Anomalously

Really?

I quoted egroen, who said he "plays" -- not that he could play, can play, would play, might play -- on the PK. What are you talking about?

You keep saying that Samuelsson plays the penalty kill -- what are you basing this on? He's played exactly one 44-second shift of PK time this year. (Cleary and Filppula play ~3 times as much per game as Samuelsson has all year). All of last year, Samuelsson played 5 minutes TOTAL on the PK.

What about the Rangers, tied for tops in the East? You're selectively picking games where the team did poorly. A broader look of teams based on their record would be more helpful (and has already been done).

Who was with Z and Datsyuk at the end of the period? Is that Babcock changing up the lines or what? I'd like to see Hudler/Filppula/Hossa on the second, with Z/D/Franzen on the first. Samuelsson with Cleary and Draper on the third. I don't think it's a good idea to go with the same guys all season long, Z and Franzen and Datsyuk and Hossa know each other after 20 games, it could be time to shake things up. I'm not talking about panic, I'm talking about complacency. Changing things up can be good.

All right, with Osgood in in relief for Conk, it's time for him to get his season going in a big way.

He was re-signed to "compete." Until Osgood was injured in camp, a lot of people thought there was no way that the Wings were going to make the number 1 goaltender a guy who was unproven as a starter. At worst, it's five of seven years, with the year in question not counting.

It's like this most years. Osgood 8-1-3 3.29 .881 Conklin 6-1-0 2.41 .918 [better numbers] Hasek 27-10-3 2.14 .902 Osgood 27-9-4 2.09 .914 [better numbers] Hasek 38-11-6 2.05 .913 [better numbers] Osgood 11-3-6 2.38 .907 Osgood 20-6-5 2.76 .897 Legace 37-8-3 2.19 .915 [better numbers] Hasek 8-3-2 2.20 .907 Joseph 16-10-3 2.39 .909 Legace 23-10-5 2.12 .920 [best numbers] Joseph 34-19-6-3 2.49 .912 Legace 14-5-4 2.18 .925 [better numbers] Hasek 41-15-8-3 2.17 .915 [better numbers] Legace 10-6-2-1 2.42 .911 Osgood 25-19-4-3 2.69 .903 Legace 24-5-5-1 2.05 .920 [better numbers] Six of the past eight years the perceived backup at the start of the year has had better numbers than the starter at the end [or at this point in the case of this season] of year.

Last game, Homer had the most time, followed by Zetterberg/Hudler (tied), Datsyuk/Hossa (tied), and Franzen. The game before that, Homer/Datsyuk/Hossa had the most time (tied), followed by Z/Franzen (tied) and Hudler. Datsyuk's line is getting more PP TOI, but it's pretty damned close. I wouldn't call Z's #1.

Malkin plays on the point, Crosby on the half-boards. (You watched the playoffs last year, right?)

Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Hossa, Iginla, Gaborik, Kane, Getzlaf, Marleau, Doan. Lecavalier, Ovechkin, Semin, Malkin, Crosby, Heatley, Spezza, Alfredsson, Savard, Richards, Parise. [by the way, it's West/East, and I just named the first 20 I could think of]

Center Ice isn't working for me. No game.

And then I edited my post to add Staal and Lecavalier, because I knew you'd take issue with the first two guys that came to mind. And then I cited Draper. And pointed out that the original poster was either exaggerating, repeating an exaggeration, or didn't know the facts. And let's add that Upshall only played a few more games than Crosby last year. Gomez, Drury, Fedorov, Vanek, Fisher... all of these guys are making a point per $100,000. Would you not pay Fisher if you were Ottawa? Somebody else would. Better ship Vanek -- he was $100,000/point last year, not worth it. But again, my point was that # of points != value, which I suspect you agree with, but you keep nitpicking, and I'm not sure why. You said Upshall doesn't play defense. I say Staal doesn't either.

Crosby scored 70 last year ($8.7). Ovechkin might not make it past 90 this year ($9.4). Lecavalier got $8.5 after scoring 92. Eric Staal scores 82, then signs for $8.25M/year. A lot of players at the high-end are making $100,000 per point. Two edits here: one to add a couple players, and another to point out that at Upshall's 30 points last year, his $1.6m is $50,000/point. This wasn't even the point of the thread -- I didn't think I'd be questioned twenty times over, but Draper's 17 points for $1.6M ($100,000 per point) is worse.

Point was and is, there's more to it than sheer points over dollars = value.

Doesn't Lidstrom make $1M per 10 points? ($7m / 70 points)

And a giveaway on the point during a powerplay.

Point. Blank. Osgood has playoff-like focus tonight.

I hope that TV timeout helps us calm down. So far so good with that Datsyuk shot.

How about Stuart there? Beautiful.

Lidstrom is having a really solid game defensively -- could be his best yet, depends on how he plays the latter 40. Stuart has been notably on top of things too, cutting down angles and efficient with the puck.

It's so strange, Datsyuk's line is so consistently excellent on and off the puck and yet the best chances come to Zetterberg and his linemates. I'll never understand that.

That wasn't a fight.

I feel like Datsyuk's line is deadly every shift so far, and they've had 4 or so. Zetterberg's less so, but I think it could be. Not as flashy as the other "#1" but I think if they can connect on something, Zetterberg could snipe one into the twine.

Brown was pounding McCarty, but mostly the top of his helmet or wide of his face. McCarty knocked him off balance with a punch and then gets the takedown. I'm giving it a draw, but the more accurate depiction would be 'inconsequential'.