Opie

Kasper, Oleg, Markov, Yashin, they are all headed to make Russian hockey a little poorer!!!!

If you watch the youtube of it you can see from the second camera angle you can see he left his feet before the body contact was made. There was definite intent to injure, and he will be lucky if they send him down, otherwise some of the Sens guys will be looking for revenge. That was not a clean hit. The fact that you think boarding could have been called on that makes me think you were not watching the same clip, for it to be boarding wouldn't McAmmond have to be facing the boards? You tell me I am not an official, just a fan!

GS&T that is because no one has used Keep your Head up, since Tupac, most people say put your head on a swivel or Keep your chin up. LOL Seriously though I agree with everything you just posted. Dirty hit, dirty player, hit had tons of intent to injure in it. He left his feet, and he picked his target out at center ice! Oh, BTW GS&T with that kind of posting you will never make your way to the LGW welcoming committee. You should have at least brought a fruit basket!

Wasn't this supposed to be his comeback year, he was lighter, in better shape, and he had a haircut!!

That vid just suddenly took me over, I think it temporarily hypnotized me and now I want to go get a cardboard box and some spandex!!!

He was in Manchester last year playing for the Monarchs. He was good for the AHL, showed some good leadership for the young guys, but he looked over matched at times in the AHL.

Cicada, I warned you and then fell right into the trap. I really think this guy is DRW02. But I love how when he is proven to be wrong he tries to turn around and be the victim, Yeah because we all are viscously attacking you for no reason.

Didn't Kronner play some point last year, now I am not saying he will be healthy all year so knowing some one else can play the point will be huge, but I didn't think he was horrible back there.

All of the quotes or statements I am referring to are coming out of the book put together by the Detroit Free Press callled the Captian, I would say go read it Yzer19, but you would misconstrue it anyways so don't bother. I usually try to let everyone have their own opinion but you are stating your opinion as fact and that is not true. Yzerman never admitted his injuries were "fine", show me an article where he said that. I have read many articles on his departure, Mitch Albom who became a close friend of Steve even said his knees couldn't hold up and his body was beaten. Yzerman was humble, but had very high expectations for himself. He wasn't upset that the wings wanted to use him as a fourth liner, he never cared what his role was. He was upset that his skilled had deminished and he couldn't play to his expectations. Good point lets look at Yzerman in 02, he could barely skate, he was beaten, and Scotty knew he needed him for the playoff run, sort of like Hank got to rest before the playoffs because of his back. Look what Bowman made Stevie do, he held him accountable in his own end, he made him change his game. Remember Yzerman was a scoring machine and a decent defensive player before Bowman came to town. And if you think for a minute Bowman would let Stevie rest because he was a vet you are very wrong Hasek was a huge question mark, nobody knew what he could provide. Markov was a pickup that nobody knew what he would do. Other substantial ?'s Franzen, Filpula, Cleary, Hudler, Lilja, Kronwall, Could Lids be a leader, could Dats and Z step up. And all Babcock did was take them to the WCF, you are right what a glowing failure. (sigh) Are you kidding, Maltby and Draper are two of the most revered wings on the team. Look back at what happened when I suggested Maltby was expendable, people ran all up and down me praising his intangibles. And why is Yzerman not as revered, because everytime we post or open our mouths we don't speak of the great Steve Yzerman like you. Stevie Y is the reason I love hockey, the reason I started watching it. Why on earth would a player in an interview that has nothing to do with Steve Yzerman, and everything to do with his own experiences from last year (as much as you wanted it Yzerman wasn't on the team ) start talking about how great Steve is. That makes no sense, again because you do it doesn't man everyone else should. I don't know for a fact but I can infer that the question that was asked was probably something along the lines of "How did the playoff loss effect you/the team/ the wings?" Plus Zetterberg is a vet now, why would he say playing with the vets was a learning experience, that would be like saying playing hockey with myself was a great learning experience. And no saying everyone else was treated the same is a statement about how Babs coach's the team. That is the way the game is played, you go out you bust your ass or you go sit in the press box. That is what he is talking about. For some reason you have this idea that every statement made is about respect and how people view each other. It is not he is simply making a statement about how the game is played on the ice. Now if the question was, do you respect Cheli, Lids, Yzerman, Shanny, or whomever else you wanted him to praise, I am sure his answer would have been a lot different. You need to remember that we do not have the privilege of knowing what question was asked. That is why so many athletes have to come back the next day to explain a quote, because we have no idea what he was asked. That is exactly why teams do that stuff, because on the ice everyone goes out and plays their best and gets treated equal. When they hang the skates up if they were outstanding like Yzerman the team puts their number up. Please Boys II men--> crying --> moving on!! Try it!

Great article, I agree that head hunting and dirty hits are a league wide pandemic and something needs to be done about this. Maybe instead of trying to make the players 8% faster the league should work on making the players 8% cleaner.

YZER19, I just re-read that article to make sure I wasn't being harsh on you and unfairly berating you. You are reading what you want in these articles. The first words out of his mouth are the following: As far as the switched teams retire thing: He is saying that he has to step up to take over the job these guys did. He didn't say, they did a s***ty job and now I am going to show them how it is done. some how you took this as a slight to the vets. All he is saying is that he learned from it and so haven't the other young guys. He didn't say it was a learning experience and without the vets we would have won. We all get it, you are having a hard time saying goodbye to Stevie. Do me a favor, go home listen to Boyz II Men's it so hard to say good bye have a good cry and move on. I partake of the greenery and all man, but you are seriously smoking some crazy s*** if after reading that article twice you think in anyway shape or form that Zetterberg was slighting anyone.

DIRTY HIT, DIRTY PLAYER!! From what I have read about this kid he has some major major issues. He is a head case. If he continues to snap mentally because people won't do what he tells them and because he eats a solid check he will eventually do something far worse than this. This guy is a time bomb and someone needs to step in and get him under control, he is bad for himself.

Cicada, Be careful here, Yzer19 is also of the opinion that: 1. The Wings (players) forced Yzerman to retire. 2. That a wings roster that includes Yzerman wins the cup last year. 3. That Yzerman is only retired because the wings forced him to, and that when Yzerman says he can't play any more, he is just saying it. Dave Lewis could not get this team to play worth a crap in the post season. Do you want to know why Bowman got so much out of his teams. Because even if you were a dead set lock for the HOF he made you play, he expected the best out of you night in and night out. Hell he made Feds play D, Yzerman play the 3rd line, he did lots of crap like that because it was what the team needed. Remember Babcock took a team that was "rebuilding" and picked to go nowhere all the way to the WCF. Yzer19, Do you know why Yzerman was so revered as a leader and a role model? Because no matter what his stats were from the past game or past season, no matter who thought he was going to the hall, no matter what anyone said (except the coach) he went out and played his ass off. He never took a shift off because he was a veteran, or because he was going to the HOF. Now not every player can be Steve Yzerman, but every player has the ability to go out and play every shift hard. And for the one million and first time (sorry the millionth person won a car, you were close though).... The wings lost the wcf because of a bad bounce and an ineffective power play, not because of coaching. Another thing: Just because Zetterberg doesn't say the vets helped us doesn't mean he doesn't appreciate them. Do you know the question he was asked that prompted that response. It could have been how did last year help the young guys? It could also be that maybe he was asked how losing helps them move on as a team. Just because a wing player doesn't proclaim Yzerman the best player ever and praise the vets in an interview that doesn't mean he is disrespecting his teammates past or present.

Very good point I have no idea why I wrote that, I will have to blame it on the recreational chemistry! Now you know why I don't post a lot at night.

Que?

Whomever made the decision to sit him next to Yzerman deserves some credit, right after his family, and Stevie. This kid has a great attitude and has the skill to go with it. He is the real deal and in a few years when He and Dats are in their prime, they are going to be fun to watch and easy to root for!

I take back what I said this team has scored it's 6th of the night. They got a lot of goals from different people. Z, Lids, Ralf, Homer, Dats, Drake, Kopecky, Maltby, Lilja, Sammy, Cheli, Franzen, Hudler all with points. That is pretty impressive!

I guess I should take back what I said about offensive concerns for this team. Even though it is the Rags D which isn't that solid that is 6 against NHL players. Not too shabby

After his play in this post season I think Cleary could be a mini version of Shanny. By mini I mean less of a fighter and less of a scorer but same type of player. Both he and Franzen really aggravated the Flames a lot, and the Sharks quite a bit too. My issue with Forsberg has nothing to do with him being a former av, but his injury issues. Other than that the man is a talented hockey player, he is the new Neely, in terms of injuries screwing up an unbelievable hockey career.

Not when they are carrying 12% more moisture on their jerseys. I thought it was originally 8% faster from the league. Maybe I was wrong! Either way that has to be one of the funniest reasons to change equipment!!!

Hey if Rex has little man's disease, otherwise known as Napolean Complex, he should be fine in the NHL, give him a little edge, a little anger, a little motivation. {Pun intended}

Holy s*** that is a lot more maturity than I think anyone here has shown, myself included. Did you seriously just admit to making a mistake, seriously some one on this board admitted that. I am just being a sarcastic asshat, but atleast you had the guts to admit it. I never grabbed onto the Lang was lazy, you could take the hardest working player in hockey and if you stand him in front of a bunch of people used to watching Yzerman play for 20+ years, anyone will look a little lazy. I agree with you though that they could be great, if everyone stays onpar with last year and the guys with more minutes get better this team could be very very good and young. But I have been a Red Sox fan for a long time now and watching them constantly suck it up, wears even the strongest fan down!

Thanks for telling me what my opinion of the wings should be. You will notice that in all of my post I tell you my opinion, not what yours should be. And yes I have no problem posting in the Downey threads, but you don't see me degrading people behind the veil of internet toughness, while telling some one what to or not to start topics on. When the 5th (I was wrong earlier there are not 6 on the front page) Downey thread came up, did I tell anyone to no I posted my thoughts on the comments made. And to some of us the Downey topic is old already, it is not just about Downey he just happens to be the new name. Now back to me not being worried about the offense. Lets look at some thing shall we. 1. The Wings have lost Lang and no matter what anyone thinks of his work ethic, he put up points that are going to need to be made up for. This team did not scorch the scoreboard up last year. A lot of the guys on this roster were there last year, and the only one to get a dramatic increase in minutes should be Huds, therefore I would have to assume those guys will get about the same amount of points. 2. There are a lot of young guys I am really excited about, I have high hopes for them, however we have no idea what the wings will get out of Cleary this year. Will he regress to his previous self? Can Mule handle being a second liner? Will Hudler shine with more minutes? These are all concerns for me. Do I think the wings are doomed and destined for defeat no. But I am concerned about the ability to put pucks in the back of the net. 3. I would love to believe that splitting Datsyuk and Zetterberg up will spread their talent out and they will be able to make other players better. But I am concerned like others that splitting them up may take away the wings one dominant line. And as we all know Hudler is not Datsyuk and Franzen is not Zetterberg, so some of the punch that D and Z have will be lessened because the other was so good that helped them understand what the other will do. It will take a guy like Hudler a while to get to a point where he expects that pass from Z behind the net going the other way. These are my major concerns for this offense.

He was complaining about your putting up a thread that was pages deep, yet he has no problem posting in every thread on the first page about Aaron Downey. It was a reply to the post I quoted above what I said.

What his statement meant was that will be the teams starting line up, I believe but could be wrong.