Matt

It's amazing how some people on here let their personal dislike for certain players cloud their judgement to the point where every. single. little. thing. is blown out of porportion. I'm beginning to believe that this thread has grown into something that isn't about the actual play itself but more of an excuse for anti-Hasek camp to come on here and spew their vitrol. Were you saying the same thing when he came out on Erik Cole in the '02 Cup Finals?

For those wondering what Cherry thought, they accidentally replayed the Gaborik flip and Cherry laughed, quipping "Nothing wrong with that! That's great!.. I like that better than the other clip."... FWIW.

Or, you know, we could just have players roll around in big pastic bubbles and Hasek could be handcuffed to his goalposts.

What's your point? That any kind of play that something should "seriously go wrong" just shouldn't even happen? Does anyone have a running tally of how many skaters have gotten hurt when a goaltender challenges like that? Can we compare it to the "oh what a great pass I ma--BOOM!" checks on the ice? Those are plays where something could "seriously go wrong", too. Where do you draw the line? A slippery slope with all of the "oh it was a dangerous and unnecessary play" talk, people. Houdini and Lou have pretty much hit the nail on the head pertaining to how I feel about this whole thing.

Oh, so you're telling me what I think? I think you need to consult a rulebook. Wow. A 160lb. goaltender took "advantage" of a 190lb. forward racing into the zone. Hell, we can't have anyone "taking advantage" of players with their heads down, can we? Should they all dress in sequined leotards? Is that what would make you happy? What the hell is more dangerous? Dion Phaneuf like a shark circling in the neutral zone waiting for Hudler to admire a pass? Or Torres taking a bead on Jason Williams? Or any of Scott Stevens' 234,468 blueline plasterings of Eric Lindros? Do me a favor and go watch curling, you seem more suited for it. Or figure skating. You pick. He didn't? Hasek's job is stop the puck. Gaborik had his head down, thinking he was in the clear and Hasek took advantage of that. If there's anything I don't like about the play is that Hasek is taking an unnecessary risk and could get himself hurt -- because he's the one that's more likely to come away from that with an injury. Did you *really* just say that Hasek should just stick his flailing arm out there to be at the mercy of Gaborik charging toward the net? I think you were up way too late last night when you posted this.

Please tell me you're kidding. And for what it's worth -- it wasn't a dirty hit, IMO, and I would've been saying the same thing if it were Hank: Keep your damn head up! (And thankful he wasn't hurt.)

[attachmentid=520] Personally, I think the judge that gave him the "10" thinks he's cute and "5.5" put in deductions because he didn't stick the landing...

Someone needs to take this and freeze-frame it right as Gaborik looks up before hitting Hasek and have a thought bubble with "OMG!" or something in it (you can clearly see Marion flinch right before impact), have it hold for a second, and then let the clip finish...

9 times out of 10 if someone gets hurt on this play it's Hasek, not Gaborik. It's not like he's not known to do this. (Hello, Erik Cole.) Granted, the circumstances were a bit different in the Cole challenge, but if Gaborik doesn't have his head down trying to bear down on the net he makes Hasek look like a fool as he slides to the blueline and Gaborik shovels it into the net. Hasek's been pretty good at playing these, he dropped it on Rick Nash relatively recently, too, and all of them have had their heads down, assuming the goaltender won't challenge like that. But Gaborik didn't have his head up, so we get treated to Air Marion. /can't get enough of that replay.

I wanted to give everyone a heads-up that the LetsGoWings.com Forums will be receiving a complete overhaul and update at some point over the next few days. I'm shooting for Saturday (12/8) but it will depend on my host's availability. I'm trying to make this happen on an off-day so there's no gameday traffic issues. Please note that some posts will be lost in this transition -- we're actually going to take the database of the active forum here and plug it into the development server's install of the forum software (it's a fresh install, fully updated to the latest version). Since we'll be taking a certain "flash" of the database the posts that occur after that "flash" will be lost. Overall the forum will likely be down for a few hours as this database transition is made and things are cleaned up on the live server to make sure everything works. If you have any questions, please feel free to PM me here. Thanks!

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Another way to look at it is that Cabrera gets dealt to the Angels because DD wouldn't pull the trigger and the Tigers, if they make to the post-season go down to the Angels. Or the BoSox for that matter, and having a guy like Cabrera's bat could've put them over the top. Wouldn't you kick yourself if you knew that DD passed on it because the pricetag was Miller/Maybin? Especially since the window for guys like Pudge, Sheff, Maggs and Guillen is closing rapidly on this team? Even if this trade doesn't end up with a WS victory, you can't blame DD for not going balls-to-the-wall to make it happen.

And that is such a bad thing? The club wants to win and wants to win NOW, DD goes out and makes this trade and we're complaining about a couple of guys that *may* be All-Stars down the road -- but when they get to that point we're back to plugging the holes left by Maggs, Pudge, Sheff, et al. Outside of the bullpen, the Tigers today have the best lineup in baseball, hands down. And we're complaining that this move cements them as perennial WS contenders for the next few years because we had to part with potential? Judging by some of the posts lamenting the deal, you would think we just traded Maybin and Miller for 35-year olds -- not two players 10 years younger than that. And that affected their selection of Porcello, didn't it? As a Wings fan you should have a good idea of how this whole process works, with the Wings maintaining over 20 years of success by having an astute management staff from the GM on down to the scouting staff. You'd be hardpressed to find a better front office than the one at CoPa. Consider me a loyal disciple of the Church of D.D.

Same. At least I'm now justified in keeping him tucked away in my IR spot (thank you, Sportsline!) for the first couple months of the season.

Nope, not me. By now you should know that all Red Wings-related web sites are 90% likely to be run by individuals by the name of Matt. Myself, Matt Wuest at RWC, Matt Saler at On the Wings, this guy's blog, etc.

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In order to get NHL Network here (Royal Oak for me) you have to add the Sports Entertainment Package, which is about $5/month. Well worth it, IMO. I was pretty disappointed when Comcast moved the NFL Network over to the Sports Package but I've got both back now. Only reason I was holding out was because of the delay in getting the NHL Network picked up. I had the "To Be Announced" guide pop-up on my box as well, but the channel worked (the Rochester Americans and Lake Erie Monsters were playing.)

Thanks Heaton -- Augh! Gotta call the cable company tonight to add the Sports Package! Finally!

I'd prefer the playoff system Wetzel outlined.

Actually, this story has made the rounds quite a few times in the last year or so. Not sure why Sportsnet is writing about it now, other than to speculate the "shoulda, woulda, coulda" of what would it be like today if he were in Toronto. No harm in that. I'm trying to remember, but wasn't there an almost-deal here locally that involved the Pistons and the 76ers about Iverson a few years back? It was close enough that the Pistons already had a plane in Philly? I'm trying to remember it, not sure if that's right or not.

FYI: That photo is one of the ones contributed to the site from Gizmo, a member here. He contributed quite a few photos to the site, actually. The above photo is actually from the Red Wings' home preseason date against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yep, that was the error. The path to the wallpapers changed when the site transferred over on Sunday night. The links have been corrected.

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Need a little help, guys! A new feature on the new site is an interactive map that will contain placemarks for all of the parking options for Red Wings fans, including shuttle options, People Mover, etc. The placemarks would contain relevant information like parking prices, tips for shuttle times, when certain lots tend to fill up, etc.. Obviously, I'm not the parking-option guru -- this is where you guys come in! It would be a HUGE help if you could post where you prefer to park, how much it costs, whether it's a short walk to JLA, shuttle ride or lift on the People Mover, along with any other tips you may have. All that I ask is that you be as descriptive as possible, such as the name of the lot, address/intersection, hours (if applicable), cost, etc. Thank you! Note: This is one of the last features to be implimented with the new site. There's a small version update due to the updated forums, and then it's on to getting the new site live.

Christ, you Sparty boys need to lighten up. I thought the friggin' icon was enough to convince you guys it was a JOKE. Good lord. You're starting to sound like a little Dantonio, all defensive and worked up over nothing. As long as you're good for a 15-yard personal foul in the 4th quarter, you're in!