Opie

Thanks for the support, I feel mad love coming from the board today!!

Sorry that your opinion was it was unneeded, my opinion is that is what pretty aptly placed. Oh well. Also don't be surprised if you see it copied onto the "So who's it gonna be" thread soon, that thread was probably more deserving of the rant than this, I agree with you, but I still felt it was an appropriate comment.

Anyone here remember last year when Holland and Co did a horrible job getting this team ready in the preseason, then the trade deadline came and went and he did nothing to help make this team better or get it ready for the post season, then the first round came and game five the Wings were all but dead in the water, getting ready to be owned by the Preds. I forget how this story ends, can one of you remind me what happened, right because last year I heard all of these same arguments, and at the deadline some of you even said that if the Wings won it last year you wouldn't say these same tired, old things again this year. Guess what, the wings won and it is the same drivel again, Wings need grit, Wings need toughness, they are acquiring or letting go of the wrong players, they are keeping a too old Cheli, BLAH ******* BLAH BLAH. Man this is like Ground hog day only the Wings just won the cup. I love how people on this board think they know so much more than Holland, Babcock, etc.. yet when the national media doesn't say Holland or Babcock are OMG!!!!!!11312171!!!! the Bestest ever half of this board s***s their collective pants, yet most of you on here don't have the faith and trust in the them. Here is what we can say is a known for the Red Wings, they do the best they can to be a Stanley cup contender every year, not just make the playoffs. They ice the best team possible given the circumstances and the players at their disposal, they bring young players along at just the right time, Datsyuk and Zetterberg were with the big club immediately, Hudler and Flip not as quick but still quicker than say Meech and Quincey. They have an uncanny knack for the player everyone has passed on, Drake and Cleary for example. Leave the personnel decisions to the people who not only have the job but have been proven very adept at making them, remember how long Hatcher was with this team, must have been salary cap, not that the Wings didn't think he was skilled enough in the right areas to make the team better, no no just s*** luck! Do you really think they are in an office going: "Well it would be nice to play an enforcer, the toughness we need, but nah lets be soft, that would be great, that would be something no one would expect!"

How this beauty hasn't been posted or quoted on here is beside me, check this shizzle out:

100% agreed! Nick would have to have either an injury plagued year or be flat out awful to not win it again. Lids on an average day is better than most D men on their best day. Dion may be a big hitter and a solid d-man but no one is what Lids is. Dion will turn out to be another Chris Pronger/Rob Blake kind of guy. Not a knock those are two potential HOFers, but for anyone to take the Norris as you said would take a massive slip from Lids!

Drake had an everyday impact yes. But was the 06-07 Red Wing team really that different from the 07-08. It seems that people are stating that having Drake and Downey (D-mac in a limited role) made a drastic change to the Red Wings success. Well lets look at the last three seasons with Babs in control Year Wins Losses Points 07-08 54 21 115 06-07 50 19 113 05-06 58 16 124 The only difference as far as results go in this situation is that the Wings won the cup, all three years they won the division, all three years they were in the battle for the pres trophy until the end. So the difference showed up in the postseason, when the fighting and cheap shots were no longer in play (for the most part). So is it a fear the wings will lose or that people don't like the style?

I understand your frustration, but at this point in time Downey is still on the roster as is Lilja. Also not to bust your balls (or *** to be PC) but this is the Wings we are talking about, does this surprise you at all?

Did you just s*** on a poster for throwing out a hypothetical that can not be proved and then throw one out yourself. One name: Alex Rodriguez, he left Texas and they became better. Not saying Iggy is A-rod just saying your situation is just as hypothetical as the other posters

In all fairness to the posters you were referencing I brought this thread up from March, and I have to assume things have changed since then which is why I brought this thread back.

Correct, you can't send an injured player down until they come back from injured status.

Kronwall plays finesse hockey? Stuart plays finesse hockey? Cleary Plays finesse hockey? Care to explain this finesse hockey thing to me because apparently I don't get it?

Any new info here?

Folks: Shaman464 is making a joke, hence calling it an (E5), he was making a preposterous trade and making fun of Eklund by calling it an E5.

The team has stated 13 forwards and 8 D-men, plus you have Franzen playing both wings, if you are going to tell people to mark down your roster, you may want to make sure that your post's quality matches your confidence.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/news;_ylt=Aph_...o&type=lgns I found this funny: Very similar to the cup champs, with no offense and half a D how are they close to what they were that year?

The only reason is see him struggling to do this is that he will be the setup man on his line. Mule and Huds will be the shooters/screen and Z will set up the offense. I have a feeling he will score more PP goals than he does even strength, however this year he will have more assists than he ever has. IMO!!

I was never a Bettman fan or hater, but lately the things he has allowed to happen and the selective way he allows it to happen bugs me greatly. He steps in to the Burke/Lowe thing only after Lowe opens his mouth, and then when Burke says something again after Bettman said stop it, he did nothing. He is responsible for the Nashville mess, not because he put them there but because of who is being allowed to own the team and the old owner being able to be a part of Minnesota weeks.. Days later. I am sure Eva will say it was the BOG, but when a company sucks ass and goes under do we blame the CEO or the underlings. Above all Bettman has the ability to step in and make things happen, see the Avery rule for example, yet when he should step in and help better a team or the league he seems to fumble it. I wouldn't say he is screwing the league, but it is not like he is running a well oiled machine. The lost year, bad ownerships, too much expansion too quick, bad rule changes/implementation (look no further than the instigator rule). If it weren't for the fact that I am a Wings fan I probably would have bailed on Hockey by now. There are certain teams that yeah I would have stuck around if I were rooting for, but if I was a B's fan, Kings fan, Panther Fan, Thrasher fan, I would have bailed on the game and watched it once in a while. Being a fan of an org that runs itself well has kept me loving them, as opposed to getting caught up in the suckitude of my team as well as the crap that is happening. This league can not afford to look like the NBA (as far as trouble in the media) not a strong enough nor large enough fan base.

True, but that vest was helping nothing!!!

No, you are trying too hard to argue with me. You even admitted that your subtitle was written in a way to catch people's attention and draw them to your post, what are you Jemele Hill now, do whatever you can to draw people in! I pointed out that people may want to read the things I posted instead of seeing your subtitle, and think Cherry was saying AO is actually s***ty. You know creating post with the intent to deceive or incite posters is against forum policies, and seeing as Cherry said nothing close to AO is s***, I would say you are walking a fine line. But that is just me and I am not a mod! If you want to argue with me, trust me I am on here everyday and my opinions are usually not super popular on here, so bide your time and I am sure we will disagree again!

I recommend reading the article before you base your opinion off of the OP's bullets. Some important quotes that would be useful, btw I hate Cherry!

Sorry to leave some of you out, it was more the feeling of being the only one I guess, but I remember lots of threads last year where I was totally ripped apart for supporting this guy from the end of the 05-06 season through to recently. It wasn't until just recently more and more people have started defending him.

Very true, his fore checking led directly to goals ( I am not saying he is Kris Draper), He scored when needed, and hell the Team won the cup!!!! He is getting bashed on here very similar to how Lilja got pashed after the infamous turnover, here is the difference, nothing anyone can point to that Sammy did or didn't do led to the Wings not winning the cup, interesting little factoid for you!

http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=Ap7QFn6AnjNNu...63078%26lang=en

I agree the true question is do they think Hossa is that good or that playing along side Dats will get him that much fantasy points!

Sorry, that was just how it felt, you were defending him as well I have to admit.