#18 the _Hoss_

This

I thought the same thing, and I was puzzled by my bandwagon allegiance to Chicago for the WCF. I had an epiphany last night. I understand now. It's because I identify with those long-downtrodden fans that stayed with the team all through Dollar Bill's shenanigans. They remind me of all the put-upon Wings fans that loved and suffered through the cellar-dwelling 80s to the powerhouse we know and love today. I'd like to see Montreal take them out in the SCF, but I for one am thrilled for the Hawks progress and am grateful that the Central is no longer a walk in the park.

What are the chances he'd attempt to jump ship again?

I don't hate Hossa like others do but that would be really funny. He'd be the Buffalo Bills of hockey.

It would be priceless to see him lose in the Finals three years straight with three different teams.

Wow, Datsyuk made all of that look ridiculously easy. Even more so than usual.
Thanks for the vid.

Ovechkin got a lot of crap from the media for losing to Montreal, despite scoring 10 points in that series. It clearly wasn't his fault that the rest of his teammates choked in that series but everyone pointed the finger at him.
The media kept talking about how Crosby has surpassed Ovechkin as a player because of the Caps loss and that Crosby is a better leader and all that s***.
Well, if I'm not mistaken, Crosby scored 5 points in this series and only 1 goal. He choked big time in this series, and didn't play nearly as well as Ovechkin did against this same team, scoring around half as many points.
I want to hear the hockey media blame Crosby for this loss the same way they did Ovechkin. I know that probably won't happen, but it should. He was completely invisible here just like against us in the Finals the last two years.

Ok answer this.
Which NHL player are they going to market?
Crosby has over 500 points before he is 23, career 1.3 PPG in the post season, a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold, Hart trophy, Lester etc.
Just on those accomplishments alone he's going to be marketed, not to mention the fact that he portrays himself as mildly as a cucumber to the media.
Stamkos will get his attention soon enough, but there aren't a lot of players that are in the top 3 of scoring perennially like Crosby and Ovechkin have since they've been in the league.
Maybe if Datsyuk, Malkin, Parise etc. followed up their performances 2 years ago they would be included with Ovechkin/Crosby but they didn't. It's clear that Ovechkin/Crosby are far and away are consistently two of the best players year in year out.

It's not JUST about points either - Punching another guy in the junk from behind, taking all kinds of other cheapshots, not shaking hands and overall flopping around and acting like he's been shot with a shotgun over the smallest shots, just to return to the ice 2 shifts later... he portrays the game in a poor light and is a HORRIBLE role model for young players - THAT is not a face the league should market... hell, even though I can't stand him, how about Getzlaf? Even he plays the game with more honor - close to the same PPG, has a Stanley Cup, Olympic gold and is young as well... or even Bobby Ryan... my point is, there are plenty of others in the league that would represent the league better...

I'm sure the lot of them have the charisma of soggy cardboard. I'd always prefer to watch a Crosby pass or Ovechkin wrist shot than listening to either of them or anyone else mumble their canned responses to a mob of reporters.
It's okay, though, they don't have to be the most interesting men in the universe -- they just need to be good at hockey, I mute that crap anyways.

At least he actually carries himself like a captain and plays the game with some honor... I REALLY don't want to see the Hawks win the cup, but Toews would be a drastic step up in terms of marketing... I would like to see them market Stamkos more to be honest, it just sucks he's in such a crap market...

He is viewed as smug, arrogant and classless... when citizens of his OWN country burn his picture, in the same year that he was on a gold medal Olympic team , I think it speaks volumes of how he is viewed by majority of NHL fans...
The NHL needs to hitch it's horse to someone else, and FAST, while it still can...

I think this says more about the fans in Montreal than anything else.

Prepared this before we started the playoffs, better now than never I guess.

Oh, its coming. I honestly might either move or root for Pittsburgh.

Buff is such an unbearable tool.
He had to be told by a ref and his own coach to stop the hot dogging. What a ******* dickwad.

Players like that don't come cheap. How do you propose building a scoring, effective 3rd line without sacrificing the potency of the top two lines? We tried 3 deep scoring this year, and that meant Bert, Willy, and Leino.
Helm, Miller, and Eaves all had 10+ goals. Abby could likely do the same. Ritola might be able to. Draper could pitch in a few. With those guys we could expect around 40-50 goals. That is not bad at all for a bottom 6. We also get solid defense, great speed, and 100% effort. They may not have been great in the playoffs, but we got like 3-5 goals from our 3rd and 4th lines, that's nothing to complain about.
Our top 6 was great in the playoffs. Pav and Hank played like superstars. Flip was great against Phoenix, and still solid against SJ. Bert and Mule weren't much against Phoenix, but improved against SJ. Homer played his role very well. Couldn't ask for much more in terms of their playoff performance.
But if you look at the regular season, it's a different story. Obviously the injuries were a big part of it, but I think we need something in the top 6. Another true goal scorer, and probably better speed. And being the Wings, someone who can play puck possession and is defensively responsible. Pav, Hank, and Franzen are the only sure things.
So that leaves 3 top 6 and 1 depth spot to fill. Options include Filppula, Cleary, and Hudler who are already signed and Homer, Maltby, Bert and Willy who are UFA.
Maltby doesn't bring anything even to the bottom 6, so he should be gone unless maybe we have a little space left over for a 14th forward. Willy isn't good enough for the top 6, and not the right fit for the bottom, so he's gone. I don't think any combination of the other 5 gives us a great top 6, and they're too expensive to keep for the third without weakening the top lines.
Cleary has his NTC, so he isn't going anywhere. He could fit in pretty much anywhere. Put him on the third line and he makes the bottom 6 pretty strong IMO. He could also step into a top 6 spot if someone was injured.
Homer and Bert are both in their late 30s, slow, and have had numerous injury problems in recent years. Do we really want both in the top 6? Or would either fit on a 3rd line? IMO, no. I think we can only keep one of them, and I'd much prefer Homer.
Flip and Happy would be ok for the final two spots, but I would rather see one of them traded. Happy is a quality goal scorer, but his speed, defense, and stregth on the boards isn't that great. Flip has the rest, but he's not much of a scorer. One would be fine, but both I think leaves us a bit weak.
The problem is that there are very few really good scorers available as FAs (and we may not be able to afford them), and our tradable assets are pretty limited. So Filppula and Hudler might just be the best we can do. Especially considering that we may have a lot of work to do on the defense, and I don't think Jimmy is quite proven yet (no sophomore slump, please...please!).

Like many other fans on here I also am worried about scoring coming from the bottom six.
But I'm curious about the style of play in regards to Eaves and Miller. Both of those guys do have intriguing offensive potential. However, I wonder if this year they weren't able to use it as much because they were new guys that had to make an immediate impact in a certain way. I think the coaches asked them to not do too much and just play a simple, defensive style.
Would a summer and training camp within the puck possession system help them to know how to better use their offensive capabilities? Is it highly possible that with more learning and experience with the system that next year they'll be able to hang on to the puck and make good plays with it in the offensive zone?
Those two definitely have more offense in them than they showed this year, especially in the playoffs. I think it's quite possible that they're capable of scoring clutch, backbreaking goals when the Wings need them.

Price had better stats then Halak this yeahr but the Habs fans are against him. Its obviously in his head. Theyre gonna run him outta town just like they did to Roy because Habs fans are dumb.
A young kid like that can't help but let it get to him when they boo him like that.

Meanwhile Halak is looking like a god? He's been the backup and never showed he was better than Price. The defence is the same from game 3 and game 4 from round one, but Price got killed, Halak didn't.

I know this is old news but doesn't anyone else here think this team is a joke? Lemieux was probably a better player then Gretzkey but somehow didn't get on the list, Salming and Fetisov over Bobby Orr? I wouldn't even rank Salming above Lidstrom all time. And really no Gordie Howe? The most well rounded player of all time. The IIHF is a joke.
At a gala evening at the Quebec City Convention Centre on Saturday, the IIHF announced its Centennial All-Star Team, featuring the six most successful players in the history of international ice hockey as voted by an expert panel.
The six members of the All-Star Team are:
Goaltender: Vladislav Tretiak (Russia)
First Defenceman: Vyacheslav Fetisov (Russia)
Second Defenceman: Borje Salming (Sweden)
First Winger: Valeri Kharlamov (Russia)
Second Winger: Sergei Makarov (Russia)
Centre: Wayne Gretzky (Canada)

Calling this a Troll is BS. Kopecky has been very good this year and this playoff. I think we have been spoiled so long in Detroit we don't even appreciate some people.

Lol... I love the little windows Eva shows us from a players career when he wants to prove how he would be the most dominant player. Did you realize that if you snapshot Franzen's game from last night that he is on pace to average 6 points a night for the remainder of the playoffs?

You are an enormous whiner lately, Eva.

Kopecky is overpaid by 1 million dollars a year.
Yeah, but what was his actual stat line from this year? If I did the same thing with Howard I could argue he should have broken the NHL's win record.