toby91_ca

Yes, still in 9th

Different coaches have different approaches to this. The extra minutes isn't the problem as you really don't get that tired playing on the powerplay. If you look at WSH, they play Ovechkin and Green almost every second of every power play (and when I say every second, I mean every second).

You've got me confused, are you a Pens fan or a Wings fan?

Really, I'm not sure about that. Yzerman was definately the better player, but that doesn't necessarily matter when considering how much a guy means to an organization. Maybe Modano means more to Dallas simply because they haven't had the same level of talent in their organization as Detroit? - just a way of looking at it. To be honest, I never followed Minnesota or Dallas all that closely, so I'm not sure how much he means to that organization or not, but looking at it purely from what I know, he's been there his whole career (20 years) and he's by far the franchise's leading scorer.

Can't disagree with anything Asham is saying, Cooke is what he is, but it's kinda funny coming from a guy like Asham, who's no mister nice guy out there. He also plays with a guy named Hartnell. I would appear as though you could replace Cooke with Hartnell and everything being said would still be true. There are several Cooke's running around in this league and I'm not a big fan of that type of player, problem is, you can't really argue their effectiveness. I was reading this same story from a different source and this comment from Asham caught my attention: Usually? Really, usually? Like this happens regularly? For the record, I have no doubt that both biting incidents occured, but I didn't think it was a normal occurence, maybe I'm wrong.

I don't see any pressure really on Modano to be the top scoring guy in Dallas, there are several other guys that are expected to carry that load these days and Brad Richards is doing his part fairly well. I'm almost thinking there might be a bit more pressure on him if he were to come to Detroit, especially because of the current lack of scoring here. Dallas has actually been scoring more than Detroit this year, their problems are elsewhere. Edit: just checked stats, I guess I haven't been keeping a close enough eye on this, I didn't reallize that Detroit's offense is currently sitting DEAD LAST in the entire NHL. Granted, there are a few teams in the same neiborhood in terms of goals scored, but to be sitting in 30th right now is ugly.

Regarding the cap hit, someone can do the math, but I doubt it's virtually nothing.

Technically speaking, that is what happened isn't it? Crosby took too long and Lidstrom was the one who actually left the ice without shaking hands? Crosby shook the hands of several other Wings players who stuck around. So, that's one way of looking at it. Personally, I'm not on either side of the fence, I think the whole situation was not a situation at all and was blown out of proportion. If it wasn't Crosby, probably wouldn't have been discussed at all.

Did you really just say that? When the stats showed Detroit had the most, obviously there was no favouritism, but if the stats show Pittsburgh had the most, obviously there is favouritism??? Anyway, the stats don't even show it anyway, as I previously pointed out, quite clearly I thought. You can't look at PP stats without considering how many times a team is short handed. For example, in a penalty filled game, you might have two teams that both get 15 powerplays. Compare that to another game where 1 team gets 10 PPs to the other team's 0. Would you say a team with 15 PP opportunities is favoured simply because they got more opportunities. For the record, here is the PP vs. SH chances given up stat for some of the teams at both ends of the spectrum: DAL +48 BUF +32 NJ + 28 DET +21 NSH +20 PIT +20 CGY -21 STL - 22 OTT - 27 ANA - 30 Mon - 58 I think those stats blow a pretty big whole in the conspiracy theories that the league is against Detroit (statistically at least). PIT being high on this list is completely logical considering they play a puck possession game and play in a division against some teams (minus NJ) that tend to take a lot of penalties. What I do find interesting about these stats though is how signficantly ahead DAL is and how significantly behind Montreal is.

Generally speaking, puck possession teams tend to draw more penalties, which is why you would have saw Detroit higher in prior years, but not quite as high this year. You also need to consider the teams you play against most. The Pens play a lot against Philly, who tend to be pretty goonish and take a lot of penalties, so that helps that stat as well. To be honest, I think the original post is a very limited picture and doesn't really show much of anything. So the Pens have the most PPs so far. So, what is that supposed to show? Have you actually attempted to see how many times they have been SH as well, just to see if there is any basis at all for showing some sort of bias. Did you forget to see that Dallas has played 2 fewer games? Dallas actually has more PP opportunities on a per game basis. Oh and for the record, Dallas has had 48 more PP opportunities than they have been SH (206 vs. 158). The Pens have only had 21 more PPs than SH and Detroit, by way of comparison, has had 21 more PPs then SH. Please enlighten me on what this interesting stat is supposed to show.

Shopping mall? It's one of Canada's most pretigious office buildings. Actually, it's two buildings (two towers, about 50-60 floors each). The HHOF is essentialy in the basement. You are probably confused because the is a foodcourt and other shopping available in the underground pathway of Toronto that essentially works it's way through the entire downtown core. Edit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brookfield_Place

I think he was calling the penalty, he started to raise his arm, but then rather than standing there with his arm in the air, he thought the best thing to do would be to check on the player's well being.

I've seen it several times at the HHOF. I work in the same building, so I could theoretically go down and have a look everday, but I'd have to pay to get in of course.

I'm sure there are several of these examples, but off the top of my head, another guy would be Ken Dryden, who received his law degree after hockey (he actually shortened his career). He's now into politics. Obviously a little more high profile of a player than Mr. Grimson. Another guy I know of since I used to watch the Oilers a lot in the 80's is Randy Gregg. He was actually working towards a medical degree before entering the NHL, but after he retired, he finished his degree and is now a practising medical doctor.

I think 2 games is sufficient. I was more bad judgment than a dirty play. If Dupuis was closer to the boards, it would have been a normally check into the boards. Players get hit from behind into the boards all the time, which is normally fine, unless they are in that dangerous distance from the boards. If Dupuis had of gone unhurt, he probably would have simply gotten 2 minutes for boarding and there would be no suspension, but since there was an injury and Sutton has a past suspension, he got 2 games.

He usually has around 10 fights a year? This is his 3 year in the NHL, so firstly, its hard to throw out a comment like "usual" and secondly, he had 5 fights last year and 5 fights the year before. He has 7 fights so far this year and in his career total of 17 fights, I think if you went through them, he might have won 3 of them. His 16 fight year was in juniors.

Ovechkin has about 4-5 inches and 40+ pounds on Steve Downie. Perhaps you are getting him confused with Aaron Downey. Downie tends to be a willing fighter, but he normally gets his ass kicked.

Theodore wears number 60.

I've had personal experiences (not myself, but with guys that I know personally, who are better players than me) that clearly show that its not always the best players that end up on the NHL roster. It's not always clear cut in terms of business either, but business and contracts play a large role into who is on the roster and who is not. Eg. If you are deciding between a guy with a two-way contract and a guy with a one-way, even if the guy with a two-way has shown to be the better player and fit with the roster, more often than not, he's the guy that gets sent down.

Bob MacKenzie has a pretty good write-up on this, suggesting it's going to get ugly and won't go away anytime soon.

Adjust the stats however you think will support your opinion, but even ignoring the 0 points in 9 games, he stats are still brutal.

Why bother responding. Carmen, for the most part, appears to posts things just to get a reaction out of everyone. The things being posted don't even appear to something that Carmen would even believe.

To be honest, it appears to add up simply because of bias for the Wings and against the Pens, everything tends to get elevated that much more vs. say teams you really don't care much about one way or the other. I think the allstar thing was blown a bit out of proportion. I don' t have a problem with Crosby not being suspended, he went to the allstar weekend, why would a player go and not play? I can totally understand guys not wanting to make the extra effort and travel to wherever the weekend is and instead be able to relax for the break, but if you are going, why avoid playing (unless you are nursing an injury). Anyway, I understand the way things unfolded, I just think is was blown out of proportion. On the scheduling thing, I don't understand how it benefited the Pens. Let's ignore the fact that the dates were known before the teams were known (based on timing) for a second, the Pens swept their series and therefore, got more rest. Had both teams swept their respective series, the Wings would have been the team with more rest.

I'm leaning towards the thought that Osgood is already at backup status now.

This will be the first time in many many years that my first instinct is to say "let's worry about getting to the playoffs first." It's true though, they are currently not in a playoff position, missing the playoffs for the past 15-20 years was largely something I never, ever even though was even a potential. Anyway, assuming the Wings make the playoffs, if it was up to me and assuming Osgood continues to struggle the rest of the year and Howard continues to improve and play great, I go with Howard to start, but it is a very difficult decision. My thoughts would be to give him the chance to shine, but have Osgood ready to go if needed. Timing is critical here too, getting to a point in time that is "too late" can come upon you very, very quickly.