xtrememachine1

I'd love to see the Wings get revenge and beat the Pens in the Finals, but I just don't see it. The Pens, in my opinion, are not good enough to make it that far right now. The moves they made did not upgrade their defense, Fleury is still very inconsistent and the Pens wings are beyond terrible. The Wings will make it for the West as long as we stay healthy, but it won't be easy. The Caps are long overdue for a good playoff run. It'll be Wings over the Caps in 4 or 5 games. Lidstrom retires on top with his 5th Stanley Cup, Modano rides off into the sunset with the Cup in his hometown and its the feel good story of the year in sports.

No not quite. I visit that forum every now and it pales in comparison to this one. I wanted to see their reaction to the whole Kovalchuk situation and there was hardly anything. LetsGoPens.com is pretty much all about the Pens. Its Pens talk and ONLY Pens talk. In addition to a lot of Wings news, there's tons of hockey news in general here. During the trade deadline and the start of the free agency period, I just come here for news. I know someone will have seen it on TV, a website or heard it on the radio and post on here.

94 was bad because it was a huge upset, but it was just the first round and we knew this team was going to be great in the very near future. 95 was really disappointing after the way they smashed through everyone, but I mean... they were swept. They weren't the better team. 96 was bad because we had the greatest record of all time, but again, that wasn't the Finals. 2009 was the worst in my opinion. We had a MUCH better team and despite the injuries and non-calls, we were within one game of the Cup. The Stanley Cup was in our building and the biggest d-bag in the NHL lifts it. That's about as bad as it gets.

Threads like this and remembering that Game 7 will just make the next championship feel that much better.

What hurts about the loss isn't the loss, its how it happened. The Wings were clearly the more talented team, even Pens fans will admit to that, but we had tons of injuries, the instigator/suspension with Malkin thing, the 6 guys on the ice thing, Talbot slashing Datsyuk's broken foot, the Crosby taking cheap shots at Z, pretty much the whole Pens team gooning it up in Game 5, Talbot is their "hero" in Game 7. If the Pens had played a clean series and won because they were a better team or a more talented team, it would be easier. But losing to a team that acts like a bunch of dbags and watching Captain WhinyFace lift the Cup in the Joe, is what stings.

Martin never impressed me on the Devils. He was on their powerplay and out there for every big situation where they needed a goal and never really put up points. Gonchar is a HUGE loss on their powerplay. I can't tell you how many times the Pens score a goal off a Gonchar blast whether it be deflected in or off a rebound. Letang could be that guy to fill that role but when Gonchar was injured and he stepped in, and he couldn't hit the net if his life depended on it. I don't see them being better defensively. Martin is as good as Gonchar defensively (and that's not saying much). Letang and Gologoski are offensive defensemen with little defensive skills. It remains to be seen just how good Michalek is in the Pens system. The 6th d-man played in the AHL last year. Only Orpik is certain to be solid on defense and even that is kind of questionable. He can hit, block shots and knock the puck off your stick, but sometimes when he handles he's really careless. The Pens spent $9 mil on Martin and Michalek this off season. I think they would have been much better off defensively, signing Volchenkov ($4.5) and Hamhuis ($4.5).

Geez, talk about scrapping the bottom of the bottom of the barrel.

Another 48 hours of this crap... blahhhhh

I ranked based on talent, potential and history. Malkin's won a Conny Smythe (ugh) and an Art Ross and he has plenty of good years ahead of him. He hasn't had a better career than Mogilny or Zubov at this point, but I think he definitely will when its all said and done.

That's a pretty good list. I'd make just a few adjustments 1. Sergei Fedorov - When this guy was motivated and wanted to win, nothing could stop him. When he was out there it was like having 6 guys on the ice because he was everywhere. 2. Alexander Ovechkin - If he stays healthy, he'll be one of the best all time. 3. Pavel Bure - The one man offense. Nearly scored 60 goals two years in a row on a Panthers team that had nothing except him. 4. Pavel Datsyuk - One of the best two way players ever and probably the best stick handler I've ever seen. 5. Evgeni Malkin - I hate to say this since he's a Penguin, but kind of like Fedorov, when he's on his game, he's very tough to stop. 6. Ilya Kovalchuk - Pure offense. Great skater and shooter and consistently one of the top goal scorers every year. 7. Sergei Zubov - I always believed he was the ultimate powerplay quarterback. Every team he played for, they had one of the top powerplays. 8. Alexander Mogilny - Very dominant for a couple years, but really tailed off at the end due to injuries. 9. Alexei Kovalev - Unreal shot. Showed potential to be the top player in the world at times, but was never able to consistently do it. 10. Sergei Gonchar - I can't tell you how many times I saw the Pens score on the powerplay that started with his blast from the point. Whether it gets deflected in or just blows past the goalie, the guy was another great powerplay quarterback.

If I get a free t-shirt out of this, the Nordiques will absolutely be my favorite defunct NHL franchise

I really don't think they'll mail out 28,000+ t-shirts. They'll probably either have a drawing and mail out like 100 free ones or you'll get a discount on one for signing up.

The interesting thing to me is, just a few months ago, the hockey writers of North America picked Sedin for the Hart trophy. With Ovie 2nd and Crosby a distant 3rd. Now the order is in reverse. What's changed that would sway the rankings that much?

This works out perfectly. My wedding anniversary is tomorrow, so putting on the NHL Network will be the farthest thing from my mind.

My wife would probably fit in the category of casual fan. She knows the names of the top players and Detroit and the Joe Louis Arena are special places to us because we got engaged after a Wings game in a hotel not far from the Joe. But she doesn't watch the games with me because she says I'm "too intense" and when the Pens play the Wings I always hear, "You live in Pittsburgh. You should be cheering for the Penguins!" She doesn't like the pressure of being a Wings fan in Pittsburgh. All her friends are (bandwagon) Pens fans and she doesn't want to be the odd one out. After 24 years of being a fan, I'm used to the me against the world scenario.

The way Cujo was treated at the beginning of the '04 season was probably the only time I've ever been mad at Red Wings management. Just the way they jerked him around, put him on waivers, sent him to the minors. Then I remember when he got called up for good after Hasek and Legace got hurt, he drove in a rental car with three other GR players to Buffalo and started that day. He was just unlucky. Giggy had those monster pads and Kiprusoff was just a hot goalie at the time. Joseph played really well in those playoff years and under normal circumstances he would have gone much farther. He was one of my favorite players before he became a Wing, I really wished things had gone better for him in Detroit.

I was actually thinking Sawchuk would be up there before Lidstrom, but I like it. Lids is one of the greatest defensemen ever and led a new generation of Red Wings to a Stanley Cup.

Absolutely not. The NHL has too many teams as it is now. Ever since the Columbus, Nashville, Minnesota, Atlanta expansion there has been a noticeable drop in the quality of the teams. Take a look at the teams of the 80's and the early to mid 90's. They were loaded with talent. There were 30 goal scorers on the third line. Plus, every team was competitive and had stars worth paying to see. What players on Nashville, Minnesota and Atlanta are worth the price of the ticket right now? Columbus has Rick Nash, otherwise they wouldn't have anyone worth watching either. If anything, the NHL needs less teams to improve as a product.

They can examine the contract for Z and Mule all they want, no way should they be "withdrawn". Lidstrom is playing right now at age 40. Chelios was playing for us till he was 47. Hasek played with us when he was 43. Yzerman played when he was 40. Zetterberg and Franzen are signed till 40 which is a realistic age to still be playing, at least on this franchise.

I like jerseys of players that didn't play for a team for a long time. Like a Lindros Leafs or Stars jersey. Or a Hatcher Wings jersey. I think they're pretty cool. I wouldn't mind a Modano Wings jersey and if he plays just this one year and they win the Cup, that jersey will always remind me of that Stanley Cup.

We actually traded Slava Kozlov for Hasek. Once we did that, all the UFA's were like, "Oh man, I gotta sign with Detroit!" Hull passed up more money with Montreal and Robitaille had a couple other bigger offers (can't remember who) before joining us because he wanted a Cup. The 2002 offseason was the best, no doubt.

So the day Modano signs with the Wings, the NHL Network re-broadcasts Game 6 of the '99 Finals, Modano's first Stanley Cup. A game in which Brett Hull scores the GWG against Dominik Hasek. lol

Yeah, he's a 40g-40a or 40g-50a guy.

No, we're in love with the idea of having the highest scoring American born player in NHL history, centering our third line, being good defensively, scoring 20 goals and getting around 50 points, something that "washed up" Modano has been doing for the last few years on a lousy Stars team. No one here expects him to play like he did in 1994. 20 goals, 30 assists is fine with me. You're not going to find that kind of production on any other teams third line.

It makes sense. The reverse of 9 or 09 is 90. Boom! 3 imaginary points!