Must. Resist. Comment.veritas said:People wanting to see Lucic get a game or two off may get their wish after this little gesture to Habs fans
http://twitpic.com/ectw9h/full
Must. Resist. Comment.veritas said:People wanting to see Lucic get a game or two off may get their wish after this little gesture to Habs fans
http://twitpic.com/ectw9h/full
He'll pay a fine. He can afford it. That's not suspension worthy.veritas said:People wanting to see Lucic get a game or two off may get their wish after this little gesture to Habs fans
http://twitpic.com/ectw9h/full
Salem's Lot said:He'll pay a fine. He can afford it. That's not suspension worthy.
Were the two assists and numerous other plays to set up chances not enough tonight?TheShynessClinic said:WILL. NOT. BE. PAVLOVIAN.
I said nothing negative about his play tonight. He wasn't terrible and had flashes of good play. He's still playing inconsistently, and worse - stupid. But tonight was a step in the right direction.Myt1 said:Were the two assists and numerous other plays to set up chances not enough tonight?
Did you miss his 10 minute misconduct and his cute little temper tantrum in the penalty box? That's what I mean when I said stupid.Myt1 said:What was stupid tonight? Were the assists just raw physical ability?
He looked good in the third period and overtime against Detroit, too.
Myt1 said:How did it hurt the team?
More to the point, if I check the game thread after Ference flipped off the Habs fans, your reaction will have been the same, right?
Myt1 said:The issue, though, is that it never matters at all with you and Lucic. He was one of the best players on the ice tonight and all you care about is a behavior that you would have lauded in pretty much everyone else. That's the reason for the pavlovian comment; the confirmation bias. And I find it generally hard to believe that something like the phony distraction from the handshake line had any effect at all on the team, let alone a negative one, but it's a fact just sitting there waiting to be cherry-picked while basically ignoring things like the stretches he spends carrying the team like early last year.
Does Lucic do some stuff that sucks? Of course he does. But the "dumbest player in the league" stuff is becoming ubiquitous and GenericJulE6 Post-Bot-esque.
I mean, one of these days, BSF will eventually seem to be right about Claude killing the Bruins offense, too.
TheShynessClinic said:
Disagree, completely. But that's whatever. He had a few nice plays, and made a few bad plays as well. And I also get on Marchand when he does stupid shit that hurts the team as well. Generally I'm opposed to stupid hockey, regardless of the name on the back, or the crest of the front of the jersey.
And here's the thing - Lucic had no bigger fan in the world than me his first 3-4 years in the NHL. My username on another board was Milan Neely (partially to annoy other posters, partially because I really believed he could be Cam Neely lite in his prime). Go back to any gamethread prior to the 2012 season and you'll see me all but cupping the balls with Milan. This isn't something where I've hated the guy since the beginning, and I don't hate him now. I see someone who could be a top 10 player in the league - all aspects of his play considered, and I see someone who for whatever reason hasn't improved at all in his last 2-3 years, and in some regards has regressed. I'm not about to burn my Lucic jersey over it - but in a gamethread, where emotions and dumb comments reign supreme - I'm as guilty as anyone.
And leave JulE6 Generic Post-Bot out of this. He's a Saint and doesn't deserve his name being dragged through the mud because of my shitty posting.
TheRealness said:
Didn't you set the record in PIMs in your men's league recently?
The Four Peters said:I split out the Lucic talk from the Montreal gamethread because I thought it was good stuff and didn't want it buried just there.
I think there's two arguments at play here. 1. Lucic's performance on the ice. 2. Lucic's value relative to his contract. I think number 1 is fine, and cshea is right...this is what he is. A 60 point first line forward who is physical and a force at his best, emotional and prone to dumb penalties at worst. That's all fine and I don't think anyone would be unhappy with that production every year.
Number 2 is where it gets tricky though. He was signed to a 6 million AAV deal likely with the expectation that he would become a little more than that. Is he worth that cap hit if he just a 60 point winger? Maybe, maybe not, but that's where the interesting discussion is to be had, in my opinion. Saying he sucks or has regressed or is the stupidest player in the league doesn't hold water in my eyes. But saying that he's overpaid and not the best value at the moment (especially considering Seguin was considered to be overpaid at the same price)? That could very well be true.
TheShynessClinic said:Lucic can be worth his contract even at 60 points a season. He just needs to be more consistent with his play. Lucic will go stretches where he's absolutely dominant and worth every penny. But then he goes into month long funks where he's no better than current David Clarkson.
When I said earlier that he regressed, I meant that it seems like he's even streakier now than when he was younger. He can still be a dominant player and at times he is. But he needs to figure out how to be a factor every game, just not one out of every three.
If you're getting a consistent, even performance from him over the entirety a season - he's worth it. His combination of power, toughness, and scoring is virtually unmatched. Unfortunately he rarely seems like he has all three facets of his game going at the same time - which makes his contract seem at times worse than it is.
FL4WL3SS said:Is Lucic becoming a punch line like this article suggests?
I'm not sure I disagree with the sentiment. I don't know what happened to Lucic, but he's starting to act like a coward. I was at the game on Friday and Lucic absolutely started to go at Prout and made a motion like he was going to drop his gloves. Prout dropped him swiftly and Lucic is crying about it. Not only that, but if Lucic didn't want to fight then why is he shoving a guy from behind in the back of the head?
It's getting difficult to root for the guy, to be honest.
FL4WL3SS said:Is Lucic becoming a punch line like this article suggests?
I'm not sure I disagree with the sentiment. I don't know what happened to Lucic, but he's starting to act like a coward. I was at the game on Friday and Lucic absolutely started to go at Prout and made a motion like he was going to drop his gloves. Prout dropped him swiftly and Lucic is crying about it. Not only that, but if Lucic didn't want to fight then why is he shoving a guy from behind in the back of the head?
It's getting difficult to root for the guy, to be honest.
So you don't think some of his antics are getting old?TheRealness said:
Really? I mean.... really?
I hate that article so much. He takes cheap shots, but to call him a coward? Are you being deliberately hyperbolic or are you just soaking up the Ohio stupidity? I hear it's endemic over there.
Is Aaron Ward a coward because Scott Walker dropped him with his gloves on? Clearly, he pushed Walker and stared at him, so he really wanted to fight and should have been ready?
Stop. Just stop it.
FL4WL3SS said:So you don't think some of his antics are getting old?
I see the incident with Prout differently than you do. Don't engage a guy unless you're ready to drop the gloves, especially if you have a reputation for being a tough guy. If it was Loui doing the shoving, this would be a different conversation, right?
I'm not letting Prout completely off the hook here. I just don't agree with how Lucic handled it.
Maybe coward was too strong of a word, I'll admit that.TheRealness said:
Does he come across as whiny bitching about it? Sure. Is he a coward? No, that's moronic. Is it hard for me to root for him? Absolutely not, my love for him is still strong.
It's one thing to not like the bitching, but it's entirely another to call him a coward and say you can't root for him like he's Matt Cooke or something.
FL4WL3SS said:Maybe coward was too strong of a word, I'll admit that.
Also, just for clarity sake I said that it was getting difficult to root for him (to be more specific, not in general, but in these situations). Not that I can't root for him.
Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout will live forever.
The 24-year-old sent Boston Bruins forward Milan Lucic to the ice with one punch on Nov. 21, and Prout's been receiving thank you letters from across North America, shaking hands with strangers and kissing babies ever since.
A night later in Philadelphia, Prout was spoken to by two men who never give him the time of day, and they're conversations he'll never forget, writes The Province's Jason Botchford.
"The refs never talk to me," Prout said. "I don't wear a letter. But before the game, a ref came up to me and said 'Good job, last night.'
"Later," Prout added, "the shorter ref came up and said 'Nice right.'"
Dropkick Izzy said:Assuming it was that night's refs (Nov 22), Brad Meier and Kyle Rehman were the ones working.
I'm surprised Looch would garner such a reaction. Is he a bully? Obviously. But does he really make the official's jobs that much more difficult? Hit, fight, go to the box for 5. Someone like Marchand I could see considering he's such a pain in the ass.
Regardless, the professionalism of these two leaves a lot to be desired.
I'm not a Bruins' fan. I don't like Lucic but in the way that I wish he was on my team. The quote above accurately describes my sentiments on the guy. It's unnecessary.behindthepen said:Since the handshake line incident, I feel like Looch has lost all the benefit of the doubt in these situations, and the fact they keep happening is clearly hurting his image.
There's a low-hanging fruit quality to this part of the discussion. I'm skeptical that the linesmen spoke in the manner the immortal hockey scribe Navin Vaswani suggests. They may have joked to Prout about the punch, but the suggestion that they appreciate Prout getting the best of Lucic in one fight because the latter allegedly gives them grief at times sounds kind of dubious. He's a young guy and new to the League. They were joking with him. Milan Lucic is not the first difficult player (if he even is to them; we don't know that to be true) they have dealt with. If I were them, a million billion red hot suns could come and go before I'd be buddying up to a player in that manner. It would be extremely unprofessional.ngruz25 said:
Obviously, that doesn't excuse congratulating a player for beating him up.
I think it happens all the time. When watching 24/7 you hear the refs talking to guys about stuff that happened in previous games.ngruz25 said:Obviously, that doesn't excuse congratulating a player for beating him up.
You do know what The Score is correct?Fred in Lynn said:There's a low-hanging fruit quality to this part of the discussion. I'm skeptical that the linesmen spoke in the manner the immortal hockey scribe Navin Vaswani suggests. They may have joked to Prout about the punch, but the suggestion that they appreciate Prout getting the best of Lucic in one fight because the latter allegedly gives them grief at times sounds kind of dubious. He's a young guy and new to the League. They were joking with him. Milan Lucic is not the first difficult player (if he even is to them; we don't know that to be true) they have dealt with. If I were them, a million billion red hot suns could come and go before I'd be buddying up to a player in that manner. It would be extremely unprofessional.
This sounds like the case of a bitter fan on the internet making an inductive leap.
Edit: There's also an article (blog) out there from someone named David Rogers where he makes an inductive leap from Prout's comments about some refs chatting him up about the punch. Again, a lot of reasons to be skeptical that the refs were reveling in his knock down of Lucic. Hogwash, I say, hogwash.
You got that right.kenneycb said:I forgot the comma in front of correct. Figures a Flyers fan can't read English.
Ah, the claim of status through association. I do now I understand the context better, and you can color me less impressed than I was before. I could understand if the article - which contained the unsubstantiated implication that the referees don't like Milan Lucic and vocally expressed pleasure that Prout got the better of him in one fight - came from a fan writing in a blog. Show me a well-written and researched piece, and I'll be happy to treat it with due respect.kenneycb said:Annual Report - http://mobile.thescore.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/theScore-Inc-F2014-Annual-Report-2014.pdf. Boom.
It's a wholly-owned subsidiary of Rogers that has some very good hockey writers, specifically Justin Bourne among others. When you denigrate piece as being written by "the immortal scribe Navin Vaswani", I do find it important to understand the context of where the piece was published, which is more than just a place for deranged fans to rant and rave as we collectively do here.