Opie

What I saw of Hannu in Boston was not promising. Mind you the team in front of him wasn't exactly dominant. He was exactly what Howard is supposed to be in Detroit, I hope J-ho is better. Having said that I add this to Hannu's defense: -He was rushed through the system due to poor team management (not wanting to spend money) -Was up and down like a rollercoaster, and inevitably it was after one or two bad games, not just his but the teams bad games. That has to hurt his mindset, "I can't lose or I go down!" -Boston Media expects winning teams and is almost as harsh with blame as LGW is. -This could be a good move for him and bring him to where he was expected to go, but what I have seen is a mentally weak netminder.

I like that idea, works well and the wings travel would be a little bit less. BTW lets see how many people ***** about you cutting out the lanche because they wouldn't get Pheonix moving there and using the name!!

I feel for the fans, like the guys who have come on here. They are no less loyal or die hard than us. But there are far less of them, and there appears to be far less interest in their team by the area they are in. But it is hard to argue for moving a team that when in first place in their division and the league for a time can not build substantial support. I know what it did to the Hartford whalers fans around New England when they left. One of my friends still has his "whale" license plate and it is from the whalers. He refuses to give up on the Whale!!!!

According to this place he has been retiring for the last 5 seasons.

My two favorite sports to watch on tv, Hockey and Soccer. I yell and swear at the TV more in a close 1-0 soccer or hockey game more than I do at any Red Sox playoff game. I only say that because I am a sox fan, if it is not a sox game I wont watch it. Even this weekend I was watching the sox and Man vs. Wild because the sport doesn't hold my attention like soccer and hockey. Even NFL I switch between games, or check out something else on TV. Hockey if it is on I watch, regardless of team, same with soccer, which I have to watch in Spanish most of the time, so mute the TV and turn on the tunes. But for some reason neither sport can take of in the US. Hopefully Beckham and Crosby (or Ovechkin) can change that and get more Americans to focus on what is going on and all of the little things that make those sports so awesome to watch. Where as football and baseball you do not have to follow the little things, just wait for the touchdown or homerun. The games are simple to understand, and take no effort to learn. Hockey and Soccer are both very much like a ballet, a lot of things have to happen for the show stopping event to take place. NFL & MLB are spoon fed, all you have to do is watch. Now some people are as die hard as it comes and know every little thing that goes on in a game, like those of us who are die hard hockey fans, however for the most part, those sports are really a lot easier (effort wise) to follow.

More important question do they play hockey? With his bloodline I would take the shot on them.

It will take two men to replace what he does all alone, we as wings fans were blessed to be able to witness his abilities. In 15-25 years he will be talked about like Orr is talked about by us (those who didn't see Orr play) the difference will be in trying to explain a video tape of Lids playing to a newbie to the Hockey world. Orr you can show them the classic photo of him flying through the air and say this man changed hockey. Maybe that pic of Lids diving to save Grier's shot would do some justice.

I unfortunately am another one, especially if it is a Kareoke mic. Seriously, I think players along the line of Modano, Chelios, Yzerman, Bourque would be a better fit and do more for the league. They wouldn't be as flashy and as over the top. They would be great embassadors for the game and not looked upon by the average joe as some one who is just being over the top for the sake of being over the top. Both Hull and Roenick have personalities that do not transfer well from player to media.

^^^^ Not sure on that one he has stated many times that he intends to move back to Sweden he really loves it there and misses it.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-r...o&type=lgns Not that it will be the end of the NBA but this is not good!!!!

I thought that as well, it seems as though this article is basing the investigation off of very degrees of inconsistency. Not between different crews, but the times when one crew seems to show a definite inconsistency of their own. But great point as usual OsGod. Funny the first couple of posts that I interacted with you back in the day were Ozzie based and we were way off in opinions, however on the rest of this sh!t we are on pretty much the same page!

First off, your first sentence how can a guy who has played two years in the league, unless you count a 3 game season and a 15 game season as years in the league, have any perennial stats? Secondly I admitted having not seen many of his games. As much as I have said that the young guys will not be good in two years you are saying they will be. Do we really need to start going through the list of potential Dman that fell flat on their faces like Kuznetsov? I was trying to explain the gap being left by Lids and Cheli, the 4 guys you have listed; if the wings were able to play 2 of them to account for one player on the ice they would still not total the talent of Cheli or Lids. The wings will need to sign a 3-4 mil dman, especially if Kronwall can not learn to stay healthy. If you think in any way shape or form that potential roster you put up wins a Stanley cup, some one has been putting LSD in your cheerios. Leaving the team with .9m to spend barring injuries, that team struggles to make the playoffs at best. But to end this right here and now, my post was complete speculation and guess work, I never said that anything I posted was the end all and be all of the truth. I just like to talk about the wings. I just expressed my opinion, that signing Miller will be too expensive and leave the team depleted, which you helped prove my point by posting those atrocious line combos. (that sounded like I was calling you the name, the lines would be bad, regardless if you posted them or they actually made the ice). That was my point in posting not that Miller won't be great, as I posted the word "Yet" in my post, however that it would be too costly and leave the team with no options. As for the Cheli thing maybe I was overestimating him, however he is perennially one of the best Defensive dman in the league, he does not garner much attention because he puts up very minuscule offensive numbers but he is a beast in his own zone. Perhaps I should have re worded my post. The Howard trade to get Miller, was a hypothetical as I state "So lets say." Now before you smash this posting let me tell you a little about me before this unintentionally offends you. My posts are all opinion based and I stopped putting that at the top of my posts, apparently I shouldn't have. I am not a member of the organization, and I very rarely post "we" when referring to the Detroit Red Wings. Not because I don't support them 100% but because I am not a part of the team. So therefore I know nothing of the inside workings that the rest of the public world does not. I would love to see J-ho in a winged wheel, however if a better option is available, then go for it, however in this day and age with the cap in place financial concerns must be taken very seriously, and Dats, Z, and Rafalski will eat up a lot of cap room in the coming 5-7 years. If you want to debate this than yeah lets do it, but I am not trying to create nor getting involved in flame wars.

I thought of that this weekend vangvace, I am a volleyball player (or was until I destroyed my knee) and this weekend NBC was showing beach volleyball finals. And it was the women's tourney at that. How can you go wrong beautiful woman that are extremely athletic and in bikinis to boot. But all of the adds they had for upcoming sporting events were all X-games based sports. Weird it seems that they have dropped all of their mainstream sports and started covering a lot more of the extreme and less obvious sports. I think they are building their network based on what they think the youth of the nation (thanks P.O.D.) will want to see. I wish they would grab hockey.

ESPN has changed dramatically since the days of Keith Oberman and Dan Patrick. If you noticed both of those guys went on to do Cable Network news shows. They were true Journalists. Now the network hires people who are a lot like Chris Berman, nicknames, funny tag lines, loud, and obnoxious characters. Before it was all about the news side of sports. However ESPN is not responsible for this change, the average American citizen is. ESPN is only catering to what the public wants. The average American needs the tv to entertain them, to do the thinking and the joking for them. Perfect example, when ESPN ran the reality shows of who the next anchor will be. I don't give a s***, hire them and be done with it, however I am not your typical average American sports fan. I am a fanatic, I want to see highlights of my teams and the teams that impact the outcome of my team's standings. That is why I Do not watch ESPN, ESPNews yes, but not the flagship station or ESPN2. Here is an analogy for you to think of when you think ESPN, anybody here remember when MTV used to show nothing but music videos?????

I think, for reasons already mentioned, Rafalski has a career year. Mainly due to the leash around his skates being gone (thanks North Guy). I say pair him with Cheli. Give Cheli a chance to have a really good offensive defenseman with him. Cheli who has proven himself to be pretty durable and damn steady in his own end, could benefit from Rafalski's hockey sense and ability to get the rush started, and Rafalski will benefit from Cheli's great d and the ability to actually give the puck to a forward who plans to leave the D zone!!!

I gotta say when I first saw the stick swinging I didn't think it was a McClennan thing to do. I never thought of him as a dirty player. I think that move was definitley orchestrated from behind the bench!!

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH If Bettman reads these forums trashing him, LGW might be next on the chopping block!!!!!

The thing that the org doesn't want to do is the Marc Andre Fluery thing, He started in the NHL way to early and it drastically impacted his confidence for his second tour in the NHL. While at the same time (roughly) the Sabres had Ryan Miller "wasting" time in the AHL. I say "wasting" because I have a few sabre fan friends who were tired of see the potential future goalie sitting in AHL while the big club struggled in net. From what I have read and heard, and I try to follow Jimmy as much as I can, the wings just want him to be ready. If they wait 3-4 years and he is ready they have a much better equipped (mentally and physically) goalie, then if he started this year. I am all about J-ho in the winged wheel, but I want them to do whatever it takes for him to be the next Miller. Mind you, Miller right now is an average goalie in the NHL with potential to be great, I would love it if in his first couple of years J-ho was average to good. That would give him something to build on and hopefully the team will still be a winner and that will help his confidence. When you see him, once adjusted to the NHL, he is a very athletic goaltender, with a great glove and unbelievable patience. He waits for the shooter longer than any goaltender I have seen. In a good way. You want to see what he is capable of try to find video of the postseasons he played with U of Maine. (Can't find it on Youtube) He had a backup who the year before was considered to be the next great netminder in NCAA, then as a freshman Howard took over the spot. He will be a really good tender, Ijust hope it is in the winged wheel!! And who needs a figther, we can answer our toughness issues with J-ho, Just kidding!!!

Oh I agree, as I said I am not a basher just happy he is gone. With the way Franzen and Flip played last season I really think they will fill the void he left. Will they put up his numbers over their careers, maybe but like you said in another post no one knows that. And yes the bashing and trashing has gone too far. He is gone, say bye and move on. However it continues because there is nothing else to really talk about right now. Rafalski excites me a ton, but no one is really talking about him or Drake which I think both fit very well into this team.

Actually as the playoffs wore on we saw more of Franzen in the 2nd line center as Lang got demoted and saw less and less ice time, due to what I would call a less than 100% effort. I am not a Lang Basher however I am happy to see him go on his way. His effort at times was lackluster and sometimes he reminded me of when it seemed like feds was taking shifts off. It was almost as though he really didn't care. Not saying he didn't just what my perception was/is!!

That would be tough right now vick makes Iverson look like a choir boy!!

I think it will be more like Sammy - Z - Homer Flip - Dats - Grigs/hudler Cleary - Draper - Franzen Drake - Kopecky - Maltby Either way that is two decent lines and two decent checking lines. The wings need another forward.

And how many years experience do those guys have compared to norton. At least the guys you mentioned have a chance to develpp and grow, norton is what he is and will always be!

Free agent 09/10

First off holy s*** was this thread buried! Secondly any word on the offer sheet Anaheim gave him!!