Crosbys slow descent into villainy...

[smack]

The Comish wrote:

praba wrote:

interesting. ovechkin has no rings either, crosbys went to the cup finals, where as ovechkin barely made the playoffs.

Sorry praba, Ovechkin DRAGGED his team INTO the playoffs with his performance down the stretch. I am in no way slagging Crosby, but please don\'t denigrate Ovechkin because of the team he plays on.

Absolutely. That team had no business making the playoffs and I don\'t think I\'ve seen one player take over a team like AO did last year. Think about it, Semin was pretty much a write-off last year and Backstrom was just coming into his own. The saying \"Putting a team on your shoulders\" never truly fit until what he did last year.

[Fighting_Emu]

Bottom line: If you call out Lidstrom specifically and say he shouldn\'t get special treatment for something as trivial as the all star game then you desserve every bit of it you get back.

Besides if you\'re such a stickler for the rules- why don\'t you offer to give back the 10 or so \"ghost second assists\" you got this year, last year, and the year prior.

And please for the shred of dignity you have left- stop whining like a little girl every single game.

Smack if you want him in the ultimate- Im listening...

[smack]

Fighting_Emu wrote:

Bottom line: If you call out Lidstrom specifically and say he shouldn\'t get special treatment for something as trivial as the all star game then you desserve every bit of it you get back.

Besides if you\'re such a stickler for the rules- why don\'t you offer to give back the 10 or so \"ghost second assists\" you got this year, last year, and the year prior.

And please for the shred of dignity you have left- stop whining like a little girl every single game.

Smack if you want him in the ultimate- Im listening...

Haha, you\'ll deplete my team.

But I agree with you, Emu. If you read the other thread regarding this you\'ll see I\'m disgusted with how they treated Lidstrom. Crosby took the sissy way out and showed up for the festivities and I\'m ok with that. But saying he\'s ok with the Lidstrom suspension was a ****ing sell out. ****, even Campbell felt bad about it but Mr. Buttman has spoken and that\'s the end of it.

[NYR9394]

praba wrote:

did you even watch pitsburgh games? crosby barely played with malkin or lemieux. and what are you smoking? if lemieux offered you to live in his house for free, are you going to say: no thanks, i want to grow up? shit i would pay to live in lemieuxs house.

Just the mere fact that he needed him on the bench like that was pathetic. It\'s like the little kid who needed daddy to be at all the games or he was gonna piss & moan.

As for me, nah, I like my independence. I dont want to live in someone else\'s house.(Btw, it\'s not like Crosby didnt have a pot to piss in when he got drafted. You forget endorsement money)



Smack1919- Yes, the wing is rotated, but not nearly as much as you\'re making it out to be. I watch alot of Washington games and the only time you really see Ovy without Backstrom and Semin is when their is a PK situation or when one of them takes a long shift. And dont lie, Crosby doesnt play a whole lot without Malkin. It\'s like pulling teeth trying to get those guys on separate lines for Therrien. First it starts on the PP, then it creeps into even strength. He does what Cindy says just to keep his job.

[Fighting_Emu]

smack1919 wrote:

Fighting_Emu wrote:

Bottom line: If you call out Lidstrom specifically and say he shouldn\'t get special treatment for something as trivial as the all star game then you desserve every bit of it you get back.

Besides if you\'re such a stickler for the rules- why don\'t you offer to give back the 10 or so \"ghost second assists\" you got this year, last year, and the year prior.

And please for the shred of dignity you have left- stop whining like a little girl every single game.

Smack if you want him in the ultimate- Im listening...

Haha, you\'ll deplete my team.

But I agree with you, Emu. If you read the other thread regarding this you\'ll see I\'m disgusted with how they treated Lidstrom. Crosby took the sissy way out and showed up for the festivities and I\'m ok with that. But saying he\'s ok with the Lidstrom suspension was a ****ing sell out. ****, even Campbell felt bad about it but Mr. Buttman has spoken and that\'s the end of it.

Nail on the head!!!

[PocketRockets05]

People in the corporate world outside of their job setting attend golf tournaments, charity events, etc. They attend these events for free. They attend these events to interact with their clients and to boost the image of their company. The NHL is a sport that we all love, but it is also a business. At the end of the day, NHL players are employees of the NHL. They attend the All-Star game to interact with clients (us) and to boost the image of the game. To say players don\'t need to attend this doesn\'t make sense to me.

Also, with respect to the post-season and players not getting paid extra. By playing in the post-season, and say for example if you have a really good post season, it can add to your overall value and therefore when contract negotiation time comes telling the GM you are negoatiating with that you won a Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, had 20 points in 20 playoff games, or whatever....this adds to your value and what you can potentially earn in your new contract. You think if Claude Lemieux never made the post-season in any of his years playing in the NHL the Sharks would\'ve signed him? Definitely not. See all those years of him so-called playing for \"free\" in the playoffs just earned him a contract this year. That is one of many examples IMO anyways.

[habsrule]

Maybe he should get Jordan Staal to take him to one of the Staal brother parties... ;-)

That will loosen him up a bit.... those Thunder Bay boys know how to party...

[habsrule]

PocketRockets05 wrote:

People in the corporate world outside of their job setting attend golf tournaments, charity events, etc. They attend these events for free. They attend these events to interact with their clients and to boost the image of their company. The NHL is a sport that we all love, but it is also a business. At the end of the day, NHL players are employees of the NHL. They attend the All-Star game to interact with clients (us) and to boost the image of the game. To say players don\'t need to attend this doesn\'t make sense to me.

Also, with respect to the post-season and players not getting paid extra. By playing in the post-season, and say for example if you have a really good post season, it can add to your overall value and therefore when contract negotiation time comes telling the GM you are negoatiating with that you won a Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, had 20 points in 20 playoff games, or whatever....this adds to your value and what you can potentially earn in your new contract. You think if Claude Lemieux never made the post-season in any of his years playing in the NHL the Sharks would\'ve signed him? Definitely not. See all those years of him so-called playing for \"free\" in the playoffs just earned him a contract this year. That is one of many examples IMO anyways.

Not only that, an awful lot of players historically have had bonuses for making the All Star team. I don\'t know if that is still the case with the cap system as I know incentives are handled differently, but if you get selected for the All Star game and don\'t go, do you still get paid for it...? Most of these top end players get bonuses for awards/All Star selections/scoring titles as well as team performance so it is pretty hard for me to listen to them saying they don\'t want to attend so they can rest...

[ItsAlwaysSunnyInDetroit]

Regarding AO, quick question to all those that love him so much....sure he\'s leading the NHL in goals, with Carter ONE goal behind him, but he\'s taken 105 more shots than Carter. Parise\'s 3 goals behind, having taken 113 less shots. Vanek\'s 3 goals behnd, having taken 154 LESS SHOTS!!!!! I hate crowning AO the top dog, when anyone of these ELITE talents would be scoring at that pace if they shot that much.

[Dakkster]

Well, Gretzky said \"You miss 100% of the shots you don\'t take.\" and he has a point.

[NYR9394]

Yancy wrote:

Regarding AO, quick question to all those that love him so much....sure he\'s leading the NHL in goals, with Carter ONE goal behind him, but he\'s taken 105 more shots than Carter. Parise\'s 3 goals behind, having taken 113 less shots. Vanek\'s 3 goals behnd, having taken 154 LESS SHOTS!!!!! I hate crowning AO the top dog, when anyone of these ELITE talents would be scoring at that pace if they shot that much.

I dont understand what this has to do with anything? What does the shots vs. goal total(or shooting % if you want to call it that) have to do with AO being the best and most marketable player? You know that he\'s still better than any player you\'ve mentioned.

[Front89]

I\'m waiting for Buttman to make the winner of the all-star game get home-ice advantage in the SCF...

Buttman has almost ruined the NHL with shootouts to decide games, expansion to places who cannot support hockey, the lost lockout year, the Versus TV deal etc., but at least he has not reached Selig levels yet...faint praise indeed, but I had to try and find something positive to say...

In regards to Crosby and the all-star game fines, I could not agree more with Emu and others on the typical gutless behavior of Crosby, the stupidity of Buttman and the marketing-driven joke the all-star \"weekend\" is now.

Not to re-direct the thread, but did people see the joke of Versus coverage last night for the skills competition? It was terrible.

[MauriceandtheRichards]

At thr end of the day its business. A player has an obligation to be at the festivities and help promote the game.

Those corporate big wigs that are there for free pay big sponsorship dollars and help keep ticket prices down. IFthat means these guys hould hang out and make a couple of these fat cats happy by having a gin with them so be it.

Its kind of hard not to point out Lidstrom becuase he wasn\'t there.

The policy is a simple one and supported by GM\'s.

Don\'t give up on Sidney Crosby he has a tough job. That guy farts and everyone wants to know if it smells bad.

[Gaborlick]

I think a lot of the arguements in this thread are humorous, especially the Crosby bashing.

Lidstrom is one of the best D-men out there, with the most integrity and sportsmanship around. Everyone loves him, plain and simple.

Lidstrom made his choice. Policy is policy. He had the opportunity to come to the game. He would not have been suspended for the game. His choice to stay at home. Hence suspended. I agree with the rule. The allstar game is the ALLSTAR game, not 2nd and 3rd choice allstar game.

As far as Crosby and his \"gutless\" activities:

Sounds to me like he made the hard choice not siding with all the other players. Not so gutless in my opinion. He has the right to have his own opinion and frankly I don\'t disagree with him. People/players may not like the rules, but they are there for a reason. Hell, lets make exceptions for Lidstrom if he kicks a puck in the net. He has integrity right and would never do that on purpose. Its just a rule right?

I think it shows Courage and Integrity for Crosby to stand with his opinion, no matter ho much flak he might receive.

Bettman is kind of a jackhole, but whatever, great things ARE happening with the NHL, plain and simple. He doesn\'t have a lot of work with.

[fungchen3]

Crosby is a baby and a punk. That doesn\'t mean he isn\'t a great player and a gifted talent. I still don\'t (and never have) think he is the best player in the league. He isn\'t even the best player on his team. That being said, Crosby gets his way in the NHL and his own teammates benefit from it. The Pens MUST lead the league in 5-on-3 man advantages. It seems like everytime I flip a Pens game on, they are on a 2-man advantage. It is gross. Crosby is a gifted player though. Bottom line:

Crosby = Easy to dislike

Ovechkin = Very likeable