mmamolo

ha yeah well i was really just joking around. I've liked the goaltending prospects for some time now but that article definitely hyped them up a little bit. I think it's time us Wings fans stop being so fickle when it comes to our netminders. It seems like Osgood has given us the motivation to have faith and pride in our goalies. Hopefully that trend continues with Howard and all the way down the line to Whitley

Let's face it, Bombay isn't even a 'has been'...he's a 'never was'. How anyone could vote for him is beyond me. That being said, Youngblood doesn't exactly do much for me either. But he did play at a higher level than Bombay. My vote goes to Julie 'the cat' Gaffney

Malkin it's over

I dont know what it was about that article but now I feel like I have an inflated sense of confidence in our goaltending depth. I've long waited to see what Howard can do but I'm definitely excited to see how Larsson, McCollum and Pearce continue to develop. Plus, being Canadian, I wouldn't mind seeing Whitley do well too

After all of the discussion on LGW about how a lot of ppl wanted Taylor Pyatt to sign in Detroit he goes and signs in Phoenix for 600k on a one year deal. After making $1.575M last year Pyatt has taken a 975k paycut this season. Obviously he realized that he wouldnt be able to get the money he wanted this late into the offseason. It's unfortunate that a similar contract wasn't extended by the Red Wings. Well, or that if a similar contract was extended that Pyatt and the Wings didnt mesh at this price.

Here's an interesting article that details Holland's stance on the Hudler situation with Dynamo. It doesn't appear as though the IIHF will impact the Wings or Hudler's plans. Hudler Gone, But Not Forever

So looking back on the last number of seasons Henrik Zetterberg has put up some very solid numbers. This season was the first in four that he hadn't averaged a point per game or better. He has scored 40 in the past, which you can see, and has come close before as well. I think He'll be expected to to score more this season and playing with Datsyuk he should have all the opportunity in the world to post 40. (year/team/games/goals/assists/points) 2005-2006 Red Wings 77 39 46 85 2006-2007 Red Wings 63 33 35 68 2007-2008 Red Wings 75 43 49 92 2008-2009 Red Wings 77 31 42 73 So what do you ppl think? WIll Zetterberg post a 40 goal season? While we're on the topic, will Franzen get 40?

What you could do is have x votes per round. Once you've collected that many that's it. If ppl enter more votes for a particular round they are discarded. Also, you could reduce the sample sizes as the rounds go deeper since some ppl are bound to lose interest. Or, in addition to bolding their votes users could also number them by reading the previous posts. For example if Round 2 opens up and I am the first to vote I simply write: Vote 1: Player Y then the subsequent voter writes: Vote 2: Player Z That way when you hit sample size x, that you've let us all know at the beginning of the round, no one will make additional votes. Plus, if you are logged out for a long time the voting can continue into subsequent rounds without you having to monitor things every few minutes.

Marty Turco Playoff Stats: GP47 W21 L26 T0 OT0 SO4 GA112 SA1,305 SV%.914 GAA2.17 Tomas Vokoun PLayoff Stats: GP11 W3 L8 T0 OT0 SO1 GA28 SA360 SV%.922 GAA2.47

We can agree to disagree on the skating. As far as they other areas Crosy can absolutely still improve, and I believe so can Datsyuk. But when we're talking about who is the best player today, to me, potential doesn't count for a whole lot. Determining who we think is the best player today is different from asking who would we build a team with to play together for a few years. Also, to the guy who started the thread, maybe you can pick a sample size (ex. 30 votes) and each round can end once you've gotten that many votes. As opposed to random timing to end each round

1. Ovechkin Also, Datsyuk is definitely a more complete hockey player than Crosby. But it's all about your definition of best player in the league. In my definition of being the best complete player I would rank Datsyuk above Crosby. Call me biased if you want but Datsyuk's defense, faceoffs, skating, poise, and creativity are all better in my mind. The rest of their skills are up for debate.

Perry and Getzlaf would definitely be on my list. Getzlaf just has a way of crushing us all the time. It's like we can't stop him. Corey Perry is just a little *****. He hacks, he takes cheap shots, he whines, and is a mouthly little f*****. Worst part of all is he scores too.

ha ha Thank you! Although I would say he had two good years but still. I persaonlly think he's overrated.

It's funny, when Lehtonen first broke into the league I used to always put him on the Red Wings when playing video games. It wouldnt be a bad idea in my mind for Lehtonen and the Wings to work somethign out in the future but I think it's pretty unlikely. Who knows though

You just want Lehtonen in the top 15 because he's Finnish right? ha I'm only joking. I actualyl do really like him and think he's really good but ever since the Thrashers made the playoffs and got whipped he hasn't impressed much. I do thin khe has a lot of potential still but I don't think he has come along as much as I think he should have to this point in his career. But I did consider him for my list.

No sweat. Truth be told I made it as both a here and now list and a long term list. Each was a factor in my ranking. For me to take Thomas over some of those younger guys he would have to be that much better than them because of the potential the yougner guys have, the age they are, and so on. But we can agree to disagree. Despite what Thomas did this year even if it was just for one season I think I'd rather Hiller than Thomas.

Well now we're gettign into a different discussion. I was only commenting on the Bruins team play in reference to their playoff exit. Going back to my original post the teams in front of the goalies had nothign to do with my ranking. Experience is one of the factors I thought about but it wasn't the only thing that determined the order. Thomas has never been outside of the 2nd round. If I'm not mistaken Miller was in net when the Sabres went to the ECF in 2006. Plus, I think Hiller and Mason did more single handedly for their teams this year than Thomas. Again, I'll give Thomas credit where credit is due but with his age, experience, inconsistent play for the bulk of his career I would rather the potential that Hiller, Miller, Mason, Bryzgalov and Rinne exhibit over the final 2-4 seasons Thomas has left.

Kiprusoff - Agreed. I wasn't saying it was 100% Thomas' fault the Bruins lost and I did give him credit as he has played well the last two years but I really have no faith in his game in the long run. He gets flustered and starts making mistakes. I realyl don't think he'll be that great and I really doubt the Bruins make the finals with him in net, let alone in the cup. I am giving him credit for his play the last two years but I'd still rather go with any of those other 15 than him.

Not that I think Tanguay is a stud or anything but I was surprised he signed a oen eyar deal for only $2.5M/yr. At that price I'm not sure why more teams weren't after him all this time. He's capable of, as he has done it in the past, of 60-70 pts this year. Even if he only puts up 50 for that price that's a good deal. Although it doesn't make a ton of sense, cap wise, why the Lightning would buyout Prospal to sign Tanguay

Every time Crosby does something as news worthy as farting Bettman creams himself. Welcome to the new ice age

I really think Hudler will come back that much more experienced and developed and we'll get a great player at a very reasonable salary. I know a lot of ppl are pissed that he signed with the KHL but I think we're going to get the benefit of this whole situation in the long run. In either one or two years time we'll have a lot of holes to plug but our core will be in tact. Even at Hudler's current production (57 pts) a cap hit of $2.875/yr is solid and he still has the potential to get better. I'd gladly welcome him back. Had he stayed this year our cap situation would have been just as dicey, if not worse, and I think his game will excel playign in Russia for a year or two.

I think the only way to make up a list like this is to encompass regular season and playoff performance, consistency, skill, game changing ability and for the younger goalies potential. My list of the top 15 would be in order who I would put on my team if I had the freedom to choose reagardless of other circumstances. 1. Niklas Backstrom 2. Henrick Lundqvist 3. Roberto Luongo 4. Chris Osgood 5. Martin Brodeur 6. Marc-ANdre Fleury 7. Cam Ward 8. Tomas Vokoun 9. Jonas Hiller 10. Ryan Miller 11. Steve Mason 12. Ilya Bryzgalov 13. Evgeni Nabokov 14. Nikolai Khabibulin 15. Pekka Rinne Notables left of the list: Kiprusoff, Thomas, (Chris) Mason Personally I think Backstrom is unreal and I think he'd thrive anywhere even if it wasn't in the defensively minded Minnesota. Lundqvist and Luongo are work horses who are capable of winning Conn Smythe trophies if their franchises ever put together some ppl to play in front of them. Osgood's a big game goaltender and has shown it with his playoff numbers and I believe that if it weren't for the Wings' offense drying up in games 6 and 7 he would have won this year's Conn Smythe trophy. Brodeur was unreal and is still really strong but he hasn't put together a good enough playoff campaign in a while. Vokoun and Bryzgalov seem to be underrated in the league today but are both extremely good. Nabakov is on this list from past performance but could easily be dropped off next spring. Khabibulin showed his resurgence this year. I know some ppl aren't going to liek Kiprusoff and Thomas being left off the list but Kiprusoff hasn't gotten out of the first round since the pre-cap world and although posting solid regualr season stats I think his best days are behind him. Tim Thomas had his 15 minutes of fame and personally I was not shocked to see the Bruins fall in the Conference Semi's. I think he's some what of a flash in the pan and the way he has played the last two seasons won't continue much longer. He'll still post solid regular season numbers this year as the Bruins are strong but I personally wouldn't want him on my team (based on his play, skill etc. He seems like a good guy and there should be a lot said about his perseverance)

Well ya it would be pretty hilarious. Not jsut acuse it's Hossa and the Hawks, I don't really hold any ill will towards them, but I find that sort of uncovered scandal sort of thing funny. Personally I think that we'd all be a little nieve to think that these types of retirement discussions weren't held in a lot of these career contracts (especially this one that has Hossa beign 42 or so when he retires).

Agreed. Saying that Kobe and Datsyuk are similar based on the fact they are both top ten scorers in the league and play for good teams is pretty vague. You could basicalyl say any of the other 9 top 10 scorers are essentially Kobe, based on these criteria.

If the contract is voided what are the real ramifications? Would Hossa be allowed to renegotiate a new contract with the Hawks? Would the Hawks even be allowed to hold contract talks with Hossa? Or would Hossa have to negotiate with a new team? Does anyone know what would happen?