Opie

As someone who has had a few websites to build and maintain I have to say you guys do an awesome job on here. I know this is not your job, it is a hobby, so the effort to make this place this clean and efficient (tech wise) is amazing. My friend and I are constantly repairing databases and links and html code. What a pain in the ass for a little joy!!

Nice my guess was 5 pages back to I win a prize for being right!!!!

GR signing not to be confused with his brother Andrew. There is a thread on this but it is buried like 5 pages in.

In this day and age the sport will not grow unless it is available to everyone on TV. Look at what happened to poker. One world series of poker is aired on ESPN the next thing you know poker is the next big thing. I don't give a rats ass if the NHL is on the travel channel just as long as it is on a channel that everyone gets and is on with some god damned regularity!!!!

Poker wasn't a huge "sport" when espn picked it up, are you telling me that the arena football league is bigger than hockey, or that the WNBA draws more of an audience than NHL. ESPN covers what they show on their network. That is it, once in a while they show a championship highlight or an impressive individual effort, but very rarely do they cover in depth a sport that is not shown on their network. I am not a huge fan of ESPN but other than local sport networks I have no real choice but to watch Sports Center for highlights. I would love it if Fox or MSNBC got into this arena.

Eva, Even you have to admit that if we were to compare hockey interest, as in fan interest in the sport, a Canadian city the size of Hamilton will have a lot more interest than a Southern US city like Nashville. In Tennessee they have NASCAR, NFL, NBA, and many NCAA teams to follow. Add to that the fact that hockey is a tier two sport in the US. Now having said that I really don't like the idea of bouncing a team around. Like you said Ottawa, good years for a long time, horrible attendance. Because hockey is a 2nd tier sport here you need to give the teams longer to develop that fan base.(IE Carolina, their fan base is getting stronger and stronger.) I think a move to KC is a horrible idea. I also like the idea of how closely grouped the Central Division is, I just hate how far away the rest of the west is!! What the NHL needs to do is find a way to fill the seats, lower prices, weird wacky give aways, something anything. Because once someone has seen a hockey game live they are hooked. At least the people I know who saw their first game live are!!!

I want them split up mainly because this team doesn't have the talent to cover 4 lines with them together. The wings would have 1 powerful line and 3 checking/4th lines. If Babs splits them up the wings then have 2 very solid lines and two checking/fourth lines.

The funny things is that half of the cincinnati Bengals defense was arrested last year, Pacman Jones, Michael Vick, all in trouble with the law. NBA-Steven Jackson, Ron Artest, on and on are in trouble. Yet no one is bad mouthing the league because of these guys, YET one hockey player takes an ill advised swing at another and Hockey players are goons. Well how about the athletes in other sports shooting guns outside of strip clubs, that doesn't make everyone else in the league goons. I think the real reason Americans have a hard time accepting hockey is that it is Canadian. Americans (I am born in raised in America) look down on Canada like it is our little brother. So therefore anything that little bro does, no matter how good, will some how always be lesser.

By its very nature Hockey doesn't allow for these types of personalities. Because the nfl has gone out of its way to protect Wide Receivers and Quarterbacks. You hit one of them too high or too low and you are in deep trouble. In hockey celebrations are usually based on a team celebrating together, circling up and giving high fives and hugs or slapping gloves as you skate by the bench. Football it is about look at me, watch what I can do, put me on sports center. In Hockey you show some one up like that and you will get a great big cup of shut your friggin' pie hole!!!

That would have been nice wouldn't, because now there is no way Markov will sign for less than 3.5mil. He is asking for 4 mil I read, I have no idea what kind of length he is looking for but I bet it is atleast 3 years.

EVA That is kind of a miss leading statement, yes there is more "NHL" caliber talent, becuase there is more room for them. NHL level talent has been watered down due to the fact that there is a need for a lot more players. Think about adding 2 more teams to the league. They're going to come in on the bottom wrung of the talent ladder. So that would mean 2 more Blackhawks. I can't comment on other teams as I only see the Bruins enough to make this judgement, but the Bruins do not have a team full of NHL talent. Their roster was filled with numerous guys throughout last season that didn't belong above AHL ranks. Part of that is the blame of the org and part is the watered down talent level. That is why teams that can roll four legit lines win more often than not. If you have 3 solid NHL lines and a line of guys that should be down on the farm, you are not going to win a cup! I just think that there really isn't enough talent to go around, there is enough bodies to be spread out to make the league 40 teams deep if necessary but are they all NHL caliber guys, or just good enough to fill out a roster?

I think that a top 6 forward will be signed or traded for before the season starts. I don't know who, or have any inside info this is just my opinion. If not then I would like to see these lines Sammy - Z - Homer Hudler - Dats - Flip (I highly doubt Babs will give Huds that kind of minutes though) Cleary - Franzen - Drake (talk about an energy line) Maltby - Draper - Grigs (let grigs start the season with the vets, checking and working hard, then if he shows the stuff to be a top 6 guy, move him up and Sammy down)

I think Holland see the central as easy picking for this team, can you blame him. Now I could be wrong and the wings could finish third in the central but I don't see that. So he figures he can see what the young guys can do and then at the deadline or sooner if he sees a need he will have some young prospects with NHL experience to trade and 5-6 mil to play with. Remember with the cap he has to plan for Z to come back, they have made all the efforts to make him the next Stevie Y. I wonder how much the two still talk, that was the purpose of putting their lockers side by side. And knowing how devoted to the wings Stevie is I bet he is Z's mentor. But all just guess work!

I would s*** my pants on public tv if that happened. Seriously I would!!!!!!

"He coached with the likes of Gordie Howe and all the great teams they had back in the '50s," Chittaro said. ``He was still mentally sharp. He had lots of great stories." At least in the end he was still sharp, of course he had great stories, he was the coach for a great hockey team with great players and great success. If I were in his shoes everyone in the world would have heard my stories 85 times. And if they started telling me the stories were getting old I would say, "how many HOFers did you coach, how many cups did you win. None too bad shut you pie hole and listen to my stories."

Yeah he'll coach the team to a playoff birth and get fired 2 weeks before the playoffs start!!

sadly I am headed to that conclusion as well. Bettman is the Antichrist!

Your are right it is not his style, seeing as he has passed on such players like Schneider, Woolley, Robataille, and others during the season. Oh wait never mind he pick them up just before the deadline to help make a cup run. motorcitykid please stop spouting off at the mouth without first knowing what you are talking about.

This may seem like an odd question but does anybody know the background on this guy, did he grow up poor, or working class. Because his statements and what it seems like he is looking for $$ make him seem very working class, blue collar, and not the comedy redneck s*** either. It is amazing to read his comments and then pop over to the Yashin thread and read that assholes comments.

I am not saying they need superstars but they need at least a serviceable #1 Dman. Are you trying to tell me that Bret Hedican, Glen Wesley, and Oleg Tverdosky are on par with the Rags d you are smoking and I want some! I will give you Oleg, he got hurt and hasn't made it back to the NHL since (I actually watch him play for the Manchester Monarchs now). The guys I mentioned may not be in the running for the norris but they were at the time a hell of a lot better than what the rags have.

The team goes to the WCF with almost this same roster, with an upgrade at the #2 defenseman position. This team has two legit #1 Dmen. He thinks the team needed grit, he found it cheap. Remind me again what round the wings drafted Zetterberg, and Datsyuk. This team has one of the best scouting departments, one of the best GM's, and on of the best teams in the league for the past 12 years. Things that make you go hmmmmmm! You asked what he did to address the needs here but bypass the fact that he signs Rafalski and Hasek. Well then lets pretend he doesn't sign them, because obviously those two signings are irrelevant in you scenario. The wings now go into the next season with an Osgood/Howard tandem in net and Quincey or Meech is now in the starting lineup. How are these two signings not addressing huge needs on this team. The Guy signs a starting goaltender who was one of the best last year, for dirt cheap. Then signs a legit #1 dman, for a decent price considering what other D went for. He spent 500k more on Rafalski than he would have had to keep Schnieder. Again this is not 2002, you can't put a roster together of hall of famers, no one can afford that. If this is seriously how you feel I am done discussing this with you, Drake is not the only guy he added, ever hear of Brian Rafalski you should check him out word on the street is that he may be on the wings next year.

When has Ken Holland led this team astray, when was the last time a Red wings team he was the GM of missed the playoffs? Relax he knows a hell of a lot more about the needs of this team than we armchair quarterbacks know.

Your right, stupid Holland signing a younger better defenseman to replace the 38 year old. When will he overpay a guy like Hartnell and then sign Yashin for 5 mil a year so that in two years Zetterberg walks out the door. THIS IS NOT 2002 ANYMORE, THERE IS THIS THING CALLED A SALARY CAP!!

Dallas Drake 66 hits in 60 games Mule 110 hits in 69 games good enough for 89th overall. Just saying!

While it is not a bad core defense it is a long ways away from good. At best that is a mediocre defense. Look at how Vokoun had to stand on his head in Nashville last year and that D was a lot better than this years Rags D. Whichh would be as chrisdetroit said is not a strong defense. And some of their forwards do not play a great Defensive game, if any at all. Jagr, does he even pass his own blue line (kidding obviously). Shanny is not the two way guy he used to be. Drury and Gomez where very very good additions, but they should have gone after Schnieds, Rafalski, hell even Markov would make that D leaps and bounds better than it is.