Nevermind

Yeah, I was getting pretty sick of it during the game.  I mean, if it's a blatant penalty, call it.  Otherwise, let them play--it's supposed to be thef****** playoffs.

Hockey is meant to be played 5 on 5.  It's the only way a team's lines can get into any sort of rhythm.

Regardless though, the Wings got to play a hell of a lot better.

Pavelski for Conn smythe.

No.  He should get an Oscar for 'best actor'.

Anyways, go Wings!  We can get back in this series.

How can a tradition ever be "new"?

That is really absolute bulls***.  I guess the NHL decided Chicago might need some help to make the playoffs.


Either that, or the war room thinks about it like this...

• Kicking motion = no goal
• Not completely across the line = no goal

(negative)*(negative) = positive,

therefore, (no goal)*(no goal) = goal

Makes perfect sense now.  Two negatives equal a positive.

Were they paying for him by the pound or what?

You realize Meszaros is better defensively and more physical than Stuart, while being six years younger? Furthermore, Stuart is signed through next season, while Meszaros has two seasons more on top of that.

Meszaros>Stuart.

You realize that, for the most part, Stuart's been extremely solid for us in the last few playoffs?  Sure, Meszaros is younger--but the times I've seen him play, he looks unsure and prone to mistakes (and please, don't bring up Stuart's Game 7 vs Pittsburgh; that was one game).  

Why trade a proven guy who works in our system for one who's severely overpaid for 3 more years.  Besides, Philly and Detroit are doing too well to make a shake-up trade like this.  Also, Stuart might be injured past the deadline.

I didn't say it had to be a Tatar or Pulkkinen; but Philly won't just give up Mesz for Stuart.

Trading for a quality mid-20s shutdown defenseman isn't free.

It only took a second round pick to convince Yzerman to dump his bloated salary.  If we're going to give up a veteran player like Stuart, a 2nd and a good prospect, it should at least be for a better player.

There's the obvious choice to split Dats and Z. But let's say they stay together. So who centers the second line? Franzen? Hudler? Helm? Maybe it doesn't provide the general all-around player Flip is, but all of them are valid choices. If Flip were dealt, with no other roster players, for a goaltender to take the reins from Howard, I would like one of these:

Z/Dats/Homer
Franzen/Hudler/Bertuzzi
Cleary/Helm/Eaves
Draper/Abdelkader/Miller

Franzen/Z/Cleary
Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Hudler
Eaves/Helm/Bertuzzi
Draper/Abdelkader/Miller

Hudler is not a center in the NHL.  It doesn't matter if he played center in Europe for his junior team or whatever.  He lacks the speed, defensive conscious and more than likely the faceoff ability to ever play center in the show.  And since Franzen started scoring goals, he's far better at wing.

Losing Filppula for a goalie forces us to keep Pavel and Z on separate lines.  Though Fil's offensive consistency is frustrating, he's extremely solid defensively and has a lot of speed through the middle.  We simply don't have another player who can adequately pivot the second line.  In a cap world, Filppula's a very good second line center.  Hopefully he hasn't reach his offensive ceiling quite yet.

Hold the refs accountable for their actions???

What an absurd idea.  Colin Campbell's laughing right now.

Don't know why he should be punished for that.

Refs get it bad enough as it is, and he just gave a little back to a fanbase that has a history of bitching about officiating (see: Detroit's game 4 gwg/Toronto War room).

He should at least be warned not to do it again.  As many others have said, it's completely unprofessional.  

If a ref makes an obscene gesture and mocks a fan, it makes the ref seem biased and lowers his credibility.  Not that many NHL refs have any credibility in the first place.