GoWings1905

What was Mark May saying about Pitt being a top-ten team? I don't think getting dominated by Bowling Green at home will help the cause. Poor Mark May - another lame prediction gone bad after just one week.

Chicago fans are pathetic. They would rather see the Red Wings lose than the Blackhawks win. "Detroit Sucks" on every post? Oh really, why do the Red Wings have more championships in the past 11 years than the Blackhawks have in franchise history? What a joke of a fan base.

Good post. I don't think Holmstrom would be completely useless without one or both of the Euro-Twins, but he certainly wouldn't be anywhere near as productive playing without them. I guess I should clarify that since my previous post might have came across as bashing Homer. That wasn't my intent - I was just trying to make the point that playing Holmstrom with Cleary and Kopecky isn't the best idea. I think Homer will pretty much always play with at least Datsyuk as his center, and then obviously Z as well when Babcock decides to keep the three together. I am somewhat conflicted because ZDH are so effective together, but I also think not playing Hossa on one of Datsyuk's wings would be a mistake. It's a damn good "problem" to have and I'm sure we'll see plenty of line juggling depending on the situation from Babcock this season.

Damn that looks good. What a nightmare for the 29 other teams. Just when the Red Wings couldn't get any better ... Hossa! It's almost not fair.

I don't ever recall Dallas, Atlanta, or Florida being threatened with relocation either. Nashville is struggling just to keep a hockey franchise.

Did I miss something? Nashville has horrible attendance figures, even when the team is respectable. Here are some recent attendance numbers for the Predators: 2008 - averaged 14,910 for 41 home games (27th in the NHL) All of the teams you listed above were ranked higher than Nashville as well. 2007 - averaged 15,259 for 41 home games (23rd in the NHL) Atlanta, Dallas, and Florida were all ranked higher again. 2006 - averaged 14,428 for 41 home games (25th in the NHL) All three teams were ranked higher than Nashville again. 2004 - averaged 13,177 for 41 home games (28th in the NHL) Yes, all three other teams were ranked above Nashville. In all four of those years Nashville was a playoff team, so by their standards the team was actually doing pretty hot. Atlanta and Florida are consistently inferior teams to the Predators, and they had better attendance. Dallas has been a good hockey team recently, and their overall attendance was ranked 12th, 12th, 13th, and 8th respectively for the years listed. I don't think your claim of Nashville fans always coming out really holds any water.

Ottawa for me. The reason is solely because Jason Spezza is my favorite NHL player not on the Red Wings.

I'm not bitter about the loss, but I can understand why fans that were in attendance at JLA that night could be. Ultimately it worked out for the Red Wings, so it's tough to complain about where the championship was won. The game five loss was tough to swallow at the time, but looking back now it was one of the best hockey games ever. I'll never forget Rafalski's celebration after his goal put the Red Wings up 3-2. Amazing game, wrong result.

Translation: Radulov was sick of losing to the Red Wings all of the time.

That sucks Versus has exclusive coverage for opening night. I was really hoping FSN Detroit would get the game so we could actually view the banner raising ceremony. I'm assuming Versus' coverage will be limited and crappy so we can instead listen to the Versus crew talk about Crosby. Luckily I do get CBC, so hopefully they will show most of the ceremony. It won't be the same without Ken and Mick though.

Good signing. I'm glad Downey will be back with the Red Wings another season. The off-season of perfection continues for Holland.

Mowers scored one of the most beautiful goals in the regular season a few years ago against Calgary. I think it was even more spectacular coming from Mowers. Other than that goal, I really have no other memories of Mowers with the Red Wings.

That's fair enough. I respect your opinion - I just don't think it's fair that you label everyone that disagrees as "anti-enforcer." Maybe there are people in this debate where the term applies, but it certainly doesn't hold true in most cases. I'm not anti-enforcer. I appreciate and love what Downey and Mac bring to the Red Wings. I'll leave it at that for the sake of the thread.

Isn't that the point though? If Farnsworth was brought in for immediate bullpen help, then how long is his grace period before I can analyze if the trade was truly worth it? Maybe the bad outings were just that and Farnsworth will pitch well the remainder of the regular season, but for what DD and Leyland wanted Farnsworth for, the trade has by all means failed already. I'm probably being a little harsh on Farnsworth, but if the Tigers were willing to trade Pudge Rodriguez for him, he sure as hell better perform better than he has.

Just a thought: maybe us "anti-enforcers" are labeled that by yourself because you perceive us to underestimate the role of enforcers, when in fact you probably overvalue enforcers. There can be a middle ground on the subject, which thankfully the Red Wings organization has taken. It doesn't have to get blown out of proportion by unfairly labeling people broad generalizations that aren't in most instances even true.

My fault. I must have misunderstood the post.

I know you didn't. I was making the point that GMR labeled everyone on here as treating Holland like God. I just wanted to see if he could come up with a better GM, or if he's holding a grudge against Holland for being "soft", which in all likelihood is the case.

Name a better GM in the NHL right now.

I'd love to see the Garcia signing work out as well. Hell, anything to get Nate Robertson out of the rotation works for me. However, it doesn't appear very promising for Garcia at this point - his fastball was clocked at 85-87 MPH when he threw for MLB scouts. Not to mention, he was awful for the Phillies before his injury last season. Garcia is going to get rocked worse than Robertson if his velocity doesn't improve in the minor leagues. It's a low-risk move and certainly worth the chance. The Tigers need all the pitching help they can get.

Good. With hardly any prospects remaining, they really have work to do to rebuild the farm system.

If Maltby deserves to be an alternate captain, then you have to include Chelios and Holmstrom in the discussion as well. I like Maltby and appreciate what he brings to the team, but giving him an "A" at this point isn't necessary. Rotating Draper, Z, and Pav has worked, so there is no reason to change it now. The Red Wings know that Z and Pav are the present and future of the team, and have recognized that by putting them in leadership roles. Guys like Maltby, Chelios, and Homer still have an influence in the dressing room, even without a letter on their jersey.

I don't get the Shanahan bitterness either. It was a good move for both the Red Wings organization and Shanny. The Red Wings went in another direction, and Shanny got another opportunity to play in a place that he wanted. There was not, nor should there be, any resentment about moving on. Be thankful for everything Shanny did for the Red Wings during his time here. Changing uniforms doesn't automatically make a player greedy or useless.

What a disgusting bullpen. Does anyone know how to hold a lead? Chuck Hernandez can start looking for a new job.