Doggy

That's a joke, right?? How is it an invalid argument? You don't put players on your roster because of what they used to provide. It's what they can do now that matters. You don't think anything is a valid argument because it's against Fedorov. If I said, we should sign Lindros and someone rebutted "No. He's washed up and not what he used to be" would THAT be valid in you eyes? Of course it would. Because it's true and it's not Sergei. You're just too ridiculously biased to make any sense.

You'd have to be a pretty big douchebag. It's pretty much the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face. And I can't imagine an owner being too pleased about paying for half of a useless players salary.

Dude, you're all over the place. You seem to have completely forgotten what your point was.

Perfect. My thoughts exactly.

Who would wanna stay in Columbus anyway?

Granted I haven't seen the match yet. Will probably see it tonight. That's why I never commented on how he played and only on his stats. Nevertheless I have seen more than enough of Feds over the last few years and he is NOT the same player that I formerly worshipped. It's unfortunate he's had so many injuries, I'm sure they haven't helped his cause. I just think some of you guys are blinded by your love of him. His impact on our team's chances of winning a Cup would be very minimal.

Crosby is also a terrific leader especially for his age. I don't think anyone has mentioned that. They didn't give him the captaincy because he scores a lot. He has a lot of heart and plays for the team. He's also willing to put his body on the line because he has such an insatiable hunger to win. This is a trait most stars do not possess. He is a born champion and anyone who knows ANYTHING AT ALL about this game would not argue with that.

That article is clearly a joke. In all seriousness though, Lidstrom is so far ahead of the pack, that if he tore his MCL tomorrow in practise and had a knee reco and didn't play again until 2010, he would STILL win next years Norris. The year after would be iffy though. He'd probably have to play 20-30 games at least.

Fedorov is amazing. 0pts, -1, 14:56 TOI in a 10-2 victory. How the HELL did he manage that?? Seriously, the average player couldn't get numbers like that if they tried!! Yeah, Feds ain't done. He would've really helped our Cup chances. And FYI, at no stage did I EVER want Fedorov to return to this team. I wouldn't trade a bad smell for him let alone Val and a pick. I still love him to death. He was a massive part of our three Cups and will always be a part of Red Wings history. But he's just s*** now. Harsh but fair, sad but true.

Thank God. Fedorov is done. I'd rather a bag of pucks.

Good post. I like your thinking. In addition to your ideas I reckon they should make it like this. The lower you finish, the less draft picks you get. This would stop teams like TO who want to rebuild, trading their talent for draft picks. I've never understood why crap teams are given opportunities to get better over a prolonged period of time. They're crap - they should be punished. Further to that, I believe each player from the bottom team in each division should have a ******** removed. This would give each crap team added incentive to win and not finish last. It also makes these teams less desirable for free agents to sign with as they would be fearful of losing one of their balls. Therefore it gives the better teams more opportunities to sign big names like Smyth, Briere, Drury, etc. thus rewarding them for their good season. In addition to that I think each crap team should be handicapped negatively at the start of each game. For instance, if you finish in the bottom of your division you should start all games the next season down by two goals. However, they should get a chance to start on a clean slate so before the game the captain of the crap team shoots the puck at a small hole in the goal. The better the opponent, the smaller the hole and if he gets it in, it's a 0-0 start. If not, he has to wear a crab infested jock-strap all game. Thus punishing him for playing for a crap team and giving him more incentive to be better. I'm not sure what you would do when two bottom teams played - perhaps some sort of death match or rochambo competition before the game. Now, I know these changes might seem big and I am a realist - I know they won't be happening in the next year or two but this is something the NHL should look at for the future. I'll be pissed if the Wings become crap one day because of parity.

Getting his team to the playoffs would be a good start.

Before he got injured I was pretty sure he was the league MVP now I am certain. If there's one thing that this month and this losing streak has demonstrated, it is that Nicklas Lidstrom is the most valuable player to his team in the league. Sure, we had a lot of other players injured which hurt, but I am now convinced he is our most important offensive player as well as our most important defensive player. The reason we've lost so many games (aside from being screwed) is our dismal offense 5 on 5. Lidstrom was our QB and the plays he made out of our zone gave our forwards the speed through the neutral zone and in turn dangerous entries and scoring chances . It seems that Lidstrom was the sole reason we were the best transition team in the league. Luckily, our PP has been okay so our offensive output hasn't been a complete embarrassment. Lids probably won't even get a nomination but seriously, with him we're setting records, without him we're an okay team. How is he not the best player in the world right now? My question is - what the hell are we gonna do when he retires??

The scoreboard at the start is freakin hilarious!! We really have been getting screwed lately though. This was equal to the Anaheim screw-job a few weeks back.

Stuart will sign with Anaheim next year. It's a given.

Totally agree Salviaman. This team has no chance of getting past the first round this year. I was hoping we could but going by the past ten games - NO WAY!! I guess the only way we might stand a chance is if Lidstrom, Rafalski, Hasek, Kronwall, Cleary, Stuart and Chelios have some sort of impact when they return. Who knows, we might get lucky and they'll help the team out a bit. Fingers crossed our five best defensemen, number 1 goalie and third best forward can make a difference. Hope and pray people, hope and pray.

The response to this should be interesting: I've always supported Ozzie as much as I can (and I'm definitely not blaming him for the loss) but he is as soft as butter. Seriously. He's not a bad goalie but he just doesn't have the eye of the tiger. Guys like Hasek, Brodeur, Roy, etc. - they get pissed about losses and bad goals and they wipe teams like dirty asses because of it. This is why Hasek starts in the playoffs and Ozzie watches.

I'm sorry I just couldn't help it. That's funny.

For me that was a pretty good result. I don't like watching my team lose but I just really don't want Anaheim to get Stamkos. I'll cry. Besides these wins don't mean much to me. We'll be winning again soon enough.

Thank God. I hate the Ducks so much I'm even going for the Oilers when they play us.

Who cares?

This happened to the Ducks last year. Just a little earlier in the season. I don't see these injuries and this slump as a concern at all.

It doesn't happen all that often and it only happens when it's a high profile player or veteran vs. a unproven kid. Ie. Blake and Quincey. Kopecky, Franzen, Fischer have all had to do it recently and they were all for pretty significant players at the time. Guys like Markov and Calder got no special treatment.

My bad, didn't know that much.

It's a shame. I really like Brind'Amour. But the Canes never had a chance with him anyway - their team is pathetic at best. This really opens up the race for the Selke however. I think with a full season he probably would've gotten it again but now probably not. Z or D maybe??