toby91_ca

I saw this play tonight and while it was the wrong call (in that he shouldn't have blown the whistle), I can understand why he did. From the camera angle I saw, which is where the ref was, the puck went under Fleury's pads and looked to be frozen, before the puck then pops into the net. I actually think you'd see a high portion of refs blow the whistle on the same play. Not really comparable to the May non-goal, which I still have no idea how that got screwed up.

I'm sorry, I'm going to have to be a little rude here. I think it's silly enough to consider taking Franzen instead of Kane, but to go one step further and laugh and think anyone who would take Kane over Franzen is crazy is just plain idiotic...really. I'm not a Kane fan in the least, but I can recognize that he is talented and is already a better player than Franzen even though he's 9 years younger. So, at the age of 21, Kane already has more career points than Franzen (who is 30), but it's crazy to think Kane might just be a better player than Franzen?

In terms of the suspension coming at a time when he can't play anyway.....you can add me to the list that think it's quite possible that he was faking, or at least making his injury look worse than it was. Based on the way things looked on the ice, he looked to be in a lot of pain and he had to be helped off......then he practices the next day.

Definately and this is the number 1 reason they would want to add teams in Canada through expansion rather than relocation. An expansion fee would be astronomical and the league doesn't want to miss out on that. The #2 reason would be that moving a team like Phoenix, or Florida, or wherever else would be like admitting failure in going there in the first place. I admit, if I lived in a city that had my team taken away, I'd be pissed, so I can understand some that would love Bettman fighting so hard to keep a team where it is, but there comes a point where you have to face facts.

Are you suggesting that Ontario has a similar number of players as those from Michigan? If so, I think you're wrong, the number of NHLers from Ontario would absolutely dwarf those from Michigan.....but perhaps you are talking players in general (i.e. 5 year olds on up), in which case, I'd guess Ontario would still have a lot more, but I don't really have much basis for that comment.

Firstly, Spezza is clearly overpaid, secondly, his contract is up when he turns 31, not exactly comparable to paying a guy until he's 40. Let's not forget, at the age of 26, Spezza still has some room for improvement, while Savard, at the age of 33 is likely only going in one direction (these is generalizing of course). At the same age as Spezza, Datsyuk had yet to crack 70pts, so you never know how Spezza might develop.....though I see him as pretty much a bigger version of Savard (doesn't really use his size though)

You can argue why Savard is better than all those players (definately from a purely offensive game.....though after that, there isn't much to Savard), but here is the key difference: Age when current contract expires: Savard - 40 Langkow - 35 McDonald - 35 Erat - 33 Legwand - 33 Michalek - 29 Connolly - 29

Massachusetts is up there as well.

some examples

You said it yourself, that's the problem right there. Ovechkin plays too recklessly and they really need to reel him in for his own safety and the safety of others. Even his coach admitted the same and suggested now might be the right time to have a heart to heart discussion with him. Edit: I think most agree that it wasn't an intentional knee to hurt someone....if the league felt it was that, I'm sure he would have gotten a much more lengthy suspension.

I thought Ovechkin's was much worse. Laraques was more of a reflex action to stick out your leg when someone is trying to get past you, believe me, it is actually difficult not to do and if you watch closely, a lot of the time, when guys get beat, their legs jump out, it's just most of the time, the other player is well out of the way, other times they might trip the guy and get a penalty and in Laraque's case, you have a freak injury that results. I thought Ovechkin was much more aggressive in his attack. He doesn't technically have a history of suspensions simply because the NHL has let him get a away with a few things.....perhaps because he doesn't have a history of suspensions. Now that he technically has a history, will be interesting to see what happens when he does something borderline again.

I don't think there has been a conclusion yet on whether he'll be suspended or not, but we'll see. Regarding marketing, I don't see how he's been marketed as a villian and just on marketing, I see more of him these days in headlines than Crosby.

Subsequent video review by the league. Sometimes things happen that the refs don't catch. You'll sometimes see suspensions on non-penalties. Let's see if Ovechkin gets away with nothing even though the ref thought it deserved 5 and a game misconduct, let's see the league justify no suspension because he didn't injure the player and because he already essentially missed a game with the misconduct.

This isn't out of the realm of possibility considering the dive he took in last year's playoffs while grabbing his face/head even though no one touched him. Embellishing contact happens all the time with most players, but stuff like that.....no contact.....really gets to me.

Looks pretty cheap, but they will be paying him that much until he's 40, so I think that factors into why the per year amount is slightly lower than what you'd think he's currently worth.

Not saying he's a great player anymore, but perhaps your expectations are too high. It's not like they signed him for $5 million. They are paying him $1.5 million. He's 6th on the team in scoring and the 5 guys ahead of him make significantly more money than he does. Lidstrom and Datsyuk, among others, have more giveaways than Bert and only 2 forwards on the team have more hits than him. To reiterate, do I think he's a great player? NO. Do I think he's a decent player for what he gets paid? YES.

He wasn't able to return, but I'm sure he's not hurt bad and maybe that's what the NHL will grab hold to avoid too much of a suspension.

Will be interesting to see what the league does here. If he doesn't get at least 5 games, it will be a bit of a joke. This was far worse than Laraque's. I can see the messaging now though.....not a repeat offender, therefore, not so much of a suspension.....of course, if they keep letting him get away with stuff, he won't be a repeat offender. It's not like Laraque has a history of dirty plays either. The NHL has a severe rep for rules for stars vs. rules for guys like Laraque. Timing of this is going to put them in a real bad spot for making them look foolish. So, never thought about this, but if he is suspended for the next 5 games, but is also injured and can't play anyway for about 5 games, is he allowed to come back and play in the 6th game? I'm almost certain the answer is yes, but it doesn't quite seem fair.

I have no idea what you mean by best country, but if you are going to look at it from an NHL perspective, which you seem to have done, stats will show that the vast, vast, vast majority of NHL players were born in Canada (I'm looking at historically, so every player that has ever playd the game). Also, per capita, Canada far exceeds the USA in both players and in viewership and interest in the game. If you look at the birth country of today's NHL players, about 55% are Canadian. This number used to be closer to 80 or 90% back in the 80s and prior. So, even today, Canada turns out 3 times as many NHL players than the US, with a general population only 1/10th of that of the US. To put that in perpsective, out of 100,000 general population Canadians, approx. 1.8 become NHL players. Out of 100,000 general population Americans, you'd only get 0.06 NHL players (i.e. 1/30th of the Canadian number).

I'm sorry, but that's BS if you think Forsberg was the best big-game performer to any degree above Roy or Sakic. If nothing else, it's clear he had more help than Lindros. Yes, the Flyers had some players that put up some good numbers, but I'm willing to admit that some of their numbers were inflated by playing with Lindros. Back to Forsberg, his team won 2 cups, so let's just look at those years for now: 1996 - Sakic played 22 games, scored 18 goals and had 34 points....won the Conne Smythe. In comparison, Forsberg played 22 games, had 10 goals and 21 points. 2001 - Sakic played 21 games, had 13 goals and 26 points, Hejduk had 23 points and Tanguay had 21 points. Forsberg played only 11 games and had 4 goals and 14 points. Roy won the Conne Smythe.

And you're even ignoring his rookie year in which he scored 41 goals in 61 games.

Really? Other than cups (team thing), I'm not so sure.

Exactly, this is what I don't understand. How can someone even attempt to compare Neely's stats with Lindros's? Lindros ppg = 1.14 vs. Neely's 0.96. Where is the comparison. And as you suggest, if you don't count the last few years that Lindros shouldn't have been playing due to health reasons, his career ppg stat is downright scary. The guy dominated the league when he was healthy, Neely never, ever came close to doing that. Seems like some here question whether Lindros is worthy and at the same time think it's insane that Bure is not in. Help me understand why Bure is so much more deserving. Bure was a better goal scorer, no question, but he has less career points, worse ppg stat and doesn't have the Hart and Pearson awards that Lindros does. Not saying Lindros deserves it more than Bure, but to think that Bure is that much more deserving is a bit of a joke if you ask me.

I think you need a better understanding of boarding then, because it was boarding. It was also a charge, which Ovechkin is starting to build a reputation for. I wonder if the other players around the league are starting to think about this kind of a rep and start wondering how to take him out in a similar fashion. I don't think that's the case, at least not yet, but Don Cherry certainly does.

Why? Because his reputation is that he is one of the nicest guys in the league.....too much of a nice guy to be a fighter to be honest and that's a knock on him because he doesn't have much else by way of hockey skill. He's pretty good down low due to his size and strength, but he's a terrible skater. The only times that anyone can even accuse him of being involved in a dirty play are largely the result of him being less than agile. Take the Kronwall case, I don't see that as Laraque being a dirty headhunter looking to injure, I see it as a poor skater who lacks the agility to deal with someone that make a quick move on him, he shouldn't have stuck his leg out, but those that play know that instinct has something to do with it. Had Kronwall not been injured, no one would have though about that play any further, it woudl have been 2 min for tripping and that's it, these plays happen all the time, but he WAS injured an Laraque ended up getting suspended, which I have absolutely no problem with. I don't see Laraque as a dirty player though and I doubt most of the players in the league would disagree. I wouldn't put him in a group with Cooke, Ruutu, Avery, etc.