Anomalously

Good for the Bruins. Guys like Ott have very little place in this league running guys like that and then turtling. As a bonus, Savard's on my fantasy team. Moved up to 2nd in PIMs tonight.

Thoughts so far: 1. Zetterberg is having a bad game. He's trying to do way too much. 2. Pavel's line is doing well in the offensive zone, but too many giveaways in the D zone. 3. Lebda is frustrating. Lilja too. Offsides and giveaways galore. 4. The Wings are trying to force too much. 5. Detroit does not know how to react when a puck goes behind the net. All of the goals are coming from the back of the net. 6. Hossa's shot is pretty.

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but there was an optional skate this morning. Meech and Conklin skated with only one player who started yesterday: Jiri Hudler. I think that's a good sign that he's invested and working hard. He wants it, and he wants his coach to know it.

He was asked a question. What, is he supposed to say, "Refs are doing a great job tonight, making sure somebody is on the PK all night long"? Wings came out soaring, but they let it go late. If they were disciplined, they'd have a 1-0 lead or better.

Oh, come on. It was a bad call. We'd be livid. Samuelsson took an obvious dive. Other guys do it too, but Samuelsson was being a wuss because he was pissed about the call on him. And I love watching this away feed -- I think I've seen the Cup video the past five games.

8 points in 8 games isn't evidence that Samuelsson shouldn't be ragged on. He's a streak scorer, always has been. Show me consistency at the halfway mark and I'll give him some props for that. It's the fact that he hasn't made as many bone-headed plays that means Samuelsson hasn't been dogged regularly. When he resumes it, which at some point he will, you know people will complain about it. Right now our defense is taking the biggest hit from fans here because they aren't responsible in their own end. There's always a goat on these boards, but there is some honest, careful critiques done, too. Right now, for instance, I'm thinking Stuart could play better. He's been getting beat and making mistakes too often for his pay.

Yeah, as I've mentioned, the camera angles are bruuuuuuuuuuuutal. But that's the HD feed for me, so I'm watching it. I've got the Detroit feed, too, with better angles, but it's SD.

Zetterberg is just so good, even when he's got relatively little help. It's astounding.

Ugh, the Kings feed is the 'rinkside view' camera. In other words, IMPOSSIBLE to see a play develop.

Savard is great, but the Canadian lineup has superior set-up men (Crosby, Spezza, Thornton, Getzlaf). I actually really like Savard [in fact, I own a jersey with his name stitched on the back) but am realistic that Spezza and Getzlaf will be entering their primes, Thornton has just been better [and has better size/strength], and Crosby is the undeniable #1 center. There were only 11 Canadian 30-goal scorers last year and 11 guys with 50 assists. Canada only needs four of the latter category (Crosby didn't have 50 assists due to injury). The others will be Thornton, Spezza, possibly Getzlaf, possibly St. Louis. The fourth line for Canada will probably be Morrow, Richards, and Doan and will be a shutdown line. Savard definitely does not fit that role. Of Spezza, Getzlaf, Thornton, and Savard, keep in mind that Savard is the oldest and actually a couple years older than Thornton. Thornton will be 31 for the Olympics and the others will be mid- to late-20s. Perfect timing for the Games -- in their prime and hungry.

Sakic might not be around in 2010, but Thornton ought to be. I don't know if Toews will be ready (even at the end of next season), but Yzerman is really high on this kid, so he will be there. Not sure if Nash is complete enough of a player to warrant attendance. Pronger's not getting an A on his jersey; I think Richards is the guy to give it to. Crosby, maybe, too. Gretzky is probably going to lobby hard for Doan to be on this team -- I could definitely see him going instead of Horton. And Derek Roy could very well earn himself a spot, too. Crosby-Iginla-Lecavalier. Spezza-Heatley-Staal. Thornton-Toews-Roy. Doan-Richards-Morrow. Getzlaf? Horton? Look for Duncan Keith to be on this team. Don't count out Chris Phillips completely, either. I think Pronger is probably going to make it, but Jovanovski might be the guy left off. Keith, Phaneuf, Niedermayer, Bouwmeester, Regehr, Green. Pronger? Jovanovski?

Manny Legace was injured on the carpet that Sarah Palin walked on to drop the puck. He ended up falling in the same place Fleury fell in the finals last season -- right off of the benches. They planted the carpet Palin used there -- it slipped, and he tweaked his knee.

Would this qualify as a misuse of statistics?

I call a 7-day suspension.

Nice save by Samuelsson.

After the first half, I've got to comment that this is the best game the Wings have played thus far. Having said that, it's just one-half.

GS&T, you should know these statistics you pulled mean nothing. Add hits, Ovechkin's scores increase. 220 to 40 last year. Add takeaways, Datsyuk leads 144 to 68. Similar number of blocked shots (+4 Ovechkin). Do it for only last year, Ovechkin's plus-minus went from -19 to +28. Consider the team (because it is a team score) -- one other Washington teammate had at least half of Ovechkin's +/- last year, but four others had half of Datsyuk's totals on Detroit. Consider TOI. Maybe Ovechkin doesn't play PK because he spends 5:40 of the powerplay and 17:16 of ES on the ice per game. He's offensively gifted to the tune of 65 goals, and that's probably the best use of his time. Does it mean he's not valuable defensively or that he's a bigger benefit to the offense than he is to the defense? (He is 3rd overall in ice time among forwards despite his PK TOI.) Sounds like a matter of the coach's philosophy as much as it might be something else. And you say it's a huge deal that ice time separates them but not a huge deal that Ovechkin doubles Datsyuk's goal totals (while having 75% of his assists)? Using last year's numbers (career bests for both players), Ovechkin has 210% (reverse is 47%) more goals; Datsyuk has 140% (reverse is 71%) of the assists. And of course, Ovechkin has 115% more points (86% is the reverse). Ovechkin doesn't take faceoffs, does that make him less valuable? Lidstrom doesn't take faceoffs either, no wonder the Hart voters haven't given him recognition. Meanwhile, health is part of your equation, but it's only a factor in the other categories, and this is Datsyuk's first NHL season with 82 games. Six seasons, one 82 game year. Other years were 70, 64, 75, 75, 79. 90% of possible games. Ovechkin? 99.6%. So there's the statistics. Ovechkin is better in ES TOI, PP TOI, GP/season, goals, points, hits, blocked shots. Datsyuk is better in PK TOI, assists, takeaways, faceoffs, plus-minus. 7-5. Ovechkin wins. He's more complete. (I'm not making an opinion here, I'm just contending that statistics don't work in this argument.)

Is hits really indicative of value defensively? Lidstrom must be pretty bad defensively since he uses his stick instead of his body. Using your stats I'm sure Lilja would be the best blueliner. Probably not the case, as there aren't any stats to measure stickhandling ability, efficiency, decision-making, etc.

Scott Niedermayer (1st round, 3 overall) Chris Pronger (1st round, 2 overall) Dion Phaneuf (1st round, 9 overall) Zdeno Chara (3rd round, 56 overall) Wade Redden (1st round, 3 overall) Sergei Gonchar (1st round, 14 overall) Mike Green (1st round, 29 overall) Ed Jovanovski (1st round, 1 overall) Nicklas Lidstrom (3rd round, 53 overall) Some of these guys aren't even elite (Jovanovski) at both ends, some are past their prime (Pronger, Redden), but none of them have the longevity or accomplishments that Lidstrom has. Another interesting thing: Top 5 draft picks in 1998 (name, numbers from last season): Vincent Lecavalier (40-52-92) David Legwand (15-29-44) Brad Stuart (6-17-23) Bryan Allen (2-14-16) Vitaly Vishnevsky (2-5-7, playing in KHL now) (and a sixth one, just for kicks): Rico Fata (plays in DEL) Datsyuk was 31-66-97 last season. Wings' first round pick at #25 was Jiri Fischer. Top 5 draft picks in 1999: Patrik Stefan (played a couple games in Switzerland) Daniel Sedin (29-45-74) Henrik Sedin (15-61-76) Pavel Brendl (22 total points) Tim Connolly (7-33-40 in 48) Zetterberg was 43-49-92 last season. Wings' first draft pick was (at 120) was Jan Tolsa. [And edit: lastly, this is also keeping me from writing a paper.]

Takes 20 seconds to look this stuff up. Oz was 5-6, 38 SA, 16 GA. .579 SV%. And yes, he's fairly unimpressive in shootouts (better than Conklin, who has a .500 SV%, losing 5, winning 3). But Detroit has been very impressive in the regular season, so why does it matter that much? Shootouts aren't apart of the game when it really matters.

Could they still be sore about this?

I think that's exactly what people were waiting for from the Datsyuk/Hossa combination.

It would probably be Samuelsson. Unless Z is back. But I haven't read anything that's indicated this is the case. Friday the lines were as they were last game.

What makes you so negative? It's a prediction, not science.

If I have anything to add to this feud, I will say that Holland confers with Lidstrom AFTER deals are made. Holland said the first thing he did after agreeing to terms with Hossa was calling Lidstrom and Z. He also said during negotiations with Hossa that he would have to call Lidstrom for Hossa to go over the "Lidstrom cap." That's a far cry from soliciting advice on deadline day. If "the players" didn't think it was a good idea for Fedorov to return, the guys that would even have an opinion would be (in order of pecking order): Lidstrom, Draper, Maltby, Osgood, and Holmstrom. If anybody, they asked Lidstrom and Draper and kept it quiet (as in, I can't see Lidstrom and Draper leaking this to the press). My guess is the only former teammate who got consulted was Yzerman, who is clearly in the inner circle. Babcock, too, since he coached Fedorov in Anaheim. I doubt they had to go any further down the line than a former teammate, a former coach, and a former GM.