GoWings1905

I'm getting greedy, but man Jayson Werth as a Tiger would be amazing. The speculation the Tigers are in the running really makes me hope it happens. Martinez-Cabrera-Werth in the middle of the order. I'm drooling.

I know we all dislike Crosby, but that poll is right.

Friday, December 3 Colorado at Carolina NY Islanders at NY Rangers Columbus at Buffalo Calgary at Minnesota Vancouver at Chicago Detroit at Anaheim Saturday, December 4 New Jersey at Philadelphia San Jose at Montreal Buffalo at Ottawa Boston at Toronto Atlanta at Washington Pittsburgh at Columbus Colorado at Tampa Bay Minnesota at Dallas Florida at Phoenix Carolina at Nashville St. Louis at Edmonton Detroit at Los Angeles Sunday, December 5 Philadelphia at NY Islanders Ottawa at NY Rangers Calgary at Chicago x2 Phoenix at Anaheim St. Louis at Vancouver

Hey SWF, at least they are joining an equally poor conference in terms of competition but will at least get the automatic BCS bid. That's another insane rule from the BCS. UConn is going to lose by 67 in whatever game they end up in regardless of opponent. The Big East is really sad. I don't blame TCU for heading there though. For the first time in eight years I can say my Irish beat U$C. I don't care how down the condoms are, that was such an amazing feeling. I hope Kiffin has years of mediocrity ahead of him. At least they can enjoy their bowl game in a few weeks. Oh, scratch that too. I frickin love Brian Kelly. I finally see some toughness and pride coming back.

What gives you the impression some team would trade a second round pick for Hudler especially at this time? Brad Stuart went for a third and he's infinitely more valuable than Hudler. Same story, different season from Filppula. He's the reason Datsyuk and Zetterberg are going to get split up if he continues not to produce offensively as the second line center.

Guillen will be hurt April 1st. I definitely like the second lineup more with Maggs batting third. The Tigers might be the worst defensive team in the league though with Maggs in right, Martinez catching and Peralta at short. I have read some speculation that the Tigers must have some intention of catching Martinez more than they lead on because the sum of money is pretty substansial for just a permanent DH. I don't mind Rhymes/Sizemore/Worth battling it out for playing time at second. Still think we need another solid starter to really make this off-season complete.

Friday, November 26 Carolina at Boston New Jersey at NY Islanders Calgary at Philadelphia Ottawa at Pittsburgh Nashville at Minnesota Chicago at Anaheim Tampa Bay at Washington Detroit at Columbus Toronto at Buffalo NY Rangers at Florida Montreal at Atlanta St. Louis at Dallas San Jose at Vancouver Saturday, November 27 Philadelphia at New Jersey Calgary at Pittsburgh Buffalo at Montreal Toronto at Ottawa Florida at Tampa Bay Dallas at St. Louis Anaheim at Phoenix NY Rangers at Nashville Minnesota at Colorado San Jose at Edmonton Chicago at Los Angeles Sunday, November 28 Columbus at Detroit Carolina at Washington x2 Boston at Atlanta

I don't think there's any chance the Tigers get Crawford now. In fact, I get the sense they never really had a realistic shot even before signing Martinez. Crawford is going to get a ton of money and the Tigers would ultimately get outbid by the Angels, Yankees, Red Sox, etc. Dombrowski has always been aggressive early in free agency and I'm glad he didn't wait around to go hard after Crawford and then come away with nothing. I would love Crawford here, but I always thought Martinez and/or Dunn was much more likely to happen. I'm thinking maybe Maggs comes back now, although he almost has to play the outfield with Martinez being the primary DH. Maggs-Cabby-Martinez would be a lethal middle of the order. I would like some more speed on the team to complement Jackson, but that has never been the Tigers approach. Maybe another starter still because of the questions marks after JV and Scherzer? Either way, the Twins better be ready for some major competition in the Central.

Victor Martinez is a Tiger! Love it.

Except the Red Wings had the puck in Minnesota's zone 95% of the game and the Wild still managed to score four goals (three of which are solely on Howard). I'm all for saying it wasn't a great team effort, but Jimmy Howard and his lack of rebound control cost us a point tonight. He'll bail the team out plenty this season, but he really deserves the blame for this loss. I think even idiots could see that.

Friday, November 19 Carolina at Pittsburgh Los Angeles at Buffalo Minnesota at Detroit Washington at Atlanta Ottawa at St. Louis Chicago at Calgary Phoenix at Edmonton NY Rangers at Colorado Columbus at Anaheim Saturday, November 20 Los Angeles at Boston Tampa Bay at Buffalo Nashville at Carolina Toronto at Montreal Florida at NY Islanders Philadelphia at Washington Colorado at Dallas New Jersey at St. Louis NY Rangers at Minnesota Chicago at Vancouver Columbus at San Jose Sunday, November 21 Calgary at Detroit x2 NY Islanders at Atlanta Edmonton at Anaheim Phoenix at Vancouver

I'm not really too excited about Dunn. Don't get me wrong, I won't be upset if the Tigers end up signing him, but he's definitely the least attractive of the potential "big bat" free agents. Crawford obviously would probably be everyone's first choice. I see him going to the Angels though. After that, I like Martinez, Werth and Dunn in that order. Dunn worries me for a number of reasons. He's basically a permanent DH. He's absolutely pathetic in the outfield, let alone trying to roam Comerica's dimensions. I'd rather have Magglio out in RF over Dunn and Maggs can barely run anymore. Second, Dunn strikes out a ton and we have plenty of guys on this team that already do that. I think Martinez is a much better fit to back-up Avila at catcher and DH the rest of the time. I don't really know what Ilitch's intentions are for spending, but I can't see him going after two huge contracts. So, I would be thrilled with Martinez and then bring Maggs back too for a smaller deal.

Well, the Tigers signed reliever Joaquin Benoit today. Nice addition to the bullpen, although I hope he wasn't a one-year sensation with the Rays. The Tigers pen looks pretty strong going into next season with Valverde, Benoit, Perry, hopefully a healthy Zumaya and possibly Schlereth. Still holding out major hope for Crawford. If not, definitely want Victor Martinez over Adam Dunn. I wasn't crazy at all about bringing both Inge and Peralta back to start the off-season, but I like the Benoit move and will be interested to see which "big bat" Dombrowski is able to pull off.

I had heard about that proposed trade. s***, Boston would never do it but I would take that trade still for just Rondo alone. I agree with everything you said. This team is in shambles. Last night against the Warriors was yet another example. Prince and Kuester going at it (again) on the sideline during the game. I always thought Prince was very overrated, so his entire act this season is really annoying to me. Stop bitching about the coach Tayshaun and learn to take a jump shot that doesn't line drive its way to the basket. Joe D needs to use that expiring contract and get Prince out of here for something valuable. I like watching the bench play more than the starters. Give me Gordon, Villanueva, McGrady and Monroe over Stuckey, Rip, Prince and Big Ben any day. Big Ben has actually been fine, but let's play the hell out of Monroe and see what he's got.

I agree with everything here, especially the Rip/Prince part and Gordon/Jerebko being the only certain pieces to build around. I'm quickly starting to be less sold on Stuckey as his career progresses. If nothing else, he clearly isn't a point guard and we already have 120 shooting guards, so I'm not sure where that leaves Stuckey. Plus I'm sick of these Pistons for the past decade now running coaches out with their awful attitudes. Maybe it isn't the coaches after five of them now. I don't know if Kuester is the right guy, but I do know that this group of Pistons needs to shut up and play because it isn't 2004 anymore. Monroe has looked solid to me lately and McGrady does too in spurts. Rip needs to go - all he does is take minutes away from Ben Gordon. The Pistons have to shoot well every game to win because they don't play defense, rebound, or produce anything in the paint. I'm hoping Dumars can pull something off for a big man or at least expiring contracts by the deadline. I want in the lottery, not a sweep to the Celtics.

I really liked him at ND. He was one of the few coaches I was hoping would get retained after Weis got fired. Tenuta's schemes were a terrible fit for the personnel on defense; I put way more of the blame on Tenuta than Brown. I think it would be a great move for Michigan. As for the Irish, Utah was clearly very overrated, but that was the best win for this program in a long time. Drilling a ranked opponent at home is a huge step for Brian Kelly especially for recruiting purposes heading into next season. I always believed Kelly was the right man for the job, but this win means a lot for the mindset of everyone at Notre Dame.

Wow, I take it you have no real argument then if that's the only response you could generate to my post? I could have said Hudler has no goals. Would that have been better stated or is that stat directly due to global warming, Mike Modano, Dan Cleary, Mike Babcock, or some combination of the above?

That's just silly. Cleary plays because he works his ass off every shift and is the most versatile forward on the team. Not to mention, he has six times as many goals as Hudler, seven more points, is a respectable plus two after starting in a huge hole (Hudler is still a minus six) and he kills penalties. If Cleary is one of Babcock's favorites, it's because he earned it - something Hudler has yet to do even remotely this season. I'm not saying that Modano and Cleary don't share some fault for the third line not clicking, but they seem to be doing rather well now with Abdelkader or Bertuzzi as the third member. Hudler looked better against the Oilers, but Babcock is exactly right in that he needs to bring that effort far more consistently than he has to this point. I like Hudler, am geninuely glad he came back and feel he will be a valuable asset to the Red Wings as the season progesses. I couldn't care less about the Filppula vs. Hudler debate because they are both Red Wings and I don't give a crap about one side of the respective player's fans being able to say they were right all along. We should all want both of them to succeed.

Friday, November 12 Edmonton at New Jersey Tampa Bay at Pittsburgh Colorado at Columbus Minnesota at Florida Calgary at Phoenix Dallas at Anaheim Saturday, November 13 Ottawa at Boston Washington at Buffalo Colorado at Detroit Carolina at Montreal Florida at Philadelphia Vancouver at Toronto Pittsburgh at Atlanta St. Louis at Phoenix Chicago at Nashville Calgary at San Jose NY Islanders at Los Angeles x2 Sunday, November 14 Edmonton at NY Rangers Minnesota at Tampa Bay Atlanta at Washington Anaheim at Chicago

"I Like It" after goals is really sad and needs to stop ASAP. Seriously, is there one person attending/watching a hockey game that would like that song?

I think the All-Star Game format should change to "non-existant".

I like this idea. I don't think Nashville will let Weber get away, but Suter would be a nice option. Put Suter and Rafalski together and relive the best defense pairing from the Olympics.

Friday, November 5 NY Rangers at New Jersey Boston at Washington Montreal at Buffalo Carolina at Florida Calgary at Minnesota Phoenix at Dallas Detroit at Edmonton Pittsburgh at Anaheim Saturday, November 6 St. Louis at Boston Florida at Carolina Ottawa at Montreal Philadelphia at NY Islanders Buffalo at Toronto Chicago at Atlanta Minnesota at Columbus Dallas at Colorado Pittsburgh at Phoenix Nashville at Los Angeles x2 Detroit at Vancouver Tampa Bay at San Jose Sunday, November 7 Philadelphia at Washington Edmonton at Chicago St. Louis at NY Rangers Nashville at Anaheim

I don't think you want Tenuta around unless Michigan's secondary drastically improves in the near future. He blitzes literally every play leaving the secondary on an island. Great when it works, a nightmare when your corners and safeties aren't that strong in coverage to begin with.

That's fine, I just don't agree that MacDonald is better than Ozzie right now and I don't think many people here do either. It's a new face, but MacDonald will hopefully never see the ice just for the sake of not being Osgood. He can take his 3.30 GAA back to the AHL once both goalies are healthy. I find the timing of the Ozzie dislike somewhat odd since he is coming off five strong periods of hockey.