up2here

I'm sure its been said many times but players are so much bigger and faster now that something needs to be done to help prevent this. You can say what you want about "Old Time Hockey" and that fighting shouldnt be banned but there were no 6'7" 260 pound weighlifters playing hockey when Gordie Howe dropped the gloves.

There was no death.

Sid's most obvious comparison to me is Peter Forsberg. I dont see Sid as a pure passer like Wayne was or a pure goal scorer like Mario. He just does everything well to go along with a butt-load determination.

We are in agreement on this also. I hope Nick plays forever, in fact I bet his corpse would be better than half of the defenceman in the league.

Yzerman's surgery was also very radical and normally performed on people much older than he was. I agree, not comparable at all. You make some good points but the one thing youre missing is Lidstrom's contract. Its very possible this is his last season and the Wings will have an extra 6-7 mill in cap space.

I'm an Eagles fan and the Santa Claus story is very overblown. The Eagles were a pathetic team in 1968 and were in the running for the 1st overall pick the in the draft. The guy every wanted to draft was non other than OJ Simpson. The Eagles lost the first 11 games that season and looked like shoo-in for OJ. They then ended up winning 2 meaningless games and losing their shot at OJ. The fans at that game were just plain cranky, the Eagles sucked, they lost their chance at OJ and many had to fight through a snowstorm to arrive at the game and then remove snow off their seat before they could sit down. Then on comes this skinny pathetic looking Santa who also appeared to be drunk (Reports differ on whether this is true). So there they were; cranky, tired, cold, and provided with ample snow ammunition for this stumbling sad Santa. If you put that recipe in ANY NFL city I say the same result happens. This latest incident is also overblown and god bless Philly sports fans for being the passionate bunch that they are.

To me Nashville shouldnt even be part of the discussion. Theyre in the central time zone and should play against as many teams as possible in their time zone. It has to be between Detroit and Columbus and I have been crying for the Wings to switch Conferences for about 20 years now.

Frankly I dont think Bert has produced that much. He has 89 points in 163 games over the past two seasons. Thats .54 points p/game. Hudler in his last 155 games has 94 points, which is .61 points per game. Now I know everyone will say that Beruzzi is bigger and more physical and we need that type of player on the roster but is Bertuzzi really all that physical?I dont think so. Hes more physical than Hudler but my 12 week old kitten can make the same claim. I'm just not convinced that Bertuzzi is worth the money. Now all this will be a moot point if Hudler comes out of the gate and sucks but if hes producing I dont see how he should be the guy who goes.

My thoughts exactly. The title of the article should have read pass,fail or who gives f%#k. Next maybe we should debate if they should allow numbers on the skate laces.

It might just be the eternal optimist in me but I have a hunch that Hudler has a good year (Think 60 points)and that its either Bertuzzi or Miller who end up being dealt or waived when Mursak gets back.

Nikolay Zherdev - W - Flyers Nikolay Zherdev has been placed on waivers by Philadelphia. He has been a healthy scratch for the Flyers frequently this season and he has watched the past six games from the press box before requesting that something be done to get him a change. "It had eroded to the point where they wanted to see what else is out there," GM Paul Holmgren said. Zherdev has 15 goals and four assists in 47 appearances this season. Stay tuned to see where he ends up. This guy has tons of talent and , from what weve seen, very little work ethic. Might be interesting if he ended up here with Babcock and Pav. Not sure of his salary.

The Red Wings really dont have a true goal scorer on the team so I'm going with the best sniper on that list, Jarome Iginla. He would score 60 goals per year with Dats as his center.

I agree its hard to compare the two situations and youre right that Cleary had to hit rock bottom before he turned it around. I just wouldnt dismiss signing this kid too quickly if we can swing the cap hit.

Dan Cleary had that rep. before he got here too though.

Im glad to see I wasnt alone when I saw this mask, the first thing I thought was "So there will be eyes on the mask and Price's actual eyes?". I was thinking maybe they could have used some kind of two way mirror so that Plante's eyes will be where Price's actually are but I doubt that would work. Its creepy and I certianly dont remember any photos with Jacques Plante having 2 sets of eyes. The other weird part is that they said during the game that it was Price's hair and ears on the side of the mask. Its like theyre creating some kind of genetically engineered freak/super goalie. They may as well put Terry Sawchuck's legs on there somewhere.

Just when you think the ASG couldnt get worse, it somehow does. They were definately making sure each team was represented but that doesnt explain why Perry, Kesler and Sharp were picked over Hank. There were already Ducks, Hawks and Nucks represented. Hank has more points than all but 5 all-stars and hes not there. Complete joke.

I prefer the "Nuttier than Jimmy Carter's poop" analagy, but your point has been made.

I agree if it gets him off TV then I'm all for it. I cant handle hearing him tell the story of the WJC game between Finland and Sweden that he broadcast anymore. Its been 5 years Pierre everyone knows the story!

Doesnt Hemsky make about 5mil per season? No way we have room for that even if we wanted to.

Game is on at 3:30pm EST today. Being a Red Wings fan I have become a fan of Swedish hockey but I will be cheering for the Americans to support all my friends south of the border. Its always hard to get up for the Bronze Medal but home ice should win over.

I agree with that and lets say thats true. Does that mean goaltending is the reason the USA are not in the gold medal game? I think the lack offense was more to blame. That all being said, if the USA had played anyone but Canada (Including Sweden) in that semi-final I think they win the game and are playing for gold. Canada just matched up better with the USA.

The first goal of every game is obviously huge and I thought Campbell may have overplayed the shooter a little on the first one, leaving himself out of position for the rebound. But he STILL made the first save and couldnt be blamed for any of the other 3.

You think so? If it wasnt for Jack Campbell that semi-final game would have been about 8-1 Canada.

I hear you and ,like I said, it's tough to get up for the Bronze. In the big picture though its good to finish 3rd.