Bring Back The Bruise Bros

Agreed. See: Ville Leino, Philadelphia, 2010

Franzen-Datsyuk-Parise Zetterberg-Filppula-Hudler Abdelkader-Helm-Cleary Miller-Prust-Eaves Suter-Kronwall Sarich-White Ericsson-B.Smith Kindl That doesn't look too bad.

Carman's back? Now all we gotta do is find Titanium2, Micah, Eva, Lidstromboli, EZBAKE, and convince the mods to let Mindfly back on and the whole crew will be here!

Well the Isles will be sellers at the deadline, no doubt, not sure who they are willing to get rid of. Tavares, Moulson, Grabner, and Streit may be the only untouchables, right now. On defense, I like Hamonic from the Isles as well.

Yeah Martin has 10 points in 40 games this season, compared to 14 in 68 last year, so he's no slouch. Clifford's at about the same offensive pace he was last season for ~15 points.

That's the kinda guy that would make us a little more difficult to play against. Pretty versatile, as well.

Good shot blocker, especially. He's under contract for at least another year, iirc, so I doubt we would get him in return.

I can understand Stuart's desire to be with his family. If we send him to California, what do you guys want to get back? San Jose-Douglas Murray Anaheim-Luca Sbisa Los Angeles-Matt Greene None are likely to ship those guys in return, but meh.

I like the idea of this better. Dream team from any era. Interesting lineup, although you're lacking a 4th line, brother I'll toss this out there: Stamkos-Yzerman-P.Bure Shanahan-Datsyuk-Selanne Roberts-Lehtinen-McCarty Probert-Marchant-Kocur -McGrattan Lidstrom-MacInnis Stevens-Hatcher Konstantinov-Erskine Roy Howard

Just didn't show up.

Lol I keed, of course. Well, with Howard coming out and basically saying "Clear the damn crease", we found Commodore playing more. I doubt we'll get an immediate reaponse from Ken, but possibly at the deadline or in the offseason. I mean, you just don't see quotes like that often. Typically, coaches are pretty hush about the personnel that is brought in, so I take that as a "Ken, give me something to work with". That should speak pretty loud knowing that coaches typically don't speak out like that.

This quote may become my signature. To be honest, I'm a little hard right now.

3 games for Jacques' hit? Gimme a break. Didn't his elbow look tucked before contact?

You know what, good on him. I don't really like Marchand, but 5 games was far too much, in my opinion. Was it dirty? Yeah, but after looking at the video a few times, a major and a game misconduct was enough. At the end of that article, the word "soft"..starts so many conversations on LGW Guys got annoyed with him because he finished every check, hacked and whacked, and he had a smart mouth, but he never threw any cheapshots.

There isn't anything the '08 bottom 6 did that this one can't? I don't think this team can physically compete for 4 best-of-7 rounds of playoff hockey. Yes, you caught us, every enforcer slappy on this website contacted one another, and we eventually met up at a Little Ceasars location outside of Detroit, the exact location obviously being confidential. Crazy bread stuffed in all of our pro-enforcer mouths, we developed a term so vague it would drive posters insane for centuries. "Toughness". We all wanted to see teams goon it up, but would never admit that, so we hide behind vague terms and explanations such as this "Toughness". Newfy, GMR, Esteef, F. Michael, Detroit #1 Fan, WorkingOvertime, the manager of the restaurant, and a few others will never admit this meeting, so don't even try to get it out of them. I don't see this team winning it all this year with the roster we have now. I'd love to be proved wrong. You'll probably say something along the lines of "Well look at where we are in the standings". Okay, our high place in the standings during the regular season the last few years didn't correlate to championships. Chicago had a great blend of finesse and grit. Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd were capable of stirring things up and putting up points. Grinders like Ben Eager and Adam Burish raised hell. John Madden was a solid bottom 6 guy. Their finesse guys (Hossa, Kane, etc) were great. Niemi stole games. Carolina wasn't really scrappy. Calling them soft is wrong, though. Young Andrew Ladd and Mike Commodore were physical. Ladd was able to put up a few points. Craig and Kevyn Adams were major on the PK, blocking shots. Chad Larose and Aaron Ward were constantly running around. Their finesse guys (Staal, Cole, etc) got the job done, and Cam Ward was able to steal a few games. That team had everything going for them. I've already said that getting a guy similar to Moen wouldn't guarantee us a Cup. How many times do I have to state this? A team doesn't need to fight 70 times a year to win a Cup. They need to be able to physically match up with every team for up to 7 games of 4 playoff series. In addition, their goaltender has to be able to steal games, their finesse guys must play consistent, their special teams play must be consistent.

Jarome Iginla is the 42nd player to reach the 500 goal plateau. He's scored 33 points in 43 games this season. Hopefully he remains a Flame for the rest of his career, you just don't see many guys play their entire careers for one organization anymore. Here's to many more, Iggy (As long as they're not against us)

Couldn't have said it better.

http://blogs.sun-sentinel.com/sports_hockey_panthers/2012/01/panthers-sign-madden-goc-and-samuelsson-ready-barch-inquiry-still-on-hold.html Solid depth move by Tallon. I was really hoping Madden would continue playing, and it sounds like he could get some 4th line duty. Good to see the vet sticking around. Discuss.

Yeah, he is still around. He's been a journeyman the last few years. Vancouver sent him to Florida at the beginning of the year. He's scored 3 points in 33 games, before getting hurt recently.

He'll reportedly play on the 4th line tonight against Vancouver. Fleischmann-Weiss-Versteeg Kopecky-Matthias-Samuelsson Santorelli-Goc-Bradley Repik-Madden-Barch Florida is a little depleted up front, with Scottie Upshall, Marco Sturm, and Sean Bergenheim out. It will be interesting to see what they look like when everyone gets back.

I'm not saying fighting=chamionships. I'm not saying the Cup is ours if we get a guy like Moen. There are so many other factors that play into a teams success than just grit. Although I will say we've got to be able to physically combat our opponent in a long playoff series. We played decent against Anaheim in 2007, but they just seemed to out-muscle us to loose pucks a lot of the time. We need to be able to physically keep up with those kind of teams. Regardless of what the role players do, the snipers need to play consistently. The defense needs to be able to play consistently. The penalty kill needs to be able to get a few kills if it comes down to that. There needs to be balance. You can't have a team full of goons alone and expect to win a Cup. You can't have a bunch of finesse guys that won't go to the trenches to win a puck battle and expect to win a Cup. You can't have a team that fails to effectively kill penalties and expect to win a Cup. You need a team that has a balance of finesse, grit (winning puck battles down low, separate man from puck, block shots, just play physically as a team), defensive prowess, and a solid goaltender. Your role players have to show up occasionally on the score sheet. Take a look at a few role players for Boston last year in the playoffs: Chris Kelly-13 points in 25 games Dan Paille-6 points in 25 games Gregory Campbell-4 points in 25 games In addition to the skilled guys putting up offensive numbers: David Krejci-23 points in 25 games Patrice Bergeron-20 points in 23 games Brad Marchand-19 points in 25 games Nathan Horton-17 points in 21 games These guys have to show up to win a Championship. Hell, Drake put up 4 points in the '08 postseason. Not a lot, but contributions from the role players are key. I'd love to be proved wrong. I'd be ecstatic if we won the Cup this year with the roster we have right now. I just don't see it happening, based on the last few early playoff exits with virtually the same roster. And again, the Cup isn't automatically ours if we find a Moen, there needs to be a healthy balance of what I listed above to be a Cup contender.

There's been a disturbing amount of fan violence this year. Detroit is often ragged on for being trashy, but beating on a pregnant woman over a hockey game is quite scum-ish if you ask me. I hope the woman is alright. Stay classy, s***tsburgh.

Sigh....I'll bite. There isn't anybody saying fights=championships. In 2002, we had guys like McCarty, Maltby, and Draper who were all physical and defensively responsible, while chipping in offensively. Shanahan was gritty and offensively skilled as well. All were physical, as in getting in on the forecheck and wearing down the defense. Finishing all of their checks. These guys won puck battles down low. They all drove the net. At the same time, Yzerman, Fedorov, and the finesse guys played on a consistent basis. There was a healthy balance of finesse and grit. In 2008, Drake, Maltby, and even Helm and McCarty were the ones winning puck battles down low. Driving to the net. Getting in on the forecheck and wearing down the defense. Blocking shots. These kind of grinders are needed, IMO to get through gruesome playoff series. Again, our finesse guys played consistent. Again, there was a healthy combination of finesse and grit. I'm not giving credit to Dallas Drake for our championship in 2008, but guys like him help us physically compete with other teams in long playoff series. Many will say "Oh well we were one game away from the Conference championship series with a really soft team". I didn't realize that was good enough around here. There is room for improvement on this team.

Get used to seeing lists like that from me, as we get closer to the offseason and people keep claiming nobody is available who fits the bill. I think Cherry is right when it comes to Detroit.

Not really.... Zack Smith-21 points in 42 games Ryan Jones-20 points in 41 games David Clarkson-19 points in 41 games Travis Moen-15 points in 39 games Eric Nystrom-14 points in 35 games Tanner Glass-12 points in 41 games Chris Neil-12 points in 33 games Dan Carcillo-11 points in 28 games Gregory Campbell-10 points in 35 games Brandon Prust-9 points in 39 games Derek Dorsett-9 points in 38 games Jamal Mayers-9 points in 41 games Tim Jackman-7 points in 43 games I like B.J. Crombeen, Matt Beleskey, Jordin Tootoo, and Mike Rupp, as well. All can skate a regular shift and won't be a liability to the team. Many of these guys will be available this summer.