octopusonice

I can understand Marvin the Martian hating on the Wings, he's a Senators' fan.

Yes, totally idiotic as a couple of readers pointed out in response. Hossa had no long-term deal with Pittsburgh and fulfilled his obligation to them. He played quite admirably for them while wearing their uniform. Pronger signed a long-term deal and wanted to bail out after a year in Edmonton, showing that he is as classless off the ice as he is on it. I can understand Pittsburgh fan being frustrated and wanting to say bad things about Hossa, but for someone in Edmonton to do the same does not make sense. Maybe it's a slow blog day or he hasn't been getting any and wants to take it out on the rest of us.

I'll be content to fly out to Detroit and see a couple of games at the Joe. Making that trip from the West Coast during the holidays would be rife with problems.

I don't think that the Red Wings would keep Mule from taking back #39 in any official capacity, but I think he will keep #93 since he established himself with that # and out of respect for Dom.

It'll give them some depth

It's understandable that Pens' fan would show their frustration at the loss of Hossa. The Pens have a pretty good core and I would not be surprised to see them contend for the Cup in the next few years. Problem is they put too many eggs in this year's basket.

I have an ocellaris clownfish that I named Nemo. I refer to him as my 9/11 fish, because I bought him right around that time. He was nameless for a couple of years until the movie came out. He is a surprisingly hardy fish as he has survived five moves in the past six years.

I love how other fans refer to us as D only... Unfortunately, we won a Cup as a result. The team is a good example of success in so many ways, it's not funny. They are a good example to youngsters of how to play as a team. For those who want to see how you run a team in a salary cap environment, KH's work is something all GMs could learn from. Owners could learn a thing or two from the Ilitches. It's also a good lesson in philosophy: Being the most popular or most flashy does not usually mean being the most successful. Edit: grammar

He should be able to make it

What's he expect? Something like this? Lysenkov: We want $4M for Sergei WSH: How about $2M? Lysenkov: That's humiliating! WSH: Sorry, our bad. How about $4M then?

I'd be foul too, but that's life. Some deals are big fat whales, some are minnows and some aren't anything at all. I was in the mortgage business and missed out on all kinds of fat commissions because my customers got a loan from mother or a 2nd for $40,000 instead of refinancing a $300,000 first. It would have been nice for me if they refi'd the first, but it wasn't what they ultimately wanted. Fortunately, I had other clients. That Hossa's agent is floored that his client chose a 1 yr run with Detroit or is bummed about snagging a whale is understandable, but I'm sure he has other clients and is not hurting financially. If he wants to understand real financial anguish, he can work in a field where his job gets outsourced to India or China or in a factory that just announced tens of thousands of layoffs. Besides, the agent is still going to get his whale, he's just not going to get it in 2008. Boo fricking hoo.

Well, if I read between the lines, the agent is PO'd that he is missing out on the fat commission he would have received if Hossa signed with Edmonton. What the agent seems to have a hard time accepting is that he works for Hossa, not the other way around.

Exactly how I felt, only it was around 2002. I had NHL Center Ice that year, watched almost every Wings game, went to a couple here in SoCal and even flew out to Detroit, and they had the lineup with 10 future HOFers. I knew it wasn't going to last because of the age of the team and I worried the I would miss all the players who had become household names. Since then, every Red Wings team has still at least been a playoff contender. The changing of the guard is complete and the team looks even better. We have not had to suffer through so much as a losing season since the 2002 Cup. All sports fans should be so lucky. My feeling is that as long as the Ilitches are in charge, the team will continue to thrive. I've watched over 30 years of sports and have seen few if any teams run as well as the Detroit Red Wings. The best analogy is what I see when I'm out at the beach and there are surfers. We have caught a good wave, let's enjoy the ride and not worry about what happens when it dies out.

I share your disappointment. I'm still waiting for Martin St. Louis to sign with the Blues.

Although a couple of minutes of highlights don't tell the whole story, this was a fun video to watch.

Hi Mack, Not quite. When I posted one of those comments in another thread, I questioned the notion of Sundin signing with Montreal. Yes the Habs are a playoff team, but IMO, they are still a couple of years away and Sundin is already 37 and will be 38 by the next round of playoffs. His window of opportunity to win a Cup is narrow. His chances would be better with Detroit, but they would also be better with other teams like Anaheim, Pittsburgh, San Jose and Dallas to name a few. So my conclusion was that if he wanted to sign a longer term deal with a team that was not likely to advance deep in the playoffs versus one that is more likely, then he is probably more interested in money than getting the Cup. If you are 37-38 and only have a couple of more years left, why else would you make that decision? If you really want the Cup, the last thing you want is to be 40-42 years old and still part of a team, albeit a good team, that hasn't yet closed the deal. If Sundin was entertaining offers from teams like the ones I mentioned at the end of the first paragraph, I would not have written what I did. Sorry if it came across that way, but I do not believe Detroit is a lock, just that they are a strong favorite. I'm a firm believer of the saying, "That's why you play the game" because I have seen too many teams that have been considered locks like the '07 Patriots, the '99 Dodgers and the '03 Lakers that were anointed champs before anyone played a game. Anyway, thanks for your posts. I have enjoyed them here and in other threads.

You never know what you're going to need at that time. Probably won't be earth-shattering, might make a depth move.

There are horses called Lipizzans, so maybe you could make a play off Flip's name You could call the group the "Equine Line" EDIT: Yes, I know it's a reach

We could, but I think it will come up a little short, like say about 280-290 combined among the three

Shanny, thanks for the memories, but we've both moved on...

Wrong.

At the very least I want to go to Anaheim to see them play the Ducks. Not a big fan of the Staples Center as it's almost 40 more miles further, high parking costs and a-hole ushers. I have some Kings fans for friends who are pretty cool, so maybe we could all go. My ultimate goal is to fly out to Detroit to see a couple of games at the Joe. San Diego used to have the Gulls minor league team but they folded in 2006. Have to go to Anaheim to see hockey live and in person.

I second that. It's tough to do that if you're playing once a week for four months like in football., never mind an 82 game season.

Hossa's signing gives less room with Flip, Cheli and others. Cheli is an UFA at the moment, and we won't know his status until after Flip is signed. Chelios and several other lower level d-men are on the bubble.

I didn't even know the guy was still playing hockey.