truebladearmy

Yeah. Agree. OP here. Was drunk when I wrote that post. Yes, 3 rings, and my dates were off. Lol. Shutup. Beer is the devil January 2008.... "He currently leads the NHL in GAA, is third in the league with a .925 save percentage, and has compiled a 20-3-2 record at the All-Star break. " That was season play for 2008. The same year that we also, happened to win the cup. 2009 -- Also carried to the finals. Amazing finals stats. Conn Smythe potential, if we had won it. So that's two years in a row....that he has carried a team to the finals. Just want to point this out.....ignoring his history, the LAST two years in a row, he got us to the finals. In 2008 our defense was amazing. Even Zetterberg came out winning Conn smythe for his defensive/offensive play. 2009, defense wasn't as great, but osgood put up big numbers once again. How about this.....he has been the "primary" goalie for 3 detroit cup runs. All three times we made it to the finals. Well 95-96 he played 15 finals games, winning 8, losing 7. 96-97 he backstopped Vernon. Won stanley cup...though Vernon was the main goaltender, obviously. 97-98 Stanley cup champs, Osgood as starter. Next 3 years, played less than 10 playoff games for Detroit, each year. Traded 07-08 Back to Wings. Stanley cup winner. Osgood took over as starter, and finished with the cup. 08-09 Took us to the finals, posted a .926 sv pct, 2.01 gaa average. Lost in game 7 of the finals. Lost final game only 2-1, against the most offensive team throughout the entire playoffs. I'm just saying. No goaltender has been better for the Wings, in a very, very long time. Other than Osgood, who have we won with? Vernon. Russian five. Steve Yzerman was centering our SECOND line. Lidstrom and Murphy, Konstantinov and Fetisov as defenseman. Hell, we barely even needed a goalie on that team. Hasek. Team chocked full of all stars. Our fourth line consisted of players with a decade already in the league. We had the most future hall of famers on our team in the NHL, at the time. We were paying players enough cash that year to have purchased an entire string of tropical islands. Osgood has taken us to the finals two years in a row under the salary cap. I'm just saying. Right now, pound for pound, underestimating Osgood is basically retarded. I think the general consensus is "Can he do it again?" Well, in the last 2 years, he did it. I'm not skeptical anymore. To me, the man is the real deal. If I minted a coin, it would say "In Osgood, we trust". Say what you will, I think Ozzie is going to do it again. I'll eat my words if I'm wrong, but if I'm not, I'm bumping this threat come playoff time, and talking mad s*** to the naysayers

I think Chelios would be a good fit in Nashville. On Detroit, he's overshadowed by veterans who are still in their prime like Lidstrom and Rafalski, and younger defenseman like Kronwall and Erric. With a team like Nashville, I wouldn't expect his ice time to be incredibly high, but the veteran leadership and vast experience he has could bring that team a little needed defensive strength. Lets face it Nashville isn't exactly a cream of the crop team right now. A guy like Chelios could really help bulid up their defensive corp. Not so much by him playing, but just by his presence alone. Chelios is one of the best defenseman in NHL history. Having him associated with your team could never be a bad thing.

Wings_Dynasty, you still active duty? I'm with 2SCR Fires in germany right now, just for the first time noticed your Toujors Pret icon

I like the underestimation of Detroit year by year. It cracks me up. "Welp. The Wings proved me wrong the last 15 years, but if I keep putting them as the underdog, it's bound to happen one of these days right? I mean....I can't be wrong forever.... 3rd in points for the season, and making it to game 7 of the finals is pretty much washed up, right?" --News analyst ---------------------------------- Chicago will probably do better than last year, but I wouldn't put them as a presidents trophy finalist. San Jose, sure. Vancouver.....maybe. Detroit....still possible. But I think it's going to be between those three, with heavy favorite going to Detroit and San Jose. For Detroit my prediction is: --Win most of the preseason games. Detroit will play its young talent much like most other teams will do the same, and to be honest, our young talent is head above water against what many other teams have to offer. --Opening game will be a 4-1 victory. --Good strong opening this year, win 70% of the first 20 games. --Average pre-allstar play. 55-60% win ratio for the next 20ish games. But a few streaks of loses. --Post All star surge. Huge win streak, the kind where announcers will start talking about how they're only XYZ away from Franchise record. Will likely fall 1 short or tie it, but lose the one that would have counted if they do get close, again, heh. --Decent closeout play. Average win/loss ratio. Few 3-4 win streaks. Few 2 game loss streaks. --Final game of the regular season: 3-2 loss. Osgoods best month: February. You hear my magic 8ball prediction here first folks!

Good list but how do you leave out Datsyuk as a forward, and Murphy as a defenseman? :-p

If I went all time I would go with probably: Lindsay - Yzerman - Howe Lidstrom - Kelly Sawchuck - Cheveldae It's tough to say old Goalies were better or worse than new ones, because the game has changed so much. But I think it's safe to assume Sawchuck would be amazing even today. Cheveldae I like because he's an iron man. He once played 72 games in a season, heh. That's what I consider reliable. Too bad other than his ability to play all season long he wasn't that great If I went with players I have "seen" play.... Fedorov - Yzerman - Zetterberg (With honorable mention to Datsyuk, but we'll have him center the second line, heh) Lidstrom - Murphy Vernon - Hasek All in their primes, of course. (Interesting side note: Manny Legace is Detroits all time Save percentage leader with .918 for his career in Detroit. I didn't know that.)

I concur.

We signed Williams, Eaves, and potentially Bertuzzi. Now, why, on earth would anyone in their right mind pick up three players, each of whom "could" have a huge impact on the team, but also are prone to injuries and slumps? It reminds me, and bear with me for a bit, of a time when we put together a laser tag team (Yes you read that right, Zap zone in Canton, MI), and accepted some people into our roster that we "weren't sure of", so to speak. The thought process was, for us, that we had enough depth in our alternates to where if one of our questionably good players was failing, we could simply rotate in other prospects. In the NHL, signing three people who may or may not produce, and may or may not be healthy all season long, runs a huge risk of your roster filling up with younger players, and more rookie players jumping up lines. For an injury in a roster player, a rookie will get a few games of NHL experience, and a low line player will get some experience on a higher line. I know that winning the cup is the ultimate goal of each team, each year. But Holland has never dissapointed us. Even in years that we have lost humiliating defeats, he still provided us with an excellent team, an amazing season, and a thrill filled playoff season. It's my thought that Holland has a LOT of faith in our young prospects. So much so, even, that he's simply "filling" the roster fully aware that some of these guys won't be there for the entire season, and perhaps 1) Confident that our younger players can step up when things go awry, and 2) In the knowledge that if we do have a rough season, it will get some guys out of GR for a few days/weeks, and some guys bumped up lines similarly. We think of hockey in terms of "Now" and "This year", but Holland is probably thinking more in terms of long term. He didn't sign 3 near decade long contracts if he wasn't. And I think he is counting on our farm system far more than any of us realize. In a sense, Williams, Eaves, and possibly Bert are there to fill the roster, buying us another year of young development, and another year of young player testing, without forcing young players into the NHL too quickly, and with the added perk of....well, if any or all of those guys work out for us, all the better. Thoughts? I'm not speaking around, or about the salary cap. I'm fully aware that at the surface level things seem a bit shakey. I'm fully aware that these moves may very well not be in the best interest of "this years" cup run. But so far as the future goes........3 "iffy" FA signings for 1 year, frees up time for our young to keep developing, and when those 3 people leave (Among the others we will lose in the next few years, likely), could it be that Detroit might just have enough farmed up hometown talent to run well beneath the salary cap? Again, I'm not talking next season. I'm talking 2, 3, 4 seasons down the road.

Why does this for some reason look really, surprsingly good to me? Franzen and Bertuzzi both have the ability to score, as we well know. And that will be one rough, tough, mean ass line on the ice. It will buy Filppula room to work and move, and we've all seen that he does have finesse, can pass, and can score. Hell, I wouldn't be shocked if (Pending health of players), that line gets "hot" out there. Bert to enforce and pick up odd points and goals. Filp to move the puck, make the passes, and complete the goals. And Franzen....well...Mule is Mule. I eat my words on Holmstrom. Seems Holland/Babcock agrees with dropping him in lines, which I didn't, but now that I actually have a good look at what is very likely our final roster, I can see this making sense. I think all in all, that looks pretty sharp. Obviously be ready for line changes on a drastic scale, and we've got some huge injury risks in that lineup as well, but a health Wings team is still looking pretty damn sharp. Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Ericsson - Lebda D pairing isn't anything to shake a stick at either.

Really? Helm has some definate potential (I mean, who didn't see his 30 second long PK keepaway game, that resulted in a SH scoring chance. That wasn't luck, and he's going to be an awesome special situations player (aka think old draper, with a bit more finesse). He works his ass off. Ericsson, yes, ready to be in the NHL, not top string, but a perfectly fine 3rd D pairing. Maybe even good enough to be on the 2nd D pair of many teams. But I thought Leino was by far the best overall forward out of the three. Best offensive zone presence. Best hockey "smarts" when moving the puck. I honestly think Leino is the best fit to our system. I expect to see him hitting 20-30 goals a season very quickly. I'm not saying he'll ever be a Dats or a Zett, but to me, in my opinion, he's our most promising prospect so far as pure offensive ability goes.

Btw, just want to add. I have followed hockey since about 94, but not until the last half a decade or so have I taken such an interest in farm teams, and drafted players. I use to kinda watch the draft while playing my Playstation. Now that the salary cap is in place, every draft pick becomes a potential future player. Is it just me, or hasn't the salary cap made us pay a heck of a lot more attention to rookies, farm players, and draft prospects? It's a far cry from the days of 2002, when we basically bought the best team avaliable, and worried little about how much it cost. Now you have to actually manage your team, and you can't waste 6 million on someone who isn't producing. Hell, Anaheim offered Bert 8 million for 2 years, then bought out his contract for the second year, just to clear the cap space. Now the rumors are he's being offered what....1.5? Pro of the cap: Forces players to produce, for their money. Forces teams to juggle players to find a balance within a set spending limit. Urges teams to develope and use new talent. Con of the draft: Good bye days of super teams

I say again. Holmstrom is not on the top line to help the forwards, so much as he is there to help the defensive scoring.

I was thinking much the same thing as the OP, especially toward the end of the season/playoffs. By all means, Holmstrom still has his value on the ice. And much of his handiwork actually is a Lidstrom-Holmstrom tandem, with Lidstrom firing rockets, while Homer screens and deflects. Honestly, I think that is the main reason he is top line. The more Homer is on the ice, the better we are offensively from the blueline. I don't think he was ever on the top line due to scoring ability, or because he exhibited top line characteristics. More of less when he is out there, our defensive scoring is simply better. No way Babcock will put him on the fourth line. No way. Anyone suggesting this might as well just suggest that we buy out his contract and send him home for the season. Holmstrom isn't a self producing goal scorer. His job isn't to necessarily net 20-30 goals, but instead to insure that "other" people are netting goals. Put Holmstrom on the fourth line and you not only make him nearly completely useless (No way he'll score more than a handful of goals on his own), but you also weaken Lidstrom and Rafalski, since they continuously rely on Holmstroms handi-work at the crease. Remove holmstrom from the top six, and our defensive scoring takes a nose dive. Most people look too much at numbers, and not enough at what the person is actually in his position for. Simply because everyone on the forums speaks as though they all have PHD's in NHL hockey coaching, I'm sure Babcock isn't just leaving people in a specific position simply because it's a tradition. Holmstrom generally only gets goals that he deflects, but I'm forced to wonder just how many Lidstrom/Rafalski get simply by having him in front of the net. How many does Lidstrom rip past the goaltender a year, that would have been easy saves if not for Holmstroms ass up in someone's face? Consider this as well. Try to think outside of numbers for a minute. When Holmstrom is out there, and Lidstrom rips one, the goalie saves it and rebounds it. In most situations, where is Holmstrom? Right there. Maybe he gets a rebound, maybe not. But you know who else is usually right there? At LEAST 1, sometimes 2 or 3 of the opposing teams defenseman/fowards. They know Holmstrom is there to pick up the trash, and so they generally have to collapse more on the goaltender simply because of this threat. What does this cause? It causes an open lane, an open corner, or better yet, a completely open player. Know that cycling thing that we do so well? Trust me, even without Holmstrom ever touching the puck, he is a major influence as to why we are able to do it so proficiently. He buys players ice, by drawing the oppositions defense to him. He buys Lidstrom the opportunity to fire rockets from the blue line, because hit or miss the mark, odds are good it's going to be cycled right back into play. But I wouldn't be surprised to see the lines change a little bit, and Homer take a step down, if not this year then maybe next. I would still put him on the top Powerplay line, of course, but we might be able to get more offensive punch out of a top line if it reuinited Datsyk and Zetterberg, and gave them a third who can generate goals on their own (Versus holmstrom whom generates goals opportunistically off of other peoples plays). Flip's, Franzen, Holmstrom seems like it could be a decent line. Homer would still be out there much of Lidstrom/Rafalski's time. He could, perhaps, even improve the shooting aspect of Stuart/Kronwall, allowing them to play a little better shooting game. Flip's has some moves, and a well developing offensive awareness. Having Holmstrom to help get Flips pucks into the net, wihle maintaining his ability to screen/agitate/deflect for the blue line might work out well. I'd have to see it in action to make a judgement, but it's a theory that I would be willing to try if through some miracle of god I was a coach.

http://apps.facebook.com/the-real-ul-cccci...1&resaban=1 I just kinda whipped that quiz up the other night. If you get bored give it a whirl

^^^ In response to what someone else said, Cab drivers always lock drunk people in the car until they've paid. I don't know if it's legal, but I imagine it is. You can't just walk out of Walmart with something you didn't pay for, and if you try they detain you by force if need be. That's really not much different than a cab driver locking you in untill payment is settled. He provided the service, you're legally obligated to pay up. If you don't like it, take the bus.

I wish I was a multi-millionaire so I could complain about 20 cents, stiff a cabby of 15 bucks, and then spend half of my fortune hiring a defense attorney to get me out of jail. What's funny to me is that he handed him $15. The tab was $13.80. In most places even the $15 would be considered rude because it's a poor tip. Let alone trying to get your money back!! Kane not only wanted his 20 cents back, and not only did he assault the poor cabby who likely has 7 starving children and an abusive wife (lol, what don't they all?), but he fully intended to STIFF HIM ON THE TIP! Hell, I usually tip cabby's a good 10-20%. Someone should tell kain that technically, he still owed the guy a few bucks I don't want Kane to miss any hockey any more than the next guy, but I'll be pretty irked if he gets a slap on the wrist in this case. Either way, between court costs, lawyer fee's, and the restitution that I promise they will make Kane fork over to the cabby.....Kane just bought himself the most expensive cab ride in history

That was history in the making. Fedorov was the first Wing to score 5 in a game, and I do believe he was the last. I didn't watch that game, but I've seen that video before

Heh, not to bash Pitts fans so late, but I remember a thread on a Pens forum where they were debating where Crosby was from. Many, and I do mean a good percentage of the fans, genuinely believe that he was born and raised IN Pittsburgh. It was a good laugh for the time. Can't blame him. Media markets him as a "Home grown player", but what they forget to mention is that they're referring to "North America" not the US

Note: I'm not a doctor, but I am an army medic. Freezing generally means Cryosurgery. RICE is the standard protocol for helping an injury recover. But that's an ongoing process. Athletes are known for dunking an injury in ice prior to a game to provide rapid relief of swelling and numb some of the inflamation. Cryosurgery, however, is a minor surgical procedure. It is more common in freezing moles, warts, or internally against things like liver cancer. For a foot, it's a minor invasive procedure where the foot is numbed, and a probe is inserted to freeze the local nerves, thus not limiting any strength or muscular function in the foot, but allowing the player to play either mostly, or completely pain free. It must be done far enough in advance for the anesthetic to wear off, because the objective isn't to have a "numb" foot on the ice, but instead to have a foot that works fine, but is free of pain. Note: Freezing is not just applying novacaine (Or more likely lidocaine or Xylocaine for the particular location). Like I said I'm not actually a doctor, nor am I one of the Wings surgeons, so I'm not 100% positive this is what they did, but it seems most likely. You wouldn't want to apply a local anesthetic before a game because it numbs the nerves, but the muscles as well, and even trying to walk with one toe numbed up proves to be strangely difficult. Cryosurgery only freezes the "nerve of impact" thus freezing the nerve that is most affected by the injury, but allowing everything else to retain sensation. Cryosurgery can be fairly long lasting. Usually its used to relieve chronic pain, and the effects of one freezing can last from days to months, depending on the nerve affected. The reason they probably did it just before the game is because it's not always wise to freeze out pain in a recent injury. Your body "hurts" to tell you not to do something. So, if you still have a freshly healed bone, but can't feel any pain, you might do things on it that could further damage it, and feel no pain to warn you that you're doing something wrong. That's the theory of pain medication in general. The physician I work for refuses to give people in muscle or bone pain "good" pain killers. It's not because he doesn't want them to feel better. It's because if he completely numbs away their pain, they're more likely to do more than they should, and further abuse the injured location. In short, just a little medical lesson to go with this explanation: Pain exists to tell you that something is wrong. Patient: It hurts when I lift my arm! What do I do?! Doctor: Well... don't lift your arm. Hope this clears up the confusion. I meant to reply earlier, but I guess I got sidetracked.

Funny, but true. Well the first part. Crosby's only real performance in this series came in a game where Zetterberg was not shadowing him.

Holy crap! What a flash from the past! I lived in Denver for 3 years. Back when I lived there, there was a bar called the Tin Lizzy that was at the time dedicated to Detroit Sports, specifically the Red Wings. During games it would pack beyond capacity, and people would overflow to the (I think it was an old Chicago) across the street. The year the Wings won the cup in 2002 I was in Colorado. I didn't know at the time that there was such a huge wings showing, but I threw a neighborhood barbeque for the game 7 against Colorado. Some of you will know this game as "The statue of Liberty" game. It was a blast. About 30 people showed up, and only me and my girlfriend were Wings fans, but it was a great time. The next year I had a new girlfriend, who ironically was a huge Avs fan. She was part of the David Aebischer fan club, and occassionally got free tickets to the games. Quite a sight to see her in her Avs Jersey, myself in my Wings Jersey, sitting in the David Aebischer fan club section I caught several games at the Tin Lizzy that year, and I know there was a fan club that started out named "Detroit Redwings fans of Colorado". Haven't checked in on those guys in a while, but I have to believe that perhaps your organization is the same one, just differently named. I recall when I left the organization was branching out to include other cities. Nothing beats being at home for the Wings games, but living in Colorado and finding so much Detroit support there, was the second best hockey fan experience I've ever had.

I've noticed generally the top 5 headlines that scroll along the main area, are generally 3 penguins, 2 redwings articles.

I'm stationed in Korea, so the games are all on at 9am in the morning. For weekend games it's no big deal, but for Weekday games I always find something "important" that I have to do, that usually takes me all morning If that fails, We generally have the nhl.com radio/scoreboard up where I work.

I agree. I've seen Datsyuk play hundreds of times. Even when he's not scoring his ability to control the play, move the puck, take the puck, hold the puck, and play back and forth two way hockey is incredible. When Orpik stated that it sounded to me like he was trying to convince himself, more so than actually believing it. Datsyuk is a pro now. Not the rookie who struggled in the playoffs his first couple of seasons. Give him fresh legs, a stick, and a puck, and he will always, always bring something to the table. It might be face-off wins, it might be defensive coverage, it might be body checks, it might be take-aways, it might be crisp passes that set up opportunities, it might be assists, and it might be goals. More often than not, it is a combination of many of them. To say about Datsyuk that his return wouldn't be a big deal, would be like us saying Malkin returning wouldn't be a big deal for the Penguins. If it was Holmstrom, or Cleary, or Fillupula or someone, I could understand it. But when you're talking about our best player returning to the line-up after several weeks of rest, it's fairly foolish to assume that even if he isn't 100%, he's going to produce. Datsyuk looked great. He played some 18 minutes, and was blatantly one of our freshest guys on the ice. For a Detroit fan, he did all we wanted him to do and more Too bad he didn't get a goal, but when it comes to Pav, what he offers all game long is far more important than a goal or two.

Are you trying to honestly tell me that the Penguins players would listen to the media about how tired we are? They just got off the ice with our team, they already knew better than anyone on earth how tired we were, or were not. The media is designed to influence fans, not players. Post game 4 the Penguins admitted that we (Detroit) seemed frazzled, but they did not feel like we were tired, and openly said as much. The media is retarded. Trust me, Hockey players blot it out during the playoffs. No professional athlete gives a damn what the media says, especially not a veteran set of athletes. If you're Crosby, and you just spent 20 minutes playing neck and neck with Zetterberg, how the hell will some broadcaster tell you who is or is not tired? I recall back in 2002, I think it was Draper said that during the playoffs, he doesn't even turn on the TV, let alone the news. Might have been someone else, but I remember the comment being made. Personally, I wouldn't watch the news. I'd be far too busy resting, relaxing, practicing, or reviewing game footage and strategy. These guys don't even have time to listen to the media.