To some degree, I think he literally can’t help himself. He’s got some sociopathy in him. All you can do is hope to keep a lid on it. Or you get rid of him and have to be on the receiving end. Because all these teams that claim to hate him would snatch him up if he was a free agent.

Maybe he just needs a hug.

Yes. He had 59 points for that Avs team....as a defenseman. He was +25. 10 points in 25 playoff games. He was a key player for them.

Obviously, if SJ makes it to the next round, Joe becomes the story. But David Backes is one of those guys if he was on your team, you’d root for irrationally. Maybe it’s the dog adoptions*, or the community work, or playing as honest a game as you can in a violent sport (no one is completely innocent), he’s a good…

The best way I’ve heard Bergeron described is “hockey Jedi.” He’s always in the right spot. He’s tremendous defensively. He’s a faceoff wizard. Things like that.

Patrice Bergeron is a superb player and a star player and is bound for the Hall of Fame and every team would love to have him, is kicking itself for passing him over in the superb 2003 Draft, but he does lack star power, comparatively. In the vein of Bob Gainey or Trevor Linden, he’s indispensable to his team, but…

COUNTERPOINT: The Bruins are extremely talented, and this should be recognized and celebrated. It is generally a good thing that one of the two or three best teams in the league will be in the finals.

While I get the Boston hate (from here and even I hate some of our fans), any hockey fan should be able to appreciate Bergeron’s two-way game, McAvoy’s ascent to an elite level D-man and contributions from all lines.

I endured listening to guys talk the other day about the “lack of star power left” in these playoffs... When reminded of Bergeron, one literally said, “True fan see his nuances and what makes him special, but he’s not flashy enough to be a superstar...” I mean, to some extent, they said the same shit about Lidstrom,…

I’m obviously pretty excited about this, and the Backes story being one reason. Rask has been playing out of his mind, and seeing the team get scoring from all the depth players for a while (Nordstrom, MoJo, and even Kampfer, of all people) until the top line got untracked was fun too.

The pain...it still lingers. Also, can’t believe Bergeron was playing with a punctured lung in this game. Unbelievable. 

stoppage time is a minimum. Time was added for the delay of game.

Guys I am very drunk

We are about to eat our candidates again. If you had a company, you’d never hire Trump to run it. If someone in your personal life bragged or lied like Trump, you’d never hang out with them. The person I knew in college that bragged and lied like that was known as “Annoying Man” by me and my friends. Yet somehow this…

Actually all these anecdotes make me like him, and up until now I was more or less indifferent. Maybe I’m also an asshole?

There’s nothing in hockey less frightening than “President’s Trophy winners”. All it does is get your opponents that much more excited to punch you in the mouth.

I’m so glad this is the first comment, because I almost skipped down here to ask the same thing. Has he not noticed how many 50 year olds are trying to get with 20/30 year olds? Kid needs to take up a volunteer job in a retirement or assisted living facility and see what’s what.

Another thing betraying his age is that he doesn’t think old farts aren’t just cranking it to fox news all day. 

I’m just glad he won the Super Bowl in his last game. It’s fitting to see a Patriots player have a happy ending.