Theophany

Yep, they're not gonna offer a deal to a guy that had a 59 point season when he was 39 (Chara had 50 pts). You're totally right and not wrong at all.

Best goal scorer in the league is Ovechkin, bro.

Lids is going down hill? Sure you can argue that scoring 62 points is bad after scoring 80 the year before, but he still scored 62 points and was defensively responsible. Oh, and he won the Norris. I don't see why a team wouldn't offer him a 5 year deal offer tomorrow if he was a UFA. He's proved that he's still got plenty in the tank, and plenty of teams would be willing to take the chance for their guys to at least learn from him. Let's not forget he's missed less time to injury than Chelios has, and Chelios is still playing pro hockey.

Kronwall's not a defensive specialist? What? Did I miss the part where he was in on the 5v3 last night over Lidstrom, the guy with six Norris Trophies at home?

You're joking, right? The top defenseman in the league isn't a top 5 player? Every team would literally kill for the chance at Lidstrom.

Uh, Rafalski is 36. He's not gonna be around too much longer, either. 4 years, maybe 5. He's also not nearly as defensively responsible Lidstrom; that you think he is...wow. I hate to break it to you, but Rafalski isn't treated as Lids' replacement in the Wings org. If he was, he would be out on 5v3s, not Stuart and Kronwall. He would also be on a PK line, not Lids/E and Stuart/Kronwall. Kronwall is one of the most important defensemen in the Wings org right now, because newsflash, Lids is hanging them up in the next few years. This is shown quite easily by the amount of ice time he gets, especially being one of the 3 players in on a two-men-down PK.

How are you guys honestly putting Lidstrom (the best defenseman possibly ever, and if not that, then certainly since Orr) in the 7-10 range?! Good God, it's like the guy hasn't won four Cups, a Conn Smythe, six Norris Trophies (third to only Orr and Harvey). Even at $7.45m a year, he's still an effing steal. Ask how many other teams would take Lids at $8m; the answer is every one. My top 5 would go something like this: 1. Z 2. Lidstrom 3. Kronwall 4. Osgood 5. Dats

Yeah bro, great idea. Let's move Lidstrom's replacement and totally eviscerate what defense we'll have when he hangs 'em up. Holland and the Wings org will do what's best in the long run; they're not as stupid as you are, as they realize that longevity is what matters in professional sports. BTW, we'll still make the playoffs this year. No need to panic. We don't have the cap room; Franzen coming off the LTIR would put his salary back into our cap room (which would be negligible), putting us over and thus having us forfeit every game until we're back under. Basically we'd be asking for Sundin to come in for 4 months and then peace the hell out when Franzen is healthy.

Those lines are terrible and make me want to kill myself. Thank God your last name isn't Babcock.

Won't make any deals for anyone new, we'll see Abby up until Helm is back to 100%. Lines I'd LIKE to see, as we just lost a first-liner: Z/Dats/Homer Leino/Fil/Cleary (maybe Willy instead) Bert/Abby/Willy May/Draper/Maltby Slot in Helm when he's healthy. I don't see us making any deals at all, since Mule will be back for the playoffs, and we've got guys ready to play in 3rd/4th line roles in GR.

Really not liking it. I prefer the music.

Just pointing out, minors were enforced the same as majors until 1956. So the "old fashioned way" would be the second thing that he suggested.

Yeah, let's start the whole GR team against the Hawks!

I like going back to unreleasable penalties, keeping the same length. I also think that the penalty shot should be an option if the full penalty won't be served in regulation. That's just me, though.

That's the kind of hit where you bring in an enforcer. Hordichuk was obviously aware of his teammate hitting Boll; why do you need to come in and hit him a second time when he's going to be taken out of the play? Stupid, stupid hockey. Also didn't look like he tried to stop the hit in any way. The entire video was slow-motion. Most players don't go down and stay down from that kind of hit if they're not actually hurt, especially one of the 'tough guys' on a team.

You have no concept of the game of hockey; I'm terribly sorry. Helm would not do well on the first line because he doesn't have the skill or the ability to be there. Anyone who knows anything about hockey will tell you that. Helm is a great skater, and he brings a lot of energy to our forecheck and D when he's out there on the third or fourth lines, but he's not got what it takes to be on the top lines (yet). It would make FAR more sense to have Cleary, Draper, or Z on the first line. All of them are proven scorers, and if you're looking for an energy guy like Helm, Draper is like an older and more mature version who's got a tiny bit less speed and a developed shot. Same with Cleary. Z speaks for himself. The truth is though that Homer is of great use on the first line, when you'll usually have Dats and Franzen out there (who can usually take care of cycling by themselves) with Lids and Rafalski; a screen is essential when you have offensive D-men on the point, not only so the keeper can't see as well, but also for rebounds and redirections. If people that are against Homer could put together a logical argument for why he shouldn't be on the first line other than some anecdotal "he's lazy and he sucksâ„¢", I'd probably listen and might even change my mind; but until then, everything I've seen leads me to believe that he's fine where he is, and the problem is elsewhere.

Darren Helm last year was a -7. Homer was a +18. Darren Helm had 1 assists in 16 games. Homer had 14 goals 23 assists in 53 games. Yes, Darren Helm can take Homer's spot. Absolutely. ...If we want the first line to suck. Now, don't get me wrong; I love Helm. He's right up there with Lids, Fil, and Dats in my "who's your favorite 'Wing?" answer. But he's not a first line guy. He's 25, and he's a third line center at best. He's an energy guy, a grinder; not a skill guy who has the finesse that Dats or Fil have. Give him time and he may develop as a player to be a great first line or second line center, but right now, he's not our guy. You can make arguments that Homer is getting old, there are better people to fill his spot, etc, be we don't have those people on the roster or in GR at this point. Homer is not a 'cancer' that makes his line suck; in fact, his line is better than the second line (i.e. you'd have a better case to make that Bertuzzi is a cancer than Homer).

Homer has been fine in the two games he's played. I see no reason to change a line that's been working.

Worst case scenario the Wings will be second in the West (behind the Hawks). No big deal.

I would love to see that guy try to show up in Detroit with that sweater on.

You obviously weren't watching the first period versus the rest of the game. The energy was gone as soon as the Blues netted their first goal. That's something that should never happen to an experienced team like the Wings.

It's the 'Top 5 NHL Goalies', not 'Top 5 WORST NHL Goalies'.

My point was that the Wings (for the most part) stopped playing hard after scoring 2 or three goals in each game and sat back and watched. They needed a fight or someone to get Kronwalled to get some fire going. To be completely honest, we need the following lines: Z/Dats/Homer Cleary/Fil/Mule Leino/Helm/Williams Draper/Abby/Maltby Or switch Helm and Fil to keep line 3 together, because they've been great. Bertuzzi is worse than worthless out there, he's done next to nothing. Seriously, does ANYONE have a problem with keeping Abby up to get Bert the f*** out of the lineup when Helm is back?

You could have gotten away with 'good'. 'Very good'? Uh, no. The Wings lost these games, the Blues didn't win them.

REALLY? Seriously? Hudler was as good as the guy who's second-like PK, and on what many consider "the best third line in hockey"? Hudler was small, had a good offensive mind, but was pretty awful on defense (for the Wings, not saying in general). Filppula is extremely responsible on both ends of the puck, and is an almost perfect playmaker/distributor. He's not gonna score many goals, but I guarantee that Williams and Leino will benefit from being on a line with him. Hudler either seems to be overrated or underrated on these boards; no one seems to want to be honest and say that he was simply average, based on his good offensive play and poor defensive play.