SweWings

I agree I haven't really seen the big problem with Las Vegas, there could be some great exposure and definitely better than placing it in an area where it might not be appreciated as much. Las Vegas also has visitors from across the country and much of the world so selling tickets would never be a problem. You're right though about attendance, there's a risk the team might turn into a "show biz" team with no real hardcore crowd. I guess this depends on if you can limit the amount of tickets sold to corporations and encourage regular people to go. About the "bad news" as you call them it doesn't really matter where you go, all those three you can get a hold of everywhere, esp hookers and drugs. Besides I players are usually held on quite a tight leash I doubt much would happen - big scandals might still happen but not with any regularity anymore.

I assume its cuz "better safe than sorry". And some facial injuries - while not critical - take a long time to heal. I'd rather not risk splittin my face up again if I could prevent it. I assume it'll be gone in a few weeks.

I'm really happy with what Calder brings to the team. I've been complaining about Williams for a while now but I think this is simply because the role he was given with the Wings wasn't one that fit him and it didn't work very well. The Wings just didn't need him. Hopefully he'll have better development for the Hawks. The addition of Calder makes our team better and more complete has he does things that other players on the team don't. We'll see what happens during the rest of the season and the playoffs and more importantly the players available but if the price is right I'm not so sure that he wouldn't be a decent long term addition on the team. He's young enough too. We'll see what happens. For now though he's definitely bringing something to the team. I like!

ey Williams scored...how weird...and he played PK too

This is so sad. Rivalry can't be built up outside the rink. It's a result of physical playing, fights, the occasional cheap shot and harsh words. It's the result of players giving it their all because they can't stand to see the other team win. And while this is true with most match-ups, not a lot have had the history of bad blood that the Wings-Avs one used to have. But almost none of the players are left that were part of the original rivalry and it's not easy to focus something like this without familiar faces. We can only hope that something develops with Nashville .

On the one hand that's insane, on the other hand, it is Bettman. About the game itself. As a fan sort of stuck in Europe I of course wish they could've picked the Red Wings but above all I wish they could've picked teams with a greater fan base. I don't know about the rest of Europe but in Sweden the Kings and Ducks don't really have the greatest groups of rabid fans. That they picked London, well that makes sense from a business perspective. And there's a huge group of fans in the traditional hockey markets in Europe that could use a more close-up exposure to the NHL and London is a good spot. Lot's of cheap flights to London from all over. I hope that they don't plan to make this into a regular thing. I mean, a couple of matches a year and maybe a match between the Cup winner and the European club champs would be nice. Otherwise I want them to focus on more online distribution with easier access to live feeds from games. They do show some live games on TV here in Sweden and while I do like Forsberg I'd prefer to have a greater choice of games to follow. I do try to listen to the radio online and that's fine but if they showed some games online, like they did with the olympics, I'd be so happy. I'd even be willing to pay quite a bit for it. No matter what though, I'm definitely going to see this game. The SEL has got a lot better in the past few years but...nothing beats the NHL.

Stefan Liv and Henrik Lundqvist competed for the spot as the nr1 tender in the Swedish national team for a couple of years and in the elite league they were the top goalies for each respective top tier team. Unfortunately Liv isn't the most stable of goalies and matches stellar performances with some really really awful ones and Lundqvist eclipsed him quite quickly - esp. when both came across to North America. I'd rather keep Liv as a long shot prospect and get Daniel Larsson over to the training camp and give him a real chance to show off although I'd rather see him stay in Sweden for one more year or so. The team he's playing for - Djurgården - has had two solid goalies and both have been playing quite well on a team with subpar defense. Daniel Larsson is projected to have a decent enough future but I think it's too early to tell after just one season. Depending on the playoff they might bring back Dom though I think they'd prefer for Howard to get a lot of matches next season and I doubt Dom will be very happy about that. On the other hand trusting 50% of the matches to Osgood makes me..uncomfortable. Overall I don't think we should be too worried about the goaltending situation, esp if Howard continues to develop. If he doesn't we may need to look around for a nr1 goalie somewhere else and that might get really expensive as they're a top commodity.

Well I'm going to have faith in my team and the GM and hope that Bertuzzi can add something to our playoff hopes. For the price that we got him for, even if he turns out to be a complete bust and doesn't play a single game, I'm happy that we took the chance rather than get some guy like Carter.

I kinda doubt that it was Bertuzzi's intention to break his neck. While that's cold comfort to Moore I guess most people have realized by now that this was accidental. I don't doubt that Bertuzzi wanted to hurt him but not to that extent. When you look at the reactions among hockey players around the league you see that a lot of them were shocked that a punch/hit that was very similar to what they do on a regular basis resulted in the damage that it did. What I mean is that Bertuzzi but especially Moore was extremely unlucky that the punch caused the injury that forced Moore to stop playing. I know I've seen worse attacks on the ice before and I probably will again, it's a violent game and accidents happen - just like in real life. Enough about the Moore incident, it's been talked about enough and without any obvious results, the game isn't going to change because this is the way it's played. Most people who get into fights or play with a physical style or who attack team captains know that you're going to have problems. This doesn't only concern hockey but a lot of sports. Bleh. Personally I'm happy to see Bertuzzi in a Red Wing jersey, not because he's a violent player, but because when he plays well he plays with a physical style that creates scoring chances both for himself and his teammates. I just hope that they don't rush him into playing games before he's fully recovered.