thedisappearer

I fear no teams. I fear only the hot goalie, and anyone can have one of those.

Um, no. Sure, the majority of America will not love the NHL. Still, there is a massive economic hurt happening in the greater Detroit area. That hurts tix sales. I want to see how the $9 tix campaign works out. PS- Detroit IS the base for hockey in the US (or at least, one of the biggest...). Unless you want to play that Minnesota Mild "state of hockey" crap on us...

awesome. but is hasek really starting? and how the f%&* are the yotes 4 games under .500 at home? this has the making of a 5-1 blowout! Dats Flip Huds (those 3 were too easy, so...) Downey Chelios and for Phoenix... who cares?

I've worn my Winged Wheel with pride at the Wachovia (once) and the Spectrum 3 or 4 times. I got a few f-bombs, but after they realized I was a Wings fan and not a front-runner, they backed off. One dude actually bought me a beer after the game because the Wings outplayed the Flyers. We're not the Cowboys, for christ's sake.

What he said! Except with spelling, puncuation, and grammar. Good rant though.

Dude... that post and the one above... you KILLED him. good job!

He got his ass kicked. But you don't see us whining about it. It's what happens in hockey. Jackman took a few swipes at Hudler after a goal, Franzen broke it up, then finished a check on Jackman. Walker had his boys back later. It' called HOCKEY. Go cry in your shutout.

Come on... show some respect for their decade of hockey tradition... And Vernon kicked Roy's ass.

I can understand about wanting injury insurance and depth... got it. But to say we'd be "wasting" $5mil in cap space is erroneous. WE aren't saving a thing, Mr Illitch is. And it's not "savings", it's just not more spending. You have to look at what the return on the investment is- spending $2mil on a guy who might not even play in the playoffs... that might be a hard sell, especially when the Tigers payroll just skyrocketed with the additions of Willis and Cabrera. Mr I has always been willing to spend the money, but it's his money. We are not wasting a thing.

Maybe you didn't realize that story is from LAST year. Since pretty much the day he wrote that joke, the Wings have been the most dominate team in the league and came a few injuries from winning the beloved Cup. That is a far cry from the "evident downward spiral" Cox describes.

same as dats, give or take a few thou.

As someone who grew up in Jersey, it is a habit. Trust me here. He will also fumble holding the blueline a lot. My point was mostly that Lilja may screw up, but it's porportional to his role on the team and (maybe more importantly in the salary cap age) his salary. Plus, he brings the physical presense sorely lacking on the backend. As for it being OK to make mistakes, I see where you are saying forgiving them, not condoning them. I don't see the difference. I feel they will happen and don't sweat them (unless it gets out of control...) No biggie. *edit- and just for the record, you were comparing them... right?

*sigh So on the first page when you said it was ok for "them" to make mistakes because "they" contribute offense, you wren't talking about other Red Wing blueliners? I wasn't an English major, but in that context, using that pronoun seems to indicate you were in fact referencing other Red Wing d-men, specifically Rafalski. Nice try though. Your whole argument that other players of a higher caliber can make mistakes but Lilja can't is beyond retarded, and you never really responded about Lids and Cheli's own goals two weeks ago... surely they suck too, right? After all, their mistakes allowed goals to be scored. Lilja's skill set may be smaller than other defensemen we have. But he brings other things that very few Wings bring.

Besides, I thought the Wings were soft...?

true, but can't that be said about any second line defenseman?

The hit looked clean to me. The ref was right there and saw the whole play develop and didn't make a call. And don't forget, it was Jackman who tried twice to rough up Huds after his goal. Who broke it up? Franzen. Then later on, Franzen lined him cleanly and finished his hit. Payback is a *****.

You aren't paying any attention. Why are you comparing him to Lids or Cheli? They are future HoFers. They've won boatloads of Norris'. Lilja is not supposed to be that guy. He's a second line Dman. Sure he scores less. That's not his job. He's the physical presense.The few blue liners in the league who bring the body AND the offense are either making 5 times Lilja's salary, or have not hit UFA status yet. He also doesn't clock PP time. That cuts down anybody's offense. And he may score less, but his goals count. He has more GWG than everyone else on Detroit's blueline COMBINED. You, good sir, have been blinded by hate. Feel free to point out all of Lilja's blunders. Someone could do the same for every single player to ever wear the Winged Wheel. Lids has screwed up... Stevie Y too. I prefer to look at Lilja as much better and cheaper than Derian Hatcher ever was for us.

Yeah, and let's not forget to slam Lids and Chelios over the game where they both allowed own-goals... Players make mistakes. Ozzie bailed him out- no harm, no foul.

Let's not forget he has a better +/- than Chelios and Kronwall, and both of his goals are game winners- that's as many as Lidstrom, Hudler, Chelios, Downey, Drake, Rafalski, Sammy, Kronwall, and Lebda COMBINED.

+1 There is a reason he is playing for the Wings- he is good enough to. And there is a reason he isn't a first line D-man- he isn't good enough. I don't know why so much time and effort is taken to rip on our own players, the very people we depend on to make us happy and win the Cup. Maybe... just maybe... if we spend the time and effort supporting some of our players, they would perform better. It's hard to be a non-highly skilled Wing. We have a bunch and the fan base expects excellence. But there are other roles out there, and Lilja fills one for us, and very nicely at that. Does he screw up? Sure. But everyone screws up. Maybe he does it more frequently than maybe? But here's why Mr I pays Babcock- to coach these players, and here's why he pays Kenny- to decide who stays and who goes. Not only are you second guessing the player, you are second guessing the whole organization.

5-1, Wings Datsyk (2), Flip, Lidstrom, Draper

Sec 105. Me and the wife. The best part was giving them to her for our anniversary. It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Whoa whoa whoa. Settle down with the implications. Never every blown call is a conspiracy.

Like I was saying. Who was the last DEADLINE pickup who did something for us? I keep flashing back to Wendall Clark.

Except none of those three was a deadline pick-up, and that was pre-salary cap. And I'm not sure Luc qualifies as a "hit" wearing the Winged Wheel. I can remember some healthy scratches, no PP time, and 4th line time. More than "some" actually...