therock48880

You can't have a player who just sits on the bench for all but 5 minutes of a game anymore.  Everyone has to contribute.  If a guy can fight, but chip in some goals and assists, every now and than, bring him on, but if all he does is fight, there is no room on the roster.  You wouldn't want him to be in every game, because he wouldn't always be needed.  And, you can't always predict exactly which games he would be needed.

Like it or not, the last 4 Wings' teams to win the Cup all had a fighter on the roster during the regular season. As Babcock says, "they keep the flies off" the stars.

So after many years of being on this board, and other hockey boards, I see people complaining about refs, and conspiracies on a daily basis. I am guilty of bitching about refs too, not because I believe there is a conspiracy going on, but because I want the officiating to improve, and be consistent.

Now my question for you guys, mainly directed at those of you who are always complaining and officiating and accusing the NHL of a conspiracy is, do you guys REALLY believe there is stuff going on behind the scenes?  I'm not trying to defend to NHL, it's officiating, or the crappy commissioner of the NHL. I just simply want to know if people say this stuff just as a way to vent, or if they truly believe it.  After you've answered that question, answer me this one...

If there is in fact behind the scenes nonsense going on, how is it that it's kept under such lock down that nobody has squealed? With all the refs in the game, and people in charge, that is a lot of people to trust to keep their mouths shut. Do you honestly believe that Bettman, making the millions of dollars that he makes, would risk going to prison for something like this? I don't know much about the guy, but I assume he has a family of his own too, that he wouldn't want to leave behind by going to prison.

Two years ago I was a person that would vehemently argue against conspiracies against one team or another. However, my views have changed after watching the last two years of playoffs. I don't think there's an outright directive to favor anyone, but I definitely believe there is an unspoken rule to favor some teams and players. Kinda like when Jordan was playing. He could get away with murder. Lebron and Kobe would be similar examples. Remember the Ducks last year and what they did to the Wings? The disallowed goals, the phantom holding penalties, etc... Then the famous six men on the ice for the pens for over 30 seconds that wasn't called at a CRUCIAL moment of the series. Tonight's game is a perfect example of the league trying to make games more interesting. The Habs go up by four and suddenly the Pens get four straight power plays. Montreal hasn't had a power play since the first period. I saw a post on lgw after one of the Pens games about how quickly the Pens get a power play after the other team goes up by a goal. All of that can't be a coincidence, imo. So, is there a conspiracy? Probably not. Is there an effort to try to keep games close and to give the golden boy an opportunity to be a winner? Yes, I definitely think that's happening.

I'd like to see Holland not spend all the cap money and wait for trade deadline or waived players.

There you go. That's exactly how I feel. The last two years the wings haven't been able to do anything at the deadline due to being up against the cap.

Name the top five fighters of all time mine are:
5) Bob "Battleship" Kelly
4) John Wensink
3) Dave Schultz
2) Tie Domi
1) Bob Probert

I can't include Domi in my list.

1. Probert
2. Kocur
3. Schultz
4. McSorley
5. Semenko

Numbers 2-5 are in no particular order.