toby91_ca

Well, he wasn't even included in the summer roster....probably because he never played a game in the NHL at that point and he's only played 17 games so far in his NHL career, so while he's got a shot of he keeps it up, I think he's an outside shot at best.

Pretty crazy, probably worth pointing out that the Islanders only had 21 shots....so, they outshoot them 61-21.......and lose. Pretty depressing for a team that needs every win they can get and don't get a win in a game like this.

Not so sure it was a ridiculously blown call. I mean, there was only 1 person in the entire building who thought it was a goal right away....actually, he might not have reacted right away either. I think the problem is with the rules. I can understand if the ref blew the whistle and then the puck went in, even if the whistle shouldn't have been blown, these things happen, people screw up, it's natural, you can't count something that came after a whistle, even if the whistle shouldhn't have been blown. HOWEVER, what happened last night, to me, its clear that they should have been able to rule that a goal and the problem is with the rules, not the refs. Of course the refs will make mistakes, but you can't try to 100% fix that, because mistakes will always be made. You need to fix the rule first.

Maybe my standards are too high.....I fully expect that when it comes to his year, he will be a clear choice (i.e. first ballot) based on everyone else out there, but since we aren't there yet, I reserve that type of conclusion to the greater players.

I voted no for both. I think the jersey retirement question should be clear enough, so I won't bother getting into details that have been gotten into several times in the past. Regarding first ballot HOFer, I guess my answer is really "it depends" and it depends on who he's up against that year he's eligible (which is probably already pretty much known, but haven't bothered to dig that info up). So with that in mind, he may be a slam dunk due to lack of competition. However, if you look at, his goal total is impressive, but I think it's more to due to with him being able to play consistently for a long time (which is a feat of its own). If you break it down, he's only scored 50 goals 2 times in his career, has never been in the top 5 (well, he tied for 5th one year with 52 goals) and I believe he was 6th in another year, but other than that, I'm not even sure if he's ever been top 10 in goals scored in any other year. In terms of overall scoring, he's obviously never lead the league in scoring, only scored 100pts once, has only been in top 10 scoring 2 times (8th and 10th place). He's also not even a career point per game player. Has never really won any individual awards other than King Clancy. This may look like I'm bashing Shanahan, but I'm certainly not, I think he was a great player and definately a hall of famer, but when I think of first ballot hall of famer, especially when we are a few years away from eligibility, I'm thinking about guys (in the modern era) like Gretzky, Lemieux, Yzerman, Messier, Bourque, etc., not Shanahan.

This was probably my favourite part: If Phoenix does in fact fail, is Bettman going to try and point to the events of this past summer as the reason for the failure and ignore the entire history of the franchise and it's financial failures leading up to this past summer?

Not really. From a total hits perspective, his totals over the years haven't been that great and I suspect if you were to do an analysis of last year, he'd be in the bottom half of the number of hits for defensemen. People just tend to think otherwise because he tends to have more dramatic open ice hits. That said, his hit totals are up this year quite a bit over last year. That said....again....hit totals are a bit of a flimsy stat, not every building awards them consistently.

Yes, those guys are still injured, but getting back Malkin would hopefully boost your chances, regardless if others came back, this should have no impact as to how well Malkin carries the team vs. Crosby. It's not like Malkin came back and Crosby went out, so the fact that they were losing when Malkin was out and now winning (2 games) doesn't show much, especially when you consider who the 2 wins came against and when you consider that last night's win had nothing to do with Malkin. I think that team is just trying to survive right now, ignoring some of the key forwards that are missing, they are currently without their top 4 dmen, not only 4 of their top 6, but actually their top 4. It's interesting though, I've watched a handful of their games this year, including most of the last 2 games and they have played better with Malkin in the lineup. If you zero in on Crosby, the logical person would think, hey, with Malkin in the lineup, you have to choose who you are going to put your best defensive players against (as they do not play together), yet, they have played together the past 2 games. The big thing I have seen with Malkin coming back is that it allows guys like Cooke and Dupius to be taking off scoring lines and actually play within their abilities. Dupius is a very effective 3rd liner, as a 1st or 2nd liner, he's crap. Anyway, my take on the Crosby vs. Malkin....who cares? But seriously, it depends on what we're talking about. Malkin clearly has the advantage in terms of size, reach and slap shot, this much is obvious and he uses his reach very effectively. In terms of size advantage, I'd almost lean towards Crosby as being the better physical player. Crosby is a better playmaker, but Malkin can distribute the puck around pretty good too. Malkin should be the better goal scorer due to his shot advantage, but Crosby tends to pick up quite a few goals as well. Crosby is by far the better faceoff guy and he might actually be near the top in the league at this point. Defensively, I'd give Crosby the slight edge here as well. So, no clear better player, but I'd pick Crosby on the overall. I think both are really good players and are likely to continue to get better as both are only 22 and 23.

ummmm.....fun Perry is a pretty damn good player, but I don't like the guy very much, at all, but I kinda give him some credit for not trying to take advantage of the situation.

Hasn't really been that long actually....nowhere near the longest concussion ever. You can't be too careful about things and rushing someone back from something like this could not only have serious impacts on the ability for them to continue their career, but could also impact their quality of life outside of hockey.

Not sure how it would help (financially) a struggling market.

I was there as well, I try to be pretty much every year.

William's 7 goals are more than Tardif's 5....but I'm assuming timing has an issue to do with this (I haven't followed the Griffins on a day to day basis, so I suspect William's must have had a big game in the last game. I think there is a reason Tardif hasn't played a single game in the NHL and he's almost 25 years old.

Walsh's response was total BS, it's plainly obvious what he is trying to do.

Yes, but as he ages, his body won't respond the same. I suspect he will change his game as he ages, or he will likely fall to more injuries. If you think about guys that have avoided injuries their whole career, even into their late 30s, it's largely due to style of play, more than luck. Lidstrom is ther perfect example. Not only is his style of play not based on being a physical, bruising defenseman enabled him to avoid injury, it's also enabled him to maintain a high level of play....which does erode eventually, just not as quick as others.

Pretty sure Ericsson and Helm are not rookies.

Just to play devil's advocate here...on the handshake thing....why has no one even come close to questioning Lidstrom? After all, he's the guy that left the ice and didn't wait until Crosby was available....most of his other teammates did. Crosby waiting around the year before while the Wings celebrated. To be clear, I don't blame Lidstrom at all, but I also don't blame Crosby, I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion, but that happens with Crosby....good and bad.

The pads don't have to be made from the materials they are made from to be protective. I've been playing hockey for over 25 years and using fairly soft type material padding for elbow pads and shoulder pads and I have never hurt or come close to hurting my elbows or shoulders.

It wasn't even a shoulder to head, if anything, Kessel's face catches Ohlund's chest, the hit can't even be argued as being dirty or penalty worthy and should in no way be compared at all to any of the recent head shots that we've seen.

Both players had slashes just before the fight and both got penalties for it.

I good clean hit is throwing your shoulder into another player. If Mr. W. tried that, he likely would have fallen on his face since he was not in a position to throw a good hit, therefore, he threw up his elbow. It was definately not clean and I think it was suspension worthy.

He's actually getting up there in terms of faceoffs, an area in which he used to be weak. I think he might have been the best last playoffs, but I haven't checked the stats and in terms of this season, he doesn't have the best percentage, but he is top 10 and he is by far the leader in faceoffs won.

day to day, no biggie, unless the diagnosis is wrong.

8 pts in 8 games is not pretty damn good, it's okay and certainly nothing to worry about yet, but if they keep up that same pace for the whole year and finish with 82 points in 82 games, they will be a long, long way from a playoff spot (that would likely leave them as one of the bottom 3 or 4 teams in the conference).

This is true, in terms of content, I think they are about 90% silver, but I don't think it's like silver on the inside and gold plated. Gold is just the colour, it's likely gold all the way through.