BigWillieStyle

Not at all unusual. There are always scouts from other teams in the press box scouting other teams game plans. Wings usually have a few scouts out watching teams that we'll be playing 2 weeks from now, and breaking down their game plan. And yeah, sometimes they are watching players that may be available in the near future.

Please, Please, Please, give Zetterberg a linemate that will retrieve a puck in corner, and won't be scared to do some of the dirty work. I'd even be okay with Abdelkader, if that's what it has to be. Just drop one of the two deadbeats that he has to carry, of of his line. LGRW!

I really think that the people that think that Seattle would be a good place for a team, have never spent any time in the area, and only look at it as a thriving metropolis, therefore, it would be a great place for a new team. My wife grew up in the area, and I've been going out there to visit her family for the past 35 years. Have spent a great deal of time out there in the last 10 years, as her parents were aging, and finally passed on. Not one time in all of those years, have I ever thought that they could successfully keep an NHL club in Seattle. They would be more successful with having 3 soccer teams, than they would one NHL team. I've been to several Thunderbirds games, with around 500 in attendance. And The Husky's program is no better. Hockey really isn't really in the blood of the residents, and for lack of a better word to describe it, the city is too "Metropolitan" for hockey.

There were lots of women there on opening night. They were dressed in skinny jeans, sporting man buns and long hipster beards, and wearing sweaters with the names of modern warriors like Nyquist and Tatar. I'm pretty sure that the PC term for these ladies nowadays, is, Metrosexual.

If he was going to bring back an old goalie, it should have been Jim Rutherford.

Another name that was going to change the world for us that I didn't see any mention of, is Chicken Parm Jr. How quickly he disappeared into never to be heard from again, land. A quick look at the names listed here, makes me think we have a problem in scouting. A lot of these guys were 1st or 2nd rounders. That's quite a few misses that we were hoping that maybe a quarter of them would turn into usable players. It seems that we've done better in the last few years. Is that something that we have to call out Jim Nill for?

Black Hawks go down 3-0 in the series. Where have I seen this before? Not going to celebrate yet, but I sure have a big smirk on my face.

Couldn't stay out of the press box, in 3 1/2 seasons with the big club. Call it a case of mismanagement if you want, but he didn't show anyone in the organization any of the promise that he did when he was drafted. Best of luck, Jurco. In related news. More reason to hope for a first round choke job from Chicago.

That's a great spot to see everything. The only spot it might be an issue, is if you're in 207 or 208. That's where the main camera that they use for 75% of the game is. There are a few seats in that area where the view can be partially obscured, but I honestly think that row 10 is above that. And I'm pretty sure that most of those seats are STH seats, anyway.

That's a bad hit, in a very vulnerable place on the ice. I wouldn't be surprised if the officials got a call from Toronto on that one.

There wasn't a seat to be found in the "Canadian Club", er, Olympia Room. What a lot of people don't understand, is during the 90's, times were pretty good in Detroit, and all the small shops that did work for the auto companies were the ones that were buying season tickets. With the success of The Wings, tickets became more of a valuable commodity, and people used tickets as gifts, to help schmooze buyers from the Big 3. Right around 2000, 2 things happened. The first, was the Big 3 telling their employees that they could no longer accept "gifts" from suppliers. (It still happened, and still does, just a lot fewer purchasers, and even more playing within their companies rules.) The second, and more important part, is in late 2000, the local economy was getting shaky, especially in the auto industry. Over the next 5-10 years, most of these small suppliers went out of business, or were purchased by larger companies, and they no longer had the need, or the funds, to continue purchasing tickets. (A quick drive up Groesbeck Hwy, will be a quick reminder of how many small businesses, disappeared.) During this time, The Wings remained competitive, and tickets were still in demand. Ticket brokers started snapping them up, several of them from out of town. The Red Wings organization was happy to be replacing their lost customers with new ones, and wasn't all that concerned about the addresses of the new owners. Plenty of locals still had extra money, and would pay for these "broker" tickets, to go see a game. When 2007 came around, even more jobs were gone, and discretionary spending for a hockey game was nonexistent for the average fan. This is around the time that the sellout streak ended. I'm pretty sure, that the 07-08 season, was the first in 15 years that wasn't all sellouts. The year we win The Cup, and we can't sellout the barn. Tough times indeed. Even more people gave up season tickets, and even more ticket brokers bought them up. Now, there are so many season ticket packages that are owned by brokers, that places like StubHub, and Ticketmaster, are full of seats that go unsold, especially during weekday games, and less desirable teams. The only times The Joe gets really full, is on weekends, for high demand teams, and for the playoffs. A quick look on StubHub, shows several tickets in the lower bowl available for Friday night against Carolina. Some people even wanting $1000 per ticket, but several priced around double face value. For Carolina. I'm sure that I'll once again have plenty of room to spread out, Friday, as the tickets, both in front of me, and next to me, are owned by the same broker from New Jersey, and I doubt that their secretaries will want to make the trip to Detroit, to see Carolina.

I can't recall where I read it over the past few days, but he also went on to say, that with the buyouts for cap compliance, that he feels that they will be able to address their defensive needs through free agency. I'm not sure who he has in mind, that may be getting bought out, but I'm sure that an underperforming, overpaid, defenseman that needs a change of scenery will become available that he feels will work, somewhere. They do have quite a bit of cap room to make a nice offer. Of course, he could also be trying to up the ante on draft picks.

This kind of stuff wouldn't happen if they got rid of the instigator penalty.

He could go back and play for "Iron Mike" in Metallurg. It's not like he's a goalie or anything.

How many games has that delay of game for flipping the puck out of play, changed the outcome just in the playoffs? I really hate that call, especially in the playoffs. I wish that they would let the refs go back to using their judgment on that. Then again, that's just one more thing the refs would blow a crucial call on. San Jose was doing pretty well, and then Stuart's penalty and Vlasic's right after,just buried them. And LA's powerplay made them pay with two defensemen in the box. Changed the whole series. If The Sharks kill the penalty on Stuart, they go home all tied up, and can make it a long series and wear each other out before we play the winner. Oh well, sucks to be you, Sharks. Not like I was actually rooting for you. Just wanted a 7 game series. Think of how much more money would be made by those games. And that would make Gary a happy man.

There's two things that makes me think that Kenny will re-sign him. First is the status of Helm. At this point nobody knows if we will play again, and if he does, how effective he will be. He may come back only to need surgery, and never return to 2009 WCF penalty kill Helm. And I really doubt he'll make a career on his scoring touch. Two, is the rumour of Datsyuk leaving at the end of next season. With that being held over Kenny's head, I have a feeling that he goes the safe route and re-signs Fil to somewhere between 4-4.5 mil at 4-6 years. Kenny is a boy scout and tries to always play it safe. I don't expect to see him let Fil and Dats walk away in consecutive years. He already learned that lesson with Raffi and Nick. Just my thoughts.

And yet, we have post saying that we should bench Howard. Gotta love it. Enjoying a huge slice of schadenfreude tonight. Between, The Canucks getting swept, The Sens going up 3-1, and watching The Pens losing a game with such dignity to The Isles and letting that series go even, I just can't stop smiling.

Should have been posted in "Fantasy".

Yeah. Burns, Demers, and Havlat, were all out for a little while. I think we'd be safe to believe that stat can be thrown out like it was from the Russian judge at The Olympics. Edit: The fine print. 0 = team Did Not Report as of last game on/prior to date of analysis

Just need Minny to choke away their lead, and the Gods are righteous tonight.

Jimmy shuts the door.

Another dumb, untimely penalty by Smitty. And he wonders why he was in the pressbox for a few games? I hope Babcock is having a hunk of his ass right now.

Yes. That's why we want Columbus to lose in overtime and The Wild will back out of the playoffs like they did during the year of "The Core".

Just have to say it. Hanta Yo!! LGRW. Let's do this on our own.

The Hudson's Building was imploded on October 24, 1998. It was moved by several trucks to the salvage yard. Tried to post YT video. Couldn't copypasta link.??? Sorry.