55fan

Well, I saw this coming. Good-bye, My Sammy. Best wishes to you and Sandra, and little William and Stina. I hope Vancouver treats you well. I'm sure the happiest person on the planet right now is Luongo. Thanks for all of the goals. I will miss you, my Shin-guard Assassin.

Potato. Corn chips are ok, but I prefer potato. (This one's for you old folks with landlines) Idiots who hang up after 3 rings before you can even get into the same room as the phone or idiots who leave long messages going "hi, are you there? nothing new here. I just called to talk but since you're not there I guess we can't talk, but you can call me back sometime....blahblahblah" until the machine cuts them off?

Depended on the friend. There were a few (mostly guys) where we would trade insults and one-liners back and forth and there were no hard feelings because we knew we didn't really mean it, and we were more interested in sharpening out wits. We also knew each other well enough to know what topics were off-limits. The person below me sees what I did below.

Extreme cold. You can always put on more clothes, but you can't always take off more. Gum or mints?

Scared people are easier to deal with than angry people, or if I'm the scared one, I get over it more quickly. Fan or AC?

Nik does reply back. Not verbally, but with his little body-language. I also sing to him. The person below me is sometimes afraid to try new things if they involve risk.

As far as I know, you and Wombat are both correct. If they can't dump his salary, it is an option, but not a good one for the reasons you stated. If they are desperate enough to dump him that they would be willing to expose him, they have probably shopped around for such an insanely low return (low round draft pick or something) that waivers would not be much of a difference. The only up-side besides saving salary is that they do have someone ready to come up in the playoffs who is a serious upgrade over many of the regular season players.

Oh, for pity's sake, people. He gave up money for a year. That was the plan. He took the risk. It was a goal short of working out. We might as well boo Lang, Schneids, Bert, Calder, Boyd, Koslov, Dandy, Williams, Joey Mac, Conks, Koko, Quincey, Cheli... Some of those guys got traded. Others weren't re-signed or were placed on waivers. Some left on their own accord. The point is that guys leave. Hossa fulfilled his contract. Adiosa, Mr Hossa. We move on.

I have some I'd like to get if they didn't cost money or involve pain and could be moved at will. The person below me has all kinds of relatives getting married this summer.

I've been dying my hair since I started going grey- over 20 years ago. Nothing exciting there. Fudge or caramel?

Kronner has already had his day as the whipping boy. It's the reason why my user name is what it is. He was getting bashed when I joined. People were saying that there was no way he was going to make it in the NHL and that his $3 cap hit was so horribly high that we were screwed. He was never going to make it through a season without injury and anything he did in Sweden/GR was irrelevant because he just wasn't NHL material. Then '08 happened, and people finally shut up. We just can't hate on Homer; he's too cuddly. Lebda has already been the whipping boy. Drapes and Malts are over 1000 games and on their last contract, so enough people are whining about them already because they're not playing like it's 1997. That leaves... Stuart, Flip, Meech, and Howard as possible contenders for the LGW Whipping Boy. We need Lang back. Just to be the Lazy and Sucks guy on the team. He wouldn't need a roster spot. We could hire him to fill the gaterade bottles or something.

I was a voice major in college, but age and much smoking have put a bit of a damper on it. I can still do pretty well pitch-wise, but I've suffered volume-wise, although I can still out-sing my Sunday School kids when I need to point out to them that they can sing louder and it won't kill them. I also do a pretty good Karen Newman impression. The person below me has been spending a lot of time checking out who signed where since yesterday.

Ew. I'll pass on the whole enchilada. Do not like Mexican food. Either that or it doesn't like me. Toewes or Kane?

I like Laraque. He would increase our toughness (so would prune juice) and he can score a bit. Probably not the best idea I've seen, but certainly not the worst. That said, there are still others I'd prefer.

Sparklers. '97, '98, '02 or '08?

I have today off! Woo!!!!! I think I'm going to finish cleaning out that bedroom. The person below me is having way too much fun watching idiots.

We're discussing the merits of keeping Hudler vs finding someone else who can fill his skates. We're just doing it LGW style. BTW, after re-reading my previous post, I realize that it seems that I think that Hudler could be quite easily replaced. I do not think that he's a cog in the Winged Wheel that can just be thrown out. I just think that we can find someone -dare I say it?- grittier to do his job and hopefully put up points (although not likely as many) for less than what it will take to keep him. If we can't find that someone, then Hudler is welcome to stay as far as I'm concerned.

On behalf of the rational females on this board, please, I beg of you: a) Put him on ignore and be done with it. b) Take a Midol. The choice is yours. Back on topic... I will miss Hudler's antics- the clucks, the "let's go Red Vings", the funny interviews. He has been enjoyable to watch. Unfortunately, these are merely bonuses. The true worth of a player is what he does on the ice, for what price, and how much his particular skill set is needed to mesh with his teammates. Hudler seems to score more with limited minutes, making him a good choice for the third or fourth line, but he lacks the size needed to be a true checking line kind of guy. He does battle and I give him credit for that, but others do it better. At his RFA salary, he was fine, but with the cap what it is, I'm afraid there are cheaper options that will fill his skates. This is not to say that I don't want him back if the price is right, just that if he is looking for more than we can afford (which I believe will be the case), he is more easily replaced than many on the team. I appreciate all that he's done here, and I like him as a personality, but if push comes to shove, I'd rather see someone who can fill either a top-six or bottom-six spot and do it well. Hudler is kind of a half-breed who doesn't quite fulfill the obligations of either. All the same, I wish him all the best and I hope he finds somewhere that he is Happy.

So... in the extremely unlikely chance that next year's SCF is Pit/Chi, who do we root for? (Mostly asking the Hossa haters)

I do. Today I was watching Victor Borge. I sometimes wonder how I end up where I do. The person below me sometimes forgets they are cooking something because they're on here and not paying attention to the timer.

I'll take the win. LGW will whine and complain whichever way it goes. If they lose, they whine because someone could have done better; if they win and play poorly, they whine because this is a harbinger of things to come and we'll never make the playoffs. At least with the win, I have the win. Hamburger helper or macncheese?

Wife and 3 kids. I wish him well. Maybe he'll be like Drake and Ozzie and come back from the Blues to win a Cup someday.

I just woke up, but it's still surprising how long it took me to realize that we're talking Cameleri (or however you spell it) and not Granato. Now that I'm up to speed, I'm a bit surprised at the price tag. Will be interesting to see who they end up with once all this trading, signing, and going to camp stuff is over.

I didn't like Hossa before he came to Detroit. I had nothing against him, although I knew he was talented. I just didn't go OOOOH Hossa. I have now become a fan and I wish him well. May he have good health and happiness. Peace, Hossa.

No American car. I have an American pick-up. His name is Stevie. The plates have changed. Those were my dad's old ones. Now I have my GOWINGZ plates on it. The person below me can guess who my truck is named after.