evil204

Let's just say I have a much bigger problem with a guy grabbing somebody's head and slamming it into the boards then a guy being a little late finishing a check.

If Lidstrom comes back as the 3rd d-man, I'm all for it.

Well, how about giving Conklin more than one start a month? He's 35. Sometimes, older guys need to actually play once in a while to get into a rhythm. He has one bad game and then he gets to think about it as he rots on the bench while Howard starts 15 straight.

What, you think Babcock's hair takes care of itself? He needs time to make it look all perfect like that.

"My prediction (based on pure speculation) is that Turris goes to the Detroit Red Wings, a team lacking an elite offensive talent"

Ok.

I love Holmstrom, but he's no longer effective.  He skates as fast as Larry Murphy (present day Larry Murphy, not even NHL prime Larry Murphy) and he's got bricks for hands.

Pull out Homer and put in some young blood.  Besides, when he scores anyway it gets called back.

You know, I was thinking this too earlier in the season, but I would say he's given us the most consistent effort out of all our forwards. At least he's working hard every single shift.

Alright look. Somebody with the Wings said something to this effect once and I thought it really encapsulated this issue. The style we play makes us look dominant when we win but makes it look like we're not "competing" hard enough when we lose. Because we're not running around hitting everybody doesn't mean we're not trying. We play skilled, positional hockey. That means when guys have lazy or bad passing days, we look horrible and like we're not putting in enough effort. I've read quotes from Holland about sticking to the philosophy and game that has lead to our success, even when we get beat by a team that plays another one (Anaheim '07).

That said, Conklin and our overall defensive play in the last two games look pretty awful to me. I am curious to see if Commodore brings a new element with a little energy and grit when he plays.

This is true...but still, they always seem to start slow in the 1st period, getting beat to loose pucks, and really heat up in the 2nd or 3rd. I'm pretty sure 3-4 years ago their effort throughout the game was more consistent. Sure, they took games off, but they had long stretches of games in the regular season where they showed up for 60 minutes every time.

Also, I think we would benefit from getting a few guys who play a more persistent game (think Helm, Cleary), rather than "smart positional hockey." Think Datsyuk vs Ovechkin. Datsyuk hangs around, waiting for the right time, picking his spots. Ovechkin races all over the place, hitting people and chasing pucks. This doesn't mean that Ovechkin is more effective, but players like Ovie can energize the team in a way that Pavel can't.

The thing is...we played uninspired hockey in the 5 victories too, imo. We showed up for a period here and there, and won games against bad teams (except Vancouver, which was playing its 3rd road game in 4 nights). The lethargic play just didn't get exposed until we faced an opponent that has as much talent as we do, if not more.

Doesn't he seem severely underpaid compared to Ericsson?

This ought to be good... Why do you feel that way Evil204?

They've only played 3 hockey games so far. The three in Boston have just been goonery. Burrows, Lapierre, Marchant, Lucic, Torres...even Kesler and the Sedins. First sign of adversity...cheap shot.

Neither team deserves to hoist the Cup. What a bunch of thugs. I'd rather see Cindy win it.

Seriously, I find this subject hilarious. How can anybody view this season as an indication of Osgood's ability? Yes, he struggled in the beginning, but he also had some really good games. Now, he's barely playing one game per month. You can't put a 37 year old goaltender in after basically sitting on the bench since January and expect him to play well right away. If anything, we should be discussing whether Babcock should get fired for the way he handled the goaltending situation. Give Osgood 3-4 starts...then we can start judging his play. Howard sucked too when the season started. His play didn't pick up until he started playing every game.