Leaderboard

Gustav Nyquist Henrik Zetterberg Anthony Mantha Andreas Athanasiou Frans Nielsen Thomas Vanek Tomas Tatar Riley Sheahan Dylan Larkin Justin Abdelkader Luke Glendening Drew Miller Defensive Pairings Dan DeKeyser Mike Green Jonathan Ericsson Alexey Marchenko Xavier Ouellet Nick Jensen

Lapointe could actually score in the playoffs. So I agree, they're not comparable.

I've been saying that for years. Big goalies with big equipment and great fundamentals have made the game a lot more boring. So have better defensive systems. There's not a lot of 40 goal scorers and even fewer 50 goal scorers and 100 point scorers. It has made things less enjoyable. This, along with the lack of fighting and old fashioned rivalries is hurting the game. I guess if you enjoy watching 6'6 goalies wearing giant pads and stopping everything except deflections, screened shots and breakaways, then this is the golden age of hockey for you. Otherwise, if you grew up watching hockey in the early 90's, this is excruciating.

Wings are not quite as crush-able as they appear. LGRW!!!

Ya, but if they really want him they would be willing to pay up. I don't understand why folks think when it's us shopping, we have to pay up to outbid people, but when someone actually really wants something we have, we aren't going to get crap for it. This is nothing directed towards anyone, it just seems a general concensus. Look what we had to give up for Legwand, when a team wants a player they offer up to make sure they get the player. If Chicago feels Vanek is their missing piece, a 25-30 1st round pick plus a legit chance at another Cup is not too expensive. Especially to the Bowman's.

Nah, not your bad. It wasn't at all clear that I was kidding. It's my bad. I mean, to be clear, I don't think Stan Bowman doesn't deserve any credit. In fact, I think he deserves a ton of credit. Yes, he inherited a powerhouse, but he's guided his team to multiple championships in the span of about half a decade, in the cap era. Keeping the Blackhawks this good for this long in The Age of Parity (which, by design, punishes teams that are loaded with high-end talent) is an impressive feat. Bowman's had to make a number of shrewd -- sometimes difficult/ruthless -- decisions just to keep his team in annual contention, and some of those moves have worked out incredibly well for the organization. But, yeah, none of that really matters if they don't have Kane/Keith.

Yeah had all the good stuff

So Vanek is the key to winning the Cup? No? Then trade him.

Maybe people are more focused on the "pure" scoring now because stuff that made hockey interesting has been faded out step by step. If Crosby is the only one capable of running away with it, maybe just maybe he is still that much better than his peers. To answer your question: Hockey hasn't become boring because of less scoring it's boring because the good stuff isn't there anymore and thus more people are solely focusing on one aspect of the game.

What does keeping Vanek do? Prevent the team from getting an asset that potentially helps long term and gives them a little better chance of sneaking into the playoffs to get thumped in the first round next year, assuming he doesn't disappear once he gets a multi year contract.

Vanek is one of the few forwards we have that is actually good. Would rather re-sign him in the offseason if he wants to stay. I think he easily nets a late first, not sure what yall are smokin.

If Chicago wants Vanek, they better give us a 1st rounder. It's a sellers market in the NHL not a buyers market.

Have to keep in mind that a first rounder from a contender is basically a second rounder. If Vanek keeps up his current scoring pace, he'll be worth a first to a team that has a legit shot at the cup. Jets are having major goaltending issues. Hopefully, Holland will be in touch. This team HAS to dump salary whether they are in the playoff hunt or not.

2 points out of last in the East, and the Isles have 2 games in hand on them. 6 points out of the 8th spot, need to jump 5 teams to get there. Yup, they're on a roll!

You rather get nothing? Of course a first would be great plus a prospect even greater but I don't think that's realistic. Word should be out by now that Vanek, Green are more than just available in order to create some kind of bidding war but the Wings can't make the same mistake the Isles made by overpricing him and hanging on till the last hour or so. If nobody offers a first then lower the price a bit till enough teams bite and then drive the price up a bit again. Personally I'd rather get something instead of nothing again for a guy who is not part of the rebuild.

Stop being a hater

Tongue-in-cheek. I don't really believe it's Stan Bowman. Like you said, kliq, Tallon set the groundwork. I've just found that pretty much everyone I talk to (in real life) about Chicago and their success seems to hold Bowman up on this great big pedestal, which I find surprising and amusing. For me, it's Kane or Keith. Probably the latter.

I don't know but Brent Burns is a beast.

Stop being a hater he scored over 20 goals one year and had back to back 40 point seasons. That was all him, too. It had nothing to do with playing almost exclusively with Zetterberg and Datsyuk. If anything those old farts held him back. Sent from my LGLS676 using Tapatalk

14 - 40 39 72 - 51 - 62 21 - 71 - 26 8 - 43 - 41 / 15 65 - 25 2 - 3 61 - 48 Never going to happen, but that's my optimal lineup with everyone healthy... Imagine having three scoring lines and a 4th line that can shut down top lines while actually generating offense... Imagine having 6 defensemen in the lineup that can skate and move the puck... Imagine having a coach that didn't rely on grit and didn't have a defense first approach...

I do too, but frankly, they've looked really good in say, 3 of the last 4 games or so and have beaten two of the top teams in the league. It's really tight in the East (6 points out of the last wild card spot and 4 points back of Toronto for 3rd in the division). Frankly, if this team isn't more than 10 points out I see KH sitting on his hands. While it wouldn't be the worst thing, they've clearly got an opportunity to get something good for Vanek right now, and they could actually attempt to sort out or D. It would really go a long way to getting this team off to a good start in LCA next year. All it takes is solid goaltending, another top quality D man, and a good C (or further development of AA and Larkin), and we could easily be in the mix next year. This team just needs some key young players to take another step forward (like we've seen from Mantha and to an extent AA) and things will be looking good. A good high pick in the draft and some help on D in exchange for Vanek would be something management would be extremely smart in doing, even if it costs them the beloved streak.

The thing is now though, you watch, the Wings will go on a little bit of a run, not a massive one, but just enough to put them on the playoff bubble. Which means Holland won't sell, he'll probably stand pat, and we'll end up either missing the playoffs or just squeaking in and getting dumped in the first round again. Vanek walks for nothing and we miss a great opportunity to set us up well for next season with a high pick of our own and another first from another team..... That's just the way I see it. I'm glad this team has put it together the last week or so and I obviously want to see the Wings win, but really, for the long term future of this franchise, it couldn't have come at a worse time imo. We're not close to competing this year, and extending the streak by squeaking in just reinforces the badly managed philosophy of the last few years.

Hmmm... Thinking of a good response to this. Got it. Go away troll.

Franzen will make a shocking comeback around the trade deadline, and channel his 2008 playoff form to get us into the postseason

This roster is very deep, what it lacks is high end talent. We are filled with mid pairing d-men and 2nd/3rd line forwards.