number9

I honestly don't know if your serious He was not a Norris finalist that year. He finished 20th in scoring for d-men. He wasn't even ranked by fantasy in top 15 lists for d-men that year. ect. you get a cookie for the joke though

Florida is mainly why hes not in the conversation. I don't think he can keep it up on that team. This is also really the first time he's been this decent. He may be riding a hot streak? I didn't consider him for the Norris now at this moment cause I know he won't be on anyones tongue by the end of the year. Good for him and Florida thou. I hope he proves me wrong.

I think Phaneuf and Souray will surprise ppl. They're certainly not bad defensively. They're better than most defensively and bring a huge physical presence in front of the net and along the boards. Phaneuf v. Weber v. Green Phaneuf and Weber r both big and physical on defense, have cannons from the blue line on offense, and can fight. Classic d-men. Green is like a 6th forward. More speed than Weber and Phaneuf, is a better passer than Weber and Phaneuf, and has a lot less of a presence in the defensive zone. Green plays physical too, but not nearly as much as Weber or Phaneuf, and hes less of a fighter. Weber is overrated in his own zone. Suter is underrated in his own zone. If Phaneuf played with Suter he'd look sweet in his own zone too. I agree with you that Phaneuf has played better in the last 20-25 games. I think he has officially entered his prime. Experience has given him, and is giving him, smarts on the ice that he somewhat lacked before. Good defense can be taught. Your statement about Keith is true, that is what I heard from most people about him, but I still think hes overrated. I don't think last year was a slump for him, I think the year CHI won the cup was a fluke year for him. I've never been super impressed by him. He's a great leader, smart on the ice, and a great two-way defender. I just don't think he has the raw talent to put up 60-70 pts a year consistently. Weber, Phaneuf, Souray, Green, ect. have those skills/ that talent. Any suggestions on finalists/winner now, and at the end of the year?

THIS! perfect lines. best chance of success. put kronwall and lids on the ice at the same time as the top line = swedish 5

I'd want Konstantinov and Fischer. As long as they r a defensive pairing together. Oh and cujo's mask too.

my only problem is the top line doesnt have cleary/franzen/tuzzi/homer on it. if gus does well i have a feeling huds may get the shaft this year. huds needs to be in the top 6 to perform and he may be the odd ball out of the top 6.

it really speaks to the oils franchise that they r having a successful rebuild. in a few seasons theyll prolly be up their with the other success's like the caps, pens, and hawks. we dont need anymore yotes, blues, sens, isles, jackets, panthers, or wild.

Does anyone think Crosby will come out and perform like he has in the past again? His concussion problem just seems so severe to me that he wont be the same, still good, but not the same. I get the feeling he will play more reserved and cautious, or he'll get injured again and aggravate an already bad concussion problem.

can somebody explain why franzen has been playing center? is it because hes bigger/rougher? sounder defensively (i personally think flips is better on defense)? This game will be interesting with wisniewski coming back. He loves to be the #1 D-man and plays best when hes the #1 D-man. Now that hes back in the lineup at the #1 D spot and in his first regular season game with CBJ, he'll be showing what hes made of, especially against us... for a number of reasons. I love wizzz and ive wanted him to be a wing since 02, but i think hes in for a rude awakening with CBJ. Hopefully 5 yrs of losing with Columbus will fill his pockets and humble him. Then he can take a REAL contract with a REAL team and win a cup. Sadly, I dont think he'll ever be a wing at this point Here's to big E destroying him in a fight tonight :beerbuddy:

I dont kno any wings personally but I used to work for a small start up company here in the D and my boss/the-owner knew like all the Red Wings. (I think he hired me because I was obsessed with hockey and the wings) He was good friends with McCarty. Darren gave him tickets and put his name on the list to get into the locker room the night we beat Washington to win the cup. He got to drink out of the cup and celebrate with the wings the lucky bas**** He said the first time he went drinking with Darren, Darren got him the drunkest he's ever been while Darren didn't even appear drunk at all lol. I also remember he was good friends with Kocur and Fetisov as well. He was doing business with them when I worked for him. I believe Kocur is the head of the wings alumni association and Fetisov is like the Tsar of Russian sports or something. A friend of mine also just got a job writing for the wings website. All I know so far is that he got to interview Zetterberg. I hate him.

perfect lines, but i think dats and z should only be on the same line when were down and we need a goal. move dats to center the 2nd line, and move flips to play on z's wing on the 1st line. then swap cleary and franzi to get that chemistry can say anything about fabian yet. the whole team didnt play well on sat obviously.

He is definitely past his prime that's for sure. He needs an Eric Staal or a Rob Brindamour to compliment his style of play. Cole needs more size and grit to play with him and the canadiens need more size and grit in general. I think they thought one player like Cole would fill in this giant gap in their roster and it clearly hasnt. I worry that as tuzzi and homer age we will have this same problem. good power forwards are crucial and something weve always had. I hope abby can have a big season! but he seems more like a maltby to me. more and more it seems like weve been finding those smaller skilled players that others tend to over look in the draft. I hope this next years draft will be like the last, and we add some bigger guys. up front this time.

NOWS UR CHANCE!!!!

Omg! an eye patch will be perfect for Pronger's evilness But seriously, I hope this isn't serious. As much as I think he should be in jail (he would probably thrive their and love it anyway), he is a fantastic hockey player and I hope he gets to play for many many more years. The guy is just one heck of a complete defense-man, a respected adversary and rival, and a helluva leader with such a huge personality that I love to see in hockey. Get well soon chrissy poo!!!

pshhhhhhhhhh no way. i love white, hes been so good, but wiz is better. its purely the pay check why i wouldnt want him. sooooooooo overpaid.

hopefully we will just trade away our 1st round pick, or a few of them. we never need them anyway. we use those picks to bring in some decent players, no big name rentals, just some depth shooters and such. hopefully those acquisitions give us just enough to be a championship team instead of just a playoff team. then lids and homer retire after the playoffs and we use the money from their contracts to give kronners and stewie raises, plus sign a few of our prospects. then we contend for the cup again next year. simple.

almost every forward on the wings can play center. they may not prefer it, but they can play it.....yeah were that good lol

97 - OMG! after 40 years we finally did it! (people acknowledge the wings as a championship team/franchise) 98 - HO** SH** we did it again! back to back! were unstoppable! (confirms to the world that Detroit really is hockey-town. experts wonder if this could be the beginnings of the next dynasty) 02 - Superstar studded roster baby! were the yankees of hockey b*****s! (people acknowledge our superstar greatness, but say that we just buy our championships now) 08 - Damnnnn! we are the greatest hockey team of the last 10 years! (at last proves to the world that we dont buy championships and that we dont need to rebuild, were just that good) each year was fantastic in different ways, and each year contributed uniquely, yet perfectly, to the growth of this team into the prestigious franchise it is today. but really there's nothing like 97....its like heroin....winning is always good, but it's never as good as it was the very first time

When anyone mentions 1997 for any reason, or I see or hear the number 97 in any context, I Immediately think Red Wings. Greatest cup win and year in red wings history. It's just too perfect, almost winning it in 96...finally winning it in 97!...and winning it again in 98!!! That whole late 90's era was absolutely phenomenal. 10 year ago was probably the best NHL team ever assembled, but at that point we had a history of winning and were expected to win, in fact if we hadn't won that year i'm sure many other fans and teams would have made fun of us lol.

kindl and commie b4 smith brunnstrom and mursak b4 nyquist homer on the 4th line and only usually plays on the pp hudler on the 4th line when not on Z or dats line

Which pair makes the best scoring pair? currently. I was thinking... sedin/sedin stamkos/st.louis richards/gaborik? i dont think the wings have any clear scoring pair right now

Babs will change a lot this year, that is fersure. But, I feel like there is some sense of default lines. clutch lines that we often revert back to. I'm thinking those default lines will be the ones we saw in the first 2 games. They make a lot of sense, but im all for a change up soon. keeps things interesting and exposes new chemistry and ideas. If anyone watched the long pre-game show before the Avs game, babs said he asked the new asst coach from western to come in everyday with a new idea. im sure a lot of these ideas will be about lines. babs is a genius, despite how simple this task for his assistants is.

Since I started this thread and just saw this article by Melrose on NHL.com, I thought I'd bring it back up. http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=3131&navid=DL|NHL|home First off, I love that the title is "whos better than datsyuk and zetterberg?" It basically ensues that dats and Z were once the best pair when they were in their prime and got injured less. I disagree with this because neither is a shoot first guy, but they no doubt have chemistry together. They basically were raised on the wings together, they may as well be brothers. Second off, Toews and Kane should not have taken #2. They are a good pair but sharp and toews are more of a pair and hossa and kane are more of a pair. I think kane and toews will be a lot like a future dats and Z, but not as of now. Also, if kane and toews made this list playing on separate lines, how in the heck did crosby and malkin not make it? rankings should have gone like this... 1. getzlaf -perry (very complete players. add ryan and you have possibly the most complete forward line today.) 2. sedin-sedin or stammer-louis (how did stammer and louis get 5th???) 3. sedin-sedin or stammer-louis 4. crybaby-malkin 5. dats-z Also, I'd like to mention some emerging pairs. Giroux-Jagr? Carter-Nash? (<---the addition of veteran vinny to this line was genius. CBJ finally has a legit top line) Richards-Gabby? (<---with dubinsky on the LW makes this line a classic. PWF-PLY-SNP) Hall-Hopkins? (in a couple seasons) Seguin-Marchand? (by the end of this season or next) Could tavares and okposo get some chemistry this year? many emerging pairs this year.

THIS. the hudler-dats-cleary line is great. hudler and cleary both feed off great players and really step up their play with dats. the franzen-zetts-flips is sweet too. franzen and flips have always had fantastic chemistry. also, after these last 2 games im really liking the abby-helm-tuzzi line. grit makes me happy the only changes i might make is a return of the franzen-flips-tuzzi line, and move zetts onto datsyuks line with cleary. then move hudler to the fourth line (where he belongs when not with zetts or dats) and move homer up to the 3rd to play with abby and helm. or maybe even brunnstrom instead of homer if he does well.

toughness, fighting skill, whatever you want to call it, is an aspect of hockey. and it always has been. its an aspect just like speed in an aspect, just like shooting and passing are aspects of the game. lets just remove passing. lets remove penalties. lets not let homer stand in front of the net. lets take out hitting, i mean all it does is cause players to get hurt. we should just make mccarty play sober. i kno this argument is a slippery slope, but come on, fighting has its place. just like hitting has its place. its what makes hockey hockey. i respect big rough canadians, but i also respect soft euros. they all have their place in the game, making hockey an incredibly multidimensional sport. why r we trying to drastically change the game we love? i pray american football doesnt become 2 hand touch...