Nev

lolz at Babcock ringing him while he was partying in Vegas I bet he $hit himself!! :lol:

I do wonder if its time to pair Kronwall with Lidstrom - he's going to be our top-pair defencemen in a year or two anyway, maybe time to ease him whilst he's still got Nick alongside him. And he certainly won't get beat on the outside as often as Rafalski.

THere was a great thread on the HF boards last season asking if any team had a worse collection of wingers than Pittsburgh. The only team that even came close was Detroit when we had all out injuries

I would maybe move Zubov ahead of Mogilny, I always thought he was a seriously under-rated defenceman and was a key player on 2 different cup winning teams. In fact IIRC he led the '94 Rangers in regular season points. Mogilny had one great season, a couple of really good ones, and then a whole load of OK ones.

Which Chris Osgood are we talking about in this thread? The one from the 2008 regular season + playoffs + 2009 playoffs who was like a stone wall, started the ASG and was our 2nd best player in the cup run, and our best player full stop in the 2009 run? Or the Chris Osgood from the 2009 + 2010 regular seasons? The one who couldn't stop a beachball. The one who was sent on gardening leave by the GM. The one who was left to rot by the coach who had more faith in an untested rookie than a multiple cup-winning veteran? Because there's your problem right there - too many people only remember the 2nd Chris Osgood. He's recently talked about playing till he's 40 - not if he keeps playing like the last 2 regular seasons he won't.

Genius. To paraphrase Revenge of the Sith (the book) - Nicklas Lidstrom is The Force

Datsyuk has said in the past he prefers playing wing with Z at centre - half jokingly because the centre does all the backchecking under Babcock's system

What was really frustrating about last season was that he was shooting the puck better than he ever has right up until the injury. When he wound up his slapshot and was letting go these hard, accurate bombs he looked like a mini-Lidstrom out there. His shot missing the net was always one of his weak points, and when he came back it was like he'd forgotten how to shoot again

I'm guessing they were hoping that a bit of rest over the summer would do it good. Now he's started training in preparation for the exhibition season and its still not healed up (or as he suggests, has a bit of flotsam in his knee)

Without ever having seen him play, every description of him sounds like Brett Hull. Given how Babcock rode Hudlers ass for defensive play I look forward to him being coach's new scapegoat in 3 years

Cricket. Hell, in cricket you can play for 5 days and still end up with a draw And a tie and draw are also different things in that sport Anyway, me personally, I'd love to see 10 minutes of 4on4 OT. Would significantly cut down on the number of shootouts. And no way is the NHL getting rid of the loser point, it compresses the standings too much for them to want to do away with it.

On the Tripping the Live Fantastic tour he wore a Detroit Lions jersey - don't know if it was just when he played in Detroit or not. People who have more time than me may feel free to search for photographic proof

I've got it saved in my HD and watch it occasionally. Wings give a defensive clinic for 18 minutes of the 3rd before the refs decide to make it interesting by calling a phantom hook on Hudler Oh, and look out for a Wings defender getting his stick broke by a Penguin on the subsequent PK. And who can forget Dave Strader's commentary (on the international feed) with 12 seconds to go? "Datsyuk gets tripped....WHAT? No call?!!??!!" I was so angry about those last 2 minutes I was unable to celebrate properly - and as you can see I'm still bitter about it

LOL, reminds me of when I was a teenager, I got hit square in the face by a football and my nose just exploded. Blood everywhere, all over my face, all over my shirt. Because it barely hurt I just carried on playing, but everyone thought I was Joe Rock because I looked something like this Indeed, as it was not long after that incident everyone called me Butcher for a while Anyway, do you have the concept of "ringers" in north american hockey? If so you can have my wifes ex-boyfriend. Proffesional hockey player and former 1st round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers (although he might actually be retired by now! And would obviously be behind EZbake on the depth chart )

Actually, its the other way round - Z is in Crosby's head, hence his behaviour at the end of the game. Zetterberg has pwned Crosby at every attempt and Crosby knows it. Detroit is pretty much the only team that Crosby hasn't been able to run roughshod over. And because he's a spoilt little ***** with an entitlement complex, this is how he expresses his frustration.

Awesome vid, thanks for posting Set brilliantly to the music:ph34r:

TBH I would be sad to lose Miller after the great job he did last season - especially to a kid who really hasn't done a great deal to catch the eye. Consecutive 42 point seasons in the AHL don't shout much scoring potential to me (for comparison Filpulla and Hudler put up 70 + 96 points respectively)

Neither. But you know what, Probert has had his retirement moment at the Joe - when #19 got retired. The response from the fans then was of far more value to him then, than retiring his number is now.

I'd love for you to tell me how wrong I am since that link says almost exactly what I said - the full name of the sport is Association Football, and in the 19th century upper class toffs who prefered Rugby started calling it "soccer". And who +1'd you? Did they even read the link and compare? :doh:

Mate, get your facts right before you go on an ignorant rant. The full name of the sport is Association Football. In the 19th century the sport became extremely popular amongst the working class. The upper class preferred to play Rugby Football (aka Rugby Union). They referred to Association Football as "Soccer" as an insult, sneering and looking down their noses as they did so. That's why brits especially get their noses so put out of joint when people start calling it Soccer. That snobbery still exists today at certain schools, some of which only have a Rugby XV and no football team, or you're not allowed to play for the football team unless you are in the Rugby team. Toby - you were nearly right.

Sorry mate, but you're letting your hatred of Feds cloud your judgement. You are correct about his number not being retired, an honour which he would definately receive if not for the manner of his departure. But to call him a fringe HOFer? Lets just take a look at his resume *deep breath* 6 All-Star appearances 1 x Hart (first European to do so) 1 x Lester Pearson 2 x Selke FIrst Russian to 1000 points Most goals by a Russian (483) 1,179 regular season points in 1,248 games 176 points in 183 playoff games (not bad for a guy with no heart) 1 x WJC Gold 3 x World Championship Gold 3 x Stanley Cup Sure, he was moody and frustrating and coasted for stetches of the regular season, but in the playoffs, when it really mattered, he always showed up (IIRC no other wing had more playoff points during Sergei's time in Detroit. Not Stevey, not Shanny, not Nick).

I think Kenny has done the right thing with him and Miller by giving them 1 year deals - essentially saying to them that they have to be more than one hit wonders before they can get a multi year deal, which is a good thing.

My thoughts exactly. I never hated Lebda as much as some here, and his drunken post-cup radio interview is part of Wings Lore for me, but still - $1.45M for a 6/7 defenceman? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Lets see all the Burke lovers defend this

Would be great - if only we had $1.8M to spare

If they moved and became the San Francisco Blades of Glory, then perhaps I would stop supporting them, but that's about the only reason. I became a fan in the early 90s when I was living in America studying at the University of Toledo. I was already a passing fan of the sport thanks to the Olympics and SEGA Hockey, but seeing the wings on TV and at the Joe really got me hooked. At this time most people still called them the Dead-Things and made jokes about them, but they were already turning it around with all the good young players they had coming through - Fedorov, Lidstrom, Kozlov, Drake, McCarty, Konstantinov, Lapointe, Primeau were all on the team that season, although no-one had any idea how good they would become. Thanks to the power of satellite TV and teh interwebz, following them from afar is not too hard these days. There was a time in the mid-90s when I used to detour past the railway station on the way home of a Friday to pick up a copy of USA Today as that was the only way I had of finding out the score and standings!