kipwinger

Steve Yzerman?

Aren't we getting ahead of ourselves here boys? I don't mind the Wings floating an offer to the kid, but most of us have never seen him play a game in our lives. Additionally, the kid has never played a game in our system. Additionally, we've already got one rookie that's going to be seeing regular minutes next season. Offer him a contract and see what he can do in camp and in GR, but don't go promising him your sisters and daughters quite yet.

media queen Tim Thomas may sit out next season. Boo Hoo. Next.

You're right. However, after reading the forum rules I realized that the impetus is on the thread creator to not make repeat threads, not on the members (who joined the board looking for discussion) to ignore the repeats. If enforcement was better in the first instance, then there would be less for people like me to gripe about in the second. Also: C'mon, you can't seriously tell me that you don't get tired of saying the same things in roughly five different threads. I mean, what you want the team to look like next year is in your sig and has been forever for Christ's sake. So there can't really be too much more to say about it can there?

size matter just as much as most other hockey attributes, and less than a couple others. Drafting or trading/signing based on size alone would be dumb. Doing the same thing on skill alone would be less dumb, but still dumb. Like all other things in life, there really isn't an exact equation.

or perhaps haiku: Lidstrom is gone now add Martin to new line thread lather. rinse. repeat.

As I'm growing tired of typing the same things everyday about the same topic (off season acquisitions) I think I'm going to start answering in keywords in order to save time. Cap, Money, 70 million?, Parise, tougher, grittier, Suter, free agent, Red Wings, Holland, core, older, retirement, Cup, soft, Euros, lazy, competitive, franchise, sniper.

agreed, if Nick is back there's is no ******* chance that pass gets through. None.

Having Nick Lidstrom as the captain of your hockey team is like walking into a rough bar with Stone Cold Steve Austin.

I was just trying to explain to my girlfriend why this is such a big deal to me and it was surprisingly hard to do. In the end, I tried to explain it thus: You know that feeling you get when there's something really super duper important to do and for whatever reason you're not the one responsible for it. Like you've got a big work project, or your car needs fixed, OR YOU DESPERATELY NEED SOMEONE TO STOP A 2 ON 1, etc. And then you get that warm feeling when you know that the person who really is responsible for it is ultra talented, dedicated, and trust worthy? Having Nick Lidstrom responsible for my favorite thing, gave me that warm feeling for 20 ******* years.

I thought the same thing when I heard that.

I really wish Kenny or Mr. I would have immediately announced the retirement of his jersey. My only gripe about this presser.

Yeah because obviously you know more than Nick about who's a leader in the locker room. If he mentioned Filppula, there's a reason for that. Don't be petty.

well considering the fourth line last year was Homer, Emmerton, Mursak, and the fourth line this year will be some combination of Helm, Miller, Eaves, Abby, Cleary, and Bert...I'd say we've automatically improved without making a single move. sidenote: I like Nystrom too. Real good hockey player with some grit and a pretty good shot.

The only person I want to see from that original list is Bryan Allen as a replacement for Stuart.

Maybe not. If LA just pounds the living s*** out of them, like they've done everyone else then perhaps the frustration will be worse actually. If the series is really close though, I'd have to agree with you.

Lidstrom had 12 fewer points in 9 fewer games and a better plus/minus than Ryan Suter, whom everyone seems to think deserves 7+ million dollars this year. If Suter is worth that then no way in hell is Lidstrom only worth 3-5 million.

Probably because if the thread contained 75 "none" answers it would be boring and there would be nothing to talk about...which is sort of the whole point of a discussion forum. But yes, you're technically right, none of our prospects are likely to be the next Steven Stamkos. Ho hum.

Wasn't the "Diamond Dozen" a short lived supergroup formed by David Bowie in the late seventies? I bet Snoop would know. It's his world after all.

Haha Only by people more interested in being argumentative than respectfully discussing the many nuances of the game we all love. There can't be too many of those around here can there? Ugh. Guilty.

Anybody heard any more about this? Has this kid accepted any of the offers or is it still up in the air?

Do me a favor and do a quick check of Hossa's numbers and then get back to me. The guy had 80+ points for four straight seasons with two different teams. He peaked at 100 points in 2006. In the six years since that time he's never broken 80 and has generally been in the 50-60 points range. It's not like he's having a down year. By his own standard he's had six down years in a row with three different teams. Your assertion that somehow the team is to blame for his decrease in production is absurd. When Zach Parise plays for three different teams over the course of six years and never reaches his current average then I'll say he's past his prime too. Until then, keep reaching. Note: The first two 80+ points seasons for Hossa were with the Senators. The first year (2003) they won the President's Trophy and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. The following year they were the fifth seed in the East. So it's not like he was playing for a s***ty team.

Some of them might surprise us, but I'm going to say that Jurco and Smith have the right combination size, speed, and skill to be real good at the NHL level. Nyquist and Jarnkrok have the skill but it remains to be seen whether or not they'll be able to beef up enough to be effective in the league. The rest aren't far enough along in their development for me to say one way or the other.

ok, so according to that logic Rick Nash would score less for Detroit and Parise would score more if he played Columbus. And you're basing this all on Robert Lang. Gotcha.

So let me get this straight, you expect a player's numbers to decrease when they get on a better team? So if the played on the Red Wings a guy like Zach Parise would only score about 25 goals a season while if Johan Franzen would score about 40 on a s***ty team? Good call.