Hockey Junkie

nope. he's no bret hedican...or adam graves.

great strategy. now the refs will watch Homer in front of the net. cause they don't do that already.

I love how the VS playoff promos showcase Pittsburgh scoring the winning goal in game 5 in last year's Cup Finals to force a game 6. Center Ice does a similar thing with the guy watching games in his living room through plexi-glass. He's in a Pens uniform cheering as they show Hossa scoring on Osgood. Gary Bettman must be channeling his last year's hopes and wet dreams into the marketing departments of these carriers. Maybe I wouldn't mind the saturated promotion of certain teams and players so much if the NHL weren't so transparent about it. Just do it without telling me the marketing plan behind it. Loses all it's intended magic. I'd rather listen to Madden on Farve....or better yet Caliendo as Madden on Farve. I suppose the best revenge would be Ovechkin and Crosby running into each other the first shift of game one, knocking each other out of the playoffs. Then we could look forward to Chara or Savard in the commercials next year even though they end up losing to the Wings who hopefully injure Pronger permanently on their way to their 2nd consecutive championship. Am I rambling?

Yes, but those kind of things happened pre-salary cap as well I’m sure. My rant was mostly knocking Bettman’s “everything’s peachy” attitude and how he positions team parity as an avenue to higher ratings and NHL growth. Also, parity in the regular season with the aided crutch of the 3 point game doesn’t make for a more exciting playoff year. I believe the real parity is mostly found in the players due to the overall increase in the quality of training and preparation for the players. That’s why you’ll never see another Gretzky-like difference between the best player’s stats and the rest of the league.

Here, here. As far as I'm concerned, hes' the best player in the league.

That's true, but if you take away the point for SO losses, it's not as close in the standings. I like the fact there aren’t ties, but not the 3 point game system. All or nothing sounds better to me. I totally agree with you about the Wings though. Better chemistry now.

NHL commish and douchebag Gary Bettman touted parity all year with the recently instituted salary cap in the NHL. But have any of the series in the playoffs this year been all that close? Just look at the presumptive teams that will play for the Cup this year (DET-PIT). They’ve practically coasted in. Just goes to show you that there is still a team that finishes 1st and a team that finishes 30th every year with or without salary cap. And let’s not forget money can’t buy you a good team (Toronto and New York Rangers). The only consolation prize for Bettman is that Sidney Crosby will be around to ***** out longer. But is he the answer to dwindling ratings nationwide? Bettman is a terrible steward for the game. The game and it’s players are marketed poorly and the commercials on VS are lame as hell. Don’t even get me started on VS. Terrible announcers and no coverage for those that don’t want to get bled by cable companies. But let’s leave on a positive note. As for the Wings, the Cup is in the bag. We will destroy our Finals opponent. GO WINGS! GO HOCKEY! GO F@#*! YOURSELF BETTMAN! P.S. What’s with Nashville dishing out all that dough for Erat? Looks like we will continue to dominate the Central.

Nope. Unless you are a die-hard Flyers fan. Only because his arrival saw the departure of what made up a big core of Colorado’s Stanley Cup wins, i.e. Forsberg. It’s all relative anyway. If you expected him to be the savior of Philly and deliver a few Cups, then maybe to you, he is the biggest bust. But he had a few years of dominance, unlike some of the number 1 draft picks that never amounted to anything, like Daigle.

Gotta go with Red on this one. It makes more sense to me to wear your primary colors at home. Although, some team’s color schemes don’t have as literal of a connection to their team name or mascot as do the Red Wings. And it can get boring I suppose to see every opposing team at the Joe in the same color. Either way, white or red, they’re the best team in hockey to watch. Expect a switch back after a few years so the NHL can sell more jerseys anyways.