The Mule

In theory, yes, but when you factor in a raise for both Franzen and Zetterberg, the latter being rather large, we don't exactly have $4 million to spend elsewhere. That supposed $4 million everyone keeps mentioning is what will be used to pay Franzen and Zetterberg, assuming we sign them both to new contracts. Barring any substantial trades, or a massive leap in terms of the salary cap, the Wings will be right up against the roof next season, as well.

He has been impressive, but there isn't a chance in hell he'd crack our lineup in even the next 2-3 years. Not only do we have young talent already stationed in Detroit, such as Filppula, Hudler, Kopecky, and so on, but we have a stockpile of young guns waiting in our system that are most certainly ahead of Pare on the depth chart (Helm, Leino, Abdelkader, etc.)

Beauchemin is a hell of a player, but I hope this hurts the Ducks.

Where exactly are you getting your information from? I checked to see if what you said was factually correct, and I quickly found out that it most certainly was not. If you go to the Red Wings' website and find the results page for the 2007-2008 season, you'll see that Samuelsson assisted on Franzen's first two goals in the month of March, which were scored on March 2nd and March 4th against the Sabres and Blues respectively. Moreover, I came across several of Franzen's goals throughout the month of March which were not assisted by either Zetterberg or Datsyuk, and the ones that were far more often than not marked on the power play, which has as much to do with Hank and Pavel as it does with having an extra attacker on the ice for a 2 minute session.

I don't think so. I did a quick check of Bruce MacLeod's blog entries from last March, and skimmed over the lines he posted before games, and Franzen was listed as centering the second line every time, rarely paired with Zetterberg, and never with Datsyuk. As for the Penguins example, did Crosby and Malkin not play together the season before last? I could be wrong, so don't quote me. I don't follow the Penguins enough to know who is playing on whose line.

They are both great captains, and there isn't much of a point to this.

No, he wasn't. Sure, Babcock juggled the lines here and there, but the majority of the time last March (when Franzen went on a goal scoring tear), he was centering the second line, usually surrounded by a combination of Cleary, Hudler, Kopecky, and Samuelsson.

It's obvious Dallas fans were rigging the ballot, as well, as Stephane Robidas was nearly on top of the Western Conference's defensemen, but now he is nowhere to be seen. Looks good on them.

1. I feel the same, so why were line mates brought up in this discussion? 2. Not important. Very few players break into the league and produce immediately. 3. I present to you the Exaggeration of the Year Award. 4. Sure, they do, but that can be said for 99.9% of goal scorers, making it irrelevant. 5. Once again, irrelevant. He's a Red Wing, and that's all we have to judge him upon.

I only think we'll see one 50 goal scorer in a Wings uniform this season, and whether that will be Hossa, Zetterberg, or Franzen is yet to be determined. Two would be great, and three would be spectacular, but I'm a big fan of balanced production, so if nobody hits the mark, it's no real skin off of my back.

He has none. Zero. Zilch. Nil.

Cheli hit the nail on the head. The officiating is getting worse year after year.

From what I've gathered, most Wings fans are voting for Lidstrom and Rafalski equally.

Hossa is here to win the Stanley Cup; next year, he's looking for a big payday.

From an opposition standpoint, Wings fans love Turco, as he is downright awful against us during the season.

I don't know if I believe this or not, but if it is true, and Hossa has made it clear to someone out there that he has plans to move on, I don't think it's a very respectful tactic to implement midway through a season.

Keep voting, boys. Keep voting.

You still haven't given me a reason as to why he was still a consistent producer when he was playing without Zetterberg (or Datsyuk, for that matter), making this point irrelevant. Besides, even if he was merely feeding off all-star line mates, why should that be used to knock him? When Crosby won the scoring title, was it only because of Malkin?

If that's the case, how do you explain his barrage of goals last season when he wasn't playing with Zetts?

This can only result in good things. With any luck, Conklin will continue to shine, and Ozzie will get on track.

Good call on Parise. Kid is unreal.

It doesn't matter where he's ranked; all that matters is that he's wearing a Red Wings jersey and putting the puck in the net. Long live the Mule.

Regardless, we can't afford to continue paying Hossa 7.5 after we factor in a pay raise for both Zetterberg and Franzen.

Franzen is not "injury prone." From what I recall, all of his injuries have been freak accidents that could happen to any player at any time.

We were the better team overall, but let it be known that we were dreadful in the second.