Matt

Of course he has, but I was referring to his offseason negotiating duel with Philadelphia that went on for weeks. When Philadelphia decided to look within Nabokov didn't have options where money was good and the KHL came calling with bags of cash. Obviously he's realized money isn't everything and we find ourselves where we are today.

True to a point, but the main offseason issues with Nabokov was money and term and then waiting too long before compromising wasn't an option and openings dried up. I can't see a scenario where Nabokov would willingly sign with a team that isn't a Cup contender and that immediately eliminates a large portion of the league (the ones with obvious goaltending needs). While you can't discount him auditioning the rest of the season for an NHL contract this summer, I still think he'd rather get a shot at a Cup this spring in Detroit while taking the risk of little playing time rather than playing more on a lesser team and hoping that results in a contract with a contender next season. Pretty intriguing stuff.

Maybe a "I'll only play for Detroit, don't claim me" vibe. He seemed to burn bridges with Philadelphia and obviously in San Jose (since Niittymäki just went on IR), so the list of Cup contenders with a goaltender need dries up pretty quickly.

That last line appears to eliminate the possibility that a team with high priority on the waiver list would claim Nabokov and then flip him to Detroit for future considerations.

The LGW.com forums were down for about three hours this afternoon as I undertook an upgrade of the forum software. It is the first (and major) step in revamping the forums itself. The second will be a brand new skin (more white-based, as many members have remarked about liking in the past) which I'll be implementing BEFORE the non-forum areas of the site are overhauled as development on that is taking longer than projected*. (*The main site has been undergoing a ground-up development and was used Joomla 1.5.22 as a platform. Most of the work on that was completed, outside some design alterations. Just this week Joomla has released a new version, 1.6, that will require another re-work, though not "ground up". Instead of releasing LGW on the 1.5 platform that will see NO further developments, I have already started adapting the the site to the 1.6 edition, though the techniques used to render the site -- templates, third-party extensions, etc. -- are different or don't yet have 1.6 compatibility immediately. The third-party extensions will have 1.6-compatible versions within the next two months.)

Happy New Year! January's featured players are defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Reed Larson: Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768 Enjoy!

That's what I get for trying to push it online before midnight! All of the files have been fixed. That looks to be an issue with the SEF URLs that the content management system makes. Be assured -- if you click the link right below the entry it brings you here. (I'm trying to correct the other error.) [EDIT: That link has been repaired.] Thanks!

Happy New Year! January's featured players are defensemen Niklas Kronwall and Reed Larson: Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768 Enjoy!

December's featured players are Johan Franzen and Brendan Shanahan: Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768 Enjoy!

Proud to say I tossed my first hat on the Joe Louis Arena ice tonight. Had some great seats and a brand new hat (tonight was the first time I've had a chance to wear it) -- it went to a worthy cause! Thanks Nick!

December's featured players are Johan Franzen and Brendan Shanahan: Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768 Enjoy!

November's featured players are Mike Modano and Alex Delvecchio: Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768 Enjoy!

We had a large contingent of Wings fans from here that got a group rate to see the Wings in Florida two years ago. I've been in touch with the Panthers' ticket office this season and we'll be getting another discount for the game in February this season. I'll be posting something up soon.

November's featured players are Mike Modano and Alex Delvecchio: Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768 Enjoy!

Time for a new season, time for the new edition of LetsGoWings.com's schedule desktop wallpapers! I'm still eye deep in development on the new LGW web site (getting close now!), but I wanted to make sure these weren't held up. Keep in mind that the new site will have an all-new file download system and once it's live the links to the different resolution wallpapers will be broken on the forums until I can fix it. Most, if not all, of you will have it already downloaded by then, anyway. This month's featured player is Nicklas Lidstrom. I've also added additional screen resolutions this season, and I'm planning on also offering more once the main site is back up (think: HDTV formats, iPad, etc.). Enjoy! Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768

Those fans didn't get kicked out -- they were removed from the area and given seats on the glass. Rightfully so. Rypien is a Grade-A douchebag and the banhammer from Campbell should come down hard and swift.

I'm going to be giving away my secrets. The background is the same image that I used for last spring's Stanley Cup bracket wallpapers, though this one has been run through a few red filters to get the look I was after (weathered, but detailed). The frost on the bottom is from a collection of free Photoshop brushes you can find online (also run through a few filters). The photos are from a Google image search, but the Wings' official blog usually posts up some fantastic hi-res versions that I alter and store for future use. The logos are gleaned from Wikipedia -- SVG formats open nicely in Illustrator. The wallpapers are produced in various stages in both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator CS5.

It is. An underlying theme with these and the site's look is current and past Wings. So, in future versions, expect to see Yzerman, Sawchuk, Howe, Lindsay, Abel, et al in addition to current Wings. They'll always be 1+1 (so, as an example, Yzerman will highly likely be present on a Zetterberg one, Howard with Sawchuk, etc.).

Glad you guys like the layout -- it borrows HEAVILY from the new site's look.

Time for a new season, time for the new edition of LetsGoWings.com's schedule desktop wallpapers! I'm still eye deep in development on the new LGW web site (getting close now!), but I wanted to make sure these weren't held up. Keep in mind that the new site will have an all-new file download system and once it's live the links to the different resolution wallpapers will be broken on the forums until I can fix it. Most, if not all, of you will have it already downloaded by then, anyway. This month's featured player is Nicklas Lidstrom. I've also added additional screen resolutions this season, and I'm planning on also offering more once the main site is back up (think: HDTV formats, iPad, etc.). Enjoy! Widescreen: 1920x1200 | 1680x1050 | 1440x900 | 1280x800 4:3 & 5:4: 1600x1200 | 1400x1050 | 1280x960 | 1280x1024 | 1024x768

Hey, I'm still upset we had to trade Mike Knuble for a 2nd rounder to the Rags back in the day or lose him on waivers. But hell, at least we got something for him!

I'm going to jump in and make this short and sweet with a strong suggestion: Keep it civil, guys. Let's not get things off on the wrong foot before the season even starts. I don't think anyone really thinks that arguing the finer points of Ritola's scenery change to Tampa and its implications is worth getting a temp suspension from the forums, right?

No rock-solid date at the moment, no. If it does come out before next week's opener, it'll be right before. For the last month I've been spending virtually every night working on the ground-up rebuild of the site. (That's no exaggeration -- I should've bought stock in Red Bull and Mountain Dew at this rate). This isn't a half-assed update, this is a long overdue massive revival. The site is up and running on a development server but there's lots of integration features I'm working (ironically, one is integrating the forum data into the main site -- and I saw this thread while testing it) on before some monster new features get added. My long-standing target has been the season opener, but it looks like I'll need 36-hour days from now 'til then to hit that deadline. With that said, I'll probably have to take a coding rest and get that wallpaper done next week. I'll probably need the break! (FYI for Boosters: You'll get to be my test mules soon!)

Yeah...

Registration time for the 4th Annual LetsGoWings.com Fantasy Hockey Buy-In Challenge is upon us! This is a 12-team, head-to-head league hosted by Yahoo. Scoring and draft information is below: Cost: $25/team Draft: Saturday, October 2nd @ 8:00pm ET Starting Positions: 2 Center, 2 LW, 2 RW, 4 D, 1 Util, 2 G (6 Bench, 1 IR) Scoring Categories: G, A, PTS, +/-, PIM, PPP, SHP, GWG, W, GAA, SV%, SHO Prizes: 1st Place = $175, 2nd Place = $90, 3rd Place = $35 ___________________________________________________________________________ Right now there are invitations out to GMs that took part in last year's league. As of 9/8, six spots are still available. Returning GMs will have until this Sunday, September 12th to re-register for this upcoming season. Starting on Monday, September 13th, I will be granting the remaining spots to new GMs that have expressed an interest to join. Once those GMs are sent an official invite they will be required to post the $25 team fee. If you are interested in joining the league this year, please PM me here through the forums. I likely will not respond until the 13th, when the first batch of invites are sent out. ___________________________________________________________________________ Attendance at the LIVE ONLINE DRAFT is highly recommended but not required. Remember, this is a buy-in league, so it's in your wallet's best interest to take part in everything. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask! Entry Fee Payment All GMs are required to pay the $25 entry fee (via PayPal). Unlike in previous seasons, I will allow GMs to register their team before making full payment. Payment, however, will be required before October 1st.