Stanley Cup Final

[Delgadodawg]

Well Pittsburgh arguably deserves a better fate than being down 0-2 once again, but Osgood is playing fantastic (1st star in 3 straight games) and is outplaying Fleury.

The Wings being the deeper team is also coming into play again. Filpula, Cleary, Abdlekader, Ericsson and Helm are all playing big roles so far.

Crosby was held pointless again, but he played fairly well and had some good chances, including a post.

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by Delgadodawg

Crosby was held pointless again, but he played fairly well and had some good chances, including a post.

Yeah, and he pretty much served at least a two-goal night to Guerin on a silver platter, but Guerin apparently didn't want the offering.

[rudel.dietrich]

Detroit reminds be a lot of the Yankees of the late 90s. Just a machine like organism with a bunch of equaly valuable parts that can be replaced at will.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

Detroit reminds be a lot of the Yankees of the late 90s. Just a machine like organism with a bunch of equaly valuable parts that can be replaced at will.

I think they might be living their best moment ever. And that's quite something considering they're arguably the second most prestigious franchise in the NHL and once won 4 straight Stanley Cups.

They're not the best team ever (the late 70's Canadien still stands tall), but the Red Wings of the past 10 years have been one of the best hockey machines I've ever looked at. They are top-heavy (I mentioned my opinion that Lidstrom was the best defenseman since Bobby Orr, and that Datsyuk is one of the to 5 forwards in the league - and it's not like Hossa or Zetterberg are anything other than superstars), but it doesn't stop there.

[rudel.dietrich]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

I think they might be living their best moment ever. And that's quite something considering they're arguably the second most prestigious franchise in the NHL and once won 4 straight Stanley Cups.

They're not the best team ever (the late 70's Canadien still stands tall), but the Red Wings of the past 10 years have been one of the best hockey machines I've ever looked at. They are top-heavy (I mentioned my opinion that Lidstrom was the best defenseman since Bobby Orr, and that Datsyuk is one of the to 5 forwards in the league - and it's not like Hossa or Zetterberg are anything other than superstars), but it doesn't stop there.

They are obviously the best NHL franchise since the Oilers in the mid 80s.

So lets have a fun little disscussion. If we have a four team tournement of the NHLs greatest teams. If Montreal of the 70s are the greatest teams ever. I would put this Detroit team of the last 10-12 years as #2 or #3. Edminton of the mid 80s would be #2 or #3. Who is the fourth team? Toronto of the late 40s? Montreal of the late 50s?

Maybe if we come up with the best 8 teams of all time I will seed them and then use whatifsports.com to hold a tournement.

[RchW]

Originally Posted by rudel.dietrich

They are obviously the best NHL franchise since the Oilers in the mid 80s.

So lets have a fun little disscussion. If we have a four team tournement of the NHLs greatest teams. If Montreal of the 70s are the greatest teams ever. I would put this Detroit team of the last 10-12 years as #2 or #3. Edminton of the mid 80s would be #2 or #3. Who is the fourth team? Toronto of the late 40s? Montreal of the late 50s?

Maybe if we come up with the best 8 teams of all time I will seed them and then use whatifsports.com to hold a tournement.

The Islanders of '80-'83 would have to be considered. I'd pick the Leafs of the '60's over the '40's team just because the competition was better.

[Kekkonen]

How about your Conn Smythe favorites, folks? Osgood is certainly making a case for himself.

[Long_Long_Name]

Originally Posted by RchW

The Islanders of '80-'83 would have to be considered. I'd pick the Leafs of the '60's over the '40's team just because the competition was better.

The late 70's Habs were dominant. 75-76, 76-77, 77-78 and 78-79 might be the best four teams ever.

The 60's Leafs, while very very good, in my opinion aren't on par with the best of them. They were just a very good team. The early 70's Bruins certainly deserve a mention. The Avalanche had some fantastic teams too.

Late 50's Habs are an obvious pick, like the 50's Red Wings as well. I sadly don't know much about pre-50's hockey (which, you know, is still half of hockey history!), though.

If we have to pick the best teams ever (while not allowing less than a 10-year gap for the same franchise), here are my tentative picks:

1. Montréal Canadien, 1976-1977
Guy Lafleur, Steve Shutt, Serge Savard, Yvan Cournoyer, Larry Robinson, Guy Lapointe, Ken Dryden, Réjean Houle, Jacques Lemaire, Doug Risebrough, Bob Gainey, Doug Jarvis, Pete Mahovlich, Mario Tremblay, Pierre Mondou. That's the year they lost 8 games.

2. Detroit Red Wings, 1995-1996
Nicklas Lidstrom, Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Paul Coffey, Viacheslav Kozlov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vladimir Konstantinov, Chris Osgood, Dino Ciccarelli, Keith Primeau, Mathieu Dandenault, Doug Brown, Martin Lapointe, Ray Sheppard, Mike Vernon, Kris Draper, Tim Taylor, Bob Errey.

3. Montréal Canadien, 1955-1956
Jean Béliveau, Doug Harvey, Jacques Plante, Henri Richard, Maurice Richard, Bernard Geoffrion, Dickie Moore, Bert Olmstead, Émile Bouchard, Jean-Guy Talbot, Dollard Saint-Laurent, Tom Johnson, Claude Provost

4. Detroit Red Wings, 2005-2006
Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, Steve Yzerman, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Chris Osgood, Henrik Zetterberg, Robert Lang, Mathieu Schneider, Thomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen, Dan Cleary, Valtteri Fillpula, Manny Legace, Nicklas Kronwall, Chris Chelios, Jason Williams, Jiri Fischer.

5. Colorado Avalanche, 2000-2001
Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Alex Tanguay, Milan Hejduk, Raymond Bourque, Rob Blake, Chris Drury, Adam Foote, Adam Deadmarsh,

6. Edmonton Oilers, 1983-1984
Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Paul Coffey, Glenn Anderson, Kevin Lowe, Dale Hunter, Grant Fuhr, Andy Moog, Ken Linesman.

7. Montréal Canadien, 1943-1944
Maurice Richard, Toe Blake, Elmer Lach, Émile Bouchard, Bill Durnan, Buddy O'Connor, Leo Lamoureux, Ray Getliffe.

8. New York Islanders, 1981-1982
Michael Bossy, Denis Potvin, Clark Gillies, Bryan Trottier, Butch Goring, Duane Sutter, John Tonelli, Bob Nystrom, Billy Smith.

9. Boston Bruins, 1971-1972
Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Johnny Bucyk, Ken Hodge, Wayne Cashman, Fred Stanfield, Gerry Cheevers, Reggie Leach, Terry O'Reilly.

10. Montréal Canadien, 1988-1989
Patrick Roy, Mats Naslund, Guy Carbonneau, Shayne Corson, Chris Chelios, Stéphane Richer, Bobby Smith, Petr Svoboda, Mike McPhee, Brian Skrudland, Larry Robinson, Claude Lemieux, Éric Desjardins, Bob Gainey, Russ Courtnall, Mike Keane, Ryan Walter, Jyrki Lumme, Benoit Brunet.

11. Philadelphia Flyers, 1975-1976
Bobby Clarke, Bill Barber, Bernard Parent, Dave Schultz, Reggie Leach, Mel Bridgman, André Dupont, Orest Kindrachuk, Wayne Stephenson.

12. Pittsburgh Penguins, 1992-1993
Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Tom Barrasso, Kevin Stevens, Ron Francis, Rich Tocchet, Martin Straka, Ulf Samuelsson, Larry Murphy, Joe Mullen, Shawn McEachern.

13. Detroit Red Wings, 1951-1952
Gordie Howe, Alex Delvecchio, Sid Abel, Terry Sawchuk, Ted Lindsay, Red Kelly, Marcel Pronovost, Bob Goldham.

[kq76]

I'm surprised to find myself rooting for a favourite team which I'm not normally a fan of, but I am. I think what it is is Pittsburgh largely failed for many years to draft many of their best players, while Detroit acquired many of their best players from plain old good scouting while having poor drafting positions by winning for so long. How can you not root for that. Yeah, it certainly helps to be good which attracts FAs like Rafalski and Hossa, but I really admire how they've re-loaded with all these great players they've drafted and developed.

[kq76]

CBC is replaying the '94 Rangers-Canucks series right now. Oh, the heartbreak.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Long_Long_Name

I think they might be living their best moment ever. And that's quite something considering they're arguably the second most prestigious franchise in the NHL and once won 4 straight Stanley Cups.

They're not the best team ever (the late 70's Canadien still stands tall), but the Red Wings of the past 10 years have been one of the best hockey machines I've ever looked at. They are top-heavy (I mentioned my opinion that Lidstrom was the best defenseman since Bobby Orr, and that Datsyuk is one of the to 5 forwards in the league - and it's not like Hossa or Zetterberg are anything other than superstars), but it doesn't stop there.

Detroit has never won more than 2 cups consecutively.

[Kekkonen]

Originally Posted by kq76

CBC is replaying the '94 Rangers-Canucks series right now. Oh, the heartbreak.

Yeah... that, by the way, was the first Stanley Cup finals series I could follow on live TV. And what a great series it was (despite the result)... the next few finals were serious letdowns after that.

[canadiancreed]

NHL uses only rules that are convenient - NHL - Yahoo! Canada Sports

When even the sports agree that the rule book is used only when convient by the league, that alone should be a wakeup call for the league....then again it's slept through so many of them you'd wonder if their deleiberately deaf.

[phenom]

Originally Posted by Kekkonen

How about your Conn Smythe favorites, folks? Osgood is certainly making a case for himself.

I think you're overvaluing Osgood's performance. Last night's first star probably should've been the post. Osgood made fewer quality saves than the post did.

[PotatoPeeler]

Originally Posted by phenom

I think you're overvaluing Osgood's performance. Last night's first star probably should've been the post. Osgood made fewer quality saves than the post did.

So you're saying Osgood only has one quality save? Because the post had two.

[PotatoPeeler]

A great performance by the Detroit defense last night to shut down Malkin and Crosby. It appears they're really getting under Malkin's skin, as made evident by the tantrum he threw at the end of the game.

[phenom]

Originally Posted by PotatoPeeler

So you're saying Osgood only has one quality save? Because the post had two.

three, actually.

[phenom]

Don't get me wrong - I'm as happy as the next guy about how the first two games went, and I agree that Osgood played well, but I think his play has been embellished by an insane amount of luck.

[Bluenoser]

Originally Posted by canadiancreed

NHL uses only rules that are convenient - NHL - Yahoo! Canada Sports

When even the sports agree that the rule book is used only when convient by the league, that alone should be a wakeup call for the league....then again it's slept through so many of them you'd wonder if their deleiberately deaf.

When sports writers start deciding when rules should be enforced is when I'll stop watching sports.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that suspension being overturned. The rule is pretty clear -

"The intent of the rule is pretty obvious - was the action premeditated, was it sending a message," explained NHL on TSN's Bob McKenzie following the game. "Malkin was on the ice trying to score a goal at the end of the game. This one was born more out of frustration, then it was the Penguins trying to orchestrate some late game shenanigans, that is what the rule was put in place for and that is why the NHL reserves the right to rescind the rule if they feel the spirit of the rule is not being violated."

It wasn't "message sending" as far as the league is concerned, and for me personally, I'll always accept a leagues decision over some sportswriter who thinks he knows better. Writers do enough to ruin sports as it is.

[canadiancreed]

Originally Posted by BruceM

When sports writers start deciding when rules should be enforced is when I'll stop watching sports.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with that suspension being overturned. The rule is pretty clear -

It wasn't "message sending" as far as the league is concerned, and for me personally, I'll always accept a leagues decision over some sportswriter who thinks he knows better. Writers do enough to ruin sports as it is.

While I'll agree in principle, this isn't the first time that this opinion has been stated, although it's the first time that I'ce read it. Most fans that I've spoken with regardless of team has stated the officating from top to bottom needs at least a rework, at most a firing of the folks leading the department. The fact that they apply it arbitrarily(sp?) (anyone want to take bets on if Orpik did something like that he'd be sitting out Tuesday?) depending on who you are and your star potential needs to hit the bricks, or as the article incinuates, the officiating will make this league second only to the WWE in being scripted.