Dump and chase remains the paradigm because it works. It also allows offensive teams to change some players on-the-fly. Obviously not all plays coming over the blue line are dump-and-chase plays, but it remains a good strategy for a number of reasons.
The game went through a period where clutch-and-grab just about killed all offensive creativeness. Thankfully this is no longer a problem.
Don’t get me started on Harold Ballard.
It happened in Detroit 
After the hits, fights and suspensions, this video of Charlie Coyle is a good start to the weekend.
The Blackhawks pick up Jason LaBarbera for goalie insurance. The only dumb thing the Hawks have done recently is sign Crawford to an extension. I hope LaBarbera turns out to be a better ex Oiler goalie than the completely washed up Khabibulin
Thornton at 15 games.
I… don’t know. With how the NHL has been about such things in the past, that’s surprisingly fair. I was expecting 7 to 10.
But then you think, if they really wanted to send a message and remove all this BS from hockey, they would do what the NFL or NBA would do. And I don’t know what that is, but I know if a basketball player decided to race across the court after the whistle, knock a guy down from behind (because of something that happened earlier in the game, aka premeditation), and elbow shiver him into unconsciousness, the League would probably do a little more than 15 games.
And to be fair, same thing with Neal. I know it’s never happened in the NHL, and the players association would never allow it, but man, if you hit Neal with 25+ games, Thornton with 50+, and hit both teams with atleast a 100k fine, as well as hitting the coach with some fines, I bet the dirty BS would take care of itself pretty quick.
And I know it’s complicated with “The Code” and fighting culture – where do you draw the line? – but all of this just seems like the NHL is setting itself for a massive concussion lawsuit settlement.
So… I don’t know.
Pascal Dupuis out for the rest of the season.
The Hockey Gods have cursed us. 
Headline in my local paper’s sports section today: the team has a “.500” record at 17-17-4.
Are there any other pro sports where the conceit exists that losing in overtime isn’t really a loss since you get a point out of it? The same newspaper insists that the team has a “winning” record in its division, when it has actually lost more games than it’s won.
It’s like the team is playing in the National Lake Woebegon League, where most of the teams are above average.
There is also the silliness of teams commonly refusing to divulge the nature of injuries, only saying they are “upper body” (arm? shoulder? ribs? fractured skull?) or “lower body”.
End of mini-rant.
It’s to avoid having an opponent target a specific area when an athlete returns, IIRC.
Nicevideoof Malkin after Neal’s hat trick.
So no one has tried to kill anyone over the last few weeks, but they’re still playing hockey. As I try to stay awake through the first intermission of the first game of one of those terrible Pacific time zone road trips (a 0-0 Bruins-Anaheim tilt with the first period played at a really high level, for the B’s at least)…
The Winter Classic went off as successfully as ever, setting or tying all of the relevant attendance and rating records, showing a competitive game (with another shootout, for better and worse) and all of the Olympic hoopla. In semi-related news, Canada announced their team this morning, and the internet continues to freak out.
Seidenberg is out for the season “with a knee”, which should hurt the B’s quite a bit, but if there’s one place they’re strong it’s in defensive depth. I hate to see the injuries across the board, but the young players up from the P-Bruins have been really exciting thus far.
The Penguins finally lost a couple of games, but they’re still looking really good. I’ve had a couple of their nationally broadcast games on over the past month, and let’s just say that I really hope the B’s and Pens meet up in the Eastern Conference Finals, because I think they’re pretty clearly the best two teams in the East.
Let’s keep the hockey talk going!
For Jackmannii and others, here’s the standings ignoring shootouts and the sympathy point you get for losing in overtime. Any game going to a shoot out was called a tie. Any game lost in overtime is a loss. Teams are listed in the order the NHL currently uses rather than pts order here so you can see the difference.
Atl GP ROW ROL ROT Pts
Bost 42 27 12 3 57
Tam 43 21 15 7 49
Mont 44 22 16 6 50
Detr 43 18 17 8 44
Toro 44 14 19 11 39
Otta 44 18 20 6 42
Flor 43 11 22 10 32
Buff 42 7 29 6 20
Metr GP ROW ROL ROT Pts
Pitt 44 28 13 3 59
Phil 43 19 18 6 44
Was 42 12 18 12 36
Caro 43 17 22 4 38
NYR 44 18 21 5 41
NJ 44 17 21 6 40
Colu 43 16 23 4 36
NYI 45 12 26 7 31
Cent GP ROW ROL ROT Pts
Chic 45 25 11 9 59
St.L 41 25 10 6 56
Colo 42 24 13 5 53
Minn 44 17 18 9 43
Dall 42 17 18 7 41
Nash 44 19 21 4 42
Winn 46 14 23 9 37
Pac GP ROW ROL ROT Pts
Anah 44 29 9 6 64
SanJ 44 21 12 11 53
LosA 43 20 15 8 48
Vanc 44 21 16 7 49
Phoe 41 16 17 8 40
Calg 42 12 25 5 29
Edm 45 12 29 4 28
ETA: Hmmm tabs act like tabs in the posting window but not when displayed