19Hockeytown5

23-The number of times Brad Stuart will have to remind Ken Holland that he has a no trade clause. (after Kenny listens to the LGW masses)

29-The number of teams that will be looking up at us after the playoffs

How much money did Darren Mccarty make in his career? I'm not making any judgements. I just am curious what his paychecks were when he was in his prime.

The results of this thread are invalid because it didn't include Mike Babcock's Fedora~ I think the team will be most effected by the loss of Hossa, but personally I will miss Hudler the most.

Much like everyone in this thread, I always respected Joe Sakic. Even at the height of the rivalry, I could never spew the same hate towards him as I did a Forsberg, Deadmarsh, or WAHHH. Enjoy your retirement with your family, and maybe you can find a managerial role in the NHL somehwere. Although selfishly I am sort of releived to see this day. I didn't want him to pass Yzerman in several categories.

I thought the entire fight was largely over keeping player salaries in check and giving the owners cost certainty. A hard cap is nessasary to acheive this. Even when teams overpay for players, they are punished by having to fill out the roster with less talented players(keeping overall costs in line). What you are suggesting would change everything that they fought for. Player salaries would sky rocket and the owners would no longer have cost certainty. Sure it sucks for us wings fans, because of what we have been accustomed to, but it's best for the league.

My first reaction was definately that the Hawks will be tough. I think they can definately give us a run for the division and in the playoffs. However, after some of the comments here, I just can't understand what their GM was thinking. Why would you sacrifice your franchise player? Unless they assumed they wouldn't be able to sign them all next year anyways? I just don't get it. If they don't win the cup this season, and the team is partially dismantled next year, I see that as an absolute failure of management.

I also agree with the people who say that we got alot out of him for the money we paid him. You may say he's not worth 2.5 or 3 million (I think he is, but we just can't give it to him), but I don't think anyone can say he didn't produce at his old pay. It's certainly a loss in our depth. Depth that has won us championships time and time again. "don't it always seem to go that you don't know what ya got til it's gone."

Post #21 almost made me spit water all over my screen at like 4 a.m. I'm not sure what your intention was, but my initial thought was that you were saying what a brain dead type comment that was. No offense against the person who said it, but I laughed pretty hard.

I am sad to see Hudler go. My memory of him will always be his reaction in 2008 finals after he scored that game 4 goal. He was like a little kid on Christmas If that money is true, I can't blame someone in his position. It's not like he has made 50 million or something in his career already. I would be glad for him to come back in a year or so if that's possible.

It worked for Anaheim

Just imagine the look on his face if/when he has to hand the Cup over to Lidstrom again~

They're not cheating; they're golfing~ Seriously though, Anaheim just has a good defense. Why even bring this up now? Senseless.

"It was a horses*** performance in the second half. HORSEs***. I'm totally embarrassed and totally ashamed." It makes me laugh evertime...

This video of Jim Mora isn't as famous as the "PLAYOFFS!?!" one, but in my opinion it is the best coach rant ever. Imagine if this man was head coach of the Detroit Lions. It would be gold on a weekly basis.

"I guess we'll just have to ride the Cleary-Sammy scoring wave all the way to the Cup Finals." Imagine hearing someone say that 4 weeks ago.

I assumed long ago that Mindfly was just a troll. I never read or respond to anything he has to say. If he is serious, it is even more pathetic in my eyes. He would b itch if I hung him a new rope.

I liked on the Hawks board someone (I assume sarcastically) said "all" we have to do is win 4 out of 5 vs Detroit. Then someone responded "sounds easy enough". hahah. Now all we need to do is get a split in Chicago I am really impressed with our depth in these playoffs.

Sammy you make me rage all the time and then you pull through in the clutch time and time again. God I love you when I'm not hating on you.

I want Bettman to have to give out the cup at the Joe. The boos would be deafening. I almost had my chance last year at game 5~

"I quietly root for this with each cup we win. I want to see us playing the Leafs for the cup that gives us the extra cup. lol" Don't say that! It could be another 40 years before the Maple Leafs are good enough to compete in the finals.

This thought has already crossed my mind and I quickly tried to remove said thought. I would die if we lost in the Finals. I can't imagine losing to Crosby and the Pens. It would be the end of us all.

You've gone too far this time, Mindfly. I still think Chris Osgood should have won the Conn Smyth last season. Zetterberg was great and he's one of my favorite players, but I think he won because it was the last thing in the voters minds. His 2-way play and 5 on 3 kill in that series was nothing short of amazing, but I think Ozzie was the catalyst behind the run. In my opinion, the current mvp of the Red Wings would be either Franzen, Lidstrom, or Osgood. The role players have been huge as well. I don't think anyone stands out just yet.

I don't hate the Chicago BlackHawks at all. I am too young (20) to remember ever having a rivalry with them. They have been awful my entire lifetime. To me, it's no different then us playing anyone else. Perhaps this series, the Winter Classic, and more competition for the Central will change this. They do nothing for me at this point. I dislike every team other than the Red Wings. However, the only teams I currently HATE are the Ducks and to a lesser extent (and for different reasons) the Penguins.

Sure you can say "they are just the 3rd line". However, think of how much better our 3rd and 4th lines are compared to other teams. This is why we win. Almost all playoff teams have a great line or two. Hell, I would argue the Ducks first line was significantly better than our best players. At the end of the day, our role players outplay the other teams. This story has played out in series after series for the Red Wings. Look at our history. It has always been the maltbys the drapers the mccartys the helms who have come up big. This is not to say our stars (fed/yzer/shanny/dats/zet/fran) don't come up big in the playoffs because they do and they have. I am saying, however, that every playoff team has great players. Depth is what has won us championships and made us a dynasty. It's what seperates us from the crowd. Hossa, as great as he is and as much as I/we love him, is not worth giving up our depth for. The Red Wing model has always been rolling 4 deep lines. Look past the feelings you have. Impact decisions cannot be made on feelings.