hooon

Felt the same way when Yzerman retired. It'll be strange when those guys are gone, but its still incredible that they've been around so long and had such great careers. Especially all the guys who were around for the 90s cups. It'll be real rough whenever Lids makes the call. Luckily we have had excellent transition, and when those guys finally do hang em up, the Wings still have a great team of guys to root for.

Agreed. Not sure why people claim we need more goals. Finished just behind Vancouver with the 2nd most goals-for in the regular season. Scored a lot in the playoffs too. Never hurts to have more but our offense is fine.

Lol at the font.

Agreed. If it were me, I would fill those forward spots with Mursak and Eaves, and maybe one of those 4th line Konopka types everyone is talking about. Mursak-Helm-Eaves = Speed Am I the only one excited to have almost the same lineup next year? We were so close to advancing, scored the 2nd most goals in the regular season, our goaltender proved himself capable in the playoffs, our captain was nominated for a Norris trophy, McCrimmon is gone, we have a new defensive system to look forward to, and its the last year before a VERY different looking team in '12-'13. With a few other changes here and there, I think the Wings will be just as strong.

If you can get them both to come home with you, it'll be one hell of a night.

Hull-Gretky-Howe Sakic-Yzerman-Lemieux Kurri-Messier-Shanahan Fedorov-Datsyuk-Ovechkin Hudler (during that 10 game stretch Eva keeps talking about ) Lidstrom-Orr Leetch-Konstantinov Borque-Chelios McGinnis Sawchuk (with a year or two of modern training to learn the butterfly) Hasek Bowman

We should do a list of the all-time best blueadams line threads.

Diving is bad enough... but then to stay on the ice for that long afterwards is just embarassing. He was obviously fine because he popped right up to congratulate Luongo, but spent 30 seconds on the ice making sure the refs watched him suffer. I've always liked Kesler, but these antics are just pathetic. These teams suck.

No way is Cole on par with Franzen. Cole played 82 games and was still outscored by Franzen who missed games, was hurt, and went scoreless for nearly 2 months. Also Cole has 14 points in 43 playoff games, not exactly clutch. I know we've turned this into yet another off season debate, (sorry mods), but I just don't think it's wise to make knee jerk decisions by overpaying aging underperformers instead of developing the talent we already have and for a fraction of the price.

Jussi Jokinen and Erik Cole are exceptional players? And at the prices you have them at. No thank you.

Leftwinger, can't say I agree with you at all. I believe our team will be very similar next season. Why do we need so much change? And why don't you like our chances? We were one goal away from mounting a historical comeback and advancing to the Western Conference Finals. We swept our first round opponents, and played an incredibly tight series against San Jose, losing in four 1-goal games, including two overtimes. Its not like we were blown out in the first round or missed the playoffs. This team was very, very close to advancing. I don't see why our chances next year would be any different, especially with a few tweaks here and there and some players retiring and having youngsters get a chance. I like our chances a lot.

Yeah I'm guessing it was just a slip of the tongue and he meant "up for another Norris".

Thats two occurrences in the past 5 years. Sure it happens, but the Wings aren't one of the teams who are likely to have any big press conferences on July 1st. Kenny has already stated numerous times he will take a wait and see approach this off-season when it comes to free agency. (Which I approve of ) In that interview he mentioned the Wings were very open to the possibility of trades. Hmmm...

He's referencing Holland's wording "runner-up", which means 2nd place.

No way Tatar gets there over Mursak.

Incredible comeback by the Lightning.

Tie game. This is incredible hockey. Go Bolts!

Agree with you. He's certainly "worth" more than 6.7. The Wings never sign FAs early in the off-season anyway, so nearly all of the big names are gone by the time they begin seriously filling roster holes. With the higher cap though, it will be interesting to see which teams are overpaying players. I know a lot of posters here have their sights set on a big named guy like Bieksa, but with the cap going up I just don't see him slipping past teams that are willing to throw 5 million or more his way.

The problem is the cap goes up for everyone, not just the Wings. There are already a bunch of teams out there that throw money around pretty irresponsibly, now that the cap is higher, these same teams will just overpay free agents even MORE than they did before. Sometimes I worry if the cap going up actually hurts the Wings a little because they won't match some of the absurd offers that will be tossed around to some of the better free agents out there.

Agreed with a lot of other points. The Blues have a good up and coming team, but they aren't quite there yet. It starts with their management. I did like the move to get Stewart, IMO the Blues cleaned up in that trade. As far as comparing them with the Wings, its just hardly relevant. The teams are so different and have completely different needs going forward. Literally for the past decade, everyone has said the Wings are old and will soon be done, and it has never happened. In 1 or 2 seasons when we have a huge defensive overhaul, the Wings will likely be at their most vulnerable, but I have a lot of trust in our management and leadership. While the Wings have to deal with a much more subtle transition, the Blues are attempting to take that next giant step, which can be very difficult. Certainly the Blues have more work ahead of them than the Wings do in terms of being able to ice a playoff-ready team, but I don't the Blues are too far off.

The Yotes will become an NBA team next by next season.

Huge shame. A friend of mine's brother died the very same way, mixing that drug with alcohol. Mixing any kind of prescription drugs with alcohol can be very dangerous, even when only very small amounts of either are consumed.

Gotcha. Still Pavs was over a point per game. Anyone have a guess as to when we'll find out who is the replacement? Do we have to wait until July 1st? Or is this the kind of thing they can do whenever, or possibly already have someone in mind? Ugh the offseason can be so agonizing with waiting for news.

Tanguay would score more points than Pav and/or Z?

Just out of curiosity because I really have no idea about these things, why does everyone think that Chelios would be a great replacement? He doesn't have any coaching experience, does he? Is there a reason I'm missing as to why he would automatically be an upgrade from McCrimmon? Coaching just seems like one of those things that requires a lot of experience, and I don't mean playing experience, I mean actual coaching experience. Great players don't always make great coaches, right out of the gate. Anyway, just wondering if there's something to it.