VM1138

Conner has been great so far. He's clearly had more impact than Emmerton (who we won't even remember played this season a year from now) or Brunnstrom. No reason to send him down, he's doing great.

Considering their pre-game prep every night revolves only around Crosby, it doesn't surprise me they are unfamiliar with the way other hockey players score goals. EDIT: And I know the Pens fans will say they lost because Crosby was out, but he's not usually a factor anyways in games versus Detroit, IIRC. He may get a point a game or something, but he's not really an impact player against us.

I guess I'll be the stick in the mud. No one sees anything wrong with crowds cheering on 9 year olds punching each other after a game? I mean...aside from it being weird to endorse child fighting, it was after the game...after the handshake line. I know they're just kids, but hopefully the coaches brought the hammer down after that.

I don't understand this mentality. He's not any better for the game than Ovechkin or Stamkos or anyone else. Maybe because he sells more jerseys? As far as the actual game goes, he's not even the best player in the league (arguably), so his loss would suck for Pens fans but I think the league will do just fine.

Maybe Babs is just trying something different. In the past big wins were followed by big losses, so he's probably just trying to mix up the mojo a bit.

I like to collect Original 6 stuff. Obviously a vast majority of my hockey stuff is Red Wings, but I do think it's cool to have some other stuff, especially if you like showing stuff off. I'd like one day to have a game room/bar in my house and in it I'd like to have a section for Original 6 stuff to go with all my Red Wings stuff.

People tend to forget that we're not going to be replacing everyone with prospects. There will be trades and off-season signings. The team will stay among the elites in the worst case scenario. Best case is every couple years we'll have a signing that puts us over the top. Holland is very good at handling transitions. Remember, the world was falling apart in 2006 and some people complained the team would become a bottom feeder.

If Flip keeps this up I may have to eat my words about him never amounting to more than a decent defensive forward. And he may rethink me demanding a second line scorer in exchange for him. EDIT: And I love how a 7-1 beatdown doesn't merit a front page story on NHL.com. Maybe tomorrow.

The 08/09 teams were unreal. And like someone said, Pittsburgh and Chicago were untested and young. I still think we would have Chicago's number in a playoff series, but Pittsburgh has really become dominant overall. Not as consistent as the Wings but still very, very good. Most of the teams have vastly improved, at least in the regular season. But look at it this way: How many teams do you actually see having a chance to make the Finals? Not many. It's still a small league of elite teams: Detroit, San Jose, Boston, Pittsburgh, Chicago, etc. So in that sense, I don't think the whole league has caught up, but San Jose and Pittsburgh have really responded to Wings dominance well by making some changes over the years. And obviously San Jose being coached by McClellan and aping the Wings style helps. Those are the only two teams I see giving the Wings any serious trouble.

I like it when GM's or coaches call out their lazy players.

I understand the unnecessary divisiveness, but why exactly should the NHLPA have been consulted about this? It only affects the players in a really, really roundabout and indirect way.

It does worry me that we can't seem to beat St. Louis anymore, or San Jose, and I think Minnesota is falling into this category, too, though I may be wrong. And we get beaten the same way ever time. San Jose: Longer reach and cycling play, lucky bounces. St. Louis: Can't seem to connect passes and everything gets blocked. Minnesota: Not sure what it is, but have we beaten them yet this year?

Alright, I'm on board with this, then. Being able to potentially see San Jose in a Cup final would be epic. The only team in our new conference worth playing in a final would be Chicago, but I guess that's a fair trade-off. And being able to play Eastern teams in the playoffs before the final could be interesting, too. EDIT: Just imagine, the other teams in the Midwest/Central now know they will always face Chicago or Detroit in the playoffs, haha. Sucks for them, I guess. Also likely that every second round matchup will be Detroit-Chicago. Pretty much disqualifies everyone else from advancing.

So wait...I haven't heard this mentioned. Are the Eastern and Western Conferences eliminated now? I keep seeing these divisions being called conferences. Does this mean we could actually see some unusual matchups in Cup finals?

Plus Minnesota, Dallas and Winnipeg. That's my point. Technically, travel wise the Wings made out okay. But other than the Hawks, none of those teams are consistently good. Which means each and every year we will play the Hawks and the other round will rotate. Nothing changes. I think a lot of us wanted to see Original 6 matchups with real rivalries instead of the fake rivalries we've been fed for years. Not a terrible realignment, just not really all that different for the Wings other than some shorter travel.

Yeah, it's exciting for the rest of the league, but Detroit gets stuck with the reject teams. That's why they voted against it. It's like a Harvard grad being forced to ride on the short bus.

What Bettman wants Bettman gets. We all should have seen this coming. I guess nothing really changes for Detroit except that the first two rounds will likely be boring as all get out from here on out. I really wanted to move East, but I guess it's hard to argue that when Columbus is farther east than us. Too bad, as the Western Conference Finals are usually better than the Cup Finals. Would have liked to play a Western team for the Cup. EDIT: And copping out is what is done nowadays, not just with the NHL. With politics, business, everything. The option that requires more thinking or work, no matter how much better it is, will never be adopted.

I agree with you. I'm not riled up about this Tampa Bay thing, it just got me thinking about the general state of consumers having to sacrifice (often without knowing it) and having no recourse just so marketers' jobs can be made easier.

I think that's an exaggeration. Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't we gone 5 wins, 6 losses, 4 wins, one loss, seven wins, 1 loss? We've only gone on one lengthy losing streak, which in my mind means this team is a consistently winning team. They played terrible, but what can you do, they won 7 in a row, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

I know that technically stuff like this isn't that big of a deal, and it's happening all over. But I question the logic of allowing all these companies to track us for marketing purposes and what not. I've been thinking about how the consumer is really getting hosed from virtually every angle the last 10-15 years and it has a lot ot do with the balance shifting in favor of the producer. For instance, why do we have to let them track us for their marketing purposes? Why do we have to make it easier on them to "cater to our needs?" Hopefully that made sense.

I'll say it again, I don't want Minnesota anywhere near a nationally televised Winter Classic. Talk about turning people off of the game.

If I were in that position, probably not. For a couple of reasons. One, Ryan Miller has his teammates to take care of that, and two, it wouldn't make sense to jeopardize your team's chances at winning a game by taking an unnecessary penalty when your team wasn't involved. Maybe you say something to him after or before the game, but on the ice it has to stay separate.

No offense, but everyone expects every call-up to be the next Cleary. And every low-budget signing to be the next Cleary. He will likely be just a roster filler who adds a bit of speed but doesn't do much else. I think on Pittsburgh last year he was a semi-regular 4th liner. In 5 years in the NHL he has 40 points. He's being called up because they'd rather not keep sending the other guys up and down and mess with their development.

Yzerman is thinking: "One day I will have your job."

I don't want to nitpick or bite the hand that feeds, but these GDT's getting posted a day in advance are really throwing me off and getting my hopes up for games the day they're posted, haha.