chrisdetroit

The preseason means nothing. Afterall the Lions were 4-0 in the preseason last year and 0-16 in the regular season...

Exactly. The NHL doesn't give a s*** about their fans or the integrity of the game. They only want to make as much money as possible. Why else would they play 2 Finals games back to back? Why would they put the games on a network that isn't universally available? And my biggest pepeeve. Why can't I buy 1 game on Center Ice or why can't I pay to watch 1 game on the internet? And for God's sake, why do they force teams to play ice hockey in the middle of the frickin desert? Talk about a poorly run organization....

Oh s***! Did you tell Ken Holland this? He is going to be upset when he finds out. All the time and effort that the Wings put into Howard and now this. Jesus Christ, why didn't you say something earlier.

ah. Maybe that's because he didn't play in the playoffs.....

The Wings silencing the critics AGAIN by beating Chicago on conscutive games including a nationally televised game on New Years Day, The Wings beating the Sharks at JLA by scores of 6-1 and 4-0 Ozzie shutting everybody up by finishing as one of the top goalies in the playoffs and coming within inches of a Conn Smyth Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, and Rick Nash getting utterly, completly shut down by Z in the playoffs. San Jose losing in the first round The Wings beating the Pens 3-0 in Pittsburgh Oh, wait, that was last year.... There are just to many things to name for this year but if I had to chose 1, it would be beating Boston in the finals and winning the cup again. Especially after watching Pronger knock Crosby out for the entire season and playoffs.

Datsyuk is much better defensively than Crosby and offensively Crosby has the edge but it's not a huge edge. As far as ability to handle pressure, there is no greater pressure than playing in the Stanley Cup Finals and Crosby was utterly shut down. But you want to ignore that and say he handles pressure better than Datsyuk. Sure, Crosby was great against Carolina and Washington but not so much when he had to play a much better team in the finals.... Ok.

What the Sharks are lacking in order to get them over the hump is: 1. Leadership 2. An experienced head coach. 3. A goalie that doesn't play 70+ games a season This trade gives them none of those things. First round or second round this year?

You mean the Lions right? Because I expect for the Wings to win the Cup this year.

An "Annihilation" is when 1 team sweeps the other in 4 games AND the loser never has the lead the entire time. This had happened only 15 times in NHL history. The last time was in 2000 when the Wings annihilated the Kings. In 2009, the Wings, annihilated the BJ's. But Hitchcock thinks that this team, just 6 months after being annihilated is going to make us bleed. hahhahahahah

Unfortunately I haven't seen anything on rule changes for the upcoming season. Things that I would like to see changed. 1. Puck over the glass penalty - This is just stupid. It used to be a penalty only on the goalie then it was changed to add anybody. Nobody intentionally puts the puck over the glass. This should be changed to be the same as icing - the offending team cannot change and the puck stays in the zone. 2. No touch icing. Need I say more? 3. The Trapezoid. Please get rid of this and let the goalies come out to play the puck. It has had the unintended consequence of d-men getting run while trying to get to the puck in the corner. 4. No back-to-back games allowed in the playoffs. Also every team must have at least 4 days off between the 2nd and 3rd rounds and 3rd and 4th. One team should not get an advantage over the other due to scheduling when the cup is on the line. 5. Instegator rule - either get rid of it or enforce it 100%. My vote would be to apply it only in the playoffs when teams play each other in consecutive games. 6. Change the schedule: 6 games against division opponents, 3 against other in-conference opponents, 2 against each team in the other conference (home/home) total 84 games. Eliminate 2 preseason games. 7. Video review. Expand the vdeo review of goals so that any action that occurs within 5 seconds of the puck going in can be changed. For example, a missed penalty or a penalty call that should not have been made. Also, a play blown dead due to the the official losing sight of the puck should be able to be challanged. 1 challange per team per game. 8. 2 points for a win. 0 points for a loss. period. Comments?

Crosby over Dats? excelling in the playoffs? Did you watch the finals? Z shut down Crosby face-offs? Datsyuk is better, look at the numbers ability to handle pressure - has to be a toss up defense - clearly Dats skating ability - clearly Dats leadership - probably Crosby Offense - Crosby so based on your own factors, you ignored them? Huh?

The city is on the verge of backruptcy. Illitch will not get any money from them. They don't have it. Best bet is for them to sell bonds for it or a regional tax like how they are going to finance the Cobo renovation. I'm not hopeful though. The priority with the city is clearly Cobo. Maybe they can get Synagro to kick in some money............

Reviews allowed only on goals or no goals. I agree it would have to be clearly defined. I am tired of seeing the replay of a goal or no goal and the replay clearly shows they got the call wrong but it "isn't reviewable".

The goalie can only play the puck when it is in the trapezoid or in front of the goaline. This means he cannot play the puck in the areas to the left and right of the trapezoid behind the goaline(the corners) or it is a 2 minute minor penalty. The rule was adopted after the lockout.

But if it was like icing where the "penalty" would be that you can't change players, why not? The problem with it now is that it unintentionally happens and sometimes results in a game being decided because of an accident. And it happens frequently. Before the lockout, it was only a penalty when the goalie did it and you didn't see other players routinely flipping the puck over the glass. With it having the same affect as icing, as I suggested there woould be no reason to do it. You would stop the play but then have to have a face-off in your own zone.

Because we know that despite not winning, we were the better team. Sometimes in sports and especially hockey the best team does not win the championship. I take solace in the fact that we were and still are better than the Penguins.

I'm fired up for the new season. We get to see Helm, Ericsson and Leino as regulars. And It will be interesting to see what Williams, Eaves and Bert can do. And we also get to see a weaker Aneheim without Pronger and Beauchamin. Chicago is going to fall apart thanks to Huet and best of all the Pens are going to struggle to make the playoffs. The only thing even close to being so much fun is going to be watching UM have another losing record AND Rich Rod get thrown out on his ass after the NCAA penalizes UofM by taking away some scholarships. Go Green Go White!

There is no comparison. Datsyuk plays offense AND defense hence the last two Selke trophies sitting on his mantle.

Not likely. There are at least half a dozen teams that make profit regularly. Some teams may go away and the leaguw be reorganized but nobody is going to shut down a profitable business. Toronto Montreal Rangers Vancouver Dallas Detroit Edmonton Calgary Pittsburgh Ottawa San Jose Colorado New Jersey Chicago Los Angeles Tampa Aneheim Minnesota Were all in the black last year. 18 teams. I say dump the other 12 and move on.

That is not correct. The NHL issued a "cease and desist" order to Atdhe to stop broadcasting the NHL games. Adthe complied. The games were from the NHL Center Ice broadcasts not from Versus.

Well, actually when the league agreed to the contract with the Outdoor Life Network, they knew or should have know that the channel was not available on many cable systems whereas everybody gets ESPN. So no, they couldn't have predicted the Direct TV/Versus problem, but they should have realized that by signing with a network that has at best limited availability that this could happen.

For God's sake, this is what it has come to in August. Now we are talking about frickin basketball. Let's go. DROP THE PUCK. I can't stand this. Isn't it October yet?

Wait? Somebody on here watches basketball?

Prostitition is a "victimless crime" - Nobody gets hurt. Assault is not. There is no comparison.

Bulls***. The 60 year old ended up with bruises and broken glasses. There is no excuse for his behavior. It wasn't a "mistake". The kid should have been punished. Where are his parents? Every 20 year old that hits a 60 year old should be punished. It has nothing to do with making an example out of him. What is this world coming to?