Drew Doughty

I feel like I should hate the Red Wings but I like all of their players. This sucks. Except Maltby and Draper. No idea why, but I hate those guys.

Do you honestly think there are enough people here that care about hockey for that? totally.

can we split the nhl off-season thread into western conference and eastern conference discussion? they should be seperate imo.

Rematch of last year, Crosby's retribution. Crosby in the finals, fine. Bettman would still much rather see the Hawks in the finals, I'm sure.

I'm trying to figure out the logic of Bettman preferring old, floundering market Detroit in the finals over young team, flourishing fanbase Chicago. Can't do it.

what a flukey goal

He's 8-10 with a 2.67 GAA and .915 SV%, basically in the middle of everybody. Thomas and Hiller may have been the only candidates, but each of their teams lost in the 2nd round. I'm not saying goalies aren't important, I'm saying the emphasis on goalies winning cups for teams is overstated. I'm guessing his stats were pretty awesome until he ran into the buzzsaw that is Pittsburgh. Goalies can only go so far, for sure. Except in the very rare case of JS Giguere (the man that this argument seems to be built around lately), you need more than just a star goalie to go deep in the playoffs and you don't even necessarily HAVE to have one.

How many years ago was that? He didn't have a lot in front of him the first couple years in Chicago. So? He still was nothing special, and he couldn't stay on the ice. I don't get being upset at one guy for sucking over a few game stretch, but being perfectly fine with a guy who has to miss half the season for health reasons. Does anybody think Khabi would have been around for much of these playoffs if he didn't have Huet playing half the games? And your point just emphasized what I said before, it's the quality of the team that matters most. Even if Khabi was great earlier in his Hawks career, the team wasn't any good, and he wasn't able to carry them. The most important guys on the ice are the best skaters on each team. Pittsburgh wins because of Malkin and Crosby, Detroit wins because of the list of quality guys that's too long to name. Not one team was carried deep into the playoffs this year because of a goalie standing on his head. The best teams advanced, and many quality big name goaltenders looked pedestrian and their teams lost. cam ward. this isn't a typical year for the playoffs, either. it's been a lot more high-scoring than I can remember. note that the last part is just perception and I could easily be wrong.

Unfortunately for us, since Tallon paid him based on that one hot streak. and the fact that he was a quality goaltender for two seasons in Montreal. edit: 3 seasons, actually. he also had a decent season with the Kings prior to the lockout. I barely remember it, but it apparently happened.

Khabi has been terribly average thus far in the playoffs this year.

does it matter why he rests? he's going to get the rest anyway. i thought the announcers, especially pierre mcguire -- one of the biggest loons in hockey -- were ridiculously harsh on him. they have been since he was with Montreal. Most starting goaltenders get a game off here and there to rest. If Huet goes into a slump, does Crawford/Niemi start 4-5 games in a row? How does that work? And then Huet comes back and is rusty for another couple games until he gets hot again? Screw that. If the season ends tonight and Huet has a bad game, the Hawks have a big problem on their hands heading into next season. The diehard Hawks fans, the STHers, etc., hate Huet. Think everyone would have said the same thing about Khabibulin at this point last season. Khabi has shown he can play huge when it matters. Huet was huge for the Caps down the stretch last year. he was also decent, though certainly not spectacular, in the playoffs.

does it matter why he rests? he's going to get the rest anyway. i thought the announcers, especially pierre mcguire -- one of the biggest loons in hockey -- were ridiculously harsh on him. they have been since he was with Montreal. Most starting goaltenders get a game off here and there to rest. If Huet goes into a slump, does Crawford/Niemi start 4-5 games in a row? How does that work? And then Huet comes back and is rusty for another couple games until he gets hot again? Screw that. If the season ends tonight and Huet has a bad game, the Hawks have a big problem on their hands heading into next season. The diehard Hawks fans, the STHers, etc., hate Huet. fans are dumb, this isn't news to anyone. I think you would probably just alternate him game to game and see how he plays when he's in a slump. When he's hot, though, he'll play every single game. He did it for Washington down the stretch last year. I'm sure he did it at times for Montreal, too.

does it matter why he rests? he's going to get the rest anyway. i thought the announcers, especially pierre mcguire -- one of the biggest loons in hockey -- were ridiculously harsh on him. they have been since he was with Montreal.

To be fair this was Osgoods worst season of his career. He came off a season that he played way above his norm. I believe he is probably somewhere in the middle. I mentioned somewhere earlier that the Hawks should let khabibulin and havlat go. Try to sign Neidermayer. even at his best, I'll take Huet over Osgood. I think the Wings make a killing by playing average goalies behind their all-star team though. What a money-saver.

also a lot of the huet bickering reminds me of bruins fans pissing and moaning about tim thomas over the last 3 years prior to this one. they're both wildly inconsistent goalies. not surprisingly, over the last two years -- a period during which Boston had a capable backup -- Thomas has been fine. give Huet a decent backup next year to spell him when he goes into a slump and he will give you quality performance as a starter, I guarantee it.

huet will be fine over a full season. he'll just be a lot streakier than khabibulin. he's about the worst candidate for a backup goalie that I can think of and he's only an average starter. he's in an odd position as far as his role in the NHL goes. That's just a fancy way of saying he doesn't belong in the league. Anyone who can't play is in an odd position when he MUST start because of money. no, not really. he should be a starter but he's going to drive a lot of people nuts because he has like...5-10 game stretches when he's just awful. he also has month+ stretches when he can be a top 10, maybe even top 5 goalie in the league. every goalie has inconsistencies, he just takes it to another level. it makes him an AWFUL backup though.

huet will be fine over a full season. he'll just be a lot streakier than khabibulin. he's about the worst candidate for a backup goalie that I can think of and he's only an average starter. he's in an odd position as far as his role in the NHL goes.

huet is a lot better than osgood. osgood is terribad hiding behind one of the best teams since the lockout. he also tends to play well in the playoffs. not surprisingly this is a time when the games tend to be tighter and lower scoring. seriously he had an .887 sv% this year, he's awful.

i'm down with designating them for assignment and sending them to cubs.com or desipio and not getting anything in return.

What play did Campbell watch? Like I said before, if you have a problem with Kronwalls hit, you had better look at your own teammate Eager...who also has had hundreds of semi-dirty hits in this league The irony for me was the fact that Campbell was the only one to cry about it... he did almost an identical hit on Umberger a couple years ago: Which all of you have likely seen. I was just trying to look that hit up...I couldnt remember who he did it too. I do think the NHL needs to figure out how to clean up some of these hits. The problem is it becomes very subjective. Like I said somewhere else, reading the rules on charging and you can call almost every check charging. So really it has just become what the officials think is bad. Handing out penalties just because someone got hurt is terrible. That seems to be what determines penalties sometimes. On a similar note, I think a double minor if a hi stick causes blood is the stupidest thing in all of sports. Again you are punishing the crime for the level of damage done not how bad or negligent the penalty really was. I agree with that. Punishing based on result is dumb. A minor clip high stick that cuts a lip gets a double minor but you could give a guy a pretty good whack the the helmet and end up with a 2 minute minor. Also, those rules are definitely vauge: "skates or jumps into." That is vague. What defines "skating into" an opponent? Jumps is obvious, the other part isn't, and I've seen charging called sometimes where it made sense and seen other similar hits go uncalled without much deliberation from either team in any of the incidents. It's a really vague rule unless the guy jumps off the ice, and even then, it is absolutely a judgement call and can still be difficult to call correctly.

and instead of seeing what his point was, you attacked him. brilliant.

You don't know anything about hockey then. this is good enough. if you want to argue semantics, you didn't use "stupid". Because anyone who watches hockey regularly or has played knows that the statement is wrong. Face off fights and personal grudges are 100% stupid and should be eliminated. However, saying fighting in hockey is stupid is just ignorant. It's been a part of the game since it was conceived and is STILL an integral part of the sport. i doubt he thinks ALL fighting is dumb, as he told me that himself, but the message-sending stuff is usually dumb. just because you like to see a brawl doesn't mean it's an integral part of the sport.

You don't know anything about hockey then. this is good enough. if you want to argue semantics, you didn't use "stupid".

Can we get an IQ level of 100+ lock put on this thread, please? i don't need my own thread. i need other people to discuss hockey with too!

most hits with the shoulder bring the elbow/forearm flying up after contact. also, Kronwall should know better? Havlat should know not to ever put his head down when he's on the ice.