VM1138

Or get better taste.

Those seats were like...80 bucks for the first round, I think. Now they'd be ridiculous. 150?

Dallas is going to come out strong and desperate. But in situations like this desperate can't be sustained for aw hole game. Take the wind out of their sails early (or even if they score first, score quickly afterwards) and they will be deflated. Tough, tough game, but I predict the second half of the game will open up as the Wings go in for the kill, sort of like last game, where it was 2-2 and 3-2 for the longest time, then finished with 5-2.

God I wish I could afford to get like...four tickets. Anyone want to sell some at a discount?

From what I understand the problem isn't so much selling the tickets as getting people to go. This could be solved by not allowing so many corporations to buy up tickets.

You gotta wonder how many bored accountants it takes to draw up CBA rules like this. Who cares if it fluctuates?

That line has a lot of promise, as logn as they have the chemistry. Personally, I can do without Kopecky. He had improved towards the end of the season, but I'd hardly say he was awesome. He still wasn't performing all that well. Not to mention he's the most consistently disappointing and useless player on the team. He's a goner.

How long do you think it takes a professional athlete to get back in shape after doing no exercises of any kind for about a week or however long it's been? Logically, would he be back in time and in good form for the Finals next Thursday or Friday?

At the worst I think he'd be a great role player with timely goals. Like McCarty or Draper in their primes. And since McCarty and Draper won't be around too many more seasons it's good we start to develop role players as well as superstars.

I absolutely agree. He's the most complete player in the league while maintaining a high skill level. Although I never doubted him. I always thought he'd be amazing from his rookie year. Zetterberg on the other hand I wasn't so sure about but he's definietly become the 2nd best player in the league, again, complete player. Learning from Yzerman probably helped.

I hope the Wings can shut Dallas down. We have gotten way too cocky, and it'd suckt o have them come back to win the series. Seriously, though, I think 33 years has little to do with it. It's more the quality of the teams. I'm pretty sure this Red Wings team is better than the team in 43 or whenever, and better than Toronto in 74.

All the goalie choices were inspired. Hasek was definitely a smart move. Legace and Cujo even were smart. I remember getting CuJo and everyone thought it was another Hasek move that would carry us. It's a shame it didn't turn out that way. Doesn't anyone remember how amazing Legace was for us? All they seem to remember is the playoff loss that was the fault of the entire team. We've had some great goalies pass through here the past 6 or 7 years, and any one of them could have carried us to the cup had they lasted long enough to have the team match their skills.

The funniest part of the whole goalie musical chairs is that NONE of them played badly. But the "blame the goalie for playoff loss" mentality spelled doom for all of them.

Clearly people are bandwagoning. The Wings were never considered the favorite by a large number of analysts, and now all of them are picking us? I bet it'll all change when we face the Pens, we'll be back to underdogs.

Wow, I feel kind of bad, I haven't thought about Hasek since the first couple games...it's almost like he's not even on the team anymore.

Yeah, we seem to be okay without him, btu it's like the Powell Doctrine. Whenever possible use overwhelming force! Winning or not we NEED Franzen back for the next round! I think both Dats and Z can outdo Malkin and Crosby defensively, and I don't think the East has any good defensive teams so they're probably not used to playing the likes of ours, and I think Franzen can surpass Hossa as a threat, thus giving the Wings the depth edge. I don't care if everyone on their team has scored at least once, I still feel we're deeper.

Flyers fans have always been dirty.

Logically you are right, but damnit, we are hockey fans. We're a little superstitious!

God, we are getting WAY too cocky. Sure there's a 90% chance that Dallas is done, EVENTUALLY. But they can still do some damage. Let's hope the Wings don't sit back and let their momentum fade. We need to keep going strong into the Finals.

Long breaks are bad, but I'm not so sure the NBA style of playing two separate roudns at the same time is a good idea, either. They should have two schedules set up ahead of time. One in case of a 7 game series, the other in case of maybe a 4 or 5 game. That way, if you have situation like the one we aer in now, with two teams possibly sweeping, you can pick Plan A and not have to wait a week, and the schedules are't messed up for other events.

It's not about loyalty. The guy has earned the right to advance hsi career. How else is he going to become a head coach? I say, it'll suck losing him, but I don't hold it against him at all. Career advancement is a part of life.

I never liked Pitts. I don't know why, maybe it's because I didn't like Lemieux. But a Detroit-Pitts finals would be absolutely awesome. Pittsburgh scares me, but I do wonder a bit if they're deep enough. And those little mistakes they do make from time to time will be capitalized on by the Wings. Not to mention Crosby will be neutralized (or at least limited) by playing against our top line, and Malkin against our second.

I wouldn't think they would announce it tonight. Expect an 11 am or 3 pm press conference tomorrow.

Everyone is playing so well it's hard to pick, but I'd have to say that Datsyuk has been playing the most complete game. He's been there every shift, giving it his all, since even before the playoffs started. Zetterberg is another one, but for whatever reason I feel he's slightly behind Dats. Franzen is a clear choice, but his absence will drop him a bit and the fact that we are still winning without him. But he would've been a no-brainer had he stayed in, and even if he comes back and continues to play the way he has. Ozzie hasn't had to steal any games, so I don't think he's MVP, but he's clearly stepped up his game and played magnificently. Best goalie in the playoffs. Lidstrom, again. Does everything. Not flashy at all, but he's near-perfect.

I've never seen it before, btu to be fair, I've never really looked. Anyone else have a feeling Franzen's entire career might be over? Maybe I'm just too pessimistic, but this whole thing has been a weird chain of events.