BringHomeTheCup!

How many young impact Russians are there in the league that Detroit had a chance at drafting? Not many. Detroit has some of the best scouts in the league. If there is young talent worth drafting, they know about it. I would think that not having more Russians has less to do with the lack of a transfer agreement, and more to do with the guys available to the Wings that have what the Wings are looking for, aren't Russian. Seems to be of late, that they are Swedes.

I have no good reason to do so, but I hate Ottawa. It has nothing to do with my love for the Leafs. I just don't like the Sens. So much so that I was rooting for the Ducks to pound them in last years SCF. I would have to disagree that Detroit - NYR would be the best exposure. In the US maybe. But we all know that Canada=hockey. The ratings in Canada would be through the roof.

They exist? I though they were like the tooth fairy, and santa....

Best for me Detroit - Toronto Call it what you want to call it, my 'other' team has always been the Leafs. And, hey, I can dream, right? Best for ratings Toronto - Edmonton Any SCF with two team from the hockey homeland would be killer for ratings. Toronto hasn't won a cup in ever, and I think Edmonton has a stronger fan base than Vancouver or Calgary. Best for NHL (as far as growing the sport) Chicago - Washington This would get a few of the young stars into a bigger spotlight, and help two franchises on the upswing. LA - Pittsburgh Again, this would get some young stars some more PR. Realistic matchups Detroit - Buffalo Buffalo would go nuts if they had a chance to see a team win a championship. We all know the Bill have 0 chance of even making the Super Bowl, so many fans are behind the Sabers. Minnesota - Carolina Minnesota is a great hockey city, and Carolina is a vastly under appreciated team. Both have a shot.

This is a sore subject for me. Something I don't understand is how the Wings ticket prices remain the same, and in some cases have increased since the new CBA was put into play. The payroll was cut in half, yet ticket prices saw no change. That really bothers me. I don't see why ticket prices couldn't have dropped a bit. I'm not saying drop the prices in an equal percentage to the payroll cut, but serisouly, Mr. I throw us a frikin' bone here.....

It's a tough question to answer. I don't think we will ever see the Wings be as horrid as they were during the 80's. I just don't see Mr. I letting that happen. That being said, I think the Wings started a decline after the '02 season. The most glaring whole that was never filled was Sergei, and things kept dropping off from there. The current team is a shell of what the Wings once were. Now that's not all bad, they are still a good team. I think the Wings, moreso than any other team in the NHL, were hit hard by the cap.

Did you actually read my post Sparky? I said " It would be nice to see the Wings aggressively pursue Bryz if he is available this offseason." I said nothing about the Wings trying to get him this season. With the waiver rules being what they are, there is 0 chance of Bryz becoming a Red Wing this season. If you really want to compare Hasek and Osgood to Khabibulin and Ward, you are just being silly. Yeah, sure, I would agree the Dom of 6-8 years ago is better than Ward, and as good as The Bulin Wall. But the Dom of today? No chance in hell he is taken before those two guys. Dom isn't a top 10 netminder any longer. Osgood has never been as good as Khabibulin, and it's debatable that he was ever as good as Ward. True, the Wings don't need the number 1 goalie in the league to win the Cup this year, but it's ludicrous to think that the team as is can win the Cup with the current tandem. They didn't almost win the Cup last year. They almost won the WC, that's a far cry from almost winning the Cup. Ottawa almost showed up in the SFC, they didn't even almost win the Cup. Why is it so hard to swallow that the Wings, as is, don't really stack up against teams like Anahiem, Ottawa, or Carolina? Take off your homer lenses, try to see things objectively.

Bryz doesn't have a ton of NHL experience, just 70 games, but he has proven he can play, and do very well at the NHL level. He has a lot more experience than Howard. I think Bryz has proven he isn't just a flash in the pan, he may not be the next Luongo, but he certianally can do better than Dom/Ozzie/Howard as next years starter. I don't think the Wings have an outside chance, but I'm just saying it would be nice. Dom pre-2002, yes. Present day Dom, not a chance he is top 5.

The teams in need of a goalie were dealing from a position of strength. They knew a few things. 1. Byz wasn't going to a WC team with any chance of making the playoffs (Detroit, Edmonton, ect..). 2. Burke wanted to trade him to an EC, but there weren't many EC teams biting. Teams like Tampa didn't have the pieces to entice Burke enough. 3. Cap space is more valuable than a late round pick in a salary cap era. By putting Bryz on waivers Burke accomplished everything he wanted. He avoided Bryz becoming uneasy and causing problems. He didn't take on any unecessary cap hits. And Bryz didn't go to a team that will make the playoffs. I never said Bryz was a gamebreaker. Only that the Wings need a gamebreaker in net, and that I'd like to seem the Wings pursue Bryz in the offseason.

Dom and Ozzie both can still win a Cup. The problem is with the team as is, neither of the two are good enough to make up for the other glaring holes (a second line scorer, and a top 4 dman). Unless Kenny can get those holes taken care of, the Wings need someone better in net. As for Bryz, are you forgetting the 3 playoff series he won with the Ducks? No, he hasn't had a full season as a starter, but he has proven that he can carry the load in the playoffs and that is the most important thing.

While I support the notion that Ozzie should start until Dom can get his head together, none of that matters. The Wings won't win the Cup with that tandem in net. They won't win the Cup with Howard and Ozzie either. The Wings need a gamebreaker in net. It would be nice to see the Wings aggressively pursue Bryz if he is available this offseason.

I've always said that and no one seems to get it. Dom is a lot harder for defense to play in front of. Plain and simple. As for how the Wings have been playing, I see a definite change in confidence depending on who is in net. The team plays better in front of Ozzie, and the reason is they are more confident in front of him. I understand that the play of the d can and does effect a goaltenders stats. However, I think what we are all seeing out of the d corp when Dom is in net is two things. 1. A d corp that isn't completely comfortable nor confident in the goaltender. 2. A d corp that is trying to do too much because of the lack of confidence and comfortability. I've never been a Dom fan, I did agree he was the best goaltending solution coming into this season. But he isn't playing well, he has never started this slow in his career. I don't understand why he is playing instead of Ozzie when Ozzie is hot. There is a time to stand behind a guy, and a time to realize that there is something wrong other than your guy just being 'rusty' or starting slow. Something is wrong with Dom. Ozzie needs to play until Dom can fix whatever is wrong. And no, playing Dom more isn't the answer. This division is going to be too tight to afford Dom to lose more games.

It is a fast moving game. But clearly you haven't played it. Players know when a save was huge, or routine. Even if a player doesn't see where the shot went, someone else did, and there is always communication. Roy was the best goaltender of his era, I would place Marty in a different era as his prime started at the end of Roy's career. As for Hasek, he was a great goaltender (he isn't half of what he was now), if you look at stats they are both quite similar. However, Roy not only won more Cups, he took his team to more Cup Finals than Hasek. We could sit here and argue all day about who has more hardware, but I gaurantee that Hasek would trade all of his Vezina's for one more Cup.

No, you missed my point. The reason Roy could get into players heads wasn't because he'd throw his glove up unnecessarily. It was simply because he was that good. He was the best goaltender of his era. His flair did not do any psychological damage, it may have added insult to injury, but that isn't what made him intimidating. As I said before, as a player you know how hard it was for the goalie to make the save. If you hit him in the glove, and then he throws it up, you know he didn't make the save. The fact that he was cocky with his antics does not intimidate you. It may upset you, but the next time you get a chance, it doesn't make you think twice about shooting glove side. Conversely, if he does make a huge glove save, and doesn't throw the glove up, it can make you think twice about shooting glove side.

The 'flair' from a goaltender doesn't add any frustration to the players. As a player you know how difficult the save was to make. If the goalie throws his glove up after catching the puck, it doesn't make the fact that he saved the shot any more frustrating.

I just tried to make that exact deal in NHL 2008. Tampa's GM laughed at me and said he wouldn't give me a bag of pucks for those guys. That hurt my feelings.

Hold on, I think I've got the answer..... Dom is lazy and he sucks.

I agree with the assessment of the team not playing as well in front of Dom and they have in front of Ozzie. But I think there is a reason. As I've said many times before, Dom doesn't play a style that instills confidence in his defenders. As a defenseman, you never know where he is going to be, what is going to happen with rebounds, if he will stay in the net or come to the redline to play the puck, ect.... With Ozzie, you get a solid positional goaltender that makes it easier for his team to play in front of him. I think what we are seeing is a Detroit team that has more confidence in Ozzie than Dom. Their play certainly shows it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, with Dom and/or Ozzie in net, the Wings won't win the Cup. Neither goalie is strong enough to overcome the shortcomings of the rest of the squad.

With Kronwall, no injury would surprise me. In fact, I'm waiting for Kronwall to follow in the footsteps of Tommy John and get some weird never-done-before surgery names after him. In Boston, Thornton had Billy G at the height of his game, and Glenn Murray at the height of his game. Great scores? Not really, but they were scorers who knew how to put the puck in the net. My point is this, Thornton needs someone to pass the puck to. Plain and simple. Joe has never been, nor will ever be, the guy who gets it done all by himself. It isn't his game, he doesn't have the talent to do it. Furthermore, the style of hockey he plays is not that of a power forward. He isn't a player who guys worry about getting hit by, or worry about fighting. Again, that's not to take anything away from Joe, he is a great talent. But what's so hard to understand about Joe not being a power forward? I'm done with this. It's getting too long and drawn out. That's me, I've argued till I am blue in the face! --->:whoa:

GP:760 G:372 A:493 P:865 PIM:1398 That is the stat line of Eric Lindros. He never did live up to the hype, or potential. Never won a Cup, only had one finals appearance. Never played a full 82 game season. 8 out of 13 seasons, he was an All-Star. He averaged 1.14 PPG. Hall of Fame worthy? I don't think so.

The problem with Thornton is that unless he has good linemates, he isn't a scoring threat. Again, just because someone is big, and puts up points doesn't make him a power forward. Show me once where I said Thornton isn't a good player. You can't, because I didn't. As I said before, and the whole premise for this debate, is I don't see Thornton as a power forward. The real fact is that Thornton is one of the best passers in the game today, but he has no shot. Joe Thornton himself is not a scoring threat. When Thornton gets the puck, you'll never see anyone get worried about him scoring, they worry about the pass he is going to make.

So using your logic, since he throws his weight around as much as Thornton, Kopy is a power forward. Come on man, e serious here. Joe Thornton is no more of a power forward than Adam Oates was.

To be a power forward, you need to be a scoring threat, something that Thornton, really at any professional level, really never has been. Just because he is big, and can put up points doesn't make him a power forward.

It would take a lot more than that for the Wings to acquire Vinny. First off, any trade that Tampa would make would have to include either a bona fide, young, number one goaltender, or a player of equal caliber to that of Vinny. There is no way Tampa gives up Vinny for Flip, Nik '"I'm one shift away from another freak season ending injury" Kronwall, a B prospect, and a pick. Not gunna happen. Let's for a second say that Tampa was foolish enough to make that deal. It doesn't work for Detroit. If they don't move some payroll to Tampa, they don't have enough to sign Hank, and fill the whole left by Flip. That trade suggestion isn't feasible for either team.

Not so. Thornton has never been a power forward, he has never even scored 40 goals in a season. He is a set up man bu nature. Again, he has no shot. He is a top passer in the NHL, but it would be a stretch to put him in the top 60 goal scores. Even in juniors he wasn't a scorer. Why is that so hard to swallow? And no, anyone can't score the goals he sets up. Although he does make average players look a lot better (cue up Murray highlights) it does take someone who has a scoring touch to put them in. You wouldn't see Maltby turn into a 30 goal score just from playing with Joe. To say that at any point in Joe's career his was/is a better power forward than Vinny is now is just plain wrong.