dat's sick

I would (I have) and he is.

You guys need to chill. It's not like Forsberg calls media and says "hey I might make another comeback, write about it please!". From what I know, he has said nothing about returning to the NHL this season, it's all just media speculating. If ANYTHING was happening this off-season maybe they would write about that instead of Forsberg's theoretical return to hockey and/or the NHL. And you can't blame the guy for trying to come back when he feels he can still play hockey if they can just fix that foot of his. He's one of those select few players that can single-handedly make me buy a ticket for a game, so I hope he can play.

Personally I think it's a crime that Forsberg isn't on the list, but I do love that Datsyuk gets some respect.

20 games, 176 games, what's the difference?? 156 to be exact. Wow, that's a lot!

Based on this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PokDj9u09A Don't really like Sean William Scott, but I hope the movie turns out great... we need a good hockey movie, there are way too few.

Filppula, Datsyuk and all the swedes are there. I haven't read about any other Wings being present.

It's really hard to say who is the better defensive forward of the two. I would say Pav is better on the forecheck and backcheck, due to his magical ability to steal the puck, but in the defensive zone I'd put Hank slightly ahead. There is a reason Hank is the first choice for a 3-on-5 kill. Hank is also the go-to shutdown guy.

When he was motivated he could be fantastic just a couple of years ago. I think it was the World Championship 2008 if I'm not mistaken that he was the best player in the tournament and was at times dominating in the final against Canada. If he had stayed with the Wings I have no doubt that he would have had a very good end to his career, with good playoff runs every year. Anaheim, Columbus and even Washington were just not the right kind of teams for him. But I gotta say I freaking loved it when Fedorov sniped top corner in overtime against the Rangers in his last NHL playoffs. A shame that Feds couldn't have returned for one or two more years with the Wings to finish things off and make nice with the fans.

Oh lord. I really don't see a place for Maltby on the team with Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, Eaves, Ritola and Draper.. I hope this doesn't mean that Holland won't be getting Helm or Abby signed.

Hjalmarsson is much more solid defensively than Kronwall though. 3.5 mil is a slight overpayment but it's not really outrageous at all. 2.5-3.0 mil would have been just right. And to whoever said he's only been good one season, Hjalmarsson was one of Chicago's best players in the playoffs 2 years ago. Scotty Bowman himself couldn't stop praising him.

cocaine. lots of it.

That is an easy choice. Niemi wasn't even that good in the playoffs (just good enough, and not worse than Leighton/Boucher), while Hjalmarsson has been a key part of their defense for 2 seasons.

If Lidström had retired I wonder if Holland wouldn't have tried to "steal" Hjalmarsson too.. if the Sharks get him that will make them so much stronger. And lol at the Hawks.

Awesome! Looking forward to (atleast) one more year of Eaves/Helm domination on the PK!

We also have one of the best top 2 d-pairs in the leagues so it makes sense.

Stupid thread but I had to respond to this. 19 goals and 69 points in 66 games, +4 is "much better" than 23 goals and 70 points in 74 games, +12 Really????? It's arguable who had the better regular season. Neither was quite as good as they can be. Throw Hank's great playoff performance in their though and he definitely takes the edge as far as last year imo.

He signed Niklas Persson to a 1-year deal. No one's talking about it, but trust me, in 6-months that will look like a genius signing. One of my favorite players.

I'm guessing he's drunk/high. No word on Lilja yet.

Yeah, someone got confused, the 4yrs/22mil is Martin St.Louis extension, not Paul Martin signing.

Martin signs in Pittsburgh, 4 years/22 mil. edit: got this from a poster on another site, haven't seen confirmation yet.

Finally they're taking out the trash. With Hall, Omark, Eberle and MPS on the team next year they'll be fun to watch, probably still one of the bottom teams in the league though until they get some defense and goaltending.

Well I guess if: * They became the Kansas City Dragons * Holland retired and was replaced by oh, I don't know, Claude Lemiuex? * Babcock was fired and replaced by Michel Therrien * Håkan Andersson and most of the other key staff/management moved to other teams * Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Kronwall, Helm etc. were traded * If they stopped playing fun hockey and started playing like Minnesota used to to, TRAP TRAP TRAP, without many skilled players * If they became terrible year after year, like the Islanders * If they started having 99% north-american players then I would stop being a fan. And I'm talking all of the above happening. I could probably take a couple of those things happening and still be a fan..for example, since I'm not from Detroit it would take more than them moving to another city for me to switch teams.

Glad to hear Babcock is on top of things. Pav and Z really need to be on the same line from day 1 of training camp and build up their chemistry as well as their confidence. Also, Filppula deserves to be a 2nd line center, playing with atleast one (Mule) talented winger. That's the only way he's going to ever live up to his potential. Personally I'd rather see Hudler instead of Bert on the 2nd line, but that might make the 3rd line into less of a scoring threat. Getting pretty excited for the new season now.

Very pleased we got Järnkrok (Ironhook).

I hope he turns out as good as that other Teemu guy from Finland did. edit: talking about Selanne.