Hank Dats 'N Homer

Where i dont think Hudler will ever reach the skill that Hossa has in the goal scoring category (i just dont think he has the confidence to be a 40 goal scorer) i think keeping Hudler at a reasonable price is a better idea than signing hossa at an extraordinary price. Ill take a 30 goal scorer at 4 mil or so over a 40 goal scorer at 8 million. Doubling the price for 10 extra goals isnt worth it to me. HOWEVER, i love Hossa and think he looks just awesome in a wings uniform and plays our style of hockey and i would love to keep him. If Hossa takes a nice hometown discount and signs a contract like franzen and Z where its heavy on one side light on the other, id be fine with that because it would let us keep a guy like Hudler too. I just dont know how realistic that is though....But i dont think we can lose either way, i just think one move is a little smarter than the other.

I think the reason that so many people dont give him as much love as he deserves this series is because he was quiet offensivly. He was pretty reliable in the defensive zone, but for the mst part that goes unnoticed by many because hes suppose to be such a scoring threat. Ill take zata getting a bunch of assists, a few empty netters, and awesome defensive play, over him scoring 10 goals no assists and playing a poor defensive game. I think its just hard for some people who take a look at a guy like Zetterberg and because he is an all around player, as soon as one aspect of his game goes down (goal scoring) regardless of his other aspects of the game increasing (assists and defense) its easy to only see the negative. To tell you the truth, with our depth scoring goals left and right, id be happy if Z played the same kind of series against Chicago. Scoring is coming all around, so Z can be sluggish there. If his defense falls off, i think there are less players on our team that can make up for his play there. With that all said, would i like to see Hank step up and get some goals while the goalie is ACTUALLY still in net? Yeah that would be great. But not at the cost of him becoming defensivly unreliable. Much love to Z for his play in the Ducks series, and much love to continue to come as we play the hawks and hopefully the finals. Go Z, Go Wings.

Man sometimes you just have to get over things. It's a tradition in Chicago to hate everything Detroit. Infact, i take it as a compliment that they chant that kind of thing even at games when the wings arent playing. Anyways, its tradition, and Piven is just showing his roots, its nice to see celebs with pride of their teams. I love piven, think hes awesome in everything he does, and this commerical doesnt affect that. Anyways, you better get used to it, because you are going to be hearing it for atleast 2 games this series. All in the name of good sports. Looking forward to a great emotional series, and the start of another good rivalry. Finally the central division is fun to watch again...THANK GOD

alright i just went back and listened to all of the postgame interviews, and zetterberg, lids, ozzie, babs all gave props to the pens top guys saying they all play great and are all great players. I than listened to Therrien's interview, and although it was painful to listen to him talk and complain, even he gave Z some props. Than i listened to crosbys interview, and this guy was just set out to make it sound like Zetterberg is just an average player. When questioned about how Zetterberg owned him on the 5 on 3 and stop crosby from scoring at least twice on that PP, crosby could say nothing but "well he didnt do anything that every other player wouldnt do in that situation". Are you kidding me sid? You dont know how to play defense and you are suppose to be the face of the NHL. Z can play both ways, and he OWNS you both ways. Now im an athlete too, and although it stings to get beat like that, i still can appreciate a good play the oppsing team and give credit where credit is due, but to hear rosby say that Z didnt do anything special or above average just baffled me. Bitter? or just tired of answering questions about Z instead of getting questions about how good the pens are? I dont know. But did anyone else hear this and get a little disgutsted (even more than before) with sid the kid? He basicaly said that the pens did a bad job on the 5 on 3 and should have gotten more shtos on the net....but im sorry to say that you can try and get all the shots you want but the defense that was displayed by Z and the goaltending by ozzie...you could have had 50 shots on net on that 5 on 3, the wings were determined. And then Z carries the puck out of our zome through the neutral zone and into the pens zone, does a twirl HOLDS onto the puck and kills another 15-20 seconds just on his own? You're right sid, Blocking your stick and keeping you from scoring, blocking shots before they get to the goalie, and than taking the puck FROM you and wasting 20 seconds of your power play time all in the same minute is the work of an average joe nobody...says wonders for how good your team is i guess...

haha nice

first off i think you mean Chad Ochocinco. secondly, Terrible comparison. Does Ovie think he is bigger than the game itself? Does he think he is the best player out there? Is he a poison to his team? No. Ovie celebrates out of pure excitement for scoring a goal. He doesnt do it to show up the other team like football players do. However, yes his pretending that his stick was on fire was a little much, and a sign of disrespect i cant argue with that. Premeditated stuff like endzone dances to me are just a form of showing off. I dont feel Ovie does that. He did that once this year, 1 out of 54 aint to bad in my book, and i stick by my main convictions that his enthusiasm is what makes him electric and exciting to watch. However, this may just be my undying burning desire to disagree with EVERYTHING that don cherry says...which, if the case, then i apologize haha

Ya know, i dont know if i agree with ydon cherry and you guys, i love seeing a celebration like he has. It shows his passion for the game, and i like seeing that in players that have big contracts like him, shows hes in it for hte love of the game rather than just the paycheck. I used to HATE it when Datsyuk would score a goal, and not even as much as crack a smile, but now he has broken through that "all business" attitude, and now you can tell that he really has fun out there, and even a guy like dats will celebrate a little after each goal. he might not go crashing into the boards, or pretend like his stick is on fire, but i have to admit, watching Ovie do some of these things excites me about hte game. Now does he need to do it when the caps are up 5-1 and he scores a meaningless goal? or puts an empty netter in? No. But i love his enthusiasm about the game and you can tell his guy gets a thirll every time he scores, even though it has seemed to become a routine thing to the fans. I mean look at what the owner said ..."he is single handedly the best thing that has ever happened to our orginization....we sell out every game in the regular season, every game in playoffs, profits are up 40% from last year" thats amazing for the way the economy is. This guy is nothing short of spectacular, and you guys have to not forget that hes only 23 years old. hes so young and is just having a good time getting paid to do something hes been doing since he could walk. Maybe he will cool it when hes older and wiser, but let the kid do what he wants to do. With all that said, i cant really agree with his off ice hobbies of driving 180-220 mph and im actually quite shocked that a guy who was so close to an older brother who was killed in a CAR ACCIDENT would drive with such wreckless abandonment. Thats one thing i DO NOT agree with and cant see how a guy that has gone through that could do something like that. But with that said, id say Ovechkin is anything BUT an "*******" like many of you have stated. The guy is good for hockey and is GREAT for washington. Let the kid play. I mean look who everyone was hyped about before Ovie took center stage...Crosby. Now theres a guy i cant stand. Complains about everything, montoned in every interview, doesnt seem to loook anyone in the eyes while doing interviews. If there is anyone who thinks hes hot s*** with an "*******" persona id say it would be a guy that just doesnt look like hes having fun on the ice, but it out there because its expected of him. He seems like the kid that plays hockey because dad forced him to go every day. we all played with those kinds of kids on our teams haha. I'll take a guy that is fun loving, exciting to watch, who gets excited when he makes a big play, over a guy like crosby as the face of the franchise any day of the week. thats my two cents, so in conclusion LAY OFF. haha

Welcome! It's gotta be a thrill to be able to watch your team in playoffs for the first time ever. Its like watching a piece of history, so thats pretty cool. Its something that us as wings fans will never get to experience. Even if its our first playoff run or our lifetime its still not the same as the first playoff run in the teams history, so im pretty jealous as wings fan that fans like you get to exerpeince it first hand. With that said, it should be a pretty good series, some guys on the radio last night were "excited" about playing columbus over the ducks, saying that it should be an easy 4-5 game series. I think thats pretty much bull. Columbus to me is a prety scary team. They are pretty strong in a position that can carry your team (goalie). Nothing speaks louder to support this fact more than watching how bad we were last year with hasek and how ozzie came in and save the cup for us. Nash always seems to light us up too...so im scared about him especially with how bad our defense has been lately. Anyways should be a good series, and please bring some of your CBJ friends over here. Usually, we get quite a few guys on these boards from opponents during playoff time, and they like it so much they stick around even after the series is over and the season ends. We have a pretty good time here. Also, get your guys working on some photoshop! not much of a "war" with no opponents haha.

does anyone see prices? i want one of each

You're lame....the songs suck but they are funny...im not a crosby hater, but i know when somethings funny or not.

Mike Fisher did the same kind of thing last year i beleive during playoffs

This is tough, ive been told i look, and have the hands of Zetterberg, but when i play i feel like i play like a Sean Avery... Is there someone in between anyone can think of? haha

No need to still be able to bang the sister in law, i think hes getting f*cked enough for a lifetime in this deal....

This is not suppose to be another "our goalies suck and we need to get one to take their place" thread. This is more of just a question that i had that turned into a possible idea. I was reading about how Brodeur was coming up to Roy's record. NO im not suggesting trying to steal Brodeur from the Devils. But while i was reading the article, i started to thin about Scott Clemmensen who replaced Brodeur while he was out. While Brodeur was out Clemmensen played In 40 games, posting a 25-13-1 record with a 2.39 GAA, .917 save percentage and two shutouts. Now are these numbers Super fantastic? Not really. But they are pretty decent numbers for a guy who was brought into the spotlight for the first time (minus his stint in toronto for a while and the random call ups). Now im not reccomending going out and signing this guy to solve our goalie problems, mainly because i think our problem isnt just goaltending, but the whole team playing sluggish and sloppy defensively, but we havent had a goalie that has really "stolen" a game for us all season. Now i didnt get to see alot of games that clemmensen played or anything, but it seemed while he was the starter, there was some big talk about him. I also dont know why he was sent back down, so if he was sent back down because he completely started to fold and play bad than disregard this. But the numbers he posted, the fact that he is an UFA after the season and the fact that hes only making 500K made me think about asking what everyone thought about this guy. This thread was really meant for me to just ask the question about how well he actually played and if he looked any good while playing. Like i said i didnt really see any games that he played, just going by word of mouth and what i saw on ESPN each morning. anyways, what do you guys think for next season assuming we dont resign Conklin for whatever reason and Howard continues to be a bust? I know everyone hates "Bash the goalie thread" so again, this is not a bash the goalie type thread, just a question/topic i was curious about everyones opinion on.

Bettman....i dunno, somehow its his fault...

Yeah i figured someone would say this sooner or later. Im not suggesting that we try to find a replacement for McCollum, but he has about as much hype now as Howard did when we first drafted him. Not to mention he is still so young and we seem to have a habbit to leave alot of our players in the minors for longer periods of time allowing them to develope more. Theres no real way of knowing how long McCollum will be stuck in the minors, and i dont know what kind of players are going to want to play for the wings if we dont have goaltenders other than Howard who hasnt been spectacular by any stretch of the imagination and Larsson who has yet to play an NHL game. Im not trying to say that this is a bad idea, btut you take a guy like Hossa for example who came to Detroit because he felt it was the best chance to win a cup. Would he have done that knowing that our goaltenders would be Howard/Larsson? Or did he do it because he saw how crazy Ozzie played in playoffs and knew Conklin was a pretty consistent backup and felt they gave him a good chance to win a cup? Im just saying, mcCollum has a few years before hes going to be ready for the NHL, and i was just trying to see what people were thinking for a cheap reliable goaltender for next season.

haha, no im pretty sure we are taking ozzie and conklin to playoffs this year, and i think they can pull their stuff together as long as the rest of our team can start playing too. I just know they have hyped up Howard so much and if we only signed Conklin for one year so that he could be a filler until Howard is ready, and the kid turns out to be a dud like he seems to be so far, then we need to find another alternative and a cheap one at that if we plan on trying to resign some of our big name forwards. I mean they could easily resign Conklin which i wouldnt be against, but i know some people arent his biggest fans and think hes been a dud too, so i was just tryiing to see what everyone else thought.

Wow, wish i would have read this before i wrote my response. haha nailed it right on the head in my book with respects to someone wanting fisher.

WHAT? You're right, Fisher isnt playing that great, but is anyone in ottawa? In past years, pretty much every year other than this, he has been one of the bright points on that team. His physical play along with his scoring touch, he had flirted with the 50 point mark the last 3 or 4 years. Im contributing this season to a broken team who is just not playing up to its potential. Im not saying Fisher is a phenomenal player but hes a good depth guy with some talent, and to say that NOBODY will take him in a trade is a ridiculous comment in my book. There are plenty of teams out there who are desperate enough to trade a roleplayer for a struggling Fisher in the hopes that he rebounds out of this bad season. Im not saying a team like the wings, boston or San jose are going to go pick him up, but a team struggling and battleing to make the playoffs who is desperate for some grit with some scoring would make a deal in my book if Fisher was out there. But i guess thats just my opinion. Im wrong alot so it wouldnt be the first time...

Man watching that gives me goosebumps. I feel like i have a cup hangover as much as the players looked like they were suffereing from one earlier this season. And by hangover i mean i completely forgot how dominant the wings were and how out of their minds they played. Watching those videos, i dont think i have ever seen ozzie play better. EVER, and i had completely forgotten about his BACK TO BACK shutouts to start the finals. And to top it off, he wasnt even the starter going into playoffs. Then you see Franzen who just dismantles the avs and scores at will. Then there is Zetterberg. MAN. I forgot how dominant that guy can be when on a line with Dats and homer and i would really love to see him play with them more often now to rekindle that flame. The only criticism to those videos would be not putting Zetterbergs awesome defenseive play i think it was on crosby that practically saved a goal and the game during the finals. As much as it excited me to watch these, it really made me miss Dallas Drake haha. And i would really love to see Kronner throw some of those body checks. You watch these videos and see how intense the wings played during playoffs, and it makes me wish they played like that throughout this season as well, but as long as they can have the same tenacity this year in playoffs ill be a happy camper. Thanks for posting the vids!

Yeah i agree with that. It seems like our prospects sure spend alot of time in the AHL. I dont think tis because they arent good enough or that organization doesnt trust them, its just obvious that alot of good players want to play in a good hockey city like detroit, so we get guys like Conklin and hossa and others (like hull and shanny) that come later in their careers and take the spots of some of our young talent. Theres nothing wrong with it, its natural i guess, but man would i be frustrated if i was drafted by the red wings and wasnt an all around stud who was guaranteed to be playing that year because if you arent you know you are stuck in the minors till half the team retires haha. Im sure that reputation is already well known by most players, and im sure its obvious to ther fans when we continue to get big name signings and win cups every few years. Theres defnietly a correlation there, and it spells bad news for red wings prospects haha. Many of our prospects could probably crack the Tigers lineup in a shorter ammount of time than it will take them to crack the Wings lineup....and alot of our prospects are from europe where baseball isnt exactly a well known or well played sport haha.

I dont stay over night in the downtown are that often so i dont know where a good hotel would be. I would probably follow the advice of the others on here and try to stay at a hotel outselde of the actual city. Not just because everyone thinks its dangerous or anything, but because it would probably be cheaper to stay out of the city with all the casinos and stuff jacking the prices up on alot of hotel costs. The only problem with staying outside of downtown is that you said you arent driving but plan on flying, so i dont know how you would get to the joe from outside of the downtown area. You could try a cab or a bus, or hell you might even be renting a car for the week or whatever. If you rent a car then staying outside of town would defiently be better for ya. Then of course i would just recommending either parking your car in greek town (which i think you can do for free you just have to get validated by the casino) and then catch a shuttle to the joe from there. If you do that i definetly recommend going to pegasus for some good food. its terrific. If you are in more of a mood for a burger or something the Hockey town cafe is always great, which is right across the street from Comerica Park, which if you are a baseball fan too is a pretty cool site....although you are coming in october and we all know that the tigers are far far away from playing in october this year...but hey you are from new york so you gotta be used to that from your yankees anyways (sorry i had to make myself feel better about my tigers haha) If you want to eat at hockeytown you can park right in the fox theatre garage which is usually about 10-20 bucks on a wings game night. Sometimes i sneak in for like 5 bucks if its a weekday game. But if thats to much there is parking all over the city. Anyways hockeytown cafe has shuttles every 15 minutes leading up to the game and like every 30 minutes during the game and the shuttles come every 15 minutes to pick you up after the game. Not a bad gig, dont have to fight Joe Louis traffic to get home which most of us know is quite a drag haha. Anyways, i hope this helps a little bit. Glad you are coming out here, but i feel bad that you will be leaving letdown by a rangers loss....But hey look on the bright side you got to see one of the most talented teams ever play! haha

Its a tough problem, your heart tells you to watch the game, but your brain and your wallet tell you to study.... haha who to listen to, who to listen to....

Does anyonek now if its televised yet? Im praying its not seeing as i have an organic chem test tomorrow morning, and i wont be getting any studying done if i know there is a game on....yeah ive missed hockey ....and it feels as if only yesterday we won the cup. Summer flew by damn! Lets bring it home again this year. Dammit now i hope there is a stream tonight....

This sounds just like Tiger fest that i go to every year. You can bet that for only 5 bucks, i shall be there! Tiger fest tickets are usually about 10 bucks and they never won the world series. I cant beleive the wings are only doing this for 5 bucks after a cup win. This is amazing.