Rice

I remember after the last-place Flyers killed the Wings last year a lot of analysts were saying the Flyers "exposed" the Wings as overrated and soft. Same type of thing with the 'Hawks.

I don't really get the Dallas one either, but the Tampa Bay one is a reference to the Lightning winning the Cup in 03-04 and turning into crap since then.

When Burke sustains success for around 10 years then call him the best GM in the league. The fact of the matter is that a lot of his core players fell into his lap. He's only managed an elite team for two years.

Let's not forget about letting go of Bryzgalov for nothing. Burke's tenure in Anaheim has been overrated. A lot of that team fell into his lap. Selanne had spent time there before and everyone thought he was done. He wanted to go back to Anaheim so Burke took a chance on him and it paid off. Niedermayer signed there because he wanted to play with his brother. Pronger demanded a trade and had a short list of teams. Anaheim already had the cap room and the assets. Dumping Fedorovs salary was a good move and Beauchemin turned out better than anyone expected...Marchant sucks. Who knows if Burke saw something in Beauchemin or just got lucky. On top of that, look at the guys who were already in the organization when Burke arrived: Getzlaf, Perry, Pahlsson, Penner, McDonald, Kunitz, and Giguere. All of these guys were key last year for the Ducks.

Reports say the Wings had a deal in place for Sundin that included a two-year extension -- so there is very likely interest on Detroit's part. Sundin will stay with the Leafs if they want him back. If they don't want him back, who knows? I'm sure the Wings would be in the running, but Mats might want to hang them up rather than play for another team. I think he'd be a great fit here.

Your link isn't working but yes, Lidstrom is a shoo-in for the Norris.

Save for Lidstrom and Chelios? Lidstrom's the best defenseman and player in the NHL -- and what about Kronwall and Stuart? That's like saying Vancouver's goaltending is suspect, save for Roberto Luongo. Ottawas offense is pretty weak, save for Alfredsson, Spezza, and Heatley. Their offense is deeper than ours on paper but not in reality. Thornton has 93 points. After that it's Michalek with 53 points. Then Marleau with 43. Datsyuk and Zetterberg each have 90+ points, Cleary, Franzen, and Holmstrom all have 20 goals. Filppula has 19. Lidstrom is leading defensemen in scoring and Rafalski isn't far behind. I'll put it this way: Samuelsson (the guy everyone rips on here) would be fourth on their team in scoring.

Datsyuk was a no-show before last year, too.

Yeah, I'm still not sold on their defense. Ron Wilson will be out-coached once again this year.

According to Bruce MacLeod:

The Wings will go down hill when Lidstrom is gone.

The guy is soft as hell. Trade him. Seriously, if he keeps it up and Holmstrom can find his game again when he comes back the Wings are going to be very tough to beat. Zetterberg and Datsyuk are each in the top ten in scoring. Franzen has 25 goals, Holmstrom has 20, Cleary has 20, Filppula has 19. Everyone except Datsyuk has missed time due to injury. All of a sudden the top six isn't so small with Franzen there -- and all these guys play defense. On top of that, Lidstrom leads defensemen in scoring and Rafalski's not far behind. Kronwall is really developing offensively and Stuart fits in well.

I wanted Bertuzzi back but the Wings got lucky not re-signing him. He'll never be the same player again especially with all these distractions.

It all comes down to health.

Welcome to the boards. Unrestricted free agents are free agents that are free to sign with any team. For example, last year Mathieu Schneider was a free agent. The Red Wings and Ducks put in their offers for him and he decided to sign with the Ducks because they offered him more money. He was free to go wherever he wanted. Restricted free agents are free agents that a team has some control over. Last year, Dustin Penner was a restricted free agent. The Oilers presented him with an offer sheet. Penner agreed to the offer sheet. However, since he was a restricted free agent, the Ducks could match the offer sheet the Oilers tendered him. They decided not to match it since it was worth a lot of money, so the Oilers officially signed him. In compensation, the Oilers had to give up several draft picks for signing Penner. The amount of draft picks is determined by the value of the contract; the higher the value, the more draft picks the team must sacrifice. So, the Oilers essentially traded draft picks to sign Dustin Penner.

Yeah, definitely one of the best classes of all time -- but you have to remember this is really two combined rookie classes thanks to the lockout.

Tigers and Cabrera agree to eight-year, $153.3 million deal: ESPN.com, March 22: Miguel Cabrera and the Detroit Tigers reached a preliminary agreement Saturday on an eight-year, $153.3 million contract extension, a source close to Cabrera told ESPNdeportes.com on condition of anonymity. Overall, it would become the fourth-richest ever in baseball history. Cabrera would trail Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez ($275 million), Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter ($189 million) and Boston outfielder Manny Ramirez ($160 million). Wow!

Some good news on the injury front: From MLive/Detroit News Looks like Cleary's coming back sooner than expected.

It was a blessing in disguise that Fedorov didn't sign here. The Wings' cap situation would've been royally screwed post-lockout.

Name a western team that has gotten consistent secondary scoring throughout the whole season.

The secondary scoring issue isn't looking like too much of an issue anymore...at least on paper. Zetterberg has 36 goals, will probably finish the season with around 40. He would've scored more had he stayed healthy, obviously. Datsyuk has 28, should score 30. Cleary, Franzen, and Holmstrom all have 20 goals and have all missed some pretty significant time due to injuries this season. Filppula has 19 which will likely end up being 20 or more by the time the season is over. That should work out to one 40 goal scorer, one 30 goal scorer, and four 20 goal scorers. That's very solid. The Wings also have probably the most offensively-capable top-four defensemen in the NHL.

Why? Fedorov won two Selke's, a Hart, a Pearson, and three Cups. Plus, he's obviously stronger in the longevity department. Bure was better at goal scoring. That's it.

Hasek will start tomorrow. MLive

I agree with you; it's not totally out of line to pick the Canucks over the Wings. I was just pointing out that Roloson didn't steal that series by himself. The West is wide-open. Every playoff team will have a chance. There are obviously favorites but the elite defensive/physical play along with great goaltending in the West means anything can happen.

That's probably the best draft a team has ever had. The Wings drafted six bona-fide NHL players that year: Sillinger, Boughner, Lidstrom, Fedorov, Drake, and Konstantinov. The rest of their picks never stuck in the NHL but six out of fourteen is very good, especially considering Lidstrom, Fedorov, and Konstantinov are/would be sure-fire HOF'ers.