toby91_ca

I actually read something on Twitter today or last night (from a media guy) that said something like "I don't think there is really much hatred there like there used to be, but I think the guys feel like they still have to entertain" - referring to the craziness of the PIT v PHI game. I think there is some truth to that, but I'm also pretty sure most of the Pens hate Rinaldo. I tend to try and watch a lot of PIT v PHI games as a lot of them are crazy, but I'll be honest in saying that I wasn't a big fan of last night's game. It was crazy and intense, but there was a lot of dirtiness and thuggery, which I'm not a fan of. I'd much prefer a real intense, physical game, but clean. The games I've seen between these 2, Philly does come off as thugs and just trying to goon it up, but I don't really see them play against a lot of other opponents.....wonder if they play like that all the time. It is in their history, but I'd be willing to bet that it only comes out against PIT these days. Again, other than Rinaldo, who I assume is an idiot 100% of the time.

The problem is that backups haven't really proven anything until they are asked to carry the load. Backups can often put up very good numbers for various reasons, but largely because they tend to be called upon to play against weaker teams and because they are given a much easier workload. A backup may have great numbers, but can they handle playing 60+ games a year against the best competition? For the record Mrazek has no stats anywhere near the top 10.

I honestly think almost all of these are way overvalued. Teams don't part with 1st rounders much these days. I don't think there is anyway a team gives up 2 1st rounders, a top prospect and a mid-prospect for a guy going on 35 with back issues (Zetterberg).

There's no way Nyquist, Tatar or Kronwall are deserving, not that every player that goes is deserving...like Bobrovsky...no idea how he gets into the game. I'm sure they'll just go with no Wings. The only way that a Wing goes is if there is a forward injury and then Datsyuk might get the call. I haven't thought much about what other forwards might be deserving, but even if someone deserved it more than Datsyuk, I could see him being an injury replacement just to get a Wing in the game.

It won't happen for obvious reasons that have already been pointed out, however, it is a thought process that a lot of teams go through. It is possible that the team struggles after they are gone and have an extended period of struggles and the thought is that they could grab some rebuilding pieces to reduce the down years. The Wings haven't had to worry about going through that though...so it is a bit out of sight out of mind. I don't think real bad years are coming too soon, but I'd be naïve to think it isn't possible. Again, not going to happen, but if someone was thinking about it, the other big problem is that the teams that would even be interested (ignoring cap issues) would be someone like Pittsburgh, to load up for a big playoff push and even if they would give up a 1st rounder, it would be a late 1st rounder. The other issue being that the guys are getting older and I wonder what types of picks they'd bring in.

Apparently Suter asked Crosby to apologize to Downie on his behalf....huh? Why doesn't he apologize to Downie himself. Maybe It's just me. I understand that he might be thinking he's the last person Downie wants to see or hear from, but I'd say either apologize personally, or not at all.

??

If you want to go work out the numbers....do so....you'll find that the team scores more when Howard is in net, not the other way around.

Yeah, Jimmy made it....and I'd say Fleury's numbers are better. However, at least someone could say Howard has a better GAA (doesn't mean much to me....least useful goalie stat there is). Anyway, Bob the goalie's stats are inferior in every way.

He also somehow made the all star team and Fleury didn't. I'm guessing it has something to do with the game being in OH.

Kessel and Kane are very similar players with similar skill sets. The two reasons Kessel takes so much heat in Toronto and Kane does not in Chicago are obvious: 1 - Chicago wins, Toronto doesn't 2 - Kane is not burdened with having to the be the guy.....which also explains #1

It's funny, Fleury was way better in 2008 than in 2009 and 2009 is the year he won.

FifeHockeyNut......based on the rules you provided around imports, the Cardiff Devils appear to go against that. Looks like they have 19 players on the roster (I ignored the 3 guys that played 3, 1 and 1 game respectively). Of those 19, 13 are Canadian, and 6 either England or Wales. Is it possible to get around the import issue if guys potentially have dual citizenship? Not that I know if that would apply to any of the Canadians on the roster.

There were rumours of him going to Pittsburgh due to his relationship with Crosby. Again, just media trying to find connections though....hey, Pittsburgh needs a coach, Babcock really likes Crosby and his contract is up at the end of the year, etc, etc. Pittsburgh went and got a coach and signed him to at least a 2 year deal....so they obviously don't have plans of luring Babcock. We'll see what happens in Toronto. If they just bring in a temp guy or let the assistants run with it for the rest of the year (which is what they are doing tonight) there may be more to the Toronto thing. At the same time, you might assume Toronto wants him, but that doesn't mean he'd go there. Edit....to this I'd also add that the hockey world is really smaller than most people think and almost everyone is connected in some way to everyone else. So, if you have reporters digging up why something makes sense due to some connection, you can pretty much ignore it as those connections are everywhere.

I had a look at some of the rosters in that league....ton of Canadians. I didn't go through every team, but the first or second one I looked at, the top 10 scorers on the team were all Canadian.

There has been talk of Babcock in Toronto, but just talk, certainly nothing of substance behind it. This firing doesn't make me think it's any more likely though, makes me think the opposite actually. If the plan was really in place to try and bring Babcock in as coach, you'd think they'd keep Randy for the rest of the year and then replace him in the off-season. Now, they will need to bring in someone else, who I'm sure wouldn't be planned to just be around for half a season.

Not sure why the Russians' game plan at the start was to stir up crap every chance they got. Seemed to get away from that as the period went on though.

Anyone hear about this? The Toronto Raptors held a bit of a ceremony on Friday night before their game to honor Nelson Mandela....I didn't see it, but apparently they made a big deal out of it and several big names flew in for it (e.g. Magic Johnson). Anyway, some of the Maple Leafs came out for the event as well, red carpet type thing. Jonathan Bernier was one of them and he got asked a couple questions that went something like this (not exact words): Reporter: How important is the legacy of Nelson Mandela to you? Bernier: Well, he's obviously been a tremendous athlete and has meant so much to sports all over the world. He really showed how the world can be impacted by sports. He's definitely one of the athletes I watched growing up as well.

Rutherford: "We have the best medical team in the league" Really?

It may be tough to admit, but I think both D and Z are beyond their prime years. Both will still have stretches of greatness, but I don't think either would sustain for a real lengthy period of time. It's just the way things work.

The issue isn't really that he had no clue who Mandela was. While that is crazy to think, not totally unbelievable as a lot of these guys would have been totally focused on their crafts from a very young age...spending little to no time staying up on current events. So, he'd get a pass from me for not knowing. The issue I have is that he was attending a red carpet type event honoring an individual....you'd think he'd take a few minutes to understand the guy he was going to honor. On top of that, he made it worse by trying to make something up to avoid embarrassment.

Different times, I know, but still crazy to think that he won the cup 10 times in his 18 year career.

Anyone see it? Been a while since I've seen a hit that square, that hard.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying Osgood shouldn't get in, I'm just thinking about the fact that I never thought about him being amongst the best at any point during his career. Maybe I should have? Maybe it comes down to reflecting on his career after the fact and thinking about it. It is tough to argue with 400 wins, but Joseph has way more wins and isn't in yet either. I do recall, for at least a brief period of time, thinking that Joseph was on e of the best. Boo Harold....just kidding. Honestly though, maybe the original topic shouldn't be if we think Fedorov gets in, I think it should be "who doesn't think he'll get in" because I think that list would be very, very short.

Interesting: There are a total of 3 players in the history of the game that have won the Hart trophy and are not currently in the hall of fame (this excludes current players and players that are retired but not yet eligible): 1. Tommy Anderson (won it in 1942) - he only played 319 games and has 62 goals and 189pts 2. Al Rollins (won it in 1954) - goalie, has 158 career wins to go against 176 losses 3. Eric Lindros - one of the most dominant players in the game...when healthy If Lindros doesn't make it next year and Fedorov doesn't either, that list will go to 4.