kipwinger

dang, no need to double clutch there Kronwall

Nice shift there for Emmerton.

eeesh, Brendan needs to take his own advice and keep it simple during his interviews. Never thought I'd long for the days when Yzerman would say absolutely nothing at all during his intermission chats.

"I eat pieces of s*** like you for breakfast" "You eat pieces of s*** for breakfast?" "...no..."

not really too mad on that one, Kindl had his guy, the rebound came right onto his stick. Not much he can do. Sort of like that goal Zetterberg scored on Dekeyser's shot last game...can't really defend that.

Nyquist and Brunner seem to have some real chemistry. Give them another year's worth of playing together and I think they'll put up some points.

No doubt Babs. Of his 9 goals, three came in one game, three were banked in off his body by someone else and two more were empty net goals. So yeah, he definitely projects into a 20 goal guy over a whole season. Sure. Completely legit top sixer.

Anybody hear anything about Dekeyser being out tonight? My dad just called and said he heard it somewhere, but didn't recall where, and can't substantiate it. Given how piss poor he is at understanding the internet I'm assuming it was some rumor, or worse, some dumb s***'s opinion on Mlive or Freep or something. p.s. Kindl will be a boss tonight...for all the haters.

I'm pretty sure he never said a third line wouldn't help. I'm pretty sure he said that the third line wasn't the problem and the lack of a competitive top six was. Argue with him until you're blue in the face, but don't make up stuff he didn't say.

That's exactly the point, nobody expects much from the Blue Jackets and/or Scott Howson, so the fact that they put together a solid and very gritty hockey club out of nowhere is reasonably impressive. They don't have any history to bring in talent, there isn't a lot of it homegrown (in Ohio I mean), and once Nash was traded they didn't have any core talent either. So for this season alone they pieced together a quality team in spite of everything. Of course I'd be mad if Holland missed the playoffs four of five years in a row, because we're "hockeytown" and they're the Columbus Blue Jackets. We've got the history, the organizational prestige, the high end core talent. We've got everything they don't and we can't attract talent and it irritates me to no end, because I expect more out of a class organization with original six credentials than I do out of Columbus or Phoenix.

Wow hyperbole much? I used to think you were better than this and genuinely enjoyed reading what you had to say. Now you're spending your time disagreeing with things I've never said, or taking them out of context before disagreeing. 1. I said Howson deserves credit where it's due, and the current incarnation of the Blue Jackets are playing well with a team he almost entirely built. I didn't say he's a super star, but that he put together a solid team while everyone was treating him like a laughing stock. 2. I said specifically to you in another thread that "nobody has Ken Holland's resume" and he is therefore the best GM in hockey based on his career accomplishments, but that he hasn't done anything at all for four years while his team has become less and less competitive. Hard to argue with that. I don't know where you got your wires crossed, or whether you have some sort of ax to grind, but since joining this forum I've generally believed that if there was one person whom I didn't have to worry about being super reactionary and starting arguments based on conjecture, that that person was you. Hopefully you're back to form before long bud.

Link? Or is that speculation? Fact is that James Wisniewski was coming off his best career season, could have gone to most any team in the league, and signed with the worst team in the NHL because they paid him competitively and went out of their way to show him they specifically wanted him by trading for his rights. His negotiating rights were traded for a conditional seventh round pick and "future considerations". Apparently a conditional sixth round pick and future considerations was too rich for KH's blood. Never know what can happen if you get those extra couple weeks. In this case one of the worst teams in the history of the NHL was able to convince one of the hottest free agents in that year's class to come play for them. On the flip side, we have a hard time convincing anyone of any value to come play here. Maybe we should start trading for negotiating rights...

Well you've got em: Quincey, White, Colaiacovo, Sammy. They're all very willing to take less money and provide less quality play. Also, Holland could have traded for Wiz's rights just as easily as Columbus did. James didn't even make it to the UFA market because Columbus traded for his rights, showed him they meant business, and that they were willing to offer him a competitive wage. Detroit was "interested" in him but did none of that...so of course they missed out.

I've always like Semin, he's a quality hockey player. But I've REALLY wanted Wisniewski for a long time. I couldn't believe Detroit passed on him until I remembered that he's young, tough, and not currently working through any issues that would drive down his market value. But what I wouldn't give for a top four defenseman that can hit, fight, score, and run a powerplay? Alas, Ian White was available at the same time. And when a bargain like that comes along you can't afford not to take advantage of it.

That's actually sort of true. With Semin, Datsyuk would have a competent winger and not be required to attempt otherworldly moves in order to get offense going. With Abby and/or Cleary he has to try being superman just to get a shot on goal. With Semin, Datsyuk's production would go up while is jaw dropping super skillz would probably be shelved a little more often.

And speaking of things we probably could have used but were too cheap to look into. This is from last night's CBJ game...

Never miss a chance to perpetuate a rumor eh boys? Pretty sure the reason his numbers are down since then have nothing to do with him getting a new contract. Have a look at this... http://espn.go.com/nhl/team/schedule/_/name/car/carolina-hurricanes Carolina has won two of their last sixteen games, and during that time have been outscored 62-26. They're in the middle of a MASSIVE losing streak which, I hate to tell you, can't really be blamed on their (point per game) top line winger. Edit: Four times during this losing streak he was recognized as the teams top performer, and has compiled 3 goals and 8 assists in those sixteen games. Pretty sure it's not his fault.

Sucks for Kent, he played well for us and I wish him the best.

Yzerman played with no knees, so I think Stone Cold's probably got a one good run in him. As for how good he is on skates...can you imagine receiving a Stone Cold Stunner from an Austin in skates? He's ******* devastating in skates dude!

Not really, Sharp AND Hossa were both out for that 7-1 ass beating we took earlier this year from the Hawks. We'd need Toews and Seabrook to be out for the series, and possibly have Stone Cold Steve Austin playing power forward for us, in order to win a series against that team.

awww how cute, he uses his accomplishments as a player to validate his management screw ups. By that logic Wayne Gretzky should have been the greatest coach ever.

Well I think it's safe to say whoever did it is in for a real s*** storm. Which is why I'm hoping it was the jerks responsible for the "Zero" candy bar. Those confectionery necromancers need to be taken down a peg or two for trying to pawn off that sugary frankenstein on an American public who only recently began to tolerate dark chocolate as "something a little different". Note of clarification: Dark chocolate isn't some sort of alternative chocolate wizardry. It's just what chocolate is supposed to be like. Milk chocolate, the kind we've come to accept as regular chocolate, is (historically speaking) the new kid on the block having only been mass produced since the turn of the century. As such, when the Milky Way Midnight (read: dark) debuted in the late 1990s the company was really only giving you what would have been a regular old Milky Way prior to 1900.

The thing is, we were less and less competitive before all of our major losses. We had two early exits from the playoffs before Rafalski retired and three before losing Stuart and Lidstrom. They were already trending downward before the losses and they're continuing that trajectory in the wake of said absences. In one sense I suppose you're right, we're close to making the playoffs so we are competitive to an extent, but on the other hand I have a hard time feeling like we're all that competitive when we're competing with Dallas and Columbus for a playoffs spot and we're barely above .500. I'm not trying to be contradictory or anything, obviously no other GM has Ken Holland's resume, but to say he's currently the best GM in hockey is sort of a nod to his cumulative career and not because of anything he's done recently...which, of course, is nothing.

The good news for us is that Kenny will finally be able to acquire Ales Hemsky to add to his stable of small, skilled, versatile, pass first European forwards. God knows we need another one.

I obviously don't ever want the Red Wings to lose, and if I had a magic wish it would be for a Cup. But magic isn't real, and the reality is that our team probably isn't going to beat anyone in a seven game series (even if we do make the playoffs). So if my choices are win the cup vs. don't win it, then I obviously want to do that. If my choices are make the playoffs, keep the streak alive, and lose early vs. miss the playoffs, get the highest draft pick possible, and light a fire under a complacent management's ass...I'll take the latter. But I'll say what I've said all along: It didn't ever have to come down to that.