sureWhyNot

No they weren't and no they won't. The last three years were two second round exits and a first round ousting. To claim this team, as is, will be contending for anything other then the 5-7th seed is ludicrous. A complete disregard for reality so to say.

Yes I do. I mean I think it is a common sense type thing more then anything else. Here are a couple excerpts and quotes as well as a defensive selection from someone at hockey prospects: The larger ice surface is a huge element - for either of the North American GM's to not take it into consideration when constructing the team would be insane. NHL surface play is a game of bumper cars while international surface play is more a uptempo, speed based game. I would also like to say again that the defensive 6 in the quote above was not mine, it was a pundits. I am not saying that's 100% what it should be - even though it looks pretty solid.

No chance for Buff. Carlson or Fowler will lock that spot up. And I be completely honest I don't think either Canada or the US should be favorites in 2014. They simply cannot adjust to the larger ice surface. Here's a fun trivia question. Tell me the last time either North American country won a gold medal in men's ice hockey played on a INTERNATIONAL sized surface?

Please explain to me Bertuzzi's "large" contract.

Actually you are 100% wrong. They build the team you listed in a way that fit playing on a North American sized rink. 2014 will have us playing on a international sized surface. Not only will Yandle make the team, he will be in the top 4

My perfect world scenario would have the Wings signing Parise, Suter and Konopka. Will it happen? Probably not. But one can dream, right?

If it is so painstaking then why do you continue I click the links and post in the threads? You are right "we can't win every year." I am not sure anyone would argue this OBVIOUS point. But you can strive to improve every year, use our money to sign free agents, use players, picks to trade for players, etc to make the team better. The Wings have not done this the past 3 years and it's the cause of that some people get frusterated.

Dude, get a clue - I am so sick of ppl chirping Bertuzzi. Is he going to put up 60-70 points next year? No, probably not. *But he was tied for 1st on the Wings amd tied for 9th in the NHL this year with a +23 - and that was against the oppositions top lines as he played the majority of the season on the top unit with Franzen and Datsyuk.* So yeah - I am actually very happy with a guy putting up 40-45 points a year, is incredibly defensibly reliable, is a shootout wizard (tied for 2nd overall in the league with 4 shootout game winners) and is one of the very, very few physical, gritty guys on an obnoxiously soft roster sticking around for another couple years. Especially when his price tag is only 1.8 million a year. Point your finger at someone besides Bertuzzi. The guy is incredibly valuable anywhere you put him.

I'll say it - the penalty was to harsh. You are right Torres has a history of bad hits, but One could argue that this one was not one of them. I have seen Kronwall make nearly identical hits to the one laid on Hossa. 5-10 games though would have been fine with me. 25 though? Come on man, you can't be seriously defending this decision.

Do you realize you sound just as bad as the people you are criticizing? Everyone on here is a fan - I know some here feel superior to say otherwise when any type of critique is made, but they are. How about this: "I am a bigger fan then you because I am super upset we were the first team eliminated this year. So how about you and your seemingly impervious reaction to the success or the lack there of team that I am a huge fan of can be quiet."

Come on now - I think this is grasping at straws. Chris Osgood was the absolute master of knocking the net off its mourings to get a stop in play and Kris Draper was notorious at cheating on face offs but by his own admission "hid it very well". We lost the game and the series because they were the better team - end of story.

I will go even farther and say I wish Moore didn't throw an incredibly dirty hit on Naslund, which injured the then Canuck captain.

Haha agreed. I remember talking to my dad about keeping Hossa or Franzen - the overwhelming consensus was Hossa. I don't remember a lot of people taking the "let Datsyuk walk" stance. I am sure some did but I would imagine it was a small minority of people.

Bertuzzi is a +21 and has 30 points while missing a handful of games. He plays night in and night out against other teams top lines. I know he has the luxury of playing aside Datsyuk but tht said I couldn't be happier with Big Bert's play. I am very happy he signe a 2 year deal.

I think the hit was fine, part of a contact sport. That said I think 75% of the hits that have gotten players suspended were good, hard, hockey hits that were avoidable if the player getting hit had his head up, wasn't admiring a pass or turning his back at the last minute to try to draw a call. I do think though that if the roles were reverse and a Flyer laid that hit on Flip, Hudler or any Wing this board would come crashing down with cries for a suspension.

This year the finals will be Canucks/Rangers with the Canucks finally winning the Stanley Cup. You can take that to the bank.

Agreed 100%. I see a lot of over reactions on both fronts -- both those made Holland did nothing, and those defending blindly defending him. It's far from the end of the world, but in all reality this is just more of the same we have seen from Holland over the past 3 years - that is, no action what so ever. I mean he didn't make bad moves, in the same respect though he hasn't made any real good moves either. You have to seize the opportunity and this team has an opportunity to win the cup this year. The fact nothing was done to capitalize on that. And to me at least that's unfortunate. I do not think Holland should be fired, I am not calling anyone names, or making proclamations stating we will lose in the second round. I simply think we missed an opportunity to make a really good team even better. The same feeling I had the last 3 summers, and last two trade deadlines. Like I said though, its far from the end of the world. We still have an excellent team.

No one said that - or anything close to that. Just pointing out an interesting statistic, that's all.

Here's an interesting stat. This year the Wings are 9-1-1 in games where there is a fighting major. I wonder if it fires the boys up when one of their teamates drops the mitts regardless of they win or lose.

I think it is hilarious how those who are against dressing a scrapper disregard arguments that go against theirs. I actually started a thread that illustrated the Red Wings winning % in games which a FM was incurred - but it was locked and deleted. I just wish people would realize there is a difference between guys who can scrap, and "goons". They are not the same thing.

I was sitting around the other day wondering if there was any correlation between fighting majors and winning games. After some thought I decided to take a look at the numbers. Below are the season by season breakdown accompanied by the total # of fighting majors, and the % of games won when the Wings had a FM. It's nothing crazy, but it seems as though - for the most part at least, that we have a decent winning percentage in games in which a Wing drops the mitts. The exception of course being 09-10. The numbers in the parenthesis is the total % of games won when the Wings incurred a FM *I did not include pre-season games, I stuck to regular season and playoff games only. 2006-07: 12 FM -- (67% win rate) 2007-08: 22 FM -- (55% win rate) 2008-09: 16 FM -- (69% win rate) 2009-10: 21 FM -- (48% win rate) 2010-11: 14 FM -- (71% win rate) 2011-12: 04 FM -- (100% win rate) The actual win rate has nothing to do with who won the actual fight, rather, how the team fared in the contest. I am not trolling, I am only posting this because I spent 2 hours doing it (slow day at work) and I didn't want it to go to waste. So take this as nothing more then food for thought. I am not advocating for an "enforcer" or anything like that. I love the team we have and if I could pick one part to add, it would be a top 6 sniper.

Is everyone else getting getting the public service announcement on loop over at the justin.tv stream?

I know there has been threads in the past on this, but each week things change so I figured why not. Anyways, here is my team. What do you think? What does your roster look like? FORWARDS: Patrick Kane - Paul Stasny - Zach Parise Phil Kessel - Tim Connolly - Bobby Ryan Jamie Langenbrunner - Ryan Kesler - James van Riemsdyk Dustin Brown - Scott Gomez - Ryan Malone DEFENSE: Brian Rafalski - Ryan Suter Erik Johnson - Alex Goligoski Ryan Whitney - Zach Bogosian GOALTENDERS: 1) Ryan Miller 2) Tim Thomas 3) Craig Anderson TAXI SQUAD: Ron Hainsey, Dustin Byfuglien, Kyle Okposo, David Booth

LOL. Rightttt. Cause Sammy was playing on the first line on a team absolutely decimated with injuries. Whatever you have to tell yourself to feel good bro.