SouthernWingsFan

An enforcer cannot stop all dirty plays from happening. An enforcer would not have prevented the Pronger to Holmstrom incident from happening. I don't want an enforcer just for the sake of getting an enforcer,It shoudn't be a high priority on Holland's A-list just because it will make everybody on LetsGoWings.com do jumping jakcs. This team showed they have toughness and won't back down from everybody when they beat "tough" teams Calgary and San Jose. And they did it WITHOUT AN ENFORCER. An enforcer that just wastes away 3 minutes of playing time on the ice during the regular season, and the playoffs were fights are few and far between, is not high on my priority list, and I highly doubt it is highly on Holland's list either. And somehow, I can guarantee you my post will be misperceived that I want the Wings to be soft pansies.

No, we don't.

Something I just implemented today and hope to do just about every day. I took a rated-G version out of Chris Chelios' workout routine and worked out in the sauna room at the highest tempeprature possible at my health club today for nearly 45 minutes. Granted I had the day off and probably won't have as much time to dedicate to this when I'm working but... The 45 minutes weren't really that unbearable (there was no bike in there to start with so... ). I just did simple exercises, situps, pushups, arm pushes, etc. I put in some paced-jogging in there as well and some leg lifts. It felt really damn good despite the extremely high heat, felt great after. Exercising in the sauna is a GREAT WAY to lose weight if you have the mental and physical discipline. I might soon buy a Tae-Bo or related tape and start to learn some proper ways to box or throw my arms around to get more of a workout in the sauna in the future.

Live free or die..... I'm now having flashbacks hearing George Carlin say that during one of his comedy routines.

This enforcer debate has been beaten to death at least a million times in here. The Red Wings aren't a team that just dukes it out with other teams. They don't go out of their way to get in 1-on-1 scrums. In recent years, that has never been what this team was about, and it certainly wasn't the case this year. 1 or 2 enforcers is not going to change what this team is about. I'm so sick and tired for the argument of getting an enforcer type on this team that will play no more than 3-4 minutes a game. There was a guy on the Wings who did that this season. His name was Brad Norton. Look how he panned out. And if you think this team is still "soft", take a look at who the Wings beat this playoffs, and take a look at who they acquired this season. They acquired a guy with a fair amount of snarl in Danny Markov. Not the biggest guy, mind you, but certainly not afraid of playing the physical game. They got Todd Bertuzzi, who even despite not being 100% played a fairly physical game this playoffs. Andres Lilja finally rose up out of nowhere and consistently threw his weight around this postseason. They got Kyle Calder, who even though did pan out well, was brought on to play a gritty type game. None of these guys are enforcers, but they are far from the "soft" label. And the Wings were supposed to get manhandled by Calgary, because Calgary was too "physical". Then the Wings were supposed to get manhandled by San Jose in the post season, because San Jose was too "physical". Guess what happened? The whole theory that the Wings are still a soft team is a bunch of bulls**t. And they have done it without any real enforcers either.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article.../705270578/1053 What are yours, regular season and playoffs? Lilja - C-/A- Lidstrom - A/A+ Ellis - B/Inc. Cleary - A-/A+ Datsyuk - A/A Langfeld - B-/Inc. Calder - B/D+ Maltby - C/B Lang - B-/C Lebda - B/B Schneider - B+/A- Chelios - B/A+ Hudler - B+/B- Bootland - B/Inc. Kopecky - B/C Osgood - B+/Inc. Draper - B/B+ Meech - B/Inc. Samuelsson - C-/B Hasek - A/A Zetterberg - A+/A Hussey - B-/Inc. Bertuzzi - B/B Qunicey - B/B+ Filppula - B+/A- Kronwall - B/Inc. Franzen - B+/A- Markov - B+/B+ Holmstrom - A/A

Every goalie lets in soft goals from time to time, it's not just Osgood syndrome.

Bob and Earl - Harlem Shuffle

I win Cups!

Absolutely. We finally saw Bertuzzi getting better despite his back injury during the middle part of the Duck series. We all know how much of a pain in the a** he was to play against in the opening round of the 2002 playoffs back in the Vancouver days, we all know what he can bring to the table. He has some time to get healthy now without any major travel over the next few months, he can re-cooperate in Detroit or back in his home in Kitchener and get better. We've read that he wants to stay with the Wings, it's a managable distance from his home. Hopefully Bertuzzi and Holland can come towards some mutual agreement for a contract that is somewhat less than the $5M he was roughly making this year. I'd say a 2/3 year deal around $3M a year might make sense, but I'm no GM so who knows..... Maybe offer him an incentive laden contract like the Wings did with Hasek this past season? It's kind of a similar scenario. You know what Bertuzzi can bring to the table, much like Hasek this past season, but health is/was in question.

All of us Wings fans are brutally anal when it comes to talking about goalies and them being scrutinized. It makes all of our I.Q. levels drop a little bit. As a result, I try to avoid goalie talk as much as possible.

Plus, they both don't look enough like E.T. Overlarge Datsyuk's and glascow's heads to be a little wider, they could fit the alien part! Don't know if that would be a good or bad thing though. *shrugs*

Ok, but who would take him since he is so "injury prone"? And who would you trade Kronwall for then? I'd personally like to see the Wings take their chances with Kronwall, and with his long-term contract here, they look to be doing that so far.

And you suck the most! Just messing of course.

Good call, B+ could be warrented to Samuelsson, considering how he didn't do so hot in the regular season minus the final regular season finale and a strong game against Tornoto (which I attended live in December ). Those are the only two that I can recall off the top of my head that he played real solid in. He was all but invisible in the Calgary series but he stepped up big obviously for most of the games against San Jose, and played very solid despite being held off the scoresheet more often than not against Anaheim. Draper could be a B. 4 uncharacteristic penalties in one game against Anaheim is a bit odd for him. Inconsistent officiating throughout the playoffs for all games/teams definitely has something to do with that, but still for him that's unusual. That being said though, his value to the Wings franchise is still very high even through all these years. I'd definitely like to see him put the puck in the net more with his good speed, but 'defensive' role isn't going to change anytime soon, nor it shouldn't.

I wanna be a goalie. Family, friends, and co-workers tell me that I suck and blame me for all of their work and personal problems. Might as well just go for the gusto being the ultimate scapegoat as a hockey goalie for Detroit. I'll probably also tear my ACL again in the process. So let's see... 1. Me humiliating myself being an awful goalie. 2. People blaming me for everything and throwing stuff at me and pointing/laughing at me. 3. A screwed up knee, a trip to the hospital, and reconstructive surgery. Sounds like a winning combination, somebody give me a damn contract!

A really nice re-make of Stevie Wonder's song, Sir Duke, by a band called Najee that plays a lot of jazzy tunes.

Also, free agents are a part of every professioal sport...Major League Baseball, National Football League, National Basketball Association, etc. If you are at home channel surfing or read the sports page sometime in the future and hear about free agents in other sports, it's the same principles more/less if you look at it in a more generic sense.

I surely hope you are joking and just overembelsihing in sarcasm here.

No, he isn't.

Which is why saying the refs favored the Ducks or that there is a officiating conspiracy against the Wings, or blaming the refs in any situation, is a lame cop out. Calls are inconsistent and both good/bad for ALL TEAMS.

And damn the refs for calling the least......opps, I mean THE MOST penalty minutes against the Ducks all season! Yeah, they clearly had it out against the Wings this series! I guess it was the Tooth Fairy that decided to give the Wings all those power play opportunities in the 3rd period of game 6. While I'm not dismissing the inconsistency of officiating in the playoffs, blaming the referees for losing is the biggest cop out and lamest excuse in the book.

QUOTED FOR TRUTH

Anyone would be better than an Osgood-Howard tandem? And you know this how? If a guy like Toskala and Backstrom could be had, explore the possibility of getting him, but I don't want a new goalie just for the sake of getting a new goalie and for this 'tender to be the new whipping boy under the microscope on LGW. For the love of god, I'd like to see this organization not play goalies like it was a game of musical chairs. Stick with what we have if Hasek stays. Even if he does retire, what is so wrong with giving the #1 job to Osgood? I will never, ever understand on here why so many fans just don't trust the guy. And the whole theory that he's a backup goalie now is bulls**t. He was injured off/on when he was splitting time with Legace 2 seasons ago, and Legace made enough of an impression during the 2004-05 season to be deemed the starter going in the playoffs. I can guarantee you if Osgood was more healthy during that series in Edmonton, he would've eventaully played. And with Hasek being able to stay healthy most of this season and what he's done with his career, and with Osgood still not getting the breaks with injuries, he didn't play as much as he probably could/should have. EDIT: That's 1 season where he split time with another goalie when he was injured off/on through the season, and another where he was playing second fiddle to one of the best goalies of his time in Hasek. You could pretty much insert "goaltender name" here and he was going to be backup to Hasek this year provided Hasek was healthy, which he was. So the whole Osgood is a backup theory is a bunch of b.s. If the Wings go out and sign a guy like Toskala or Backstrom, one of those two will be splittling time equally with Osgood, or the starts will be 60%-40% at most. If Osgood and Howard were tandem, it would be more like 70%-30% starts in favor of Osgood. In a course of an 80+ game season, that's not a whole lot of difference. Again, I'm all for the Wings exploring free agent options at goalie if Hasek retires. I just don't see how signing other 'tenders, other than maybe Giguere (who I highly doubt Anaheim will let go), will be that much of a SIGNIFICANT UPGRADE over Osgood to where it ultimately provides "the" major difference in making another deep playoff run.

His flopping style won him 6 Vezina's in the past, nearly got him a Stanley Cup with a Buffalo team pretty short on starts, got him a Stanley Cup with Detroit in 2002, and played a huge part in nearly getting to the Wings to the SCF this year when nobody expected them to make much noise.