GMRwings1983

The Ducks should be the favorites because they're the defending champs, they've got a team stacked with talent that's loaded for the playoffs, and a great clutch playoff goalie. Also, even though it was last season, they did beat the Wings in the playoffs, which should account for something, although I know it accounts for nothing on LGW. I have no problem saying that they're the favorites. However, all this doesn't really mean anything, because it frankly doesn't matter who the favorites are. I guess sportswriters have a lot less faith in the Wings than players do, because I don't think many analysts are picking the Wings to win it all. I'd rather have the Wings as underdogs than as favorites.

He wouldn't have to. Lilja would step in there and stop it for him. Seriously, though, Hasek isn't the goalie on this team with a history of goals like that, so I wouldn't even kidd about it.

The Leafs are lucky this wasn't a home game, or else Toskala would hear those sarcastic cheers for the rest of the game each time he handled the puck. Hell, he will probably hear it anyway the next time the Leafs have a home game.

Then why did Kariya when the Lady Byng trophy twice? The guy is one of the biggest divers in the league, yet he was given a trophy for sportsmanship. Go figure.

I actually think there's too many trophies in the league. I don't think the Lady Byng or the Pearson should exist. Yeah, it's great that players can vote for their MVP, but many Pearson winners have also been Hart winners in that same year, so that trophy to me seems meaningless. It's like the Oscars in that there's too much hardware given out. Also, there should be an award given out for fighter of the year. It would be called the Bob Probert Trophy. Hell they're naming all the other trophies after historical Canadians of the past, so why shouldn't Probie have one?

It'd be great if Lidstrom won the Hart, Norris, Conn Smythe, and Lady Byng trophies all in one year. It's not likely, but it is possible.

My guess would be Mario Lemieux in 1996. I think he won the Hart, Pearson, Art Ross and Richard trophies that year, but I'm just going on pure memory here, and am too lazy to look it up. Also, I'm not sure if they had a Masterton trophy back then, but he might have won that too.

Sorry guys, but Patrick Roy won 3 Conn Smyth trophies in three different decades. Guess how many guys have done that before? That shows amazing longevity over different eras, and with different teams. Brodeur is still great despite the fact that he faced around 20 shots a game playing for those Devils Cup teams, however, that does prevent him in my mind from being number one. I look at those 2 Cups that Roy won in Montreal, and in my opinion he carried those teams to their Cups, which I don't think Brodeur ever did in Jersey.

Hasek would make a great goalie coach for Osgood and Howard next year.

You're wrong because you're comparing proven playoffs scorers to guys that had one decent playoff season a year ago. That's blatant homerism. Excuse me if I think Floppa, Richards, and Selanne are all better forwards than Franzen, Flip, and Hudler.

Pronger should be on this list because he's the type of captain that isn't afraid to put his foot down when the team really needs a boost.

What if Ovechkin stomped on Crosby? The league wouldn't know what the hell to do then.

Those are old stats. All 3 of those teams have added something to their top 6 forwards. The divelalanche have added Floppa, the Ducks have added Selanne, and the Stars have added Richards. That's a lot more scoring right there for you. So none of those stats you just wrote up mean squat.

Maybe they are, but I honestly think there's at least 3 teams in the West that have a better forward group than us, namely the Ducks, Stars, and divealanche. I don't expect our 2nd line to score all the time, but consistency will be needed, because come playoff time, there's no chance to rebound from a long slump.

Well, that's a good reason to not care about the issue. I'm just worried that come playoff time these 2nd liners will go cold like we've seen them do at times this year. Also, I don't care what other teams in the West have done statistically. There's only one team that comes out of the West, and I think the team that has 2nd line scoring will have an edge on other teams. Oh and if it makes you feel any better, I think the Ducks, Stars, and the divealanche have better 2nd line scoring than us the way their current roster looks.

You guys are forgetting that our 2nd line scoring has been horribly inconsistent all year. Franzen has been non-existent this year until the last few weeks. Likewise, Flip has been on and off this year with his scoring. He started the season cold as an iceberg, and had one stretch when Hank was hurt, where he lit things up offensively. Ever since then, he's come down to earth somewhat. Hudler had a stretch where he scored in several consecutive games, but he's dead in the water right now. The only thing that has remained constant is that each time any of these 3 players play well for a period of a week or two, people here start overreacting and making those guys out to be better than what they are. One more week of this, and people here will project Franzen as a future 40 goal scorer like they did before the season started.

Wouldn't that be Lidstrom since he's the team's Swedish scout?

How come Pronger isn't on that list?

No offense to Courtnall, but there's no way he was better at it than Bure was. Also, another guy to consider, even though I've never seen him play was Valeri Kharlamov. From what I hear, nobody could handle the puck at full speed the way he could. He put the fear of God into opponents when he had the puck. Likewise, just for the hell of it, Mikael Samuelsson is by far the worst puck handler I've ever seen at full speed.

No offense to Shanny, but he isn't anywhere close to being the fighter Probert was. You're comparing a guy that could go from time to time with heavyweights, to the best fighter of them all, which is what Probie was.

I love that 3rd line. Talk about putting all your crap in one basket.

I think that Bure was the best puckhandler I've ever seen in the NHL at full speed. I don't know if he was faster than Sergei, but with the puck he could blow by the defense better than Sergei could, so I'd have to give him the nod.

We need to sign him and Grigorenko for next year, to give us more hard working guys who aren't afraid to battle for the puck. Also, we should strip Lidstrom of the captaincy, and give it to Yashin, since he has more experience at being the captain of a team, while Lidstrom has only been a captain for 2 years.

I love it when he puts the puck on his backhand. As soon as he does that I already know that the offensive possession is over, and that the puck is soon going to leave the zone. However, as I've said a million times before, if Sammy was a left-handed shot, he wouldn't be half as hated on here, but even so, he'd still get a lot of heat. I am baffled, though, at why Stuart isn't on the point. I know several posters have already argued that, but there's no way that Sammy is better than Stuart. Babcock is definitely obsessed over Sammy for no reason.

I just got back from a drinking binge at a parade, so I hope my posts don't offend anyone the rest of the evening.