GMRwings1983

Ah, poor Oilers. They got some calls to go their way against us 2 years ago in the playoffs, so I'm not going to cry them a river any time soon. I'm not sure about this, but I think that it was McGeough who officiated the final game of our series against Edmonton, and if that's so, then he more than made up for it.

This division looks weaker this year than I can ever remember it looking. Nashville was ahead of us all year until the last month or so when we pulled away from them. I don't expect any such competition this year.

Shanny was great last year in New York also. He doesn't need a poker up his butt to be great, he's always been a great goal scorer and the reason he wasn't resigned here is because of his playoff failures over the last several years. Babcock had nothing to do with Shanny's regular season success in 2006.

Forsberg is a passer first, and we already have several of those. And why should we wait 3 or 4 months for him to heal when he's only going to get injured again. Likewise, O'Neill would be a big gamble because of his health and he's many years removed from being a Hurricane when he put up solid numbers. I would have loved to have a guy like Bill Guerin on this team, but that ship has passed twice so I'll leave that alone.

I don't care what other improvements Chicago, St. Louis, or Columbus may have made. It's our division to lose more so than I can ever remember. It would be an embarassment for the Wings not to win the division this year with Nashville getting so much worse.

I agree, which makes it even sadder that we didn't go after anyone who can be a threat on the slot. A few years ago we had those dangerous one-timers with Hull, Shanny, and Feds. Now we're too predictable on the PP.

Yeah, but what I was thinking is that Bob Hartley, Peter Laviolette, Randy Carlyle, Tortorella, etc. aren't guys that I consider to be elite coaches even though they have a Stanley Cup to their name. Don't forget that Babcock was only a game away from winning the Cup himslef in 2003. Nowadays, goalies make coaches look smart, and we see them constantly stealing games for their team. Like I said, it might just be my opinion only, but I don't think that in hockey a great coach is what ultimately pushes a team over the top like in some other sports.

Illegalizing helmets will actually make the league look tougher again, so that would have the opposite effect of what Bettman would want.

Anybody can look good when the sun is shining. Zherdev has shown that when things get tough, he's not willing to put forth the work ethic needed to help his team. I don't want a guy here that plays hard just because the team is winning. Guys like that belong in the NBA and NFL, not in the NHL, and certainly not on my favorite team. I guarantee you there are plenty of players who play hard for Columbus, but don't have half the talent that Zherdev does. They're not sorry to see him go in Columbus, and they shouldn't be.

To be honest with you, I don't feel that Wings fans want Babcock fired. He's gotten a lot out of this team, as was shown in the playoffs last year when they played against teams they didn't match up with well. Besides, NHL coaches have a higher turnover than coaches in any other league, and there's plenty of teams that have won cups in recent memory without having a coach that anybody considers one of the elites. I might be wrong, but I've always thought that in hockey, a great coach isn't as important to winning as may be the case in basketball or football. I like Babcock's attitude because he demands a lot from his players and hasn't worn thin on them yet. My ony beef with him is that he gave Lang and Samuelsson too much playing time last year before finally demoting Lang at the end of the playoffs.

Anything is better than that LSD inspired logo that Phoenix used to have, although I didn't mind the purple and green jersey colors. Too many teams now are wearing red and white. As for San Jose, I've always said that the best jerseys they had were the ones they used upon enterening the league before they added grey.

He's a capable defenseman, but this is way too much money to pay him. I guess they must have been afraid Kevin Lowe would take a stab at him.

He's just saying he was born there.

I think that we've had about all we can handle from those canadian announcers during the last two playoff years against Edmonton and Calgary. Those CBC homers are always biased against the Wings.

Backstrom carried the Wild into the playoffs last year and Auld isn't even the starter in Phoenix. Also, I doubt that Cloutier is the favorite to start in LA right now. Osgood is a good backup, but some of you guys are getting carried away with the number of teams that yout think would love to have him start.

Pittsburgh has Andre-Fleury. Yes he's been inconsistent at times, but do you really think they'd make him a backup to Osgood? The same goes for Atlanta with Lehtonen. That leaves only LA, Columbus, and maybe Phoenix from your list of places where he could start. That's only 3 teams, and besides those teams wouldn't want to start a new future with a goalie in his mid 30's, they'd look for someone younger they can build a team around.

That playoff run did end in failure when we lost to the divealanche. It's also my favorite Wings goal ever, but that year's playoffs were the most disappointing because we were so dominant in the regular season.

You're joking right? Brent Sopel? He's overrated offensively and can't do anything physical out there.

I don't like the idea of having the sleeves be of a different color than the rest of the jersey. It looks too messy. The numbers on the front do suck, but hey at least the league hasn't decided yet to put names on the front.

That's exactly what I did when we played the Oilers and Flames in the past 2 playoff seasons? Those CBC homers were getting on my damn nerves.

That makes sense since teams should be a little reluctant to sign guys that have injury riddled careers. Allison was an all-star calibur player for several years, but he can't seem to ever stay healthy. If I'm a GM, I wouldn't gamble on these guys either.

Only 8 games for the Wings! Are you kidding me? I bet the goddamn flyers and rangers will have twice that many games. What do we have to do, sign Peter Forsberg to get some more airtime?

Has any team made nearly as many moves as the Islanders have this offseason? It seems like every week they either sign someone or lose someone. But I guess they have to if that franchise wants to ever be great again. I can't remember the last time they actually got to the second round of the playoffs. As for Vasicek, he showed promise during his first stint in Carolina, but he's been a journeyman since then.

Maybe this will at least give the league some airtime on ESPN. I doubt it, however, since Bell didn't kill any dogs or have any weapons in his possession.

Peter Forsberg would look great in that pink jersey.