Datsyerberger

Hasek and it's not really too close, he's as close as a goaltender has got to Gretzky/Howe/Lemieux/Orr in terms of outright dominant play at a position. I would've loved to see him on a good team for the bulk of his career where he outcompeted Roy, Brodeur, and to a lesser extent Osgood on what would've otherwise been a bottom feeder. After Hasek, Roy in terms of actual play and clutch play, and Brodeur in terms of record setting stats and consistency. Take your pick. Osgood a bit after them for clutch play, consistency (mostly) and adaptability, as well as record stats. Edit: I'm assuming modern era basically means Patrick Roy and beyond, with the popularization of butterfly. Curious that although butterfly is generally superior among starting goaltenders, among the upper eschelon 2 out of my 4 are hybrids (Ozzie, Brodeur) and 1 of them is.. well, whatever Hasek is. I would suggest this is because of the effect butterfly style has on longevity, and also that we're only just getting into the strong era of dominant butterflyers (Luongo, Miller, etc) before they've had a chance to rack up career stats.

Back on topic... [lgw]Lebda and Meech are questionable every night![/lgw]

McCarty's on Versus right now. Didn't see it mentioned anywhere and wanted to post it before 2nd int. in case anyone wanted to tune in. They must have liked him there the first time, eh?

Honestly, with a mid first round pick, I'd just like to see them take the best player available (aside from the one they pick up in the 7th round, of course ). However, if it is close enough to narrow it down to a small handful of choices in the mid 1st round, I believe I'd prioritize in this order: Goalscorer (of any sort, so long as he's a mid 1st talent. Power forward with goalscoring talent would be a huge bonus). More specifically, a winger. Defensive (particularly physical) d-man with enough offensive upside to be worthy of a mid-1st. The talent pool could really use either of those, and the middle of the 1st round is generally the best place to pick up those sorts of talents (most particularly the former). We don't get much of a chance at those, usually.

None of the above.

Osgood - Osgood - Osgood Osgood - Osgood - Osgood Osgood - Osgood - Osgood Osgood - Osgood - Osgood Osgood - Osgood Osgood - Osgood Osgood - Osgood Osgood He scores goals! Team would be a little questionable during the regular season, but a team full of superstars during the playoffs.

Surprised it hasn't been done yet. Lidstrom - Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom - Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom - Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom - Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom - Lidstrom Lidstrom Hardly anyone on the team ever gets injured, Lidstrom can save Lidstrom's ass if Lidstrom almost lets in a goal, Lidstrom sets up Lidstrom for one timers, Lidstrom cycling with Lidstrom, Lidstrom lifting the stick of the opposing forward so Lidstrom can make the outlet pass to Lidstrom to shoot it into the opponent's goal from center ice...

Family resemblance, you say? Right here, dude!

Hahaha, Howie with the shutout.. and he can't celebrate because he's got a stick stuck in his skate XD

Also, toss in an arm pump to Dats for poaching the puck that started that.

Bert from Homer? Okay, who predicted that one? Heh

And if the team needs a fresh rinse, Put Feds back on defense!

Howard: 18 GP, .915 SV%, age 25 Halak: 12 GP, .902 SV%, age 24 Eh, even if you say that Montreal is defensively deficient enough to account for -.13 SV% (I don't, this year), given Howard's dedication, the small difference in age, and that we'd be giving up extra assets to make up what would appear to be a lateral move... No, thanks.

And when he's pissed us all off, Come, Sergei Kolosov!

Given our luck this season, this is about as good of news as we could have had.

With any luck, we'll also get a playoff berth so that cute little newborn has something to watch late spring.

I'm not usually the sort of person to make one word posts, but I shall make an exception this go around (assuming none of this sentence counts): WOOOoooOOHoOoooOOOOoooOO!!

I'd like to see a topic where you made a post wherein you did not indicate your desire to see the leading goalscorer off the top 6/team. As for Maltby, he's an old vet on the last leg of a small dollar contract playing as the 13th forward. I'm not even sure what your issue there is.

Huh? We have one of the best playoff goaltenders of all time (who also happens to be in top 10 regular season wins all time), a younger guy who's finally looking to be starter material, a possible future starter in Larsson sitting in GR, and a low pick starter prospect in McCollum. It's not the best in the league, but it's far and away from pathetic. And a big no on Valiquette. With all the spoiled bitching about goaltending on here, I wouldn't want to see the reaction when Valiquette redefines the word 'blowout' for some people here.

I'd take a bruised cheek for Miller's stick! My favorite active NHL goalie not named Osgood.

I'm surprised that with all the other player X (is lazy/awesome and) sucks/rocks threads, Abdelkader hasn't had one going. Though his offense hasn't been particularly noteworthy stat-wise, his line seems to generate a lot of offensive pressure when he's on the ice, and defensive-wise it's notable he's a +1 while only claiming 4 points in 22 games to his name. On top of that, he's rocking 63 hits currently, putting him on pace for well into the 200s (especially if he starts getting more ice time). There was a shift last night (it might have been his first) where he was bouncing off the Blues like a rubber ball.. think I watched him nail 4 players along the boards in the offensive in about 12 seconds. Top off those hits stats with only 12 PIM to his name so far. Seriously, 63 hits a quarter of the way in? When's the last time the Wings even had a player like this? Oh right, his name is Darren Helm, 6 points, even +/-, 56 hits putting him on pace for just over 200.. with only 2 PIMs to his name to go with that (and I'm sure his physical play has drawn more penalties than that, such as what we say with EJ last night). Instead of griping about how the Wings are injured and underperforming and so on, how about we give some credit where credit is due and acknowledge what these younger players are bringing to the team--assets that, in fact, many on this board have been wanting/demanding for years now.

Dats, Z, and Franzen are all top end players and long term Red Wings, so you can't go wrong with any of those. I wouldn't be surprised if Cleary was a career Wing at this point, either. Homer, Lids, and Draper are all good picks too, but you won't get as much 'active longevity' out of your jersey in those cases. Rafalski buys you a handful of years. If you want a d-man, I'd suggest that Kronwall is far and away your best choice.

Aside from the joke hilarity that is having a selke winning PPG player as 3rd line center, especially on a team stacked with 3rd/4th line quality centers, Franzen isn't really the sort of player that needs a space-maker on his line. I'd be happy to see Abs get a chance on the 2nd line for now. Assuming him to be on the team still when the injured players are back, I wouldn't mind seeing: Dats - Z - Homer Franzen - Flip - Cleary Leino - Abs - Bert Helm - Draper - Williams However, it's extremely unlikely that Abs will be up with the others back due to depth in 3rd/4th line choices. Also: Are you on drugs?