fanaticV3.0

He was given the captaincy for no other reason than being the face of the franchise. It wasn't based on experience or merit. Taking that into considering, after his 2nd slow start, I don't have a problem with people questioning his captaincy. Now they should know realistically they're never going to strip him of the C that soon, but that doesn't mean it can't be discussed or thought about. So people wanted him stripped of the C? So what? He's playing great now and this is what we're talking about? This is lame.

Which is why I take issue with the premise of the thread. He was playing poorly at the beginning of the year and was criticized. He is playing great now and is being praised for it. I don't have a problem with either. If we've got nothing better to talk about than how some people's opinions of Giroux in the beginning of the year were not flattering - especially when true - we all need to get a life.

If you are healthy enough to play you're healthy enough to be criticized. If your injuries are affecting your productivity, you shouldn't be playing. This is the 2nd year in a row he's had a slow start too.

I don't understand why this is even an issue. He played poorly and was criticized. He's playing well now and is being praised. I don't see anything wrong with either, especially when you account for his two sub-par starts the last two seasons. It's not like people are lying about that.

Then what was he doing? Saying hello? Kessel was not jumped. He reached for an opposing team's player and that player responded. Kessel reacted by hitting said player with his stick, which was the 3rd time he had done that in 2 recent games. I don't care what he did before that, that's a trend and I don't feel even a little guilty about calling him cheap or dirty.

It's not flip flopping if what is being said about him is actually true though. He was playing like crap in the beginning of this year and it was the second year in a row he did that. Calling him out for that is in no way, shape, or form wrong.

I'm a big fan of pairs as well. It allows you to build chemistry, but also mix things up with that 3rd guy if a team needs a spark without flat out mixing up all 4 lines (which I hate).

I like him a lot too. I think him and Couturier could play an important role in this team's shutdown line for years to come. He's definitely not going anywhere if I'm in charge. I'd add Mason and Voracek to that list too if for no other reason than I like the fact that this group has been playing together and building chemistry.

For what? Dude was playing like sh!t at the beginning of the year for the 2nd year in a row. Given that, I don't know what you or anyone else feels like they have to apologize for. He's playing great now and we should all be happy about that rather than lecturing other fans on having an honest opinion. That is amateur imo.

There is literally no other reason to put your hands on somebody - particularly in a hockey game - other than to start a fight. You use your stick like a baseball bat on 3 separate occasions, you're dirty.

I'd be willing to try either suggestion. I'm not saying fans know it all or even more than coaches/GMs, but sometimes it seems like people on the inside don't do what is very obvious. There's also not enough outside the box thinking.

Not hostile, lol. What was he trying to do, brush dandruff off Scott's shoulder? You put your hands on anyone in real life, you shouldn't be surprised if you get punched, let alone in a game where physicality is allowed. Not hostile, lol. How ridiculous. The only one you are fooling with that lame argument is yourself. Nobody got jumped in that fight, least of all Kessel. I don't know. Has he done it more than once or is it an isolated incident? I wouldn't hesitate to call a Flyer dirty just because he's a Flyer.

Three incidents in less than a week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nrgYmRBnjg. I don't feel even a little bit guilty about labeling him. As far as Scott "jumping him", watch the video. Kessel is the one who reached for Scott first.

My first reaction was, "This isn't fantasy hockey." Maybe he meant it in jest, I dunno. It just struck me as bizarre. Yes he did and yes they have to, so they have to try and find the best possible solution. I like your suggestion (I think it was you). of having him center Giroux. If that didn't work, I'd consider putting him on the third line and bumping Schenn and Couturier up to 1st and 2nd line centers (with Giroux still on the wing), but would give the first thing a shot first.

It is the path of least resistance. It won't mess with the kids development and might actually benefit VLC to play his natural position again.

If dirty players - who aren't fighters - don't want to have to put up with the possibility of fighting guys like Scott then maybe they should rethink their style of play. I have less of a problem with guys like Scott defending their teammates than I do with someone who is a cheapshot artists and refuses to fight.

How can there be only (roughly) 10-15 other examples but it be "not even close" to being dead and gone? You're talking about a very small number of players..

They are never going to put him on the fourth line, nor should they. I'm surprised a professional journalist actually suggested it, because it's just not the kind of thing that happens very often. The fourth line is not a place for your struggling scorers. The only example I can think of is when Hitch put Williams on the fourth and that benefited nobody at all. He didn't dig himself out of the hole, it didn't help the team, and he was gone not long after that (and people still complain about). I don't see him improving by playing with Hall and Rinaldo. The only realistic option is to move him back to his natural position. Since Giroux is more established as a player, it makes more sense moving him to wing rather than the two kids.

I think it is for all intents and purposes dead. I know there's still a few left, but there are so few of them and they are insignificant to the game. I disagree that guys like Scott and Kaleta skating around looking for fights, while guys in the past didn't do the same. Some of them could play a little bit, some of them couldn't, but their main purpose was to fight. They were known for their fisticuffs and if they weren't, they wouldn't have a job. Last I read fighting was down in 2012 and again in 2013 and that is because less of those guys exist imo (other things too, but that's a big factor).

I grew up in an era where there was way more fighting just for the sake of it. I remember anticipating games based just on who each team's heavyweights were, knowing they'd go at a certain point in the game. This was after the sideshow that was the 70s and parts of the 80s. If two goons squaring off now bothers people, I can't even imagine them watching the game in the past. I agree about it interrupting an actual play. That's annoying. Aside from that, I got no problem with it. One of my greatest memories from hockey growing up was Claude Lemieux going at it with Darren McCarty right at the beginning of the game. I hated Lemieux, but he deserves credit for stepping up.

I find it interesting people take issue with goons fighting just for the sake of it, because there is way less of that now than even just a few years ago. There are piratically no "goons" left in the league. There are no more Tie Domis, Dan Kordics, Dave Browns, or Tony Twists in the NHL anymore. They aren't a dying breed, they are dead. I don't care if it's off of a face off, retaliation for a dirty (or clean) hit, as long as it's between two willing combatants, I have no issue with it. I don't like cheap shots, fighting a guy who doesn't want to go, or other stuff like that, but if it's between two guys who want to go, I say let them go. This talk of suspending one kind of fight but allowing another is nonsense.

Don't ask him to justify his opinions. You'll end up tired, confused, and with a headache.

It's nothing bad. It's more along the lines of, "Wait Ron Jeremy was talking about the Flyers? Where, on Twitter" or "The Ron Jeremy posts here?!" Then my brain realizes both are not true and I laugh at myself.

"Don't do this to your team", lol. It's not like he's a doctor who walks out in the middle of surgery. It's just a game. He's not hurting anyone by choosing to be closer to his family (sorry, but the Lightning's PO chances is hardly important in the bigger picture). Plus, you yourself are the one who said he has wanted out of Tampa for years and the team refused to deal him.

Yes, but not every second of every game or anything like that.