McAwesome
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Posts posted by McAwesome
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As to the OP, definitely Lidstrom has earned that honor, anyone else on the current roster has a long way to go before they deserve to have their number retired, but as others have also pointed out, Datsyuk and Zetterberg are off to a good start.
As for the debate about historic players who have not been retired, I have never fully understood why Mr. Ilitch took #6 down from the rafters, and while I can see why they initially decided not to retire #4 for Kelly (original 6 mindset, Toronto was a very heated rivalry at the time, etc), but with the passage of time, why would you not consider it?
Having your number retired is about as great of an honor a player can have, right up there with being inducted into the HHOF and having your name engraved on the Stanley Cup, it is a form of hockey immortality, and those players whose sweaters hang from the rafters now are all undoubtedly worthy of that honor, by virtue of not only their numbers and awards but also their service to the team, all of the players whose numbers are retired played most if not all of their career in Detroit, unlike some numbers retired for other clubs (#77 in Colorado comes to mind). The Detroit Red Wings hold themselves to a higher standard, and that is why they are the model franchise in all of North American pro sports.
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This obviously excludes legends that I never had any chance to see play due to age constraints:
1) Yzerman, the reason I started to follow hockey in the first place, a truly great hockey player and more importantly a great human being.
2) McCarty, guy played with so much passion and grit, how can you not like him, he bled and drew blood for his team like no other.
3) Lidstrom, excellence personified, I can count on one hand the number of times I saw him make a bad or questionsble play.
4) Shanahan, I was so pumped when we traded Primeau's sorry hide for him, and he did not disappoint one bit.
5) Datsyuk, an absolute magician, if they ever thought of renaimg trophies they should rename the Selke after him.
6) Konstantinov, what a force he was, tragically cut short in his prime, is symbolic of the values of the Ilitch family and the Red Wings organization.
7) Zetterberg, arguably the hardest working player of his generation, nobody thought he could be this good (except maybe Hakan Andersson)
8) Filppula, probably will get flamed for this, but he is my favorite current Red Wing for reasons I will gladly explain but should not have to justify, can't leave him off my list
9) Kozlov, tough little guy, clutch in the playoffs, and my favorite image from the Avs rivalry after the Turtle is Kozzie sidestepping Foote and slamming his ugly mug into the glass
10) Osgood, one of the most underrated goalies IMO, all he has done is win 3 Stanley Cups, 2 as a starter, 389 wins, 74 playoff wins, and all he gets is criticism and second-guessing.
Honorable mentions to: Larionov, Lapointe, Doug Brown
55fan and ryan983 reacted to this -
I have been saying all along that Helm should be centering the third line between any combination of Eaves, Cleary, and Williams.
We need to get our scoring forwards playing together, not trying to spread out the scoring and diluting the effectiveness of our setup men with inferior linemates.
Top 6 forwards: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Holmstrom, Filppula, Bertuzzi (any line combo will do)
Bottom 6 forwards: Cleary, Helm, Williams, Draper, Eaves, Miller (Helm centers the 3rd, Draper centers the 4th)
There is no reason to have Miller or Williams centering a line when we have 5 centers in the lineup, only one has to play wing and it should be Z on Pavel's wing, those two bring out the best in each other and we need them both to be producing as much as possible at this point.
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Right now, I'd have to give a slight edge to Filppula.
I do not think either player is playing as well as they are capable of, but the same could be said for everyone on this team at some point this season. This whole team has just been underachieving as a whole, some due to injuries that kept them out of the lineup for stretches (Filppula, Kronwall, Franzen), some due to not as obvious injuries (you cannot tell me that Zetterberg has been 100% at any point this season), some due to overuse in the absence of regular players in the lineup (Stuart, Ericsson).
If they had been healthy all season, we definitely would not be having this debate about Cleary vs. Filppula, they are both valuable role players on this team. Cleary's role is to get his nose dirty, kill penalties, and score garbage goals through hard work. Filppula's role is primarily to set up his linemates for scoring chances, be defensively responsible, and chip in goals when he gets the chance. All things being equal, Filppula should be the 2nd line/2nd PP center, and Cleary should be a 2nd/3rd line winger and a 1st unit PK forward. Neither has spent much time in the role they are best suited for and have earned through their effort, we simply haven't been healthy enough to play everyone in the role they should be in.
In a more ideal setting, Cleary is good for around 20 goals/40 points a season, and Filppula is good for 15-20 goals and 30-40 assists. Of course, when the entire team is struggling offensively, these numbers seem to fall short of what we want out of them.
For some reason, Filppula seems to be a polarizing figure on this board, and there are those who simply have nothing good to say about him and feel like it is their responsibility to rain on the parade of those who are fans of his, to quote Lee Corso "Not so fast my friend" whenever someone says anything positive about his play, to which his most ardent supporters reply with equal haste and usually result in hijacking whatever thread the conversation is occurring in. I don't get it, I don't understand how people who are fans of a team can show such blind hatred towards a member of the team they support, but that's just me.
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Another PP upcoming, please let's bust this one wide open
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Alright, 2 minutes for math failure
Homer, WooHoo!! (sorry, I know someone else has the copyright on the Homer pic)
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Another pick-pocket move for Datsyuk, and if that was anyone except Holmstrom it would have been an interference penalty.
I like how the hitting has picked up this period.
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Thank you!!
I knew the jinx would work.
Nice goal by Datsyuk, and we're right back in it.
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Kipper is having a great game. He will get the SHUTOUT!
SHUTOUT
SHUTOUT
SHUTOUT
All we need now is for the announcers to mention it and the jinx is in.
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LOL @ Ken, Central division matchup against Minnesota.
PP upcoming, cha-ching :fingerscrossed:
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Big Rig jawing it up there, hopefully he gets his head out of his a$$ and does something to earn his place back in the lineup.
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Got to love Sean Avery. I don't care too much for his off-ice antics, but the way he gets in the opponents' heads is priceless. When he waved his stick in Brodeur's face instead of screening him, that was epic, I wish I had thought of that when I played.
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It really depends on which team shows up on a nightly basis, as others have said.
If the team that played against Nashville shows up, we will make it going away, probably pull into a 5 or 6 seed even.
If the team that played against Vancouver shows up, no way, not even with help.
If the team that played against Colorado shows up, we will need some help, and unfortunately the teams ahead of us have been pulling away due to our struggles of late.
I am confident that we still control our own destiny, but we absolutely have to play like it. Our top players have to play like our top players, and lately Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Franzen have been doing so. Filppula has got to step up his scoring, he's been getting good chances but has been snake-bit when it comes to finishing, he is just too talented to be trailing Helm, Eaves, and Miller in goal-scoring. Babcock needs to start alternating Osgood and Howard, Jimmy's proven he can handle the load, now it's time to get a more even rotation going, if not every other game then at least every third game or so for Osgood, otherwise we are going to be hurting is either one gets cold or has a melt-down in the first round (which seems to be almost a given with this franchise).
This team is capable of winning 2/3 of their remaining games, and a 6 or 7 game winning streak wouldn't be unthinkable either. :fingerscrossed:
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Caught on camera, too!
I lol'd.
But seriously, big thanks to Matt and all the other admins for all that they do to give us a place to celebrate and lament the fortunes of the greatest team in the history of professional sports. Who would hack a hockey forum, seriously? Someone needs to find this Black Chicken character and teach him a lesson in some creative and poetic-justice way.
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Those videos are pretty funny!
As for the Heatley incident, I would argue that Heatley committed depraved-heart murder, a legal term to describe extreme recklessness and disregard for human life that results in the death of another human. Heatley may not have had any intention of crashing, but it really doesn't matter; he ended someone else's life as a result of his recklessness.
Actually, I think the term is depraved indifference, but I agree. Heatley plead out to a lesser charge of 2nd degree vehicular homicide and a number of other misdemeanor charges, though he was originally charged with 1st degree vehicular homicide, a felony, which if convicted would have put him in danger of being deported and seriously jeopardized his playing career. Not that I am defending Heatley by any stretch of the imagination, but the actions that led to Snyder's death were reckless and Heatley will forever have to live with that on his conscience regardless of what the legal system decided his fate would be.
Is Heatley a murderer? No, murder implies intent, and no matter how reckless he was being, I don't think he meant to kill him. Is Heatley a killer? Yes, he is responsible for the death of another human being as a direct result of his actions. Some may see that as semantics, but it is a distinction nonetheless.
Now that I have that out of my system, whoever made these videos obviously has a sense of humor, and on the Heatley video it looks like he did a good job of syncing the voice-over with the footage, but some of his other efforts (i.e Burke, Miller) were not very convincing. This guy will obviously not be winning any awards for editing or cinematography, but those videos were good for a chuckle, as is most of the conversation in this thread.
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When this team starts playing well, I have confidence that Filppula will grow into his contract and be a very valuable 60 point centerman. Hossa's contract is complete and utter garbage. The Hawks are going to enjoy it for a couple of years, but it's going to cripple them down the road. It was a very shortsighted play by the Hawks to overload their cup drive. I'm sure we all agree that he won't play until he's 42, but even if he retires at 40, they're still paying him a very large sum for his late 30's. We've already got enough chips tied up in long-term contracts for forwards and it was a very smart move by Holland to cut ties with Hossa rather than getting entwined in a contract that would cripple the team down the road.Filppula.
^This
Hindsight is definitely 20/20.
Filppula was signed to the deal he was with the anticipation that he would be the 2nd line center, and when he plays that role he is worth the contract IMO. Am I opposed to the idea of moving him if the right deal came along? No, as much as I like him as a player I realize this is a business and with very few exceptions, no one is safe in the current climate of free agency, salary cap, and the forced parity that we must deal with as fans. I also don't think that trading him for draft picks would be smart, granted we have some of the best scouting in the world, draft picks are a crap shoot and for every late round gem that Hakan Andersson & co find, there are as many if not more players that do not live up to their scouting.
Hossa on the other hand, I never placed much faith in being able to keep him anyway. People say that it was a matter of a million dollars to keep him, but as others have pointed out, how many lifetime deals can one team afford to have?
I guess I do not see the direct correlation that others see between keeping Filppula and Hossa signing with Chicago, but maybe that's just me. I think that the worst thing that happened to us over the off-season was Hudler skipping on his arbitration, that situation really hand-cuffed Holland in a way that no one could have anticipated.
BTW, I voted for Filppula in the poll, too.
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I'm not panicking yet, but I have to agree with you, things are getting a little more tense with every passing game, especially when we are literally playing for our playoff lives each night. It seems like every time we start to look like we are pulling it all together, we have a game like tonight where a couple of bad breaks seem to take all of the wind out of our sails and we implode. It's getting old fast, and if we have even one more game like tonight for the rest of the season, we will likely be out of the playoffs, and the way we have played this season we do not deserve to make the playoffs.
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This is funny.
Like him or hate him, it's entertaining to make fun of Crosby because there is no shortage of ammo.
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What a great decision by Datsyuk, froze the entire Avs PK unit with that no-look drop pass, perfect shot by Lidstrom.
Way to go, boys.
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Even the Versus announcers could see that was a massive flop-job by Anderson.
Can't say I'm surprised, just disappointed.
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Franzen!!!!!
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I do not share the blind hatred that some on this board display, but the answer to the OP question is a resounding NO, scoring the GWG in OT in the gold-medal game does little if anything to improve his image in my eyes. Is he a talented hockey player? Yes, no one can rationally deny that. Does he receive a lot of media attention? Yes, again no one can rationally argue that. Has he earned the amount of attention he receives? Not yet IMO, but winning the Cup and now the Gold go a long way in that respect. Does he display a lack of humility and respect for his opponents at times? Yes, many here can give specific examples, and while that is not the only reason I dislike him, it is one of the biggest.
That being said, I do not dislike him any more or less than other players who have similar attitudes, and I doubt anything will change that, but I am not jaded or deluded enough to actually think he is not one of the best players of his generation and may go down in history as one of the greatest of all time, but that does not mean I have to like him, nor do I expect others to agree or disagree with me, this is the internet and everyone has an opinion.
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That has to be one of the coolest things I have ever seen. How cool for that kid to be able to hang out at Ozzie's house, what a great memoy and an awesome gift for his dad to give him.
It is one of my lifeloing dreams to be able to build an outdoor rink for my kids (it would be hard to do now since I live in Orlando, maybe when I move back up north) and seeing the pictures made me feel like a kid again myself, I especially liked the table made out of sticks and the ceiling fan where the blades were goalie paddles.
I know that most hockey players are great guys, but it is particularly cool to see Ozzie doing this.
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Not a big fan of the reported line combos. I know we are deep at center, but we do not have enough scoring depth at wingers to try to roll a 3rd scoring line. Why not split up Draper and Helm and make 2 checking/energy lines to go with our top 2 scoring lines, which right now we have just enough scoring punch to create.
Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom
Franzen/Filppula/Bertuzzi
Eaves/Helm/Cleary
Miller/Draper/Williams
Just my
Retired Jerseys?
in General
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I completely forgot about Ozzie, which seems to be his fate. Osgood is just good, he's not flashy, he's not vocal, he just shows up and gets the job done, especially when it matters the most. 10th all time in wins, 2 Stanley Cups, one of the most consistent and underrated goalies, and should be considered for both the HHOF and number retirement.