Theophany

It's what I'd roll with, so they're my lines in the way that the lines you posted are your lines.

Granted I've only lived out here for 6 years or so, but from what I can tell, people in Seattle just like sports in general, so I have no idea why a hockey team wouldn't work. Hell, our box lacrosse team regularly sells out (and has a devoted following) at $25-100 a ticket for an 8,500 seat arena, and that's a complete niche sport. I can 100% guarantee that it would at the very least be more popular than hockey is in the south, though that may not be enough to get us a team. If you sell the history of hockey in Seattle (i.e. the first American Stanley Cup) and promote it enough, you'll get droves of fans like the Sounders have. Just my impression, having grown up in Chicago and moving out here.

Totally speculation, but there are rumors out here that a group is looking to bring a NHL team to Seattle. Of course they'd need to build a stadium, but Key Arena would probably work until then (it was an NBA facility, after all). Just what I've heard.

Z - Dats - Homer Franzen - Filppula - Bertuzzi Hudler - Modano - Cleary Draper - Helm - Eaves My lines are the best.

Yeah, hence the icon. That was me being sarcastic. In clearing that up, though, I also think Hudler is vastly underestimated, how well he's been playing. He's been playing really well in the past couple months. Then again, I'm also a guy who thinks that Filppula is easily worth his $3 mil salary.

Why are people saying that he's suddenly gotten better since Pavel got back? He's been putting up points and playing well since before Pavel got back. Had he been putting up points as he is from the start of the season, he'd be on a 70 point pace. How is that kind of scoring not worth $2.8 mil? Hell, he's still likely to get into the 40 point area, which is what Filppula gets and no one rips him for his $3 mil cap hit.

I'm with you; I used to read Bleacher Report "articles" now and again, but stopped when I realized I pretty much had to rant at the stupidity of the authors after almost everything I read on there. There are hidden gems, but frankly most of the crap over there is just that: crap.

TPL is really the only DRW blog I read on a regular basis, as Hollis/Petrella/Discher are really the only bloggers I can stand on a nearly-daily basis. Fantastic series of posts, made all the more entertaining by Petrella's great writing. (I wish the Free Press would employ Petrella et al instead of their crappy writers, frankly.)

Jesus, that's awful. I honestly feel bad for Canuck fans with how many injuries they've got on the blue line. Well, I do until we have to play them, or it's time for the playoffs. Then I'll giggle.

Do you know of any of those dmen that we'd be able to get without getting rid of multiple players?

Do you guys really think we can move Hudler without including someone or picks to sweeten the deal? Hudler has been playing great for a bit now, but not enough that other GMs would take a chance on him without getting a for-sure deal back. That said, with how the team has been playing recently, nothing will happen at the trade deadline. People seem to want a stay-at-home defender, but forget we're getting one in about a week: Stuart. We have all of the solutions to our problems in the system right now, as long as they play well.

And he'll now get 10 more votes for the Norris, just because he's a + player.

Intentional or not, this Ricky Gervais reference is awesome.

He doesn't have to go through waivers because he's in a similar situation to Forsberg, to the best of my knowledge; he wasn't signed with any team, either in North America or overseas. The reason that Nabokov had to go through waivers was because he was signed in the KHL at the start of this season.

So was the forechecking beauty he knocked off a defenseman's stick right to Dats in front of the net. If Dats elevated the puck even a bit, that's a phantom assist to Hudler (in that it likely wouldn't be counted on the stat sheet, but he caused the giveaway to Pavel).

Pretty ridiculous thread, frankly. He's still a kid. We can't expect every call-up to be Nick Lidstrom's successor or we're going to be terribly disappointed. Yes, he makes mistakes. Guess what? Every defenseman in the NHL does except for the guy with the Winged Wheel on his chest and the number five on his back. Kindl has the potential to be a good defenseman; maybe not a #1 or #2, but definitely a #3 or #4 guy. He still has a few years yet before he's supposed to hit his prime. Give the kid time to develop.

If the Wings keep playing like they did tonight, there's really no need for moves with Stuart looking at coming back in a week and Modano in 2-3 weeks. The main problem in trading is that you usually have to give up something of equal value at the time, regardless of the potential. Hudler has been in every damn thread we have proposing trades, yet he played a pivotal role in the win tonight with some very strong passing, forechecking, and scoring. I like every player we have on the team when they're playing their game like they were tonight. Even Rafalski who I usually rag on had a good game. Then again while I don't know Mr. Holland's take on most things, I'd assume that he and I are of pretty similar minds on this subject.

Did someone in this thread really suggest that Stuart is a better defenseman than Lidstrom? Man, losing sucks, but I didn't know it made people stupid. It's time for Babcock to earn his salary. This is what coaches get paid for.

Per Petrella's Twitter (made the trip with the team): https://twitter.com/#!/mpetrella/status/33790769286356992

Depends on a lot of stuff, but specifically there are a lot of guys coming through the system that will need to be in the NHL soon (Kindl full-time, Smith, etc). If Rafalski's agent asks for too much from the Wings, I'd imagine that he's done, especially with his declining defensive play. I'd say more then $3M a season is too much. But my name isn't Ken Holland, Nick Lidstrom, or Brian Rafalski, so what do I know? Nick could win the Norris this year and decide to go out on a high note, but I only see our team getting better in the next few years, and Nick obviously isn't declining much at all.

I really don't think Lidstrom will retire. He's having a great year, says he's having a lot of fun, and he obviously isn't slowing down much (if at all) based on his consideration for the Norris. I honestly think Rafalski will retire before Lidstrom.

UFA after next year. Weber is an RFA after this year, FWIW. I don't see Nashville letting him walk, and if he did, it would cost us too much to sign him. Suter is a reasonable goal, though, as Nashville will have to re-sign Kostitsyn and a few other guys (Kostitsyn is due a pay raise for this next year). Unless Nashville's ownership wants to go up to the cap, they likely won't be re-signing Suter unless he doesn't warrant a pay raise or unless he wants to stay in Nashville.

Probably not too much different, just wouldn't have people taking discounts or structuring deals to take advantage of how the CBA works. Keep in mind that the cap is already $59M. I honestly couldn't see the organization spending more than $75M on a team as a whole. Maybe another star blue liner like Weber, Suter, Doughty, etc, but not a whole lot different.

They had to. It's not much of a cost for the NHL, really. 36 x 2 = 72 jerseys made. Compared to how many most NHL teams have ready to have letters/numbers sewn on in case someone comes up from an AHL team or gets signed, it's not that big of a number.

Er, this game is going to be HILARIOUS to watch. Team Lidstrom: 102 Team Staal: 4