GMRwings1983

I want Helm, Abby and a fighter on the 4th line. Nothing complicated about that. Several people will of course have to go off the 4th line for that to happen. And what do your care what I call Holland and Babcock? It's all just semantics and I'm calling them out a little for what I think was an error in judgment. As far as me not talking about Lilja's fights........

That's why they should have tried to find some way to dump him last season, and kept Helm on the roster after the way he played in the 2008 playoffs. That red tape is called misjudgment, as are Maltby and Draper's contributions to the 4th line at this point in their careers.

I didn't say Helm or Abby specifically are fighters and you know it, so why even bother misquoting me? And yes, Kopecky did make them look bad. Their job is to avoid making such mistakes and there's nothing wrong with criticizing them for it, or for any other mistakes they might make in the future. I don't think I stepped out of bounds at all. Excuse me if I actually have the gall to come on here and criticize our staff for playing Kopecky over Helm these last 2 seasons.

Imagine if instead of wasting money on him, Helm or Abdelkalder could have been on the roster for the entire season instead? Kopecky had one good moment here in 3 years (his fight with Sharp). Holland and Babcock kept faith in him and even tried to give the fool some more playing time at several points in the season with not much success. He basically wasted a roster spot that could have gone to much more physical 4th liners. Yeah, Holland and Babcock dropped the ball with the 4th line this year. If we had more fighters and real 4th liners, we wouldn't need someone like Kopecky fighting.

Good riddance. I'll remember his playoff failure and anemic Finals more than his 40 goal regular season. Hockeytown isn't about the regular seasons. What are the chances he signs with the Pens?

As long as he can hit and fight, I'm not interested in how cute his hands look out there on the ice. We have too many skilled players already. We need some more sandpaper on this roster to even things out. I don't want another season of having a pointless 4th line.

Sounds like the name of a steak. Let me welcome him by saying this: "Yet another soft euro"

He's made Holland and Babcock look stupid these last couple of years. Let's hope this stiff doesn't come back to this organization ever again. Hopefully he goes to the KHL.

Could you think of a softer lineup? As if this team doesn't lack physicality already, now you want to add Afinogenov (donkey boy) to the roster? A guy that plays hard when he feels like it? We need more guys like Helm, and preferably some that can actually fight. A team full of soft players isn't a very good balance, unless there's a few grinders and an enforcer in there as well.

I hope Lilja never apologizes to Sharp for kicking his ass. Sorry doesn't pay the bill, Patrick.

Uwe Krupp is still missed sorely in Detroit.

Those 70's teams were the best in league history in my opinion, with the '77 team being the best ever.

I'm not sure either of them is worth it. At least Flip showed up in the playoffs, though. Hudler worked his way down on the 4th line as the playoffs went on.

I'm gonna miss Chelli. He was great for us for about 9 out of those 10 years, even though everyone thought he'd only play a few seasons after the trade and then retire. He was an integral part of several long playoff runs. I thought people were unfair to him this season, but he was slipping so I understand Holland's decision. I wonder who, if anyone will sign him.

How does that make my argument look any worse? In fact, it stengthens it, because you're making it sound like the Wings only looked good when the other team wasn't trying. Yes, but there's other guys who weren't hurt that didn't play up to par. Lidstrom is just one guy. Why can't everyone play every shift like Darren Helm does? It's not anything unrealistic, it's just called playing hard on every shift with determination. Hopefully more grit players will address that.

I don't want to make excuses for this team, because many times throughout the season and playoffs they played with no urgency. All of a sudden, in the 3rd periods these injured players started trying hard. Also, there's several players not on that injury list who didn't seem to play with much urgency and determination. Where were Hossa, Hudler, Kronwall? They played like crap for more than half of the playoffs and weren't injured from what I remember. I'm still pissed about what happened, especially knowing that we could start next season on a quest to 3-peat. Yeah, we had a good run, but when you lose game 7 of the Finals at home, and you're the first team in like 30 years in pro sports to do so, it's hard to be anything but pissed. Didn't help to lose to a team we hate either.

Brett Hull isn't getting much love around here. Yeah he couldn't do anything else but score, but Bossy was also a pure goal-scorer. Plus, Hull put up monstrous goal numbers for many years.

Kotalik is actually a pretty physical forward and is certainly better than Sammy. Afinogenov is inconsistent and Sillinger is old and always injured. Why would anyone want him based on that?

Jari Kurri and Jagr should certainly be in the discussion. Although I don't see Kurri being ahead of Bossy, I do think Jagr should probably be ahead of him as an all-around offensive force.

Howe, Richard and Lafleur were all right-wingers. No offense to Bossy, but I don't think he's better than Lafleur was. Bossy was a better goal scorer, however, and would probably be the all-time leading goal scorer if not for a somewhat shortened career.

I think he'll probably retire.

Yes to Neil, hell no to anyone else on that list.

The Capitals need to bring back the white skates. The Flyers need to bring back the cooperalls. Hurricanes should be forced to wear the Whalers logo and colors. Stars should go back to the colorful Golden Seals Logo. (No I don't care if it's a rip off of the Oakland A's). Penguins need to bring back the early 90's uniforms. More yellow, less beige. Divelanche should be forced to wear the Nordiques colors and logo. Vancouver should bring back the early 90's colors, and as far as the logo goes, that franchise is cursed. They'll never think of a good logo.

Hey, if that makes you somehow feel better about the loss, then go with it. It doesn't console me in any way, just like it didn't in 2007 when we had injuries in the playoffs.

Chris Pronger. He's been captain twice before, and will be their best defenseman, not to mention he has plenty of international experience.