uk_redwing

Don't see the point in keeping Sheahan up if he's not needed at centre.

Cleary being played on the 4th line over Tootoo is a travesty. What does Cleary have to do to get benched? Start scoring in the wrong net? Tootoo would have more points than Cleary with his ice time and linemates over the past season.

Even though they are both to varying degrees overrated, I'd rather lose Ken Holland than Mike Babcock any day.

Per Ansar for tonight's game: A powerplay unit with both Cleary and Sammy on it. This is YOUR fault.

Per Ansar: Jurco-Datsyuk-Alfredsson Miller-Andersson-Tatar Cleary-Glendening-Eaves Bertuzzi-Sheahan-Samuelsson Looking at the lines, I'd have switched Miller to centre, put Bert on the 2nd line and called up Callahan for the 4th line because I'm biased toward the Mitch. Callahan must have the highest goals per minute ratio time of any forward in the AHL by far.

Not crazy about this call-up, as I haven't been overly impressed with him in Grand Rapids, but considering the other options they were considering were Emmerton (yuk) or Jarnkrok (still struggling to adapt to NA hockey) I'm with them. Sheahan may be a big body but doesn't use it much. Scored most of his points for GR this season on the powerplay so don't expect much offence from him. He'll be another dime-a-dozen defensively responsible 4th liner. Just what we need

My thoughts as well, but it's worth noting that Tampa Bay aren't exactly injury free either. Their list is nearly as big as ours with some very important players on it. Good job Stamkos wasn't playing.

Didn't watch the game. I chose to watch paint dry instead. Looks like I chose well.

Shanny basing his decisions solely on outcomes/the injury, as per usual. Don't know why Neal only got 5 games for doing exactly the same thing, just with his knee.

Looking on the plus side...cap space! Cool. Send down Emmerton, call up Glendening, Eaves and Tootoo. Scratch Weiss and Cleary.

AKA still useless.

*Generic thought Weiss was already out as he does nothing etc. comment* Just a shame he's not out long enough to bring a useful centre like Glendening up from GR.

This is actually a great find. The ONLY goal he scored in 17 games for Florida last season came on the powerplay. When he scored his career high 28 goals in 09-10, almost half of them (12) were on the PP. In 17 games last season he managed the impressive +/- stat of -13. Even when Florida had a good team and actually made the playoffs the guy was only a +5, and all his playoff goals came on the PP. In this a case of low work ethic catching up to him? We're all unanimous that he is completely unnoticeable on the ice and has a tendency to wait for the puck rather than go hunting for it. That would explain why most of his goals only come on the PP. Im not really one for reading too much into stats, and I'll admit I only took a glance at his goals record from the late 00's and assumed he'd be at least a 20 goal player playing on a winning team. Final thought: Weiss has 1 shot on goal in the last 48 minutes of ice time. He's been on the ice for nearly an hour and only shot the puck at the net ONCE. He should be a healthy scratch. Period.

Don't agree with that but hey ho Cleary scored a goal so Babs has a reason to keep him in the line up for another month or so. The forward lines are just so meh to look at and they play like they look.

I always thought it was an odd signing given his history with Babs. There is probably some truth in odd bits of what he's saying, wrapped up in his own egotistical ramblings. The guy tanked his NHL career by being a 3rd pairing journeyman Dman on a team with a stacked defence. Still, a very odd signing by Holland. He seems to like signing players Babcock won't work with.

Maybe we should make up a new grade called a "Dan Cleary" for players who were expected to be bad, but somehow were worse than anyone ever imagined but yet in an unsurprising and expected way. Agree with most of the grades otherwise. I'd mark Andersson a C- as I think he's a bit of a plug. He's good at faceoffs and can PK but otherwise he offers little. I was surprised he got such a quick promotion from Grand Rapids originally, same as with Emmerton. I'd also mark Samuelsson lower. He is the only person to benefit from playing with Cleary as it makes him look better than he is. He's still an infuriatingly ineffective waste of cap space.

Sorry, we will not discuss the performance of individual players whilst the team is doing well in the standings. How silly of us. The team is winning, Cleary is winning! On a discussion board as well...I can't believe us...what have we become?!

1 goal in 27 games. I don't think even the most ardent Cleary hater would have predicted that. Cleary for the C.

I was never worried. Always like Smith. All rookies have an iffy period in their transition to the big leagues, especially Dmen (see Kindl, Ericsson). One of the true "gritty" guys on our roster as well.

Hockey is, in my opinion, easily the most dangerous of major league sports you can play. You earn big money in the process, but you're going to get a battering along the way from pucks, sticks, hits, fights, the ice, the boards...especially if you played when helmets weren't mandatory. A hard way to earn a very decent living with a hell of a lot of risk. Don't like the risk? A desk job option is always there. Not much risk from a photocopier.

I was just thinking that. Oh man that was hilarious. Someone make a gif. Please!

Since when did enforcing cheap shots become a thing of the past? 9/10 teams will protect and get retribution for their team-mates.

My thoughts exactly, especially on the diving. We were nothing short of an embarrassment last night in every hockey sense. This hockey team is horrible. We can't win, can't defend ourselves...can't do anything except get points from OT losses. I really, really hope this is a wake up call similar to the 1996/97 season.

Dan Cleary is currently costing us $483,000 a goal. That's the equivalent of Detroit handing Franzen a $14m a year contract. Bargain.

It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. The Sens were running around without a care in the world last night.