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What do you mean you will just "stick with Babcock on this one"?... I guarantee if you asked Babs or any other individual that has watched even a handful of Red Wings games over the past couple years would tell you that Emmerton is way down on the totem pole... The reason he has played the past two years is because we had a lack of center depth two years ago before Andersson came up and last year Helm was injured the entire season. There are now at least 6 better options on the team at center before Emmerton and there are even a couple better options down in Grand Rapids in my opinion. Like I said before, he is still here for one reason and one reason only; his extremely cheap cap hit... And to answer your last question, because he is a natural center, not a winger, he has become very strong in the circle, leading the team in facoff percentage in the playoffs. But you're right, we should slide Andersson to the wing to accommodate for Emmerton, the worst player on the team, hands down... Good call...

Yeah, who needs him and his goal scoring on a team that tied for 19th in "goals per game" last year. Good riddance indeed.

What is with your man crush for "Emdog"? (which is a ridiculous nickname by the way)... Emmerton is a dependable number 5 center for a team that runs into injuries up the middle, that is all he is. Why do you keep trying to say he is anything more than that? He wouldn't be a great 4th line center for a sh*tty team, let alone the Red Wings... Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Weiss, Helm, Abdelkader, Andersson are all better options than him. Hell, I would rather a 4th line centered by Miller or Eaves than Emmerton. The guy is expendable, but the only reason he is and probably will stick around is his ridiculously low cap hit. With everyone healthy you can be guaranteed that he will be sitting in the pressbox...

2 years ago we had Helm but not Andersson. Last year we had Andersson but not Helm. If Emmerton wants to avoid being waived in October he needs to be sticking pins in the back of his Darren Helm voodoo doll.

When this was all happening with Phoenix, I could personally care less if they relocated, disbanded, or fell from the face of the planet. I think it's a different story with the Devils, they have a rich history in the NHL, they belong and deserve to remain in New Jersey with financial problems aside. If the Devils moved or were cut from the NHL, as a fan, it would sting. I hope for their sake this financial disaster gets worked out somehow and NJ can remain where they are.

Totally hadn't occurred to me that this isn't ice that the cup was won on. Now I think that it's stupid.

Fast goal scorerers? Im finished with those kind of guys!

Each one of your statements is true individually, and they add to the qualifications for a guy having his # retired. But to extrapolate each of those into a rule that ALL future nominees must follow like checklist? Sorry, no. Jarome Iginla should have his number retired in Calgary, and he'll have played on at least 2 other teams hopping around looking for a contender. I really don't fault him for it either, and neither do most Calgary fans. Eras are different, business differs by era, and every player's career is different. What if the Wings had botched the '89 draft and didn't end up with Lidstrom or Fedorov. Maybe the Wings make a few first rounds, get bounced, and are back out of the playoffs. Maybe some of those veteran players we later acquire don't want to play for the Dead Wings. You can tell me, with full certainty, that a mid-30's Steve Yzerman who never won anything here, NEVER would have left because he just loved Detroit so much? I don't think anyone can know that. Yzerman deserves the praise he gets, but he wasn't the only one determining his situation. And the Red Wings organziation, with the help of almost a dozen other Hall of Fame players here and there helped to make that situation pretty darn nice. Plus, as has been mentioned, Howe, Sawchuk and other retired numbers didn't play their whole careers as Wings.

So the team that finally broke the '05 CBA (by signing the first Kovalchuk deal), and then put the first crack in the 2013 CBA (by having Kovy retire and getting out of the 2nd Kovalchuk deal), doesn't even have enough money to pay their salaries? I had heard grumblings that New Jersey was in rough shape financially, but this is pathetic. For a team that's had the caliber of players they've had in the last 25 years, won multiple cups, and is in a metorpolitan area that should draw a ton of hockey interest, you have to be pretty dysfunctional to not make that work. At least when Atlanta, Phoenix, Dallas, Nashville, etc. have money problems, people can look at that and go "yeah, I can see how that makes sense".

if they contract to 28 teams, maybe kenny can snag OEL

Just for the record, only the last two lines of what you posted were mine even though you somehow attributed the entire post to which I was replying to me as well. The rest of the post is the opinion of Axedog.

Emdog makes him sound like a failed white rapper. Dumbest damn nickname I've ever heard. Emmerton is the reserve forward. Most reserves get plenty of games in. He does nothing really well outside of his work ethic. If they can't trade someone else it makes absolutely no sense to waive someone else and get stuck with a big cap hit when they can dump him penalty free. Right now he's their 7th best center behind Datsyuk Zetterberg Weiss Helm Andersson and Abdelkader. Before they got Weiss and Andersson established himself he was #5. Now do you see why I'd say that?

It's the offseason. I'll like him again in September. For now, he gets the summer off from being liked. He's on vacation and shouldn't have to worry about whether or not some middle-aged unbotoxed wretch in North Dakota approves.

All I ever had to know about Mr. Burr: when he first joined the Club, Sergei Fedorov roomed with Shawn, who told him the best way to learn how to speak English was to watch cartoons on television.

He was exactly two weeks younger than I am. As far as I know, the closest Wing to my age. There's no good time or way to die, but having seen too many friends and family die from cancer lately, it's almost a blessing to avoid the suffering that goes with it. I'm not saying that it was good that he died, just that this spared him a lot of pain. I hope that came out right. It would have been better had he not been sick at all, and was alive and well with us right now. Condolences to his family and friends, and to the fans who had a special place for him in their hearts. RIP Shawn, and thanks for the memories.

I think of something Groucho Marx said once..."He loved life and lived it joyously and deeply, and that's as good an epitaph as anyone can have." Rest in peace, Shawn, and when you get to where you're going, would you say hi to Brad McCrimmon, Ruslan Salei and Stefan Liv for us?

I'd buy the Nashville pee ice water