The Secret

Ouch, Chicago already had a good young team. Now adding Hossa makes them pretty scarey! The downside for Chicago will be if Khabibulin leaves... I'm not sold on Huet. Was nice having Hossa in the regular season anyway... too bad he took an early vacation in the play offs.

Even by adding Bouwmeester (good job Flamers!) you are still compairing 2 different universes on D. Calgary's D is still not even remotely close to ours and I would further bet our second paring could compete strongly against the Flamers new top pairing.

Hahaha, thats funny. Belfour would offer nothing that we need. I'm hoping we are going to use this iff season to clear some dead space on our bench and not add to it.

Please re-read all of my posts, I'm not asking to rid the team of all european players I am just asking for a better mix trhat will only improve on the product that did not win the Stanley Cup this year. Adding some more North American players to better mix in with our Euro-core.

I do for one! I believe the best product I have seen for over all experience was the 96 - 98 Wings when we could score, and pass and play all the patty cake we would like but we could also hit and fight and win the battles in the corner by playing good old fashioned mucking hockey, something our gallons of swede's will not likely provide. I want to see more North American players in the mix with our Euro's to get the best of both worlds. I'm sick of watching 3 million dallar Filpula get tossed around like a little girl, or Invisible Jiri Hudler pull a whodini act, or delicate little sammy swing his purse around and flapping his gums... I want to see more of Justin Abdelkader using his big body and crashing people and scoring from the muck zones or Darren Helms looking like he is 6'5" and 300 lbs knocking makling player pay for going to the boards.

Man we have enough swede's already... We had a chance at some good quality home grown!

BOOOOOOOOOOO! Why would we trade our 1st rounder. Ashton Carter is 6' 3" 205 lbs good ol'e Canadian boy that looks like a perfect fit. Why? I don't get it? Makes me sad!

Dany Heatly has asked to be traded from Ottawa and I think he would be a perfect addition to our team. Big guy, finishes checks and can score. I would really like to see him brought in, maybe even more then I would like Hossa to stay. What do you all think of this?

Filpula + Hudler maybe? I'd go for that...

Crazier things have happened... remember when Marian Hossa turned down lucrative long term deals to sign in Detroit for a year? You never know. It is the Red Wings I am talking about, the only team I can think of that players want to take less to play for the most successful organization of nearly the last 2 decades. You never know what Kenny Holland can make happen. It's fun to play armchair GM sometimes.

I agree that Osgood has his moment where he lets in some softies and loses confidence. I hated him through the reg season but he really held us into alot of games this play off and he can still do what we need him too. No need to sell the farm for a new goalie, plus we have some good young guys coming through the system. If Osgood can do what we need him to until either Larsson or McCollum are ready it would allow us to spend the money else where.

I really enjoyed watching Hossa in Detroit. I would really like him to stay as I think he can and will find his groove again, you can't keep elite players down. His defensive play was fantastic, he fit in the locker room like he'd been there all along and its been said over and over that he is just a great person. His Offense lacked when we needed it but I would bet he finds the solution and fixes it. I would not be opposed to having him sign despite a lack of playoff offence.

I don't often agree with what you say but you are spot on here. The Pens 3rd line broke our back and out worked us and gave us more cause for concern then ol'e Crosby. Staal had a great play off and he really was an unsung hero for the Pens win I think, Talbot too. We had too many ghosts playing on our team and not enough fight when we needed it. We were capable of taking any game over in my opinion but the heart ad desparation was not there to mak it happen.

Sorry, I edited my previous post to mention that hits are not the only notable physical play. The Board & corner battles, the fighting for position in front of the net, and just the mean spirited chips, shots and shoves that we do not engage in. Hudler was knocked around like a pansy, so was Sammy. Too many players not digging in to win the battles that make a team a winner. If the fancy play is working run with it, if its not we needed to play in the ugly spots and win in the tough physical spots... didn't happen and it took the ultimate toll.

Did you watch any of the series? Their physical play is part of their system and it gave us all we could handle and you better believe it took a toll on us. When I am talking about physical play I am not only referring to open ice checks but winning the little scraps on the boards, in the corners and in front of the net. The constant little chips, shot, and shoves wear a player and a team down too. We've received this type of battering the whole play off run and dished it out way less.

We didn't lose because because we didn't have enough Canadians, we lost because of inconsistent play and lack of desire. Canadians play a different style then Europeans and thats a fact. I think the Canadian style is more rugged and having a better balance of that could go a long way in the rigors of playoff hockey, thats my opinion. I did not say Euro's suck lets get rid of them all or anything like that. I'm Canadian and proud of our players and naturally would love to see more on our team.

Amen brother, I am with you 100%. We NEED a better mix of Canadians in with these Euro's to have the right balance... thats been my thought for a long time now. Ducks = 15 Canadians Hawks = 15 Canadians Pens = 16 Canadians Wings = 8 Canadians I'm in Montreal too and its making me sick to hear the media bragging about Talbot, a Quebeccer, winning the Cup for the Pens. No word about how much the Canadiens suck, the french media here is retarded.

...Can I put you on ignore too? I'll do it without shaking your hand!

Dany Heatly lunch pail enough for you? He'd be a great fit on our team. I would love to see Marian stay but, I thought he was so good in so many ways but he came up bone dry when we needed his offense most! I still like him but its true.

I agree 100%. More ugly playoff hockey is what I have been talking about this whole series... they tried to be too fancy too often when winning board battles and good hard shots on net would have been more valuable. The only good thing they did in the first was dictate the physcal play and not get scored on. By the time their collective hearts were in the game it was too late. I hate to admit it but Pitsburgh out played us and look to have alot more energy for most of the series.

Who cares man? What difference does it make? Why does it bother you so much that you need to start this? Would it have made you feel better if he shook every single hand and looked everyone in the eye and told them he loves them? Get off it!

Nothing like a Crosby hating thread to take away from our deficiencies thaty cost us the Cup. I couldn't care less if Crosby grabbed the Cup and left the building and without even looking at the Wings to be honest... who cares. The youngest Captain in history got carried away in the moment of winning the Cup and missed some hand shakes, who ******* cares.

It was a rough year with plenty of rough patches and complacency yet we still made it this far. Too much fancy s*** and not enough good hard s***s are what lost us this game if you asked me. Pens had more hungry players then we did, they out played us more then we out played them.... they were the better team. Maybe some off season roster refreshing is what we need to get rid of the complacency. EDIT: I meant good hard SHOTS but maybe a few good hard s***s could have helped Hoss and some of our other playoff ghosts

Who gives a crap. Really, why do you care?

Poor Hossa, I loved having Hoss and would not be opposed to him staying for the right price. He was great defensively but not sure what happened to his offensive game.