Opie

Chelios whether you think it or not is a great fit for this team, and is a sure lock HOFer. The Wings are paying him 850K a year, you want him making less than that. He is a steal for that money. No he is not a Norris trophy candidate, but he is a veteran presence that plays very solid D, he is great for the youngsters on D (the wings have a lot there) and if you think that for a minute there aren't other teams that would pay him 1mil, ask Toronto what a defenseman who is solid in his own zone, makes few mistakes and can help shut down the other team is worth. Hell they don't have any defenseman that play as well as he does in their own zone, they would love him. HE is pissed that he has to sit out the second game, BABCOCK wants him rested. Why not, your team is by far the best team in the league, your D is the best in the league, you sit your one of your top 3 defensive defenseman, and your team gives up 2 goals and wins the game. Cheli (defensively remember) is better than any other d-man on this team besides Lids and Ralf, if Kronwall can make 3mil why not pay Cheli 850k, it is not like it is pinning the team to the cap, you pay him what (in your mind at least) is an overpayment, but you know what you are getting. If each year a team goes out and replaces their 5th d-man year after year with aging vets you get no chemisty on D. This D has lost 2 D-men over the past what 5 years, Fischer and Schneids. Cheli is a perfect fit in Detroit both in salary number and play.

Seriously some of you have unreal expectations!! Lilja doesn't = Lidstrom. I know it can be tough, they are both wearing a helmet and have on the same color jersey, but the expectations placed on them are different. There is a reason one (lids) is a god among Defenseman, There is also a reason one (Lilja) is a 4-6 d-man. It is called Skill. Your top ranked D-man will have a hell of a lot more skill than your 3rd or 4th d-man let a lone 5-6 (Lilja, Lebda). He screws the pooch from time to time, so doesn't Rafalski (Last night), so Doesn't lids (own goal), so doesn't Cheli (own goal). The difference is that you people adore Lids, Cheli, Ralf (most not all adore him) and they are great defenseman. Lilja is not liked by most of you and is an alright defenseman. The thing is on this team that is all he is supposed to do. I KNOW WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I am going to call this the Jiri Fischer Phenomenon, I think too many of you want him to be Jiri's replacement. You see a D-man with size and an offensive upside and you want him to be Jiri. Guess what, they aren't even in the same league. But hey I am cool with that, Lils isn't supposed to be the new Jiri, or the next Larry Murphy. He is supposed to be an alright defenseman on the best d in the league right now (stat wise not personnel wise). A job he is filling admirably I would say. And bringing up the pass across the net with the Wings is a bad example. On most clubs you would say yes defenseman making clearing attempts through the slot would be a bad idea, so wouldn't players in the zone (d-men included, I am looking at you Sir Lids) making behind the back or through the leg passes. But on this Wings team they have the forwards and defenseman who can make those plays in their own zone. Most of the time the team breaks out of the zone it is attempted through the middle or a pass is made across the zone where the offense has vacated the zone to play the trap errr uhhh defense, while most other teams try to use the boards. Being a puck possession team the wings do a lot of passing plays that other teams try to avoid.

He said Stanley Cups is what kept Bourque off of his list, but Bourque has how many Norris Trophies. I don't see how cups relate to a player being the best at his position, except goalies. In net you have a much more hands on effect on wins and losses, as a skater the impact is lessened. Lids could have been the best defenseman ever, made it to 8 WCF's, 5 SCF's, the playoffs every year of his career, scored more points than any other defenseman, and the possibility exists he would never win a Cup. Would that mean that he doesn't belong in the top 5 by using the Cup rule?

Melrose now says: Orr Harvey Lids Neidermayer Robinson Runner ups Bourque Potvin and I missed the last one. I would argue that Bourque is better than Robinson and I would say better than Neidermayer.

The other night in Boston the same worry came up, but as long as the away team can get to the barn they will play the game so for your sake I hope the wings are already there!

You do me we will have the Swedish National team. That was meant to be a joke but with the talks of a potential Sundin trade (I don't believe it) this team could literally be one player away from having the top 2 forward lines and some of their best D-men. Damn!!!

I didn't think that hit looked that bad, I mean I saw him fall limply to the ice, but I only saw the highlights and the hit was a brief part of the clip, did he skate off on his own or did he need help?

Nope, nicely done!!

So I was watching ESPN highlights on line today and Melrose had some thoughts to share about the Lids signing, nothing special, singing his praises and calling him Nicky which pisses me off BTW> But either way when I went to their NHL page looking for th clip to post, they have a poll should the wings have given Lids a 2yr 15mil deal. 15% said NO!!!! What, damn Nuck fans always skewing the vote! Seriously though that had to be anti-wing fans that voted no!

Hey Matt, Is there a way for me to check and see if my donation went through to you or do you give us a confirmation email after it is received? I could probably just check my PayPal account. EDIT: Whoa nevermind there is my little badge of donation right there!! SWEET!!!!!!

What are you trying to say that people around here should appreciate what they are witnessing, nah it is funner to ***** and moan all year about players not being the next lids or dats when they are not supposed to be.

Cicada, I am really glad some one brought that up. Even after getting leveled and I do mean leveled by Phanuef he got up gathered all of his beans and went back to playing hockey. He plays with an energy and an attitude that I hope is contagious, he seems so happy to be on the ice. And at his size he stands tall when guys mess with him. Obviously he isn't going to swing with some of these guys, but he doesn't just eat a glove and skate away. It is kind of like Hines Ward for the Steelers, that guy can get lit up going across the middle and will do it with a big ass smile on his face.

Great point about Lids, how many players would have held out or gone to another org to get more money when they are the best in the world at their position. Yet this man inexplicably takes a pay cut!!!! I repeat my originally reaction to this AHHHH AHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAH The Red Wings just signed the best defenseman in the world for less than he is currently making!!!!!!

I don't usually predict, but it is the hated Av's (I know, I know 10 years ago, I still hate them anyway!)! 4-0 Wings Huds, Dats (+1a), Lids (pp +2a), Cleary Ralf, Sammy, Flip, Franzen all get assists as well Lilja gets owned by Parker after Parker takes a cheap shot at Huds and Huds jumps up to punch him in the chest!! Budaj gives up 4 in the first 30 min and gets pulled! This is kind of fun I am typing s*** that will probably never in a million years happen, but hey it could!!

2 assists last night! Looks like he is a pretty good fit with Hudler and Filpula to me, but then again what do I know. I am sure some of you are going to say "One was a second assist, hell the goalie can get those..blah..blah..blah" Say what you want, but he helps put goals up on the board, whether that is because he is at the right place at the right time or be it that his pass got deflected, he is making plays and seems to be fitting in nicely with his teammates! I know last year in the WCF I would have taken one of his s***ty assists on another goal to put game 5 away, but again that is just me, I am not an NHL GM, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

So tonight should be the real test, the second night of a back to back, come on boys lets see you go after it tonight and bring it to the Lanche!!

HELENE ST. JAMES: Why Lidstrom is so great http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...5/71226025/1053 Not sure if you guys read this back in June or not but here it is again. This guy is Great, and that word is thrown around a lot to describe people who aren't but he is truly a great D-man, great Captain (I thought it would be tough to follow THE captain, not for the NEW captain), Great player, and according to Kronner a great person too. Edit for this quote:

I know back injuries can be bad, but it is not usually until surgery. Most re-occurring back injuries that do not require surgery are a day or two with some lingering pain and stiffness. I am sure playing a game like Hockey will only make it worse. But with Forsberg, he had Ankle injuries, those are devastating especially in a game like Hockey. I have a feeling he will always have lingering back issues that throughout his career will cost him 5-10 games a year, but it doesn't sound like this is something that could cost him 1/2 to a full season at any point in time. But that is just my guess, I am not a chiropractor but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night!

Double post

What worries me most about Ryder is not his potential to score 30 goals it is his potential to be a minus 30. One year that he score 30 he was a minus 25. If he is going to be on the ice for 30 goals both ways that is not a good situation. I am not saying that being in Montreal is as good as being on a team like Detroit the last couple of years, it is a worry. Sammy and a high level prospect will be needed to get him. Any trade involving Sammy is probably going to also need a Kindl along with it. As much as some Wing's fans hate Sammy, he does have an upside and is tradeable, but if you want something in return it will take more, I think on his own he would probably get you a 3rd/4th round pick. I like what he does here, but he is not going to garner a lot of trade interest, unless it was with something of high value or potential.

Canuck's fans = "VOTE FOR RORY" Enough Said!

These are going to be three very tough games indeed! Any idea what the lines will look like?

AHHHH HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! The Red Wings just signed the best defenseman in the game, for less than he is already making!!!!! That is awesome, I hope he wins this and one more Norris, to firmly plant him self in the top 3 D men of all time, the only question is does it go Orr Harvey Lids or Orr Lids Harvey

This is absolutely great news. I love the length and assume the $ to be around 8mil give or take .5mil.

Not sure if you want us to report bugs to you or not, or if we should do it in this thread or not. But when I tried the quick edit, I couldn't save my changes and get out of the quick edit mode without canceling out. Now it could completely be my error (wouldn't be the first), but thought I would post it. New Board looks G.R.R.R.reat!!!