Deal. I already know what your avatar will be.

Haha, Markov isn't good defensively now?

The problem is Kotalik is a powerplay specialist, his even-ice play really isn't impressive. In his 8 seasons in the NHL, he has never had a positive +/- rating. He'll give you 10 ES goals and 10 PPG, but he'll cost you more than that in other ways imo. Triumph was right when he signed with NY he is terribad.

btw, Sergei Kostitsyn would be my favorite Red Wing of all time if he ever left lolmontreal

For what it's worth (not much), Sportsnet's poll from tonight on the suspension length:

15% thought he should have been suspended 0 games
26% thought the 2-game suspension was correct
45% thought he should have been suspended 3-5 games
14% thought he should have been suspended 6-10 games

Two further points: 1) Ovechkin is tremendously popular in Canada. 2) I'm not suggesting these results mean 3-5 games is the "correct" length, but that I think the "he needs to be suspended for more games" crowd in this thread is fairly representative of hockey fans in general.

But the Flames' PP is terrible, so why not use him as a PP specialist and hide/bury him at even strength?

Bad phrasing by me. I mostly meant to say guys who are mostly known for being very good/elite offensively without thought for if they are bad/average/slightly above average defensively.

This is to contrast against the knock on Bouwmeester, who is average on the PP and mostly in general on offense, but is quite good defensively.

No love for McCarthy for taking down Lemieux?

My list would go something like Yzerman, Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Konstantinov, Federov and Gordie.

Gordie is ****ing awesome, but I was never alive when he played, so its kinda hard to be a huge fan.

Can the Flames payroll afford this at 3 mil a year? I'd just as soon not trade for him... that said, I'm glad they did as he was useless in NY.

Hey Geddy, you guys should try and get Redden this summer, we can take Bouwmeester off your hands.

yeah i was about to say how is Gordie Howe not being mentioned in these Top Wing lists

much <3 for pavel too

I made my list of players I was alive for

Even defenders can't stop Datsyuk in soccer!

Preview to tomorrow's game

LOLqvist

Lundqvist never had a chance

LOL Halak

Huuuuge sigh of relief when I got back from hockey and saw the score. Seems like the penalty shot was the huge turning point. Holmstrom might be a one-trick pony, but when he's healthy, he gives the Wings something that very few other teams have, in a guy who plays that well in front of the other team's net. With @Van on Saturday night the day after playing @Edm, we really need to pick up a win against Edmonton, given that we're probably significant dogs the following night.

You know what, when I was a younging... I had 2 posters of Red Wings in my room, Yzerman & Fedorov. Having said that, Fedorov is no where near my top 10 list for favorite Red Wing players and I think you know why fans have that bitterness for him because he was so loved in Detroit but the way the relationship ended gave fans a sour taste in their mouths.

Kinda hard when you have never seen a live game of the player. Probably would be a huge fan if I was actually alive.

To say Fedorov was loved in Detroit is stretching it, no matter what he did it was never enough for the fans. When things were going great it was fine but as soon as things got off track it was all on #91

Fedorov was hated because correct or not, he always had a rap for not being a tough player, and for dogging it on the ice sometimes. He was often the Wings' most talented player, but he just never grabbed the support of the fans, and I don't know that he much cared to or tried to. Probably too busy banging a 16 year old Kournikova, and I can't say that I blame him.

I always made fun of New Jersey, but I spent a week there earlier this year and kind of loved it.

That said...

Leafs won their game (which was insane), and it came down to a game between the Devils and Islanders. Islanders needed to lose, and NJ played Clemmensen just to piss me off. Devils tied the game with like 5 seconds left, and Clemmensen was awful in the shootout. So just for that, f new jersey.

I hope I'm remembering this right.

Ian White has been brilliant for the Flames. Sadly, it looks as if they'll have to make a decision on either keeping him or Giordano...unless somehow they move the Sarich contract off the books.

I actually quite like the blueline of Bouwmeester, Regehr, Giordano, White, Staios (replaced by Negrin/Pelech in '11-'12) and Pardy/Kronwall/whoever. The blueline really hasn't been the problem for the Flames. They're still quite obviously missing an impact forward up front. Jokinen was supposed to be that guy and wasn't. Cammalleri might've been that guy but I can't stress enough how invisible he was against Chicago in the 1st round, and I actually advocated in favour of letting him walk instead of signing him to the $6 mil/year he got from the Habs.

Hagman-Langkow-Kotalik, all with two years left on their deals, combine for $10.5 million/year in salary. Jesus that is awful.

Here's the thing; this was so far from the truth for the first two months of the season. He was so ****ing efficient and effective to start the year...great first passes out of his own zone, flawless puck retrieval, he was really fun to watch. The numbers weren't there immediately but it just felt like that was only a matter of time.

I mean, ffs, 93% of Canadian sportswriters had him as a lock for the Olympic team right up until selection day (as per the National Post poll). I don't know why he's been so mediocre since the new year, but he was very, very good in 2009 and people who haven't watched him play don't get that.

This has been a tale of two seasons for J-Bo. Maybe not numbers-wise, but speaking as someone who's only missed two Flames games all year, you have to take my word on this.

Well we scored boatloads of goals under Keenan but didn't win big games. So who knows. Who ****ing knows.

This sucks. This is worse than the 7-year playoff drought in a lot of respects.

This team is ****ed for the next few years and based on the comments itt and my own personal inspection, there is no end in sight to this mediocrity. Iginla's gonna burn out without a ring and it's literally going to make me hate the NHL.

Sorry, I should say that he was quite a polarizing figure in Detroit. That is a far more accurate description because there were a lot of fans of him.

Ya, I thought that New Jersey factored into the equation somehow but I didn't think that was possible because they had locked up a playoff spot. The Leafs game was vs. the Habs Saturday night I believe and then on Sunday (last day possibly the last game of the year) NYI pulled out the epic win against NJ.

It was definitely the most dramatic endings to a regular season for sure.

Yeah I remember him being very good in those first few Canucks/Flames games this season. Might have been the first one where he was a big problem making a great outlet pass to start the breakout, then jumping into the play with his great skating to be the 4th forward, basically unchecked. I haven't seen that guy lately (but I don't watch an enormous amount of Calgary games), don't really know why. I barely even noticed that he was on the ice yesterday.

Not only do you know know the rule, but it's a moot point anyways because you don't need to be a repeat offender to get suspended for that kind of hit. And where does that rule say that supplementary discipline can't be added? Do you realize that being a repeat offender would benefit that player under your backwards disciplinary system?

Actually it isn't. Do you know the entirety of the rule or just part of it? Those misconducts that people thought would add up to a suspension aren't valid because a length of games passed that nullified them in this instance. I believe it is 41 games but don't quote me on that.

I'm not going to search any harder, but if you want to show me where I clearly contradicted myself I'd like to see it. And no, I won't admit that the Adams hit was as dirty because, you know, it wasn't. Should we poll the NHL regs ITT? Just because they're both dirty hits doesn't make them the same.

Just watched the post-game locker room press scrum...Iginla and Glencross look like someone just shot their dogs. They simply look defeated and entirely deflated.

I feel bad for Glencross, Howard made a nice save. He thinks he let the team down.

I don't understand how Calgary's powerplay can be that bad. I understand bad, but not to that degree. That's pathetic. It's the ****ing NHL, there's no excuse for not even being able to establish the goddamn zone on a 4 minute PP. Come to think of it, THAT was the game, not the penalty shot.

should have signed Marc-André Bergeron instead of Bouwmeester

this is a ****in joke