newfy

Yes, he's something I would love. He's crazy, anyone remmeber that Toronto Atlanta game a few years ago that was an absolute blood bath? That was all boulton

I dnuno if I would say that. We all love Z here but top 5 I dunno. He's not even the top forward on Detroit. The Sundin comparison isn't even close either. Yzerman is an all time great had a 155 point season and it was obvious Yzerman was turning that team around. Getzlaf and Sundin is pretty close, both powerforwards, put up a lot of points, but Z isn't near the level Yzerman was on. Z has scored 90 points twice but usually puts up a bit over 70. Thats great considering his defensive capabilities but it doesn't really make him a top 5 forward in the game with numbers like that. I know stats aren't everything but to be top 5 in the league you need to be putting up around 90 points consistently I think.

Wow

Meh playing in Atlanta he hasn't really been forced to play in pressure situations. 8 million isnt unheard of for a guy like him. The pens have 2 players making that much

I agree with the to old argument. I actually think if it came down to it, Nystrom for the same price as Modano would be better then getting modano. The steps Nystrom has been aking offensively, the toughness and the age factor makes me really rather have Nystrom on our third line then Modano

I wouldn't say hank is a better player rigt now, I would say they are different players and already agreed making that trade would be stupid. As for the system, players of that high level will fit into any system really and a puck possession style would fit Getzlafs skill set perfectly. I wouldn't make the trade but if I were to do a league wide draft right now to build an expansion team I would take Getz before Z for sure.

Well I had myself a week vacation and was thinking about starting a thread about Hnidy whe I was back but you posting about him in the Ward thread reminded me. I figured discussion about him was worthy of its own thread.

Yes some guys got big contracts but its annoying to see guys that fit exactly what we need going cheap in free agency. Konopka goes for 600K I don't think that is too much of a financial risk to a GM who has said he wants toughess. Tim Jackman goes for 550K and also fits what we need perfectly but we couldn't get a deal done for some reason. Maybe he intends to trade guys like Miller and Meech for someone like Boll who hasnt resigned yet (fingers crossed) but if he says al this toughness stuff then says he couldn't find anyone tough to fit under the cap I won't be happy at all. I don't wanna go into this season without getting a little grittier in the bottom 6

It isn't really that lateral. We don't get younger but we do get much tougher, which is something we needed Lilja to provide because our defence are fairly soft infront of the net. We stay the same skill wise and defensively but upgrade our toughness with a guy who will drop the gloves, clear the net front and has a legit mean streak. Its all thats really available to fill this need cheap at this point, he would be good filler for a year or two until someone younger/better/tougher comes up.

You always think of Gordie as a wing yes, but do you think the people that watched him play in Detroit as fans all that time didn't feel a bit upset when he went to the WHA? I bet it hurt quite a bit. And how much sweeter would it be too look back and know Gordie played his whole career as a wing? I think it would be sweet.

Ward isn't what I would want. I think we're forgetting when Lilja was brought here he was pretty mean and I think Holland will go looking to replace him with some meanness as well. Ward isn't that guy in my opinion. I'm hoping Hnidy or Exelby at this point.

Getzlaf is an absolute beast. People here saying Z is way better in the playoffs and thats why we should keep him over Getzlaf aren't remembering a couple years ago when Getz almost single handedly knocked us out. There are so many people on here underrating him it is absurd. Right now they are probably about par on skill level with a 5 year age difference and Getz just coming into his prime, not to mention Z's back problems. That being said I wouldn't make the trade just because of our loyalty being a reason why players want to come here etc. If loyalty is not a factor and its just a straight up trade I would make it. A guy 5 years younger, is going to keep getting better for about 5 years, pretty tough and has shown he is a very solid playoff performer is something I would love on this team, just not at the expense of us losing our teams reputation of loyalty. Sometimes this board is ridiculous with the amount of homerism. Yeah theyre both great players and if you wouldn't make the trade thats fine, but the way some of you down talk what Getz is capable of makes him sound like a thrid line player. Z and G are both almost on par skill wise with Z taking the defensive nod.

I dont really know how I feel about this. He coud be a solid third line center for us but on the other hand he might just be a 40 year old waste of space. Yes this is his hometown team so it would be cool to finish his career here but I think he should retire and save his legacy. Honestly how would people here feel if Yzerman went and retired to his hometown Ottawa Senators, its not quite the same but its a similar situation. I feel like he could possibly do our team some good but at the same time he isn't the saem player and for the sake of his legacy he should retire a star

Okayi ts been a while but heres another one of those threads to talk about a possble grinder for the 4th line that is hard to play against. Nill said they have people in mind to fill the role of the vacated Brad May so they might go for someone who is a little like Drake and a little like May. He plays over 8 minutes a game so hes better then some of the fighter types we've had here in the past who only play like 5. He is won of the best face off men in the league at over 62% for the season. For his limited time he put up a pretty high number of hits, and he led the league in fighting majors. He showed at the AHL level he can score goals so I'm sure if he gets the puck around the net and down low he knows what he's doing. What do you guys think? http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/91150

Was over on hockeysfuture and read that Savard has said he is willing to waive his no trade clause to three teams, Detroit, Toronto and Ottawa. Hudler+1st round pick for Savard? Filpulla+? for Savard. I would try to pull the trigger on this.

I think that sounds band wagonish really but if thats how it happened, its gotta happen somehow

Maybe he sees something in the scoring touch in this guy to go along with his toughness. The guy was over a ppg this past season and is a good net front type guy. Kenny maybe notices his mean streak, fighting ability(which he is going to have to use for sure to make it to the show) and a possible net front guy for a 4th line. Not to mention he is clearly a little crazy with what he did to that goalie. He seems like a good enough fighter that he could take on the big guys if he gets a bit heavier and fights some more. And we don't really ahve any heavyweight young guys in the system.

Yeah I agree. If we're going the heavyweight that can't really play well in free agency its gotta be the Boogey man. If its going to be a heavyweight who can play a bit, its Konopka, and if its a middleweight type of guy then I don't know who it is. Asham, Nystrom, Winchester etc are good possibilities. But yeah Boogard is tougher then Colton Orr so we might as well get him so he can pound the f*** ot of Orr as well as the guys Orr pounds the f*** out of. As for trading, why would we trade for Orr, thats stupid...

Yeah it makes sense. Being this far away and having a lot of Scandinavians on the team would be a good reason too like them. I could see if they just had a bunch of Canadians why they wouldn't be appealing to someone in Europe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exzCDXPPjMg&feature=related Hes not a ****** at least and says good fight to the other guy in the box. Not to mention its a really good fight. This one he scores the OT winner and shows he can play a net front presence which is something useful for the Red Wings system.

Yeah I've watched that video hundreds of times, I follow the OHL playoffs. Yeah they got swept by Windsor, you realize that Windsor is the powerhouse team and walked all over every team they played in the playoffs. They didn't get swept because he did this, give your head a shake. You really think at the end of the day his teammates are saying "you ran that goalie and it made us get swept you idiot"? No if anything theyre saying, "Haha I can't believe you smoked him like that, thats hilarious. Maybe he'll be off his game next game now" For all you know he coulda been sent by his coach to do that, running goalies happens. Look at that video of Probert again. Unless you just hopped on the band wagon recently, Detroit has been filled with guys like this and Detroit wouldn't think twice about signing him because he did that. In fact, he probably got recognized because of him doing this. Holland is trying to put some big, tough guys in the system and hopefully Archibald or Cord make it at least to the AHL because thats a step in the right direction for Kenny.

Thats what you think but Nill and Holland have said they are looking for someone like this...

It would be hard to be a fan of a team that just always loses and has a bunch of goons. But it would be better then just being a bad team that is soft as well. The leafs are an entertaining team to watch but they suck. I would however rather watch them then a team like Carolina who sucks just as bad pretty much and is soft too.

Don't judge him by his looks in that video. He's in teh middle of a playoff run and junior/young teams go crazy in the playoffs with their hair and everything lol

Umm in a sense yes it is taking one for the team. He runs the other teams goalie, knows he's going to get beat up for doing so but also raise his teams chances at knocking their goalie off his game and scoring on him more. Archibald hitting that goalie like that has absolutely no effect on the dressing room except maybe a positive one because after something like that and a brawl everyone is a little pumped up. As for people with mean streaks ending up like Avery.. Avery has hardly made any really dirty plays on the ice and plays the game hard. Its what he does off the ice that makes him a douchebag. For every player with a mean streak who is a locker room poison, I can probably name you 2 skilled guys who are bad in the dressing room. Overall, it doesn't matter that you think he is dirty or anything because the wings clearly hope he can add this aggression to our organization. Holland wants to add him so they must like his style of play.