Chunkylover

Nicely done. I'm happy with the young player the Wings already have. Guys like Kindl and Abdelkader have great attitudes, if their games still need a little refinement, and that will be a net benefit to the team. I don't want to indulge too much hyperbole, but one of our goalie prospects may turn out to be a good Lidstrom-retirement contingency plan. The forward core of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, and Cleary already has a winning tradition and attitude, we don't really need to add anyone else at the top to achieve success. If Rafalski, Stuart, and Kronwall can get back to playing like they were two post-seasons ago we'll be alright on defense. The real turnaround will take place on the bottom of the defense and forward corps and so long as they have the right attitude, which I've already posited that they do, we should see the tradition continue.

I don't like sounding like "sour grapes" but I've often wondered if the Habs Cups, which they certainly earned, should have an asterisk highlighting the advantage they had. Kind of like how they complained when the Wings won 62 in a season that there should be an asterisk because they played two more games than the Habs team that won 60.

Draper's replacement as an alternate. Plus, Cheli is gone so when injuries occur, Cleary could be in line to wear an "A". Probably Rafalski, too. I believe they'll have the fire to win it this year, it's their bodies which may fail. Here's hoping for a fight-free, check-free, defense-first, boring regular season so they have their health and focus in the playoffs.

What's great about that TSN page is that there is a poll on the side asking who will win the Cup. Vancouver is first with 21%, then Toronto at 8.5%, Pittsburgh at 8%, Philly at 6.5%, and Montreal and Detroit tied at 6.4%.

I think I heard Bill Clinton talk about this guy once. He pronounces his name "Is-ear-min", right?

Wondering why Wings fans don't remember me for this (1:15 in).

I think it's fair to weigh expectations of future performance based on a knowledge of previous performance, so I wouldn't disqualify some of the apprehension people feel toward Williams. Real fairness isn't refusing to judge someone, it's judging them by their current performance instead of holding their past over them. IF Williams can change peoples' opinions then good for him. I'm sure he cares more about personal success within the context of overall team success, though, and if that is his focus then we should see good things from him.

Frick. Also, I don't like all this Cloutier bashing. The guy's in the red and white of the Winged Wheelers! Nothin' but love!

The Wings must have one of the most popular jersey patterns. Wasn't Zetterberg's Timra jersey the same pattern as the Wings?

I say Youngblood, because he looks like a Red Wing in that jersey.

That one against Lundqvist is quite nice, my favorite of the two. Just the distance, the speed and direction he was skating, and just a beautiful sniping of the corner.

Yeah, but Crosby doesn't count because he plays in the East where it's scientifically proven to be easier to score backhand goals. Also Oprah has in her book-of-the-month club a tell-all tale of a referee who reveals that the Eeeeevil George W. Bettman holds every officials family hostage during Pittsburgh Crosbys games so he can get away with an illegally curved stick. Sorry, but that's about all I can contribute to this topic. I remember recent instances of sweet backhands by Franzen against Montreal or the previously mentioned backhand by Pasha on Luongo. Also Zetterberg in the Colorado series was pretty nice and would have to rank up near the top of a "top backhand shots" list.

I think you guys are missing the little fact that the signings of Rahimi and White are exactly what will put the Sharks over the top. Surely they must have blackmailed Gillis somehow. Such a steal.

Yeah, but 1 + 1 = 2, and 1 x 1 = 1; whereas 3 = 3. Don't feel bad, as a Wings fan you just have a stupid thick skull and are thus incapable of comprehending the mathematical superiority of the Blackhawks, featuring Brian "WOW!" Campbell!

I agree with this list. Maybe, just maybe, I'd swap the Penguins and Senators. The Sens really didn't put up a fight against Anaheim. Pittsburgh was definitely not ready for the Finals in '08 but eventually, despite being coached by Therrien, they made it interesting.

I dared to hint at such a possibility! What do I win?

I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone for holding a differing opinion. Maybe I under-rated the Devils teams based on their opponent and over-rated the Penguins because of who they beat. Certainly the Devils would have been a more physical opponent than the '09 Wings, and Malkin would probably be dead from acute open-ice-hit-shoulder-poisoning.

8/9 '04 Tampa Bay/'06 Carolina 7 '03 Devils 6 '00 Devils 5 '09 Penguins 4 '07 Ducks 3 '08 Red Wings 2 '01 Avalanche 1 '02 Red Wings This isn't really very scientific, but it's how I see 'em. The difference between 1 and 2 is so narrow that at times the '01 Avs might appear to be better. Same could be said about 3 and 4; two very competitive teams. I think some people are purposely under-rating the Penguins out of spite, but they're a good team. It's hard for me to rank the Devils because at the time I was unable to watch hockey. Nevertheless I don't think Stevens and Brodeur would put them over the more dynamic offenses of the teams ahead of them. No explanation required for 8 and 9.

Dallas is a very well-balanced team and if you swap them with the Blue Jackets of last season, every team that made the playoffs from the West could arguably have a shot at winning the conference. Well, maybe St. Louis would have been an outside chance but looking to next season, with a healthy team they could be dangerous. It is a little silly to predict them to roll to the President's Trophy when there's no way of knowing what the roster is going to look like by the season's start. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some revisions as the season approaches. The Wings may end up being the favorite to win the West once the FA dust settles. Probably Chicago and even Calgary too. They have a shot for more than that if they get decent goaltending. Especially depending on how disjointed the Sharks are. Can the Kings win the Pacific title? I wouldn't be too surprised.

It seems odd that an undrafted free agent would be ranked ahead of the second overall pick, not to mention anyone picked in the first round in the last two years. Only Leino and Varlamov have a real record of (relative) success to judge them on going into next season, so maybe that explains them being ranked so highly. I would expect Varlamov to come closer to the Calder than Leino. He plays a higher profile position on a high profile team. His team has to rely on him to win, while the Wings don't need to rely as heavily on Leino's production. It'd be great if he proved me wrong though.

I was just asking myself why the Sharks don't just do this themselves. It would be a very crude and disloyal management move but wouldn't it solve their problem. Not only is Cheechoo's salary working against them, but the cap is too, and every GM knows it.

Are we really to the point where now the East is the tougher conference? I mean Philly has always been Anaheim east. But yes, the more competitive Eastern Conference teams did get better. Unfortunately for the Flyers, Bylsma is a better coach than Stevens (ask Flyers fans), Pittsburgh plays better defense than Washington, has better goaltending than Montreal and Philly, they have the best offense in their division (edit: in the conference only Washington can match their high-caliber depth) and aren't real far behind anyone, if they indeed are inferior in any category. Carolina will have to overcome their perennial injury and mental problems before they are even considered a lock for the playoffs. Boston is the only true competition for Pittsburgh in the East. San Jose and Calgary have problems to deal with before the regular season even starts and then again once it ends but there's no reason to disqualify their competitiveness: they're good teams. Chicago hung in real well last season without Hossa and I think they'll challenge for the division again. St. Louis will be better although they lack experience and have questionable goaltending. Vancouver will be tough because of Luongo, but probably won't make it past the second round. If the Wings play with desire and can avoid injuries they'll make it back to the Final. I just don't see them playing anyone but Pittsburgh.

Good excerpt. It certainly lends more hope that Eaves will resurrect his career when one considers the other players beside Cleary to turn around their careers here. Osgood is another good example that I often overlook, and Stuart was another high pick that bounced around and if the Wings hadn't signed him, he'd probably still be bouncing around looking for a team, or maybe he'd just be in LA wondering if the team can finally make that next step. Even if the Wings do finish fourth, I pity the fifth seed because unless the team has significant injuries I don't see the early-round flops that were too common early in the decade.

That certainly kills any hope of adding Kovalchuk. Plus I'd rather sign him after the season (if possible) than at the deadline. I hate trading away assets. I can see Holland going after Quincey just because that's how he seems to do things lately. I'd like Kariya and it's probably more likely that the Wings would sign him than Coburn, Lucic, or Savard who are vital to their respective teams current and future success. I wouldn't hate Tootoo. I hope Leino can find his way into the top six, that would make it easier (cheaper) to fill the other roster gaps.

That's cool. Speaking of the Datsyuk wall picture, I was in New York earlier this week and went to the NHL store and they had a huge picture of Datsyuk prominently displayed on a wall and the hallway to one of the back rooms had the Wings locker room on it. They also had a slightly obscured picture of Lidstrom. Nice to see the Wings well represented in these stores.