I don't agree with Milbury on much, but he's right here.
MM says in that video:
"I'm easily perplexed and confused, as you've recognized around here"
Um Mike M, around there is not only where you have been perlexed and confused, those 10 years on the Island east of Manhattan were not only perplexing for you but for all of the NY Islander fan base.
Although I do agree that this was thuggery by Carkner...but I would think that moststraight thinking human beings would think that, so its not like the great MM is the ONLY person who thinks that way.
The Islanders could really use a player like Zenon Konopka on Ottawa. Seems like he inspires tough play and a sense of team unity... at the same time he is a useful hockey player in key situations late in the game.
The Islanders could really use a player like Zenon Konopka on Ottawa. Seems like he inspires tough play and a sense of team unity... at the same time he is a useful hockey player in key situations late in the game.
He had a great game and had a lot of minutes. Ottawa did everything right that game but win. The Queen is in their heads right now.
Torts puts him with Richards and Gaborik on top line.
Cappy plays Nino with Reasoner and Pandolfo on 4th line.
I hate us.
I have NO issues with Cappy putting Nino on line 4.
He didn't earn an NHL spot, so why reward him?
Now Rolston......why was he on line 3 or 4?
Comparing Kreider on line 1 to Nino................think about this for a second.........now think back to Chris Dey, Garth Snow, Shawn Bates, Rick DiPietro, the list can go on forever. Nino in no way earned his shot in camp, only by his contract. LATE SEASON, he did earn third line minutes and some PP time, but not a lot and not consistently even in game.
This coming season hopefully he gets sent down and breaks out, develops his game and makes it back next season, but let's not think he deserved to take PAP's spot. Or Okposo's. Or Grabner's. Or Nielson's. Or Moulson's. Or Martin's. Or Bailey's (though some nights....?).
What's the problem? That's right where Wang told him to play him.
i prefer to believe (i don't have sources) that Snow really felt that NN would benefit more from practising with the Isles, than playing in the WHL.
hoping that Snow believes that our young guys need to learn the defensive side of the game first. if so, i think it was the right move.
i don't think that developing prospects is black and white. the kids gotta learn to fly, and as long as they can handle the physicality and confidence issues, give them a shot. they mess up, sit them in the press box, and show them a different perspective. if he earns a spot on the big club, let him play. if he sucks, send him down... it will be nice to have BP as an option this year.
I've been a hardcore hockey fan for as long as I can remember and I've been feeling the past couple years and especially this year that since the lockout while the game overall got much better the playoff quality has kind of decreased.
Pre lockout it was all about toughness and grit and earning every inch of the ice. It was literally like going to war. Now it just seems like there is cheap shot after cheap shot and the overall play(while faster) just is not up to the quality of before the lockout.
Also pre lockout it seemed like top seeded teams were legit top teams. Now we have teams like the Rags(no Isles bias but outside of the queen that team is very average) gaining the top seed and while the teams 1-8 are more evenly balanced it just seems like something is missing.
I know there will be people here who disagree(probably the younger posters) but as an older guy(31 now) it just seems like the playoff wars of yesteryear were head and shoulders better than what we have now.
Maybe it seems softer because of guys like Sakic, Shanahan, Guerin, Francis, Recchi, Roberts, Pronger, etc., retiring. (I know, Pronger hasn't retired officially, but he will.) We also enforce rules now against checking from behind, roughing up a guy in the slot, and hitting above the shoulders. I haven't been watching much of the playoffs this year, as what is the point if the Isles can't play? Strange to see Pittsburgh and Vancouver on the brink.
There wasn't this kind of disrespect in the pre-Bettman NHL. If you did any of this, man, you got your head handed to you. Now, fighting is almost impossible. yeah, it happens, but it's that garbage calculated fighting. The instigator is a bad rule that has to be removed. By trying to "clean up" the game, they're really only making it more dangerous. Players are taking disrespectful and unfathomable liberties on other players because they know they won't have to pay for it.
There wasn't this kind of disrespect in the pre-Bettman NHL. If you did any of this, man, you got your head handed to you. Now, fighting is almost impossible. yeah, it happens, but it's that garbage calculated fighting. The instigator is a bad rule that has to be removed. By trying to "clean up" the game, they're really only making it more dangerous. Players are taking disrespectful and unfathomable liberties on other players because they know they won't have to pay for it.
I don't buy all that. Part of it is the speed. Part of it is the bullet-proof plastic elbow pads. But, yes, a lot of it is disrespect, but I'm not convinced fighting would help a whole lot.
You need to hit these guys where it hurt - the wallet.
Start kicking them out for longer so they lose more money. None of this 1 game 3 game crap. First offence is 5. Second is 20. Third is 40 (half your paycheque). Fourth, you don't play again in the NHL. And while you're at it, fine the coach 50k every time one of his players is suspended and the team 100k. That would put an end to it. Money. Nothing else will.
I don't buy all that. Part of it is the speed. Part of it is the bullet-proof plastic elbow pads. But, yes, a lot of it is disrespect, but I'm not convinced fighting would help a whole lot.
You need to hit these guys where it hurt - the wallet.
Start kicking them out for longer so they lose more money. None of this 1 game 3 game crap. First offence is 5. Second is 20. Third is 40 (half your paycheque). Fourth, you don't play again in the NHL. And while you're at it, fine the coach 50k every time one of his players is suspended and the team 100k. That would put an end to it. Money. Nothing else will.
Fines are small potatoes. If they literally get their ***** kicked, they won't be pulling this crap.
Fines are small potatoes. If they literally get their ***** kicked, they won't be pulling this crap.
I don't think most of them care about having to fight. They would care more about losing 6%, then 25% and then 50% of their salary. You want their attention? Take a big chunk of their salary away.
I don't think most of them care about having to fight. They would care more about losing 6%, then 25% and then 50% of their salary. You want their attention? Take a big chunk of their salary away.
I agree with you, but that will never happen because the NHLPA wouldn't let it get in a contract. The owners would also balk as in their mind they'd lose the blood lust fans as that excuse comes up each and every time.
This playoffs are really underlining head shots, more than I ever remember. I find it nauseating, and I am old school no less. All they have to do is outlaw head shots under any condition. The NFL did and they didn't turn into a "pansy league with no fans" like we keep hearing from select talking heads. I like the speed of the new game and do not want to lose that under any circumstances. I also enjoyed the protection of better equipment over time, so go ahead and body armor up. You can eliminate people without immediate head contact, and if an athlete is too stupid to learn how like MANY seem to try and state, then that guy probably isn't smart enough to become a pro anyway.
On Torres, I remember watching him in juniors and really liked the kid. His ability to finish someone off with a great open ice check, or rub them out along the boards was truly his calling. Not everyone has his natural abilty to pick a spot and rub a guy out from an unsuspecting angle, or his ability to come up hard on a player without drawing too much attention to leaving his feet, though this time on Hossa he clearly launches himself through the dude's head and well off the ice with both skates. Anyone familiar with his checking from his Brampton days aren't surprised by this situation at all. I was really unhappy when the Isles moved him years ago.
And someone needs to make The Wang watch this clip, and understand we need a few of Raffi's type sprinkled throughout the lineup. If you are handing out the pain, you keep the other team's weasels chasing your weasels, as opposed to chasing Tavares. I doubt Mary Poppins in the owner's booth will ever grasp that concept.
Last edited by A Pointed Stick: 04-17-2012 at 11:41 PM.
