Rice

It's a pretty common misconception that Roloson pulled a Giguere in that series and stole it by himself. He didn't. The Oilers outworked the Wings and limited their quality shots. They outshot Edmonton a lot but the majority of the shots were from bad angles. Plus, they exposed the Wings' defense with all of their speed. The system has changed since then and Babcock has groomed the team so that they will not be outworked. Remember last year when Kiprusoff stood on his head during the Calgary series? The guy looked unbeatable at times yet the Wings didn't really have a problem beating the Flames.

Bure over Lidstrom and Fedorov?

If it's a bad team getting Filppula the Wings would be getting high picks, ala the Ducks most likely having a lottery pick thanks to the Oilers signing Penner.

What does that have to do with anything? I'm saying no sane GM would trade Ovechkin for Zetterberg straight up.

So you honestly think that if Holland called McPhee and said, "I'll give you Zetterberg for Ovechkin straight-up," McPhee would do it? You're dreaming.

Still, kicking a third-year player to the curb for inconsistency doesn't make any sense.

...and to think only a short few weeks ago some people were willing to throw Franzen away. He's most likely going to score 20 goals this year and plays a pretty high level of defense.

Don't forget about opposing shots on goal. Anaheim has allowed 2016 shots this year to Detroit's 1664.

The Ducks' defense looks better on paper and probably should be better, but when they play I fail to see it.

There's definitely a log jam on defense and the playoffs will probably determine what happens as far as re-signings go. If Stuart keeps up the solid play, I see the Wings re-signing him. It could be a problem convincing him to stay though. If Stuart is re-signed, they'll let Lilja go. Chelios is probably a given to be re-signed. Whether that's the right move or not, I don't know. Chelios has looked his age this season but he does always turn it up in the playoffs and he costs next to nothing. However, he could be costing one of the young guys a job and also a spot in the organization. My guess is Chelios is re-signed and one of the young guys (Meech, Quincey, Lebda) is going to be traded. Ericsson looks untouchable at this point.

Here's another good one:

After the false alarm with the last thread, it appears Forsberg actually is injured now. He's out against Dallas tonight nursing a sore groin. Link. Man, this guy is brittle -- but it's the beginning of the year for him and groin injuries are always common at the beginning of the season.

Good deal.

I remember the post I made that you're talking about. Considering it was one of LeftWinger's multi-paragraph rants on how Holland sucks, the Wings are soft, the Wings can't win the Cup with all of these Europeans, etc. I think I was more justified in my "mind reading" (more like reading, period) than you were after my above post which was composed of nine words and a smiley face. All I was saying/implying is the Wings shouldn't be looking to the Blues for guidance. Nothing more. You somehow took from it what you wanted which was that I'm apparently content with the Wings being "soft" or "enforcer-less" and I only know the "New NHL".

"Fans like you" Give me a break. You don't know what I think. I never said anything against the Wings getting bigger and tough; I agree they could use a few more big bodies. St. Louis isn't a team I'd look to as a model, though.

If only they could be more like the Blues...

Eva...come on. While I agree that when Zetterberg is playing at his highest level (i.e. the beginning of this season) he is arguably the best forward in the league, there's no chance in hell Ovechkin for Zetterberg is a fair swap. Hank is five years older than Ovechkin and has never matched Ovechkin's numbers in any single season. Now, Zetterberg is the better defensive forward of the two but Ovechkin's age cancels that out. Plus, Zetterberg has chronic back issues. A left winger of Ovechkin's caliber is extremely rare. The guy is 22 years old, 6'2" 220 pounds and is going to score 60 goals this year.

Brind'Amour has won it the last two years, putting up 70 and 82 points those two seasons. I think the NHL needs to do something about the ambiguity of the award. For example, Pahlsson is probably the best shut down forward in the league right now. Now I know he's not going to win this year but that's not my point. Most will say a forward's main duty is to score, but this isn't true when it comes to the third and fourth lines. Draper isn't out there to score. Sure, offense is nice, but Draper's role is to shut down opposing forwards. Datsyuk's role is to score and he's becoming nearly equally adept at shutting down the opposition's offense. However, Pahlsson is probably better defensively than Datsyuk -- but he doesn't score nearly as much. This is because his role is solely shut-down center. Nothing else. When the NHL says "best defensive forward" does it mean the forward who plays the best defense? Or should other aspects of their game be taken into account?

Can't say I feel sorry for him. The guy is a prick.

This might not be deserving of its own thread, but I thought I'd make it anyway. Forsberg's hurt. Perry slashed his wrist and Forsberg, in visible pain, went to the locker room. Second game back, 4:55 of IT. Anyone place bets?

Ducks shut out twice in a row. I like it. Perry is going to a local hospital to get checked out according to the Ducks fans at HFBoards. What happened to him?

I hate to re-hash this argument, but A. Stuart provides offense from the point and B. Who was out there (aside from Hossa) that would've made an impact? Prospal is the only one I can think of that was affordable, but I don't think he would be a good fit here.

Forsberg's back on the ice...false alarm.

Say (God forbid) the Wings get into the same situation as last year and Rafalski and Kronwall go down. Is Stuart "unnecessary" then? This is why Stuart was acquired.

Division winners should be guaranteed a playoff spot but not a top three seed, IMO.