stud_defenseman

I'm not sure how this has anything to do with the "pittsburgh hype", but I guess this thread is in response to whining. I don't want to give anyone an excuse to whine when all is said and done. Is that too much to ask?

ouch

That is fine and dandy. I really don't care whether or not the Pens are diving, I would just rather not see my beloved redwings stooping to their level. But I guess sometimes when the Pens are getting in a million cheap shots that aren't called maybe it is sometimes best to try to sell one now and again. I just wish the refs would could catch some more of these non-calls.

Great job in totally ignoring my argument.

I hope you aren't refering to the play where Gill highsticked his teammate and cut him wide open, I would think that would be enough reason to fall to the ice in pain. I agree that it is in a sense a "competitive advantage"... we want to win at all costs... I didn't imply that it was a dive in this game on Ozzie's part as there certainly was contact made, however he did seem to crash into the net with a little extra emphasis. In retrospect, I have seen many other players in the league do muh worse.

I'm would imagine that they would have some sort of contract stipulation that says they have to go to somewhere together. They would be a great second line on the wings or any other team for that matter, but they are not top line players. But for 3.75 million a season they are a pretty good deal in my opinion as they are very consistent. A team like Detroit would be a good fit for them as they already have a top line established and expectations for the twins would not be as high. This Idea is actually making me drool . I don't think we could afford them though considering we need to sign Z next year, and anyone they would want I don't think I would want to give up. These guys will probably play for VAN for the rest of their careers. But wouldn't this be a nice lineup for Detroit... Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom D. Sedin - Franzen - H. Sedin Hudler - Filppula - Cleary Maltby - Draper - Helm

He will need that for the whole 18 inches of mule tube steak that Franzen is going to fill the entire pens team with. FEEL the Wrath of the Mule Cack!

Cleary should just keep that damn thing on. Actually, he should wear a full cage like Robidas. Between him and Draper I don't think I've seen two players get hit in the face more. Sticks, elbows, pucks whatever. It's like Cleary has magnets in his face. Poor guy.

I actually believe that Franzen has blood on his brain, only that it isn't his own. It's Penguin Blood!! He just can't wait to tear right into those defenseless little pens with those big old mule teeth of his. The mule is a natural predator of the penguin if you were not aware. Go Franzen! Woooooooooo!

Not! There is no chance in hell, the wings are gonna bust some skulls on home ice in game 5...this loss may be beneficial as it gives Franzen a bit more time to get healthy. edit: spelling

My prediction at the begining of the series was that the wings would win the first 3, lose game 4, then win game five. Hopefully everything will go as planned.

wings fans have it pretty easy compared to leafs fans...during the regular season the best seats in the house are like $250... and then there's the problem that you can't even get them! To get a good ticket for the SC finals from a scalper would probably cost you a grand...luckily leafs fan will not be running into this problem any time soon.

Going into the next round do you think Babcock will stick with our current successful lineup or will he need to shake some things up depending on our next opponent. If we play Philly next I don't think our lineup will need to change one bit. We keep the Z - Dats - Homer line together and then have a second line centred around the Mule. However, playing Pittsburgh may present a difficult decision for Babs. I think it may be beneficial to split up Z and Dats so that one of them is always on the ice with Malkin and Crosby. It has become clear that these two guys match up extremely well against the top players of other teams simply because they do not have the same defensive abilities. Guys like Malkin, Crosby, Hossa and Sykora are certainly not known for their defensive play, so by matching up dats and Z against them I think we can own them. I am not so sure if a line of filppula - franzen - sammy would be up to the task of containing crosby or malkin. This lineup I think would be good as it would give us three scoring lines (two of which could shutdown Malkin and Crosby) and another shutdown line. filppula - datsyuk - holmstrom franzen - zetterberg - sammy hudler - helm - cleary malts / Dmac - draper - drake i'm not really sure who would play between maltby and Dmac...and this is all assuming that Franzen will be ready to go for the finals *crossing fingers*. what do you guys think?

To be honest, I don't think it was that bad of a call (there were much worse ones called this game). While Turco did in a way initiate the contact, Homer did seem to have a foot in the crease. If Homer was completely outside of crease then it shouldn't be a penalty, but as the rules state, the goaltender has the right to be free from contact anywhere in his crease... he must be able to position himself without anyone interfering, and Homer in a way invaded his space. Maybe I'm wrong and Homer was completely outside the crease, but from the replay I watched it seemed he was right there. Maybe I just wasn't very upset because Z happened to score on the play. And as a side note I loved the look on Homer's face after Z scored - he smiled like he knew Hank would make them pay.

actually, that was pretty clever.

hockey is not about fighting, it's about winning just like any other sport. I apologize for my language here, but f*** you! What is there to get excited about? Maybe thet they are in the the WCF? You are an absolute idiot. I like fighting but I would rather see my team win. Go hop on the Ducks bandwagon.... oh wait they are out. Eat s*** instead. EDIT: actually my rant isn't done, I am pissed off... Is Datsyuk dangling someone and scoring a beauty goal not exciting? Is watching Zetterberg skate right into a group of three players, come out with the puck and get a scoring chance not excititng? You obviously have no idea what you are talking about. I would prefer seeing franzen tip in a dirty goal than seeing mccarty fight someone. Even though I grew up watching Don Cherry and I appreciate what he has to say, it is clear that you have been giving him fellatio for quite some time, and have been absorbing his "violence = better hockey" propaganda. Look where hitting and fighting have gotten Anaheim... no where. If you were really a fan you would find that Detroit hockey was the most exciting hockey there is... just because you are fan. Go eat crow when we win the cup you bone head.

that's exactly what I was hoping for. Those top four guys can log extra minutes while the younger guys get comfortable, that way there would not be so much pressure on them. Lilja and Lebda can both go for all I am concerned, both of these guys have hit their peak IMO, we could potentially get a lot more out of someone like ericsson, it just may take a bit of time. I think Cheli will be back next year, but as we saw this year his time on ice as well as the number of games he plays will be decreased. I would like to see a trio of Chelios / Ericsson / Quincey or Meech rotating from a game to game basis based on who is playing well, that way if one of the rookies aren't playing well you can throw in good old chelios for a while and send them back down to the minors. Then hopefully Ericsson has established himself as a #5 defencemen, Chelios will likely retire, and we can bring a guy like Kindl in 2 seasons from now.

doh, cant make the poll work properly, im such a noob

yea, I'm sick of all these hockey analysts talking about physical teams like SJ and ANA being able to dominate the smaller teams like Det and Dal. What it comes down to a lot of the time is skill. SJ players have an average of something like 10 pounds per player more than DAL, but where did that get them? Both DET and DAL can play physical games when they have to, but in this series I doubt there will be an exorbitant amount of hitting, as players will definetly concentrate more on scoring goals. An interesting note about the amounts of hits recorded in that series: the team with the most hits in a game won 2 and lost 4.

Busting your ass can only take you so far. Helm is in because he is a way better hockey player. I don't care whether Downey can scrap, he is probably one of the slowest skaters on the team, which is not exactly a good compliment to his stone hands. I would much rather have Drake and Helm because they have more rounded skill sets. Helm has had some great scoring oppurtunities, and you wouldn't get any of that from Downey. I am really really sick of people wanting Downey in, as much as I like the guy as an enforcer, he is not a good hockey player.

This will probably be merged with the post from last week about Eklund's Free Agent List, but oh well. Does anyone honestly see us doing anything at all on the free agent market next year?? We have the best Defence in the league with guys like Ericsson, Quincey and Meech all fighting to get positions, we surely don't need to pick up an over priced Dman on the open market. This summer we are going to have to sign filppula to a contract, which I expect will be significantly higher than the entry level dollars he is pulling in this year (I'm hoping he will sign for around $1.5 or less for 3 years. Then next year we will have to sign Zetterberg for top dollar (I expect him to sign for an amount right around what Pav is making, which would be a steal for both of them). Depending on how well Franzen plays next season, he will also be making a big dollar. I obviously don't expect him to keep up the same pace as this year, but I don't think it would be a stretch to see him pop 40 - 45 goals and get 65 points or so. This could put him in the range of even up to $4 million a year. Signing these guys is a priority, and while it would be nice to bring in a guy like Ryan Malone, I would rather stick with the guys who know our system and have proven they can succeed within it. Our recent history with FAs is pretty atrocious. Other than that, do you see Holland attempting to address our goaltending situation? I doubt Hasek will be back, but does Howard have what it takes to move up to the next level? I would think it would be best for us to move him up to save some money for the next few years for our forwards, we don't have the luxury to pick up someone like Ryan Miller or Christobal Huet.

its been done before... what we need is a sea of flesh...everyone goes without a shirt! Women included! Have they not been selling out this post-season, I thought they sold out the first ones against nashville.

I hope your significant other doesn't notice you looking at Hank while you are doing the nasty with her. Hah jk

Yea, maybe this is bad karma, but I just can't seem to help looking ahead to next year.

I'm not exactly sure what he's asking. but coming off off a 71 point season combined with the playoffs he is having I think that would be somewhere around the going rate for a player with those stats, maybe a bit less. I certainly wouldn't give him that much, but look at the Ducks this year, they gave Bertuzzi $4 million. Robert Lang also got signed for $4 million. Maybe that was just the market last season, but I would think that Prospal is going to try to get a big payday this year.