toby91_ca

Very, very little. I don't think they'd be doing much better with everyone healthy...that's normally how things work out. When injuries occur, other players step up.

Why, because of the extended 5 on 3 late in the game? I watched last night and though the Pens got the short end of the stick more often than not in terms of calls. The elbowing call on Adams, I think, was brutal. In terms fo the 5 on 3 (total of 3 penalties called), they were all automatic calls, 2 highsticking penatlies + Talbot not only covered the puck in his end with his hand (which I think is automatic now...new rule), he picked it up, turned around and then dropped it. I'm not sure how anyone can complain about any of those calls. After watching that game though, it is so obvious that Philly knows how to play against the Pens, they get them off their game so easily. If they aren't goating them into retaliation penalties (they've been able to do that a lot with Malkin and Neal), they are at least getting them away from playing their game. They are totalling in their heads. Seems pretty easy to fix, but that is one of the problems with a young team.....it's hard to avoid getting rattled.

What? I'm not sure what order you are using....are you saying Yzerman is #1 or Lidstrom is #1? Either way, you have Datsyuk at #3 all-time for the franchise? Either way you look at it, I think there is a whole lot of wrong with your order.

Suggestion that Michael was dominating but team was losing? They didn't win the championship every year, but they went to the playoffs every year: 87 - first round 88 - second round 89 - conference finals 90 - conference finals 91 - won championship

Not really. A player can cross the line before the puck as long as he has control of the puck. This normally happens when a player spins backwards for a second, but is clearly in control of the puck with his stick. This simply doesn't apply to the Datsyuk shot showed above, unless someone is assuming he is controlling the puck with his mind.

Not sure if you are serious or not, but there's no way a linesman would call onside because he was in control of the puck. You need to have possession of the puck to be in control of it. Based on that still shot though, he's offside, but at full speed, it would probably look pretty close and I guess they give the benefit of the doubt to the offensive player? Regarding Duchene, whether he was 2 feet, 10 feet or 20 feet ahead of the puck over the line, if the Preds passed the puck back in their end, doesn't matter, he's onside. That's the explanation they gave on that play. Still a completely terrible call, but at least not mind boggling how they could miss someone that far offside.

Who does that when trying to pin a player? The majority of players....this is the current technique being taught (i.e. lifting your leg up in between your opponents legs). Complete fluke that his skate came down made contact with an unprotected spot on Karlsson's leg. I think it would take a complete pyscho to do that on purpose. Maybe Cooke is a pyscho and he did do it on purpose, I don't know, but I think that would be a gigantic leap to make and I think pretty much everyone close to the NHL (except the OTT org.) agrees that this was a normal, multiple times a day play that ended badly.

I think the Wings' team high is 369 and I think the record held by the Oilers is 446. The Wings' did score 320 in the early 90s, maybe that's what you were thining about.

For the sake of accuracy, you probably have to take the "s" off teams because I think the Oilers are the only team in the history of the game to score more than 400 goals in a season (they did it 5 years in a row) Edit....quoting issue

Everyone in the hockey world outside of the Sens organization don't think this was a big deal at all....fluke accident. TSN even showed clips of the same play happening a few times in the first few minutes of other games (LAST NIGHT). It happens multiple times in every game. This was a fluke. We are talking about it because it's Matt Cooke. He has changed his game and has tried to get away from the stuff he's done in the past, but he'll never be able to shake the reputation of his past behaviour...that's life. Someone mentioned that Crosby might take cheap shots because of this. I think there is some truth to that. Not from the rest of the league, but maybe the next time they play the Sens (he may get heat because of other stuff Cooke does though). He was a target for a few of the Sens late in the game though. I wasn't sure if that was based on regular game plan against him or if it was because of what Cooke did to their star player. If I'm the Pens though, I'd be very cautious and watching out for someone taking a run at Crosby the next game. If this incident was Cooke against a scrub, I don't think you'd see that, but since Cooke ended up taking out their best player and arguably one of the best in the league, I think they might think a little about targeting Crosby.

I can almost understand it. It had all the makings of the classic blind-side hit to the head, the most dangerous play in the game. Everything lines up for this being a big suspendable hit....except......no head contact. Watching at full speed it even looks okay though. The only benefit of the doubt I'll give the refs here is that they weren't watching the full speed like me looking at nothing but the hit in particular. That said, if they didn't see it good enough, why wouldn't they err on the side of not dishing out a match penalty? If they get that wrong and miss the head shot, the player will get his discipline via suspension. Before they hand out calls like this on the ice, I think they better be a little more sure (without being in the conversation amongst the 4 officials, I won't go much further than that).

The issue is that they are giving the benefit of the doubt to goalies and calling back goals. I've heard this discussed quick a bit lately. They have made some internal changes and are focused more on protecting the players, including goalies, but most people discussing think they have gone too far. When it comes to goalie interferences, the thought that keeps coming up is "if there is any doubt, shouldn't you go with the goal, especially if the league is hurting for scoring". There was obviously no goal safety concerns there. I think someone mentioned it here, but I'd be all for a rule that says contact inside the crease, no goal, contact outside the crease (unless it's a body check or something) good goal.

I saw a bit of the PIT v WSH game and I think it was before the game started...someone asked whether opposing teams game plan for Ovechkin anymore. The response was that they do, but only on the PK. The thing about showing all the eastern teams, NBC is going to show what sells. They are going to get their largest audience in the east, so that's why they show teams from the east, it's basic economics.

Yeah, I get that, I'm referring to it because that's where he was when he got hurt and he put up that pace when he came back last year. You are right though, he hasn't done it yet. The thing I look at as well though, is that different players seem to come and go in terms of being near the top of the scoring race year after year. Crosby seems to be there every single year with the only exception being due to injury. The concussion thing appears to have come by fluke though, the problem is that it was a concussion, not the type of injury you can necessarily 100% recover from and never worry about again (we just don't know). I was thinking about the cap hit though, not the actually salary. If you look at actual salary, he's not worth what he's "currently" getting paid.

So, you think that somone who scores 100pts should get paid the "about the same amount of money" as someone who scores 200pts? Unrealistic example, I know, but trying to understand your point. If Crosby scores 140+ pts, I think he's worth more money than someone who scores 100pts. The thing is, people will show why someone that scores 90pts should make signifcantly more than someone than scores 50pts, why is that so different? I'm not a big fan of the amount of money Z is currently making though. Not so much for the past few years, but he has a cap hit of $6.1M for 8 years after this season. Assuming he plays that long, he won't be worth that kind of money for much longer. However, I guess it goes away if he retires early (hence the loophole).

A ppg difference of 0.15 is actually fairly significant, but I'm assuming you are looking at career ppg vs. more current. At the time Crosby got hurt, he was operarting at a pace that would get him 130-140pts, or more since he was slow out of the gate to start. The scoring champ these days gets about 105pts or so. I have no doubt that a healthy Crosby would very likely put up significantly more points than anyone else in the league, but the big question is whether there will be a healthy Crosby. Looks like he is off to a fairly sluggish start by his standards, but you can't really take much from that due to the circumstances. If he's still sluggish in a month or so, then I think people in Pittsburgh might start getting a little concerned.

You get these crazy stats when looking at such a small sample size. You can often find stretches of production like this, what makes it stick out is that it's the first few games of the year, rather than gettign burried in the middle. It's a short season though, so this scoring streak will probably add up and impact his totals more than it otherwise would (I know....obvious), so his yearly stats may look really good even if this is just a one-off streak.

The average US college team or average Cdn University team would probably beat the average CHL team, but the best players still go through the CHL. It is tough to compare because the biggest difference that people need to consider is that the players in the CHL are probably, on average, at least 2-3 years younger than college players.

On purpose irony I assume? I admit that I thought of the Fleury celbration where he went from one end of the ice to the other, sliding most of the way and flipping over. At least his was an OT playoff winner though. Calgary then lost the series in the next game.

I thought it was a bit much (what if they lost the game 30 seconds later in OT)? I don't have any problem with it though. I wouldn't come out and suggest it, but if someone is asking?...yeah, I thought it was just a bit much. What was most impressive, though, is how far he was able to slide across the ice before coming to a stop...he seemed to just keep going.

Broke my arm the same way a few years ago. Freak thing, other than that, been playing hockey for 30 years and never broke a bone.

The refs let it go because they screwed up, didn't see it, whatevere. Slippery slope is a nice buzz word and all, but there is no "slippery slope" here. You can't jump and hit guys in the head....period. It's pretty black and white really. On Tootoo's hit, I'd have to look at it again to see if it was charging, but I'd lean towards no. He didn't skate from the other side of the ice to make the hit and he didn't leave his feet. What is for sure, it wasn't boarding. He didn't hit a defenseless player. You'll never see a boarding call when player get hits squarely in the chest, it will come from hits from behind, to the side, etc.

They may not have attracted a lot of UFAs recently, but they have been able to keep their own players from going elsewhere and have been able to do so at reasonable prices.

I understand the thought process, it's a normal approach to start thinking long and hard about parting ways with some vetern players while they still have some trade value, BUT.....that hasn't be the Wings' style the past 20 years and I think that style has a large part in explaining why the team has been competitive and been able to keep players happy and attract new players. They are very loyal to their players and it has paid off. It is more difficult to keep up in a cap world though because even if everyone wants to come, you can't sign them all. We'll see what happens the rest of the year, I'm not focusing too much on 3 games, but I must say I was a little worried coming into the year, nothing has changed that yet.

Except for the fact that Tootoo's skates stayed on the ice and the principal point of contact was the shoulder.