toby91_ca

Wonder if Kunitz gets the call purely due to chemistry with Crosby.

If you want more bickering....wonder if any of the Russians would actually be Asian and not European (my guess is no though as most are likely from western Russia) Bure??

Most guys would throw their stick and go down from a high stick to the face....not sure why, but it's pretty much the norm. The difference here is that he threw his glove off too. I'm not too quick to jump on him as maybe he was scared there were dental issues there....but from that lightly of a tap I doubt it and the Russians do have a very bad rep for this type of thing.

But previous history here wasn't a "non-factor." If Neal had no previous history at all, I doubt he gets 5 games. If you think about it, 5 games is actually quite a bit for an incident that didn't result in any injury. I have no idea on the stats, but I'd guess there would be very few suspensions of greater than 5 games that had no injuries involved.

How could one justify looking at the hit from Orpik? Absolutely nothing wrong with it, about as clean as you get. The only argument that could be made is whether or not there is interference as he didn't have the puck, but the puck was coming to him and he didn't get it. Either way, that argument, by no means, creates an argument for suspension. He got hurt on the play because he fell back and hit his head on the ice, didn't look like Orpik made contact with his head at all....shoulder dead on chest/shoulder.

Maybe I'm missing something, but are you referencing a question that wasn't asked, to which you are assuming a particular answer and then using that as a reason why you can't stand the Penguins? Bizzare. I'm coming late to the party here, but my take on things: I must say, I haven't spent any time looking for replays, I only saw the kneeing and the Thornton incident. Kneeing - if someone asked me who I thought was the dirtiest penguin, it's probably Neal. If you watch any player in NHL away from the puck...little dirty stuff goes on all the time, so I don't think many of the other Penguins are dirtier than the average NHLer....Neal is a bit different though. He's a skilled player, so he doesn't do it all the time like a Marchand (even though he has some skill too). Back to the kneeing. Looked really bad to me....looked like he tried to make it look accidental, but it cleary wasn't. What I can't tell is how much force there was. What is keeping me from coming down too hard is that it was Marchand and it looked like he was milking it as I don't think he missed a shift. That's not all that fair though. I haven't seen the play in real time, which would probably help me judge better. Thornton - that was disgustingly dirty. To come up from behind, pull a guy back and kick out his feet is really bad. That's what I hated more so than the blows to the head when he was on his back, but that doesn't help the matter. Thornton will clearly get more games and I think deservedly so, but my mind could change based on seeing the kneeing in real time. I don't agree with giving susespensions based on results, but the NHL does and because of that, Thornton would get more games.

I agree with most of this, except there is no way he's as recognizable as Crosby and Ovechkin to the casual fan or non-fan. I have no problem with him making more than any other goalie, my problem is how much more he'll be making than the rest and for how long.

NYR definitely hate this deal, but they had no choice. I heard they wanted to limit to 6 years (not that it would have been any better), but he wouldn't budge. I've had a look around the league at the rest of the 29 other starting goalies and their salaries go something like this: - 3 at $6.5-7.0 million - 9 at $5 - 6 million - 2 at $4.5 million - 15 at $1.5 - $3.5 million So, not only are they going to be paying him 21% higher than the next highest, if you look at that list, he's paid way, way in excess of the average goalie salary. So, I hate the cap hit #, but perhaps even bigger hatred is the term. They are going to stuck with a 39 year old goalie making $8.5M.

So, you'll end up with teams playing not to lose (defensive shells) and take their chances in the shootout as they will fear going pointless. On your other point, there is no logical argument as to why shootout goals should be included in a player's stats. Thankfully, that will never be included as an agenda item with the NHL. You can try and equate it to a breakaway or a penatly shot during a game, but breakaways and penalty shots during a game are earned through playing the game.....shootout attempts are just handed to you.

So, you are suggesting going back to potentially ending with ties or extending overtime until someone wins? Your comment isn't clear. If it is the former, your suggestion that teams will play to win likely wrong. In that scenario, teams will play not to lose so they can keep that single point from a tie.

Looks like Pierre asks for an interview and the response is "Now???" and shakes his head.

Corson developed panic attacks later in his career, but I'm pretty sure it had nothing to do with his retirement. He battled through colitis his entire career and never had that get in his way. He played in '03/04, he was 39 when the season after the lockout started, so his age is what caused him to retire. He played way more games in the NHL than most players.

I expect a good month...12 games, 9 of which are at home.

This has been bothering me for a long time, is it just me? Everytime I come on here I look at his face amongst all the other Wings' greats. I'm okay with Datsyuk and Zetterberg being there, they are the current faces of the frachise and are worthy....but Franzen, to me, just looks so out of place.

If you are talking about Heatley, I'm pretty sure alcohol was not a factor.

I hadn't even thought about money before, but even with the Sabres retaining some of Vanek's salary, this deal looks even better for them then before I considered salary. Not only are they swaping one player for another of close to the same value, they are getting 2 draft picks and saving about $2-2.5 million in salary and cap hit this year.

Anson Carter's best years were in Edmonton.

Quite a bit different than the Shanny deal. At that time, Shanny was averaging 37 goals and 78p points over 82 games, while Primeau was averaging 22 goals and 52 points. In this deal, Vanek has averaged 35 goals and 68 points, while Moulson has averaged 32 goals and 60 points. Not a significant difference between Vanek and Moulson and Buffalo was able to pull a 1st and 2nd round draft pick to go on top of that. They both are UFAs at the end of the year and if you ask me, both are unlikley to stay where they are. With Moulson, if he produces this year, he could fetch at least another 1st rounder at the trade deadline or more. The real question is whether Moulson's stats are boosted by playing with Tavares, or can he produce on his own.

Nike must have a contract with the IOC or IIHF vs. with National Olympic committees like Roots or The Bay have had with Canada in the past. I guess it is similar to the NHL where the teams can't source their own supplier for uniforms, the league would want some level of "uniformity" when it comes to jerseys, etc.

I'm sorry, but I am getting close to not being able to take your comments on hitting seriously. Even Scott himself felt the hit was completely out of line.

He won't get a significant ban due to lack of prior suspensions I would guess, but will be at least 5.

I've probably exaggerated his lack of hocky skills, but I think his true value lies somewhere between what I said and how you are representing him to be.

The problem is that Cooke actually has hockey skills, so he was able to change his game and still be a valuable player. Kaleta doesn't really have hockey skills. A few games would be about right for most players in the league, but not Kaleta. The extra games are due to his rep, which I'm perfectly happy with. The big problem for him though, if he doesn't play the way he plays, he's probably out of the league. That might be best though.

What do you mean? What bylaws are you referring to that would require someone to find a loophole? I'm not sure you could find anyone that thought he would ever play another game, not sure what the news is here. In terms of forcing him to retire and therefore cause Philly to take the cap hit, how would that be fair? If Pronger retires, he no longer collects his paycheque....why would he do that. Not sure if he'd get insurance money or not, if he does, then perhaps retirement is a possibility.

While not talked about much, I wonder what impact concussions may have had on his production. What's weird about him only being the same age as Selanne? He's actually a year older and at this point, Selanne has only played 1 more year than Fedorov...will be 2 after this year. Fedorov actually played in the NHL until he was 39 and then played a few more years in the KHL after that.