wings_fanatic

For negotiations to move into the right direction 2 things need to happen: 1) The NHLPA counterproposal MUST not insult the owners... they must work directly off of the NHL's proposal. 2) The NHL and Gary Bettman CANNOT throw a hissyfit and break off communication again because there is no time for that. If either of these 2 things happen then the season is over.

I agree with what Axe said regarding Datsyuk and Zetty. Regarding Franzen... if I could I would construct a time machine to take us back to 2009 and have Holland sign Hossa and let Franzen walk ...

Filpulla... shoulda always been Fil over Hudler anyways.

That is an interesting stat in the fact that the Wings PK wasn't very good last year again if memory serves me correct, whereas the NY Rangers had one of the best PK's in the league.... Yah it is nice to know all our guys can be used in all situations, but just because they are being used does not mean the job is getting done. In our case last year, the job on the PK did not get done. I think the problem is Babcock uses like 9 different forwards to kill penalties, so there is little structure and chemestry compared to the Rangers who have actual consistent PK units. This is something I think Detroit needs to fix this year.

Too bad the NHL was not run like the UN Security Council because then we could have a Permanent 5 have access to a Veto vote- - anything that gets vetoed does not happen. The UN P5 consist of USA, Britain, France, China and Russia, all of which finance a large percentage of the UN and, because of that, they have a large say on what happens on matters. Why can't this be the same for the NHL. We could have the P5 consist of the Red Wings, the Maple Leafs, the Habs, the Rangers, the Blackhawks... for example, if Gary Bettman asks the owners to vote on a lockout and one of the permanent members veto it, then it can't happen. Since it is these teams that make a very significant amount of the NHL's money, and share their revenues with the poor teams, than this should happen and then we wouldn't have to deal with this lockout bulls*** every 7 years.

Great time... nice to see the players having fun and laughing out there. I sat center ice front row so I had a really good view of the boys... and I couldn;t help but notice Kronners has gotten a little bit bigger which can only mean better hits! Before that, I also went to try the new bauer hockey skates, sticks and what not which was pretty awesome! There were very few people there surprisingly so we got to stay on the ice for about an hour just shooting around, skating around, trying different sticks... and Justin Abdelkator was even out there skating with us! It was just a blast of a day yesterday!

they would never cancel the season this early they would wait til january for that... there is no doubt in my mind that, not long from now, I will be getting my tickets to the home opener

Yah there are tons of conflicting reports out there... but personally the way I see it is they would not set up the presser for nothing. And the fact that there are sources that say its to announce a CBA agreement tomorrow spells it out to me. I think we will hear lots of different stories for the rest of the night, but in actuality both sides are just tidying up and finalizing everything and we will hear a deal tomorrow morning.

@TheNYRBlog Source telling me NHL podium in hotel is for press conference tomorrow announcing CBA agreement.

Got my tickets... front row center ice ... cant wait to see at least some of the boys back in action!

To me Stevie was great. He was a great player, a great leader and even a better person. BUT, Nick Lidstrom is slightly a step up in that he was never phased, was always on his A game whether he was 25, 30 or 42... the guy simply always had it. I have went to several Red Wings games in my short 21 year life, and I can honestly say that anytime number 5 came on the ice I felt safe, I felt like there was nothing the team had to worry about because he simply did everything perfectly and so effortlessly. More then that, he was literally ALWAYS there. As you guys have said, we are spoiled to even be able to have this debate in the first place, but for me Lidstrom was the guy who I always idolized growing up and I met him 4 times and he was just such a nice guy. I cried when Stevie Y retired and I cried harder when Nick retired... it is like losing a family member. Lets just be thankful we have so many great memories of both of these greats.

No one can sit here and defend Bettman. Bettman is ruining hockey in many respects. His job is to RUN THE LEAGUE. Since he took charge of the NHL, there have been 3 lockouts, one of which lasted an ENTIRE SEASON- - and this one does not look too promising. Simply put, allowing 3 lockouts is not doing his job. He is a terrible negotiator, and is running the league into the ground. On another note, the ONLY reason he still has the job is that he has pleased all of the poor ass teams that can't afford to run their own franchises. But if the league is locked out all year, these poor ass franchises will not ever be able to recover, and I think that will spell the end of Bettman finally.

Best current forward: Pavel Datsyuk (simply the best all around hockey player in the world) Best current Dman: Niklas Kronwall Best current goalie: Jimmy Howard On a side note, I also go to U of Windsor and I hear you guys from China are pretty smart, so if you can come up with a way to clone a younger version of Nick Lidstrom so that he can come back and play forever, please let us know!

How about we just start playing hockey before we come to any silly conclusions.

I think that it favors the Red Wings because as the poster above said, the Wings typically start off very strong. Even the last couple of years, the Wings were doing good... until they were hit with injuries. So one has to think that a shorter season (say halfish) would benefit the Wings and especially Datsyuk and Zetterberg. On the other hand, we are comparing their fast starts to the days of having Nicklas Lidstrom on our team... so perhaps that is unfair to do at this point. Maybe a shortened season will hurt them because they won't have as much time getting used to having no number 5 and won't be able to get things going quick enough? I guess we will never really know until the NHL season commences, at whatever point that may be...

I think we will be okay to everyones' surprise. Why do I say this? Because the Red Wings best move of the summer has been bringing in Tom Renney as assistant coach for the Defense. He has a lot of experience working with younger players, and has a very good defensive approach to his system. When he was the coach of the NY Rangers, they played a very solid defense system, and had an outstanding penalty killing system. There were several times, back in 2008, when Mike Babcock praised Renney and his system and sometimes even had the boys watch tapes to help them out. So I think Renney will be a huge help. By no means am I saying that we will be just as good as years past, but we won't be as bad as everyone seems to think. I mean honestly, look at Jersey. Our dmen are way better then theirs, and they just came within 2 wins of a Stanley Cup. How about s***sburg? Their D is not that strong. Also, as someone said, we play a good TEAM defensive system. I guess we will have to wait and see, but I expect Babs and Renney will get things together.

Phaneuf, Suter, Luongo, Letang, Fleury

Nick Lidstrom, hands down the most obvious choice. Stevie Y was amazing, but imo Nick Lidstrom led our defense for 20 years and, along with that, ran our powerplay and shut down the other teams' top players night in and night out. Look at Nick's career and you see nothing but success... if we could re-set his career right now, I bet we would be seeing a few more cups in Hockeytown in the near future (not saying we won't be winning anytime soon)

I am pretty sure Pavs has stated a few times that he would like to play int Detroit until he is 40 and then go play one last year in Russia before hanging them up. So I am not too worried. But as many have stated, he will likely be like Nick in the fact that he will still be super effective at age 40.

I think EA should still put Nick Lidstrom in the game for all hockey fans... simply because he is Nick Lidstrom and I just cannot play a game without him.

The thing I am wondering is how much money the NHL would be wasting to put the game together (to build the ice surface and maintain it) only to not have the outdoor game afterall if there is still a lockout. Because surely they would have to prepare everything well in advance?

Zetterberg and Datsyuk step up big time in the absence of Nick as the team leaders and both have BIG offensive seasons (Pavel will get 90 something points and Hank will get 80 something points, 30+ goals). Also I expect Smith to surprise everyone and will be playing 25 minutes+ by the end of the season. Tom Renney proves to be an amazing signing and will help the dmen a LOT.

It was not proven at all. He had effed up knees all season. The season before that the guy got like 25 goals!! He is all healed up, so lets give him a fresh start with Hank and Pavs and see how he does. I think Pavs and Hank will make magic this year if Babs can just make it work, and Cleary has the potential to do a good job as the 3rd guy on that line.

I have been watching highlights of the 2007-08 season and it seems like every goal is coming off of Pavs, Hank or Homer's line. They were simply unbelievable and the top line in all of hockey that year. Zetty frickin scored at will it seemed, but that led me to think what has changed the most since then? Babcock has turned Zetty into a playmaker rather than a sniper like he was that year. That year Zetty always got himself open and Pavs always found him. Ever since then Zetty has been almost always separated from Pavs, and has had to become a playmaker instead. IMO we need Babcock to put Pavel and Hank back together have have Hank focus on being that SNIPER because we do not need him to be the playmaker. I think Homer is going to retire, but I think we need a player like him on that line, someone who busts their ass, can deflect pucks, and go in the dirty areas. Cleary is that guy. Sure last year he played with them for a bit and sucked, but he had very bad knees. I would like to see it start the season and keep it together for 10 games to see how it goes. Zetty- Datsyuk- Cleary Sammy- Filpulla- Franzen Brunner-Helm-Nyquist Tootoo- Abs- Bert That actually is a pretty decent looking forward group. And if Babs can get Zetty to get open and shoot the puck like he used to, there is no reason he and Pavs won't score 30 goals each. Fil can center his own line and Franzen can get his 25ish goals, Sammy can get close to 20 goals and Fil 20-25 goals. I think we have jumped on Kenny's case a lot, but the forwards group is amongst the best in the NHL and can be upgraded down the road if need be.

It is often said that many hockey players have tons of superstitions. Nick Lidstrom, imo the greatest Dman of all time, was VERY much so. As a guy who has played hockey since I was 5, and a huge fan of the Wings, I too have many superstitions. Anyways, in my depression that I have been in since Nick's announcement, I have been watching some old dvds of when the Wings won the Cup in '08 and noticed some things. First of all I noticed the fire that used to shoot out of the big screen after every Red Wings goal. I go to a lot of games every year and the past couple of seasons the arena switched to smoke coming out of the big screen instead of the fire and, ever since then, the Red Wings have experienced early playoff exits. To top that off, the Wings now use tons of different songs to play after goals are scored instead of the traditional "hey hey hockeytown", "jock jam" and the one for when Hank scores. Again, ever since they made the switch, the Wings have experienced early playoff exits. I know this sounds silly, but I am one of those people who think you should never fix what does not need fixing and they should have never changed these 2 things. I know these 2 things actually had no impact on the team, but quite frankly the fire was WAY better than the smoke is, as well as the traditional songs used after goals that the Wings used for years. I think they need to go back to what worked for years!