Matt

Geez, Cross is still available, too. Central Scouting has him 12th in their final NA Skater ranking. (For comparison, Petrecki is 21st.) Cross is a 6'3" blueliner from Connecticut.

Concerning the note from Kulfan... The more I've thought about it the more I doubt that Bertuzzi is worth the health risk AND the 2nd round pick next year -- even with an incentive-laden contract.

Since when, exactly? And did you actually bother to read the link? It's a mirrored report from the Detroit News.

QFT. This is turning out to be one crazy day...

Just a reminder, too: You don't necessarily have to reply to THIS thread, just any thread on the site. One reply to an existing thread bumps your account. Also, don't worry about your account being deleted. I'm manually going through accounts when I get a chance and the spambot ones that exist are easy to spot. It just takes a loooooong time to go through 4500+ member accounts.

Unfortunately this doesn't prevent them from accessing the site in general... just prevents posting. The bulk of them hit the site around 12-2am ET... So at least a percentage of the slowdowns during the playoff games last month that were out west and ending could be attributed to that (in addition to the regular surge in traffic.)

Nope, it's a one-time thing. It's just to get the active real-people accounts moved over into the right group. Most of the bots already get stuck in the "Validating" member group, but a few got through quickly and posted on the forums. This should, knock on wood, eliminate the rest.

Now that we're in the off-season, I'm going to institute a new method of spam prevention that will affect everyone that currently has an active membership here. Fret not, however, as it's nothing that will permanently affect your account. All current members and new sign-ups will be placed in a new Member Group called "Spam Check". This group will NOT have the ability to start any new threads until they reply in a thread once. Since the spambots that have plagued this forum for the bulk of the past year or so only start new threads, they will be restricted from that functionality. For all current and new, legit members, all you have to do is reply in any thread once, and you will be able to start new topics if you would like to do so. Every week the "Spam Check" group will get purged, so if you do sign up, make sure to reply in a topic quickly (heck, even use this one) or your account may get deleted by routine housecleaning. Of course, there may be more "advanced" spambots to get around this restriction, but this safeguard should eliminate the vast majority from clogging up these forums.

Just by posting your reply here you "promoted" your account from the automatic "Spam Check" group to the standard "Members" group that you were in previously. See below \/

NOTE: This change will NOT affect Community Supporter or Moderator accounts. This change only occurs to members that had standard "Members" accounts.

That's correct. In order to prevent already-registered spam accounts from working and also to keep the registration process (all 'Validating' accounts move to a specific group, regardless of the name) working. Just you replying in this thread promoted your membership account back to where it originally was. It should just be a minor inconvenience.

That's what I'm figuring. I think he'll take a cliched "hometown discount" to remain here... But I don't see him getting anything less than $4.5m/season, either. All I was saying was that his comparisons were just. I think that those posters that would blast him for his comments would just be ranting fanboys scoffing at comparing players to Detroit equivalents than actually looking at the point he was trying to make, that's all.

How so? It's not a stretch to compare those players, relatively speaking -- especially Schneider and Timonen. Schneider has been better than Timonen by a slim margin over the last couple of years, but Schneider is 5 years his senior... So how much is that $6.3m translated over to Schneider? He's been better than Timonen, but *is* five years older. Holmstrom is comparible because he's a hard-nosed player, can pot 30-goals, etc. Hartnell is the same, but not nearly as skilled in front of the net. But he makes up for it by playing physical and has the added bonus of being just 25 -- he hasn't yet reached his prime. He wasn't a premiere forward for the Predators and I think you could argue the same for Holmstrom, who is more situational (PP) and took full advantage of riding shotgun with Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

$6.3m for Timonen? Jesus. Hopefully this doesn't put too many dollar signs floating around in Schneider's head...

The way that the current arrangement is set up Ilitch has the city bent over the barrel. I'm sure he'll hold that lease agreement over their heads until he gets the concessions he wants in order to turn over the Joe/Cobo area to the city and build a new arena in Foxtown. This will go down to the deadline before we hear anything at all. There's absolutely no reason for anyone working for Ilitch to tip their hand, either -- all those cards are going to be held tightly to the vest even if they've already made up their minds about a new arena. So if we hear the "we have not made a decision either way" line it seems like rhetoric to me.... Though anything is possible with the way the city operates... If they don't budge (and they will -- BIG TIME) then you'll see the lease extended. But I think that'd take a minor miracle to happen. I do want to add that I'm a big fan of the American Airlines Center (Dallas), and I think a "look" similar to that -- but with design cues stemming from the Olympia tied in -- that it would look absolutely beautiful in Foxtown. I think it'd add a lot and not look out of place when compared to the brick looks of Ford Field, the Fox Theater, etc.:

I set my TiVo to record the replay from the office here. FSN-HD shows a blank spot at 12noon, so it looks like only the SD version will be replaying. Can anyone confirm that? I'd rather have the widescreen HD version TiVoed...

<-- Proud attendee of the 1997, 1998 and 2002 Cup parade/celebrations Anyway... It's really foolish for anyone here to compare the estimated attendance figures for a parade and compare it to something more akin to just the Hart Plaza portion of the whole deal. If you really wanted to compare, you'd have to figure in who was crammed into Hart Plaza and not those on the parade rout -- because that is essentially what the Ducks did. Their party didn't stretch several miles through a downtown. Comparing the 1.2 million there and 15k in Anaheim seems silly. (Although I'm sure there was 15k several times over in Hart Plaza -- they were sardined in there... I would know, since I was one of the sardines for all three.) (Of course, one could argue there was a *reason* there wasn't a parade due to the potential for 'lack of interest' or some other reason, but I don't know that for certain, and I'm sure no one outside of the Anaheim organization / city does, either.) That said... Should the figure for Anaheim been higher? Sure. Am I surprised? No.

The Red Wings may not have been in the Stanley Cup Final the last five years (oh, the humanity!) but I can still spot a jackass when I see one.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...ORTS05/70606065

Well, to play devil's advocate nothing has really happened HERE over the last two years, either. (Outside of updates to the message board.) A few select members have seen what's been getting worked on since the Red Wings were knocked out a few weeks ago (since working on the new site during the playoff run was impossible). It has come a LONG way in just those two weeks or so. Outside of a couple of server updates and some fine-tuning on some layout/css work, this thing will FINALLY be flying during the summer. I've got some self-imposed targets set for it to go live (yeah, like I haven't said THAT before), and they should be met this time around... OH! And a quick "THANK YOU" to the regular visitors here -- especially the Community Supporters. Because of you guys I have been really able to invest in some rather hefty upgrades and back-end database management stuff that should make the coming seasons even better here. I can't wait! (Pretty soon there will be an open call for writers/bloggers that want to be featured/hosted here, too.)

Bonderman, Verlander, Miller, now Porcello.... YIKES!

Given a choice between the two, I choose Heatley.

When he'll command $6M+ on the free agent market? Yes. Yep. Considering he'll cost roughly 1/5th of what Giguere will command. I'd rather have the extra $5M available to re-sign Schneider, Bertuzzi, and/or some other players that will help flesh out a deep roster. People assumed his "best days were gone" after the Ottawa fiasco, but last year proved that he was the best free-agency signing hands down last year. You can't argue the bang-for-the-buck aspect of re-signing him. Don't forget that Holland will also put away a $2-million Hasek "insurance policy" during the season just in case he does go down to injury, therefore giving him the option to look toward the trade deadline to find a replacement, if need be. Holland cashed that insurance policy in last February in the form of Bertuzzi and Calder. You can build a dynasty by effectively spending your money and managing the team's assets. Hasek, despite his risks, is worth it. If Jimmy Howard progresses as he is expected to, you can hand the reigns over to a *potential* franchise goaltender the following season. That player could already be in the system.

Taking a run at Giguere -- even discounting the fact that it would completely bust the cap -- would be a moronic move if there ever was one. Roll the dice with Hasek again. There's no reason not to. Yes, the Wings are potentially playing Russian Roulette with his groin, but it's worth it. You're not going to find a better goaltender for around a $1M base salary. If there was any other goaltender over the last two years that I wish the Wings could've acquired (realistically), it was Roberto Luongo. But that ship sailed. With Howard getting another season in the A and the contracts of both Osgood and Hasek (if he re-signs) expiring after next season, the goaltending should be freed up. Give Howard the reigns along with bringing in another veteran presence if Osgood doesn't re-up again.

IMO, McCreary is the best referee in the NHL.