Curt

Casey Mittelstadt???? ? This is in part a joke, but the point is, WJC performance is not the end all, be all indicator of future NHL success.

I think your first sentence is an important distinction. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Your second sentence, I never said anything about destroy. However, I don’t see the differentiation between “destroy” and “hit very hard”. They could mean very different things or they could mean exactly the same thing. It’s not clear.

He didn’t say Iranian culture though. He specifically said cultural sites, and today again expressed this when talking with reporters.

Not certain about the specifics, but I would assume that working for a Canadian based company and making periodic work trips to the US may require different paperwork than working for a US based company. For example: I used to work for an international company. Colleagues would travel from Canada, Sweden, Brazil, among other places, to our facility. They would come and work at the US facility for periods of time, but I doubt they had a full US work Visa. Inversely, I myself travelled to and worked at our Canadian facility at times, yet never needed to acquire a Canadian work Visa. However, if I was to work in Canada full time, I would assume I would need one though.

I’m assuming that you are talking about some ref from 1972?

I guess I just don’t think it’s a big deal. I’m sure it’s just a quirk of Czech/US Visa paperwork. I’m sure he will be with the team before their next game.

1) Irrelevant to the conversation 2) It’s been only 2 weeks/ 8 games 3) He has points in 4 of his past 5 games 5) He has a goal in two straight games

You posted this about 55 hours after the trade was made. It’s already been said that he was going to have Visa issues that would take a little bit to sort out.

I know. It was a joke.

I’m glad to take the risk that things might get screwed up. God forbid.

I think Ink was just making a joke. They obviously signed him and brought him up just to be physical/fight in that one game and maybe a few others if they want just that for a game in the future. You can say that’s stupid or pointless or whatever, but the plan with Dalton Smith was pretty clear.

Marco Rossi is becoming a bit of favorite of mine. Yes, he is 5’9", but he is pretty solid with a low center of gravity. Plus, he is pretty tenacious and plays a notable 2-way game. He isn’t blazing fast, but he definitely isn’t slow and his short area acceleration looks good. I just see a guy who, while on the small side, plays a 200 ft game, has very good hockey IQ, is a battler, and can be an absolutely dominant on the puck playmaker. He is absolutely lighting up the OHL.

Except that time he ate a hamburger off the ice!

What? Montreal is an awesome city! Fantastic culture, history and nightlife. People say it’s the most European feeling city in North America. And the team itself is among the leagues most iconic as well as in the playoff hunt.

I think everyone should remember that THAT was the starting point when the ask why it’s taking so long.

At least I learned a new word while reading this.

Kovalchuk seems like he is very particular about which teams/cities he is willing to go to. I doubt Buffalo had much draw for him.

They are good as a checking, bottom 6 line. You can give them tough mins against good competition and they will do a decent job. However, I don’t want any of them playing up the lineup in a top-6 role.

They have almost identical FO%

He produced at a 20 goal, 43 point per 82 game pace just last season. I get that he isn’t having a good season, but you can’t pretend last season didn’t happen.

Over their careers, the players around Datsyuk were just as good as the players that have been around Crosby.

Disagree. Defensively maybe, but overall Datsyuk was a definite step below Crosby. I think Crosby is the one getting overlooked right now. People seem to have this impression that he is over the hill or something. He just had arguably his best season last year. He is still elite. No doubt one of the top-5 players in the league, probably behind on McDavid.

No. I disagree completely. McDavid has better hands.

Yes!

No way. Over the past 40? Ok, maybe Jack is right there with McDavid. But over their careers? It’s not even close.