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Anybody that would prefer Yzerman over Holland as a GM at this point is truly on crack. That includes Ilitch.

Why does Lebda have to wait for this Lidstrom joker to make a decision? Hurry up already with the decision so that we can know whether Lebda will be back or not next year.

So I was listening to NHL radio a few weeks back on a slow day at work when Gary Bettman's live show was starting. For those unfamiliar, he takes callers questions and does lame interviews. So I decided to call in. I got through right away and I told his call screener I wanted to know if, like last year, would the first 2 games of the Cup finals be played on back to back nights. And I was told to hold. And I did for almost the entire hour. While Gary took one call after another. Toward the end he started taking some really weak calls and I was convinced he didn't want to answer my question on the air. Even though the Wings won both those first 2 games, I am convinced they were scheduled like that to favor that team from pennsylvania (seeing as Lidstrom was nursing an injury and yes, Detroit was the older team). Anyhow, finally he takes my call, the last call of the show. The show was on a 2 minute delay so I knew I had to watch what I said or they would just dump me. (And believe me, there was a lot I wanted to say) After he apologized for the long hold I said, "I think like a lot of hockey fans I felt playing the first two games of the Cup finals on back to back nights last year was an irreverent publicity stunt. Teams work so hard all year to get there and they deserved not to be rushed. And I want to know if we are going to see that again when scheduling this seasons Cup finals?" (I wanted to throw in "or was that just to try and screw the Wings last year?" But I didn't want to sound whiney or have my call dropped.) Once I had asked my question I was disconnected at once. I put on my head phones and a minute or so later, sure enough, my question was aired. And Gary's answer was absolutely YES. He started to spin saying that he felt it got things off to a good start and helped bring in some of the leagues best ratings in years...blah blah spin blah" (We all know it was the teams playing that brought in the ratings.) Cut to today and I look that the schedule for the Cup final and I see that, surprise surprise, Gary lied. All the games are at least a day apart (as they should be). So not only did that weasel spin a bunch of B.S. he straight up lied to me on NHL radio. Unreal. Sorry for the long post and to bring up that weasel and bad memories. But I had to rant.

Franzen-Zetterberg-Alfredsson Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Radulov J. Ruutu-Filppula-T. Ruutu (The Vantaa line) Michalek-Krejci-Hudler Lidstrom-Kronwall Keith-Stuart Suter-Rafalski Miller Howard

yeah i'm getting sick of this prima donna lindstrom guy holding back our blue chip players like lebda. he's due for at least a 3 mil raise this year and he probably won't even get it

McLellan back to detroit

Well add this to the list as my crappy day has gotten crappier.

He was a part of this organization for 20+ years and was one of the best athletes/people employed ever by this organization. People like this come few and far between so people get attached to them a little bit. If somebody like this left your company after 20+ years, there will probably be sadness and a few tears as well. Don't tell people how and how not to act or that it's a bit too much. I nearly shed some tears, does that make me less of a man or person or whatever? So Holland is supposed to step aside for the better of Yzerman's career and improvement when Holland has given zero indication he is going to retire or move onto another position anytime soon? Give me a break.

People he's playing good for what 12 games? Yeah he got hot when he got put on a line with hartnell and Briere but he's not even noticeable out there. He had like 7 points in 42 games, is soft as butter and has absolutely no heart. Don't judge him til he actually does something in the league because right now 7 points in 42 games looks pretty s***ty to me. and Finnish Wing, you obviously didn't watch Leino with Detroit, he sucks and yu've got that finnish hard on going that we see on here so often. The guy has no heart at all.

I used to think I would feel betrayed, but with his Team Canada work and all the talk lately it just seemed like an inevitability. He has a great opportunity: he can't do any worse and has a great core squad to work with. With some luck he may just be able to mold Stamkos into Cindy's replacement as the face of the league, and wouldn't that be nice.

we know the scheduling is not entirely up to him.. NBC has the NHL by the balls after all..

Congrats to Stevie on finding employment in the current job market.

Yeah, Erat really screwed that one up. I was pretty angry. Anyhow---Hossa has 11 points and is tied for first on his team in +/-. He's not doing too badly.

Draper is already signed for that amount, so there's nothing we can do about it... Miller will be re-signed, Holland has already said he will tender offers to all of his RFA's and with the way he played this past year, unless someone actually signs him to an offer sheet(not likely) and we get draft picks as compensation, I don't see why we wouldn't keep him as a bottom line guy, he's great as an energy guy/PK guy... I don't see Bert taking a pay cut, so I priced him in at the same price he was already at... as for Holmstrom, his agent said he will not take a home-town discount and wants a raise, so that's the only reason I notched that number in there - when you average it out for a 20-30 goal and 50+ pt guy (not to mention how many more goals are DIRECTLY related to his work in front of the net, 2.5 is not an overpayment...

whats the chances of marleau coming to detroit?

Off topic: Draper getting paid $1.583 is ridiculous. On topic: I would not be surprised if Miller did NOT get resigned...he is rather redundant IMO. Also, I doubt that Bertuzzi will be paid $1.5 mil and Holmstrom $2.5.

I want the Hawks and Hawks will take it. GO HAWKS!

I wish they could move up 9 spots to grab Niederreiter. Tyler Pitlick has a pretty hilarious name, why not take him? edit: spelling

Leino played on a line with Filppula and with other fairly good players for awhile. No dice. He was lazy and he generally sucked. Holland wouldn't have traded him otherwise; as you may have noticed, loyalty is a keystone of this franchise, and so players very rarely get traded unless there's something genuinely wrong with how they're playing. We needed the cap space and Leino wasn't willing to put forth his all, and so he's gone. Quincey had every chance to prove himself. He got time in the regular season and he played a bunch of games in the '07 playoffs. He didn't even show a glimmer of the offensive talent he has exhibited over the past two seasons. Meech, on the other hand, played quite well when he was thrust into essentially a #1 defense slot during the injury spell in '08. That's why Meech stayed and Quincey did not. What you're doing here is bitching. You are making complaints that have absolutely no basis in reality. You are engaging in a course of egregious hindsight criticism. What's your problem?

Are you implying that Leino chose to leave? I think he just wanted to play on a line with skill players, and Babcock wouldnt let him do it without first serving time on the forth line with scrubs. Ville will be a 30 goal scorer in this league, and we gave him away. I'm getting sick of Keeny giving away good talent for nothing. Or maybe its Babcock's coaching. How could we keep Meech in favor of Quincy, or Williams instead of Leino? How can the Red Wings as an organization so blatently miss talent like that?!

Slap him in the ass and call him jimmeh

Right... And the Sharks were weaker than the Wings... and Montreal had no chance against the high powered Capitals in a 7 game series... and Pittsburgh was gonna ballerina dance into the SCF's... and Vancouver was the 'Team to Beat' for a while... and Chicago can't get deep with Huet/Neimi/Cambell... oh yea, 'The Hossa Curse'... and Leino sucks... I like the Flyers' chances. A lot.

Hmm... Two second-pairing defensemen, a third-pairing guy and a kid with strong potential who is probably the second best if not best defenseman in the entire group, and in two-three years will easily outpace the other three. Sounds like a standard Toronto unit. Drop your bona-fide star defenseman in favor of a bunch of overpaid chumps. Maybe Burke's highly physical team style will win out in the less physical East and provide playoff success as it has for Philly. Wait... that would require making the playoffs. Never mind.

I'll give you two reasons why the NHL belongs on ESPN. Reason 1: Reason 2: nuff said.