stormboy

40 + 45 =/= 90. he has 85 points to filppula's 94 in more games. i know you were kidding, and the totals are close in any event, but just thought i'd point out they aren't AS close as the 90-94 comparison.

unfortunately, i think you're right. it remains a possibility that howard will impress this season, but that seems like a pretty distant possibility at this point.

no, you're absolutely right. i see that attitude as well. it is particularly well evidenced by the belief that many have that any player in the league should be willing to take a massive paycut to play in detroit -- and often will be demonized if they choose not to. while i do believe that detroit is a great hockey city -- especially given the present economic circumstances -- i agree that it is not by default head-and-shoulders above any other city in this regard. appreciate it, man. i'm not actually from detroit either; my mom is, and i've lived in michigan my whole life. throughout the playoffs, as i'm sure you noticed, they would, at the joe, often play the clip from journey's "don't stop believing" near the end of games. for me, there was something that always gave me goosebumps when they cut the audio and the crowed screamed, "born and raised in south detroit." the other day i was listening to NPR (on point) and a caller prefaced his statement by saying, "i'm from detroit, and we're hanging on." for some reason it almost brought a tear to my eye. now obviously none of this has to do with hockey, and unless a player has a connection to michigan (that, for example, hossa obviously does not have) one cannot expect them to feel the same way. but i think that all of this has a lot to do with how fans see their team. every fan is going to get defensive of their team and of their city (except when osgood gives up a late goal in a tight game ), but that may be particularly true of detroit fans right now. thus, i'm going to get a little defensive when you say that calling detroit fans loyal is a deliberate lie. we're trying.

fair point. i assume the wings won't be a top-two seed this season, and may not win the division, though they will almost certainly make the playoffs. but if things continue to go downhill for us (they have certainly gone "downhill" this year as compared to last year) and our divisional opponents continue to get better, i could see us not making the playoffs in a few years. the wings have an epic playoff dynasty going right now, but is NOT going to last forever--the question is only when it will end. at that point, i could see attendance drop off, especially if economic conditions continue. i guess for me, at this point, any benefit of the doubt to the people of detroit/michigan and any bit of hope will be given to them. as trite as it sounds, we need all the positivity we can get around here right now. so if everything in the wings organization isn't perfect, as long as it's pretty damn good, which it is, i'm going to put that in the win column for our area. i don't know if you're from here or not, but to me, a big part of being a wings fan is being a fan of the area i come from. and that means a lot, at least to me.

you're absolutely right, sir. united statesians love their football, and will buy tickets no matter what. it's the same with hockey in canada. it's just...different. it also helps that chicago is finally on the upswing, while detroit has made the playoffs for over 9000-plus years in a row. imagine how ape-s*** the lions' crowds will be going if they actually win a few games this year? wings fans expect, at the very least -- the very least, mind you -- superiority. if you're used to expecting crappy play, and are suddenly surprised by fair- or good-level play, fans are going to be even more ecstatic. if chicago now verges on "great," of course their fans are going to go crazy. never mind that while we've seen our team win, what, four cups, they've seen no cups, much less little playoff performance. of course they're going to be going crazy right now.

i only know you a little bit from your posts, but it seems like you have a pretty negative outlook, generally. i know you said that you don't mean to diss wings fans, but then you actually kinda dissed them. so...i don't know. there's a big part of me that wants to say: "you'll please forgive detroiters if sports isn't the biggest thing on their minds right now. our city continues to fall apart. our major industry has largely become the unprofitable laughing-stock of the country, and is now being managed by the government, which is inherently inefficient no matter which party is in power. detroit is seen as the 'murder capital of the united states,' which expelles industry (and its subsidiary economic structures) and compounds ignorant racism." and yes, as you said, none of this is what you are "talking about." but i wonder, sir, if you realize that "sports" and "real life" are sometimes actually intertwined. do you realize, sir, that detroit has triple the national unemployment rate? these things affect people's "enthusiasm for hockey" and "loyalty to sports." i think that detroit and michigan in general are doing pretty goddam good despite the things that have afflicted them. i'm sorry if i came off like a *****, which i probably did, but you simply can not pretend like real life and dedication to a game are not directly interfaced.

he said he went to a hockey town. you just said chicago is a hockey town. sounds like you and hossa agree. so stfu and gear up for next season, in which we will hopefully beat hossa's ass each time we play him. not out of bitterness towards him, mind you, but because he now plays for a team that isn't our beloved red wings. also, 99% of the posts in this thread still lead me to believe that detroit has intelligent, rational fans. thanks for not being dicks, like the pens fans.

but i think the difference with football (soccer) is that their games are spread out way more, so teams can adjust, and with tournaments and the like, one place usually hosts, so everybody goes, gets used to the time zone, and plays some games. most major leagues (not cups or tournaments) are, to my understanding, national, not continental. still, stockholm and berlin are only one time zone further than minsk, which is already five hours off of novokuznetsk (and eight from khabarovsk). if you had a situation where the two conferences rarely if ever played each other in the regular season, it might be more feasible.

for some reason, every time i see the title of this thread i start singing, "five-hundred twenty-five-thousand, six-hundred miiinutes." i don't know.

i think zion was calling the fans who miss hossa sellouts, not the players themselves. which, to zion, i say this: hossa is a very good (if not great) player; who wouldn't want a very good player to stay on their team? i don't think anyone will now root for chicago just because hossa is over there, but when i think back to some of hossa's absolutely masterful moments, yeah, i wish he was still in the winged wheel. from a cap perspective, of course, i'd rather not see him paid a ton of money to stay here, but were money no object, i've love hossa to stay: he's a very good player. and, in that way, i'll miss him.

i put huds just b/c i knew hossa was gone and i was more than prepared for it. it was great seeing hudler have flashes of brilliance, and he just seemed so...happy after he scored goals. a close second is conks, though. i'll eat my words if i'm wrong, but i just get the feeling the howard is going to BLOW this year. it was so great to have such a capable backup. conks i wish the best (except against the wings, of course). i hope hudler doesn't score a goal in the KHL.

this does not come as a surprise. i mentioned it in another thread a little while ago, but he just looks tired, all the time. after every scrum, he just looks weary and a little bit depressed, as if to say, "for god's sake, does this have to happen after EVERY whistle??" he doesn't seem to be backing down, but doesn't have the strength to back it up any more. i love homer, but i'll give him credit if he retires because he feels he can't contribute at the same level. like others have said, i wouldn't be surprised / wouldn't mind if he signed a one-year, <$1mil contract after this season. let him play for 750,000 or so, just to see what happens, which, with nick signing for less as well, gives us cap space to upgrade WHILE giving homer another chance at glory, but not mattering too much if he's injured for a lot of the season, WHILE giving us capspace to keep our young guns. of course i hate to see him go, but unfortunately, the man's not invincible, though he has taken and continues to take more abuse than 99% of hockey players.

yeah, good with the hossa signing, etc....then all of a sudden, the owner read the scouting report on kopy. "you signed WHO!?!?" haha...kopeck...the one player who can single-handedly get a GM fired.

if he's on the fourth pairing, wouldn't that mean he's either in GR or is a healthy scratch?

wut? $778,825 + $775,825 / 2 =/= $800,000. hmm...looking at the article it says "almost" $800,000. not that that extra $23K-ish is going to do a whole hell of a lot, but still. even better!

this isn't going off stats or anything, but he just seems tired to me. i feel like a couple of years ago, after the endless scrums and cross-checks in front of the net, homer always the "********-mixed-with-i'm-having-a-blast" look on his face. this last year, especially in the playoffs, he just seems to have a "for f***'s sake, when is this going to end" look on his face. maybe that's just me, and this is based on nothing other than my observations and interpretations of his demeanor. to me, the tough thing is that i agree with those who say he's wasted on the fourth line: he's not a grinder, he's not quick, he's bad at defense, and if he's playing with guys who can't set up or shoot the puck well, his front-of-net skills are completely useless. that being said, i also agree with those who have said that he seems to have lost a step on dats and z. so...i honestly just don't know what to do with him. hopefully with some rest he'll return to form this coming season and DHZ can tear it up again, and then everyone's problem will be solved. then we can start bitching about filppula, and being disappointed with leino.

so true, unfortunately. i'm too lazy to look up the numbers, but he mentioned all those years that we traded away our first round picks. i wonder what positions those were, because i'm guessing most if not all of them were in the 20+ range. it's not as if we're trading away top five or even top fifteen picks left and right.

no. god. you embarrass me. you embarrass yourself.

yep...can't ever forget that goal. see ya, sammy. you had your frustrating moments, that's for damn sure, but i wonder if we'll be able to replace your amount of skill, as sporadic as it was, for your salary. good luck, except against the wings of course.

i think given the cap sitch and holland saying they're NOT going to make a big free-agency signing this summer, i think our options are a lot more limited than they were last year. top line is going to be zetterberg-datsyuk-holmstrom almost assuredly. second line has some options, depending on how players are going. i see it being franzen-filppula-? obviously, the second line is never going to be as good w/o hossa on it. i would put hudler there, though you really could go with cleary or leino if he's stepping up. with hudler on the second line, i'd go leino-helm-cleary maltby-draper-kader for the bottom two. what would be nice is if we can sign hudler for a reasonable amount, we might be able to get a drake-esqe player to rotate in for maltby and draper. a nice, tough grinder on the bottom line would really fill out the roster, IMO.

i love that movie. noir dialogue is unparalleled, IMO.

right. but you can only really do this is the player is getting paid way more than they're worth, right? khabi could have been claimed when he was sent down, but was getting paid way more than he should have for how he had been playing all year at that time. i have a question for OP. i'm just curious which situations you see this happening in with a guy like briere. are you just thinking over-paid, under-performing player? i just have a hard time seeing him go to the AHL for the entire year...and if it's not for the entire year, then what's the point, because you'd have to clear cap room anytime he was brought up anyway...

my prediction: hossa in OT for the 2-1 win. the entire state of michigan has a heart attack simultaneously.

^ this. pronger's not ancient, but he's no spring chicken, either. jj's up and coming, plus a pick. nice move for the ducks...i guess LA just wants to have a descent record NEXT season...though i'm not totally sure how much adding chrissy will improve their record.

here's a stat for you: the wings are the better team and will win game seven. /stats