Drake_Marcus

Good point!

The greatest failing of the Leafs in recent years. They've got tons of heart and can score goals, but need to stop blaming goalies when it's poor defense that's been weighing them down all along.

Awww My feed is lagging. You guys ruined the surprise. GO PASHA! Woot!

3-2? No biggy. This is all a great test for Howard. Let's see if he elevates his game under this pressure! That's just part of being an NHL goalie.

So you're saying that he hasn't received his lumps before, being a loose cannon and all? He gathered up 22 games of suspensions in his last hockey league, so what makes you think he never got his lumps in those situations but will now? It doesn't matter though. The point of this suspension is NOT to teach him a lesson. The point is to make a firm point about bulls*** jumping hits to the jaw that show zero respect for the safety of the other players on the ice. s*** like that is pandemic in the modern NHL but would never have been tolerated in the harder, tough as nails NHL of old. Causing severe head trauma IS NOT PART OF THE GAME. I don't want the NHL to turn into the NFL where injuries eat up thousands of man-games a year.

Wow. They went from a man with class to a complete ass.

If they don't do it now someone's going to end up in a wheelchair and we'll all be looking back and wondering how it got so out of hand.

Ahh NO. New season, new emphasis on eliminating head shots. Stop being so damn knee-jerk. IF Simons had pulled that s*** after this suspension and received 20 games there'd be reason to spaz out. God forbid the NHL hand out suspensions that are stiffer than some past suspension for an act of different but more brutal nature. *sigh* This is fantastic news. Now we'll see if they continue to enforce these stiff suspensions across the board for headshots throughout the season.

GRIGS WITH THE GAME WINNER IN THE SHOOTOUT!

You don't get to gloat now. You can gloat in 82 games if he explodes. Here's hoping he does. I'd rather those 60+ points were spread between Dats, Z, Lids and Huds, but whatever. That'd be a 50% increase- definitely a great improvement for anyplayer to make in one season.

Batman!

Bingo. Babs can't inject some skill into these other guys, but he can vastly improve Grigorenko's conditioning. Think of it like you're buying a used car. You want a second car to make the transit to work easier by letting your wife take a seperate car so you go to a used car lot. In front of you you've got 3 cars from '01-'03 that are nothing special but are in good shape for their age. On the other hand you've got a '02 Lexus that needs new brakes, timing, wheels and a tune-up, but is otherwise fine. Now obviously the Lexus doesn't feel so impressive on the road in the condition it's in. But you know a great mechanic- a dude who already works for you, can do the job extremely well and has the parts you need. What do you buy if they're all the same price? The car that's going to be awesome after your buddy fixes it or one of the instantly mediocre cars? I guess the better quesiton is just how risk adverse are you....

I'm no Sammy fan, but both he and Lillypads HAVE had an impact on the team. Sammy's scored quite a few goals and played point against the ducks where he scored as well. Lil lead the league in hits during the playoffs and played very solid hockey when he was asked to step up and play with Lids despite making a pretty brutal mistake at the end.

Thank you. Honestly people. Filppula is not a man with the finisher's touch. He's a damn good offensive defensive centre, though. Good player doesn't necessarily mean 30 goals in your sophomore season. Really? You honestly see Franzen netting Holmstrom's peak season totals in his first year off the fourth/third line? I see him at 12-17 goals with 35-40 points. Respectable but not top four. I imagine he'll be top 6 in points for forwards.

That's very optimistic. That'd put him in the top 4 on this team in points.

Good. f*** Downie for jumping into someone like that. He's no better than that doche-bag Pronger if he continues to act like that. Of course it takes a solid dozen years of dirty hits to reach Pronger's level of douchebaggedry. *waits for Lou to make a dirty dozen joke and EVA to correct the number of years played* The thing is that the NHL needs to start making a precident for hard across the board suspensions for any headshots like this. Does anyone here want to see this s*** keep happening? s*** like this isn't hockey. Rock a guys face off like Cleary did to Panny in the playoffs, but don't throw your shoulder into their skulls.

Holy s*** I love you.

I was wondering when someone would ask where they could find that style of jersey

I wish people wouldn't bleep out one letter form swear words... it makes the voices in my head confused when they're reading to me.

Here's a round up from TStar on Red Wings Central:

Huds with 4pts in the last two games

ouch- that looks like he went down awkwardly. Anyone know if he was injured?

Actually Huds' skating as vastly, vastly improved since last season. I'm basing that on what I've seen of him in the preseason as well as what Babcock said in an interview.

At least Grigs has an upside. I'm reasonably sure a conditioning assignment can magically change Grigs' fitness, speed and energy on the ice. We can't give Downey a magical goal-scoring pill though. I'd actually welcome Downey on the team based on his camp performance, but stop dismissing the argument that the Wings don't need low-talent high-punching players as a baseless argument. The ability to stick up for teammates and the ability to score goals are not mutually exclusive qualities. I'm so ******* sick of the pro-fighting crowd's assumption that those of us who don't want to pick up another veteran journeyman who happens to fight is based on a distaste for fighting and not high standards. Both sides here are guilty of vastly oversimplifying the opposing argument.

Yeah and neither's that former MVP Marty St. Louis dude. Send his top 5 points getting ass to the minors where short people belong.