Mule Train

5-2 Wings. Total domination of the Pens. The crowd and atmosphere should be absolutely insane! Dats Homer (x2, 1 disallowed) Z Huds The Drake (GWG) Pens: Malkin (Finally gets off the schneid) Malone Osgood: Conn Smythe Bettman: Direct hit to the face with a great big 'pus Let's GO RED WINGS.....BRING STANLEY HOME!!!!!!!

Yes...you can read statistics from NHL.com. It doesn't make Forsberg anything more than a guy who bailed on his team (just like again this year) and it certainly does make you correct. With regards to Lindros, his numbers never added up to a cup now did they? It takes more than PPG to make a great hockey player. As far as Crosby goes - we'll see. You may just be right about him seven years from now. Only time will tell.

Sorry...I just cant agree. As I tried to point out earlier, statistics are only one facet of a hockey player. Lindros' leadership skills (since his did wear the C) were lower than whale droppings at his best. I'm not lambasting him for getting hurt; only for his lack of desire and focus and his penchant for whining (like another so-called superstar we know). This by itself, IMHO, disqualifies him for consideration as best hockey player at that time. Many, many players with excellent pure statistics will never get to the HOF - there are two few slots and too many deserving players. Sergei Federov comes to mind on this. With regards to Forsberg...we will just have to agree to disagree on this one. As far as I'm concerned, Sakic was always the real playmaker on that team. Peter the Jake was the prima donna that got all the credit but Sakic was the guy who carried the load....quietly - like a real leader should.

He is an otherwise undistinguished hockey player from a nondescript team that lives in the shadows of such hockey legends as Cindy Crosby, Hal Gill and Brooks Orpik.

All in good fun bro........

I actually picked the Habs this year...was kinda surprised when they got eliminated so quickly. I wouldn't bet against the Capitols next season (unless they hire Hanta Yo as their coach again)

Not a bad plan; his short-term value might have diminished somewhat after this series but any number of teams would probably give their left nut to have him. I don't see Pittsburgh bailing out on him though yet.

Forsberg is the most overhyped player of the last two decades. He doesn't even have numbers to get a look at the hall but he will be an automatic selection due to the unbelievable manlove heaped upon him by sportswriters. How many times did he bail on how many teams and run back to Sweden when things became too tough for his high-heel wearing ass? Injuries? Sure, from flopping on the ice like a tossed octopus at the slightest brush. FAIL. Lindros wasn't ever in the top 100 players in the NHL. He folded up faster than a lawn chair against us in the cup finals and was a personal target for anyone who could hit due to his glass jaw. He skated like he was wearing combat boots and never learned to move the puck without looking down at it...exactly the reason he got splattered so many times by big hitters like Kasparitis and Stevens. To top it all off - he was a total bawl baby when he didn't get his way with management and he had to have his daddy fight his battles with Bobby Clarke. FAIL. Yes. I am stating specifically ILL-PREPARED. Statisics are not the only factor in a players preparedness to play hockey. This is not NHL 2K8....it is real life. Crosby was AND REMAINS woefully unprepared to accept the role of captain and assert himself as a leader. What he does do is embarass the organization and the league by bleating like a wounded sheep every time he doesnt get his way. He is a one-way, cherry-picking, pouting, whiney petulant spoiled man-child who need to be put over the knee of the coach for his own good. IN TIME he might grow into the player you hope for but for now he can only pad his stats and work on his golf game. In his current incarnation he will never touch the cup unless he become a leader and mans up. Again, FAIL.

Sure...the one GM about to raise the cup again. You hope. A lot of massively overhyped players have never lived up to these wild expectations. Do Forsberg or Lindros ring any bells? Of course not. The Red Wings believe in development of their talent at the lower levels of the system rather than rushing an immature and ill-prepared player into the league in a transparent bid to sell tickets. The lack of poise and immaturity the guy shows now is a direct result of not being mentored and developed correctly. He may still grow out of this; then again, he may not and end up five years from now being another player who didn't live up to expectations.

I hope you are right about Howard. His numbers don't impress me so far but it's difficult to tell until he gets some real NHL time. Half a dozen games aren't really enough. If we win the cup I don't think Dom will even ask to come back. He earned his ring during the regular season and there just isn't anything really left for him to prove.

HUH HUH....HUH HUH.....he said cusp.

Here's a real gem from that article: 'The Europeans are the masters of obstruction because they're to dainty to hit. The Wings have what, 17 or more of them.' 1993 called and it wants it stereotype back. Ask all the people rocked by Kronner or Franzen this year about daintiness. When you see a player turtled up these days...it isn't a Red Wing. The Pens aren't masters of anything....except EPIC FAIL.

Please make it stop! I hear Pee Air's squeakly little peckerwood voice in my sleep now. MUST FIND MUTE BUTTON ON REMOTE. There is no doubt in my mind that ratings are up significantly because of the shameless promotion of all things Cindy by the league, writers and sportscasters. From a purely marketing standpoint it has been successful. The Red Wings in the finals? Not so much. I suspect the increase in viewer numbers are mostly casual viewers; most of which are tuning in to see what the ruckus is about or looking for something new to watch. Hopefully some will stay around for next season but realistically I don't imagine more than a small percentage will. Hockey can be a pretty incomprehensible game to outsiders at first unless someone is there to help explain it.

It was sarcasm....somewhat. You and I both know that Ovechkin is probably the top offensive talent in the league right now. He is a player that could be plugged into a system like Detroits and excel. My point was more that Crosby does not belong on that list - in the West he is a first liner but hardly better than all. As far as top duos - no contest. Z and Dats win that hands down. Throw Lidstrom into that mix and you have a line thats truly something special.

And a perennial first or second round exit. If Crosby was half the player that his fans think he is the Pens would have won the Cup every year he has been in the league by a 16-0 game domination of all who dared oppose them. Seriously - I ALMOST feel sorry for Cindy. I can't hardly believe that he could have known what Gary Bettman's incessant pimping was setting him up for. No one could live up to the over hyped expectations and when he fails to live up to the hype, the failure looks ten times as bad. Like I said...almost. Just when I feel like cutting the kid a break he opens his mouth again and reminds me just why he is this decades Peter Forsberg for me.

I pretty much agree with all except the above. This wasn't my quote. If anything, I think there are way too many PPs on both sides of the ledger. My complaints along these lines are primarily with the 'we just got a goal so you KNOW within a minute we are going to be on the PK' type calls. On face this happens way too often and smacks of referees trying to even up. It happens on both sides.

Fixed.

This guy is almost as big of a tube steak as Woody Paige is for the Denver Post or the Bish was for the Orange County Register. YOU FAIL IT, LOSER.

I can't dispute that.

Since you used my quote let me say it straight out: I do not consider stick fouls to be ticky tack crap. If you choose to break your stick over the back or arm of the opposing player; you go to the box. I don't care if you are Orpik or Lidstrom. You take the conseqences of your actions. Run someones head into the board - into the bin. These are not subjective calls. Obstruction, on the other hand, is generally nothing but a free pass for referees to equalize a game. It happens over and over again from the drop of the puck at the first game of the season to the last minute of the SCF. It gives the officials a way to gerrymander games without being totally obvious. Again - if we commit the penalty - we man up and take the seat. Don't assume that everyone who ******* about the absymal officiating and lack of consistancy is such a total homer that they think the home team commits no penalties. Fix the consistancy issues in officiating and I will have no further complaint.

On Monday night - the three best players in the world are going to hoist the Stanley cup. I disagree. Crosby could play 20 years and never be a good defensive player, much less a finalist for the Selke. It just isn't in his makeup. Z and Dats scored nearly 100 points EACH this year while playing stellar defense. A defensive oriented Crosby is a 30 point player at best. Remember that Z and Dats put up those number primarily against the West where Crosby has been pretty much unable to do much at all five on five against us. As far as putting on a dress....Cindy might just BE a finalist for that.

Yes I know. That's why I would like to see it. It would be a real eye opener for the Crosby nation.

Not a chance. After this year, I doubt the Pens even get a sniff at the finals for a long time. Too many UFAs on their roster and too many gaps to fill with no money (at least unless Cindy wants to give back some of his) The Wings, on the other hand, have a world class team, solid and deep prospects and the best scouting team in hockey.We may only be at the BEGINNING of this dynasty.

I'd be a lot happier if all the ticky-tack garbage didn't get called an we would play mostly five on five. There are way too many PPs in the new NHL. I think that it puts way too much emphasis on special teams and not enough on team play.