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That's awesome by Cherry. "No you stop it!" But I thought all the douchey s*** like Burrows does is as old as the game of hockey? The diving, hiding behind refs, biting? Ahh Harold, what a crazy bastard that guy was. Laughing at Clark. Just awesome. The thing is, it's not like Burrows is a marginal player doing whatever it takes to stay on the team. That's the disturbing trend. The diving and antics like Burrows is happening more and more with star players. H. Sedin is a friggin Art Ross and Hart winner, and he's diving out there worse than Forsberg ever did. And Floppa at least had the excuse that it was the clutch and grab era so he had guys waterskiing off of him the whole game. The Sedins, Kesler, Thorton, Dustin Brown, and on and on. It's annoying. If I wanted to watch guys flop and then cry to the refs all the time, I'd watch the NBA. Or worse, soccer. Instead of Roenick calling out Marleau for being gutless, I wish former players who are analysts would call out these guys for diving and crying so much. Biting a guys finger, falling down like you've been shot, that's not old time hockey.

They need to hang out with a better class of people.

Woooo my home area tied for 30th!!! :beerbuddy:

This is why nobody wants Vancouver to win the Cup. They have incredibly smug fans for a franchise that has accomplished nothing in its s***ty 40 year history. Can you imagine how these clowns will act if they actually win one? We'll never hear the end of it.

What a homer. NOBODY has won 2 cups in a row since the Wings in 97 and 98 and in fact nobody has made it back to the finals after winning the Cup in that period but the Wings. You do realize that your team came within 1 bounce of not making it out of the first round don't you? An OT win in game 7 in the first round is all that separates the Canucks from a first round failure. There is lots of luck required to win the cup. Even if you have the best team. To say your team will get the bounces again is just stupid.

I don't think Holland will waste much time pursuing Richards. Let's not forget that even though many people bash the likes of Hudler or Fill, the wings had the second best offense in the league last year (only scoring one less goal than Vancouver) but had the worst goals against out of any playoff team. Instead of paying 8 mill for another forward, it makes sense to try to solidify a defense that was completely lacking last season let alone the fact that Rafalski is gone. I think the only way Richards is wearing a wings jersey is if he takes a pay cut and wants to be in detroit (similar to what hull and Lucky Luke did in 2002).

Yippee, the Canucks are up 2-0 on the Boston Bruins I think it was assumed nearly any team coming out of the West would handle the Eastern Champs, especially the Bruins. The Bruins are the Canucks sans offense. Which is to say: the Bruins are a team held together by a goaltender who is great right up until they choke ferociously. Canucks held serve, and it will be interesting to see if Luongo still has some weak ones left in him. If not, congrats, you've won your first cup in 40 seasons, pat yourself on the back The funniest thing about this is your thinly veiled inferiority complex that beckons you to come post on a RED WINGS board about the Canucks. Its appropriate that you sound EXACTLY like a CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS fan. Enjoy your "dynasty" haha.

So... the difference between amazing and terrible is 3 points. Yeah. I guess I shouldn't have estimated the 2nd half as 'from January on'; cheated poor, poor, abused little Hudler out of one entire point to his advantage. That makes all the difference in the world. Completely invalidates my point that you're judging the two players by different standards. Clearly, a two point difference isn't enough to say one player was amazing and one player terrible. But three points. My God, such a monumental disparity. 6 goals to 2 in the last 32 games. Well, obviously Franzen should be shot and Hudler elevated to sainthood. I mean, come on. Hudler scoring at nearly a 16 goal pace. Such scorching numbers are a great reason to displace a better all-around player with a career goals/game nearly twice as high. Oh, and in the last 33 games of the season, Franzen scored 7 goals to Hudler's 6. And in the first 49: 21-4 It's not a secret that Franzen gets more ice time, and more time with better linemates. What you don't seem to grasp is that Franzen deserves it more. So do Filppula, Cleary, Bert, and Homer. They are all either better players or at least better suited to the role needed, which isn't always just offense. So what if poor little Hudler's stats suffer. The team is better for it.

Datsyuk was out several games at the end of March, and Franzen missed a few as well. In that time, Hudler spent plenty of time with Hank. You may not come out and say he's a victim, but your constant whining about his lack of ice time and the poor quality of his linemates says it for you. Even in this post you're whining about LGW not hating Franzen as much as Hudler. Here's a fact for you. Franzen had a pretty crappy year, hardly any goals the last two months of the season. And he still outscored Hudler by 18 goals. He scored just as many points as Hudler from February on. And he's better in other areas. Add that to his previous playoff performances and you're damn right it justifies his negatives. He's a far better player than Hudler and far more deserving of premium ice time and linemates. You blamed Hudler's first half on Modano. Now you're blaming Franzen for kicking Hudler out of the top 6. Every single thing you sayabout him is about some great disservice being done to him either in how he's treated on the ice or how he's perceived by fans. The funny thing is you actually believe that Hudler was 'amazing' the second half of the season and Franzen was 'terrible', when Hudler scored 2 more points. Like I said previously, it's not about Hudler. Not everyone can play with Datsyuk or Zetterberg. The guys that played with them more than Hudler, deserved it more than Hudler.

Did you like it in the 2002 playoffs?

Big E is easily worth at least 1.5mil a year. Hell even at 2mil a season, it isn't that bad of a deal. But with that said, even if he wanted to play here for free I wouldn't take him.

Reminds me of 2009 when Malkin should have been suspended for Game 3. Gonna be interesting sports talk radio on Monday.

You mean this Kid Rock?

This 100%

We would all be ok with Meech as a 7th Dman, but Meech isn't ok with Meech being a 7th Dman.

I wanted to sit next to him back when he was dating Pamela Anderson.

Assuming high-end contracts for UFAs and a cap of $62.2m: Johan Franzen ($3.954m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Brooks Laich ($5.000m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Todd Bertuzzi ($1.937m) Jan Mursak ($0.550m) / Darren Helm ($0.912m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.975m) Justin Abdelkader ($0.787m) / Cory Emmerton ($0.533m) Nicklas Lidstrom ($5.000m) / Derek Meech ($0.550m) Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) / Brad Stuart ($3.750m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / Joni Pitkanen ($6.000m) Doug Janik ($0.512m) Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) / Chris Osgood ($0.750m) CAP PAYROLL: $60,679,544 CAP SPACE: $1,520,456 Yes, that's a fair amount of cap space. But it can pay for a high-end player at the deadline; we're talking someone worth $5-$6m. You may wonder why I have Meech with Lidstrom. There is a perfectly logical reason. The outgoing defensemen from the top-six are Rafalski, Ericsson, and Salei. Incoming are Meech, Kindl, and Pitkanen. While Lidstrom did not play with Rafalski outside of the power play last season, he played mostly with him the prior few seasons. Meech is the most similar to Rafalski in playing style, so it should be a good match. Also, it allows for the development of potential long-term pairings in Kronwall/Stuart and Kindl/Pitkanen. At forward, I wasn't really sure how I wanted to lay out the wingers, outside of two facts; Holmstrom should not be opposite Hudler, and Bertuzzi should flank Filppula. Given Hudler's success alongside Datsyuk, and the fact that Homer seems to perform better with Flip than Z, that settled three of six. I'd be perfectly fine with Franzen/Zetterberg/Laich also, however Cleary and Hudler seem more comfortable playing the right side than Franzen or Laich. The fourth line I am most certainly comfortable with, and determined to see cause havoc this coming season. As for special teams, the defensemen I would expect on PP would be Lidstrom, Kronwall, and a rotation of Pitkanen, Kindl, and Meech. On the PK I would expect Kronwall, Stuart, Lidstrom, and Pitkanen. Look for Janik to get significant time here in games he dresses.

Ladies and gentlemen, David Letterman presents the top ten things worth more useful than Jiri Hudler: Number 10... A bag of pucks. Number 9... A couple rolls of pink tape. Number 8... A set of Christian brand hockey sticks. Number 7... A pair of Daoust skates. Yeah. Daoust skates. Number 6... Any hockey equipment made by Cooper. Number 5... A sheet of NHL official team logo pogs--Hellooo! Number 4... World Champion Icehockey for the Commodore 64. Number 3... A pre-owned boxed set of the Mighty Ducks movies. Number 2... A 20% off coupon at the HenrikZetterberg.com store. Hey-yo! And the number 1 thing that's worth more useful than Jiri Hudler... Link Gaetz's rookie card!!! Baaaa da da da da daaa da da da...

I say this in my name,but some members might agree as well. We were pretty high on Ericsson after 08-09 Playoffs and sadly he didn't become neither new Lidstrom nor new Fisher so I can absolutely understand the disappointment of some members here

I wanted to thank every member that took part in LGW's "Money on the Board" playoff donation drive that raised a total of $875.40 for the Children's Hospital of Michigan Foundation! vladdy16 did an absolutely amazing job keeping track of and arranging everything -- this would not have been possible without her help -- thank you! She sent in the donation to the Foundation on Wednesday this week and I spoke with Sally at the Foundation today and filled her in on how the donation came about and made sure to have it dedicated to the members of LetsGoWings.com. I'm incredibly proud of all of you that took part and I can't wait to have more drives just like this one in the future!

Lol seriously Ericsson gtfo.

Laich would be slotted at third-line center most nights; he's a grittier player than Flip and would match up better against third lines, and is as good or better than Flip on faceoffs. Flip would move to wing in a top-two line capacity with Dats or Z, barring injury. If the Wings go one defenseman and one forward, I'm hoping for Pitkanen and Laich. Pitkanen takes on Ericsson's job as the big, physical defenseman but also provides offense as Rafalski did. Meech comes in and takes Rafalski's spot as the quick, offensive-minded playmaking defenseman who runs the PP. Kindl finally takes Salei's job, as he had been positioned to do at the end of last year, but also provides another skilled offensive player. Janik is the new spare, providing a solid stay-at-home type who won't wander off. I'd prefer the Wings go for two defensemen (Pitkanen/Ehrhoff preferably) than one and one, but you get what you get.

On the trade from Chicago to Anaheim: In a move made right at the NHL's trade deadline on Wednesday, the Blackhawks acquired center Samuel Pahlsson from the Anaheim Ducks in exhange for defenseman James Wisniewski and center Petri Kontiola. The Hawks also received defenseman Logan Stephenson and a conditional draft pick. Wisniewski had two goals and 11 assists in 31 games for the Hawks this season and was popular with his teammates. In his third season with the Hawks, Wisniewski missed most of the first half of the season recovering from off-season knee surgery. Coach Joel Quenneville made Wisniewski a healthy scratch for two games in mid-February but the blue liner had been seeing significant playing time the last nine games. "It's a little heart-breaking but there are very few guys in this league who play for one team their whole career," Wisniewski said. "It's going to happen sooner or later. It's sad to go but it might be better off for me. "I thank the Chicago organization for sticking with me and all the help they've done to get me back to 100 percent. Coming off the injury they threw me right in there with the wolves and they had a lot of confidence in me and now they needed a checking centerman and they got it for me and it's probably best both ways. For me, I have to turn the page now. I have a job to go to Anaheim and help them win." http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/icing/2009/03/nhl-trade-deadline-update.html On the trade from Ducks to Isles: Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski was worried he was going to be dealt by Anaheim on trade deadline day, reports the Orange County Register. Wisniewski, who is in the final year of his current contract, was the subject of numerous trade rumors heading into Mar. 3's deadline. He is set to become a restricted free agent July 1 and could command a hefty raise. "I think you just kind of look at it as a business," Wisniewski told the Register. "If it happened, it happened and I'd go somewhere else and play. But, you know, I'm happy to be here. I like playing for this organization. It's just a great bunch of guys. "Hopefully we can do what we did last year and crawl into the playoffs. You never know what can happen." (The 4th Period) When I read that the Ducks avoided arbitration by signing James Wisniewski to a one-year, $3.25 million deal, I wondered how the cash-strapped Anaheim Ducks would really act. It didn’t take long for the team to show its penny pinching ways, as Ducks GM Bryan Murray decided to trade the defenseman to the New York Islanders for a conditional third round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, according to Katie Strang of New York Newsday. (James O'Brien - NBC Sports) On the trade from the Isles to Montreal: The Islanders pulled off a nifty buy-low, sell-less-low maneuver by picking up James Wisniewski for a 3rd and then flipping him for a 2nd and change after 34 games (minus two for the Avery suspension). They become the third team to trade Wisniewski while a contract extension was looming. As discussed round and round in comments yesterday, I suspect that has to do with a difference between his expected asking price and his performance: Wisniewski collects points -- playing 5 minutes per game on the powerplay will do that for you -- but the rest of his game leaves questions. http://www.lighthousehockey.com/2010/12/29/1902392/islanders-gameday-life-without-wisniewski