It's his own damn fault for not wearing a face protector. Oh, he's a tough guy that thinks only pussies wear them? Fark him.

Pronger? I barely knew her!

Link (new window)

Also: Kerry Fraser on why Grabovski wasn't penalized: Link. (new window)

Pronger is and has always been a farking prick. The only way this could have turned out better would be if Grabo had shoved his hockey stick up Prongers butt while he was crying on the ice like a little beyotch. If there is a hockey God, Pronger will be in the market for a seeing eye dog.

Hugh Jassole: Pronger is and has always been a farking prick. The only way this could have turned out better would be if Grabo had shoved his hockey stick up Prongers butt while he was crying on the ice like a little beyotch. If there is a hockey God, Pronger will be in the market for a seeing eye dog.

Living up to your name, I see. Tell us how you really feel...

I hope he loses an eye. And his children.

Dude took a stick to the eye - don't blame the victim.

fireside68: While I'm at it, why isn't someone taking the void being left by a lack of NBA games and filling it with NHL games?

What do you mean? NHL already has a TV deal with VS (and NBC). Since NBC owns VS I doubt they'd give any station the right to show NHL games no matter how much ESPN begs them. Also Fox Sports local chanels have deals with every team and those are broadcasted on NHL Gameday plan which is a great value (if I wasn't broke).

fireside68: While I'm at it, why isn't someone taking the void being left by a lack of NBA games and filling it with NHL games?

Gary Bettman, genius that he is, would rather be on Versus/NBC and be seen only every so often instead of all the farking time on ESPN. Everyone and their mother could see that the NBA was going to have an extended work stoppage - except for Bettman of course. I guess he thinks that people want to work to find his sport instead of trying to shove it down everyone's throats like the NFL, NBA, and MLB do.

Station: Dude took a stick to the eye - don't blame the victim.

Because some "tough" old school hockey players have been giving shiat for years to younger players that wear visors. For years I've had to hear other fans and players call out Dustin Brown for wearing a visor while still playing very physical and getting into fights.

Pronger Physics.

I'm surprised Pronger didn't take one of his skates off and try to stab Grabovski with it.

/karmas a biatch, isn't it Pronger?

AdmirableSnackbar: fireside68: While I'm at it, why isn't someone taking the void being left by a lack of NBA games and filling it with NHL games?

Gary Bettman, genius that he is, would rather be on Versus/NBC and be seen only every so often instead of all the farking time on ESPN. Everyone and their mother could see that the NBA was going to have an extended work stoppage - except for Bettman of course. I guess he thinks that people want to work to find his sport instead of trying to shove it down everyone's throats like the NFL, NBA, and MLB do.

ESPN offered less money. I'm 100% behind Bettman's decision to stick with NBC/VS when ESPN shat on NHL after the lockout and wouldn't even air games without paying the league a dime.

So the Leafs called up Tim "Dr. Hook" McCracken from Syracuse?

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

NHL - Pronger = Better NHL

Wolf Cola:
/karmas a biatch, isn't it Pronger?

Came here to post this.

ddam: Station: Dude took a stick to the eye - don't blame the victim.

Because some "tough" old school hockey players have been giving shiat for years to younger players that wear visors. For years I've had to hear other fans and players call out Dustin Brown for wearing a visor while still playing very physical and getting into fights.

I don't find anything "pussy" about wearing a visor, but even Wayne Simmonds learned while in LA that if you get yourself in a fight and want to be taken seriously, take off your helmet.

It's pretty clearly a disadvantage to a non-visor wearing combatant to have to punch straight into a shielded face.

/now, if you wear a visor and someone jumps you and find yourself unwillingly in a scrap, keep it on. It's their own damn fault for not giving you fair warning.

ddam: AdmirableSnackbar: fireside68: While I'm at it, why isn't someone taking the void being left by a lack of NBA games and filling it with NHL games?

Gary Bettman, genius that he is, would rather be on Versus/NBC and be seen only every so often instead of all the farking time on ESPN. Everyone and their mother could see that the NBA was going to have an extended work stoppage - except for Bettman of course. I guess he thinks that people want to work to find his sport instead of trying to shove it down everyone's throats like the NFL, NBA, and MLB do.

ESPN offered less money. I'm 100% behind Bettman's decision to stick with NBC/VS when ESPN shat on NHL after the lockout and wouldn't even air games without paying the league a dime.

Oh well. Enjoy barely being able to watch hockey. I, for one, would like to watch a few games and see more than occasional highlights on SportsCenter. Sometimes taking more money is a poor decision and in this case it was an obviously poor decision by Bettman. ESPN barely acknowledges hockey anymore, whereas NBC will eventually show one game a week and Versus who the hell knows because no one watches that channel. The increased exposure of ESPN would have been more than worth the difference in income on the two deals. ESPN right now would be showing hockey probably 4 or 5 nights a week, showing 7-8 games and there would be extensive highlights on SportsCenter. That's much, much more exposure than what Versus and NBC offer. It's hard to be a fan of any team when you never see them play, only hearing about results after the fact.

ddam: Station: Dude took a stick to the eye - don't blame the victim.

Because some "tough" old school hockey players have been giving shiat for years to younger players that wear visors. For years I've had to hear other fans and players call out Dustin Brown for wearing a visor while still playing very physical and getting into fights.

I don't find anything "pussy" about wearing a visor, but even Wayne Simmonds who used to wear a visor learned to take his helmet off when he engaged in a scrap. It's pretty clearly a disadvantage to a non-visor wearing combatant to have to punch straight into a shield.

That said, if someone jumps you and you're unwillingly getting pounded on, then keep your shield on. If they break their hand punching into it, that's their own damn fault.

what the hell? I meant to cancel the earlier post but it posted anyway.

/puts on visor, sulks away

Killer Cars: ddam: Station: Dude took a stick to the eye - don't blame the victim.

Because some "tough" old school hockey players have been giving shiat for years to younger players that wear visors. For years I've had to hear other fans and players call out Dustin Brown for wearing a visor while still playing very physical and getting into fights.

I don't find anything "pussy" about wearing a visor, but even Wayne Simmonds learned while in LA that if you get yourself in a fight and want to be taken seriously, take off your helmet.

It's pretty clearly a disadvantage to a non-visor wearing combatant to have to punch straight into a shielded face.
/now, if you wear a visor and someone jumps you and find yourself unwillingly in a scrap, keep it on. It's their own damn fault for not giving you fair warning.

So it's on the visor wearing players to drop their helmet (which also protects the head) because another player is "tough" and chooses not to wear a visor? BS. If you wanna fight, you fight, otherwise you head towards your bench and let refs separate the players.

ddam: So it's on the visor wearing players to drop their helmet (which also protects the head) because another player is "tough" and chooses not to wear a visor? BS. If you wanna fight, you fight, otherwise you head towards your bench and let refs separate the players.

Depends on who the aggressor is. If a Trevor Gillies or some enforcer is mucking it up with a "scorer", then said enforcer is being an asshole for going after a non-fighter in the first place and can be forced to punch through a brick wall as far as I'm concerned.

But, if you wear a visor, actually instigate, initiate, or say "okay" to a challenge....has nothing to do with "toughness", it's just common sense. If I'm wearing a football helmet at the bar and some neanderthal challenges me to a fight, I have the sense to say "no" and just avoid it altogether than say "sure, let's go" and keep the helmet on. It's just fairness. If he jumps me though, you're damn right I'm not taking the football helmet off.

Every single NHL playoff game is going to be on national TV under the new deal. Espn would never in a million years match that, NBA or no. The NHL was right not to go with them. You can't take advantage of espn's exposure when they want to show one game a week.

What the hell are you sandy vagina's gonna do when Pronger returns (Mid to Late November) with a visor and is still the epic asshole (but you want him on your team) he's always been.

Also instigating a fight while wearing a visor gets you an extra 2 minute minor on top of the 17 the instigator rule provides, even the league thinks starting fight while wearing a vsior is a pussy move.

Resolute: AdmirableSnackbar: ESPN barely acknowledges hockey anymore

ESPN barely acknowledged hockey when it had the rights.

Now, I have no horse in this race given I am Canadian, but facts are facts here. Would ESPN have given the NHL more coverage due to the NBA lockout? Certainly. Would the NBA lockout have lasted ten years? Nope.

It would be remarkably shortsighted to sign a long term deal with ESPN in a bid to take advantage of a short-term problem with the NBA. Especially given the previous mistreatment at the hands of ESPN. The NHL did what was prudent for its business.

Get a better cable provider.

Bull. ESPN definitely acknowledged hockey when it had the rights. They certainly showed more games than Versus/NBC do, but then again ESPN has a brazilian networks on which to air games. And if the NHL not only thinks it did what was best for its business but got fans to buy into it, then there's a reason why it is considered a second-rate league, barely above the AFL and MLS.

Realize that I'm not arguing for myself but for the sport in general. You can't make casual fans into hardcore fans or nonfans into casual fans by being on a third or fourth tier network and only showing one game a week on broadcast TV after the NFL season is over. Yes, the NHL should have taken ESPN's scraps - just like MLB did after their work stoppage - because sooner or later either another league is going to do something stupid (like the NBA) or the NHL would find something marketable that required ESPN to pay more attention to the league. Right now the NHL is an anonymous entity to most sports fans, and that is by choice. That's a terrible way to run a business, almost as bad as overexpanding into ridiculously small markets and vastly diluting the talent pool...kind of like the NHL also did.

Yeah, you're right, Bettman's making some great decisions.

Ishkur: AdmirableSnackbar: ESPN definitely acknowledged hockey when it had the rights.

Only to mock it.

Oft-told joke during that time: "Stanley Cup? What is that, some kind of yachting trophy?"

fark ESPN.

Sounds like what they did to baseball when the MLB had their strike. Except baseball and its fans didn't get all butthurt about it and MLB was smart enough to realize that people would come back to the sport. And now they get a ton more exposure than the NHL does.

Given the headline I figured he got another reporter pregnant.

cameroncrazy1984: AdmirableSnackbar: . Except baseball and its fans didn't get all butthurt about it

Yeah they did. Baseball is now, 15 years later, having a hard time getting back to the levels of attendance and viewership they were getting pre-strike.

Did they move to a non-entity network because of the jokes? No, they toughed it out. Baseball will never get to where it was pre-strike, but only because American culture has changed too much for baseball to be the top dog. But hockey is fast-paced and exciting enough that it could have great viewership - if it wanted it. Instead it would rather be on a network that nobody watches, in which case its viewership and therefore its fan base will do nothing but decline.

geo9270: What the hell are you sandy vagina's gonna do when Pronger returns (Mid to Late November) with a visor and is still the epic asshole (but you want him on your team) he's always been.

Also instigating a fight while wearing a visor gets you an extra 2 minute minor on top of the 17 the instigator rule provides, even the league thinks starting fight while wearing a vsior is a pussy move.

Citation? Not that I don't believe you but I'd like to see the rule.

cameroncrazy1984: ddam: m. Also Fox Sports local chanels have deals with every team

Point of order, the New York teams (Sabres, Rangers and Isles) along with the New Jersey Devils have a deal with MSG, which is not affiliated with Fox Sports. And the Flyers are on Comcast SportsNet. And the Canadian teams have their own channels.

Point taken. I should have said most teams. I'm streaming most of the games I watch this season (cable has been cut since NBA finals ended) and all I seem to watch is Fox Sports ____.

Ishkur: AdmirableSnackbar: Sounds like what they did to baseball when the MLB had their strike

for ten years?

Not for 10 years but for a good 6 or 7 until viewership was back up to an acceptable level. Baseball took its lumps and experienced growth. The NHL packed up shop and hid.

AdmirableSnackbar: Except baseball and its fans didn't get all butthurt about it and MLB was smart enough to realize that people would come back to the sport. And now they get a ton more exposure than the NHL does.

That's like saying Fox News would be a little less hard on Obama if he came around to the Republicans way of thinking.

No, it's actually nothing like that. That might be the worst analogy I've ever heard, actually.

ddam: geo9270: What the hell are you sandy vagina's gonna do when Pronger returns (Mid to Late November) with a visor and is still the epic asshole (but you want him on your team) he's always been.

Also instigating a fight while wearing a visor gets you an extra 2 minute minor on top of the 17 the instigator rule provides, even the league thinks starting fight while wearing a vsior is a pussy move.

Citation? Not that I don't believe you but I'd like to see the rule.

cameroncrazy1984: ddam: m. Also Fox Sports local chanels have deals with every team

Point of order, the New York teams (Sabres, Rangers and Isles) along with the New Jersey Devils have a deal with MSG, which is not affiliated with Fox Sports. And the Flyers are on Comcast SportsNet. And the Canadian teams have their own channels.

Point taken. I should have said most teams. I'm streaming most of the games I watch this season (cable has been cut since NBA finals ended) and all I seem to watch is Fox Sports ____.

From NHL.com under rule 46 Fighting
46.6 Face Protection - If a player penalized as an instigator of an altercation is wearing a face shield (including a goalkeeper), he shall be assessed an additional unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.