Misconduct

In less than twenty-four hours we will probably know where Marian Hossa will play next season. Maybe even Ty Conklin, Mikael Samuelsson, and Jiri Hudler.

NHL free agency opens up Wednesday and I won't be around to pay attention to any of it. I think it's the first time since about 2000 for that to be the case.

Every now and then life just doesn't schedule things in line with hockey and since I'm pretty sure the Red Wings will lose all four of the aforementioned players anyway (Conklin having already been confirmed), I've gotta prioritize.

It's sad, because I like to treat July 1 like a holiday even though I'm not Canadian, but this is for very good reasons so I'm cool with it.

Feel free to post comments about whatever happens here or discuss everything in the forums. I'll check in when I can.

Yesterday I thought I was ready to dive back into NHL news and see what the rest of the hockey world was thinking. Turns out, I was wrong.

I don't know why I never learn my lesson. Every time I try to read what people think about happenings around the league I feel stupider and angrier for trying.

Examples of what I've read in the last day or so:

• The announcement of Nicklas Lidstrom's injury was just the Wings organization making excuses for their loss.
• Sidney Crosby snubbed the Red Wings by refusing to shake hands, with the counterpoint being that the Wings snubbed Crosby by leaving the ice too soon.
• Wings fans are horrible for booing during the Cup presentation.

So, yeah, the season is over but the name-calling and general hate isn't and in all honesty I can't handle that hate.

I don't understand the people that troll blogs and forums, hiding behind the anonymity of the Internet to make immature comments in an attempt to start fights. There's this lack of logic out there in the world that just bothers me, so for the most part I'm just staying away and not getting into it anymore.

Instead, I'm hoping to look at each of those points with a bit of logic.

You'll notice that I'm not linking to much of anything in this post. It's because I don't want to send traffic to the places where these comments have been made.

Lidstrom's Injury
Nicklas Lidstrom missed the last two games of the Western Conference Finals after being speared between the legs by Chicago's Patrick Sharp. The testicle injury required surgery that would have kept Lidstrom out of the lineup for two more weeks had it been the regular season.

The details of the injury were announced leading up to Game Seven with the rest of the Wings' injuries announced after the game. Similarly, the Penguins made note of Crosby having been injured shortly after their elimination in the 2008 Finals.

There's no excuse here. Several Wings were hurt and that's a fact of the playoffs. Sergei Gonchar was hurt, too.

Once the games are done, there's just no need for secrecy anymore.

You could even spin this into a complaint about the refs, asking why Sharp wasn't penalized for the spear. It wouldn't have helped the Wings in the Finals but it is one sign of the inconsistent officiating that was commented on throughout the playoffs.

Crosby's Handshake Snub
Lidstrom led the Red Wings through the traditional handshake line only to discover that he made it through the line without seeing Crosby.

Some of the Wings, who feel that Lidstrom was snubbed, say that Crosby was too busy celebrating to take part in the tradition. Crosby did eventually make his way over but it was after Lidstrom had left the ice.

The Penguins contend that Lidstrom quickly left the ice, not giving Crosby the chance to shake his hand.

My opinion is that Crosby should have been in that line, if not leading it. If Lidstrom left the ice too quickly, how long was he supposed to wait?

I don't have the video to do this but I'd love to see someone check the tapes from 2008 and compare to 2009 to find out how long the winning team celebrated for before joining the handshake line.

For the record, I don't think that Chris Chelios skipping the handshakes in 2007 excuses anyone. He was wrong then, anyone else who does it is also wrong.

Booing the Cup
This one's an easy one because I was there. There was plenty of booing but there was also a chant going that clearly points out what the booing was directed at. That chant?

"Bettman Sucks."

In fact, the Penguins fan in front of me turned around and said, "I think that's something we can all agree on."

Amazing what context does for a person's opinion.

Now there is a twist on this one, and that would be that Wings fans not only booed during the Cup presentation but also cheered when Crosby limped off the ice midway through the game.

That one's true. There were plenty of people cheering that, and cheering for long enough that they can't hide behind the idea of cheering a good hit.

I wasn't one of those people but I can tell you why I would have done it: Turnabout is fair play.

In Game Five we saw Max Talbot slash Pavel Datsyuk's injured foot. Talbot later said he was going for the puck, which video replay showed was nowhere near Datsyuk's feet.

Talbot tried to take out Datsyuk and then Crosby got taken out two games later. It's not right but there's no denying a feeling of satisfaction from it.

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Blind homerism annoys the hell out of me. I don't like it from anyone, including Wings fans. There are no conspriacies, just idiocy.

Anyone who can't back up their arguments with facts is just spouting off. I don't get what the point of that is.

I feel like I should yell at someone to get off my lawn. Maybe I am getting too old for this, if not physically then mentally.

I've seen these Red Wings make the Finals six times and win the Stanley Cup four of them. That makes me cocky and it might make me arrogant but it doesn't mean I have to be blind.

No team does everything right. No player does everything right. No fan does everything right. It's ridiculous to think otherwise. That doesn't mean, however, that we need to make a big deal about every little thing.

It's the morning after and you know what p*sses me off most? Not that the Red Wings lost. It's sports, you can't win every year, it absolutely sucks but it happens.

The thing that p*sses me off is that I paid premium dollars for a game that the Wings treated like a regular season game in January. They showed absolutely no urgency. They played the game as if they could lose and say, "Eh, we'll get 'em next time."

After all the talk from Mike Babcock and Kris Draper about winning one for the people of Michigan because we need something to feel good about it, the team showed that it was just talk. While we may need something to feel good about, they didn't feel the need to put in any effort.

Okay, that's a bit of hyperbole. The first 20 minutes were fine and the last six minutes were impressive but by my math that adds up to 26 minutes of a 60 minute game.

The funny thing is I didn't think the Penguins played that great of a game. They didn't get a lot of really good chances but they did get to pucks along the boards and do the little things. With Detroit unwilling to fight for those pucks, all they had to do was get to them.

The Wings lost those battles, they dumped the puck in from the blue line on power plays and then didn't go get it, they didn't hold the puck in the Pittsburgh zone when they finally did get in there. It's hard to win a game with a puck control offense when you're not controlling the puck.

All year they had success playing their game but then when it came down to the last game of the year they didn't bother to play it. They switched from something that had won all season to something entirely different and somehow expected a good result?

I haven't seen any press on the game yet. Haven't watched any news, listened to any radio or read any articles, but I see a headline quoting Nicklas Lidstrom as saying, "It's hard losing the way we did tonight."

I'm sorry, Nick, but you're dead wrong. As proven, it's really damned easy to lose the way you did. Maybe you guys should have realized that a bit sooner.

We're inside twelve hours to the opening faceoff of tonight's Game Seven and I think this is the last time I'll have a clear thought until this thing is over.

Quick updates...

Pittsburgh's Petr Sykora is expected to miss Game Seven with a broken bone in his foot. Officially he's a game-time decision but the team would have to be pretty low on Miroslav Satan to go with a broken-footed Sykora over him.

For Detroit, Dan Cleary and Brian Rafalski skipped Thursday's practice but will play tonight. There are no expected lineup changes from Game Six.

I'll be posting from my phone again tonight so there won't be a lot of updates from me. If any big news comes up before I head out for Detroit, I'll post it.