There are 2 separate things to review.

1) Hit on Luke Hughes which happened at full speed; going into a corner anticipating a puck battle. Even the announcer says: "it looked like Colton tried to get to the side of Hughes". Yes, Hughes does not have the puck and is going into the boards (so is Colton). Yes this is probably a boarding call. But, he didn't board a defenseless player with his back turned. Why would he expect Hughes to turn AWAY from the puck when they are both going for it at the same time? Colton anticipated that Hughes was going to probably reverse hit (common nowadays in that situation). Hughes was "defenseless" at the very last micro second which makes the play look worse than it could have/should have been. Bednar says the same thing that the announcer did; and had NO problem with the penalty called.

This same play happens dozens of times every NHL game and you rarely see a defensemen "bail out" like that; and Luke Hughes better learn not to let up like that or next time it might be much worse.

2) high stick on Timo Meier. This was Colton and Meier gliding together after the whistle (which you can see at 0:14 Colton is almost stopped); which is mostly not on any camera angle until the tail end of it. Colton sees Meier coming and there is already a ref in between them which means there must have been chirping going on between one or both of them. At the 1:38 mark of the video you can see Meier has his hands/stick raised halfway as does Colton when they come together. Colton does initiate the contact to Meier's face which is why he got the cross-check penalty and the fine by DOPS. This was not "at full speed" and Meier was not "defenseless" nor did he have his back turned.

Nowhere in any of this can you make claims that "Bednar sent him out to do something"; this was a hockey play that turned badly (the hit on Hughes) and an expected response from Meier (understandable) to Colton who then overreacts (not acceptable).

Stop with that BS comparing this to Mangiapane (which was more like Jamie Benn on Mark Stone) and stop making things up that didn't happen: "full speed cross check"

Addison Out,
Bogo In...

this wings' powerplay has been torturous to watch

Just thinking that the Wings could have had the Hughes-Hronek pair in Detroit

There are 2 separate things to review.

1) Hit on Luke Hughes which happened at full speed; going into a corner anticipating a puck battle. Even the announcer says: "it looked like Colton tried to get to the side of Hughes". Yes, Hughes does not have the puck and is going into the boards (so is Colton). Yes this is probably a boarding call. But, he didn't board a defenseless player with his back turned. Why would he expect Hughes to turn AWAY from the puck when they are both going for it at the same time? Colton anticipated that Hughes was going to probably reverse hit (common nowadays in that situation). Hughes was "defenseless" at the very last micro second which makes the play look worse than it could have/should have been. Bednar says the same thing that the announcer did; and had NO problem with the penalty called.

This same play happens dozens of times every NHL game and you rarely see a defensemen "bail out" like that; and Luke Hughes better learn not to let up like that or next time it might be much worse.

2) high stick on Timo Meier. This was Colton and Meier gliding together after the whistle (which you can see at 0:14 Colton is almost stopped); which is mostly not on any camera angle until the tail end of it. Colton sees Meier coming and there is already a ref in between them which means there must have been chirping going on between one or both of them. At the 1:38 mark of the video you can see Meier has his hands/stick raised halfway as does Colton when they come together. Colton does initiate the contact to Meier's face which is why he got the cross-check penalty and the fine by DOPS. This was not "at full speed" and Meier was not "defenseless" nor did he have his back turned.

Nowhere in any of this can you make claims that "Bednar sent him out to do something"; this was a hockey play that turned badly (the hit on Hughes) and an expected response from Meier (understandable) to Colton who then overreacts (not acceptable).

Stop with that BS comparing this to Mangiapane (which was more like Jamie Benn on Mark Stone) and stop making things up that didn't happen: "full speed cross check"

No lie, I’d be ecstatic if Grier offered Willy 11m x 8
His career/ story arc has been amazing to follow

I feel Willy if he leaves the Leafs will go to another competitor like Carolina or VGK

Just cant see him go to a rebuilding team whose not close to competing even if 11m was sitting right there

He wants money but also wants to win a cup which is normal for guys like him. Got a feeling a Gaudreau deal is coming

Oh he’ll never sign, nor would I care about years 6-8

He’s been my favourite player to watch when watching the Leafs the past 2-3 seasons (coming after his arc of being the punching bag)

klingberg to void

Leafs w/ a whopping 18 goals against in last 3-games.
-3 G-diff on the season.

OTT showed up for 'ol coach DJ.

1. Watch the hit. Watch where the puck is. He could have played the puck. He could have avoided the hit. He didn’t. He went full force away from direction of puck, hit Luke in the numbers into boards.

2. There is no justification for Colton’s cross check to the face in that play. “He has to defend himself” is a total JV response…Meier did nothing to him. Colton just attacked him…with a stick to his head.

Colton lost his cool (against the team he wanted to play for) and clearly went a little bananas and was nearly called for two majors on same play (the play they reviewed was the boarding call…and ref said they reduced to minor…probably because he was getting tossed from game anyway). It’s reckless behavior that was cleared aimed at injuring other players. And if DOPS erred in not giving him a long suspension. The next guy may not be so forgiving.

1) I have, a dozen or so times in slow motion, full speed, everything. Hughes turns his shoulder AWAY right when Colton is delivering his intended sidecheck. If that is open ice nobody is calling that at all; the only reason it was a penalty is because it was near the boards. Both guys are skating towards a puck in the corner anticipating a puck battle. If Hughes keeps his balance but loses that puck battle to Colton like that, every coach on his team would be chewing his ass for "laying up" and not getting in better position to win that. And you know that. Hard play from Colton for sure, but "soft" decision on Hughes = bad result. The commentator even said what Colton was trying to do live in action.

2) nobody is defending the Colton cross check to Meier. He was given a 5 minute misconduct and the max fine by DoPS for it. There was a LOT that happened that we didn't get to see (or hear) because of bad camera angles.

I only took exception to your posts saying that Colton went "full speed" crosscheck to Meier. didn't happen that way plain and simple.

I'm glad Hughes and Meier are OK; I wasn't worried about Meier because it wasn't a Bertuzzi chop or anything close; but Hughes could have really gotten hurt. I still stand by the fact that Hughes put himself into greater harms way by turning the way he did instead of going at Colton (like 99% of defenseman would have) for the puck.

Yes, understand what you are saying. Colton gracefully delivered “his intended sidecheck” (right between the numbers so he would go face first into boards). And Hughes family are soft and have no business in NHL. Therefore, it is their fault, and no infraction shall ever be called on the play…unless it’s “two minutes for softness”.

2). And Colton had to defend himself. It’s not that any other Devils player around was actually a threat, but they could have been if Colton had just clearly tried to injure a teammate, which he did not, so there was not that worry. So it must have been that Meier launched an unprovoked attack the innocent Colton lad, which Ross valiantly thwarted. If anything, they should have been a penalty on Meier for what Colton perceived he could have been thinking about doing.

Avs fans going with that….huh.

Who U Got?

Who U Got?

Who U Got?

Who U Got?

Who is in net. Sharks have a B2B with Edmonton then travel to Vegas tomorrow. Kahkonen is back from injury. Do you play your 1B against the "worst team" in Edmonton and save your 1A for the better team in Vegas? Or do they put Blackwood in the home game to give themselves the best chance?

I think both go all in - the loser potential at stake will make for a very, very, very bad day tomorrow...