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There's two mistakes people make in the off season every year: 1) they say the Wings are to old and will start their decline, and 2) they pick San Jose to win the Stanley Cup. When will people learn?

so your strategy for beating the sharks is to hope that 2 of their really good players get injured? i see.

The Sharks are overrated and have been besieged with expectations in the postseason they have not and cannot fulfil with the teams they keep rostering. Much like other Bay Area sports teams, like the 49ers and Alex Smith as the best example, the Sharks can't seem to shed dead weight when it's necessary. I respect the fact that they've become Red Wing killers the last couple seasons, but what makes me respect them is winning in respectable fashion and actually winning a Cup. Nearly every season the last 5-8 years we've heard how awesome the Sharks are in the regular season and how it's a different season, year after year, and how they're going to turn it around come playoffs time, that everyone is underrating them and they are well past those years of postseason choking and failure.. with the same results. Nothing will change until it changes.

In arbitration the player usually requests above his value and the team usually requests below the player's value. If Weber's wish is offensive, the Preds number was worse IMO.

Neutral, no conflict of interest

Franzen was already hurt, and the Sharks got two extremely lucky bounces in OT.

There are MANY factors that determine who wins the Cup each year. Only one of those factors is who looks best on paper. How many people predicted Boston would win this year? It's really more about who has a chance to win the Cup. In order to actually win, they have to have luck, intangibles, etc. So really, it comes down to who has a chance. IMO it's: Detroit Vancouver San Jose Los Angeles Philly Boston Tampa Washington Years ago, you could predict who would win but now not so much. Just last year, we saw 2 different teams come from a 0-3 hole to force a game 7. This is almost unheard of. The year before, we saw a team come from an 0-3 hole and win in game seven for the first time in 35 years. Last year Boston came back in the finals from being down 0-2 and then 2-3 to win the Cup as the visiting team. Pittsburgh did the same thing in 2009. AND Boston won the Cup by winning 3 series in game 7. This never happened before. Forget about predicting who will win the Cup. You will be wrong.

I would also like to see a bobblehead that recreates when Havsplat got Kronwalled. You could have both heads bobble on that one.

Please. Sharks won game 7 on the strength of 2 injured wings and 2 that got injured during the game. and also during games 6 and 7 the top 2 lines were run 22-25 minutes. The Sharks threw it all on the boat to beat the Wings and had nothing in the tank for the Nucks. They also haven't learned from running Nabokov into the ground. You can't run a goalie 70+ games and then expect excellent playoff performances, they do break down. They HAVE to work Niemi and Greiss as an actual tandem, something they've failed to do.

The only reason they escaped from losing a 3-0 from the red wings wad because franzen AND datstuk were hurt...no excuse but if they're 100% or not so freakin hurt the red wings would've beat them. Lets not forget that they also got an extremely lucky bounce in game 1 OT when a shot rode up Stuarts stick and into the net.

They'll never win the cup with Thornton.

I see them winning the Cup this year, although I've seen them winning the Cup the past two years also. They're starting to break away from this playoff choker mentality, all the while steadily reinforcing their nucleus. Its only a matter of time before they hit the target.

I still think they're a bad matchup for the Wings. We didn't do much in the offseason to change that in my mind. They have a big, physical team and I don't think our forwards are big or physical enough to bring it every game on the forecheck against them. The Wings played well towards the end of the series, but still lost. I just don't like our chances if we play them again. I also agree that San Jose folds in the Conference Finals, but that didn't matter against the Wings since we faced them in the 2nd round.

Not really. The jury is still very much out as to if he can perform without Suter at his side. Weber very well may not be nearly as effective without an excellent defensive defenseman as his partner. There isn't really an extant replacement for Lidstrom. Lidstrom bring everything. Weber does not.

You have to respect a team that's beaten the Wings two years in a row. Bounces, injuries, refs, whatever. They won and the Wings didn't. Period. They also don't want to rest on the laurels of losing in the WCF for the last two years. I don't think they have the chemistry to win this time around either, but kudos to them for looking outside the box for solutions and trying to find different pieces of the puzzle.

picking san jose to win the cup is less of a stretch than picking detroit

if they were leaning towards a trade who would you offer up? On HF there are preds fans saying that they aren't going for prospects and picks obviously, or a large number of 4th line players. They need some scoring and a replacement Dman. Other teams would offer up nice packages so thats what im interested in. I'd offer up Franzen, Stuart, Higher Pick for Weber give or take some smaller pieces from both sides (no lebda). Both these guys are legit players that anyone would want on their team. Stuart is a great replacement for them at about the cap hit they are interested in and franzen is the legit scorer they want. Hudler, Kindl, 2 firsts isn't gonna cut it. With Smith coming up next season and lids probably retiring this leaves our d pretty solid imo.

couldn't be any more wrong

uh oh, negatives! howard was pulled multiple times last year

those vancouver bums that made it to game 7 of the finals

really good call. it's simple - sharks got better, wings got worse.

$7.5 mil for one year. He wanted $8.5 mil. If he thinks he is worth that much, he's got a serious problem. Think you're God's gift to hockey, fella? Well, you just proved that God has a good sense of humor.