kipwinger

Imagine my disappointment when I opened the link expecting to see Gary Bettman going on and on and on about the historic significance of the "Original 12". I was fully prepared to scream bloody murder because the OP had led me to believe that Bettman was TOUTING the "Original 12" as opposed to just explaining that St. Louis was indeed one of the original twelve teams and then returning to the topic at hand, the Blues new ownership. When it comes to Bettman's shenanigans it's always best to be prepared, so while I can't scream bloody murder as planned, I'm always ready (as is the OP) to cry wolf over any of Gary's various infractions and disgraces. So I'm putting it on notice, if Gary Bettman doesn't right this wrong immediately, I'm going to start a jihad against him. And the only way he can fix this eggregious folly is to begin TOUTING a new concept: the "Unoriginal 24". The resulting t-shirts and commercials touting this concept will truly put the rest of those pansy assed teams in their place for good!

That's funny, the only reason I watch the Flyers is to see them kick the living hell out of Pittsburgh. Either way, I think we both got what we were looking for.

Haha, well I've decided to avoid controversy and make all my posts fan friendly in order to pad my stats.

Maybe not, but you weren't playing hockey in the NHL either haha. I definitely don't think that bothered him for the whole season, but to come off that and then tear up a knee and only miss 7 games (three of which were in the last five games of the season suggests one gutty performance to me.

I don't see how taking a shot off the foot is symptomatic of an age induced slowdown. The guy was a total stud until the injury. Here's some telling stats, Lidstrom was injured at the end of February and started missing games in March. Through the end of February Lidstrom had played 62 games and scored 31 points. Through the end of February Ryan Suter played 61 games and scored 37 points. After February Suter played 18 games and scored 9 points, while Lidstrom played 8 games and scored 3 points. Lidstrom finished the season +19 to Suter's +15. Finally, in the playoffs Lidstrom had 0 points in five games to Suter's 4 points in 10. For me, several conclusions can be drawn from this: 1. Nic Lidstrom is still an all world defenseman 2. Ryan Suter is too 3. Neither of them (at this point) is worth the kind of money Suter will get this offseason because he's the best of a weak free agent class.

I agree, it's not that I'm against Yzerman as GM but I think he needs to show that he's actually a good GM before we start talking about bringing him in after Holland. So far he hasn't shown anything, but I acknowledge that it's still early in his career. If Tampa hasn't done anything in three or four years, then I'd rather not have him GM here. Especially when we've still got Jim Nill, who's done a hell of a job as assistant GM.

How is he not a Norris caliber guy? He won it a year ago and was in contention this year until his injury.

It's absolutely incredible that Cleary played 75 games with broken ribs at first, followed by a torn up knee. Yeah his production wasn't good, but when Pav, Lids, Helm, etc. where out of the lineup, it's good to see a veteran gutting it out and steadying the boat. What a team guy.

I'd like to see Yzerman do anything at all as a GM before one of the premier teams in the league hires him as a GM. Conference final win at least. Olympics doesn't mean anything, picking that team was pretty much a no brainer.

Thanks for the kudos, and I agree that profits are the bottom line. But it's not just that, increasing the market share and the profile of the game makes the sport more viable in terms of talent too. If there are more fans, and more people viewing the game as something other than the odd man out between the NBA, NFL, and MLB then more kids start playing at an early age, and more high quality athletes are likely to play hockey rather than one of the others. There's a lot to be said for expanding the game, but I think people tend to lose sight of that when all they focus on is a struggling team in Atlanta or Phoenix.

Just from a personal standpoint I think that more offense is not necessarily a good thing. 1-0 or 2-1 games are usually more nail biting than 4-1 or 8-3 games. The level of competition matters in my opinion and that's one area where the game has benefited during Bettman's tenure.

Last I knew Gary Bettman didn't become commissioner of the NHL through a coup d'etat. The league brought him in with the expressed desire to increase the profile of the league and expand the sport. If revenue increases from 400 million to 3 billion per year are any indication, he's done exactly what he was hired to do. Personally, I don't like his expansion policies, and some of the rule changes are garbage, but it's not like the league didn't know what they were getting. There's plenty to criticize Bettman about, but I think alot of the criticism that Bettman receives should be focused on the Board of Governors rather than the commissioner considering they obviously wanted the changes he's made.

A few simple moves huh? You've got 14 new players on the team with this lineup.

It's only comparable with Leino in that he was tearing up the AHL and was the best player that Babcock said he ever sent back to the minors. You're right though, it is his attitude that holds him back, but you never know what attitude these young guys are going to have, that's why I say keep them in the minors until you're sure they've got the system internalized and are willing to buy in. I think Nyquist does based on his play this year, but who knows with guys like Jarnkrok that we haven't even seen in our system yet.

That's completely true, however the final two could end up being Ville Leino part duex as well. If you'll recall he was pretty highly touted and largely effective at the AHL level as well. Guys like him are the exact reason why I prefer Holland's "seasoning" approach to prospect development.

Agreed, he wasn't the same after the injury. The point was to show that nobody really played as well as we expected in the playoffs. That's why we lost. Well, that and the Predators played a pretty good series.

haha, is there something you don't like about giving third line minutes and responsibilities to three rookies with little or no NHL experience and expecting us to be better than we were this year? Maybe if they were all Jonathan Toews...are any of them Jonathan Toews?

I'd never watched the kid play before, but here's his highlight reel. He does sort of look like Z out there.

He sure couldn't make anyone look that good at the end of this season. People conveniently overlook the fact that Datsyuk wasn't all that "elite" down the stretch and in the playoffs either. Certainly not his fault that we lost, but he was one amongst the multitude of players not making a difference against Nashville.

I know that, I'm screwing with him because I happened to say it before him in this particular thread. It's not like it's an exclusive observation, anyone watching the Wings for the last couple of years should probably have come to the same conclusion.

Didn't you start this thread to be "realist" and discuss what might actually happen rather than what we want to see happen in our own personal dream world. For some reason I thought the title of the thread suggested something like that. Because the realist implication seems to suggest that we wouldn't start five rookies next season, sign three high profile free agents, ask our current captain and heart and soul to accept half the money he's making now, and cut ties with a class act locker room guy and another guy we just signed to a 2 year extension based on the quality of his play, a guy we traded a first round pick for, and another guy coming off a career year. That is, of course, unless you think that's realistic and you didn't start this thread to satisfy your own need to play imaginary GM on capgeek.com. Anyway...back to sleep.

Haha I'll anticipate a royalty check, or at least an acknowledgement note in the mail any day now.

As I've said before, I agree with all of the points about Franzen's play. He's inconsistent, often lazy, and largely an under achiever. But I don't think that the guy needs to move on or be traded or whatever. He is still extremely valuable as a complimentary goal scorer. He just can't be the guy to carry the offensive load for a team because he's inconsistent. I understand that the wings gave him a contract in hopes that he would continue to improve on a couple of good seasons and be that kind of guy, but in the end he just isn't. With more forward depth in the top six, Franzen is still very very valuable. Insert a true goal scorer into this lineup who CAN carry the offensive load, and all of the sudden Franzen's 28 goals (or whatever he is currently averaging) looks pretty good. Plus, depth creates all sorts of opportunities to exploit mismatches and defensive weaknesses, which will only increase Franzen's effectiveness in all likelihood. The guy's a good player, he's just not the elite player that the management, the fans, and I personally hoped he would turn out to be. Basically, it's a matter of changing his role to fit what he is, and not what we all hoped he would be.

I agree with every single point you just made. He does float, he doesn't play much defense, his attitude is s***, and he's inconsistent. I'm positive that they signed him to that new contract expecting him to be a top flight goal scorer after his mid career success. He obviously isn't. My post was more a response to the people calling for him to be traded. I don't think they should trade him, but I don't think they should expect him to be "the guy" to carry the offensive load. He's proven he can't do it consistently. However, if they were to get a guy who could, and Franzen could assume the secondary role that he's made for, then we'd be in real good shape. Additionally, I know that they expected a lot out of him based on his good years, but part of management's job is recognizing when guys fail to live up to what's expected of them and change their role accordingly. What I don't want to see is a situation in which they rely on him, year after year, and he fails to deliver. We can expect Justin Abdelkader to have a larger offensive role all day long but it's probably not going to happen, so decide whether or not his skill set makes it possible for him to be in a different role and get him there. Franzen should be a secondary scorer, not because he doesn't have more skill, but because at 31, if he hasn't figured out how to live up to expectations then he probably never will. But that doesn't mean he can't be useful to the team.

Johan Franzen is a good complimentary goal scorer. He shouldn't be relied upon to carry the offensive load for any team. This year and last year he was expected to do that and he obviously can't be that guy. But with a 4 million cap hit and the numbers he puts up, I'm happy for him to be out there for forward scoring depth. Bring in Parise and Franzen gets less defensive pressure and the offense returns, it's really that simple. Anybody else notice that Franzen's career regular and post season's came when Hossa was drawing the tougher defensive assignments? Again, COMPLIMENTARY.