ogreslayer

Want to let things settle a bit after the rollercoaster of the last week+ before throwing any names out there. The one thing I will say though is that Kenny absolutely needs to get in contact with Helm's agent & get him signed to a long-term extension right now. Don't even let him go into next season on the last year of his current deal.

I'm adding a $10 kicker for a game 7 win for the rest of the playoffs.

Got the fridge stocked with Guinness & a full bottle of The Macallan waitin'. Plus I already laid out my Kronner jersey & Winter Classic cap which go on as soon as I get home. More than ready here. Let's drop the puck already!

Interesting... Mr. Smile in June: 10 games played, 10 started, 2.44 GAA & .925 Sv% Niemi: 12 GP, 12 GS, 3.1 GAA & .901 Sv% Bobby Lou: 13 GP, 12 GS 2.25 GAA & .917 Sv% I'm thinking Jimmah is looking pretty damn consistent compared to the other two.

God I hope so. That might be a start on making up for all the ulcers he's giving Wings fans when he steps on the ice in the 3rd.

So what is the sound of 20 shark sphincters puckering at the same time?

And here I was waiting for JR to start that rant again for Modano being a healthy scratch until game 6

McClellan saying it's an upper body injury now, not the flu as previous, but not related to being Kronwalled. Riiiiiiiight....

My feelings on OT? http://youtu.be/XnE8RitIN4s

As others have said, there's no way that Lids comes back on anything other than a one year deal even if he comes back at all after winning the Cup, Conn Smythe, & Norris this year. Now what I'm really looking forward to is all the whining when he does come back but doesn't take as much of a hometown discount as some people here want him to. That would never happen though, would it?

From today's Malik Report: Yesterday, I reported that Wings prospect Dick Axelsson had indeed terminated his contract with the Swedish Eliteserien champion, Farjestads BK, but he’d whined to Aftonbladet’s Mats Wennerholm that the Wings might as well trade him because the Wings’ contract offer to the restricted free agent probably wasn’t to his liking. Well today, wouldn’t you know, it turns out that Aftonbladet’s Hans Abrahamsson and Emil Karlsson are reporting that the team FBK defeated, Skelleftea, is bidding for Axelsson’s services, though their GM, Lasse Johansson, “declined comment.” Abrahamsson and Karlsson say that Skelleftea has a bigger budget than FBK, so they could offer Axelsson 80,000 more Swedish Kronor a month (or an extra $13,142.00 per today’s Krona-to-Dollar exchange rate) in pay, though FBK’s GM, Thomas Rundqvist, states the obvious in saying that Farjestad was led to believe that Axelsson would be leaving them for the NHL, but people can of course change their minds. Like I said yesterday, you can see why Wings director of European scouting Hakan Andersson told Matthew Wuest of RedWingsCentral that while the Wings will retain Axelsson’s rights because they’re intrigued by his level of talent, they also think that he remains inconsistent and plain old immature. He’s negotiating a contract with another SEL team, and a team which can offer him an extra $80,000-or-so in pay and the opportunity to play with his pal, Jimmie (brother of Jonathan) Ericsson, through the media. Hell, earlier this month I I mentioned that Andersson himself was speaking to the other Swedish sports tabloid, Expressen, when he suggested to Tomas Pettersson that Axelsson’s still the kind of player who’d rise from his seat in the locker room and try to complain to Mike Babcock if he felt slighted or things were going poorly. As Andersson so expertly put it… “It’s enough that if he storms from his locker twice to go to Mike Babcock, he’ll be benched for good.”

Good story on Kronner taking on more of a leadership role this year on the freep the other day for anyone who didn't see it: http://www.freep.com/article/20110421/SPORTS05/104210439/1053/sports05/Niklas-Kronwall-shows-worth-blueline

I just wonder what would happen in the Wings switched the Flip instead?

And I'm at $30 ($20 for the series win +$10 for the sweep)

And just think, I almost put every waived off goal due to Homer at $10 per.

If a team were to claim him now, it would have to be for next year. I don't believe a waiver claim would allow him to make that team's playoff roster at this point. Very little risk anyone would put in a claim now.

Personally, I want to hear a Homer rant. Given his level of Swenglish, I would imagine he would come across sounding like Roman Moronie from "Johnny Dangerously" but even funnier. Yes I just dropped a "Johnny Dangerously" referrence, you fargin' iceholes.

I'm in: $20 for a series win+$10 if a sweep $5 per shutout $1 for every game Hank plays $5 for any goal called off because of Homer

So let's have a little lesson on sentence structure shall we? If indeed your main point was that the mistake was not hiring Stan, to use a journalism idiom, you buried your lead. By putting "as opposed to hiring his son to keep him here" in parentheses, you are actually including that as a secondary thought to the main point of "...letting Scotty go...was the biggest mistake that Mike Illitch ever made" based on the way you structured your sentence. You are presenting that as a possible option to keep Scotty here which also means that you could have easily included something to the effect that Mr. Illitch also had the option of not hiring Stan & just holding Scotty to his contract. Shall I even go into how you presented this as a theory your "buddy" had & that you also mentioned that you're "not saying that I agree or disagree with this theory"? Seems to me that you're a little more invested in this theory than you originally stated based on getting your panties in a bunch & trying to insult my reading comprehension skills just because you didn't like my opinion. Maybe you need to stick to line combo threads.

So lets see, Scotty goes to Mr. Illitch & says he wants to go work with his son. The same son who had been through two rounds of treatment for cancer, including stem-cell replacement. Letting Scotty go work with his son? Not a mistake really. By the same token, letting Stevie go to Tampa Bay to become a GM? Not a mistake. That's called caring about your employees like they're family & putting their needs above yours. That is the type of behavior that makes the Red Wings organization special. Now not putting #6 in rafters, that's probably Illitch's biggest mistake as an owner at this point.

I know he can't win it but I think instead of not voting, the writers need to vote for Snow for the Lady Byng as a form of protest.

I've been going back & forth with a coworker in Chicago trying to figure out what I would consider sweeter, the Hawks making it in & being bounced in the first round or the Wings sweeping the back-to-back games & keeping them out of the playoffs. Gotta land on the side going for the jugular & keeping them out of the playoffs. Gotta finish them off when you have the chance.

This. If Abby keeps bringing to the table what he has lately, I don't see how you can keep him out of the line-up.

With as bad as the Wings' D has been all season, bring Smith in as a Black Ace during the playoffs & if Ericsson, Salei, or Kindl look particularly "Lebda-like", put the kid in & see what he can do.

I've got to say at this point, I would rather see Rusty out there for the playoffs. Put him & Big E together and limit their ice time. Reunite Lids/Raffi & Stuie/Nick Jr. and ride those pairs.