Jake Ryan

Why did you mention that he has a Red Wings tattoo. Damn it. Now I have to like him a little bit. I do too.

Tomas Holmstrom is WASHED UP. I do not hate him, but I wish he was off the Red Wings. His salary is such a waste.

"Do you smell that, Bill?"

If the Red Wings play Holmstrom, Draper, and Maltby in the playoffs, they will not win. End of story. 20 man roster vs. 17 man roster. Not going to happen.

You mean, outside of Dave Lewis, of course. Right?

EXACTLY. Why won't the Holmstrom Hard-On fans just GO AWAY already. How much does this guy have to deteriorate before they finally get it? He's not exactly aging like Gordie Howe or Chelios. The guy had limited skills to begin with, and now he's just a WASTE. Ken Holland is too much of a ***** to let guys go or trade players that are hurting the team. Draper, Maltby, and Holmstrom should play all out this year, because it is their LAST. I will miss Drapes a little bit, but Maltby and Holmstrom have definitely worn out their welcome.

It is especially frustrating considering that the Wings have drafted most of their talent. It would be different if the Wings were like the Yankees and just bringing in 10 forwards and 4 defensemen every year from other teams, but the truth is that he Wings have expensive players because they draft so well. Lidstrom, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Kronwall, Filppula, etc. There are a few players (Rafalski, Stuart, Hossa) that the Wings made deals for, but that is not the standard M.O. of the team. I don't think the salary cap benefits the NHL at all. I think hockey needs dominant teams. Not parity.

JHC, there are 13 pages on this nonsense already. Go and look at 10 mock fantasy drafts. You'll get your answer right there. I was just throwing in my .02 on the top 5. After that, the choices get harder.

I hate how the league starts all this crap while Detroit is in their period of dominance. The Canadiens never had to battle through a bunch of crap like this when they held all the good players in the league. And as a result, they've got the most cup wins by a landslide. Imagine if Henri Richard and Believeau were stripped from Montreal because Maurice Richard, Dough Harvey, and Jacque Plant were tying up cap space. That would have RUINED that era of hockey. The NHL has screwed itself again with all this nonsense. If the bottom teams can't compete revenue wise, then lower the number of teams. Socialism should NOT be a part of sports.

Malkin Ovechkin Zetterberg Crosby Datsyuk

I'm agreeing with you on the injury bug. It's devastating to a team. But look at what the Penguins coach did in the last two games of the series. I don't know if you noticed, but he took the FRICKING TEAM CAPTAIN off the ice! That was a coaching move. Crosby was killing the Penguins on defense, and the coach removed him from 5 on 5 play. That was one of the ballsiest and smartest coaching moves I've seen in a long time. And that's why the Penguins shut down the Wings. They played DEFENSE. Meanwhile, instead of Babcock throwing out young, big, hungry guys to overcome the jam up defensive style the Penguins were using, he let HURT players back in the line-up (Rafalski, Datsyuk, Draper) and took out players that were holding their own and creating havoc (Abdelkader, Leino, Chelios). Babcock simply got out-coached in those last two games. I'll give the Penguins their credit, but the Wings should not have lost the 2009 Stanley Cup. Their coach let them down.

Yzerman was pretty tough. He was frail and got injured a lot, but he played with injuries if he could. You got to have guys that don't break in the playoffs. That's why I always liked Feds.

You make some good points, but I really don't think the team needed to change it's lineup after they steam rolled Chicago. They had gelled by the time they got to the finals. Babcock should have left the line-up alone. That's all there is to it.

Injuries to Yzerman, lapses of focus by Osgood, and a few other problems, if I remember correctly. Didn't Osgood blow a series against the Kings? And I think Yzerman had a busted foot in 2 of those years.

And then in 1997, the Wings TOUGHENED UP. At 2 games a piece in this series, Babcock decided to Toughen DOWN. Bye bye Lord Stanley.

This last year exposed coach Babcock as a MEDIOCRE leader. There is no way in hell that Scotty Bowman would have let that series slide. Babcock let Helm get neutralized in the last 2 games of the series. He left Maltby and Draper in when the team clearly needed some more aggressive players (Abdelkader). And then he brought Datsyuk and Rafalski back before they were ready. The Red Wings would have stood a better chance to beat the Pens had he left the team alone after opening the series 2 to 2. That's the bottom line. The coach made some bad decisions, and it cost us the cup.

These guys had their day, but I'm not going to be too disappointed when they're gone. They are taking away roster spots from our younger guys and at a premium. That's not good.

My guess is pretty similar: Conklin Kopecky Sammy Holmstrom Chelios Lilja Hudler Hossa Draper Maltby

I really hope they win tomorrow.

Do you think the Penguins should be smiling all over the place and hugging each other all over the place after goals they score early in the series? I'm not a big fan of all the fist pumping and rolling around on the ice. Why not wait until AFTER you've won the cup, and then skate around the ice for 15 minutes smiling and fist pumping if you want. Watch Malkin and Crosby. EVERY time they score, it's like they've knocked the Berlin Wall down. I like the way Barry Sanders used to do things: act like you've been there before and are going to do it again. In your opinion, how much is enough?

Not if Al Sobotka was around. That guy is a master of removing ice matter. You WISH your dump had extra staying power to overcome Sobotka's skills. So Sorry.

While I agree with what the OP said, I have to say that the strategy suggested probably is the EXACT same strategy he is trying to implement. Easier said than done agains the Red Wings. Ever tried to drive the net on Nick Lidstrom? What about Nick Kronwall?

Barry's got the best job on the planet. Nobody dislikes the guy, and he gets to make money by giving opinions. How awesome is that?

They need to bring in Lemieux.