Electrophile

Maybe he was watching footage of the 2002 team when he said that. Can we get Nick out of retirement?

What a fine way to reward the fans who, despite their anger at the lockout, still decided to watch this team play hockey. Thanks.

With no Lidstrom anymore, expect a lot of this to happen. Hopefully it won't cripple us, though.

Holy crap my Internet sucks tonight. Following the GDT here is horrendous. Sorry if I end up posting things like, five hours after they happen.

I had heard something similar as well.

My sister had mono last year. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. It's awful.

Another groin injury? *sigh*

We damn well better win. I didn't sit through another stupid effing lockout to watch them lose.

It's a distinct possibility, just like it is every year. No one is guaranteed a playoff spot. You can start out world-beaters, but then get completely swallowed up by injuries and general malaise, and then that's it for you. I can't say how we're going to do this year. I of course, hope that we make the playoffs, advance through to the SCF, then win.....but I'd be pulling a prediction out of my butt, and I don't like doing that. What I will say is, losing Nick Lidstrom is going to hurt this team more than losing Steve Yzerman did. When Steve was on his way out, we had players ready that had been groomed to step in when he retired. We're in a different situation now than we were then. I'm both interested and scared to see what the defense on this team is going to look like now.

While I agree with that, in the Datsyuk KHL All-Star skill thread thingamabob, there was a lot of discussion about how he's divorced now, his daughter lives in Russia with his ex-wife, and he really likes it there because he's closer to her. His contract ends next season, I believe. While no one here would want it to happen, he could very easily not re-sign, and go back to playing in Russia to be nearer his family. The Red Wings are not in the habit of doling out the captain's C to someone who isn't going to be here for at least the remainder of their career, which is what they did for Steve, then Nick, and now Hank. Just my $0.02 on the issue. Pavs would make a tremendous captain, but there are a lot of extenuating circumstances that I could see keeping him from getting it.

I am Jack's complete lack of surprise.

Seeing as I'd have to upgrade our cable package to be able to get Center Ice, which means I'd have to fork out money for both the upgrade and the $50 it'll cost to watch the games......that is such a fiscally stupid thing to do, it's a complete non-starter. Ah well.

I don't have it anymore. When we moved from Georgia to North Carolina, the cable system here doesn't carry it. Oh well.

Well.........

A bandwagoner isn't just someone who becomes a fan when the team is winning, it's someone who immediately disavows them when they start losing, and then hops back on when they start winning again. If you've been a fan since the early to mid-90s, like myself, you've only known the Red Wings to be a successful, competent franchise. If we go through some lean years and you quit watching, but then come back when they win the Cup again, THEN you're a bandwagoner. It doesn't describe people who become fans when the team starts a streak of good fortune, but then stays with them regardless.

I think all teams, except those that always suck, have some fans that are only fans because it's cool, or because the team is winning, or because the team's colors look nice on a shirt (heard that one once). The more successful you are, the worse it is. I don't think the entirety of the Red Wings fan base is made up of bandwagoners, but that doesn't mean we don't have any.

Much obliged. Thank you.

Slighty off-topic, but does anyone know when Nick's number retirement ceremony will be? Will they have it sometime this season, or wait until the start of next season in the fall?

Can't say I'm surprised. It was practically written in stone once he got that huge (read: lifetime) contract. Though if it had been given to Pavs instead, I'd have been equally as happy. Those two are the best we've got.

Totally off-topic, but I love your signature, Kevin. Even if the league did offer people free Center Ice, I don't have cable in my room (don't even have a TV, more to the point), and the only TV in the house that does have a digital cable hook-up is for family use, so I can't commandeer it to watch hockey. That said, if I DID have cable TV.....they'd have to offer it to me for free because there's no way in hell I'm giving the NHL a dime of my money.

The lockout's over? I'm honestly having a hard time getting excited about it. I hope the Wings do well, because well.....that's the point, but my enthusiasm is almost completely non-existent.

I was responding to the assertion that the Red Wings did well the last time there was a shortened season, and I was saying no.....no they didn't. Getting swept in the Cup finals by a team that was under .500 all season is not a job well done. The 1998 SCF have nothing to do with this, nor will it ever.

That really wasn't the emphasis of my post, the important thing to take away from it was, "swept in the Stanley Cup Finals."

No, he's retired, that's over too. Steve's not coming back, Kris Draper isn't coming back, Chris Osgood isn't coming back, Kirk Maltby isn't coming back, no one is coming back. It's time to move out of the past and step into the present.

After the MLB strike in 1994, it took me more than a few years before I could watch a game again, and I grew up watching baseball with my dad. I love baseball, it's my favorite sport. I'm so pissed off at the NHL for letting this garbage happen again, that whether they come or they go.....I'm over it. They've proven on more than one occasion that they don't give a damn about the fans, so why should the fans give a damn about them? Everyone's greedy, everyone's in it for themselves, no one cares about US. So....screw 'em. They want my revenue dollars, they want my merchandising dollars, they want my time and effort? They damn well better earn it back, just like baseball had to.