Free_Candy

The well wishes are appreciated, I'm actually pleasantly surprised to see that. There's a number of players in the league that I'm not a fan of but wouldn't want to see them hurt. For me personally I can't get too worked up about what people say about a player but I draw the line at injuries. They're still living, breathing human beings.

 

From all I've heard his teeth pretty much just got annihilated, the surgery was for his teeth (yes, many "oral" jokes abound) Didn't hear anything about a break in the jaw (that is what worries me most right now) but they would likely want to take precautionary measures with the concussion as well though I am hoping that's not going to be an issue.

 

The guy may as well just go and make the full turn to heel and just come back with a damn grill, hopefully that's all it will come to.

 

http://www.post-gaze...-iginla-681335/

 

This article talks a little bit about the timeline in Pittsburgh that day. Feaster apparently had given the Bruins the impression that they had a deal, but Pittsburgh was still very much in play and still negotiating with the Flames and waiting to hear back from them. At some point, Chiarelli requested permission to speak to Iginla to pitch for the Bruins, but Feaster declined and told Chiarelli they wanted to give Iginla space.

 

I'm not sure why the gun would be jumped by the GMs here (scratching players, thus stirring up the media) when the negotiation process amongst all three clubs involved was still ongoing, and most of all it's a player with an NTC and they have the final say. And with the media reporting early and erroneously on this, it got a lot uglier than it needed to be.

For me it sheds a whole new light and perspective on what had gone on with Hossa in 08. At the time I understood his decision, but felt a little miffed that he had indicated an interest in staying with Pittsburgh and gave people that impression but ended up going elsewhere. I think what I didn't understand at the time was that players aren't always trying to just "screw GMs over" -- they are looking out for themselves just as much as GMs look out for their team. I guess now I can understand that Hossa just wanted what was the best choice for him at the time but wanted all of his options open if possible.

Just stopping by to offer well wishes for Helm and hope he has a fast but good recovery.

Nothing is guaranteed, key injuries, Fleury getting tired or sloppy D could cause problems. And if the Pens have to face the Flyers in the first round they will make life miserable.

Detroit/Colorado rivalry is one of my all time favorites.

/rooted for Detroit

I'll probably get more negative ratings from you old school hockey fight fans, but it was good to hear a player FINALLY say the NHL needs to ban head shots. Cindy made a good point that there's 50,000 hits a year and a ban on head shots would only effect about 50 of them, so the game won't change.

I for one do not want to see this type of press conference for Datsyuk, Zetterberg, or any other player in the NHL. Let's put a stop to head shots NOW!!

I hope Cindy continues to talk about this. I don't think he sucks, as much, anymore.

I'm chuckling because I'm giving a +1 to a post that says Cindy in it but I agree with the overall sentiment. And thank you for your well wishes in the other (Lokomotiv crash) thread (didn't want to take it off topic).

In general they sound pretty optimistic about his recovery and ability to play so far, I think the difference would be recovery time. In light of what we are continuing to learn about concussions, it sounds to me like players in the past just weren't taking enough time off to heal and that's had long term consequences. If this were 10, even 5 years ago he might have been back on the ice for the playoffs or something.

He may or may not be on the same trajectory as a player if he comes back, but in the end, for him and any other player that has suffered a brain injury, it isn't just about playing hockey longer term or even playing at all, it's also considering longer term quality of life outside of hockey. If it's one thing we've all been reminded of with today's tragedy, the players are so much more than just hockey players, they are also living, breathing human beings with loved ones and families, with lives that matter outside of hockey.

Just wanted to stop by and offer my condolences to the Wings and their fans for this loss. What a horrible summer this has been for hockey. Take care.

You do realize that all this sudden talk of the Pens being the favorite out of the east means we'll s*** the bed, get some freak injuries and be done.     

In all seriousness though, nothing is guaranteed. I think the Devils would have been the worst matchup out of anyone for the Pens, for whatever reason, Lemaire and Marty completely sat on us and suffocated us all year. We could score on the Caps this year, but never the Devils. I still don't like to count the Caps out because they're so dangerous and talented when they're on, but going to 7 this early on and lack of deep playoff experience does hurt them and make them more beatable than before.

But anything could still happen, my biggest concern in general is them being able to stay healthy. Ever since 93 I've learned to never assume or take anything for granted, it doesn't take much to change an entire series.

He got his replacement teeth stolen in Louisiana en route to Philly just before he was supposed to do a commercial. He shot the commercial anyway, but with pretty funny results.

Oh my god, we traded Kennedy!

Interesting post, OP. I can't stand the Caps, but I come from a completely different perspective than most on here, as they were once a divisional rival of the Pens, and a lot of that still lingers. There's a lot of other things I could say about the subject but it would take up a lot of time. Hate also takes up energy and I've been on vacation....so I won't go there.

I will say this: If****** hate it when people yell things like "RED" during the national anthem. They also yell "RED" in Carolina, and when they say "you see", they yell  "JUSSI." I don't care what team it is, I can't stand it when people do that. For a brief moment you're paying respect to your country, you have the rest of the evening to root for your team. Not to get all Uncle Sam and Apple Pie on your ass, but that is a pet peeve of mine.

It was a horrible hit, and Cooke deserves to be suspended. No excuses.