GMRwings1983

What about Vancouver? They're a great regular season team and have won the last two Presidents trophies.

I can't believe you guys would reunite Datsyuk with Franzen and Bertuzzi. That line was lazy and underwhelming last season.

I'd load up the top line. Short season and we'll need Pavel and Hank to carry us. Brunnstrom will need to help the third line score. Sammy is useless unless he's on the top 6. I still don't know why Holland signed him honestly. Of course, these lines will change after a few games. Expect coaches to pull out all kinds of stops in a short season.

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Nyquist Franzen - Filppula - Samuelsson Brunnstrom - Helm - Bertuzzi Enforcer - Abdelkader - Tootoo Kronwall - White Ericsson - Smith Quincey - someone That's what I'd do. Unfortunately, we're still missing a top six forward, and a top four defenseman. Kronwall will have to have a Paul Coffey '95 kind of year.

That lineup sounds about right, but how far do you think this team could get with that roster? Couldn't get past the first round last year with Lidstrom.

I'm pleasantly surprised. Still curious to see what the fan reaction will be. Time to be pessimistic (realistic) again. We'll have a hard time making the playoffs and/or getting out of the first round.

Honestly, I watched tons of hockey between 2001-2004. After the last lockout, I cut down a lot (not counting Wings games). I never paid attention to that correlation until recently, but I guess it did affect me somewhat. Even hardcore fans are bound to be affected somewhat. There's other stuff on TV and the internet besides hockey. I hardly even watched the Finals last year.

Or letting Lilja go.

I remember this cocktease from several weeks ago, and right before the 2005 season was cancelled. I'll believe it when I see it.

It's not like every day counts here.

Malkin wrestled with Zetterberg at the end of game 5, from what I remember. Not game 2.

Not even for Downey?

So cancelling the entire season is unacceptable, but cancelling half the season wasn't that big a deal? Do any of these morons realize how much they've already screwed things up for the league? A shortened season already questions the legitimacy of the entire season, as well as all the bad PR this has gotten.

Franzen - spending time with family =

Eriksson won us the Cup in 98. How many Cups has Bertuzzi won for us?

I hate these excuses. Our team overcame a lot to make it that far, but should have been able to use home ice advantage to win game 7 somehow. Instead, the Wings didn't start playing game 7 until the third period. Of course injuries mattered, but that's a part of playoff hockey. No one said winning the Cup was easy. The Pens had to overcome a lot of adversity too, being down 2-0 and then 3-2, and having to play on the road in game 7. No team had won a game 7 in the Finals on the road in almost 40 years prior to that.

What's the point? Everyone knows who these people are anyway. No secret. I think the league just needs to return to regularly calling diving. They went away from it since the lockout, and it's created more divers.

The 1995 team had Stu Grimson. Close thread.

LOL. I'm pretty sure Canada vs Russia wouldn't make much of a war.

In European hockey, what is considered "dirty" is different than what Canadians call "dirty" hockey. It's always been that way. It's just a different style of hockey and different ideals for what's considered sportsmanlike.

Except, in retrospect, they won many Cups after 95. To me, that series quickly got washed away later on. No telling when the stench of 2009 will go away. That might be our last Cup for a long time.

No. I'd be shocked if they did. These two sides are too far removed each other, from the fanbase and from North American sports reality to understand just how hurtful this lockout will be. They don't give a damn.

2009 is probably the second worst loss in Wings history, after the 1942 Finals collapse. It's the closest you can get to winning the Cup and blow it. Worse than getting swept. Most disappointing loss in my time watching the Wings. Kronwall hitting the crossbar in game 7 still rings in my ears. Not to mention, we'd have won two straight Cups, which always looks more impressive historically. The 1995 loss doesn't mean much in retrospect, since the team won several Cups in the seasons after that. It was more of a lesson than anything else.

So I'm the only person here who still thinks McCollum could win the Vezina?

Don't get me started. I spent a year posting pictures of Parker on here.