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"Class" is way overused. I think what people really mean is respect - you can respect the guy you're trying to make a permanent part of the boards by making a clean, hard hit and not trying to take his head off, or not attempting to render him unable to reproduce. Mr. Hockey was the toughest SOB of his time, but he had respect for the game and those that played it. I think that's the big thing that's lacking now. The retirement of players like Sakic and Yzerman has leeched that element from the game.

I've been a 'Wings fan for 33years. The Red Wings have played with class, dignity and style for so many years, and it makes me proud to be a wings fan! Watching this year's playoffs has been disgusting, from Duncan Keith's "wakey, wakey" taunting of the obviously concussed David Backes, after two, vicious, non called slashes, one of them on Backes(probably having him hear"footsteps", setting up Seabrook), and Matt Cooke, not much needs to be said there, how about Marchand and his "which leg did I hurt?" moment. There is no point to a regular season if it is no holds barred in the post season. I'd rather watch my team get bounced in the first round, than watch them play with no class and make it to the finals. Detroit has won championships by staying classy, and I'm OK waiting until they can win with class, not the garbage that Boston and Chicago feel fits their fans! I grew up in Ken Holland's hometown, my Dad was close with his Dad, all class acts, there is pride in winning with integrity, pride is nonexistent without integrity! STAY CLASSY DETROIT!!

The playoff streak is incredible and I, for one am glad they traded for Legrand to keep it alive. I know everyone here wants to compete for the cup every year but with 29 other teams vying for the same thing it just is not realistic. The Wings need to go through their down years just like everyone else. If they can "rebuild" on the fly and continue to make the playoffs throughout, all the better.

Trade Franzen and our 1st to Edmonton for their first, then draft McDavid. Everyone wins. Except Edmonton but who cares.

Sent! Hopefully next year costs us a lot more!

I think I only got to $3. Pretty sad. I sent $15 instead, hopefully next year is a big one!

Great defense. This shouldn't really be up for debate.

I'm interested to see what the cap space looks like without the UFAs. Anyone got the numbers there? Like many have said, I would keep Alfredsson and Legwand if they can meet on favorable terms. I really like most of the D we have, but I would like to see Oullet, Sproul and Marchenko more at this point. Kindl needs to overcome his confidence issues carrying the puck if he is going to stay. I like the goaltending - not sure whether Gustavsson should come back, though. Mrazek would be a great backup, but it would be bad in a worst-case situation like this season. Who would they call up? McCollum? The forwards are really impressive, but contracts are going to dictate that not everyone can stay in Detroit. Hopefully we can keep those who have been playing in GR. I remember when Lapointe was let go in free agency and I expect more tough decisions like that will come since Tatar, Sheahan, and Emmerton all have contracts ending this season. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Helm, Abdelkader, Glendening, Miller, Nyquist and Weiss are basically guaranteed but sometimes you have to give something to get something and there are at least 3 guaranteed spots to be filled by re-signing, trade or free agency.

AHHHH man I am loving this choke..... freeway series please!

Yeah, what a meltdown for NBC that would be. WHEW THEY DODGED A BULLET!

Or I can join a forum and talk about it.

You don't have to take me serious. I know how much I know about hockey and ultimately that's good enough for me. This is a ******* online forum. Chill out dude. (No you chill out, you just said the f-word). Fine you don't want +/-, fine. What do you want? Every game in the playoffs Kronwall wasn't our best player. Wasn't our best defenseman. He said so himself. He is better against the other team's second line. PERIOD. GIRL TIME. BLOOD.

Right now, Jarnkrok is just a prospect and he did look good in 12 games with Nashville. To call this trade a success or failure will be judged in a few years. Either you have faith that he will be a guaranteed stud, or you think he will be somewhere in the middle, or you don't believe he will be good at all. Right now, I believe that some Wings fans are going over the top by saying he is a future star in the league. I don't know what his future is going to be so I won't speculate. I will agree with you on this point. If they don't retain Legwand, then it really was flipping him for nothing in which case I will be disappointed. If Legwand signs, then it was a worthwhile trade. BTW, who listens to what Pierre Mcguire has to say anyway? When Mcguire gushes about anyone, it usually gets a lot of scorn from Wings fans.

First off...how can a team have a record longer than games played? If we arbitrarily change it to include October and November (27 games) it becomes: 13-10-4, where OT losses count as real losses, and the third column is only shootout losses. That's a Wings team where Bertuzzi and Cleary were in the lineup, Tatar had limited minutes, Nyquist hadn't been called up, and Weiss was playing injured and Alfredsson was learning a new system. Oh, and Franzen was having whatever secretive issues plagued him. We were hardly healthy, just not as injured as we would become. I separated the shootouts because those can't really indicate the success or failure of a team. It's more like pure dumb luck on a given night for an individual player. In other words, the Wings got points in 20 games of 27. That's pretty remarkable considering all the dead weight on the team. If we look at a record as showing games where points were earned they were 20-7 in the first two months. Consider that any of those games could've been victories with a lucky bounce here and there. Now we have the kid line and Nyquist. Smith is coming on and hopefully won't pull a Kindl, Zetterberg will be healthier than he's been in years, it's really not as bleak, at least for the regular season. We still have to change as a team to be built for a playoff run, but I'm not worried about the regular season, even if we iced the same team we did this year (God forbid).

No to mention the Wings have Dats, Zetterburg, Weiss, Helm and at this rate possibly Legwand signed up for at least 2 years and in most cases more, With sheahan, athanaseau & Janmark in the pipeline. The team's need for a centre at the deadline is greater than their need over the next two years, which was Jarnkrok's window to make the team. The very fact that people are ambivalent about re-signing a proven veteran 40-55 point centre from the local area, suggest that CJ would have had a struggle to get much time going forwards without a sudden explosion in output.

Some people just like to *****. Some love repeating "I told you so." A lot do both. Yep, Jarnkrok could turn out to be a stud. He could also fizzle out like a lot of other prospects. Most likely he'll end up somewhere in the middle. But to proclaim this deal the equivalent to the Tigers' John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander trade is rashly premature (even though the Tigers got exactly what they wanted in that deal). The fact is, Holland WAS desperate, but justifiably so. He, the rest of management, the ownership, and the players wanted to keep the playoff streak alive. So when Helm went down with yet another injury, the Wings' top center was Joakim Andersson. Talk about something to ***** about! A move for a veteran center HAD to be made at the deadline. Holland didn't have a choice. Season ticket holders, the media, the fans, and all the sweating, keyboard-pounding know-it-alls would have torched the Joe had the Wings iced Andersson as the 1C for the rest of the season. "Why didn't Holland make a deal at the deadline? He could have traded Kindl for a number one center! Instead he kicked my dog!" Moreover, every other GM in the league knew it. So when Holland called, they played hardball, and the Wings had to make their best offer, even though it stings. The Wings still have Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, Mantha, Oullette, Marchenko, Mrazek, and others whose names I can't remember/spell in the system. If half of these players turn out half as good as many suggest, the Wings will be winning the Cup soon and often. The future can't be that bleak after losing one of their prospects in a trade.

There are goons in every league. Just because you can name a few doesn't mean the entire league is "classless"

If Legwand re-signs and gets used in a more appropriate manner by the coach its a good trade. If not we just about lost. We needed a centre...and there weren't any others moving. Much of the criticism or desire not to re-sign Legwand is on the assumption that Weiss will be back to 50+ points form next year, which is unlikely even if it does happen the year after. With Z's back playing up more often, a Centre who can contribute now is important, and the captain will be mostly playing wing from here on in I think. Of course this comes down to how important you think the playoff streak is & how high you rate Jarnkrok. For me the streak is massively important 1) The money - even our first round exit essentially pays for Legwand's annual salary 2) Marketing prestige. The longest current playoff streak is a big thing. 3) Player prestige. Added to the lure of Dats & Z, and the new pipeline of kids, the willingness of a GM to trade away prospects/picks to ensure that you make the playoffs sends a message to FAs and current players. We are totally committed to giving ourselves a shot at the playoffs EVERY year. Most teams will rely on geography, quality of life or current roster levels to attract players. The Wings are one of a very small selection who will take risks to make the playoffs. And of course, who knows what happens in the playoffs. Rask gets Howard Flu and Chara tweaks something and suddenly its a much more even series. Gotta buy a ticket etc. Also, much as I like Jarnkrok, his value to us wasn't as great as we once thought. Another small playmaker in a team quite well stocked in 2 way playmakers, in a team desperate to get bigger, a desperation increased by the emergence of Tatar and Nyquist as two more small NHL quality forwards. I also think the leaps forward of AA & Janmark (gorgeous assist yesterday) made this trade more palatable. And if we draft a quality centerman this year or next, and Legwand re-signs Jarnkrok will have to get near his ceiling to make us really regret it. Its like Adam Oates. He went on to have a great career. His departure freed up space for Feds, Primeau (who got us shanny) and Larianov. Indeed His demands for a raise at STL led to the merry go round that made Shanny possible. We won 3 cups and he didn't....ultimately even the worst trade in wings history paved the way for the dynasty that followed.

The Bruins' D gave him very little space and shut him down pretty well. I think it had less to with him struggling effort-wise than it did having a lack of size and experience in the playoffs. Not even the kid line was able to generate anything offensively. It sucks to admit it, but Boston were just a superior team that was too big and firing on all cylinders.

Defens wins championships and you build from the net out, therefore average forwards/great defense

rumor of Salavet Yulaev Ufa putting in an offer to Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg for his services. I get the feeling this might be to see if the Redwings are really interested in him. From what i've seen of him he is worth a gamble on a 1 year contract, solid 2 way player who has represented Russia this year and looks like making the worlds roster too. ps, yes that is him in my profile pic #98

Those are great teams-in both ends. But which is more important? if you win a game say 4-1, what was the reason you won? the fact that you scored 4 goals or the fact that you gave up 1? yes tall grass stuff I understand. But there is a reason why in most sports people will tell you "defense wins championships".

Jarnkrok was not our best prospect...Mantha is our best prospect.

Mitchell Callahan would do nicely and throw Abdelkader on the other wing and you have an energy line that hits like the grind line of old.

We need a legitimate enforcer and a scoring powerforward imo. A powerforward is virtually impossible but I would settle for a skilled hard working guy like Callahan, Dubinsky or Matthias. The latter is perhaps a possibility as he seems to struggle a bit lately.