VM1138

It's gotta be Williams. I just don't see Babcock sitting Draper right off the bat. True he's not quite up to par, but I think he'd rather take a gamble with Draper than Jason "I Can't Do Anything At All" Williams.

They're got a lot of potential weaponry on that team. It shouldn't be that hard to put together a halfway decent team. Over the summer they should make some smart moves and augment their team, which is unlikely considering that Tampa Bay seems completely incompetent year in and year out.

I think we should put a disclaimer on this thread for the squeamish. I mean, playing a team called the Coyotes pretty much guarantees a plethora of pictures of dead dogs in amusing situations. Myself, I'm an animal person and hate animal violence, but for NHL playoffs, I can find the humor in roadkill.

Wow, the Wings really have rotated goalies over the years. Vernon, Osgood, Hasek, Joseph, Legace, Hasek, Osgood, Howard. I just really hope Howard is a difference maker for the team during the playoffs. The team is so experienced and talented that having a hot goaltender would carry us right to the Cup.

I wish Wolski would play for the Wings. Is he Polish does anyone know? I thought I heard somewhere he was, and his name is obviously from that part of the world. And man...they have a few players that just dropped off considerably. Lang, Schneider, Jovo, what happened, guys?

I think it can happen. The WIngs have dropped most of their bad habits from earlier this year. Depending (as usual) on how the first round goes, I can see the Wings making the finals again. I hope. The Wings just seem built for the playoffs, unlike most other teams.

Nashville might be able to beat Chicago over a 7 game series. They're a team that never quits and even if they go down 2-0 (which they probably will) they'll stretch that series out with a frustrating comeback. Let's just hope Phoenix doesn't pull any of that magic on us, being the storybook team and all.

I will, because the playoffs start everything fresh for everybody. As we've seen the Wings can turn it on literally overnight when it's playoff time. No matter what happened this season I don't see a reason they can't win it all, same for any other team. I love playoff season! (By the by, while we all panicked, this season was only one ranking less than our previous worst (4th place) if I recall correctly. Not a bad showing at all.

I don't believe in picking your poison but let me explain why people would rather play the Yotes over the Canucks. Phoenix is ridiculously inexperienced when it comes to the playoffs. They look a lot like Columbus did last year, everyone said they had strong goaltending and some decent offense. But the inexperience and the lack any stars will hurt them in many people's eyes. Contrast that with Vancouver, whose goalie is world-class and just won the Gold medal by saving his collapsing team and proving he can play under immense pressure. Their offense is on fire and they have multiple threats. The Wings can beat both, but that's why people think the Coyotes would be the easier path.

I wouldn't scratch Draper for May in the playoffs, but I would look for a way to get May in there. Draper is too valuable in the playoffs. I do think Williams will (eventually) be scratched in favor of someone like Abdelkader. I don't see anyone other than May and Abdelkader actually seeing playing time, though out of the call-ups.

Because the Caps (like the Pens of the last few years) have been steadily improving over the years and now are solid in every category, with an amazing offense. They won the President's cup. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has to fight the Stanley Cup hangover, has less points than Detroit despite Detroit's struggles, and they generally collapse when things don't go their way. It'd be a close series but barring any bizarre refereeing I don't see a way the Caps could lose to the Pens this year.

Awesome. Not on TV. None of the internet streams work. Radio feed isn't allowed over the internet. Fantastic, I feel like a Blackhawk fan. How is the game going?

? He's only ever been an offensive threat. He has no defensive skills and I haven't seen him work to correct this. Malkin was injured this year and so Crosby simply had to score more. I don't give him credit for being anything but a talented offensive player.

Do we normally call up that many of the kids for the playoff run? I can't remember.

It's the same as the last time he was in Detroit. He's not bad. He's just not good and so utterly forgettable. This whole season I've pretty much always forgotten he's on the team.

I really don't see how Hossa or the Sedin's are so close for play of the year. They were cool plays, but of all the crazy things we see every year those were nothing more than "cool."

I'd be willing to bet money he'll play another year or two. Two might be stretching it. His talent will be there but his passion may not. If his passion is sliding he may call it quits because he seems to be pretty honest with himself. No reason to hang around if you don't love the game as much as you did. But I see no reason for him to retire this year skill-wise or age-wise. Although if the Wings win the Cup he might decide to ride out in style.

With the rivalry dead and Colorado being so consistently irrelevant, I don't hate the current team. There's no reason to, other than Foote. But if things were to go south and a new rivalry were to start, it'd be easier than most teams to hate them again. That was such a fantastic rivalry it's sad to see it go. The Anaheim one was really turning into a good rivalry too until it just faded really quickly.

I don't know why all Leino fans keep bringing up that he gets an assist once in a while as a testament to his quality. I'm sure the Wings and Flyers really wanted him just for the occasional assist and not even reliable for that.

I'm going to believe that they'll stay at the Joe. Like someone else noted their ticket rep told them, it takes a lot to move and they haven't started. Especially with a (hopefully) long playoff run there's no way they can do it. A new thought just occurred to me. If they share with the Pistons that means there will be Pistons memorabilia and crap all over, ruining the pure hockey experience. An arena should be a temple to the Wings alone.

Doesn't the Palace have really terrible sight lines? I've never been there but I think I remember a friend mentioning this once.

One thing the cap has done is create a glut of overpaid players who really hurt teams. I know players have always been overpaid, but nowadays taht can kill a franchise. 10 more years of this cap and we're going to have 30 teams overloaded with crappy players without the ability to sign truly great talent because they've got bloated long term contracts signed. Which sure would create parity but also really cut down on exciting hockey.

I agree from a strategic sense that Chicago would be the best first round matchup. Hope somebody takes out Vancouver in the 1st Round in what would be a brutal series and hope we can take out Chicago with the benefit of a non-physical team and short travel. That way we'd get a team out of the way that would only get better as the playoffs went on and they gained confidence and still be relatively healthy and rested for the grind. But I'm not picking them, I don't pick poison. That's just from a strategic viewpoint.

He'll be back, for loyalty, for cap reasons. The only way he leaves is if he wants to leave and asks to be traded. I honestly think now that we know what we have with Howard, and the fact that next season we hopefully won't be fighting such ridiculous bad luck and injuries, Osgood will get more consistent starts. It's not Osgood's fault that Babcock needed to rely on Howard because the team was so terrible for most of this year. Next year when they get a fresh start he'll be a backup still but it'll be split more evenly like it was intended to be this year. You can't get any better than Osgood for his price, and if given the chance to play semi-regularly he'll get his game back and be the best possible backup in the league.

It's a thankless job, but a disciplinarian could ride out his tenure just fine if he was CONSISTENT. It's better to be yelled at for being too harsh or too light than to be made fun of and yelled at for being ridiculously inconsistent like Campbell was. Campbell was a joke. I just hope Shanahan, if he takes the job, is consistent so that the sport can get some legitimacy back.