TheOwl

4-2 Columbus. You heard it hear first!

If Helm plays in Game 1 does he get his name on the cup? How does that work? Don't you usually have to play in 30+ regular season games or something?

^ Good lookin! Man I didn't check my bill, do people get charged the 30 something dollars for April for Center Ice? Knowing the NHL they'll probably charge me for May and June. Stupid bulls***.

How are they vital? I mean, their both good players, and their salaries are fair. BUT Cleary is easily the most replaceable forward currently signed. Flipulla has far more potential. And Stuart is easily the most replaceable D-man. Kronwall, Rafa and Lidstrom are all in the top 10 for scoring this season (obviously because their all on the powerplay), but he has a horrible +/-, and his defensive play has been far from superior. We have Meech, Ericcson ready for the NHL. Getting rid of Lebda or Lilja in place of Ericcson or Meech gains nothing in terms of the CAP, and really, nothing in terms of improving the defense. The point is, if Holland doesn't move salary, Leino, Hudler, Sammy, Conklin, Kopecky and Hossa are all gonners. With the signing of Franzen, the Wings have about 4 million in cap space to sign 4 MORE forwards, and a back-up goalie. 4 million, 5 spots to fill = 5 Entry level players. So obviously, it would be idiotic to lose Leino, Hudler, and Hossa for nothing. So you must move players from the active roster. No one will take Osgood, Draper or Maltby. So who do you move? Flipulla, Cleary, Stuart. Those are the only 3 players that have significant cap hits, who aren't key to the team. Trading Cleary and Stuart would mean an extra 6 million in cap space, that's about 10 million total that you could easily use to sign Hossa or Leino and Hudler. What would you rather have? Hossa or Leino and Hudler or Cleary and Stuart? No one is going to pick Stuart and Cleary, with Ericcson ready to go and Cleary (40 points a year).

I really don't believe this whole thing about the Wings not playing to their potential. They played as well as they could've today, and we shouldn't magically expect everyone to turn it up. For this entire season, we've been saying "It's only November" or "It's only January", then suddenly "It's only the regular season." We'll all say it after Game 1, then Game 2, then what? If the Wings don't take Game 1 and 2, it'll be over. Osgood will fail, it's just a matter of when. Columbus in 5.

Detroit will lose in 5 games in round one. You heard it here first.

I'd be heavily in favor of getting rid of Cleary and Stuart to make cap room for Hossa. The Wings have far too many D-men wasting away in Grand Rapids. Meech and Ericcson could easily replace Lebda and Stuart (assumuing he waives NTC). Wings have about 4.5 million as is, to sign a Goalie, 4 forwards. If you got rid of those 2 mentioned above, you would have 6.5 extra. So that would be 10 million for 1 goalie, 5 forwards, including Ericcson who replaces Stuart. I love Cleary and Stuart, but Flipulla has much greater potential, and Kronwall is a beast in getting assists. Basically if you lose Stuart and Cleary (assuming they waive their NTC) you could easily sign Hossa, Leino one of Hudler/Sammy, Abdelkader, Helm, and a back-up. If you don't move Stuart or Cleary or both, we'll lose Hudler, Sammy and Hossa for sure. Losing Leino and Hudler would be terrible as is. But really, if Osgood fails, everything is f***ed. We'll lose everyone, and need a goalie.

Come on St. Louis! But really, why do we fear Anaheim more then Mason and Columbus? Anaheim will give San Jose a run for their money though!

St. Louis wins, we play Jackets. If they lose (OT,SO or in Regulation) we play Anaheim.

f***

All the talk in Vancouver has been between Chicago and Blue Jackets, Canucks won't like it if Anaheim wins.

Depending on the series, if they need speed go with Leino and Helm, if they get Anaheim, Ericcson, McCarty and Downey may be useful. Maltby and Kopetcy are well to put it nicely "not needed", as Leino with Helm and Draper could be a great speed line, or Downey, Draper and McCarty could be a good shut-down line. Hell, I'd be happy if Cleary sat a few games in place of Leino.

Dallas completely broke down, but they did have significant injuries along with the Wild. Edmonton has no excuse and should of made the post season. Florida too melted down. Of all the teams who missed out, Ottawa definitely will make the play-offs next season with LeClaire in net, the rest of the teams who missed won't be looking very strong either for next season.

The way I see this going down, Detroit will lose in the 1st/2nd round, Osgood will play OK, but a major injury will knock us out, leaving a team with no real answers what they should do for next season, ie. sign Hossa and Franzen, or sign Franzen and get a goalie. Why not Bulin? Last year of a contract, he's getting old, maybe he'll take 3 million a season or less, and Chicago has Huet signed for such a big contract, they'll probably just go with him.

Man, Detroit is one of the few teams who are even watchable. I live 30 minutes outside Vancouver and can't stand the way they play hockey, it's so one sided, Luongo lets in 3 goals, the Nucks will lose 80% of the time, and blame it on bad goaltending. Detroit is one of few teams who can win in so many different ways, and don't rely on one area of the game to succeed. Detroit may be "boring" for the opposition fans because they have the puck so much, but how is that boring at all? Constant chances, constant skill from Dats, Hossa, Zetterberg and Franzen, not to mention Detroits 3rd and 4th liners could be 2nd or 1st liners on any other team.

The Presidents trophy was really out of contention, San Jose wasn't likely going to lose to two horrible teams. Nashville had a must win game, got lucky in the last minute 6v5, can't really blame the Wings. Sad to see Datysuk not get a point, 100 points would be huge.

Because those players who are drafted by these backwards teams are wasting their careers, when they could be playing for a half decent franchise who people actually enjoy watching. It would be much better for the sport having 20 good, well run teams, then 30 teams, with at least 10 of them losing money, no fans, and who never make the playoffs. What is really the point in giving a team like Phoenix the first overall pick? It won't help them make the playoffs, it won't get the attendance up. The draft wastes good young players on teams no one cares about.

The draft lottery is stupid because it rewards poor management, poor playing, bad coaching, bad ownership and bad scouting. Look at Tampa, what did they do with their 1st pick? Got Stamkos, stuck him in a horrible system, and still finished nearly dead last. Where would Pittsburgh be without their 1st round picks of Crosby and Malkin? No where. It's stupid bad teams get the first chance at the best players. It bails out all the horrible decisions the GM and team has made. Why are the same 5 teams always in the bottom of the league? Giving them big fancy picks won't help them. They should just give the worst 10 teams, 3 "balls" each in the rolling sphere, give teams 11-20 "2 balls" and the best 10 teams, 1 "ball". So every team has a chance at the #1 pick.

+/- is a somewhat hard to interpret stat. But the minus by itself is very telling. If a player is -40 on the season, and a +60, giving an overall +20, he looks like a pretty good D-man. Not so. A perfect D-man really should be - 0. No pucks go in the net when your on the ice. That's the whole story. If you broke down the +/-, it would be a lot easier to tell who's good defensively, making the Selke and Norris much easier to hand out. Such as Mike Green, great +/-, but what does that mean? Does it mean whenever he's on the ice, a lot of goals are scored to make up for a lot of goals against? It should really be broken down into + and -. It tells you the entire story.

Ericcson has had a few break-down games in the last few weeks, hopefully he'll be ready, but at least we have 8-9 top-6 D-men incase one guy starts sucking.

Even more fascinating is the race for the scoring title. Caps and Penguins have 3 games remaining each, and Ovechkin is only 2 points back of Malkin. It would be nice to see Datysuk win the +/- race and score 100. MVP! And Selke and Byng!

It's a must win game for Buffalo!!

Holland really shouldn't sign either until the end of the play-offs, seeing that if Ozzy fails (which is very likely based on his entire season) they'll need to buy him out and sign an actual #1 goaltender. Defense can't save this team. An average goalie is what this team needs.

Just get rid of Cleary and Flipulla. I'd rather have Sammy or Hudler over either, they make a third the money and score a lot more points. Is it really? Hossa only has 13 more points then Hudler, Sammy could be signed for under 2 million, and Flipulla is at least improving. I really don't see why people think Hossa is worth losing 3 other guys. And how is Hossa worth all 3 of their salaries combined? Hossa is a 5 million a season player, at best. No more. He's overpaid as is. Helm won't be scoring 40 points a season for half a decade. Wings should keep Hudler, and Sammy for sure. The Wings forward prospects are very weak, it would be much smarter using one of the four NHL ready D-men wasting their careers in Grand Rapids.

What's crazy is having Osgood and Howard in net with zero cap space. Also the fact you'll have 5 players making 6 million or more. Losing Flipulla and Hudler for Hossa would be a HUGE mistake. We can easily keep Flip, Sammy, Hudler, Franzen, Leino, Ericcson and have room for a second goalie. If Hossa really wants to step up and take a discount, he should sign for 4-5 million. He's already made over 30 million dollars. 6 million instead of 7 million for Hossa is no discount. Even right now he's overpaid by league standards. He's not a top 10 forward in the league. He's simply overrated.