Back before they were in the playoffs I was a fan of the Oilers and Messier....I was younger and that's who my best friend liked, so that's who I liked as well. It was probably when Fedorov was drafted and I got into collecting hockey cards that I started cheering for the Wings (I guess I came aboard at the right time).

I'm not sure what you mean by it not being a Gretzky/Messier level.....they didn't play on the same line.

Maybe I'm inferring too much, but when I read his comments, I start thinking that he's good for young players because you need to work them hard, but he's not good for veterans because he wants to work them too, but veterans shouldn't have to work hard anymore? Is that his complaint? If veterans were staying away because they didn't want to have to work hard....not veterans I want on my team. Again, probably way too much inferring here.

My opinion is that the level of heat Crosby takes for this stuff is just at a stupid level. I was actually watching the game against Ottawa and if there were no replays of the exposed finger, etc., I wouldn't even have noticed anything happened at all. I did notice something happened, only because Methot went after him. My thinking was "why is he so upset?" I did see a bit of a slash, but thought nothing of it because that happens all the time, replays of the slash hammered that home even more, didn't look like much at all. Crosby probably took 1-2 just like that in that same shift (just guessing). they literally happen multiple times every minute of every game...I do think that's a problem, but singling out Crosby for it is a joke. I didn't see the O'Reilly incident other than looking at the replays. Looks bad, but if you take Crosby's word for it and O'Reilly himself, it was accidental. I mean, why would he apologize and tell O'Reilly he didn't mean to get him there (just a few moments after it happened) if that wasn't true? I don't see any benefit of doing that. If it was on purpose, then yeah, looks dirty...the slash on Methot though is a completely non-issue to me. O'Reilly quote: “It was a weird thing,” said O’Reilly. “You know, it happens. I didn’t expect it and he apologized after the play and it was understood. It just threw me off. I wasn’t expecting anything and then something happens, but he’s a good guy and he is just playing hard and he takes a beating every night too so it happens.”

Half of those players are either on non-playoff teams now as well, or in the AHL, so we won't be watching them come playoff time either.

No, it looked really late, only reason I used a stop watch at all was because the unofficial timing was brought up of 0.6 seconds, so I decided to see how long it was.

You may be right, perhaps it just looks worse than it is because of the position the player was in. I tried using a stop watch, which is not entirely precise, but I was consistently getting just under .5 seconds (actual would be a little more, but unlikely to be greater than 0.6). The 0.6 isn't official of course and it's not in the rulebook at all. The problem is that you want players to be able to finish their checks, which is why you need to allow some time because it's tough to avoid contact if you are already committed to the check and the puck is gone. That's why there is some arbitrary amount of time that is considered reasonably enough time to avoid the hit. I have zero experience with KHL rules though, but I suspect they are harsher when it deals with hitting.

His elbow actually looks to be up a bit, could be a bit of follow through, hard to tell...but if nothing else, it's definitely a late hit, so not clean. It's also retaliation for sure, doesn't have to be the same player. Not sure why I'm arguing this point as it doesn't really matter to me whether it is or isn't, but he got hit, fell to ice and looked to be hurt, but that bounces right up a sec or two later (I didn't like that at all, you are either hurt or you're not...was he trying to buy a call) and then immediately skates over and hits the first player her sees. Again, not sure about the elbow, hard to tell, but assuming it's down, I love the hit, other than the fact is was too late, he took the shot from well above the circles, gets on net, goalie makes save and puck ends up in the corner and that's when contact takes place. That's not clean even in NA.

They'd prefer to come up. Apart from just playing in the NHL, $ would be a big driving factor. For most of them, their pay would increase by a factor of 10.