Drake_Marcus

Most of us aren't angry that the rule was enforced as much as we are angry with: a) The last minute Crosby exception released to the public long after Datsyuk or Lidstrom could do anything about it b) The verbal treatment Bettman and his cronies gave Datsyuk and especially offensively- gave Lidstrom c) The fact that 99% of the hockey world believes that the Crosby rewrite of the rule was the original rule. That's shocking enough in and of itself. Why the hell would Holland forfeit the use of Lidstrom and Datsyuk for a game if he knew they could avoid it by showing up on Friday like Crosby did. That makes no sense, and if anyone here really believes that the rules weren't bent for Crosby how can they maintain that belief now that the NHLPA and Holland say they're filing grievances? They wouldn't cause a fuss if the rule wasn't changed because nothing out of the ordinary would have happened. Plus, why the hell would the media report on Friday morning that Crosby called and negotiated a way of avoiding the suspension if the rule gave him the answer already? Crosby wouldn't have called Bettman and booked a last minute flight to Montreal if the rule was he just had to show up (why call to negotiate terms that were set in February? I do assume he and his agent can read). d) The characterization on these forums (mostly by trolls that magically appeared on Friday afternoon) that people who don't buy the company line are whiners. e) The NHL hasn't had an Obama to replace their horrible Bush-like leader. f) Bettman is clearly the best choice to play the Penguin in the new Batman movies.

He still should have been suspended as well. The original rule said they had to PLAY in the all star GAME to avoid punishment, not show up for a third of the media events then hobble off.

I think Holland should take Bettman out to the gun range: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=wwLQewe4TrY&NR=1 Or even take him sledding: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=oO9Y790H3pA

Nobody likes misdirected anger more than me

I hope you're right. If I were Holland I have to say I'd be tempted to either ice Dats and Lids or trying to bring a dirt cheap prospect up and give him 20 mins along with everyone else getting a reversal of playing times. Just make it an obvious f*** you to Bettman somehow.

Q.E.D.

Huh? There's no precedence for this rule change, let alone for the rule being enforced. Holland was warned about the rule, no one except Crosby was given a chance to avoid suspension by showing up for the media wine and dines. If your a player that's done everything that you can for the game and they spit in your face by suspending you for being hurt (which is the actual letter of the rule being enforced- if you don't play you have to miss one game before or after the allstar game. There is zero option to get out of that by flying to Montreal and standing around injured instead of resting), how are you blowing the game off? THEY ARE ******* INJURED. They were told they would be suspended for not playing in the game. They were NOT told they could avoid that suspension in any way. Does Holland want Datsyuk walking around on an injured hip schmoozing with executives for 43% of the "rest" period he's being given to get better and ******* play for his damn team like he gets paid to? NO. Lidstrom and Datsyuk are employed by the Detroit Red Wings. They were told to rest for 7 days to recuperate their respective injuries (elbow and hip). Both have medical evidence of their injury. Both are ambassadors for this game. Both are respected member of the god damn hockey community. And the NHL literally spit in their face by telling them they would be suspended just for being injured because of a stupid rule that had never, in the history of the NHL, been enforced before. Then, to top it off, the NHL made the Crosby exception by editing the rule less than 12 hours before the event to allow Crosby to avoid suspension. Don't you dare speak of either of these players "blowing off the all star game". That is not in their character nor their actions.

What is this world coming to? Can't Campbell see that when Pierre is the voice of reason and not the voice of sycophancy there's something terribly wrong?

The rule- straight out of the book provides no exception for Crosby. Bettman created an exception for Crosby. Do you think he personally contacted Datsyuk or Lidstrom? God ******* damn it I'm pissed off.

Executing an innocent person for murder isn't just the way things go sometimes. It's the reason why capital punishment is primitive and laughable in a "just" society. By killing a single innocent person in the pursuit of crude, pointless old testament vengeance you make the entire country who paid for that justice system murderers themselves. That's why the vast majority of the free world doesn't have a death penalty.

Huh? Datsuyk missed the last 15 mins of the last game due to his injury. The team subsequently lost that game. If he was simply waiting it out to make it look like a fake injury surely he'd jump back into the game at some point to try and pull a win out. Datsyuk was legitimately hurt. Lidstrom's played more than 10 allstar games for the NHL, if he says he's hurt how about they give him the benefit of the doubt? Regardless- let's ignore the injuries. Why not fly to Montreal and show up injured for the game's press parades? Well why should they? How many times has someone shown up for that bulls*** after opting out of the game before? Not many times that I can remember. Giving someone less than a day to cancel their family plans and rush to your photo op under threat of suspension under a rule that's never been enforced before is what the French call "le dick move". Let's not sit here and pretend that it isn't a ****** bag move to use a previously unenforced rule to spitefully punish people who don't run away from their families and hop on an international flight to be at your side at a moment's notice. If we heard this threat of suspension 72 hours ago when both players announced their intention to opt out of the game due to injuries maybe, maybe I wouldn't call Bettman and Campbell ****** bags. Maybe not- because they'd still be using a previously unenforced rule to punish players for spending their rest and recuperation time doing just that- resting and recuperating. I know it's considered cute now to point out the oddities in the behaviour of the posters on this board. Maybe we should reserve that for situations where you have a valid argument.

This is absolute horses***. Obviously the intent to enforce this rule should have been made clear to the players sometime other than the day of the god damn off ice events they expect the players to participate in. I honestly hope the NHLPA appeals this on behalf of Lids and Dats simply based on the asinine timing of this announcement. IF they intended to ******* enforce this rule they could have said something WEDNESDAY when Dats and Lids made it clear they weren't attending the game. And why are players skipping the game? Partially because of the fact that the ballot stuffing used to create a laughable pair of starting line ups have eroded the credibility of the whole game.

SWEET! Looks as good as the mullet. Business in the front party in the back (kinda like it is with the ladies ).

That's reasonable enough. It's the way in which they're doing it that lacks class.

I've got that feeling too. Hossa and his agent have both made it clear that he wants to stay here. I honestly think he's more likely to make the right sacrifices to stay. I do wish we could keep 'em both... I planed to celebrate Franzen's re-signing with a custom jersey.

His mask is. Damn that's a sweet mask.

In that case it depends completely on how Franzen performs between now and the end of the playoffs. If he's as dominant as he was before I'd go Franzen + Hudler. If he regresses we know he's not trending up to superstar level and thus doesn't deserve superstar money.

Ummm.... I'm not sure the NHL has a ref that could wear that outfit to my satisfaction.

In that case it's really tough. Hudler and Filppula are both 24 years old. Franzen is 28 and fairly injury prone (mostly due to his style of game). Samuelsson doesn't have upside, but he does provide a lot of depth in terms of scoring, PK and PP. I wish there was some way of making Hudler + Franzen (with Filppula traded) work.

Hmmm... I just made a spread-sheet in excel to figure some of this stuff out. First I dumped Chelios, Lebda, Kopecky and Conklin. Then I added Leino at his current salary for two seasons (seems like a standard entry level contract for an unknown with his credentials). Howard and Ericsson were added to the list because A) both are out of minor league options and B) Ericsson being added to the third line in the 09/10 season has been Holland's plan since he re-signed him. I also added Helm to the roster due to his price, need for NHL time and the holes that will be left in the roster after people walk. So, our current roster, minus Lebda, Chelios, Kopecky and Conklin, and plus Howard, Ericsson, Helm and Leino would cost $43,657,777. Assuming the cap stays flat, that leaves $13,042,223 to sign Hossa, Zetterberg, Hudler, Franzen and Sammy. A recent article out of Sweden says Z is going to get $7,113,221 a year for 10 years (or exactly 60 million Kroners a year). Let's factor that into the equation: Cap hit: $50,770,998 Left: $5,929,002 Players left: Hossa, Hudler, Franzen and Sammy Now, Hudler will stay here unless someone throws him a ridiculous offer sheet ($4million+). He's 24 and the best offensive player we've got in the entire organization under the age of 28. The Wings would take a huge hit in terms of depth if they loose him. So let's say he gets the identical contract to Filppula. Cap hit: $53,770,998 Left: $2,929,002 Players left: Hossa, Franzen, Sammy That means that Hossa or Franzen could be signed IF one of the following players is removed from the books: Filppula, Cleary, Holmstrom, Stuart. Holmstrom would really only happen if he retired. So basically, someone has to be moved. I'm saying now, though, I think Franzen's going to be harder to sign than Hossa will. That's based on each player's agent and their respective stages in their careers (in terms of money earned and expected future earnings).

Great post. Holland will have to make some real moves if he plans on keeping Hossa.

Oh there's a chance- that chance relies on Franzen's agent asking for way, way, way too much (a very, very, very strong possibility given his case history), Hossa being willing to take a long front-loaded contract (if Tampa can get Vinny for under $7million cap hit we should be able to get Hossa for that) AND Hank taking a very similar deal that is a smaller cap hit. Oh, and someone expensive has to be dropped. That last part is actually the toughest. we have a huge discrepancy between the high and low contracts on this team and not too many players getting 3-5 million that are disposable. Haha and add to that that the NHLPA would have to use their option to bump the cap up by 5% using their escrow... a possibility but not something I've heard people predicting would happen. Given that NHL revenues have actually increased by a slight amount this year (something around 5% if Bettman isn't lying about it), I doubt that we'll see the cap drop this coming season. The season after that is probably when we'll see it drop...

Haha. Please makes sure to have a friend near by to video tape the reactions of everyone around you!

Well sort of. See in today's world 99.9% of all scientific and engineering innovations are incremental in nature. The days of quantum leaps forward in understanding are mostly past. Incremental innovation does lead to big leaps forward, but it takes many intermediate stages (vacuum tube computers didn't become microprocessors in one fell swoop). I'm sure hockey uniforms are getting more advanced and providing increased performance to players as compared to the knit sweaters of old! I'm not sure, however, that we need a press release to trumpet each tiny change in uniform technology!

You're right. No one can argue that Crosby isn't a down to earth guy who tries his best to give as much back to his community as he can. He's definitely a good person. Iginla and Vinny are both similar in that respect. In Calgary Iginla's well known for his community service during the summer.