prepare to laugh out loud. you won’t get it unless you’re a wingnut.
talking to 日本人 and actually understanding a few things 3 days ago
Looks like Justin Abdelkader will be on a line with Drapes and Huds for game one of the playoffs. Good luck, kid! Get out there and bang some bodies. Save the biggest hits for Tootoo.
Looks like the match-ups are set for the NHL playoffs. My predictions in the west: Detroit, Colorado, Anaheim and San Jose win first round. Colorado then loses to Detroit and San Jose beats up on Anaheim in the second round. And of course Detroit goes on to the finals, perhaps against Philadelphia.
The Grind Line was back together tonight, but Mac’s return was spoiled by the Blues.
Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik is listed in good condition after a teammate’s skate severed his carotid artery Sunday night.
If you get the chance, definitely check out last weekend’s NHL All Star skill’s competition and young stars game. Manny Legace was on fire, and the young stars game was just amazing!
The Wings absolutely dominated Montreal last night. I guess it’s true: the Habs really are four 4th lines.
Chris Osgood needs a hug.
The Detroit Red Wings have once again tied their franchise record 9 game winning streak. Hank also extended his franchise record start with at least one point in every game so far this season. He leads the NHL with 26 points (13 goals.)
Power forward Eric Lindros retires after 13 seasons in the NHL.
A judge in New York refused to stop the NHL from taking control of the New York Rangers’ website. MSG claims (rightfully so in my opinion) that the league is overstepping it’s bounds in taking control of teams’ promotional rights.
Scum bag player agent Don Meehan is a winy little bitch has issued notices of libel to Chris Chelios and various media outlets because of accusations regarding his actions and their affect on NHL players.
From the Free Press:
Asked about the plethora of Wings fans on the road, coach Mike Babcock said, “It’s great. In Phoenix the other night, the ‘Go Wings, go’ was pretty nice — louder than it is at home.” Babcock quickly added, “I probably shouldn’t have slipped that in.”
Pavel joins Hank and Drapes as assistant captain for the Wings. They’ll have to switch often since only two players can wear the ‘A’ during a game.
Melrose: Wings a second-tier club. This guy is a freakin’ idiot.
The Wings show off their new jerseys. As expected, much was left unchanged.
For the second time in as many months, Edmonton Oilers GM Kevin Lowe is flashing the cash in a bid for a restricted free agent.
What a perfect way to spend the 10th anniversary of the Brawl in Hockeytown; beating up on a western conference rival.
Fighting is part of the sport
John Dellapina at the NY Daily news will have you believe that fighting is not an essential part of today’s NHL, using Chris Simon’s high stick on Ryan Hollweg as an example. I’ll be the first to agree that this incident is an absolute atrocity. But what John fails to mention are the events that led to the incident and reputations of the players involved. With the introduction of the instigator rule, players are no longer free to police themselves and guys like these two are left to run around making dirty hits and taking cheap shots with total immunity.
Amidst all the talk and controversy surrounding fighting this season, I think we need to shift focus to what is in my opinion, the real issue: dirty players and cheap shots. There are too many players in the league right now that would rather throw a sucker punch than score a goal. No one seems to want to address the issue, or the idea that maybe if they’re removed from the game, we won’t need fighting. In this vein, here are my suggestions on how to improve the current state of the game.
First off, lets remove the instigator penalty. The person who actually instigates a fight (by dirty play or bad hit etc) doesn’t get penalized. The guy who comes to teach him a lesson does. Because the tough guys don’t want to take a penalty, they aren’t able to police the guys who cross the line and need to pay the price.
Increase the severity of penalties, lengthen suspensions etc. Without consequences, it becomes a free for all. Boarding, for example, is completely avoidable in most cases. If the penalty was changed from two minutes in the box to a game misconduct, I guarantee we would see a reduction.
Penalize unnecessary hits that injure a player, clean or not. Hits to the head, and big hits away from the play are absolutely unnecessary. This doesn’t mean we’ll no longer see spectacular open ice hits. Markov’s hit on Stoll earlier this year is a perfect example of how it should be done. Markov delivered a strong shoulder to shoulder hit to Stoll as he played the puck. Stoll got up immediately and continued to play, but Markov’s hit gave Datsyuk the perfect opportunity to score.
Teach the skill players to hit. Players like Peter Forsberg and Sidney Crosby are great examples to follow. They can hold their own and are even known to initiate body contact in the offensive zone while they are carrying the puck. Take this hit that Datsyuk gave to Hordichuck recently for example. Proof that a short 185lb skill player can take care of himself.
Get rid of the goons and bring back the power forward; guys like Shanahan who can score and drop the gloves. Why waste perfectly good cap room on someone who plays less than 5 minutes per game, has no points, a minus rating, and more penalty minutes than games played?