Iron Crotch

Going to the Preds - Flyers game, so I'll have to watch this one of delay. I hate the Bruins... and the Patriots... and the Red Sox... and the Celtics... heck, I even hate the New England Revolution!

Yay, team!

Ekblad is really good. Florida was smart to take him #1 overall.

If it was an Original-6 team (Toronto, Montreal) he would have only gotten 10 games. :P

I'm too lazy to look it up, but the rule book says "minimum of 20 games" if the attack is ruled deliberate. I was watching the game live that night and there is little doubt the attack was deliberate. He got the minimum probably because he has no prior history and has been in the league for a while.

Good. IMHO, there is no excuse for decking an official from behind.

http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/over-10000-people-have-signed-a-petition-to-remove-mike-milbury-from-nbc-broadcasts.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=over-10000-people-have-signed-a-petition-to-remove-mike-milbury-from-nbc-broadcasts

Off the top of my head, there was both a kid and an adult floor hockey rink, a hockey card exhibit, a lounge for Preds season ticket holders, several bars and food areas, a history of the all-star game exhibit, an NHL video game interactive exhibit, all of the NHL trophies plus another stage with the Stanley Cup, an autograph area, a giant all-star game merchandise store, an area that had air hockey, another that had bubble hockey, a whole bunch of kid-oriented stuff (shoot the puck on a net, play games, etc.). ...I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of stuff.

Per NHL radio today, Buff is very likely to be retained by the Jets (assuming they can agree on contract terms). The Jets have to choose between keeping Andrew Ladd or Big Buff. And, it sounds like they've chosen Buff. That would make Ladd available at the deadline. Ladd to Anaheim would make some sense. We'll see.

Yep. The Music City Center in Nashville has 350,000 square feet of exhibit space and 1.2 million square feet in total space. Plus over 10,000 hotel rooms and countless bars and restaurants (and country music stuff) within a few blocks of the arena. That's what the NHL is ideally looking for. Buffalo, unfortunately, is way behind when it comes to hosting tourist events like this. That is one of the reasons the Bills future new downtown stadium will likely be domed. If domed it can be used as spillover convention space, similar to Atlanta, if a new convention center and convention hotel are built in close proximity to the stadium.

They had a lot of outdoor activities outside of the arena like an outdoor rink, giant pucks all over town (one for each player), and a concert stage. I checked out the NHL fan fair on Saturday, which used the new convention center and was pretty massive in scale. Honestly, it was a waste of money. All of the displays were generic and the few things worth doing (autographs, getting pictures with the Cup, etc.) had very long lines. They charged $20 per person for the fan fair, which was open from Thursday through Sunday. It's a big money grab for the NHL. What was most fun for me was simply interacting with the fans of the various teams at the bars downtown. I saw fans from just about every team. And, there was a whole lot of drinking going on! The skills competition and game were worth seeing once. Not sure I'd pay the jacked up prices to do it again. But, as a "bucket list" sort of thing, it was worth it.

A fair number of Sabres fans in Nashville. As usual, we always find each other. As usual, most of the Sabres fans were pretty hammered. Also, it turns out the doorman at Hooters is from Batavia. :thumbsup:

We're pretty much certain of a top-5 pick in this coming draft. And, there are more than 5 fantastic draft prospects, so in some sense we can't go wrong. If we don't get #1 overall (Matthews) then I'm 100% behind getting the best defenseman available since I'm bullish on upgrading our defense. I like Chychrun a lot. Kid just looks confident in everything he does.

Every team in the league averages between 27 and 32 shots per game except New Jersey (their boring ultra-defensive style only produces 24 shots per game). Every team in the league has a winning record when scoring first. No team has a winning record when giving up the first goal. Average save % is now .917. All teams are basically the same in today's game with the exception of goaltending and special teams. Get a lucky deflection and you win. Give up a soft goal and you lose. That's pretty much today's NHL. Personally, I miss the offensive game of the 80's and 90's. I don't like a game that favors shot blocking and dirty (or lucky) goals over skating and skill. But, defensive and goaltending techniques have evolved to the point where every team is focused first and foremost on limiting opposition scoring chances. I think it would take some major rule changes to open up the game. And, I'm not sure the NHL has to guts to go in that direction. Bettman likes the league this way.

Anyone watching the prospects game? (Just about to start on NHL Network)

The Deutchland Dangler, Leon Draisaitl is in there. :D

They asked Blake Wheeler and he turned the ASG down since he already had a trip planned with his family. I'm excited about the All-Star game here this weekend. I'm headed downtown to stalk NHL celebrities! Maybe I'll run into Kathryn Tappen. ;)

Most of the people making judgments about Wideman didn't see the game and have no idea of the context of what went on. The Flames were frustrated by the way the game was playing out and all the non-calls. And, that same linesman had just made a "too many men" call on the Flames. Perhaps Wideman was dazed but he didn't receive medical attention or miss a shift. He skated right at the linesman and trashed him from behind then went to the bench without apologizing or trying to help him up or trying to bear hug the linesman to minimize impact or anything else that might suggest an accident. He was on the ice for his very next shift. A player is responsible for his own actions. If every guy who takes a hard hit has free reign to assault a linesman from behind then we'd see this sort of thing all the time. Yet, tens of thousands of players have taken similarly hard hits and managed not to assault someone from behind on their way to the bench. The league has to protect its officials. They have to. 10 games minimum.

I'll be at both the skills competition on Saturday and the all-star game on Sunday. Will probably check out the NHL fan fair during the day on Saturday since it looks fairly awesome.

Nope.

I'm watching the game. Wideman didn't go to the room or even miss a shift. Doesn't seem concussed or anything. He was just frustrated. BTW - the same linesman called Too Many Men on the Flames not too long before that.

Dennis Wideman just intentionally cross-checked a linesman. Might have thought he was a player. I'm not sure I've ever seen something like that. This is really bad: https://vine.co/v/iilvDv0lZBA https://gfycat.com/YoungSplendidAntbear I see a suspension coming.

Yay, team.

Too late, Sens. Too late.

Mother . Of, course.