sixer

I disagree, we had no Datsyuk our best player, Franzen our leading score and Hudler. Fleury is irrelevant because their backup played amazing and Howard was only at fault for one goal, the others we didn't have his back. It was fair lineup wise. OP, fully agree, I think moving forward we'll see a team knowing the playoffs are around the corner and I think we're in for a long playoff run.

Wow do we suck at home!

No offense, but this thread pisses me off. Let's finish with the season and the playoffs and then discuss. His real worth will be determined in the playoffs where his playoff experience and leadership might make the real difference. Right now the Wings overall poor effort against the pens is enough for us to talk about! lol

Fully agree with you!!!

This could seriously force the NHL to really crackdown if Air Canada and other sponsors follow suit. My link The NHL could lose a key sponsor if it doesn’t immediately act on violent headshots during games, Canadian news agency QMI is reporting. The report comes in the wake of a controversial hit that sent Montreal Canadiens forward Max Pacioretty to hospital with a severe concussion Tuesday night. According to QMI, Air Canada — one of the league’s biggest corporate backers — is threatening to pull its support if action isn’t taken to prevent what it calls recent career- and life-threatening headshots during games. Denis Vandal, the airline’s director of marketing/communication, wrote a “strongly worded letter” addressed to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, saying “from a corporate social responsibility standpoint, it is becoming increasingly difficult to associate our brand with sports events which could lead to serious and irresponsible accidents.” “Unless the NHL takes immediate action with serious suspension to the players in question to curtail these life-threatening injuries, Air Canada will withdraw its sponsorship of hockey.” Vandal wrote that the airline is “very concerned with the state of hockey today,” and is having difficulty rationalizing its sponsorship “unless the NHL takes responsibility to protect both the players and the integrity of the game,” according to QMI. On Wednesday, NHL senior vice-president Mike Murphy said Chara will face no further league discipline for the hit on Pacioretty, which he called “a hockey play that resulted in an injury because of the player colliding with the stanchion and then the ice surface.” Chara was given a penalty for interference and a game misconduct, but Murphy said a review of video of the hit revealed there “was no basis for supplemental discipline.” As of Wednesday, Pacioretty was in hospital for observation with a severe concussion and fractured fourth cervical vertebra. The incident was the latest in a season that has had many talking about head hits and injuries, including the concussion that has sidelined Sidney Crosby since the January 1st Winter Classic. With files from Canadian Press UPDATE - Follow up Article - March 10th Air Canada threat to pull NHL sponsorship could open floodgates

UPDATE: Air Canada threat to pull NHL sponsorship could open floodgates March 10, 2011 Robert Cribb Criminal assault charges against NHL players for violent attacks on the ice failed to inspire dramatic reforms. Political and public calls for greater vigilance around concussion-causing head shots were largely sound and fury dissipating into nothingness. Now, there’s money on the table. Could Air Canada’s “unprecedented” public threat of pulling a reported $6 million in annual sponsorship dollars from the National Hockey League’s Canadian clubs focus hockey minds on attacking the attackers? The fiscal shot over the NHL bow, delivered in the form of a March 9 letter from Air Canada’s director of marketing and communications to league officials, starkly warns that the airline’s iconic Maple Leaf logo — ubiquitously emblazoned on neon signs and rink boards across the country — will disappear unless the league takes “immediate action” to curtail “life-threatening injuries.” “From a sponsorship perspective, it’s unprecedented,” said Brian Cooper, president and CEO of S&E Sponsorship Group, which negotiates major sports deals on behalf of corporate clients including Scotiabank’s sponsorship deal with the NHL. “I do not recall in my 30 years where a sponsor has said, ‘Unless the league does something, we’re going to pull out of our sponsorship.’ It’s a heavy-handed, knee-jerk reaction that will get the populous support but I think they’re overstepping their bounds.” The incendiary for Air Canada’s act of aggression took the graphic form of a thunderous hit by the Boston Bruins’ Zdeno Chara that left Montreal Canadiens’ forward Max Pacioretty with a fractured vertebrae and concussion. The league imposed no fine or suspension against Chara. “You have an airline brand that has ‘safety first’ at its core, which is sponsoring a league where you step on the ice and risk a serious injury,” said Richard Powers, a sports marketing academic at the University of Toronto. “Where the principles of the league become inconsistent with the sponsor, they have legitimate concerns.” Air Canada officials would offer no comment Thursday. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman lashed back Thursday dismissing Air Canada’s threatened sponsorship pull-out and suggesting the 11 NHL clubs reportedly committed to Air Canada as a carrier may exercise their prerogative to “make other arrangements if they don’t think Air Canada is giving them the appropriate level of service.” By Thursday afternoon, the verbal scrap turned into a melee. Montreal Canadiens owner Geoff Molson said the league’s decision to issue no punishment to Chara “shook the faith that we, as a community, have in this sport that we hold in such high regard” and that player safety “has reached a point of urgency.” Bell Canada, a major NHL sponsor and minority owner of the Canadiens, issued a statement saying it is “fully behind” its club’s plan to “engage all NHL owners and the league in addressing safety concerns as quickly as possible.” Tim Hortons Inc., whose television ads feature concussed NHL phenomenon Sidney Crosby, issued a statement encouraging the “NHL, the teams and general managers and the NHL Players’ Association to continue to work towards addressing concerns with head injuries.” The U of T’s Powers said the Air Canada letter could be the beginning of a broader push-back against the league. “The NHL’s got to get its house in order or this will spread. I can’t remember ever in another sports league where a sponsor has threatened to leave because of the non-action of the league.” Even if there isn’t broad sponsorship mutiny in the short term, other forces could line up against the league, Powers said, including federal and provincial governments. On Thursday, police in Quebec announced they were investigating the incident. “It really hurts the brand,” said Powers. “And brand is everything. That’s what the NHL is selling. Anything that detracts from the value of that brand is an issue.” Several other major NHL sponsors contacted yesterday — including Kraft, LG, Scotiabank, Gatorade and Enterprise — said they had no plans to discontinue their sponsorship relationships with the league, although even some of them expressed concerns. “The love of hockey is part of what Canada is passionate about and we’re a very big supporter of that,” said Rick White, Scotiabank’s vice-president of marketing. “I was at the game Tuesday night and I think it was quite horrific to anybody who saw it at the Bell Centre . . . The debate on concussions has gotten really red-hot.”’ At least a couple of major sponsors have dropped the league in recent months. McDonald’s ended its sponsorship relationship with the NHL at the expiration of an agreement last July, shifting its focus to grassroots hockey development “that connects with Canadian families,” said company spokesperson Louis Payette. She said the decision was “completely unrelated to the current concerns being raised by existing sponsors.” Honda also pulled out of its sponsorship relationship with the league three months ago, said spokesperson Richard Jacobs, calling it a “business decision.” While the contractual details of Air Canada’s sponsorship deals with NHL clubs are confidential, one industry insider marks the annual contributions at between $1.5 million and $2 million in Toronto (where Air Canada has the naming right for the Maple Leafs’ home rink), about $1 million each in Vancouver and Montreal and between $500,000 and $750,000 in Edmonton, Calgary and Ottawa. Air Canada is unlikely to withdraw its support for hockey because of possible legal and financial penalties, said Keith McIntyre, president of K Mac & Associates Marketing Inc. of Burlington. Besides, Air Canada has too much to lose, he said. Professional hockey arena corporate boxes are filled with the kind of profitable business travellers the airline needs to court. If Air Canada were to pull its sponsorship, it would be the six Canadian teams — rather than the league itself — that would bear the financial penalty, assuming another sponsor wasn’t waiting in the wings. The league can’t be in a position of bending to Air Canada’s wishes, Cooper said. “Where would you draw the line? What if (NHL commissioner) Gary Bettman says, ‘We’ll lose money so let’s review this and give (Chara) four games,’ and then Air Canada says, ‘That’s not enough?’” Some industry watchers suggest continued blood splatters on the ice could eventually cast the NHL in the role of Tiger Woods and the parade of sponsors — including Accenture and Gatorade — who packed up their brands and abandoned him following his high profile admissions of infidelity in 2009. “It’s not really all that different from the Tiger Woods’ situation,” said Garnet Nelson, director of sponsorship for Cossette Communications in Vancouver. — With files from Dana Flavelle and Chloe Fedio

Thanks for the update!

Go Preds Go and Go Leafs Go!!!

lol, me too!

Please come back Ozzie, please!!!! I can't understand why Joey is in net. This is not a back to back game for Jimmy and he's lost three in a row. He needs to be in there and give us the best chance to win. Joey is third string for a reason.

Why is Joey Macdonald starting in net Saturday night!!!! It's not back to back games and we've lost three in a row, get Jimmy in there, Joey sucks! My link

+1 This would be amazing!!! Conks is a perfect fit and I really hope it happens.

It's at the 4:25 mark those interested, but very well said by Don with video footage to back it up. Mario is a hypocrite.

Great video! I guess living with Mario taught Crosby how to be such a big whiner as well!

McCrimmon definitely needs to go!!!

No way Buffalo goes for this, Turco is old and Miller is their franchise.

lol. Jimmy continues to be out of position and almost seems lost out there at times. An odd bad game here and there is no big deal, it happens for everyone, but he hasn't been the same this year and when playoffs come I think it will be even worse. His playoff performance last year was not on par with his excellent season and he's not giving any indication that we'll be heading for a long playoff run this year. Unless Ozzie comes back in top form, I can see Holland making a move before the deadline for a veteran netminder.

Wonder if Holland might make a play, lord knows we need a backup. And while Ozzie says he'll be returning, it's unknown in what form he'll be.

Emery is waiting for the phone call, should come any day now.

I definitely see this happening.

:clap: :clap:

Good save Howard

Bert needs a little slap

Never say Never!!!

Glad Z isn't hurt