GMRwings1983

That may be the most skilled team ever, in terms of raw speed and finesse. However, the guys on that 2nd line had yet to become as good as they became later on. Also, without Tretiak, it's hard to make a case for that team over previous teams. I think the '72 team was the best Russian team, even though they lost the Summit Series. That line of Kharlamov - Petrov - Mikhailov may be the best line in hockey history as far as pure talent goes.

Some people think Cheevers is the best goalie of the 70's, although Parent and Dryden are probably better in most people's books. I also think the '02 team had better goaltending, but funny thing is that Patrick Roy wasn't on that team, and he was the best Canadian goalie at the time. Also, the '02 team had many guys way past their primes on the roster. I just don't think they were the most well-rounded.

Gretzky and Lemieux are the two most talented players ever, but there's guys on that team, especially on defense, that aren't exactly knocking down Hall of Fame doors. Basically, like I posted above, I was trying to look at the most well rounded roster, and that's why I picked the '76 team. Their defensive core is unlike that of any other team.

Yeah, there's certainly many contenders, but I've never seen a team with as many Hall of Famers on the roster as the team I listed in my original post. Even the '87 Canada team, which had all kinds of Hall of Famers on it, had a lot of guys that in retrospect weren't that all that special. So I was trying to look at a roster as a whole, and this was the best that I could think of.

Bettman doesn't care. At this point I'm convinced that he'll have that job until "he" says otherwise. No one can really make him do s***. If he does care about the game's marketability, then he hasn't done much to convince anybody of that during his tenure. It's just one mistake after another.

Ellis - Hussey - Langfeld This line never gets enough credit. Who else could cycle the way these guys could, even though they didn't get one shot one goal? A truly unique line at that.

I still replay that game 7 in my mind all the time, wishing for a different outcome. Even though the Wings were injured, they should have gutted out a game 7 victory at home somehow. I think they were the first pro-sports team in almost 30 years to lose a game 7 at home in the Final series. It just feels embarassing. In the last 2 games (the most important games of the season), Draper and Ericsson were the only players that scored for us. That's means even our secondary scorers disappeared.

That's part of it, but not what the OP had in mind.

I seriously wonder whether the NHL really gives a damn about this?

Well look on the bright side, guys. We'll always be able to watch hockey on NBC. Like once every 4 weeks starting in January. Is the NHL capable of doing anything right when it comes to increasing its popularity? I mean, this league couldn't sell ice to people dying of thirst in the desert.

Doctors always say that stuff to players with concussions. A doctor isn't going to say, "Sure go ahead and fight. It's good for you and for your head in general". I mean, when is it good for your health to fight and get punched in the head, whether you've had a concussion or not?

The NHL network doesn't cover the playoffs so that doesn't mean s***. Also, many Wings fans live outside Detroit (we're not the Pens ), so this does prevent many of us from watching games, especially playoff games. Online streaming is always available, but hardly reliable.

Banned for fighting? Is he talking about being banned from the Swedish league because he got into a fight there once? Last I checked the NHL still allowed fights.

How many more embarassments is this league going to suffer when it comes to popularity? First it gets dumped off ESPN for that poker s*** and now the league can't even stay on Versus, Direct TV. Maybe the Lifetime network can adopt the NHL and we can watch the games that way. Pathetic league with s***ty marketing and bad leadership.

This blows, since this was my ONLY means of watching hockey. Don't know what I'll do now. It's all Bettman's fault. Can't the 30 owners get together and stab him like Julius Caesar? Remove the f**k already.

Guys, Lilja is like King Leonidas in the film 300. He will go down fighting if he has too. He'll be back for vengeance next time we play the Preds.

Way more than that, buddy. Wait till micah and Shoreline hit this thread.

That's the exact lineup I would pick.

That might be the s***tiest post anyone has ever made here. The guy was an important player on the team for over a decade and was still a good player 10 years ago. He was also a good team guy and the fans loved him. He retired exactly when he should have and 36 years old is younger than when most players retire nowadays. What the hell was that post all about?

One of my 5 favorite Wings ever. Definitely a guy that was loved by players and fans and had a great career.

Then I'm guessing you weren't a Wings fan back in the 80's and early 90's when it was a goonfest every game. Also, I wonder what you'll act like if 5 years from now the Wings turn into the Flyers or Ducks. Are you going to complain after every game about the Wings being too dirty?

Now you're making a strawman argument. I never said anything in this thread about infecting the NHL. Why don't you respond to my post instead of criticizing me on my general points in the past. I think I posted some interesting questions in my post that I'd like to see some critics answer if they think that what Downey did was so wrong. Oh, also I didn't call any poster here a ***** in my post. I just said that people have become too influenced by the Wings ***** style and have forgotten what hockey can be like when it's nasty.

Who will be our enforcer then? With Lilja out and Kopecky no longer being around to pick up the slack, we could be in trouble in the toughness department.

Anyone who doesn't like what he did is lucky they weren't around in the late 80's and early 90's, because the Wings did worse stuff than this all the time. Fans here have become molded by this europussy style. What will happen if the Wings hit 40 fighting majors in a few seasons and also pull some dirty s*** here and there like just about every other team does? Will you soft angels denounce the Wings and profess your desire to root for some KHL team instead? We JUST SIGNED A GUY THAT PARALYZED A MAN AND ENDED HIS CAREER, PEOPLE!!! How do you fell about that if you're going to complain about what Downey did?

Exactly. Why couldn't this have happened to Uwe Krupp when he was here?