xtrememachine1

1. I hope not. They're young and getting better. 2. I don't believe teams have that option this year. Probably try to trade him to a team looking to hit the cap floor. 3. He's cleared to play and is supposed to be back in the lineup next fall. 4. Listening to trade rumors, it sounds like they're trying to deal him, but who knows for sure. 5. Almost traded for Phaneuf at the deadline, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them try it again on Draft Day. If Babcock was still here, I'd think they would go after Green since Babs really wanted a right handed shooting d-man. Not sure about now. 6. Maybe a piece here or there, but we have a ton of good young forwards that are only getting better each year. This is the last place they should look to improve.

Congrats to the Hawks. Most of us predicted they would win this series, so its really no surprise. They have a good team with plenty of depth and unfortunately will probably win at least one more Stanley Cup before the Toews/Kane era ends. On to the offseason!

Yeah, its really confusing as to why they would just suddenly blast him and publicly say he's a disappointment, then try to trade him? Its okay to think he's a disappointment, but why are we destroying his trade value on purpose? Unless this is some sort of reverse psychology where we say he isn't any good, so everyone wants him now. I'd like to see Phaneuf in Detroit but as long as we're dropping salary somewhere else. As for his value on the team, he's better than Smith, Kindl, and Ericsson and (not that he could replace him) could fill Lidstrom's by being relied on to do a lot of the same things Lids did while he was here. Leader, big minute defenseman with a big shot from the point. Maybe go after Mike Green to fill the Rafalski role.

It really depends on your criteria for what makes the jersey worthy of retirement. Osgood wasn't an all time great and they won the Cup without him twice. However, his stats speak for themselves and he did backstop two other Stanley Cup championships. Fedorov didn't have the numbers that Yzerman or Howe or Lindsay had throughout their careers but I'm 99% sure that if he wasn't a member of the Red Wings, we don't win 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years. He didn't leave Detroit under the best of terms and that left a bad taste in everyone's mouth, but the truth is, he was a major factor in our championship victories. Sometimes it seemed like he got lazy out there, but when it mattered most he was usually the best player on the ice. I don't think you can retire anyone else's jersey from that era without retiring Fedorov first.

Yeah, kind of surprising actually. If it wasn't for the Game 1 collapse, TB's up 3-0. I thought the Hawks talent and especially experience would have given them a better start to this series. I was expecting a Wings/Pens 2008 type of series. It'll be less painful for our most bitter rival to win their 3rd championship in 6 years than to have our Captain get his name on the Stanley Cup again, all because they beat us and it could have been us there? I suppose anything could happen, we could have made it to the Finals, but it was the first round. Its not like it was the Conference Finals or something. A lot would have had to happen for us to get that far. The Wings matched up well with TB. Can't say the same about Montreal, they were a team that TB owned. I'm over our loss. I'm even over Cooper and his whining and their fanbase. The Lightning have had their moments of jerkiness during these playoffs, but it's nothing compared to Chicago that chants "Detroit sucks" in their sleep.

What would be the point? I'm pretty sure it was decided years ago that when Babcock was no longer the coach, Blashill would step in. He knows the system and he's been very successful in the AHL playing our system with our prospects, that he will now be coaching on the Wings. You're not going to find anyone else out there with those kind of credentials.

I hate the Hawks, naturally, but the Bolts are really making it hard to cheer for them. Obviously, I want it for Stevie, but between the coach and all his whining and ownership or whomever came up with this idea, they come off as jerks. Jerks that I wouldn't be happy to see win the Cup. I think its another lose lose year.

Not a chance. Andersen (25) is still pretty young and made it that far. Plus, they still have John Gibson (21) waiting in the wings behind him and he's pretty spectacular. I wouldn't be surprised to see him be the starter at some point next season. Howard may get dealt, but it won't be to Anaheim.

After how uninspired the Lightning looked against us in the first round, I'm pretty surprised they made it this far. Experience means a lot and the Hawks, unfortunately, have that edge. But the Lightning are a high scoring team, have beaten 3 other original 6 teams to get here and might be fresher not having played a bunch of multiple OT games against a physical team. I want the Lightning to win, but I really can't see how that will happen. Bishop is shaky and the Hawks forwards are way deeper than TB's. I mean, seriously, as we saw in the first round, if you take away Tyler Johnson, this team is basically done. Hoping it'll be TB in 7, but it'll more likely be Chicago in 5 or 6.

Fortunately, it had nothing to do with the outcome, but yeah, if that's not a distinct kicking motion, I don't know what it is. He angled foot like he was going to kick something and then his leg/foot moved forward. That replay from the side, it looks 100% like a kick. Not sure how they blew that call, but I hope to God the outcome of a game isn't decided on a play like that.

Not sure why everyone is so anti-Toronto. I know that they're division rivals and all, but the Leafs haven't exactly been one of the more stable franchises over the past few decades and they don't have a good young nucleus waiting in the wings for him take over. Sure its fun coaching an original 6 team, but not as much as as it was in Detroit.

I can understand wanting a challenge, but Buffalo? I'm kind of surprised. I figured Babs wanted to win now, not start from the beginning. Not to mention, Detroit is in sort of a rebuild mode itself. He must feel like he needs a change in scenery or that his message is falling on deaf ears as this point.

We've been pretty spoiled when it comes to coaches over the past couple decades. Look around the league, the coaching spot has been a revolving door, meanwhile we have a guy that led a mediocre Ducks team and led them to the Finals, took a Wings team that was in some serious transition after the Yzerman era and made it to the final four 3 times in a row with a Stanley Cup championship. He also won a couple Gold medals at the Olympics. Yes, he hasn't done much since recently, but he hasn't had much to work with since either. Lidstrom, Rafalski and Stuart all left within a couple years and really were never replaced. Franzen fell apart. We've been breaking in new goalies ever since Osgood retired. He's not blameless for the playoff failures of the past few years, but I don't think this lack of success is any indication of how good he is as a coach. He's done a heck of a lot more than any other active coach in the league.

If Babcock says that, the ball is in Holland's court and he wants to keep him. Or at least I think he does. So in that scenario he'll stay. Basically, unless Babcock makes some outrageous demands like full control of player transcactions (essentially eliminating Holland), he'll stay with the Wings if he gives us the final bid. The only way Babcock doesn't stay is if he goes into Ilitch's office and says "Thank you for everything, but I think its time to move on."

I don't trust anything that comes out of Toronto. As for Babs, signing a short term deal... here's the thing, he wants to be competitive, I don't think he wants to start all over again, especially some place like Buffalo. If he's not going to a contender, he's staying in Detroit, IMO. As for Blashill, yes, this is exactly like the backup goalie thing again. Legace over Cujo. Conklin over Osgood. Mrazek over Howard. Making Blashill HC, basically says, we're in full blown rebuilding mode. He's a young coach with zero NHL experience. Not a good way to draw in UFAs and not a good way to make Datsyuk and Zetterberg happy. If Blashill is our coach at the end of the week, Z and D should be traded. They're sticking around to win another championship. They're not in Detroit, playing for less than what they could be getting elsewhere, to help the kids get into the playoffs and get their feet wet. Holland has been kind of straddling the line between contender and rebuild and I think this decision with Babcock will push us either way.

I'm rooting for a physical, grueling, seven game series with plenty of multiple OT games. If that happens, it'll be a win for the "we hate both teams" crowd. I think Anaheim will take it in 7 games.

The Pens are as well. I don't know what it is, but its like they're cursed or something. They were up 3-1 in this series and were less a little over a minute away from closing it out and went on to lose three straight games. They have now lost 10 playoff series when up by two games. I agree with Ovie when he said they deserve better. They do. I feel like they do a lot of things right especially this past year and they just don't get the wins in the playoffs. I think if they just keep at it with Trotz, they'll eventually break the ceiling. I remember an interview with Yzerman after the 98 Cup win (against the Caps ironically enough) and he said something like "We had a lot of disappointment in the playoffs and it didn't look like it was gonna happen for us and then all of a sudden we win two in a row." The Caps just need to keep pressing and keep in mind, winning once will make people forget about all the losing in the past.

Why not? After all he's done for our franchise, I'd like to see him continue to be successful, even if it isn't with us. Get his name a few more times on that Stanley Cup and when he's done there and can come back to Detroit and build us into another championship team. I wish nothing but the best for Stevie. Cooper on the other hand... maybe winning will help him mature into a real man from the whiny little rat he is now.

Anaheim will beat them. Chicago played a crippled Preds team and a Minny team that they pretty much own. Goalie is a question mark for them and the Ducks can exploit that.

They actually made it twice. In 1990, they were swept by the Bruins and in 1998 when they beat the Sabres, then got blasted in the Finals by the greatest franchise in sports. But even still, that is pretty bad. They're good, but just not good enough to get into those elite rounds. Here's hoping that changes for Game 7. I like the Caps and I hope Ovi comes up big.

While I hate seeing the Hawks advance, part of me smiles everytime I see Minny get eliminated. I hope Parise and Suter are enjoying their long term commitment as perennial playoff losers.

I seriously can't believe that happened to the Flames again. I mean what are the odds that the Flames would get a no goal call on the same exact play, on the same exact end of the ice, in the same arena in a playoff game? It just baffles me.

When we were spending big bucks on goalies (Hasek, Cujo, Vernon) that was prior to the salary cap. Since the cap was put in place, our most successful seasons were when we were paying our goalies around a million and were putting a lot of that cap space into our defensemen (Lidstrom, Rafalski, Schneider, Stuart, Kronwall, etc). In today's NHL, unless you have the second coming of Patrick Roy or Dominik Hasek, you can't be spending $5+ million for a goalie. Its too much and other parts of the team suffer.

If they wanted to trade him, publicly calling him a disappointment isn't the best way to increase his trade value.

Hasek made $750,000 in 06-07 and $2 mil the next year. The kind of production we got out of him in the 07 season and playoffs and the 08 season, he was below market value. With the cap going up, I'm hoping someone will need him to hit the cap floor. Green isn't a defensive defenseman, however, he'll fill that Rafalski role for us and he'll do a lot of things that we require our defensemen to do like possess the puck, be a threat to skate with it, have a big shot from the blue line, make good passes out of our zone. I think our forwards are set. Maybe an add here or there, but I see a lot of promise out of our younger guys. I don't feel the same way about our defense. Smith and Kindl aren't filling me with any confidence and Quincey should be a 5th or 6th d-man. If we had more young guys like DeKeyser, I'd say just stick with the youth movement, but a player or players will need to be brought it to patch up the holes on the defense or we'll never make it past the second round.