Leaderboard

absolutely not. vancouver is a joke, and TSN and the media hypes them up every year. Same old song and dance, strong or bust regular season and flop in the playoffs. Vancouver = San Jose Sharks 2.0

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2010/07/red_wings_sign_goaltender_joey.html Good news for Grand Rapids. Edit: I missed out the "a" in MacDonald. Someone fix it please

Yup, I remember that game.. and it really pissed me off. Glad he's back in GR.

fixed it for ya

Ummmm what? How do you figure? He is 27 years old and has been in the show for 6 years. Who could we possibly trade for him? Usually when ever a trade gets thrown out the usual suspects on this board are Fil, Huds, or Cleary. Hudler and Filppula are not only younger, but have more career potential and will put up more points while making around the same paycheck. Cleary would be the only viable option. However, who would accept a trade like Cleary for Lombardi? Could you think of a trade that would work? I'm rather curious to see what the Red Wings could package together for Lombardi.

My buddy in all seriousness just asked me if Modano signed here "Think he'd get #9"? f***in embarrassing buncha drunks. Mind you its early Friday night 4th of July weekend.....

Mike Modano via text message says Red Wings only team to call so far but said, ``if there is only one not a bad one to be.’’

I agree with the Nucks just being another overhyped choke team like the Sharks. I also agree that LA will be one of the stronger teams in the west, especially if they get Kovalchuk. I think Quick is underrated. I also think the Wings will be one of the toughest teams in the league if they can stay healthy!

They have by far the most changes of any post-lockout champion. 2006 Carolina Hurricanes Offseason - IN G John Grahame (FA from Tampa Bay) D David Tanabe (FA from Boston) D Tim Gleason (trade from Los Angeles) F Trevor Letowski (FA from Columbus) F Scott Walker (trade from Nashville) F Brad Isbister (FA from Boston) F Eric Belanger (trade from Los Angeles) OUT G Martin Gerber (FA to Ottawa) D Aaron Ward (FA to Rangers) D Oleg Tverdovsky (trade to Los Angeles) F Matt Cullen (FA to Rangers) F Doug Weight (FA to St. Louis) F Josef Vasicek (trade to Nashville) F Mark Recchi (FA to Pittsburgh) While not exactly losing any big names like Staal or Brind'amour, the players they lost to retirement or free agency were duly replaced, and Carolina looked just as good, if not better than the previous season. 2007 Anaheim Ducks Offseason - IN D Mathieu Schneider (FA from Detroit) F Todd Bertuzzi (FA from Detroit) F Mark Mowers (FA from Boston) F Bobby Ryan (rookie) OUT F Dustin Penner (FA to Edmonton) D Scott Niedermayer (temporary retirement) F Teemu Selanne (temporary retirement) F Shawn Thornton (FA to Boston) F Ryan Shannon (trade to VAN) 2008 Detroit Red Wings Offseason - IN F Marian Hossa (FA from Pittsburgh) G Ty Conklin (FA from Pittsburgh) F Ville Leino (rookie) OUT G Dominik Hasek (retirement) F Dallas Drake (retirement) D Kyle Quincey (waivers, picked up by LA) F Mark Hartigan (FA to Russia) 2009 Pittsburgh Penguins Offseason - IN D Jay McKee (FA from STL) D Martin Skoula (FA from MIN) G Brent Johnson (FA from WA) F Mike Rupp (FA from NJ) OUT D Rob Scuderi (FA to LA) F Miroslav Satan (FA to Boston) D Hal Gill (FA to MTL) G Mathieu Garon (FA to CBJ) All in all, no major depth losses for any of the teams that weren't adequately replaced. Now let's look at Chicago thusfar. IN F Marty Reasoner (trade from ATL) D Ivan Vishnevsky (trade from ATL) F Viktor Stalberg (trade from TOR) Six prospects OUT F Dustin Byfuglien (trade to ATL) D Brent Sopel (trade to ATL) F Andrew Ladd (trade to ATL) F Ben Eager (trade to ATL) F Kris Versteeg (trade to TOR) F Colin Fraser (trade to EDM) F Adam Burish (FA to DAL) That's seven players who played roles in the Stanley Cup win.

All over NHL.com, and the hockey world in general are statements like: "Blackhawks embrace change!" "Blackhawks revamp!" "Blackhawks really look up right now!" Heh...bulls***. They changed out half their team, because they were the first team to really "buy" a cup under the salary cap. After watching them work this post-season....I now realize.....they're desperately just trying to fill holes that they could not afford. Bottom dwellers? Likely not. A Stanley Cup competitor? Yeah sure, maybe, anyone can be. But next year when they say "The defending Stanley Cup Champions!!!!!!" I will simply laugh, smirk to myself, and say, "Yeah, a few of them." At least Pittsburgh, after losing in the finals, primarily kept the same team. Chicago...one hit wonder.

I stand by what I said, the Wings were on the play-off bubble and fought up to fifth to make the play-offs in the time after the Olympic break. Yea, you may be not be a troll, so i apologize there, i was getting your posts confused with another blackhawk fan over here. So thats my mistake. I don't mind the Blackhawks as a team, but their management is horrendous. Hossa is an annual choke (should have been traded to the sharks, that would have made some sense) Huet? I don't think he was worth that contract when he was good wait, last year? two years ago? Heh... and now to just bury their mistake in the minors seems pretty low. I guess all I'm trying to say is that you don't get people to take a 'hometown' discount by crapping money out on bad contracts and throwing them on waivers when the contract doesn't benefit you. So Gordon Bombay, you're not a troll and I can understand that yea, it's nice to be hopeful about a good solid team next year, the core is there, you're correct, but you really can't include Hossa ... he, well ... yea. The Hawks are in major re-build mode after buying a Cup. So it is what it is and I'm sure the front office knew that. October here yet?

I'm not a fan on preseason projections at all. But if I had to choose a team I would go with Vancouver in paper at least. Although I would just throw the wings, nucks, sharks, kings, and Chicago as the class of the west rather then just one team.

I would be ecstatic if the Wings signed Modano.

Approves.

The truth lies somewhere in between the two claims made in this thread. The Blackhawks still have one of the best rosters in the league, studded with Kane, Toews, Hossa, Keith, Seabrook, etc. However, they're also losing about 60 goals from their depth players, putting a lot more pressure on their top guys. If injuries set in, or the top guys start to slump, they're not going to have as easy of a time making it up as they did last season. Nonetheless, they will remain a contender and give us a solid run for the Central for the foreseeable future. I'm pretty convinced that's a good thing; a little competition might be beneficial for both teams, and will definitely make the season more enjoyable to watch.

good night everyone. ill be around. tip your waitresses

plain and simple. the nhl wants it to be a final w/pens and hawks. they get all the kids playing- malkin, crybaby, kane, toews come on now

hey what bout matty schneider? i think i was on drugs when i saw the both of them last round.. baaaaaaaaaaaad crack right there.

To be fair, at this stage of their careers, I think Lombardi is better than both Cleary and Filppula. Another thing that is never talked about when comparing salaries is the actual %age of cap hit and adjusting for inflation. For example, 6.7 million when Dat's signed for it, was a lot more of the cap then it is now, so it is only natural for each year the same quality of players would get more money.

Great news-- he's a fan fav in GR and gives the Wings much needed depth in that position.

Hopefully that rules us out.

You're stupid. grinders winning cups is so 1990's.

sorry Hawks troll, losing your bottom 7 forwards and bottom 3 defensemen is still called a dismantling. No matter what terms you want to put it in. You wait, imagine how many knowledgeable hockey players will want to sign long-term high-dollar deals with Chicago considering the second they under-perform they get put on waivers. I know I personally wouldn't want to sign with a front office with that mentality. The Red Wings will be better than last year, and I don't know if Comcast only airs Blackhawk games or what - but I think you can still read about how injury-ridden we were last season. Did you see the clinic we put on after the olympics? Thats the team we're putting on the ice come October, with the addition of Hudler. Sorry for kicking your soapbox.

Yeah, I won't be surpised for him to pot 25 goals and 60ish points this year. He reminds me of Filppula, if Filppula was meaner and not a member of ace and bass, although I think Val has more top-end potential. Still a good signing by Nashville though. Considering their situation, they are run EXCEPTIONALLY well.

As reported by PuckDaddy: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Junior-hockey-team-in-no-way-frontrunner-for-LeB?urn=nhl,253173 Here's the package offered to James by the Seattle Thunderbirds: Funny stuff and a smart move from a publicity perspective. I'd love to see an official statement from LeBron's camp about it and an appearance by James in a Thunderbirds jersey. The best part? This is probably the most reasonable contract offer made in the last 2 days (yes I'm mocking you Mr. Slather!).