Uncle Danny

Yup. One and the same.

I suppose she's known as more of an actor, but did plenty of singing in Frozen.

All apologies for having my sarcasm meter turned off. I think we're in lockstep here. I'm a big Kariya fan. He could've done great things were it not for clutch and grab, being slightly undersized and the concussions. If I had to pick one of Pronger or Kariya for the hall based on who I liked more, it wouldn't even be a vote. As it stands, ole gap toof gets in and Paul doesn't.

I do hope this is a joke. Kariya is borderline borderline, Pronger is a lock. I hate that goon as much as the next guy as a Wings fan, but gain some perspective. He could, and did, play some hockey.

The notion that you'd take one of Forsberg or Fedorov over the other in their prime is such a coin toss. They were both elite among the elite. I'd feel blessed to have either one even sniff my team. Forsberg deserves to be in, without question. In my mind, so does Fedorov... and I'm sure we'll see him there. If he isn't first ballot, it'll be based on his decline and attitude, not his achievements, and he'll almost certainly get in on the second go round. Shoot, the doors he (and others) opened for Russian players alone is worth a glance from the Hall. The fact that he was the best in the league for a time and amassed the hardware he did just cements it. The man could play any skating position better than 99% of his peers. If he'd played a year in the AHL between the pipes, he probably could've become a backup tender. I feel less strongly about Lindros, but that's another thread.

IIRC, yes. I was actually going to comment on this. Him being listed as undrafted is a bit misleading. He picked the Wings over many teams pursuing him.

Many people are pointing out differences between eras, line mates, etc, all of which is interesting for discussion. The question, though, is which pair would you take. For me that's #19 and #91 all day every day. No knock on the "kids," but I'd be hard pressed to find many duos I'd take above them on any roster, let alone the Wings. (#66 and #68 come to mind... #99 and, well, anyone also)

Yeah. Thanks a lot, Vernie. Nice work, ya jerk.

Can we please shelve the "kick the tires," "we like our team," "(player x getting healthy) is our deadline acquisition," and "our PP is our enforcer" jokes alongside "(player y) is lazy and sucks," and "what's to stop Chris Chelios from..." as tired? I'm begging you, please. This board needs new material. PS: The beard quote is pretty great.

Groovy.

He'll have no issue finding another job. That guy has done incredibly well despite having scant resources to work with. I'm not sure he'd do as well in Toronto, where the pressure valve is turned up to 11. I'd love to see what he could do with all the talent in Edmonton, though. Talk about a change of venue! I hate to say it, but if we ever lost Babcock, I'd hope Kenny would give a long hard look at Trotz for our squad. He's a coach.

Get over it. They're not even close to the same players. Legwand is a three zone centerman with tons of experience. Jarnkrok is an unproven, but promising playmaker. I'm not qualifying either, but to list that single stat as a means of justifying one's worth over the other is absolutely ridiculous. In 1990 Paul Cavalinni was +38. Yzerman was -6. Again, I'm not comparing either player today to Yzerman or Cavalinni, but you can't judge a book based on the opening sentence.

If the Wings aren't playing, my second and third favorite teams are automatically whoever is playing a great game at that moment. As for the bigger picture, I suppose I tend to root for O6 teams not from Toronto or Chicago. I've got a real soft spot for the Habs. Outside of that, I'll tend to root for the Isles, Sabres or Tampa, although Tampa is only because of the Detroit connections -- not because I actually like the team. You know what? I just like watching good hockey, no matter the team.

You just broke my sarcasm, and it hurts.

I know, so was I, with the meta comment. Mine was admittedly less funny. I chuckled at yours Bah. He is the face of another NHL team's front office now. As much as I would love to see him play, I understand why it won't be happening.

So, uhh, he'd have to negotiate with Fedorov? This is all so meta. I'll be super happy to get to see him play in the red and white again. I have missed him. Definitely going to bust out my #91 jersey with the A on game day. So very, very cool that we're going to see the Russian 5 (Russian 6) together again. I hope they put Feds on D in Vladdy's place on the ice, with Brownov taking his spot again on the wing.

Does Bobby Rouse have a kid? That's who I'd like to see Smith paired with. Give the kid some time and consistency. He'll be fine. Remember all the dumb stuff you did when you were 24? Now imagine thousands watching you do it and picking you apart for it. I can already smell the crow cooking.

I agree with 99.9% of this, but I do have to give Scott some (very) minor code points for taking it easy on McQuaid in the "fight" that ensued.

Great post. I don't usually go on for posts saying nothing more than "this^" but you get an A+ for this one.

I'm sure I'm in the minority here, but I applaud the move. Unconventional for sure, but it's a shake up for the whole team, which has underperformed to say the least. Who leads this team? We all do. We all need to step it up and own this. I chalk this up to creative management.

This is a good one. I should've thought of him as well. Just to hear him tell the story of saying "good game" to Gretzky would be worth the price of admission.

I get people saying Yzerman and Lidstrom for sure. They're near the top of the heap for me all time as well, in terms of favorite Wings. But when you talk about who I'd like to meet, I'm looking more for personality and intelligence than on ice prowess. I'd go with Shanny and Hull.. Murphy and Avery would be honorable mentions. Draper and Osgood also get nods, but I think that'd be quite a bit like meeting my college roomies. Not a bad thing, but something I've already done. PS: No offense to Yzerman or Lids... as I mentioned, they're at or near the top of my alltime favorites list. They both just seem to have the social flavor of balsa wood. PPS: Datsyuk would be at the top of the list if I spoke Russian. PPPS: Probert would be on this list if I didn't think he and I would just wind up vomiting in a gutter somewhere together. I think we'd get one another in trouble.

If you tank games, Dan Cleary wins.

What? Cleary is 34 years old, and everyone involved knows he only has a few (maybe four) more years in the tank. This isn't a test contract, this is his career from here on out. He'll get one, maybe two, year contracts until he retires. And $4m? At 34 he was offered an overpayment by Philly at $2.75m. He's not likely to reach that again. I say props to him for leaving millions and years on the table to play where his heart is. And for us, as fans, I think we should be pleased as punch. We have a player who undoubtedly wants to play here, who took a large discount to do so and is better than at least half the roster. We have to shed a few forwards? Boof****** hoo. This guy is a better player, a better locker room presence and has more experience than all of those on the chopping block... and he's loyal to a fault. No matter the log jam we have, our team just got better and did so on the cheap. What's not to like about signing Dan Cleary for one year at $1.75m? Seriously...