Theophany

I assume they go in with a list of guys that they want in the first round and print those.

Yeah, his sister is hot.

How sick is that for Duchene? Getting drafted FIRST ROUND by your favorite team that you watched growing up and possibly getting to play on the same team as one of the guys that you idolized as a kid (Sakic). I bet this is the happiest he's been his whole life thus far. Edit: To put this in perspective, try conceptualizing getting drafted by the Wings in the first round and getting to play with Yzerman or Lidstrom, who you grew up modeling your game after.

Oh, alright. You didn't quote anyone, so I got confused.

It's ironic that you spout that line to someone that's played and studied the game of hockey ever since he could grasp what hockey was. I've been playing the sport for almost 21 years; can you really argue that someone who's played the sport for that long doesn't know anything about it? I guess I can't argue that you don't know hockey. That's unreasonable of me to assume and argue. But you are unreasonably biased. You're not looking at my arguments without bias or prejudice; all you do is cut out little sentence fragments and make ad hominem attacks on my credibility without giving any justification for making those attacks. It's getting to the point where I'm just going to ignore you. You don't post anything worth-while on these forums.

Learn how to read, please. In no circumstance have I ever said the Pens are the strongest team in the East. If you think that, I really hope English isn't your first language. I've even said IN THIS THREAD that the Bruins are the best team in the East. I've said that the Pens can compete for a playoff spot, that's it. If you don't think they can, I don't know what to tell you; you don't know hockey.

Yeah; the person I was replying to made it seem like the Olympics were played in the off-season, though. It's pretty much in the middle of the season.

Er, the Olympics are during the season.

It wasn't because of Fleury that we lost? Did you watch games 6 and 7? Nevermind that; did you watch the last 30 seconds of game 7? They may not win the Cup next year, but they're one of the stronger teams in the East. It's hard to think that if Bylsma isn't over-hyped, they won't make the playoffs.

Any of the following games will be fantastic to watch: Russia/Sweden Sweden/Canada Russia/Canada

I get the feeling that it was an unintentional thing, since no one's been able to find video of when it happened. Still, this is the kind of thing I expect from the Hawks and their players.

Snazzy, people get that. You're proud of the Wings. Great, we are too. We lost, though. You don't get a footnote about the season. Are you going to beat a guy within an inch of his life if he taunts you about this season? That shows real immaturity and classlessness, something that a lot of Wings fans berate other team's fans for.

And when logic fails, ad hominem attacks occur. Great rhetoric, Snazzy.

Do you honestly think that the Wings are the only team to play injured in the playoffs? Like, honestly? It doesn't matter that Fleury only saw "60%" ( that's a completely arbitrary number; had you based it on shots faced or actual data, I'd give it to you, but you're wrong) of what the Wings were capable of. There's no footnotes in this life, there are only winners and losers. You don't get to put on your tombstone, "but I would have been a millionaire had I only had the money to go to Harvard!" Let's be clear: Fleury played well enough to get his team through the regular season, and played well enough that they made the playoffs. He played well enough to get his team into the SCF. He played well enough in a game 7 in Joe Louis Arena, where he had gotten shelled and PULLED the game before to win a Cup. I could make the argument that 3-4 of our players take up a ton of our cap space, too. Lidstrom gets $7.45m, as did Hossa, Dats takes $6.7m, and Rafalski takes $6m. How many points did those players put up in the SCF? Every team has players that go on streaks. Every team has players that get injured. But you have to give Fleury credit if you have more than two brain cells to rub together: he turned up huge for the Pens in Mellon arena and especially in game 7. Sure, he may be overpaid, but c'mon, the guy is 24; you really think that he's NOT going to improve? By the way, before you attack me for "not knowing what they're going through" etc, I've played hockey since I was 4 (I'm now almost 25), and I've played through strained muscles and a number of other injuries. I've played with a broken nose. I know how hard it is to play hurt, but the simple fact is that if you're hurt, you can either play or not play. You don't get a handicap for playing injured.

Get it right: Fleury isn't "my boy". I'm a Wings fan, I just like using logic to back up my thoughts. 8th best out of 30 goalies? Yeah, I'd take that. All said, he's solid during the regular season; solid enough to take them to the playoffs (or keep them in it so that Crosby and Malkin can take them to the playoffs). He was ahead of goalies such as Kiprusoff, Biron, Giguere, Theodore, Osgood, etc in GAA this season. He was ahead of the same list in Sv% in the regular season. Say what you want, but all of those 'tenders made the playoffs. Maybe not as the starters in the case of Giggy and Theodore, but he's not "mediocre" as you so blithely reported. Yes, he's 8th on a team that has very little defense and the best offensive presence in the entire playoffs (by numbers). Tim Thomas was #1 behind a team that was very strong defensively. Oh s***, you mean this is a team sport? Those Pens who had the base of a "mediocre" 'tender and two stars just took out our boys. They may make moves to replace people, but with how Shero has been handling the team, do you really have doubts that the Pens will make the playoffs? I of course don't think they'll be a #1 out of the East; Boston is too strong to allow that. But they'll be in the playoffs for the East. I have no doubt of that. You're stupid to think that they don't have a shot and that they won't be a challenge for any team in the East.

You're dreaming. The Caps don't have anything compared to the Pens. With Malkin, Crosby, and Fleury locked up, the Pens at least have a solid base to build on. I don't know the contract status of Orpik, but he was very solid for them on the blue line. The Caps have what, Ovi, Kozlov, and Semin? Green doesn't count because all he can do is score goals from the blue line (and is pretty terrible in the defensive end). Varlamov has potential, but I don't see the Caps going anywhere. Then again, I see the Bruins being the force to contend with in the East if they can add a piece or two offensively this off season. But yes, the Pens and the Caps will both make the post season next year.

I can see the argument for 2002; Yzerman, Fedorov, Larionov, Shanahan, Robitaille, Hull, Lidstrom, Chelios, Datsyuk, Hasek, etc... Personally, though, I think '97 was the year that we had everything.

1755 vs 1723, learn your hockey.

Yeah, first three were pretty much a lock. Kinda surprised about Leetch, but then again, he was a damn good defenseman.

The Oilers, who he was comparing their "dynasty" to. BTW thegreat66, it's 4 in 11 for us; you start the count when the first Cup is won, and end it when the last Cup is won. Otherwise, I could be like, "LOL 11 Cups in 77 years vs 3 for you!"

That and Lids wasn't even a first-line defender with Fetisov--one of the best defensemen ever--on the blue line with Vladi. There's really no comparison; Lemieux may have been one of the best forwards ever, but Yzerman scored more points. At best it's a wash offensively (Yzerman/Fedorov compared to Lemieux/Jagr), but the Wings had pretty much the best defensive unit ever seen in the NHL in '97.

4 in 20 years sure is the same as 5 in 7! You're stupid.

Compared to Yzerman, Fedorov, Larionov, Kozlov, Fetisov, Konstantinov, Lidstrom, Shanahan, etc...? '97 Wings, easily. We also had one of the best fighters ever--Kocur--on the team.

Not really. He's 37, and probably only has a few years left in him. If I were Mr Holland, I wouldn't look at temporary signings; I'd look towards the future and build on the core we already have. If we get rid of Hudler and Sammy and can't get Hossa back, we'll see another forward come into the picture outside of Leino and Helm, both of whom should play this year.

Easily. Hudler could in no way even think about marking Malkin; Filppula did a pretty good job on Malkin in games 1 and 2. Last change made it harder on him in games 3 and 4. One is a two-way forward who is quickly developing into a future leader on the team, the other can't stick with the bigger players in the league when they start pressuring him with physical play and needs open ice to get anything done, and can't play defense to save his own life (worst at defense on the Wings is decent on other teams, but it's still worst at defense on the Wings). While yes, you can look at point production to determine net worth of a player, it's not quite as simple as that if you're not stupid.