Stiffy

Why not trade Quincy? We could probably get a decent young forward or a guy with some grit for him. Oh wait, we gave him away, for free...

There was a post here a while back suggesting someone hire an optician to grind Sammy's visor so that what he sees is slightly to the side and below of what he is actually looking at - that way he might just end up putting shots in the upper corner of the net. before we dump him, why not give this a try. I mean, with his shot rate it might pay off!

Exactly! My first thoughts as well. Kind of gives you a nice warm fuzzy feeling doesn't it?

I understand it was very tricky to not wake him when they replaced his giant teddy bear with the Cup.

Whatever happens and where he goes I can tell you one thing for sure - He won't sell the damn house for months.

Sorry, but I can't put on the homer glasses for this one. The injuries were devastating and those who played with these injuries are worthy of respect, but not every player was injured and we had plenty of no shows when it counted. Coaching was in my opinion the decisive factor. We were out coached. We had a two game lead and blew it. We won game 5 with plenty of energy then failed to bury the hatchet. We had a coach saying (in the press) game 7 was just another game. Half glass full - sure, I guess you can find something. Glass half empty, they failed when they had numerous chances. They did not get it done. That is all I will remember. Does taking a hard line make me less a fan? I expect more from this team.

A true class person and a great hockey player. Remember his epic battles with Bertuzzi in the playoffs. This was a D man who gave it all and could stand toe to toe with anyone. Never backed down.

Absolutely agree. Every year they split them only to realize it is the most obvious pairing in the history of the game (ok, I exaggerate). One thing though, Homer has to go. These two can make anyone look good, but Homer's time in this role is over, He is no longer capable of fully supporting these two - they need a guy with more grit, speed and hands and that is obviously Cleary. Hank suffered, I think, this past year by not playing with Dats and both had to adjust to Hossa and that took a lot of time and energy away from their individual games. Flip is perfectly capable of centering the second line and with Hossa and Franzen what a second line that is.

I wonder what Hasek was thinking after that one? I cannot find this quote anywhere, but I swear that in his rookie year they asked Crsoby what impressed him most in the NHL and his response was "Nick Lidstrom." I'm sure if you asked him today he would say "Me", but it shows there was a time the kid got it.

True. It was Epic and mythic and had it all. Those days were something else. Don't get me wrong, I love this team, but that was once in a lifetime. I hate and respect Crosby as a player, but nothing will compare to my mutual hate and respect for Roy. When we played the Avs you had real fear and nerves, but when we pulled it out it was the best. The writer of "Blood Feud" says that game 7 was the end of the rivalry and Detroit totally dominated.

Is anyone really offended by this? When you win the Cup it is like your best friend for a day - you do everything together. Hell, the thing was once left on a frozen river, fell through and they had to fish it out. It's a touph trophy and can take anything. Good for the Penns. I think this kind of thing can make non fans interested and see it is quite a different kind of trophy.

There is a Chicago curse too - we always lose the CUp if we beat Chicago in the playoffs. Looks like we have many years of Cup losses ahead of us!!!! :-)

No thanks on the rematch, it would kill half of us with the tension and the rest of us if we lost (again). Besides, won't the Penns be dismantled with Cap and contract issues resulting in a team that won't be a contender? Oh wait, didn't that happen last year too? Detroit Boston this year would have been great. Alas, what could have been...

Who ever said humans were logical? I mean, people like you keep posting replies whining about the repeated threads and it does nothing either. In effect, you are exhibiting the same basic behavior pattern - postus repeatus. What else do expect people to post about? This was a bitter pill and people are going to vent. Follow the advice so often posted here - if you don't like a thread, move on. Some of you think you may be superior humans who can go through the 7 stages of Cup loss quicker than others, but whining is whining. You in particular. You often put yourself up as this superior member or poster or fan, but so many of your posts are going after other people. It's subtle, but really it is just trolling. Then again, maybe you are on your period this week? If so, ask your boyfriend for a back rub to relive those cramps. Oh wait, you are a male? It IS hard to tell.

To the OP, here are my positives on Hudler. Awesome skills, plenty of clutch plays and goals, plays very tough for his size - won't be a wussy no matter who is riding his ass, but most of all, he took the most hard assed coaching attitude from Babcock and did exactly what he needed by scoring more than anyone with very limited ice time. No Wing has earned their spot like Hudler did. Not even close. I would ask why the hell isn't Babcock that hard on other players ever?

I think you are right, that they won't move on these guys, but they did dump McCarty for playing like crap. The guy was probably the most perfect example of the Detroit working class Epic hero of Hockey Town lore. Turtling Lemeiux, March 26 OT goal, SCF winning goal in 1997, hat trick on Roy in 2002 WCF Game 1... And yet despite all that, it was rather quiet when he was let go and went off to Calgary.

As well he should. It is ridiculous. I can't take any more of this endless maturation process. Play him or trade him if he can't cut it. The guy came through huge when called up in the regular season and Cap crap aside earned a spot and could have used time up in the NHL to adjust and grow. He might have been far more effective in the playoffs had this happened. Any other team in the universe would start him and I'm sorry, it isn't like we have this full roster of world class players any more. There are plenty of Wings who earned a benching or a trip to GR themselves during the regular season. My take away from this whole year was bring up the kids more. It's good for them and it makes the veterans nervous and fight for their jobs. It's good all around.

What do you suggest instead, something new and novel like threads on getting some grit, potential line combos or Hossa's future with the Wings? We are fans for crying out loud and part of that is obsessing endlessly over the same things! If it weren't true then there wouldn't be all these sports shows on the radio where the same s*** is repeatedly endlessly. It's all part of the fun. P.S. The article was an outside perspective and it validates a lot of things people here think about Crosby, plus it calls out our own coach, which I think is justified. We may have been out of gas, but were were out coached just enough. That, I think, is a foolish thing to let go and fail to acknowledge.

Yea, like maybe someone could have actually gone to the net for all those damn juicy rebounds Flury was giving up? I saw a ten at least and no Wing in sight. You don't need superstars or role players to do that, just someone to tell the players about it if they can't figure it out on their own. For example, he could have said, "Hey Hossa, next time you take one of those dumb ass shots from the blue line instead of passing to a wide open Flip, why not wait a few seconds until another of our players is near the net - they just might get a rebound and you could end up with an assist!" I think I read somewhere that is what coaches do, adjust and tweak a strategy, especially when a team isn't producing, say like for the last two god damn games in a SCF.

All smacks of junior high school girl attitudes. If Ilitch really wants to take bettman on, why not do it in a meaningful way and call him out on issues with comments to the press, form committees... and take the fines while getting the issues up front. Instead he does what? Doesn't shake his hand? Oh boy, that will show Bettman. It's a ***** move.

Well, I wouldn't call this "haunted." Does anyone see haunted in this article? http://www.freep.com/article/20090616/SPOR...+s+Game+7+goals He goes to Maui to heal the pain of the SCF loss. I was just willing to let this go and move on and then I see this article. Never forget these are a bunch of millionaires and while so many in Detroit work their asses off and never screw up, asking a hockey player to do even more does not seem to be asking too much. If Stuart were Japanese he would have done himself in days ago. Of course that is extreme, but a little more of an apology, blame... something.

Stuart, I forgive you on one condition, you never forgive yourself. That's right, come next playoff season you will be the smartest, most well positioned, least penalized, most hitting, highest +/-, most energized hustling D man in every single shift of every single game.

Flip is a playoff performer and if Hossa and just got it through his thick skull that when actually played with Flip they scored who knows what we would be talking about now. Gee, how about Flips top of the team rating in assists in the playoffs? Also, Flip is taking life right out of Dat's book and is getting batter and adapting each year. He's the last guy I want to lose of all the mid level players/salaries.

And look how Cleary played. That's the kind of guy you want every time. Lids injury was terrifyingly painful from what I hear. Kudos to him too.

Yea, like how we got to draft Yzerman for having such a successful team.