titanium2

Which reports? I've actually gotten the impression of the opposite these past few days.

Yep. Draper's cap hit is $1,583,333. The Wings will still be on the hook for it even if he retires. And I can't really see the Wings trading him away or anybody wanting him. Sigh... The only way any of us will be happy with his cap hit is if by some miracle he returns to the 2007 or 2008 version of Draper.

Good. He needs to figure out a way to step up on the offensive end for next year without sacrificing his quality defense.

Cheaper than Cleary.

Well, I think Pavel has always been able to be one of the relatively healthier players on the Red Wings so I guess I'm not too worried. He does have his emotional letdowns every now and again but he still finds a way to take care of himself physically. I wonder if he does anything that the guys who have injuries too often don't do.

Bahahaha. Love the pic.

I think my favorite goal this past regular season was Zetterberg's high backhander on Luongo at the Joe. He's done that many, many times before but that one had to be the prettiest; definitely prettier than the one he pulled on Giggy a couple years ago. Too bad HockeyWebCast got shut down otherwise I would post a video of it right here.

Ehh, a lot of teams think that though. The draft is simply hit or miss imo. Some years you draft pretty well and others you don't. Hockeysfuture.com is not the most valid or reliable source for information on prospects but when they ranked Detroit 15th, which is dead middle of the pack, I thought it was fair. Don't get me wrong though, I think middle of the pack is pretty good for how the Wings haven't had any high picks and whatnot. Hope the Wings draft well this year.

Griffinscentral usually grades prospects pretty tough. I'm not sure if they really mean the compliments they had for Kindl or if they're just relieved that they don't have to watch him anymore.

How about the fact that Brad May probably won't return?

On a Red Wings board you're looking to celebrate? What the hell are you thinking? The real reason why you're here is so you can find some Wings fans on who will say, "Sharks were awesome. They played a really good game. I really want them to win from here on out." Somehow that makes you feel really good that your team won. The only problem is that a lot of us on here feel that if the officials did their jobs correctly then we really don't know if the Sharks make the 3rd round. And that's a bad thing. When a team gets beat they should be able to know and feel that they flat out got beat. And sure, you'll find those kind of responses from some Wings fans but I'm sure a lot of them deep down have nagging doubts about such a politically correct response.

Blah blah blah. With the way that series went down you're just not going to get much respect from Wings fans. In games as close as those, the Sharks were simply the fortunate benefactors of incompetent officiating. None of the Red Wings will admit it because they earn their salaries from being politically correct but it proved to be a difference a lot more than it should have been. It's no wonder why Versus took a closer look at it because it was that bad.

Like many other fans on here I also am worried about scoring coming from the bottom six. But I'm curious about the style of play in regards to Eaves and Miller. Both of those guys do have intriguing offensive potential. However, I wonder if this year they weren't able to use it as much because they were new guys that had to make an immediate impact in a certain way. I think the coaches asked them to not do too much and just play a simple, defensive style. Would a summer and training camp within the puck possession system help them to know how to better use their offensive capabilities? Is it highly possible that with more learning and experience with the system that next year they'll be able to hang on to the puck and make good plays with it in the offensive zone? Those two definitely have more offense in them than they showed this year, especially in the playoffs. I think it's quite possible that they're capable of scoring clutch, backbreaking goals when the Wings need them.

Because this is a Red Wings board I might as well ask before somebody else does: Any puck skills? If he has moderate puck skills then he sounds like a Brooks Orpik type.

Why were the games in this series "three-line" games as Babs said? Was it because San Jose only played three lines?

Not necessarily. Nick moved to Vasteras by himself at a similar age.

Well I think Abdelkader has some real 2nd/3rd line tweener scoring potential. I think they should give him a shot in that area.

If that is so, what does that imply about possible future playoff runs? That they simply won't get that far? That they'll need a roster overhaul of players who are hungry to win?

If Kenny manages to re-sign all of Lidstrom, Lilja, Bertuzzi, Holmstrom, Helm, Eaves, Miller, Abdelkader and Ritola, then the Wings would have a full 23-man roster. You can mix and match in so many ways. My highest personal preference to start next season are at the top of the list while the thumbs up decrease as the list goes down: My general preferences are that the Wings have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi and Filppula as the primary top six forwards; Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Franzen of course for obvious reasons, Holmstrom and Bertuzzi simply because they can't really play in the bottom six and Filppula because they can't ignore his strong two-way play anymore. He deserves a more permanent spot within the top six. I don't really think the 3rd and 4th line center positions are all that much different from each other in regards to TOI. I simply give Abdelkader the nod for 3rd line center because his scoring touch is better than Helm's.

I may sound crazy for saying this but I count on Osgood to be better next year and for the Wings to return to their 1A-1B goaltender format. In a way, Osgood HAS to be better because I don't think Jimmy is immune to a sophomore slump. Expectations are now high on him and he's going to struggle a little bit. Therefore the Wings will need Osgood to step up.

I would. You think Rafalski, Kronwall and Stuart have bad giveaways? His are that much more atrocious.

You should quote LeftWinger's post where he said he's given up on being a hockey fan.

Haha. "Bottom *****". I've only heard that term from South Park. Same? But it's true. C-Word is Bettman's Bottom *****.