Opie

But that is not an all-star game, that is a "let's get a player from every team together and have a game and see who wins" game. Bad idea, especially now in Baseball where home field is decided by the all star game results!

100% agreed, I hate this invite some one from every team, what is this a 3rd grade classroom where you have to invite everyone in the class to your birthday or you can't hand out invites in class.. Seriously, an all-star game should be just that all-stars. Legace over Leclaire, no way. Both of these guys deserve it, but because they need to invite a player from the worst team in the league, one of them misses it. I am calling Shenanigan's on the whole thing!! Captain O'Hagan: I swear to God I'm going to pistol whip the next guy who says, " Shenanigans." Mac: Hey Farva what's the name of that restaurant you like with all the goofy s*** on the walls and the mozzarella sticks? Farva: You mean Shenanigans? Mac: OOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Thorny: OOOOOOOOOOOOOO. [as they hand the Captain their pistols]

What, you mean like it used to be, nah what good would that do. I mean seriously who would want to watch skills competitions have something to do with the game of hockey, when a 3-0 from the slot against the goaltender is so much more common in the game of hockey!!!!! [/sarcasm]

Oh I didn't mean to make it look like I was supporting the decision, I was just trying to throw some logic into why, because they are both playing very well, on a decent team. 24-14-4

Henrik is leading the Nucks in a lot of categories. Yes Daniel is 2 pts behind and has 13 more goals, but I think Henrik has an assist on almost every one of those, and he has more than 20 assists. I think if I had a twin and we played together for so long, I would have wanted to get drafted to separate teams, to establish my own identity. But then again show me a better way to come into the league and make a bigger impact than playing with some one that you know as well as you know yourself.

Osgod, seriously dude, you know better than that, no one is saying that making a statement like he needs to shoot better or take better shots is bashing him. It is the people who yell and scream saying he is useless, can't pass, is a waste of space, blah blah, blah. Saying his shooting percentage sucks Donkey Dink is not bashing him it is stating the truth, it is as much about how people are expressing their displeasure with him more than saying he is not playing well. If there was one thread that was title Sammy is playing bad, or why is sammy struggling this year I don't think this thread would exist. It is the: Sammy is useless, Sammy doesn't fit in, Sammy is a waste, Sammy is the ANTI_CHRIST threads that get old and are getting these responses. As some one said earlier it has a lot to do with Maturity, some people are mature at 12 and others are immature at 57.

Instead Tim Thomas is there and is highly ranked and is actually first in SV%. Osgood and Hasek are the best combo going on right now in the NHL and probably the best in quite a few years, but saying the are the best ever is a little bit of a homerism. Seriously look at the names thrown around this thread. Plus if you consider it stat wise, Brodeur, luongo, and the others that play 60 games plus whatever scrub back up you can find would be better than those two. Seriously 97-98, Brodeur and I were a better combo, even if my SV% was .195 and My GAA 9.63 (yes I know they are inversed trying to prove a point) he and I would still be a better combo. Because that year he had the following stats 43-17-8 (not stellar but we are getting to that part) GAA 1.89 SV% .917 GA 130 Shots 1569 GP 70 That means I only had to play 12 games with my s***ty numbers and we are still and unbelievable combo, let alone if you put him with some one with more than 1.5 knees and who has actually stood between the pipes before. But by definition it wasn't really a tandem, so that skews it a little!

It is official you SUCK!!!!! Edit and your LAZY!

One of the two have decided yet but I will let you know the Gordie Howe Poster cost me 19.99 and was originally tagged at 125.00, I got it without a scratch on it, the store was having a hard time selling them in NH!! When I go home for lunch I will take a photo and post it of the Howe Poster, I can't find it online.

I am getting used to it, it is the same when my football team (The Pats) play anyone, or my b-ball team (The Celtics)play anyone. If you are the best team in the league and it is by a far margin and you are destroying the competition like they have lately (minus Col) everyone gets up for you, especially the weaker teams. For example last night the C's lost by 12 to a horrible Bobcats team, why. To the C's this was just a regular game, the Bobcats this was there chance to make a statement, in Boston against the #1 team in the league. They played with playoff intensity. BTW what a great year for me, my fav major sport teams Det Red Wings, Boston Red sox, Boston Celtics, New England Patriots. Now if Newcastle could turn it around in UEFA I would be pumped!!!

Sorry for my approach in reply then!

Bringback91 I couldn't agree more, this team could be 44-0 and some people would still complain!

I assume that is sarcasm, so instead of just throwing around insults who would you put out there from within the system that can produce like that. Because if babs takes your idea and all of the sudden the team tanks, people that take the same mentality as you would be all over this board bitching about babs ruining the season. Failing to admit that they got what they asked for. But I mean you are right the Wings should screw around with the lines and bring in prospects instead of proven players, I mean it is obvious that they are struggling this year and if they don't change something soon they may miss the playoffs!! And after all that is what is important right winning the cup right. Oh know it isn't, it is about appealing to the fans wanting to see fights, and making them happy by sitting guys who they don't like. Imagine if Babs read these boards last year and benched that lazy and sucky Lang, because it is not like his playing is the reason that the wings won a pivotal OT playoff game!

Oddly enough in the Hockey East (NCAA) women's hockey is very very competitive, UNH and U Maine have taken their rivalry to the women's rink. I am not a huge fan of the game as I do like the checking, but it is almost as entertaining as European hockey, not as fast so it loses out a little, but if you actually watch it when it is some what competitive it is a good watch. The problem is once you go to the international stage (which is the only really televised games) only two countries have really embraced women's hockey and that is the US and Canada and that shows on the score board with 11-0 games! Give it time, people still have a "Women are feeble and weaker than men, they should not hit!!" mentality, once they realize it is women hitting women and open up the checking game( I mean Full on, they allow a little but not much) it will grow even more.

A. He is not supposed to be Hull or Shanny, they were expected to be top goal scorers and point producers, he is expected to be the 6 best forward, and until recently he was just that, I believe Cleary has moved into that position right now. B. Plus what a lot of you forget is that Sammy spent a lot of time the past two seasons centered by either Z or Lang, those are two pretty good centers, one is showing to be great. But then you put Flip in his line and Huds, two youngsters that he has no experience with and he is used to playing with higher end centers. C. He is cheap and he scores goals, and in the salary cap era, that is huge. There are a few things that from being an avid football fan I picked up about the salary cap. 1. Soon, 2-3- years, there will be no more rental player situations. It will cost too much. Now don't take that as money cost. In the new era prospects and picks are valued a lot higher than in the non cap structure. You can't just go out and replace prospects and picks with Veterans, a team can't do that and stay under the cap. 2. Prospects and Picks will carry tremendous value in trades, eventually you could see guys like Kindl, Meech being traded for top tier players because of the new value associated with young cheap talent.

There are only a couple of reasons why Sammy made the top 6 and it is not his ability to score 30-40 goals, as we all know he can't. Here is a quick list of Why I think the wings put him in the positions they do: 1. He is a right handed shot, most of the wings top 6 is Lefty. 2. He has a powerful shot, Babs wants his players going hard to the net and shooting more, Sammy can do that, well at least the shooting part, I haven't seen him go to the net as well as Flip is starting to pick up that skill. 3. Him there allowed the wings to keep Cleary on the checking line which he was doing a great job at and breaking up that line would have been bad for the team (IMO) weeks ago. 4. Him on the second line allowed D-Z-H to start the year off together, otherwise that line or the checking line has to split up. 5. Who Else, seriously before Cleary stepped it up these past couple of weeks who else was going to play that position? PP 1. His Shot. None of the young Blueliners except Kronwall really have a tremendous shot from the point, Lilja has shown it once in a while, and it usually results in a goal when he does, but he is reluctant. Babs is trying to save Cheli some minutes so I don't see him there. 2. He has offensive upside, he has shown he can score, and on the PP where better to try and get a guy some goals. 3. Who else, seriously, who, who else is proven back there? Right now with this team he is best served to play on a line that is Kopecky - Franzen - Sammy, especially if the top two lines can perform with the new look. That puts him on the fourth line, he would not be the defensive specialist on the line, and if they do get set up in the zone Franzen is a big body to go to the net and screen his shot. Everyone talks about his shot being so inaccurate or that he can't hit anything but the chest protector. Do any of you notice the D when he shoots or are you just so intent on finding cracks in his game. What is the new favorite Defensive position for the League, everyone settle up in the slot and try to block shots or give the shooter only bad shots, now that doesn't explain some of his 3 on 2 shots, but none of us know what Babs is saying to him on the bench. And if we use Huds/Cleary as a basis for an inference if Sammy was doing something Babs was remotely unhappy with his playing time would have reflected that. And the Cleary part of it, when he does something the coach likes or has been preaching, he is rewarded with more ice time and better line mates. But it seems like I have been the lone Sammy defender on here until this thread (there have been others, but they seemed to fade in the threads), I am not the guys biggest fan and he has lots of room for improvement, but he is not as bad as most here make him out. My favorite by far is "He can't pass" makes me chuckle everytime. Because sure a team that over the past 15 years has been the model and definition for puck possession and passing would put a guy on the ice with heavy minutes who is incapable of passing. Great stuff!! Hank, what prospect right now in the Wings Org can step up and fill his role, Who? Who can you guarantee me will step up and play 16:00 a game, and still be a +9, Who? And I agree IF Holland, Babs and CO thought there was someone down there they would replace him. They don't seem like the type to play a guy because they have a soft spot for them, even Yzerman saw less time under Babs (How much of that was Stevie admitting he wasn't in shape for top 6 minutes we will never know). I have seen many of your posts and respect you as a poster, so don't take this as I am attacking you but what prospect can give you what Sammy is giving you, didn't most people think that would be Grigs, so much for prospect rankings. (I know, I know the accident is why he showed up to camp out of shape and unable to play N. American Hockey, or was it his attitude and work ethic. I guess that is still up in the air).

That is a scary thought, they now have a ton of picks to trade, and they really seem reluctant to do anything with Bobby Ryan. Bobby Ryan, two picks from Edmonton for Sundin is a viable option. Maybe even through in their #1 instead of a second EDM pick. Sundin and Teemu together with that D spells trouble!!! Luckily for us wings fans, JFJ won't take that offer, he would want Perry or Getzlaf with it. For some reason it seems like the leafs are thinking Sudnin has years left on his contract to have such a high asking price. Especially when you consider now all the GM's know they want to shop him this early, and they are trying to do the Ray Bourque for him. I really don't think they will get what they want for him. Analogy time: It is like the Santana deal (Or every year with Manny Ramirez) The Twins (Sox in Manny's case) don't really want to get rid of the player, the overall talent there is just too important to the team. So the asking price is severely high, but at the same time they can say to the player, "Hey man, we are doing all that we can, we can't just give away our Captain, best player, and only legit MVP candidate from our team over the last 15 years." I think this is a PR situation where they look like they are trying to do right by him.

Oddly enough that was about the last article I could find that was from 9/1 on. I thought I remember more on him having links posted here.

Wings_Dynasty hit it on the head, maybe if he had played his whole career or 15 seasons in Detroit, but I don't see it happening unless he plays another 6 years or so.

Something like this, see how they are wincing due to a punch coming back at them. or Where they are focusing on what they are hitting. Although the difference is that the players in the example I used were exchanging blows, Downie knew he was not getting hit so he probably just let loose. Either way his face looked evil, based on my perception you may not think that (not trying to be argumentative although it reads that way), I just thought it looked more anger driven and rageful than what I expected.

Blake still has both gloves on, and not that you can tell from that picture, well you kind of can, Downie's momentum was pulling the ref down who was pulling down Blake. Blake is looking to get footing, and then WHAM right in the eye. What scares me the most is look at Downie's face, he looks evil right there. Maybe it is just one of those bad pics that the timing of it makes it look worse, but his face looks like he has every intent to cause lots and lots of harm. just my opinion

That is my problem, the last thing the league needs is that, unfortunately if he doesn't change his tone that is exactly what he needs, minus the career ending injury part. He needs a veteran guy to beat the ever living snot out of him and then stand over his bloodied face and say "There punk, smarten up, get it, can you still hear me with all of the blood in your ears!!!"

Well the guy has only played 5 NHL games and already got a 20 game suspension in one and a fine in another, should we sing his offensive praises? Honestly the guy is asking for bad press and for bad things. He is a rookie, and no one really respects him yet (because he hasn't earned league wise) however I am sure quite a few people respect McAmmond and Blake. If he is going to consistently play like this, he better keep his head up and his mouth piece in!

True but imo no way in hell Babcock lets that happen. He seems to be the type of coach that will only give roster spots to those who earn it. No matter how much of a fan favorite D-Mac was or is, Babs will not let it interfere and I think Holland and Mr. I would stand behind him. If he can't play at a level they expect he won't play in the winged wheel.

I think he gives the team basically an Aaron Downey who can play nightly and maybe, just maybe chip in some points along the way like a younger Dallas Drake. He is sort of the perfect combination of both IF he can play!!!