Opie

Yeah that way he can pass to Flip or Kron and they can pass to a shooter to score, or in some cases he just passed it to a shooter and they scored! Know what you are talking about before you start running your gums, Sammy's fore check has let directly to three goals!!!! Granted I believe all 3 were put home by Franzen who is out, he still has made the play, and hopefully Franzen will be back. But good try anyways, unfortunately: FAIL!!!

Yeah right, I mean why have manners, it is only the internet, no one really knows who you are, so they can't recognize you for the rude, degrading a-hole you really are. You can be as impolite as you want and no one really knows who you are! It is just like being an internet tough guy, it works on your keyboard but no where else in life.

I think everyone here is discounting guys like Malone and Staal. All the talk is the big three in Pit, Ryan Malone (IMO) should be the top rated/sought after UFA other than Hossa. The defense is where the wings have the definitive advantage.IMO

So Z gets credit for the time he would have played had he been healthy, but Dats doesn't get credit for the ability to stay healthy. And I don't think it is Yzerman V. Feds part 2, that wasn't a skill battle(for lack of a better term) or complete player battle that was one guy showing up every night regardless of injuries or whatever was going on and one guy showing up when he wanted to! I think Feds was great as a Wing but if he had Yzerman or Z or Dats work ethic he would have been bar none the best player in the world!!!! I think it is more of a Yzerman/Shanny situation, they play great together, play very well on different lines, they do what the team needs them to do. The difference being that Z and Dats have a lot more similarities in their game than Yzerman and Shanny did. Yzerman and Shanny complimented each other very very well, Dats and Z do that as well, but they at times are mirror images of each other. Either way I think the Wings are lucky to have the two of them and hopefully come July or some time during next season the Wings get Z locked up long term!

You apparently missed most of the end of the season, or at least didn't pay that much attention out west, not that I blame you, with all that happened at the end of the season (trade deadline on) for the Pens I would be pretty focused on watching them if they were my team too!!!! Ellis was one of the hottest goaltenders at the end of the regular season, 2.5 game shutout streak going into the playoffs then came Detroit. Jose ThreeorFour was being very highly touted by the media after the wild series, then came Detroit. Turco was one of the hottest netminders in the post season then came Detroit. MAF is playing awesome, the Pens as a team are playing awesome (hence making it to the SCF), but that has been said about many teams that have headed into Detroit. Now the Wings in the past have shown a propensity to get beaten by a hot goaltender, and MAF right now is probably the definition of hot goaltender, if not him right now I have no idea who!

Again way to describe your position! Any others with an opinion on this matter, I personally don't see how there is a hands down winner and was wondering what puts the player you chose so far and above others that they are a hands down winner. Reds4life, you mentioned Z being on the ice in every situation, you mean like Dats, Lids, Kronwall, Mule, Flip? Now I am not saying Flip is in the hunt for MVP, however he has played every single situation this postseason. Granted Z's level of play is much higher or more complete, I should say, but there are a lot of players that play in every situation PK, Even strength, shut down 5-5, team d. I guess I was looking more for an explanation of your stance instead of you reiterating your position.

Thanks for insinuating that I don't watch the games, that was a thoughtful well worded in depth reply!

I am asking out of curiosity not starting a flame war. To those of you who have hands down winners how? Lets say you chose a forward: How do you separate Z from D and Mule, D from Z and Mule, Mule from D and Z? You chose a D-man How is it that Lids or Kron is making a bigger impact than the forwards? If you chose Ozzie: How is what he is doing clearly better than what Z, D, Mule or Lids is doing. Z is playing great two way hockey, best PK guy on the team, even without the shorties! Dats is playing great two way hockey, hitting (not bone crushing but still) a ton, That line is the only line in hockey that is top 3 in O and D in the League, they are the definition of two way forwards!!! Mule, put up fantastic numbers, if he comes back and catches fire, his numbers would be Sakic-esque from his unreal post season (2000? can't remember and now I am not sure it wasn't Forsberg?). Lids, best D-man in the world, best PP QB in 10 years, and all he is doing is playing up to those standards! Ozzie, I would say his biggest boost to this team is the confidence he gives them, not the saves, those help too, but I think his biggest impact starts when the guys see his name on the lineup card! I will say this, I think Kronwall is out of the running, not enough goals, but I thought last year the loss of Schneider was the biggest reason they didn't make the SCF, I could've been wrong, Kronwall is the hitter and 2nd pairing D man this team needed last post season!

Don't do that again I actually almost shat my pants over the thought!!!!!!

Don't hold your breath, for some reason Eva has a grudge against Datsyuk, I am guessing here, in the Selke thread he didn't think Dats deserved even the nomination, he says that Z is easily the better of the two. I personally have asked him multiple times to defend that statement and he never defended his position, and for Eva not to throw stats at me until I cry uncle is just weird. So I am not sure what his deal is with Z being better than Dats, he didn't strike me as one of the posters that has to have everyone agree his guy is better than others (See Ozzie Hasek threads, Dats Z threads).

As a person who lives 45 minutes out of Boston and is a C's fan and a Wings fan, I think the NHL nailed it. The SCF is going on while the NBA is only in the CF rounds. I have so far this post season watch the Wings multiple times over the C's flipping back and forth when their are commercials on the Wings game. Basketball only really needs to be watched 4th quarter. Other than that the game is either a blowout or a battle like last night. But Either way the 4th quarter is where the game is usually decided Don't get me wrong if the Wings weren't or aren't on I am all over the C's game. But even then I pop over to watch the Red Sox. But hockey I feel like if I miss a shift of the game I actually will miss something. Basketball I may miss a dunk or a good defensive play or two if I miss a quarter. Hockey I feel like if I miss a shift I will miss perhaps the only goal of the game, or some great saves, or big hits. Either way if the two are on (and remember the Wings have been successful while the C's have sucked recently, this year excluded) I am watching the Wings. Why, Hockey is more exciting!!! And there is no way I am missing my Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals to watch the C's Pistons ECF!!! Not a chance!!!

Very true, if a Pens fan did the same with an Yzerman pic, this board would freak out!!!! I don't mean holy s*** I won 50 bucks on a scratch ticket freak out, I mean I just found out my girlfriend is a leaving me for a friend because I spend too much time on LGW Freak out!!! LOL

Does it count that the moment they chose to use never happened? Correct me if I am wrong but I didn't think Crosby has taken a SO shot against Toskala?

I agree 100 % except for the fact that you haven't watched enough of Hossa to see what you talked about, he just decided to turn it on for Pit. I would say even after the first round I thought he was going to be mediocre at best. He has far surpassed what I thought of him. Add to that the fact that he is an offensive machine, great shot, decent speed, strong, then you put him on a line with Sidney Crosby. Listen I am not a very talented athlete and I have a destroyed knee to prove it, however you put me out there with Sid and Hossa and I score 45 points a year, just because of the fact that one or two of their shots or passes are going to hit me and end up either in the back of the net or on the others stick and low and behold I get the secondary assist!! I do believe the Wings win this in 6, the teams win both at home, then the wings take game 6, a very close game 6 until the last 8-10 minutes when the Pens stop playing D in order to stave off elimination, but I see this as one of the most entertaining SCF's in a long time. I am hoping for wings in 5, I would love to see them win it at the Joe, not that I will be there in person, but you always want you team to win it at home! I think the difference being Detroits vast superiority on D. Not that the Pens are dog s*** on D, they made it to the SCF and it wasn't on luck alone, but Detroit has the best D (team wise or top 4) in the league, IMO!

When was Laraque's last Post season fight? Go ahead I will give you time to look it up!

Not to be a dink here but Det has done more with 170+ picks than anyone else in the league, just look at the roster, the only players I can think of drafted by the wings above 60 were Lids and Huds, maybe mule but I am not sure on that one. But Dats Z Homer and others were all drafted below 170, and Ericsson a very very good looking D prospect was the last pick in the draft. So to say that Det would be bad with a bunch of low picks is a stretch. That is why the Wings have been a success over the last 15 years, granted years before that wasn't the case but I blame that on previous ownership. The Illitches have put great people, Hakan Andersson namely, in charge of the Draft and those people pick some gems in the late rounds!

If you watch the press conference http://redwings.nhl.tv/team/launch.htm?typ...8318&catid= Edit: couldn't embed it sorry! He pretty much says without saying it that this is his last year and he knew it from when he started looking for a team this year. After watching that I have no doubt if the Wings win it all he is done!!!

Who I or anyone other than Babs would play is a moot point, but if I were to guess what Babs would do I think he will play the lines he has all playoffs. INCLUDING WHEN MALTBY WAS HEALTHY! ZDH Mule Flip Sammy Cleary draper Drake Huds Helm Mac Regardless of penalties that 4th line has brought a ton of energy to the team. BTW what in the hell is Downey going to do in the post season, anyone notice that the fighting minutes in the post season are almost none!!! George Laraque the one guy everyone on this board thinks needs to be dealt with has all of 4 minutes of penalties the entire post season!! What makes you think all of the sudden he is going to start fighting, with the wings of all teams. If he was going to start throwing down with a team Philly or NYR would have been the two teams to do it with not the Wings! Downey was a great addition to the regular season roster, stepped up and did what he does when it was needed of him. But the post season is not the time to put a guy in for an enforcer role, now if the guy can actually be something other than a liability, like the above mentioned Laraque and Mac then that is a different story. Some of you act like Det is the first team to bench this guy, this year was the most games he has ever played in the NHL!!! There is a reason for that, if Det is the softest (some of your words not mine) teams in the league, yet Downey can still only manage 56 games in the regular season, what is it that makes you guys think he belongs on the ice in the playoffs. Now if the series is 3-0 and it has been a bunch of blowouts then sure give the guy a game, but don't put him out there when in the regular season, when games mean significantly less than in the SCF, he is only trusted with 4-6 minutes. That my friend is the definition of the word LIABILITY!

HEY NOW!!! If you are going to start posting using logic and reasoning I am going to have to ask you, good sir, to leave this forum! Either overreact or be gone!!!

Funny when the post season started I made a post very similar to this towards some one else. The difference is I fibbed a little, unintentionally I said he lost 15 lbs, but other than that SPOT ON POST!!!!!!

Oh yeah because the thread with this exact same topic just wasn't good enough for you?

Hey, 'Denim Dan'! You look like the President and CEO of Levi-Strauss!

Lids and Ralf to me are better than Zubov, and in that regard I would take both over him. Other than that I agree 100%!

Seriously can we get something to represent the Wings fans photoshop skill other than another *** or whiner joke? They got old after the first round!

What actions? Do you mean not shaking hands with a smile on his face? Or Are you talking about his words that he used in Press Conferences? You said actions and I don't see what he did that was so horrible, did he slash guys in front of his net, yes, what goalie doesn't? Did he get his gloves in a couple of guys faces, yes, but didn't the wings beloved Ozzie butt end a guy? What did he do that makes him so classless?