Drake_Marcus

I'm actually well aware of the Pens- they're on TV here about as often as the news. See my post above for an explanation of my comments.

He tends to play with Malkin whenever the coach is trying to get something going or they're trailing, no? Armstrong looked like a pretty decent winger when Crosby nearly swept the NHL awards... One thing I'd like to point out here is that Datsyuk's numbers last year were flat out amazing when he had Holmstrom and Filppula on his wings. Note that last year Babcock liked to try and keep Datsyuk and Zetterberg separated when he could, for exactly the same reasons Malkin and Sid get separated- each player is talented enough to carry a line and two great lines is better than one super great line. But switching from Datsyuk being on again off again with Zetterberg to Datsyuk being with Hossa or Z all year round yielded two identical point totals- 97 pts. Crosby did have Hossa on his wing last year for a month or so (I'm not sure how long Hossa was injured after the trade deadline)... and Crosby still didn't clean up like he did in the 06-07 season. All I'm saying is that up to a certain point the raw talent on a player's line isn't as important as chemistry. I honestly think it was stupid to trade Armstrong away last year- Crosby still hasn't managed to get that level of comfort and chemistry back with a winger. As far as his past wingers go here are the ones from your list that I already could name as his winger: Dupuis, Armstrong, Christensen, Roberts, and Recchi. (although to be fair- I am Canadian and we're regularly tested by the government on hockey knowledge) Roberts, Dupuis and Recchi are all serviceable wingers, but the rest were pretty cruddy. Regardless- you take 3-4 minutes away from Crosby's nightly total AND you take a minute or two of powerplay time away AND you make him play 3 or more minutes of PK a night. Then you start deliberately matching him up to the opposition's best forwards instead of their weak underbelly (although I do understand why you'd play Sid against their worst players- he'll damage their ego pretty quickly). Do you honestly think adding Zetterberg or Hossa to his wing (instead of sometimes having Malkin there) is going to increase his numbers? Trust me- Crosby (and Malkin AND Ovechkin for that matter) has the optimal situation for maximizing his point total. When you're expected to be a Selke-caliber player all year long your point totals will fall. If it happened to Steve Yzerman- a guy who scored nearly 700 goals and sits among the top 10 scorers of all time, it'd happen to Crosby. Take Fedorov for example, he had a very similar career path to Crosby in the beginning (aside from being a Selke guy in addition to a Hart kinda guy, but you know what I mean). Bowman came along and forced defense down his throat (not that he wasn't already defensively sound, but I'm thinking of the whole team commitment to defense thing) and his numbers drop... When you're forced to balance defense and offense instead of maximize offense, it's inevitable that your numbers drop. I'm not convinced that a slight or even moderate difference in winger talent is going to significantly compensate for that.

My point exactly. All I'm saying is he receives adequate monetary compensation for that scrutiny

You live in Vancouver... you should be used to hearing and reading the odd bit of broken English

And to whoever was saying Crosby's point totals would increase if he were to join the Wings: When Scotty Bowman walked in in the 90's and forced all the Wings forwards to become defensive forwards their point totals dropped. If Steve Yzerman's point totals dropped in that situation you better believe a kid who floats at the blue line and backchecks about as had as Robert Lang would have a point drop as well. If you're killing penalties and being matched up against the opposition's best lines in an attempt to contain them you're point totals will drop. That's a fact. And while Pittsburgh's talent definitely falls as you look down their top 12 forwards, to insist that Crosby plays with crappy talent on the top line compared to the Wings' top line is ridiculous. He spends a good chunk of time with Malkin and when he isn't with Malkin they make sure he's with the best wingers possible.

While it's true that he's under that pressure, it's not like he has trouble making the grade on this ice- his incredible level of talent and dedication makes up for that (hell, his skating alone contributes to a huge chunk of his success). Really, as you've alluded to it's simply his off-ice soundbites that makes the difference. When you make as much money as he does you have to accept that there's a different level of scrutiny that comes with that. His NHL salary likely amounts to less than his endorsement income, so he's definitely stupid, filthy rich. Considering the kinds of cars he drives around in Halifax I can tell you it's not all in a piggy bank My point is this- he isn't a child. He's a grown man that gets paid insane amounts of money to compensate him for the difficulties associated with having this level of attention focused on him. You'll have to forgive me if I expect him to be held to the exact same standards as other superstars in this league. Note that I'm not reaming him for his acts of immaturity, rather I'm saying he has to man up to them just like the rest of us do. His behaviour during the press-conferences after games in the Finals is a good example. His posturing and whining about phantom obstruction calls was 100% driven by Terrian's terrible coaching choices, but he still said it and he still has to expect to answer to people who question his judgment in whining about those things. The Wings had plenty of terrible non-calls against them (Datsyuk being pulled down just before he shot the puck into the empty net in game 6 being one of those ridiculous non-calls). Every team could list a bunch of calls the refs missed- that's just something you have to accept will happen. My point is this- Crosby receieves adequate compensation for the troubles associated with being a super star. He's a grown man and an NHL veteran at this point (as crazy as it is to say that, he is almost up to 300 NHL games)- he can't hide behind his age or inexperience. Edit: (Torry) Spelling

But no one has to respect that contract outside the NHL. A KHL club, putting that league's apparent financial issues aside, could offer your first overall draft pick an inane amount of money- something they could never get until 4 years down the road in the NHL. In that situation you're s*** out of luck.

This.

Let the flaming begin.

Ovechkin is an effing king. He's obviously bats*** crazy, but that just adds to his appeal

Not a chance man. Their top line is one of the best in the league right now. Getzlaughs and Ryan are lethal right now.

Their's still the issue with having three first-line centres. But if we're talking Crosby for $6 million a year... I think the Wings can work around that. However, the smartest plan would be to flip Crosby for Ovechkin since a 65 goal scoring left winger is something this team needs more than an elite centre (already have two of those).

They usually do have discounts really, really close to game time to fill the odd empty seats. Given the economy you just can't count on sell outs in certain cities.

We owe you one after you swept us in the finals last time.

You haven't seen many Vancouver games this year, have you? They're getting scoring from all their lines, hitting everything that moves and killing penalties like it's their favourite pastime. The only way to get through Vancouver is to shake Luongo or at least their confidence in Bobby Lu. When Luongo lets the first goal in or lets a softy in you can see it in the entire team in front of him... probably more so than any other team. Luongo is the heart of that team so killing them requires taking him out of the equation (easier said than done ). Given the offensive capabilities of the Wings, their unique playing style, their love of putting their shots through heavy traffic and the fact that they run a screen/crease-crasher in each of their top 3 lines... I'm confident we can win a 7 game series. Still... a super high end goalie can carry his team past opponents that are otherwise superior from the crease out. Hasek took the Sabres to the finals on his own, and while Luongo definitely isn't as good as vintage Dom, he's among the top 3 goalies in the league (and who knows what he's truly capable of at this point in his career).

That's fine- he's still leaving us 0.054% of our shots! Just get 60 shots on Luongo every night and we're fine

That's the issue right there. The lack of an agreement doesn't help you either. Holding their rights in perpetuity is cool for prospects you probably wouldn't have signed, but the lack of an agreement with the IIHF is a bad thing if you're talking about blue-chip prospects.

Dude- if your fantasy involved Angelina Jolie cleaning for you you're doing it all wrong. Although my room would be involved, so you're on the ball there. Edit: Seriously, though.

I've got to agree with Jedi here. Odds are the Wings would have a completely different draft plan mapped out that likely wouldn't have included Green. Green's a Canadian so he'd be fast-tracking it to the NHL- that's counter to the draft and develop slowly in Europe plan the Wings ran in Green's draft year. Similar thing is going on now- the CBA gives American College bound players extra development time and the international rules for player signings changed in 06 such that slow burning players like they did in Europe before is much, much tougher... guess what kind of player the Wings have drafted with their high picks since then? Players who plan on going to US Colleges... The Wings have a very structured draft system.

And he hasn't done s*** since. He had two good games in Florida. Seriously- that's it. People have him pegged as a blue-chip prospect but in my opinion that's got more to do with his size than anything else. He could be really good, but he hasn't shown much if any progress this season.

Definitely not. The Wings simply can't afford to add an $8.7 million forward to the team. The cap hits are top heavy as it is! An All-Star forward corps won't make up for bad defense... and once Lids retires that's the biggest worry. Sure adding a player like Cindy would help the Wings hit that 350 goal plateau, but the bigger concern is balance- the Wings know they can score goals.

Which is why Boston fans are giddy about the prospect of the Rangers knocking the Caps out early.

Ok, did that shift by Helm remind anyone else of Dallas Drake's hit-a-thon shift against Dallas last year?

I'd say groin or possibly his left hip-flexor.

I can only assume they carefully consulted the medical staff to ensure the injury wasn't something that would be exacerbated if he continued to play. All we can do is hope/pray nothing got worse and that the series is put to bed tonight to give Ozzy the maximum recovery time.