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Disagree with the "Sad" part, but that's not why I'm posting. I keep hearing this "we're going to the Eastern Conference and need to get more physical talk" and I don't get it. Most of the time people cite that argument, they're talking about adding a fourth line banger, a heavyweight goon, or (in the case of Tootoo) retaining a 13th forward. I don't get the Eastern Conference thing at all. There is ONE team in the East (Boston) that is head and shoulders more physically imposing than the rest, and that is Boston. Really, when you say Boston, you mean Chara and Lucic. The skill guys on that team are mostly regular-sized dudes. And Chicago just beat them in 6, and we damn near beat Chicago. You could look teams like LA and find as many (or more) skilled large body forwards, and they're a Western team. But even if it is true that the East is this totally different style of hockey and we're likely to get bounced all over the rink, you aren't going to change that fact about the Red Wings by adding and subtracting a few role players in free agency. You'd literally have to re-make the entire core of the team, plus throw out all of the elements of Detroit's discipline and emphasis on skill and puck possession that frustrate other physical teams into dumb penalties. I'm a fan of physical players with skill. For example, if you added David Clarkson (or maybe even Bryan Bickell) to a forward corps that also has Franzen and Abdelkader, that's actually a decent number of skilled big bodies. But this Red Wings team is pretty darn good the way it is, and you can't just reinvent it into something else overnight. Nor would I want to.

I knew Tootoo was gone. I've had that feeling for weeks and it's sad to see, but I can't help feeling after all Holland and Babs said about the importance of the role Tootoo plays we won't join the Eastern Conference without finding a suitable replacement. I personally don't think there's anything wrong with Tootoo. He takes less bad penalties than most players on our team and has reasonable production. There's still hope though, but not much. Sad.

Am I the only one who absolutely does NOT want to trade Tatar? As in under no circumstances should Tatar be traded because he hasn't even had one full year in the NHL to show all that he's got? I don't understand why anyone would want to trade away so much homegrown potential. Trade/buy out the "fat", pick up an FA or two who can play a nice supporting role on this team to Hank and Pav and keep our youth and let that benefit us in the future (a la Hank, Pav, etc). If anything, Kenny can use some of his plethora of defensive prospects as trade bait.

And Toronto recognized it....this is today's Toronto Sun newspaper front cover...what a bunch of idiots.

I'm not a big fan of bringing Cleary back either and I actually like Tootoo, but if we're comparing the 2 players Cleary is a far bigger asset to the team than Jordin. As bad as Cleary was in the regular season he was one of our best players in the playoffs. I don't want him back if its at the expense of someone like Tatar, Nyquist or Brunner but if its only on a 1 year deal and as a bottom 6 forward I can live with Cleary coming back.

I'm just a plain hockey guy, thanks. Nothing old-school about liking hockey fights and enforcers in general.

How the hell is Kane the MVP? Crawford or Bickell should've gotten it. esteef

> who do you give up? my dinner. i will vomit it at once.

None of the above

I wonder if this is just God's way of saying that there's too much diving in the NHL nowadays. The way teams like Sharks and Canucks play you'd think their arenas were flooded too.

Looks like I'm fired.

I would hate to be a Flyers fan right now. You trim the contracts of Richards to make room for Bryz and get rid of Bobrovsky who wins the Vezina this year. Only to use a buy-out on him. Yikes!

My choice for MVP is Seabrook. He got Toews back on track....twice, got 2 OT goals, 1 winning a series and the 2nd swinging the momentum back for the Hawks. On top of that, he played really good shutdown hockey and was a big leader for the Hawks. The main problem with all the MVP type trophies and Norris and such, is that EVERY trophy is a point race. They aren't given to the guys that actually fit the description of the trophy.

I'm down with this trade, but it only happens if Dave Dombrowski is given control of the Red Wings for an afternoon. Agreed, this proposal is pretty tongue in cheek. He made a trade and buyout thread so I just threw the first one up I could think of. I have no idea whether Wheeler is available or what it would take to get Weiss's rights. It's just for a laugh.

I agree, he was better than any other defenseman in his era. He was the very first "offensive defenseman". That's the reason he scored so much...because he tried to do it. In those days all defensemen were stay-at-home. That's how they played the game. Bobby revolutionized that. HOWEVER, saying that he's the best of his age doesn't then also mean that he's the best ever. Bobby could never do that against today's competition because everybody does it now, and therefore teams plan for it. Lidstrom would score just as many points, no matter what era, because he scored them classically. Point shots and assists. He was just SUPER good at it. But technically speaking he didn't score in a different way than McInnis, Iafrate, etc. etc. etc. I compare the Bruins with Orr to Bill Walsh's 49ers and their "west coast offense". They tore it up because nobody had seen it or figured it out yet. However, eventually everybody caught up. So now, when a team running a west coast offense puts up gaudy numbers (though still less than the 49ers), it's actually more impressive because it's not succeeding because it's new, it's succeeding because it's executed well.

I agree with this. The moment is about the players and the club that won... not Bettman. I simply do not understand the rationale. They should have a guest present it every year... like a former player or something. That would add even more magic to the moment instead of detracting from it.

If Nyquist stayed in the AHL this past season he was the leagues leading scorer (the leader was Pirri with 76 games played & 75 points, Nyquist played 58 games and had 60 points). When was the last time one of our prospects was atop the AHL leader board? Gus also reminded me a lot of the magic man this year with the big club, the vision he has and way he moves out there, it seems like a no brainer that he's the real deal. THEN Tatar in the Calder playoffs lights it up nets 16 goals and 5 assists in 24 games showing we have two elite studs about to suit up (hopefully) for the Wings this coming season but for some reason we want to trade one of them? Pavs here for four years, Gus is my hope at the moment for taking the torch from him.

It's a shame that he insists on ruining what should be a great moment by continuing to present the trophy.

Sorry man but I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree. A Calder Cup championship in no way makes up for the fact that our franchise had three chances to put away the team that eventually hoisted. That is choke/heartbreak/salt in wound all over the place. I think that Chicago will do what they need to to retain him, but why people wouldn't want Bickell wearing a Detroit sweater is beyond me.

No. Our "worst" team in 20 years was one goal worse than them. We have no rebuild years. Our scouting and drafting and player development is still the model way to run a franchise. Let these idiots write about and think whatever they want but the Wings aren't going anywhere any time soon.

If the wings ever gave up Datsyuk or Z for Cindy Crosby I would light my car on fire and drive it off a cliff at 100 mph, into a pit of more fire. and then blow myself up in the process with 20 pounds of C4.

Honestly there are some players you just NEVER want to see in a Wings uniform and Crosby is one of them. I don't give a s*** how good he is.

I would suggest a counter offer Crosby for a roll of toliet paper... maybe thats too much

My decision is to walk out of the office. I just can't justify any of those trades, regardless of the fact that it's the best player in today's game.

Just because you were a starter doesn't mean you always will be. He would have been the 4th line center this season with Andersson in Grand Rapids. When Helm couldn't go Andersson was brought in and he quickly passed Emmerton on the depth chart (as evidenced by his time on ice vs Emmerton's). When Helm is back he'll either be the 3rd line center or the 4th line center, with Andersson taking the other spot. I know you like Emmerton but he's the odd guy out at center, playing only when Helm or Andersson go down. He may even be waived if they need a roster spot as he's the most expendable forward we have.