RedRockit

HC, I have to relcutantly say: ask Steve Moore if it's over for him. Better yet, ask his legal team. Actually, Bert was one of THOSE players-- you know, the ones you loathe until suddenly, they wear the Winged Wheel. I had a long convo with my conscience about hypocrisy re Bert-- but y'know, there but for the grace of God goeth [insert hardcore player with a temper here], and I liked his attitude, BUT choosing the Ducks-- of ALL teams to go to, when one is looking to redeem himself. as a serious hockey player...fuggedabowdit, he's dead to me. (yeah yeah, I know-- Bert's got ginormoid legal bills, and was given an offer he couldn't refuse that DRW couldn't match-- wouldn't match. No matter. He betrayed the Organization, he must pay-- in blood. in sweat. in missed goals. Re Forsberg: He and Sakic were nearly the only players that I didn't knee-jerk loathe back in the 90s-- hell, even our Wings like McCarty praised them for being good guys. Something happened to PF, maybe it was his first injury, dunno-- but he turned into an injury-plagued guy who blamed everyone but himself for problems. (it may be a Euro thing: sometimes seems to me that players from there don't seem as imbued with team goodwill and spirit and togetherness and media correctness and all that)

Wrong announcer on that entirely-- shoulda been Dick Button, the Annoying Uncle of figure skating, solemnly intoning, "the axel is an especially treacherous takeoff, and the ice is slippery."

While it probably wouldn't hurt OR help, as far as representing our sport, such internet polls (especially those unprotected against robot voting) have very little outcome on the final result-- said results were written two months ago to fit the magazine's lead time. It's merely a PR device to draw mega-hits to the site. What they (by "they" I mean the Web Masters of Their Domain) hope for, in cases like this, is that fan clubs, forum posters, and general public that may drop by will be moved to vote, and in doing so, will view a few more ads. Every hit equals a bit more advertising pennies. No, I'm not a conspiracy theorist. But this truly is the reason for these internet polls you see happen on ESPN, People, CNN, et al--- do you think the Webmasters of Deception actually CARE about unscientific 'net polls? Sorry to be a spoilsport, but participating in them is a pure waste of time, and gives a corporate buck to someone whom you may likely have not paid any attention to when voting. This becomes a concern, especially if you're a person who holds opinions about green, religion, issues.... an Al Qaeda recruitment poster could be on the page and most people would normally let it go unnoticed. But the revenue, for one's merely hitting that page, would still go to Al Qaeda. Unlike the guy here (sorry, don't recall your name, DO recall you kinda aggravated me) who refused to watch the SCF's because he didn't want to lend any credence to advertisers putting on such a lame game, in his opinion): "They" cannot as yet track our telly preferences unless one has a Neilson box atop the box, but these polls are designed to attract us to a couple pages of ads, AND they can cookie the unsuapecting, and that's what these polls are primarily designed to do. Heck, that's the nearly the ONLY reason for 'em. EDITED for MARTYRME19: Never, EVER, AGAIN refer to Hockey as a "gentleman's sport" or I'll have to sic Pronger on yez. Our sport may be (off-ice) full of admirable athletes, but on ice, I don't wanna see no gentlemens, hear me? (just takin' the piss, I DO fully get yer meaning, and agree with (most of) my heart)

You know what kills me, HMom, is that, on this thread, the gossip-- somthing with which ia near-synonymous with the feminine gender-- has all come from MEN. Stop drooling over Zata's supposed girlfriends, guys. It makes you look like a bunch of Georges pining for Merediths (and if you get that reference... ehhh, you/ll be lusting Z rather... ehmmm... cuz, yer like that)

This is a hockey forum. There's inappropriate discussion on here about a player's personal life. (sorry, I REALLY don't mean to be a traffic cop, and I love goss as much as the next person. It just shouldn't happen here) (PM me with The Good Stuff, tho!

I respectfully ask this aspect of the thread to stop. (HMom, it's not you, you're just responding) Mods?

Speaking of people I thought would end their careers in Detroit: Shanny. The worst thing about getting older is the cynicism it gives one, AND the remembrance of history. Ahhh, '97 SC rally: Brendan Shanahan brought fans to their feet, and me to tears, when he said, "I told (TPTB) that I was looking for a home. I found it here in Detroit." Flash forward 10 years: Shanny uses the SAME DAMN LINE on NY. The very worst thing about living long, about history is that one is forced to watch the despicable lack of imagination on the part of PR reps. I want to believe this report... but history tells me it's all a lot of spin game, and I don't play that any longer.

HELL NO! per Detroit fans (by which I assume you mean LGW posters) clinging to any "back injury thing of Bert's" as some kind of panacea to relieve the pain of his loss. Au contraire, we have been concerned always, have debated endlessly, whether this back injury is permanent, and whether even given this injury, is he worth a s***e (he may still be),... Servo gave a very good, eye-opening assessment of his (Bert's) type of back injury sometime back. I hated to give it credence (after all, maybe he's NOT a doctor, just plays one on LGW, and of course he's never examined Bert personally), but I found it credible. Unhappily credible, and dampened my lust for Bert as though he'd been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction. Even before Servo made his OTC prognosis, I had already found Bert's excuse of '"t's not my back, I bruised my tailbone" extremely suspect. I DID try to believe it, but I'm so inured to the spin game, I just nod and smile, or look concerned, whilst quietly thinking... "talibone,...my achin' tailbone."

Yes, please do. I promise I'll hit it. I refuse to hit Eklund anymore.

I personally think that Kenny believes we will field nearly the same darn good team that went to WCFs last year: minus Schneider, yes, but with a balance out of that with Rafalski. Wot's our problem? We gotta fill in with talented young Euros, or some gritty young Canadians? Have a bunch of cap space leftover for trade deadline to fill the needed holes? Ohhhh, to have these problems as a GM.

It's not about satisfying YOUR ego, or your OWN requirements for sucess-- your own economical position is so irrelevant (although I'm very happy you're doing so well, and it's not like you're boasting, at all, at all). It's about a player's pride in himself that can be tied to salary.

But with nearly everyone signing for the big ginormous bucks, and now everyone that left to try to grab a decent contract under remaining cap....

Not as if they're replacing Bert for Huds at the same price-- I'm not thrilled here either, but c'mon. You KNOW you'd be bitchin' if DRW signed Bert to the same contract ANA did. You KNOW you'd (and when I say "You" it's a Universal You) be on here bitching, whinging, second-guessing,, and moaning. I'm not a Huds fan, but I'm willing to be.

AFAIK, you're right to ask this. LOVE the man's aggro talk, but does he realistically have a good shot at walking ss a Wing this year? Is this posturing?

Why do you want a fighter? Do you really desire to watch our men go on the PK? (remembering who our top PKillers were)? Instigator Rule is not so new or contradictory. when you consider that it's ALWAYS been the retaliatory pen that gets called. A drop-the-gloves guy would not have helped us against the Ducks: rather, would in fact have hindered-- merely gave the refs an excuse to rule pens against the Wings more than they did.

That center from Hell's Kitchen is WICKED good-- his hip check is parfait, and he mousses the opposition wnenever he's on call.

He WILL sign Dom. No fear there, it's just that's it's obvious both sides are waiting until the frenzy dies down and they can assign $X to a Dom salary, $X to Dom ncentives. Kenny and Dom are in bed together, and it's sooo sweet to see... even if the mental image is icky.

I do understand all of yez (far from just you, Kp, I'm quoting you only because you're one of the most eloquent and persistent) "pro-fighters" stance-- heck I want it back too. But the [insert bad word here] insitgator rule has effectively limited this as an option. Despite Pronger's over-publicized suspensions in the playoffs, there were many pens called against our Wings for playing over-the-line aggressively. Had we an enforcer, it could well have been worse in our PIMs. Our PK is great, and shouldn't change much next season, but I don't want them working overtime unecessarily. Given Matthieu on a Duck PP next season, I REALLY don't want a tough guy who adds nothing but a hard left hook and a stint in the box. If I DIID want that-- I'd call for a return of DMac. And I'll never want that, even given that I'm a proud owner of his jersey.

Sucked into this thread as into a black hole.... A month ago I'd have taken Slava, no question. I didn't believe then (nor do I now) that we could afford him under the cap. After all, he had an 80 point season. And then THIS WEEK happened, and so many players are getting miracle deals (PAYDAY large for sports agents, SO thrilled Rockitson is matriculating in Sports Management). But then I thought about it: dude would NEVER come back here on a step-down contract, he just wasn't that happy here. One of my all-time favorite players, he is. It pains me to witness his talent wasting away on a Hotlanta breeze....

Well, my SabreFreind just left, and surprisngly, she's upbeat about the BUF situ. They have a truckload of talented young players, and playoff seasoned young vets at that.

I am a huge Sabres fan...don't feel sorry for me. Losing Drury was a heart breaker, but we still have a pretty solid team. We played most of last season with call ups from Rochester and still kicked ass. It will be hard to replace Drury, as far as Briere, though he will be missed, he is replaceable. I am sad at losing Zubie, he is an awsome player. Watch out for my Sabres they are still in contention. [edited to say: This from SabreFriend, not me.}

The stats don't tell the whole story. He did get eight assists and some pretty awsome plays to make the assists. He added a lot of intensity to the game. He created a lot of plays that didn't show up on the stats. He was not caught out of position and added alot of physical pla. Besides which, Lindy was an idiot and changed the line ups which did not work so well. [edited to say: the above from SabreFriend. I only wish I could take credit for it]

I'm honored to read you write that. Thank you so much, of course I don't deserve it. I'd like to thank all the little people who helped me along the way....

He was awesome on the forecheck, finished his checks: in other words, produced. Did what he was paid to do, and then some. I don't know what to tell ya. Maybe I exaggerated a bit on his overall effect on the team, but not by much.

Kp & Lou, no, I didn't read the article (although I will read it post this post): Seriously, don't look at the stats, look at the man's play. He was integral. He made things happen, and did it in such a way that made eveyone else look good.