sean

Helm got 14:35 ice time. That's a ton.

groin, or he'd be skating

Is he skating? I don't understand how Draper can take warmups and still be out, that is truly odd.

Well, in the NFL, the fumble/no fumble is the result of the QB having already been hit; the outcome of the call doesn't really make much difference on the QBs wellbeing. Blowing the whistle quickly does benefit the goalie to some degree, but as b.shanny said, there's gotta be some consistency. This is a bit off topic but I think the 'intent to blow the whistle' idea should be completely done away with. Respect the human element of refereeing, and use the sound of the whistle for rulings, rather than the intent. The intent to blow the whistle is a subjective idea; the sound of the whistle cannot be 'interpreted'.

Yeah, I am glad someone agrees with me on this. Hiller should be thanking his lucky stars that he's playing behind a talented D that adheres to a good defensive strategy. If we get after those rebounds, oh baby. To be perfectly honest, Hiller has the worst mechanics of any NHL goalie I've ever seen. Maybe he's going to revolutionize the position, and I'm just a naysayer. He spends half the game on his knees, saves shots that don't even have a chance (in circumstances where a whistle wouldnt be of much strategic benefit), and has weird glove positioning. You can't deny his success, I guess. I think the NHL will do something about the unbuckled pads this offseason.

The difference is that the NHL is trying to protect its goalies.

I said this another thread, but the Wings have yet to play an important game of hockey since they beat the Pens last year. Thursday will be their first, and if they don't come out with a bit of pizazz, then I may begin to worry.

i intended to read this post

nice thread

The wings have yet to play an important game all year. They know that thursday is the first one; I'm interested to see how they react.

Bringing up Leino won't change the fact that the rest of the team is underperforming. Babcock and co. would only bring up Leino if a particular player in the lineup is performing considerably worse than expected. Again, Sunday's loss was the result of the Wings not being on their game--not any one player.

don cherry is like the casual fan liason imo. gives less than expert fans a reason to tune in. i see no problem with this, really. it is like college football. football gives everyday people a way i think to contribute/support universities in a way which makes sense to them. you couldn't really sell too many tickets for a biology fair you know. similarly if the intermission guys rambled about the pros/cons of playing lilja or chelios i think the casual fans would be bored. unforunately for the nhl haters (me included) they are kinda smart enough to know that we're going to watch regardless of what sort of elementary or even hockey humorish crap they put on in the intermission. is this a stupid post im pretty tired atm.

its all about the chemistry tbh. i'd take malkin and crosby over datsyuk and zata on any fantasy team, but clearly they do not work together in the way that dats and zata can. there is actually nearly 0 synergy going on there, from what i've seen.

lol @ player who is supposed to bring some 'veteran leadership' being the first to throw the white towel.

Wasn't he supposed to be suspended the first some games of the season? I don't remember.

Quincey.

I am a Spartan as well. Nice to meet you. My sort of friend is his cousin; we talked about him a few times. I've never talked to the man himself, though.

I can't believe Holland is neglecting Markov. He must be asking for alot of cash or something; otherwise I can't figure this one out. The guy plays tough as nails and is fairly sound defensively. Our defense loses about 40% of its physicality of Markov leaves. I don't really understand why Markov switches teams so often. He's a pretty sure second pair guy I feel. Like I said, money is really the only thing I can think of.

I gotta ask...what makes you think he would fit well with our squad? I like Chris Neil, too, but sometimes a good player isn't a good player everywhere. I mean, alot of people thought Bertuzzi would be great for us because he had alot of the elements our team was missing: toughness, willigness to battle towards the net, etc. It is my belief that even if Bert were 100%, he would have had trouble. He simply lacks alot of the skills necessary to play typical red wing hockey. He's not too good at cycling, and his passing and puck control aren't really top of the line. I think you have to have these skills if you expect to be a DRW top 6. I don't mean to attack you. I honestly haven't watched Chris Neil a ton, and maybe he does posess the the necessary skills AND have that physical edge we've been looking for for the past 3 years. It just seems like alot of trade proposals here are from a sort of EA SPORTS point of view. You gotta get guys that will work well with the team AND contribute something new. This is very hard to come by and I think this is why Holland is so conservative.

agreed with above. i think holland is unlikely to sign a one dimensional player.

i will miss markov. I'd give him 4

when every ref is calling inconsistently you have wonder if something else is wrong.

THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE HIGHLANDER!!!!!!!!1

he was explaining how pronger didn't mean to ram Holmstrom's head agains the glass.

you lose. Kopecky body-slams Pronger.