GMRwings1983

I don't want to see either one at this point. The team needs to save its money for a younger player that can contribute immediately and for the future. There's no need to make any more experiments like the one done last year with Bertuzzi.

I think that the reason people are so high on Franzen is that he's a lot bigger than our other forwards, and he played well in the playoffs last year. I still don't see him as a 2nd liner, let alone 1st liner, but since we didn't do much in the free agent pool, Franzen will be a top 6 forward this year. As for players being overhyped, I agree with you. Just look at Kopecky, Grigorenko, Kronwall, and Fillpulla, who are looked at by many Wings fans as future stars. Also, when Calder went ice cold in the playoffs last year, people seemed shocked, not realizing that he was cold all year in Philly which is why they got rid of him.

When Bertuzzi first suited up in the Calgary series, he was paired with Lang and Franzen. Franzen finished up the playoffs on the second line with Zetterberg and Samuelsson. That is the one thing that I like about Babcock as opposed to Dave Lewis, in that he's not afraid to shuffle lines around.

I grew up in Russia so I know about the nickname, but it wouldn't hurt to find a tougher nickname as part of the "team toughness" that Babcock advocates. As for my avatar, don't go there.

I agree. Enough with this Pasha business. Everyone already thinks that we're a soft team so there's no reason to make it look more soft by adding these cute kiddie names.

Forsberg has had too many injuries in his prime, and has never scored more than 30 goals in a season. He's strictly a set-up man, therefore he is not ranked higher than Jagr. This conversation would be further complicated if we were just talking about best European players ever, but since we're only talking about their NHL careers, Lidstrom is the best with 5 Norris trophies, 3 Cups, Conn Smythe, and unparalleled consistency and durability (knock on wood) throughout his career.

Who the hell said that Ray Bourque is in the top 10 players of all time? I have him behind Orr and Harvey as best defensemen of all time, and I don't have Harvey in my top 10.

He reminds me a little of Homer when he first came to the Wings, except that he's bigger and better defensively.

Even without those 3, they still have McDonald, Perry, a healthy Marchant, a soon to be star in Getzlaf, Kunitz, the best shutdown checking line in the league, and a defense with the likes of Schneider, Pronger, Beauchemin. And I almost forgot to mention one of the best clutch goalies in the league. As for what Selanne said about Bertuzzi, don't forget that he didn't have many nice things to say about Chelios at the end of game 6 either.

Why are you all so convinced that Teemu would be willing to come here? I was under the impression that he was unsure of whether he should return to Anaheim or retire. I don't see what he has to gain at this point by going to another team if Anaheim can't resign him. If we do sign him, though, he'd be that top line player and right handed shot on the powerplay that we currently lack.

You guys are all getting too excited about this. Even if the Ducks lose Niedermayer, Selanne, and Penner, they'll still have the best lineup in the West, not to mention the addition of Schneder and maybe a healthy Bertuzzi. Yes this might hurt them for the future, but I've honestly yet to begin thinking about the upcoming season let alone what happens within the next few years.

I bet Brian Burke will ask Pronger's wife to try to talk Penner out of going to Edmonton.

All these sports journalists talk out of their ass and s*** out of their mouth so who cares what their opinion about hockey is. The only way these so-called analysts would talk about Crosby or Ovechkin is if either of those guys got arrested with cocaine in their possession plus a dead hooker in the trunk.

I actually miss hating the divealanche as much as I used to. I hope they bring Floppa back to rekindle my hatred some more.

Pronger averages about one fight a year, which is embarassing for a guy his size that so often plays a dirty style of hockey. He's an overgrown backstreet boy and one of the biggest spotpickers in recent memory.

There's nothing like playing hockey while there's girls sunbathing around the rink in bikinis.

I hope the Patriots sign an enforcer or dirty player real soon.

Has Pronger ever fought anybody that didn't have a European name plastered on the back of their jersey?

It looks like you have a lot of free time on your hands. Just for kicks, which Patriot was Robert Lang?

Oh great. So when Lilja turns the puck over, Chelios will have to cover for him with his speed.

Will we ever see a team change their jerseys into something better than what they had before. The Sharks best jerseys were the first jerseys they had before they added grey to their colors. Now they add Orange, and change the logo around also. Well, I guess it's not as bad as what the Ducks and Sabres did last year.

Hockey, just like soccer wasn't invented or popularized in the U.S. and for that reason it will always be less popular than football, basketball, or baseball. Even if baseball is the most boring game ever invented, it will still be ranked higher than hockey in America, because people can't smell their own s***. I don't think that I would want to see the NHL on a network that has a bunch of sportswriters constantly making jokes about the league's troubles. And for those of you that are excusing ESPN because they're only pursuing what's economically viable is horsecrap. They're a sports network, so they should cover sports and not poker, dominoes, eating contests. If ratings are all that matter then why don't they show bikini contests all day on ESPN. Hell that would draw more than any baseball games they show, but it'd still have nothing to do with sports. ESPN can go straight to hell.

His numbers in the playoffs were pretty good, but in the end he got outplayed by Giguere, which is why we lost. He also made too many mistakes at playing the puck, and I can't get that final game out of my mind with him doing snow angels 5 feet away from the net. With the current roster that we have, he'll have to play much better than last year in order for us to make any sort of playoff run.

I like their description of Maltby. Complainer, diver, whiner, wears a shield, and never drops the gloves. Sounds just like a certain Swedish douchebag that used to play for the divealanche.

Thanks for the info.