Drake_Marcus

Oh, and does this play prove that Sid wouldn't be a butterfly goalie? Looks like he'd be more of a scrambling goalie like Hasek was.

Yeah, I thought you were saying he's already there. As far as Datsyuk's forward ice time for the PK goes it's worth noting that the difference between the #1 time and #7 time is miniscule compared to most teams-- the Wings use tons of guys on the PK instead of a few dedicated PK guys. Also note that since he's got two Selke trophies we can give him the benefit of the doubt there.

That powder blue Mr. Hockey jersey was insulting-- something I'm sure even Sid would agree on. No question Sid respects Howe too much to endorse someone trying to steal "Mr. Hockey" from him. That's especially true given that Sid was a Wings fan growing up (the Cole Harbour hockey organization uses the Wings colours and a modified version of the logo for all their teams).

I can drink to that.

I agree. Sometimes the best way to get slumping rookies started is to give them strong linemates and hope they can score and get their confidence back that way. In the end Leino's got top 6 skills, so putting him on the 4th as a grinder is going to make it tougher to get him scoring. Once Leino gets a goal we'll see his confidence soar again and he'll start looking like his old self. Hudler and Filppula were the same way when they entered the league. Anyone remember when Filppula was slumping badly after Christmas in 07-08? Bab put him up with Datsyuk and he got a few goals. Next thing you know he ended up with 19 goals on the year and tons of confidence (although his play through the first half of the playoffs was brutal that year he eventually found his game against Dallas and Pittsburgh). I'd throw these lines together: Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Cleary-Zetterberg-Leino Draper-Helm-Eaves Maltby-Abdelkader-Williams Lidstrom-Kronwall Rafalski-Stuart/Ericsson (Stew and E splitting the time on the 2nd pairing) Ericsson/Stuart-Lebda (to help break up the E-Lebda pairing as much as possible and give Lebda a veteran stay-at-home partner for at least half the time he's out there)

That sucks. They have some great fans over there (and some tools, but every team has that type of fan). It'd be a shame to see them move.

Welcome to Nick's patented slow offensive start. He'll make up for it in the long run, he always does.

You still troll the f*** out of the boards with your anti-anti-Crosby comments and your attempts to sarcastically turn the tables on Ovechkin fans, even though it's completely retarded and has nothing to do with your quest to make everyone love Sid as much as you. We all know you think Crosby has become a complete player but in reality he's not one yet. He's 4th on his team in PK time on ice with 0:56 per game. Dupuis has 2:22, Staal has 2:59, Adams has 3:06 and Cooke has 3:07. Furthermore, because Sid leads his team in time on ice with a whopping 22 mins that minute of PK time is less impressive when you consider it as a fraction of his time played. Next, let's examine his two way game through take-aways vs. give-aways. Sid leads his team in give-aways with 17. Malkin is next with 13. However, Crosby has only 8 take-aways while Geno has 13. Only two forwards in the NHL have more give-aways than Sid-- Gomez and Tavares. So given these statistics you'll have to forgive me when I laugh at your insistence that Crosby as a complete player. He's trying to become one but he's not close to being there yet. He'll find that he will have to sacrifice offense to become a dominant two way player-- Yzerman learned that lesson. And before you say that Yzerman was no where near the offensive player Crosby is I'll save you the embarrassment of putting your foot in your mouth. Only two people have had a greater single season point total than Yzerman's best season (155pts)-- Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux. As for the earlier statement that Malkin is worse defensively than Crosby I disagree based on his play in the finals against us. I respect the hell out of Crosby-- he's an amazing hockey player, but he's no Ovechkin. Ovechkin's been better than him 3 out of 4 seasons so far. If you're a pure offensive player, as both Crosby and Ovechkin are (despite the fact that Crosby is trying to become a better two-way player he's not even in the same ball-park as a Selke candidate) it all comes down to numbers and in that area Ovechkin dominates Crosby.

Of course it's not his fault. It'd be stupid to accuse Crosby of cramming himself down our throats-- the NHL and Canadian hockey media did that. But that doesn't mean people won't dislike Crosby for it, even if it's not his fault. And let's be honest-- Crosby could care less whether everyone on Earth loves him. It's really just Crosby fans that are taken aback by the hate others have of him, even though that hate is 100% due to his over exposure by the NHL and not due to Sid himself.

The problem for the Caps is they have 3 legit top tier players-- Ovi, Semin and Backstrom. The Pens only had Malkin and Crosby. That third guy-- likely Semin, will be hardest to sign because Ovi and Backstrom will take up such a big chunk of the cap. That being said, I think they'd be crazy not to sign Semin. They have to sign Backstrom because he's a gifted playmaker and they need him to centre Ovi if they want to maximize the dangerousness of their first line. Semin is similar to their Malkin, though, and could break out and put up Malkin-like numbers in the next few years. Don't forget that he was leading the league in points last year before he was injured (and ended the year with a 1.37 point per game average, if I remember correctly).

Thank you.

I just noticed there's no "MOD" under your name. You should probably talk to Matt about that, 'cause otherwise I have no intention of modifying my posting habits or content based on your comments. Now that we've established that you've got zero grounds to tell me how to post, let's get back on topic. Yeah, Ericsson is -3. But if you paid attention you'd know that at the time of his injury the defensive +/- values looked like this: -->Lidstrom +6 -->Kronwall 0 -->Lebda -2 -->Ericsson -3 -->Rafalski -3 -->Stuart -5 So as you can see-- that puts Ericsson in the exact middle of the defensive +/- on the team at the time of his last game. Given that the Wings have outscored their opponents 5-1 over the last two games it's pretty self-serving of you to compare the current +/- values after getting those boosts to Ericsson's values instead of just comparing apples to apples. Feel free to keep talking out of your ass, though.

I know right? I mean Ericsson's only 4th on the team in scoring and leads all other Wings d-men in points by 25% as well as in goals. But hey-- sometimes he turns the puck over like a rookie. Clearly, as the d-man ranked 5th in icetime he was our undooing. I mean logic would say hey-- Ericsson is on the ice for significantly less time than Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall and Stuart, so surely the team's defensive play hinges on his performance.

It's amazing how few people realize you're just trolling them.

*Gasp* Filppula's been gone for these two games as well. Surely there's more than a circumstantial link between his absence and these scores as well!

This. EDIT: Really, he's a fricking rookie and we're 13 games into the season. Some people seem ready to cut their losses far far far too early. The list of players who looked lost at that point in their careers and are great now is pretty long.

Oh SNAP!

Clean hit. Kessel himself didn't even hint that it was questionable.

Your dogged opposition to those who oppose Crosby is getting equally annoying Carman. I get tired of the Crosby hate too- and I'm not even a Crosby fan. But you've become his LGW crusader for some reason and all it does is fan the flames man. Plus, in this case you've got to admit the NHL.com coverage is pretty silly. I was with you on the rediculous fight thread-- Crosby fought just fine and deserved some praise for maning up like that. But in this case the story line is pretty silly. He made a great shot block. Cool. Add it to the highlight reel. But don't treat it like he donned goalie gear and played a game to a shut-out.

I can't help but cringe whenever the Blackhawks announcer calls a 'Hawks goal. He reacts like Jesus just handed him a million dollars and a ticket for free Angelina Jolie sex.

I love Ozzy, but I'd trade him to the Ducks for Hiller. Sorry Chris but the return is too good

I think he worked pretty hard out there every shift, actually. It's hardest worker not "most effective point getter for your payscale".

Be careful not to put a joke in your threads kids, they'll delete them. JakeRyan can still suck it.