titanium2

You must have a lot of fun playing with legos.

is it true that his nickname is "The Sauce"? Haha.

It's probably all for the best if Hossa doesn't re-sign. He never fit in with any of the Wings' centers. His play with Filppula was decent at best. Much of the production from the Mule-Fil-Hoss line came mostly as a result of the chemistry between Fil and Mule.

Hossa understands that if he re-signs, it's almost a sure thing that both of his closest friends on the team, Kopy and Huds, won't be here. Very few signs as of late point to him returning.

For the most part, I believe they see a player without any minor league options. At the same time, they feel comfortable enough in order to give him a shot. If he doesn't meet expectations, they'll get it fixed, one way or another.

At this rate it looks as if Abdelkader will be on the roster next season.

2-3 years may not be good enough for Hossa considering that he thinks he only has 4 years left in his prime. This is the west we're talking about. A lot of good teams are getting better.

I went to their Slovak festival when Marian Hossa first arrived in Michigan. Apparently he was there and I just missed him and Kopy. There's my luck for ya.

Haha. I dare anyone to trespass onto Kenny's lawn with a 10 foot 500lbs Swede guarding it. Actually... wait for it... I think I can hear the "Swedes are too soft anyway thoughts" coming. I'm excited for him as well. I am a little concerned about his skating. It apparently wasn't that great when he was in GR and now after all those injuries he had I wonder if it's gotten worse.

His girlfriend had just given birth to his kid back in Sweden. I don't know about you but I'd probably leave too. At first I thought, well, why did he leave in the first place? Well, the Wings probably pressured him. That thought is a little unnerving.

St. Cyril?

I acknowledge that Hossa had a great playoff with the Pens. It's just that at this point that looks more like a statistical outlier in comparison to his whole career. As far as Datsyuk goes, I do agree. I think he should be a permanent fixture on Z's left wing. He's not a determination guy like Z. He has more of a Lidstrom demeanor. Maybe that's why those two played so well together in 08. Again, it's hard to compare the two. Fil has been in the league for only so many years while Hossa is supposed to be a seasoned veteran. Maybe you're right in that I'm just dismissing some flaws in his game but Fil had his own expectations and he met if not exceeded them. Some may say that Hossa met expectations but I won't. The guys said that "you can contribute in other ways than scoring" and that's okay for a game to game basis for guys like Fil. Not so much for Hossa. Different perceptions I guess. You saw a guy who pressed too much. I saw a guy who took hard earned loose pucks from Pav and wasted them as he fired low percentage shots from the perimeter that ended up hitting the boards or glass anyways. You saw a guy who contributed as much as anybody in the defensive end and I agree, it's just that every member of the Wings top-6 is supposed to have that kind of defensive impact but Hossa was expected to score goals. You saw a guy who worked really hard and I saw a guy who worked as hard as anybody on the team but didn't work smart enough and only had a significant impact on what, 3 games? It's a tough standard, I know, but to whom much is given (7.45), much is expected. Don't like it? Too bad. Maybe LA is a better environment for him where the standards aren't so high.

I'm curious as to how they'll do as defending champs.

First off, I don't recall Z having "off years" in the playoffs. The only one I can think of that isn't even all that valid is his rookie year. Fil has been in the league for what, 4 years? And yet, secondary assists or not, he still found a way to rack up more points probably because he was more willing to the dirty work as opposed to Mr. same salary as the Wings' franchise defenseman. He's not any of those things. He's as humble as anybody in that Wings locker room. However, when it comes to results in the playoffs, he's just not all that reliable and definitely not worth a Red Wings cap hit significantly higher than Franzen's imo.

Usually when a Wing scores a goal, they look to thank the passer first and then celebrate. It still annoys me how Hossa didn't outwardly give props to Datsyuk immediately after scoring that goal. But I guess he "got caught up in the moment."

He's just a stopgap until McCollum and Larsson are fully ready. At this point he looks like an extremely poor man's Marc Andre Fleury. Some games he knows when to use his athleticism and positioning and some games he looks completely clueless.

According to Jimmy Nill, pretty much every team was happy with what they got. Was anybody not happy?

To be fair, he only started to play well when the outcome was all but done. He started to score in the game in which the Wings went up 3-1.

It's just how they do business. The Wings don't drop players recovering from injuries. On top of that, in the case of a potential trade, who wants a player recovering from an injury? Also, Kenny said, and I agree with this, that he didn't want Helm to just be a grinder that played 9 minutes a game because he's capable of so much more. He just had to develop it at the minor league level.

You know just as well as anybody that 'misjudgment' was due to a red tape issue more than anything else. Does that make it "not a mistake"? Somewhat, because you have, what was it?, 650k being taken up by one player and you're not going to play him when you have to roll four lines?

Pav-Z-Cleary Mule-Fil-??? ???-Helm-Homer ???-Drapes-Malts

I doubt the Hawks because they enough contracts to worry about. Same with Vancouver. I could see LA but I thought Hossa was done losing early in the playoffs. It's strange because I think his best chance to win is in Detroit. At the same time, I agree that he sucks in the playoffs no matter how loudly his apologists cry.

I agree. They had a great season. However, I can't help but be a killjoy to this thread. Any time I watch a moment from this past season all I can think about is how they ran out of gas in the end. Whether it's Hossa's sweet goal against ATL, the awesome puck possession goal against the Hawks or Darren Helm's super speed breakaway goal, all AWESOME moments in of themselves, I can't help but think of how it all ended.

Burish I can live with but not Eager. That dude's a piece of s***.

Maybe the increased offense was the problem because they relied on it too much and forgot how hard they worked in the defensive end.