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haha no, but if anybody finds themselves in NJ I would show them what little I know. upon closer inspection...

I had nothing to do with this, but it's awesome.

The problems with the Hudler/Modano/Cleary line were as follows: 1) All three players had terrible starts to the season; the fact they were all on a line together only magnified this. 2) The Hudler/Modano combination working was extremely unlikely. Modano's offensive style was to take the puck on a rush and get off a quick shot, and possibly a second shot, which didn't work while with Hudler's average speed. Hudler worked best on long-term puck possession in the zone setting up a high-quality shot, which is something that didn't work well with Modano's tendency to take a shot whenever he had a clear line. Cleary, meanwhile, was having serious trouble handling the puck (I think he may have been injured) and this led to complete ineffectiveness from that line. Hudler and Cleary were very effective together when together with any other center. Drury is much more similar to the team's current centers in offensive style than Modano, so the chances of that line working well would be much greater. Especially with Hudler and Cleary likely to have better starts to their seasons.

I think he's really depressed about how things turned out. He was excited to join his hometown team and then scores a goal on his first shift with the Wings. He had to be absolutely thrilled, but he struggled to get chemistry with his linemates (Hudler's really slow start didn't help), he gets injured, misses most of the year, fights to get a spot in the lineup, basically doesn't play during the playoffs despite all the injuries. He was expecting to make one good solid run at a championship with the Wings, a proven winner and wanted to go down swinging. If he wins, great, if not, he gave it his all. That didn't happen. He barely played, didn't get an opportunity to give it his all and went out while sitting in the press box. He's proud guy and I think he's just really depressed about how the past year went for him and how he'll never get another shot like that one again.

I find your lack of Upshall disturbing.

The Florida Bottom Feeders? Logo has a Catfish on it.

Never been done before, eh. I say Warner Bros. buys the Coyotes and they will be called the Roadrunners at home and remain the Coyotes on the road.

New name, new colors, and something an NHL team has never done before - move from Atlanta to Winnipeg. Glad I could help solve the mystery, boys.

Duh you guys, it's gonna be the Pittsburgh Crosby's..... The jersey change is from White//black/Yellow Ocre to Canary Yellow/sky blue and White with a dominate yellow stripe down the back and a diving board for a logo! I swear you guys are sooooo naive!

Yeah but Babs has always done that ever since he's coached here and the Euro Twins were fine from 06-08 and arguably parts of 09. So what's changed? Only Pav and Z themselves in ways perhaps including but not limited to: 1. I feel like Zetterberg is trying to rely more on his smarts and intelligence to get him through games, especially the regular season, and less and less of the tenacity and determination that he showed as a young up and coming player. He's getting a little older, doesn't want to be injured and thus has to really pace himself if he wants to battle for a cup. He'll step up his energy if he really has to like when Datsyuk got injured this past year but if the Wings got all their horses then he's just preparing himself for the playoffs. And I don't want to come off as criticizing him at all. Perhaps that's the best way for him to go about his business, everything considered. 2. Datsyuk has become much more dominant everywhere on the ice. The guy just seems to be everywhere taking care of everything and we all want to see him like that. He's just gotten so much better. With these sorts of factors in play I guess it shouldn't be a surprise that they don't play as well together. Perhaps they've just simply grown to the point where they don't instinctively rely on each other as much. And that's perfectly fine.

Just because I don't support talking out of one's ass: Average attendances Pre lockout (starting 00-01) TBL: 16,248 ANA: 13,169 Post lockout TBL: 18,057 ANA: 15,874 Total: TBL: 17,328 ANA: 14,973 The Ducks only finished ahead of the Bolts once in this entire stretch, 2 years after their cup win (08-09), when TBL was in their 4th season of abysmal management. TBL finished 21, Ducks 17th. In fact, here's the record of those 10 years by attendance rank (starting with 00-01, descending to 10-11): TBL--ANA 25th--28th 20th--30th 16th--26th 12th*--24th 2nd---24th 3rd---20th* 8th---15th+ 21st--17th 21st--24th 18th--26th *=cup year, +=post-cup year (TBL's post cup year was during the lockout) Speak with knowledge, my friends.

The fact that he may not have a better idea is completely unrelated to the quality of your idea.

I feel for the guy. Freak injury plus being benched in the playoffs when he should have been playing, I understand his emotional pitfall.

Well, that'd be a poor signing, considering he'd only be available for 41 games... sure as hell don't want him playing any home games as long as we're at the Joe... And how exactly are we getting screwed by Rafalski? and what does it have to do with long term deals???? If anything, he bowed out with dignity and gave us cap relief, since he was not worth what he was making anymore...part of the advantage of signing players long term before they're 35...

Agreed. OP: Nashville and Carolina are successful franchises who have no need whatsoever to undergo a change in name. Florida is amongst the least successful, probably only trailing Phoenix and the departed Thrashers in that regard.

Balsillie didn't play within the rules, so he destroyed any chance he had to gain an NHL franchise.

True, true. Also to be noted though, those games were played with the St. Louis Blues. Just wondering... Who's your backup of choice Crymson?

Ok coach, how does Horton avoid this one? He's gliding into center ice while Lucic is lining up to receive the pass and Rome is lining up to hit him. He is moving pretty slowly and couldn't get out of the way if he tried to. Which, of course, would have required his knowing that the hit was coming. Just because Rome's final motion was to hit Horton towards center ice doesn't make this a north-south hit; he was skating east-west for a good distance directly before he threw the hit. That makes it a blindside hit. Whether Horton should have seen him is irrelevant; especially as Horton wouldn't have been able to avoid him anyway.

You need to watch the video again. Rome hits Horton in the head or at least very close to the head, in a manner which suggests that he was targeting the head. 4 games is just fine. Bruins should be happy he got anything, though, given their previous arguments this season about what suspensions should be for head hunting. Hitting someone hard head on is fine. What Rome did is hit Horton from the blind side, completely east-west hit while Horton was moving north-south. He also targeted Horton's head, and hit him well after Horton had passed the puck. You two seriously need to learn how to play hockey. I get that you like watching huge hits, but that's not a good hit. That's an illegal hit, and an unsafe hit. Even if Horton has his head up and looking forward, he's just looped around the neutral zone and he's barely moving at that point, so Rome still wastes him. He jumped into the hit. That's TEXTBOOK charging. Horton was in a helpless position regardless of whether he was looking at Rome, Lucic, or the hot dog guy. Sometimes a guy just gets flattened. And if the hit is late, and to the head, it might cause injury, and it might get a guy suspended.

Yea we do have family out in GR...I'm not too sure if they really make it out to a lot of games. My grandparents rarely go out that way, the fam usually goes to them. He is turning 85 this July and we are all planning on getting together for a big party! Im glad that you think so highly of him, he is very nice and I'm sure he was very glad to meet you. I am from CT so we go to see him twice a year and go to wings games when we go. When I'm with him he is just Grandpa...but those few times that we go downtown he is treated like a celeb...I sit there while he signs #7 books and the stories I hear brings the biggest smiles to my face. And the stories he tells me are crazy. It makes me really proud to say he is my Grandfather. I am also happy to say that him and Gordie have patched things up as much as they can. Especially since Gordie's wife died...he knew how important she was to the family...and Gordie is, like you said..going downhill quickly. They used to be best friends! Gordie would tuck my Mom into bed sometimes when he was staying over their house...crazy how things got out of hand, but im glad that they have finally talked it out.

I've been preaching this for 2 years now. I was banned for it, though, so be careful. I can't wait to see ZDH with HELM as the H.

[thanks F.Michael!]

[i know this should really be Hudler, so maybe I will edit it later. i think only the oldtimers will know what its from anyway ]