DRafalski

Is this part of the hockey experience that justifies the amount of money you spend on a ticket to a Devils game? Did you also make fun of other people at school or in public who wear different clothes than you? Who cares what someone is wearing at the arena. Maybe they don't know any better. Maybe it's a working parent who cant afford anything else for their kid who really wants a jersey. Maybe it's intentional. I intentionally bought a knock-off to wear out to games. Don't care if it gets ruined, if something spills on it..etc. Great job supplying places with good prices on jerseys, but you could've controlled your post count today had you not hit "post" on all the pretentious dribble.

Minnesota was the best team in hockey after getting off to a 20-7-3 start last year. Injuries happened, Backstrom can only bail you out of so many games and then the team collapses. You are 100% correct, their depth dried up too and they couldn't score more than 2 goals per game. The West is wide open right now, there is so much parity. Maybe Parise can prove how much of a leader he is. Sometimes that more valuable than point production.

Well before July 1st, Minnesota said they would not be "out bid" on Parise and Suter if they hit the open market. There were claims Nashville made a strong push at the end. Detroit had to UP their offer to Suter yesterday when Holland flew out there. For Minnesota, this was a huge task -not just overpaying for points and players, but to legitimize hockey in the state. I don't know Suter, but they say he's more of a low key player. He can drive to the arena that is close to his home and be in a market where he's not being groomed to be the next Lidstrom and under a microscope.

Maybe people like yourself who don't understand the full spectrum of what goes through a players mind. Then again, I'm sure you rubbed a lot of people the wrong way with your comment above mine. I'm not here to argue with someone who throws out 8th grade insults at people.

I have always been a fan of the Devils, albeit living in Michigan. Between 1994 and 2012, we've had vastly different looking teams with superstars emerging that we hated to see leave. Every year the Devils have made the right moves to stay competitive. They have been enjoyable to watch -even when they made the monsterous push but fell short of the playoffs. Outside of the Wings and Devils are there really any franchises that have done what they've done in the past 20 years? It was tough to see players leave from every one of those teams, Parise is no different. He's not necessarily leaving for the money, but a desire to play in his hometown, similar to what Rafalski did Honestly, this was a two team race from when July 1st rolled around. Did Parise and Suter talk about this, hell yeah they did. Anything wrong with that? Hell no. I don't know if the Devils not being players in the Suter market was the death blow. Will the Devils do what they did this year, next year? Probably not. But this playoff run was just awesome to watch. Knowing it might be Parise's last run with the team made every game a must-watch for me. Powering through the Flyers and Rangers after surviving a scare against Florida was amazing. Standing up to the Kings, and ultimately losing in 6? Nothing to be ashamed of. One thing Parise did is set himself apart from the likes of Holik and Gomez. Guys have left and rubbed people the wrong way, but guys like Parise and Rafalski were class acts.

Watched the game, as I will always continue to watch every Devils game. Not a bad effort. The Bolts are a good team... ..however it just wasn't right seeing #28 and Rachunek.

Funny how one move (Schneider) created what I feel was the only situation that he would've left the Devils for.

Yeah. So did everyone else during the Olympics.

You know, it must just be the cool thing to call any sort of opposition to giving Steve Moore compensation a "Bertuzzi apologist." Furthermore I guess in the entire history of the world, we've never had previous precedents that were ratified or that we've found to be inadequate. Your suggestion, sans the sarcasim is the perfect solution. Moore will collect insurance from the NHLPA and has a Harvard degree to fall back on. While that is not adequate in my eyes, the question remains, what could the NHLPA have done better... You do understand setting a precedent in court opens to door to almost anything being grounds for a civil suit, something the NHL and it's players do not want (Joe Sakic has been vocal on it, Moore's own teammate). I don't need an elementary run down on why Steve Moore's lawyers decided on X amount of money. Do you realize that in the United States there is no 'cap' per say on the amount of money you can sue for while in Canada it is very limited. Do you think the amount would've been consistant between the two countries? Canada has also stated they reserve their right to police hockey while the USA doesn't share the same kind of stance. I think you and I both know a plantiff can't use the explanation that he's suing for X amount because he only expects to settle on Y amount. Sorry, but I think Moore might be pushing his chances here because you have to wonder how much evidence will be presented or what type of questions will be asked. Do we really want Moore's first questionable hit from behind on Martin St. Louis introduced as evidence, or tape of his hit on Naslund scrutinized? Moore's lawyer has already shot down allegations that a Toronto doctor had cleared him to play. Back to my original point, if this helps set a precedent for the NHL/NHLPA fantastic. If this lawsuit is being thrown around, settled and swept under the carpet..not so great. If this sets a precedent for the courts to be involved on anything deemed remotely criminal (Allen breaking Zetterberg's leg, Claude's hit on Draper from behind)...not so great?

I don't understand how Steve Moore's 'not out for pity' but your entire post pitys him. He's 'just barely living'? People really need to squeeze their own emotions out before commenting on this whole subject because it turns into a sloppy battle of words. What exactly is a Bertuzzi strawman? Anyone who questions anything the victim should get? Forget it, I think I'll go convince Henrik Zetterberg to sue Bryan Allen for breaking his leg a few years ago. How come nobody asks the question if the NHL or NHLPA shut the door on Moore and left him out in the cold.

I bet for every doctor who says Steve Moore is not fit to play, you could find a doctor who would say Steve Moore is fit to play. Moore would by no means be making anything close to what he made before the injury with the state of the NHL this year. Moore also probably wouldn't make an NHL team either. I think if he sued for 2.5 - 3 million, he'd have more people saying, "Ok, I think this might be a reasonable outcome to this whole saga." Moore would've played another 15 years? LOL. The average NHL career is four years long. It's understandable to punish Bert, compensate Moore and call this thing a day -but the timing and amount here really spells out what is being done.

Funny you bring this up, but my thoughts were the same after watching the Calgary game I just don't post here much. I think you've hit the nail on the head. With Rafalski and Martin paried together, it's forcing Brian to be aggressive against the other team's main scoring options. I don't think it's his type of play at all to throw checks and move people off the puck (although he did have a nice low-bridge on Iginla). As a result I saw him get ran a few times in that game -which takes him off his game as an offensive-defenseman. Colin White is no Scott Stevens, but it's probably the best quasi Stevens-Rafalski pairing that you could come up with.

Datsyuk is a RFA. There is no need to trade him when the compensation they'd get would be a greater value than Wade Redden. The Wings have about $7 million of cap room and need to sign Datsyuk and Zetterburg. Zetterburg is waiting to see what Datsyuk gets. Meanwhile Datsyuk's demands are something along the lines a proven four year vet. No doubt he'll put up numbers, but right now this is just a numbers game. If Detroit wants anything that resembles a competitive team, I'm sure they'll lock up these guys for the future.

And I thought we couldn't get any better than an incorrect statement being called "a different shade of info." So your (bias -I'd hope were all Devil bias here) views that Stevens was robbed of the 2001 Norris due to his play being lumped into this viscous, barbaric, unavoidable and ultimately unrewardable nature of the sport is the reason I have the diachotomy backwards? I would take two pills of "Get-Over-It-Lidstrom-Deserved-It"and join me in bitching about 1994 when it was a popularity contest that kept Stevens' name off the trophy. I will also give about a 0.05% probability of Bertuzzi winning a Hart under some guise that the NHL is looking to poster boy him for the sport's reformation when Crosby hoists the Cup next summer. By the way, Bertuzzi does infact NOT have a criminal record due to the nature of his guilty plea (conditional discharge stemming from a plea bargain -keeps the "criminal" part off his record).

I never said it wasn't a big deal. If you can't understand why all those non-traditional outlets covered it, you don't see the big picture the way I see it. Nothing wrong with that. I'm sure Steven's hit on Kariya in the SCF was celebrated in the media on highlight shows (and I'm sure some of us celebrated it too). Thing is, that was planned, and that *could have* crippled Kariya. McCarty beating down Lemieux. Things happen that are so close in context, yet by chance have drastically different outcomes. When I can name multiple instances of violence against fans in the NBA, multiple players who faced murder charges in the NFL and multiple players who have injected themselves in baseball, it starts to become more than something that "affects" it.