Nev

Ovechkin is sooooooo much more than Mogilny ever was (and I always like A-Mol). He hasn't got Pat LaFontaine feeding him the puck either. I agree that the Caps are a real exciting team to watch. With all their young talent they would be a blast to watch in an 80s style NHL

Samuelsson for Staal? Make it happen Kenny Great call on the Selke btw.

Great article, thanks for posting. In Ken we trust!

Wow. Listened to the first 2 periods last night then watched the highlights this morning. Only 1 thing to say......... BULLs***!!!!!

What was it Scotty said? "The safest place on the ice is the net when Kris Draper is on a breakaway" As for the start time, back to back matinees when I'm on my weekend of afternoons = internet radio at work. Result!

Last game of the Wings regular-as-clockwork win 7 lose 3 = wings loss.

alright everybody, CALM THE FRACK DOWN!!!! Yes, it sucks for Cleary. Yes, its a blow for the team. But ya know what? We're still gunna win the Presidents Trophy. He's gunna be back for the playoffs. THERE IS NO NEED TO PANIC!!!!!!!!!!! And there is no need to trade away half the team to bring in another player just to replace him. We'll be fine the rest of the way. Any trades need to be based purely and simply on improving the team for the playoffs. And that includes keeping DC.

Yep.....but rinkside seats at Maple Leaf Gardens against the Wings? How much would that seat cost? I think its fair to say that kid is a spoiled little brat with no manners or class, which just goes to prove that money can't buy you everything As for the game, meh. Its the penultimate game of the Wings win 7 lose 3 cycle. The only thing that bothers me about it is losing 2 games to two of the worst teams in the NHL pretty much blows the 62 win season.

The one player whose name I consistantly see mentioned when articles about Vladdy pop now and then is - Sergei Fedorov. As for why we shouldn't bring him past, nostalgia, yadda yadda yadda.......I hope no-one here is naive enough to think he's gunna pop up with another 20 point playoff. But can he come in and add depth and experience? Can he play a scoring role on a 2nd line? Can he play as a shut-down guy on the 3rd line? Can he add *a lot* of quality to our lacking-in-talent 4th line? Can he take key face-offs and win them? Can he play PK? Can he play up front or on the point on the PP? Has he *always* put up points in the playoffs? Hell yes.

Only Gordie and Stevie have more playoff points in the Winged Wheel

Just goes to show that these "journalists" who write these trade rumours don't know what the hell they're talking about and just pull teams and players out of their ass

Yep my first season following the Wings....4-1 up in the 3rd in game 7, lose 5-4 in OT Of course, as this was pre-97, Yzerman got the entire blame (despite having a broken hand). Take all the Hatred of Sammy and Lilja and cube it and that would only be a drop in the ocean of the Yzerman ragging.....

That's awesome - and good job on telling him how we want him back in Detroit I'm pretty sure if he came back the fans would forgive him. In fact, I think there would be an almost Karmic quality to it. And he is in the last year of his contract, and we have a ton of room under the cap this year. I'm pretty sure his next contract for whoever won't be much more than $1M.

I thought Anaheim were in Salary Cap Hell? Blake will have still have $1M+ on his contract this year.

I've said it before, but much as I hate Tucker he is EXACTLY what the wings need going into the playoffs Biggest problem is trying to eat his $3-4M contract for the next 2 seasons and re-sign Zetterberg and Cleary, although it is doable (cap goes up, Hasek retires, which will give us an extra $5-6M next season). We may have to give up a roster player just to clear some cap room (Samuelsson? - probly someone young that will intrest the Leafs, so Hudler or Kopecky) Quincy is no great loss, he's never likely to be any more than a 5/6 d-man. In fact, his leaving gives Ericsson/Kindl more of a chance to progress. Him, Samuelsson and a 4th for Tucker - I'd do that in a heartbeat We lead the league in scoring We're going to have at least five 20 goal scorers. Zetterberg may get the Art Ross Trophy. What more do you want?

1a Blake 1b Foote 2 Torres 3 Fedorov

Add me to the "good, didn't want him in the first place" camp.

I don't think there's a person whose hockey opinions I am less interested in than Bobby Clarke. I didn't need any more proof that he's a moron, but he went and provided it anyway

He's been terrific on my NHL06 Redwings dynasty forming a solid 3rd pairing with Kronwall. Takes a lot of elbowing penalties though In all seriousness, he would be a terrific pick-up for us. Shouldn't cost as much as Blake/Foote, gives us depth and grit. Oh, and I would have Lebda as the 7th D-man. Yeah he has great speed, but I prefer Lilja's size and shot blocking in the playoffs. And lets face it, Kronner is going to go down again at some point, so Lebda gets in anyway. Oh, and forgot to say, if we could pick up Torres or Stoll at the same time, that would nice also

Irrellevant. Have the past 15 years taught us nothing? Regular season dominance does not mean post-season success. Right now the wings are a real good team, coached by a real good coach who knows how to coach playoff hockey. But this team is still 2 or 3 players short of having a playoff roster. We need more guts, more grit, more toughness, more desire. Another 3 or 4 Dan Cleary's would be brilliant.

I believe if you want to do a purely statistical analysis - taking into account the average scoring during each players career - the greatest goalscorer of all time is..... Teemu Selanne. Your post also does not take into account that the likes of Bure who had their career ended prematurely never had half dozen years in the twilight of their careers as their skills diminished. But having said that, Bure was a joy to watch. First hockey game I ever went to was Wings v Vancouver in 1992. Dallas Drake had 2 goals and an assist (!) as the wings won 5-1, but my abiding memory is a partial breakaway Bure had. He just EXPLODED from the blue line leaving everyone one in his wake It was like a jet fighter compared to a prop plane

Fatty Burns. I hated that team of his in Toronto with those no-class goons Tucker and Domi.

Mathieu Dandenault, Dmitri Bykov........ If Lidstrom wins the Hart this year, it won't be because he is the true MVP it will be the Return of the King effect. Was ROTK and its 9 Oscars that much better than the other 2 movies? No, but the people who vote on the Oscars realised that the LOTR series was a truly incredible feat of movie making and rewarded the last film accordingly. Same for Lidstrom. He's been nothing short of brilliant for 15 years, but only in the 2000s has the recognition he truly deserves come his way.

I would love another half dozen Dan Cleary's on this team, alas we've got only one. But having said that, if he wants more than $3.0M per year, we will have to let him go. There was a quote from Holland the other day comparing the Wings to the Pats, something like "look after your key guys (Lidstrom, Datsyuk", don't overpay for your middle guys and don't be afraid to let them walk" 4 years at $10-12M sound about right to me.

The Selke, like the Norris, is one of those trophies that you have to have several good seasons under your belt before you're nominated. Look at Lidstrom - is he *really* that much better in the 2nd half of his career than the 1st half? Of course not, but his 6 wins and 3 runners-up are off the back of the reputation he built through the 90s. Same goes for Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Last year the rest of the league began to notice what we've known for since his rookie year - Hank is a 2 way monster, which is why the national media is starting to talk about his being a potential Selke winner. Last year Datsyuk was 1st among forwards in plus/minus, 1st in takeaways and 7th in face-offs. I know its not a stat-driven award, but if they aren't Selke numbers, I don't know what is. So it may be another year or 2 before the national media starts to notice Datsyuk's 2-way play.