Broken 16

First of all... this is driving me crazy: "Hockey is apart of me" = "Hockey is A PART of me" "If we loose Hudler and Franzen" = "If we LOSE Hudler and Franzen" Ok, I feel better now... Nothing against Franzen, but $5.5 a year is too close to Zetterberg money. If that's what Franzen is looking for, he's probably going to get it from another team. I don't think the signing of Franzen and Hudler is nearly as much a done deal as you seem to believe. Especially Franzen. My prediction? Franzen walks. Hossa, at this point, is a much better all-around player than Franzen, in my opinion. Hossa can win a game almost all by himself. Just look at the St. Louis game last night. Hossa was HUGE. Franzen puts in a lot of goals and is an above average two-way player, but he isn't on the same level as Hossa. Not yet anyway. Hossa has proven that he can bring the same level of play to whatever team he is a part of. Can the same be said for Franzen? In an earlier post you made a comparison between this years lineup and last years lineup. Basically saying that the Wings were better last year with the same lineup minus Hossa. Perhaps implying that Hossa has made the team worse? I mean, that's the only way I can read it. FAIL!!! This team is VASTLY different than last years team. The only person that hasn't won a Cup (with the exception of a few GR call-ups) is Hossa. You can't just continue to drive the same roster into the playoffs year after year and expect the same results. Things always need to be shaken and stirred. The grind to win the Cup is a HUGE mental burden, especially coming off a Cup winning year. The Wings are always on the lookout for quality free agents who haven't won a Cup. I wouldn't be a bit suprised to see Franzen traded at the deadline (I'm not even sure if he CAN be traded... I'm just rambling at this point). Especially if talks between him and Holland aren't going well.

Nice shift...

Haha... funny story about Lieno.

Well... maybe now he'll loosen his grip on the stick a little.

I would say that's entirely up to them. It'll be alot easier to get them to accept lesser salaries given that Z is only making 6 a year. If they REALLY want a payday, they leave. If they want to play on the Red Wings long(ish) term, they may have to accept much lower than market value. I know what I would do... As far as Hossa goes, he may be in for quite a dilema. On one hand, make ridiculous coin on a team that may not be a serious contender for a long time. Or, make decent coin and spend the next few years playing on a line with Pavel Datsyuk. Sometimes happiness > money. And lets face it... he won't be struggling financially in either scenario. Of course, there's always the Gaborik factor. I'm not sure how much stock I put in that though.

I agree...

12 years... that number is hard for me to wrap my brain around. I was against a long term contract at 7 mil a year. But this sets an excellent salary that Holland can apply to the rest of his talks. He'll be making less per year than Datsyuk, which makes me happy. Not that I think he is worth less... just not more. This Hossa thing isn't over. I wouldn't put it to bed just yet. Not likely... but not over by a long shot. I still wonder how his back is going to look after another 6+ years. Not that I'm worried about the salary structure so much (especially at just over 6 a year... ), it's that backs don't generally get stronger with age. Either way, dudes gonna retire a Wing. Thats fantastic.

You are a gigantic homer.

It'll be a non-event. Unless he does something really stupid. Which is doubtful.

I'm pretty sure hitting a guy in the forehead with your stick is a penalty...

If its for ten years, we're f***ed.

This is the PERFECT game for Kopecky to prove what he is. Two words: Dismal Failure. He's weak on his skates, he has a weak stick and, as shown between periods, is a coward. f*** Hosa, send this guy packing yesterday.

Datsyuk just seems like the nicest guy on the planet. So happy that dude is on our team. He's so humble.

The league didn't "decide" to suspend them. You kind of make it sound as if they created the rule at the last minute to try and intimidate the Wings. The rule has been in effect since last season. They were (he was) enforcing the rule to the letter... the letter changed a little bit after Crosby's people called, but it didn't matter anyway since neither Lidstrom nor Datsyuk were going to be able to make the trip in any capacity anyway. Apparently, the league would have accepted replacements but none were willing to go, for whatever reason. Hopefully they've learned a lesson this year and will: A) Do away with the stupid voting policy B) Actually give the game some meaning so that players might actually WANT to go (I still say that playing to see which Conference gets the Winter Classic the following year would be a step in the right direction... some kind of incentive is needed, I think, that doesn't involve a stupid rule that hurts the game) C) Get rid of that stupid rule

Ya... I definately liked it better when they hated each other.

I was simply pointing out some other, less harsh, possibilities. Of course you would focus on "lackadasical"... the least likely of the three. Sorry I couldn't list them all, but there are much more than "Incompetant" and "Malicious". The two that you tried to force feed.

Sounds good to me. There could be a million different reasons. My point is that I suspect that none of the Wings care in the least what Bettman thinks... let alone Crosby. They're not in high school. Why some of you guys insist on dwelling on this big, fictitious cloak and dagger bit between Bettman and Crosby is beyond me. For all you know, they were on speaker phone with Bettman and Crosby's agent/GM/both did all the talking while Crosby sat there and twiddled his thumbs. Hell... Mario probably dialed the number personally. This isn't brain surgery... one team attempted to explore options and one didn't. Crosby did exactly what he was asked to do by his many bosses. How is he to blame in any way, shape or form? If anything, he's an example of what SHOULD be done. The guy did what he thought he was supposed to do to appease the league and you guys are slamming him. None of his decisions were based in what he thought would harm the Wings. He was looking out for himself and his team. Lidstrom already said it wouldn't have made any difference. He had to do what he had to do. Datsyuk doesn't care because he's more severly injured and probably wouldn't have played on Tuesday anyway. I honestly don't understand this blind hatred. It's very weak...

Incompetent and malicious. Those are pretty strong words. How about... lakadasical? Or maybe indifferent. Maybe unconcerned? Bottom line is, I don't think anyone from Mike Ilitch down to the girl that hands me beers cares nearly as much about Crosby and what he does as you do. Just an observation.

Sensationalism slips out once in a while. What can I say?

You have to go outside the city limits... ...thats what I heard.

Ok... so now its a race thing?

I still don't see how this excuses them from not sending a single representative from the team unless they have a genuine beef with the league.

If Bettman took as much time thinking about how to make the ASG more attractive to players as he does making up/dancing around stupid rules, there would be no issue. Maybe restructure it to have some kind of meaning. Like maybe use the results to determine which Conference gets the Winter Classic the following season. Or something.

Can't wait to book a flight to Vegas when the Wings play the Las Vegas Coyotes. Junket from heaven...