GMRwings1983

Those guys were still All-Star calibur players, but many of them were far past their Hall of Fame primes. That's really the point I was making.

The 132 points that the '77 Canadiens had are remarkable, because that was before the league even had overtimes. Truly amazing that they did all that in regulation games only. The '02 Wings did have tremendous Hall of Fame power, but it must be remembered that most of those players were past their primes by the time that team was assembled. Nicklas Lidstrom was really the only Hall of Famer on that team who was in his prime back then. Now if you give me a prime Chelios, Yzerman, Hasek, Robitaille, Fedorov, Shanahan, Larionov, Hull along with Lidstrom, then you have the best team ever.

If so, that means this franchise will hit rock bottom at some point before then. I suppose Sammy will be our 40 year old captain by that point.

He's not even the best player on his own team. Lidstrom still holds that honor in my opinion. Right now, you could make an argument for him being in the top 5, but lets not forget that other teams actually have players also. There's a guy in Washington who's been tearing it up lately from what I've heard.

I'd like to think that Hudler can score as many points in as many minutes, but I doubt it. It's harder to have that kind of success when the team is banking on you. Hudler has never faced that kind of pressure in Detroit amidst a roster full of All Stars. Also, these comparisons to other great players have got to stop. I know you didn't start these comparisons (in fact I contributed slightly to it ), but I just think it's best to treat him like a solid 2nd or 3rd line forward, instead of saying that he'd be better than Jagr if not for his size. At this point the team should concentrate more on re-signing Hossa and/or Franzen, before banking on Hudler to carry the load in the future.

I'm not sure that any great player ever carried his team anywhere to a championship. HOF'ers usually played with other greats and that's how they won Cups. Yzerman carried the WIngs in the 80's, but where did he carry them to? They missed the playoffs most of the time. Datsyuk has not really carried the Wings. There's too much talent on this team to say otherwise. Fedorov was huge for the Wings in 2003 when Yzerman was injured most of the year, but once again, we had too much talent to say that he carried the team by himself. I'm not sure what you meant by your post, but maybe it has something to do with you always posting about how Sergei isn't a lock for the HOF. The fact that he never carried a team isn't a good reason for that position.

Some of these attributes make no sense and neither does this whole story. What the hell is self-devotion mean? And what does tactics mean in this context?

Based on that, Martin St. Louis is one of the 5 best players ever to play the game. He is all those things you just attributed to Hudler, except he's even more skilled and more dominant, because he has put up huge numbers in the past, including a Hart trophy and an Art Ross trophy. Most importantly, he's even smaller than Hudler. This is not boxing. There are no weight classes in hockey, and it's not wise to measure players' greatness according to their size. You also seem to be forgetting that Jagr has carried teams in the past. Hudler is just a skilled player on a team full of superstars.

I still think it's ridiculous to say he'd be a lot better than Jagr if not for his size. Where do you get such ideas from? Jagr was big, but there's no reason to think that his size is what made him great. He was never really a power forward. Besides, you don't have to be huge to dominate. Look at Marty St. Louis who has been awesome for several years and won the Hart trophy. The guy is smaller than Hudler. Point is that you're greatly exaggerating Hudler, and are now claiming that if he was bigger he'd be a lot better than one of the 15-20 best forwards ever to play the game, which is what Jagr was.

So Hudler is now a great backchecker as well as a great faceoff man. What will you say next about him? That he's as good a fighter as Lilja and Boogaard?

Franzen can create scoring chances for himself better than Hudler can. Just look at the way he played last year in the playoffs. Like a man possessed. I can't envision Hudler playing like that. He's too easy to knock off the puck.

Bad post. Every team in the league has a guy like Downey. WHat is this new NHL that you speak of? The toughness of Downey and McCarty rubbed off on their teammates last year. I think that was a big reason for why the Wings won the Cup as opposed to prior seasons. Someone has to be the catalyst for physical play. We don't have that catalyst this year. If fighting was as unimportant as you make it sound, none of the teams in the league would ever carry an enforcer. I don't think all those teams are stupid.

Right, because Kopecky has been waiting his whole career to win the Cup, which explains why he plays so physical all the time, and gets into a few fights here and there. Come off it man, there's no comparison between those 2 players.

Yes, you are alone. We are all alone in some ways, but on this topic most of us band together. I hope you can join us soon.

Because he looks goofy and doesn't speak English. It's the same reason for why Malkin isn't marketed heavily. The better question is, why is Henrik Zetterberg marginalized by the league?

He's Canadian and he plays physical hockey. No chance we sign him. Just kidding. Seriously, though, I forgot that he hasn't officially retired yet. The guy has done nothing since that big season in 2001.

I'd rather have Jason Williams back to captain the point on the PP than have Legace back.

Green should win the Selke trophy, not the Norris. I don't care how good his plus/minus is (thanks to Ovechkin), but he's horrible in his own zone. It would be a travesty to give this award out to some kid who is incompetent as a defenseman. I think Chara right now is the front runner, primarily because Boston has sucked for 10 years, and all of a sudden they're now good and he's their captain. Unfortunately, just for that they'll give him the Norris. Lidstrom needs to put on a great run and hope that some of those other guys get injured for him to win the Norris.

Are all people in s***sburgh, I mean Pittsburgh so stupid? Hossa played there for barely a few months, and now they're calling him a traitor and comparing him to Benedict Arnold? It's not like he's even close to Fedorov who spent 13 years in Detroit before he bolted. I'm definitely not going to act taht way when Hossa leaves Detroit, because I honestly expect him to be gone after the season. You'd think their fans would know better last season when they made that gamble for him, that he'd likely be gone.

Don't tell me that you're anti-enforcer too? Well, it's never too late to change. I'm glad that Andreas has made you see the light.

I'll feel better once we go through a consistent stretch of giving up less than 3 goals per game, and killing off penalty after penalty. Yesterday was a good start to that with a shutout.

First of all, Lilja is the next captain. Second of all, I don't see Hossa as the kind of guy that would make his decision so soon. I think he'll wait till the offseason, but I hope I'm wrong.

When has Roloson ever won a big playoff series in his career for us to want him?

I hope Therrien gets fired after this embarassment on national television. That would serve him right after all the whining he did last year in the Finals.

Except Feds was in Detroit for 13 years. Pens fans are just plain stupid.