weGotTheCup89

However way you spin it, at even strength, there have been 10 more goals against his team than scored for his team. I thought that this is what the (+/-) stat was for... to cut through the B.S. so you could say "Look, he scored 40 goals, but he is -20, something's wrong here"

I was going to post on LGW last month how I happened to be in Sweden and made it to the Stockholm Djurgardens - HV71 matchup in Game 1 of the SEL Championship round. (Last time Djurgardens won, Kronwall was on the team). By the time I got around to it though, it didn't seem relevant anymore. I just wanted to point out, HV71 is a ridiculously good team, they've made it to the finals the past 3 years, and they won in 2008 and this year. Personally, if he wasn't going to be on an NHL roster next year, this seems like a very big honor for Larsonn to be offered the starting goaltender position, taking over for Liv, who I was very surprised to find out is one of the best goaltenders to have ever played in the SEL (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Liv). And then, though this is a bit unrelated, along with Liv, I saw Adam Almqvist play, and I was impressed. Though he's only 19, and was just called up from the junior club at the end of the season, he seemed to be on the ice for all the important moments for HV71 (though he did get caught backchecking to give up a bad chance that led to a goal). I hope to see him in GR within a year or two..

Am I the only one who's still rooting for the Canadiens? I know they're down 3-2, but there's nothing I'd rather see this year than Mike Cammalleri with the Conn Smythe trophy at the end. Maybe he'd bring it back to Ann Arbor =p

I hadn't thought of that, but that could very much be the case.. The Red Wings locker room seems to hold no ill though, and I'm sure he will feel comfortable reasonably quickly. What players would hold it against him?

Agreed, and the Pistons aren't going to retire Rasheed Wallace's jersey any time soon either, and they wouldn't have won in 2004 without him. Also, regarding all the numbers we want to retire.. don't forget you can only retire the jerseys for the top 99 players before they have to start wearing Roman numerals..

It was definitely frustrating that he left and by then we had already let Sammy go, but I think it may have helped since we didn't really have much cap space for the season to start with. Question: did it make a difference with being able to keep Lilja and everyone on the roster at that point during the season? I definitely don't see it as a bad thing that he left for the season, and really the only unfortunate thing is that he can't play for us right now.

Haha that was very enjoyable, good work!

most definitely looks like a fake to me

If you're asking why seats are being changed: They're not using the entire stadium anymore for the Frozen Four because of the low demand for tickets and they're moving the rink down to one end of the field, thus a smaller working seating arrangement. I'm assuming people are having seats changed because their former seats are no longer being used for the event.

Russian circus bear kills manager from just a few weeks ago..

haha awesome..

Congratulations Nick! 4 more years!

Ask them what they did over the summer. Just like they'd ask you in elementary school lol

I'm for it. I feel like fans at JLA get to comfortable hearing the same music pumped in game after game.

Brett Favre, Mats Sundin

Somewhere in East Berlin Gary Bettman is sipping champagne, gloating over Franzen's 10 year contract and plotting his next attack on the Red Wings

I find it very surprising how many people are saying that they would simply "not be interested" in having Gretzky added to that 90's Wings lineup. I kind of see people don't want to alter something that was already great, with Cups in 97 98 and 02, and that people had a strong affection towards. However, assuming we don't give up Yzerman, why not add him to the team? If they coexist (and someone please tell me why they wouldn't), Yzerman, Gretzky and Fedorov throughout the 90s give you one of the most exciting 1-2-3 punches of all time. OF ALL TIME!

Great, thanks for the advice, I'm planning on getting there for the 10 opening

Did you get any autographs/ get to meet anyone of note?

typical michigan state kid... i was gonna guess lidstrom at first.

Anyone have a guess what will happen during the 10-1 season ticket holder session, or what alumni might be signing autographs?

Why is the JLA so flat most of the time? I would like to argue that it's not because we're bored with the team's play and have nothing to get excited about, but because of all the awful music that gets pumped into the arena. Even if you think the music IS good, any time there is something that would get the crowd excited and give us some momentum, something comes over the P.A. like "CLAP CLAP, CLAP YOUR HANDS!" Sure, there are exceptions, but for big playoff games it's a lot easier for all 20K people to overcome their quietness. Come to Yost in Ann Arbor to see the country's best college or professional crowd

I think this can be blamed on the cap, though the cap has achieved what the league wanted it to do. I don't think this is the players' faults, the NHL has been the world's premier league for hockey and players have had the ability to earn the most money playing here. However, now we cap teams salaries which in turn caps how much a player's earning power, and if they see another option that is just as viable or they can earn more money now, they're going to leave. This issue is starting to affect the NBA as well, and it seems like only a matter of time until an Evgeni Malkin goes to Russia or a Lebron James goes to Europe and the American leagues go into panic mode and actually make a legitimate bid to stop this from happening.

ah, didn't know that, it was just a homer thought by me since he went to U of M. haha, this is funny you should mention those guys, my parents just switched financial advisers and the head guy is actually carson..

Nobody here has suggested we acquire Mike Comrie, so I will.