Nev

I don't think its that the players you mention were allowed to over-ripen, its just that they aren't/weren't that good. Quincey got his act together when he was waived, the rest are borderline NHLers.

Wings played good but not great, hit twelveteen posts. Just one of them nights.

What a shocking goal to give away after carrying the play. I was thinking when they were playing tippy-tap round their own net "a bit risky with the Hawks talented players on the ice....." NIce fight by Smith too, but its left us with 4 dmen for 5 minutes...

Hoping for a sighting of the Lesser Spotted Franzen soon...

Its called being just as talented, but bigger and stronger. And diving all over the ice and drawing PPs. And Detroit thinking the series starts with Game 3.

This is one of his biggest problems. Its the same issue Philly has had for 20 years - every year that they don't win the cup they feel like they've got to blow the team up (although at least Philly have always been a playoff team whilst doing it). Anyway, this could be Burke's last throw of the dice - it certainly should be. The one area where he has shown patience and loyalty (his coach), he gives him a contract extension then fires him a few months later.....

It means "don't be afraid to get fired"

Olympic final as well. Completely anonymous all game, fluffs a breakaway with a minute left, then scores the overtime gold-medal winner on a scuffed shot along the ice Every time I see that, all I can think is "why couldn't Lidstrom have scuffed his last second shot in game 7? Because it would have gone in then"

Great quote from him last night on scoring his first NHL goal in front of his grandfather

A 3rd lockout under his leadership is unthinkable - how could he keep his job in those circumstances?

Too true. I was going to add Domi and Darcy Tucker as well, but I didn't hate them for being good either.

No s*** Sherlock. Did I ever say he was? Eh? Lindros wasn't even drafted till the following year, and make it to the NHL till the year after that.

If you want to relive the glory years of beating Ottawa then choking in the conference finals every season, the Leafs would be much better served by bringing back Crazy Eddie in goal than Fatty Quinn as coach.

Yeah, its not like when we drafted Keith Primeau and left Jagr on the table...

You're probably correct - I remember him saying Abdelkader and Leino (!) were the best players he'd ever sent down to the minors. But thats the difference between a coach and a GM - the coach wants the best possible team to win NOW, the GM must keep an eye on the next season, and the season after that, and the season after that...

So what would be a similar package from the Wings to that?

Babs has never been afraid to throw a rookie in a the deep end if he thinks they're good enough - Helm in 08, Abdelkader in 09. Smith-Quincey could turn out to be a massive upgrade over Kindl-Ericson.

I want to say "good" but Miller - Helm - Abdelkader has been playing lights out lately. Whatever happened to The Mule?

Disapointed we didn't at least add a depth forward with size - I couldn't stand to see us getting out-muscled for the 3rd year in a row by San Jose. This has the potential to be our year, the team is playing well, especially defensively and we're getting strong regular season goaltending for the first time in several seasons. Lidstrom has maybe 1 more year to go after this and we've got a large number of decent prospects, so I am disapointed we didn't do more with the assets and cap space we have.

I'm guessing the Rangers took a punt and offered us some picks for him. We said no of course because it only makes sense to trade him as part of a blockbuster deal for a star player. But some journo found out about it, and changed "offered " to "traded"

Bizarre...if it was an Emmerton or Mursak I could understand it to free up the logjam at forward, but this leaves us with 6 Dmen right now

I remember him saying that during the Phoenix series last year. I was utterly shocked when I read it, admitting to floating during the regular season. Incredible to think that he just coasts around out there, yet is our leading goalscorer.

Hahahahaha!!!! Congrats on your Worst Post of 2012 award!

That was Kronwall. Anyway, interesting list given some of the names on there - unknown journeymen like Eaves, a guy who killed a team-mate in Heatley. It would have been interesting to see some of the players comments. As for all the complaints about Iginla, countless team-mates and coaches have testified to his off-ice character over the years.

Seems to me contracts are getting more and more ridiculous lately. If Ericson is worth $3.75M and Hemsky $5M, whats Hudler going to go for?