Echolalia

For anybody going to the game: Check out the pregame skate and see if he's still the last one off the ice, I'm just curious.

I really hope a new arena is built, as I honestly think that would be in the best interest of everyone. The thing is, as stated earlier, Illitch and Kilpatrick are probably waiting each other out to get the better deal on their behalf concerning the revenues the new arena would bring in. Illitch can't hold out forever because he needs to decide whether to resign a new lease on the Joe or not, and the city of Detroit needs to do some much needed work on Cobo Hall. Anyway, if the new arena gets a corporate name, I don't think it would be Little Caesars arena, because it would kill any point of selling the name out to a corporation to lower costs, as Little Caesars belongs to Illitch anyway. But I could be wrong.

As mentioned previously, the angle from the puck's pov is slightly different from the camera's and as such, anything above the shoulders is much more difficult to get to than it appears. Five-holes are 90% tease shots and goalies make it look that way intentionally, because the natural reflex to do when someone lets a shot go (regardless of where he aims it) is to fall into the butterfly and close up the 5-hole. Also theres a psychological teaser to having larger pads. Even if theres only a couple extra inches here and there (which, by the way, gets exponentially worse the further out the goalie is from the net), its a noticeable difference to the shooter, which influences how he makes his shot. I have noticed players have been shooting wide of the net more than in the past and I believe its because goalies are appearing much larger than 20-30 years ago. Yes, this is something that players can overcome individually, but it definitely doesn't help the flow of the game, or its appeal to fans when shots are missing the net completely when a couple decades ago they may have gone in. Ultimately everyone wants whats best for the game, and low scoring games where traps and lane-clogging are as efficient as they are, aren't whats best for the game, at least in my opinion. People get excited over eventful games, and the climax of a game is when a goal occurs. Now I'm not saying "well lets market this to our advantage and make it so each team scores 30 times a game". That would undermine the value of an nhl goal, but its gotten so dry and boring in the past decade that something needs to be done. I remember 10 years ago when a five on three would occur; it would be such an exciting event not only because they were so rare, but also because it was almost a freebie for whoever was on the powerplay. Now a days five on threes are almost the equivalent to yesterday's five on four, in terms of success rates.

NO my entire fantasy team is falling apart and all I have to do is hold a three point lead!

This couldn't have come at a better time. Hopefully this attitude carries over into the playoffs.

Babcock said Lids is a definite go for Sunday

update http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/rumors/post/Ni...F?urn=nhl,70356 New York is apparently the front-runner for an outdoor game, as they want to take advantage of the Yankee Stadium before it is demolished. The Red Wings hosting at Michigan Stadium was also mentioned as a possible runner up.

Stuart is a good addition, I think. He adds physicality, which is something we definitely need in a non-enforcer, and he's also a solid young defensman. Just last night he directly prevented a goal from going in, when Hasek was sprawled across the ice. Yes I defintetly would've preferred a top six forward, but I'm not dissapointed at all in his acquisition. Besides, maybe with him in the lineup we can get rid of Lilja, Lebda, and/or Sammy for a real top six forward in the offseason.

If Pronger can't take the heat he needs to get out of the kitchen. Otherwise he's expected to play like a nhl player should. This is hockey, Pronger, not tennis, and no special rules are made for your sensitivities and needs.

I don't know if I agree that refs try to call things as evenly as possible, despite one team playing dirtier than another. I just think Anaheim is better at getting away with it than most (ie behind the play), or a higher-up is telling the refs to let a few slide on account of a franchise doing well in a non-hockey market. What sucks is when you combine dirty play (ie penalties) with the largest goalie in the league, penalties don't actually penalize the team, so 9 times out of ten the Ducks get away with cross-checking someone's face in or elbowing their tooth out. All in all it should probably anger me more than I am, but it makes for a good rivalry.

Within the next decade, Versus will eclipse ESPN as the top sports network for their unbiased coverage and be an essential part of any cable/satellite package, and hockey will be seen as a a sport more popular than basketball and baseball (but still not football), because of its faster and more complex style of play.

Most cheap shots that are pretty dangerous are taken care of, at least as far as I know. A week or so ago somebody was suspended for their hit on Meech, and Downey was even fined for his spear before the game against Vancouver. Of course things will slip by, but for the most part I think the general population goes punished with they do something stupid enough to injure illegally. My problem is in the punishment. Some nobody player can take out your best player on a head injury and get a two game suspension and a fine worth chump change for an nhl salary, whereas said injured superstar could go months without seeing a game again, and possibly have lifelong injury problems related to the initial hit.

I'm getting mixed signals about your position on this subject... Anyway, there definitely needs to be a coach's challenge, but only one or two per game, to limit the amount of delay on each game.

Thanks for posting this. I was wondering this a while back and nobody had a definitive answer.

The same way Kronwall is kind of a *****?

This is the fourth occurrence from this season I can think of off the top where a ref's bad call (or noncall) directly resulted in a goal when there shouldn't be one, or no goal when there should. This is happening way too often and really needs to be looked at. Refs aren't ever going to be perfect but perhaps we need to think of a coach's challenge or adding another ref or something. This really needs to stop

Lebda should sit regardless of whos been the better of the two. If Meech has been the better defensman, then he's earned the spot. If Lebda's been playing better than Meech, he should still sit, because he's not playing as good as he can, and he's going to need to come playoffs. At the very least it should inspire him to play harder, because at that point, he knows his job is on the line.

Bertuzzi wanted to stay here, he wanted a longer term contract, and Holland was only willing to offer a year.

It's definitely possible, but they're going to need help from the teams between them and the 8th spot. I really hope they can do it, though. It would be nice to see the Leafs have a chance to verse the Senators in the playoffs, and potentially the Wings, but thats me getting ahead of myself.

So we're officially past the deadline, and the team we have now is more or less the team we're going to be watching come April. So my question to you is, with all the acquisitions and walks, how do you think our teams compares to that of last year. Walks: Lang, Bertuzzi, Markov, Schneider, Calder Acquisitions: Rafalski, Stuart, McCarty, Downey, Drake Personally I think we've more than made up any losses we've experienced on defense. Markov was physical, but Stuart IMO is a much greater physical presence than Markov (as well as defensively). I think Schneider has a better offensive eye than Rafalski, but Rafaslki is more responsible defensively. As for offensively, the only real way we filled any holes left by Lang, Bertuzzi and Calder is by giving our younger guys more ice time. Filppulla has generally showed promising spurts of talent throughout the league, and when he's hot, he's capable of a solid top 6 forward position. Kopecky has surprised me even more, as of late, as he has been practically nonexistant before February. Although he seems to be improving, he still has a long way to go to help make up for any losses that we endured over the summer. As for McCarty, who knows how effective he will be, but I don't think it will be enough to pick up any slack that the rest of our offensive line may have. Drake and Downey have been nonfactors for anything besides physicality. Physically we've made huge strides, loosing big bodies, and gaining big bodies. I think we cam out on top with this one. Goaltending has been shaky at first, although I think we still have the same skill and solidity coming in to the playoffs. Overall: +1 (slightly better overall than last year, but not by much) Defensively: +1 Offensively: -2 Physically: +2 Goaltending: 0

Really? I think the refs have been pretty fair tonight. They've been pretty rough to Ottawa's coach tonight, but aside that I've been content. Besides, the Sens have had their chances, they just aren't capitalizing. The Ducks do deserve to win this one.

Scotty is hands-down my favorite, and of course Samuel L. Jackson comes in a close second.

At the very least, Bertuzzi Lang and Calder all provided veteranship and playoff experience. I agree fully that they didn't produce to the degree that was expected of them, and I also agree that Filpulla Hudler Kopecky and McCarty are also capable of doing more than what was done on the second and third lines last year, but they only have 3 rounds of playoff experience and limited ice time in those series. I hope they all come out flying, but I still think we have taken a couple steps back offensively from last year. Hopefully they prove me wrong though.

I take it you're a Sammuelson fan?

www.dictionary.com go look up the word random, and then go look up the word arbitrary, then read over your posts again hopefully a bit smarter than when you posted them.