GMRwings1983

What was up with the fastest skater contest? I always wanted to see if anyone could actually break Gartner's record, and now this debacle. Gaborik who's regarded by most as the fastest skater in the league wasn't even in the damn contest.

Bettman probably slept through the whole event. That is, provided he even knew there was an all-star game this week.

Ozzie finally stopped a shot. God, who picked these judges? Gary Bettman?

Maybe Draper should borrow some of these moves the next time he has a breakaway.

f*** you Scott Mellanby. I hate you even when you're retired.

Leafs fans are probably saying "Damn!" Why don't we have this Kaberle guy on our team?

I wonder how Samuelsson would do in this accuracy shooting challenge?

Every jackass usually does.

I'm embarrassed for Ostgood right now. Someone should tell him that there aren't any rules against making saves during the all-star game. He seems to be a little confused.

Downey and Drake aren't the best fighters out there, and not exactly the youngest ones either. Nothing says we can't try to improve our toughness.

Most Wings fans have been cultured into having a soft team with no enforcers, because that's what we've had for the longest time. When this team started loading up on Hall of Famers, the winning immunized everyone from complaining about the enforcer position. People are just used to it by now, and they'll always have justifications for Holland's philosophy. For instance, most Flyers fans have been so used to having a tough team, that in the past when they lost a bit of tougness, they complained about it and couldn't stand that fact even though they still had a tougher lineup than most teams in the league. I just wish people would understand that having a couple of tough guys on the 4th line isn't going to change the puck possession style that the top liners play. In fact, it won't change anything, since our 4th line still gets minimal minutes each night. Nobody's counting on those guys to score anyway.

I think the team should be announced a week before the game. This way there won't be all these disappointing injuries and dropouts before the game. Even some of the players don't take it seriously anymore, so why should the fans?

Since the goalies know the guys are going to deke instead of shoot, isn't that going to bias the whole contest and give the goalies an advantage?

I'll be the first to admit that the reason I want Maltby on this team is because he's been a Wing since I was in middle school. I am biased towards him and Draper in that sense, and for that reason I will never ask that either of them be traded or moved. If Maltby was anybody else, I would probably complain about his usefulness on the team, but I'm just not going to go there.

Too early to call it that way. Hopefully we'll win a few more Cups with him as the head coach, and then we can talk about HOF status. I'm glad they signed him, though. He seems to have a pretty good handle on this team.

Lapointe has done nothing for the hawks this year. Granted, as I've posted before we have some 4th liners who aren't putting up stats either, but he's not my ideal deadline acquisition. I agree with you on Vandermeer, though.

And I hate how everyone brings in this "new NHL" excuse. They make it sound like the new NHL consists of teams rolling 4 lines of all-stars, leaving no room for enforcers. I guarantee you the Wings record wouldn't be any worse than it is if our 4th line had another enforcer on it.

Maybe Laraque has been reading these forums, where we all call him a boring fighter.

I can't believe you just figured that out. It seems like many people here want a tough guy who can score 20 goals and not pick up any minor penalties while still trying to be physical. Unrealistic expectations is what it is.

Well, as I've posted before, no one wants to open up with the "PAIN TRAIN". To me all 3 of his fights this year have been wins based on general principle. However, because of the wrestling tactics of his opponents, those were not dominant wins.

I know this isn't a beauty contest, but looking at this guy's stupid face more often than 6 times a year would be too much for me to handle. Besides, he gets hurt too often to invest in. Dallas Drake is more than enough as far as former hated Blues players go.

Are Kopecky and Drake that much better statistically? At least Boll can do something those guys can't.

Exactly. It's not like the Wings finish 4th or 5th in the West every year. This team always has the best record in the conference, if not the league, and doesn't even advance to the finals. I'd call that disappointing. The Wings have to win the Cup this year with the way this team is going.

Didn't they already retire Ratelle's number?

He should be the new GM of the Leafs.