toby91_ca

To change the discussion a bit, I thought Drouin was pretty decent...total surprise based on how the year has gone..surprise he's even with the team.

Rags carrying the play in the 1st was no surprise though, that's been consistent all year for the Pens, slow starts and then they've killed teams in the 2nd period.

Watching the rest of this game now. Crazy, crazy call to give Rags a 5-3. High sticking penalty and then they call a penalty in front of the net that rarely gets called anyway, but to put a team down 5-3, combined with the fact that it should have been after play died since PIT had the puck. Rags score on 5-3 and then PIT gets SH goal to get the 2 goal lead back. Weird series so far and only game 1....PIT starting their 3rd goalie and Lundqvist now out too

why would they have reviewed the goal??

I know you can do that with some doors (not mine), but not sure why you'd ever want to a lock a door that way.

How do you actually lock yourself out of your home anyway? The article suggested everyone has probably done it, but I don't get it. Now, as a kid growing up, we never locked the doors anyway, so wouldn't be possible. Now, when I leave and lock the door, I need to use a key from the outside to do so...only way to get locked out is if I lost the key (which means I would have lost my car keys too). Is this the common situation?

I heard the Pens goalie got run pretty bad against Philly on Saturday. Was it Murray? I also heard a quote from their Coach that Fleury might be back this past weekend (but wasn't probable)...suggesting he's pretty close and perhaps likely to play. If Fleury isn't ready to go, I think they have a problem (especially if Murray is hurt, but even if not due to his inexperience). It didn't matter down the stretch (they lost on Sat but they were sitting Crosby and Letang). Playoffs are different.

Perhaps some on here owe Friedman or whoever it was the raised this as a possibility....referring to him as rumor mongering and no basis for it, etc. Edit: pretty good timing if you ask me....guys have something to really play for in the playoffs now....starting against a team that is missing pretty much all their best players.

The big problem with the plan to trade him to Arizona (for example), is what are they going to get back. Arizona would have to give something back of at lease arguably equal value. If not and they are just trying to move the cap hit, I'd be very interested in listening in on that trade call....don't see anyway the league would approve it.

DET isn't the worst in that category, but pretty close, 2nd worst. Toronto doesn't have a single 20 goal scorer, 2 guys are at 19 goals. EDM comes in a close 3rd worse though, they only have 2, 20 goal scorers, but they both have 25. I don't think the Wings want to be in the same category as TOR and EDM this year.

The good news is that the Wings' schedule looks pretty easy the next 3 games, more challenging the last 3, but it's still against lower seeded teams other than the Rangers. You also want to be playing against the teams you are competing against for the playoffs towards the end (BOS and PHI)

I was reading something on the Player's Tribune this morning and someone's name came up and got me thinking. Warning, this is not a new thought at all, or shouldn't be, but I still haven't been able to quite figure it out. See the stat lines below for 3 different players. 2 of these players are in the Hall of Fame, 1 is not. Can you guess the one that isn't? GP G A PTS PPG Awards, etc. Player A 760 372 493 865 1.14 Hart, Pearson, 8-time All Star Player B 726 395 299 694 0.96 Masterton, 4-time All Star Player C 958 319 378 697 0.73 2-time All Star Also, scoring was much higher during the years Players B and C played in the league (there is some overlap with B and C and with B and A). Anyway, I know you shouldn't look at others in the HOF and say "if he's in shouldn't he be in?" - I do think the person that is not in should be there regardless, but the fact that he's not and the other two players here are continues to boggle my mind.

Where play...don't agree with the announcers saying both trying to go for the hit. Kunitz looked to try and jump around him, but I don't think Dats meant to hit him like he did (just based on reputation). if it was Abdelkater (sp?) I might think differently.

I have the Detroit feed, so didn't hear the discussion of Crosby deserving a Selke. I must admit, he's been extremely good defensively in the games I've seen. I know his coach suggested he's been just as good in the D zone as O zone recently. So, yeah, he's been good, but not sure Selke good. As seen in the past, they do want someone with good numbers as well.

One could argue Mrazek is also a reason they are slipping. He's given up 5 goals 3 times in the last 11 games....in his first 38 games that didn't happen a single time. Of course, I'm no naïve enough to think that's all on Mrazek, it's a function of team play as well.

The no move players are still up in the air as well. PIT would have a big decision in goal, they'd have Fleury or Murray. Fleury is an excellent goalie that they certainly wouldn't want to lose, still in his prime, but get older. Murray is 20 years old now and apparently he's considered the best goalie not currently in the NHL. I don't know much about him, but I'll take what I read at face value. There would be a decent chance that the one not protected gets drafted.

What is the argument for Holtby and Lundqvist over Crawford? The only stats Holtby has over Crawford are team stats (Wins and GAA). Crawford has better stats than Lundqvist in every single category. If you use stats, Crawford holds up pretty well against anyone....Ben Bishop would have the better stats in my mind though, best comparison when you factor in games played as well. Couple guys have higher SV% (most important stat), but they've played 20+ games less. Crawford also has 7 shutouts. I don't think Crawford gets enough credit, he's underrated, but at the same time, I don't think he's one of the elites either and don't think he's Vezina worthy....but should at least get consideration.

Makarov I'm not sure about. He deserves to be there probably, but voters are clearly biased to NHLers.....which they should be in my mind because that's where the best players are.....if you are not playing against the best, hard to judge. That said, for most of his career, the NHL was almost entirely North American players. It didn't keep others out, like Larionov though....and his NHL stat line is not overly inspiring. I think the difference is probably Igor being part of 3 cups with the Wings....better known in NA?

Gillies was inducted in 2002...so not exactly a different era. I do understand that he's in basically because of the line he played on and team that won 4 straight, but it still doesn't make any sense in my mind. He basically got the HOF the same way Kunitz made it to Team Canada. The only reason I even used the comparison is because I felt the only argument you could make against Lindros is shortened career.....which isn't valid due to these and other examples.

Yes.....Lindros, Neely and Gillies

So, Jagr picked up a point last night to pull into a tie with Howe at 1,850 points, becoming only the 4th player in history to reach that level, along with Gretzky, Messier and Howe. I want to say he's done it quietly, but he's had all sorts of accolades, but I can't help but think he's never been thought of as one of the all-time greats, like the other 3....perhaps underrated? Anyway, funny part, how old were each when they scored their 1,850th point? Howe - 52 (but he was out of the NHL for a long while before coming back....so it really would have been 43) Jagr - 44 (but he was out of the NHL for a few years, so really would have been 41 perhaps) Messier - 42 Gretzky - 28

Gardiner? I guess you made your point, has over 700 goals, but doesn't get respect enough for people to even know his name

I think Smith's PP time is also mostly against the other team's 2nd PK units.

No, winning defenseman of the year in the OHL doesn't change anything. He was 20 years old when he won that. Most top end prospects aren't playing in Junior anymore at that age. And Smith, no, not a bust. Again, he was drafted very late first round, he's been an every day NHLer now for 3 years, that's about what you'd expect. There are a few busts from his draft year though. I also have a bit of a hard time using the "bust" term as well. It is so difficult to project a player from that young of an age. I think busts are really on the scouts and people building up all the hype...they've busted, not the player. Daigle is probably considered one of the biggest busts of all time, but if you really think about it, he didn't bust that bad. There was simply too much hype behind the guy, more than there should have been. He had some decent NHL seasons. I'd probably call him a bust, but he is so known as a bust because of all the hype. It is very rare to have a player come along that you really know will be a star in the league, I can probably count with my fingers since I've been watching.

Regarding Sproul...I don't think a draft position of 55th can really result in a bust...there really isn't much expectation when drafting at that level.