Chunkylover

With the Habs, it's that shakiness with Price that is a question. They do have Halak who is also good, but the last couple seasons they've had good goal-tending and the best power-play and they have an Eastern Conference Regular Season Championship and a tenth place finish so anything is possible (duh). They lack consistency. I'm thinking the Sharks will either stumble right out of the gate or pull an Ottawa and cream everyone for a month then implode. On Blake and Boyle: the Sharks have been trying to play Red Wings hockey for the last few seasons and this is their answer, I guess.

Montreal's centennial next season is the reason for the love. Even though the Pens will be inferior to last season's playoff roster, they'll still be good. I think the Sharks will probably stumble somewhat as they transition between coaching styles. The Stars lost a lot of quality depth players (Halpern, Jokinen, Miettinen, Hagman) so I think they will have some difficulty getting beyond that. They will have Richards and Brunnstrom so that should help their offense (I know, I know, I put Brunnstrom in there. Sorry).

You stole my bit!

He looks like some huge, body-builder in that picture, all square-jawed and neck wider than his face.

I think it's more accurate to say that the Spurs are the Red Wings of Basketball.

I don't think Pittsburgh lost enough to be a bad team and I don't think Montreal will be that much better than they were last season. One of them will be tops in the East. I see Philly, Chicago and Edmonton building on their relative success at the end of last season and predict each will see an improvement in the standings. Washington will have defense issues beyond, but likely including goaltending. I'm not drinking the Tampa Kool-Aid.

Little bit of an East bias. I think I'd put Dallas and San Jose above Montreal and Pittsburgh as well, but maybe that's my West bias. I'd swap Carolina with New York and Philadelphia with Washington, and bump Ottawa and Tampa for Nashville and Edmonton in the playoff-style bracket. Ug, imagine us having to face either Chicago, Nashville, or Edmonton in the first round next year (or possibly the second)....

Dude, that's awesome. I think the team leadership really sets a great example. Yzerman, Lidstrom, and Shanahan deferring money to help them sign Hull inspires everyone else to do the same. Someone else mentioned this in another thread, but who would ever think to enter contract talks and say they deserved more than Yzerman or Lidstrom. Instead they accept that as the reality and out of respect follow suit.

They're more likely to win the 2008 Super Bowl than they are the 2009 Super Bowl.

Right. Meech hasn't really shown anything more than Lebda, and we already know that Lebs is a capable 5-6 D-man. Quincey has to be considered as proven as Meech at this point. Granted Meech played more during the regular season but Quince played well in the '07 playoffs so it's not like he's an unknown. Plus we're talking about real depth players not top-4. And who doesn't think Lebda could handle being a fourth-line winger. He's quick and defensive minded. Perfect. Except we don't need anymore forwards either. Honestly, even though Lilja can be irritating I'd rather he not be moved in order to preserve the reputation of the Wings organization. Meech got his Cup. I hate to see guys leave but it's what is right, not what feels right that is most important.

One of my earliest hockey memories is of a set of Little Caesar's Red Wings collectors glasses: one with Steve Yzerman and Gerard Gallant and the other I think with Bob Probert and Petr Klima. I was the oldest of three brothers so I got to use the Yzerman glass, so yeah, another Yzer-fan. Unfortunately we couldn't always afford PASS so I couldn't always watch the Wings play so in the early nineties I was more of a NASCAR fan. After my favorite driver died in '93 I started getting back into hockey. Still loved Stevie Y. I missed the whole '01-'02 season because of a deployment but got back in time for the playoff round against St. Louis. I decided I wanted to get a jersey and since everyone had a 19, 91, 14, or 5 at that time I decided to support one of the lesser-known guys so I got a Datsyuk jersey. That game he scored a goal and an assist I think, so since then Pav is my boy.

Well that's the impression I get from both of them, but how much of a pay cut should we expect. Should Hank make the 8.7M that Crosby makes? One could argue that he's worth that much. Or should he take the hometown contract that Pav is making? I'm almost hoping that Franzen underperforms until he re-signs so we can catch a break.

If the Mule does have a good season, how likely do you think it is that he'll sign a bigger offer somewhere else? What about Hank? I'd like to think they would stay because from the way they carry themselves on the ice and during interviews they certainly give the impression they like playing here. Hank will make at least 6.7M if not 7M. Is his agent one of those guys that will challenge the Lidstrom cap for a bigger commission? Franzen will have to be considered in the Cleary/Filppula range now. Even still, if we are able to re-sign these guys, our '09-'10 roster will still look like our '08 Cup-winning team. Even though it will be less one Marian Hossa we still have to be happy with that!

I think all of our media would be more comfortable in the Motherland.

Moore wasn't injured in a fight and Bertuzzi was suspended for the remainder of that season.

Didn't Nashville challenge us in the '06-'07 season for top spot until the end?

'Cause that's what the original poster asked.

^ This is what I was talking about. But say someday far into the future the Wings are not in the picture to win the Cup but you could pick any other team to be your favorite to win it, who would you pick and why? For me the Predators have been a challenging rival for the last few years and as a franchise have weathered some serious storms and have done well for themselves in spite of the odds. Runner-up would be St. Louis since they're an original expansion team that have come close to winning many times and just haven't yet put the biscuit in the basket.

Yeah, right. We all know you have only been a Pittsburgh fan since the lockout and your favorite player is Sidney Crosby. I mean, who is a fan of a team because of the owner?

Anybody looked at the original poster's avatar?

Well, I didn't want to start a new thread and have someone say, "This is like the eighty-hundredth thread about this topic," so I thought I'd look for an older one. I remember when the Leafs were moved to the East and my Dad was unhappy about it, but I don't really remember much of our rivalry with them. They've been pretty insignificant since then so it's hard to care about them. It would have been so awesome if they'd have beaten the Hurricanes in '02. Edit: And Iginla is awesome. He should sign a one-year contract with the Wings after his contract is up to win the Cup a la Lucky Luc.

My second favorite team would probably be Nashville. They have been our closest rivals for the last few seasons since any given night they could come in our house and beat us. Columbus is just so pathetic you can't help but give them pity support, like a stray cat that walks up to your front door during a thunderstorm. Beyond that I have a somewhat complex criteria for determining a favorite while in the midst of the season. Firstly I root for the Wings, then the Central division. If two Central teams are playing, i.e. Nashville and Chicago, I'll typically root for whoever is the underdog in the situation. However when the 'Hawks were owning us last year I usually wanted them to lose (Mmmmm, spite) this way the Wings are always putting distance between themselves and the second place team. After that I usually root against whoever the prognosticators have anointed the presumptive champs. Two years ago that was the Ducks and last year the Sharks. Last year because the Ducks were out of favor I actually rooted for them against the Sharks (congratulations universe, you win.) I usually respect those teams who have been good for a while, and were rivals. For instance I like the Devils because they've maintained success. I like the Avs and to a lesser extent the Stars because those are the rivalries I grew up with. Other teams I like are the Senators and Sabres for their historic underdoggedness and fast-pace games; Boston's another perpetual underdog. The Southeast teams are usually always underdogs but they are all so boring. I don't respect Carolina or Tampa because they have shown themselves to be flukes as far as Cup winning franchises (and if the darn Flamers and Oilers hadn't beat us we'd have crushed them in the Final). Many times I'll just cheer against teams like Calgary, San Jose, Anaheim, and the Rangers, also known as Melrose's Favorites. In a playoff situation I go for Central, West, Underdog (unless they were the ones to knock off the Wings). The Original Six teams also get some love in the playoff stretch because it would be awesome for all of them to make it.

/No /I control the vertical /and the horizontal /and the forward-slash.

Let me open this back up to keep those select from getting pissed off. Thread/

I have Center Ice on DirecTV and it did not include preseason games. I ordered the Sports Package last year in order to watch them. Additionally keeping that means you don't have to watch a Wings game on the FSN Nashville, or FSN Anaheim or whatever. Although it is a little expensive.