Skeletar Spider

I think it only represents value for money compared to an SPL if you prefer hockey to football, or I suppose if you've just lost a little of your enthusiasm for football.

Yes, which doesn't contrast with what I said. Spain = the best international team in the world, easily one of the best teams of all time. The Bruins = a good NHL side. But this isn't really necessarily the point. I didn't say 5-1 was that big a deal, it's just a comprehensive win. And they might well be one of the better teams in the NHL ( top 10 ) but not one of the best, which was what I had said. They struggle to score goals for a start.

I'm not having a go, but what I find strange is that you would rather go and watch a team that you don't (yet) support, than one which presumably you have been going to see for a number of years. Also, from what I've seen and from what I know about the Elite League, I wouldn't have said that, comparatively, it represents a better standard of ice hockey than the standard of football in the SPL. Scotland narrowly lost to Spain last week, fielding a team, not made up mostly of SPL players, but players basically of SPL standard. On the other hand, an Elite League side were beaten 5-1 recently by the Boston Bruins, not even one of the best sides in the NHL.

Really? I find this really strange for a supporter to be honest.

The worry is of course that Bylsma will want to get Fleury playing in order to get his form back, seeing as he is going to be the number one this season. If he rolls with Johnson and leaves Fleury out it's just going to mean it'll take Fleury longer to get back to his best when he ( inevitably ) returns. It is a tricky situation though, because it's hard to ditch a keeper with as good a record as Johnson has the now.

Is it not unlikely that this would be the only way for someone to find out the score? Just seems a bit bizarre to me to be honest.

In all honesty, what is the point of these posts?

Hah maybe you're right. Still, he's a big miss if you don't pick him up on NHL 10, especially if you're playing in one of the European leagues, with no salary cap...

What do they look like again? I've forgotten, it's been ages since I last saw one.

Looks like Jiri Hudler is coming back to Detroit next season, great news if it's true, the guy is a seriously top quality player. This is according to the Detroit News anyway My link

Well, that's the thing, it didn't show up in the fact that they won, but there was a little bit of a problem with discipline, as you saw the young guy Regin pick up 3 minor penalties, two of which I think resulted in Penguins goals on the powerplay.

So the playoffs are here then, and all of the first four matches end with the favoured team on the losing end ( this isn't strictly true, I guess as Phoenix were ranked ahead of Detroit over the regular season, but I think you'd still have to peg Detroit as favourites). Just watched the highlights there and it seemed to be a fairly even game, in fact my only real gripe would be that Derek Morris is given far too much room to tee up his shot for the gamewinner. I appreciate that the defense are trying to give Howard a clear sight of the shooter, but they seem so slow to react that he has all of the time in the world to get his shot away, and if you do that you're asking for trouble. Watched the Pittsburgh v Sens game last night as well and although the scoreline suggests otherwise, I thought Ottawa looked well on top and were more than good for their win. In all honesty, if it hadn't been for Crosby and Malkin, I really don't think it would have been as close as that. Pittsburgh did get a few unfortunate bounces, with the buck deflecting awkwardly off the boards behind the goal but for one or two of the others, I really thought Fleury should have been doing a little better. Looks like it's going to be an exciting series anyway.

If I was to make a prediction right now, I don't think I would necessarily say Detroit to win the Cup, or even make it to the final. That said, I would be in no way surprised if either were to happen - I genuinely do feel that as an overall team, they're as good as anyone. The real difficulty I see for the Wings is that, finishing in the bottom 4 of the playoff teams means that they lose home ice advantage, something which has worked in the Wings favour in the last two playoff runs. Obviously most teams benefit from having last change but it seems to work particularly well for Detroit when their top offensive lines which feature the likes of Zetterberg and Datsyuk are also their strongest defensive lines.

Personally, I feel that Detroit have just as good a chance as any other team of winning the Stanley Cup this season. Experience of big game situations is always going to count in their favour, and while they may not have started the season strongly, since the team returned to a recognisable state after injuries they've been fantastic. You only have to look at the fact that they've won 9 of their last 10, and have won the last 6 games in a row. It's way off the mark to suggest that they're "barely making the playoffs". In fact, the only teams that I would rank with having as good a chance as Detroit of going the distance are San Jose, Chicago, Pittsburgh and possibly Washington. You just can never rule out Detroit.

You're missing the point. I didn't say "Hey, I want a team with history", I saw a few Red Wings games, and started supporting them for the reasons I gave earlier. And to be honest, picking Toronto is more like picking Man Utd. You're more likely to see a Leafs jersey in Glasgow or any other city than a Wings jersey.

Does it not seem totally false to suggest to someone that they just suddenly start supporting a team? If you watch hockey, and no particular team grabs you, then you don't support a team but it hardly means you can't watch hockey. I started watching a few years ago, and I got into Detroit because of their players and their history plus the city of Detroit itself, but it wasn't a conscious decision I made.

Without a really top class centre, I don't reckon the Leafs have any chance of making the playoffs.

Wings doing well enough just now, Filppula's been looking good since coming back from injury and although we're still missing a fair few players, guys like Helm and Drew Miller are stepping up and playing far beyond what you'd expect from grinders. Should be able to hold on to the lead in this game, and move ahead of the Kings in the standings as well.

Consecutive hat-tricks! Plus, he's racking up a load of PIMs, so he's more than handy in Fantasy hockey.