Rice

Who will sit in the playoffs as usual. Good call.

San Jose could use him. I'd rather they not get him.

Why would you ever want Ivanans for the playoffs? Guys like him are useless in the post-season. Rolston would easily be my first choice on that list but he's not going anywhere. The other guys would be good options to replace Drake/Downey for the playoffs. Holland's probably looking at a tough defenseman rather than a tough forward.

According to this site, the Ducks have a 45% chance of making the playoffs. A lot of their fans on HFBoards are already counting them out. I have a hard time believing they won't make it, but you never know. There will be a lot of pressure on them and who knows how well Selanne will perform without MacDonald? Plus, he hasn't played since June.

Jokinen's deal is another example of how UFA/cap inflation can turn big deals (at the time) into bargains in the matter of a season or two...similar to Datsyuk's deal. He'd be an excellent pick-up to center the second line but there's no way the Wings would deal Kronwall for him. Who is going to pick up Kronwall's minutes? My guess is that the Wings are looking to add a defenseman before another forward anyway.

I think he has a good chance of winning this year. I bet it will be between him, Ovechkin, and Luongo. Luongo or Ovechkin will probably win if the Canucks or Capitals make the playoffs, though.

I don't think there's a fan in the world outside of Anaheim who doesn't hate Pronger.

If there is a best defenseman award, shouldn't there be a best forward award? It would clear up the overlap between the Hart and Ross and probably enable deserving players like Lidstrom to win MVP.

It would be the best thing to happen to the Wings in a long time if the Ducks somehow managed to miss the playoffs. Chances are they won't miss out, but I can see it happening. There's a lot of pressure on them now (knock on wood).

No, he's really not. He won't cost a team any assets, so if he's signed to a one-year deal and he goes down the team is only out money. If he's signed to a multi-year deal and goes down, he's under-35 so he can be thrown on LTIR and won't count against the cap.

I'm guessing the Wings will get a guy who is off the radar for the most part. This is not to say they won't get a big name player, but I bet they will be looking for more than a rental this time around.

The greatest benefit of signing Forsberg would be the ability to keep Datsyuk and Zetterberg together; let's be honest, they're great apart but they're close to unstoppable together. Forsberg would give the Wings an elite talent up front on the top two lines and PP units. Plus, who knows what he could do for a guy like Hudler or Samuelsson? Just look at Hejduk's numbers when he was still with Colorado. Sign Forsberg and deal for a defenseman.

As I've said in other threads, the Wings should sign him. Virtually no risk, super-high reward.

The Hockey News: Well, we all assumed it was coming but this confirms it for the most part. I guess last night sealed the deal. IMO, it's complete and utter bulls*** that the Ducks' best forward and best defenseman got to sit out for the boring part of the season. More so Niedermayer than Selanne because he was under contract, but it's like Burke simply said, "Oh, no problem guys, just rest up for the playoffs." Anyway, the good news is Burke dealt MacDonald so they don't have as much speed up front this year.

The Wings were playing without Zetterberg.

The only thing mentioned about his contract talks is that they can't begin until July 1st. Zetterberg won't be traded. Thornton overcame his back issues, so can Zetterberg.

1116 pages? God, I hadn't realized how long this thread has gotten.

How many Cups had Robitaille, Joseph, and Clark won prior to their stints in Detroit? Oh, that's right: none. Murphy had won two Cups with Pittsburgh already and Fetisov had significant experience internationally. Blake, Fedorov, and Foote have a combined six Cup rings. They didn't just forget how to win like you suggested. Their experience would be very valuable. There's no such thing as having "enough" guys that know how to win the Cup. As for Brunnstrom, I highly, highly doubt this guy would be able to step right in and be effective.

He wasn't very good his last year in Detroit, either.

No. "Exactly what Detroit needs" is the 1997 version of McCarty. The guy has three goals in the IHL. The IHL. Sure, he's making progress, but what makes you think he'd be any better than Drake aside from sentiment? I like seeing him make progress too but it will be an absolute miracle if he makes it to the NHL and is productive by the time the playoffs roll around.

Well, according to the Freep article:

Helene St. James' blog is the source:

Here's a pic of me from over the summer with shorter hair:

Any contender adding Forsberg and Sundin will make them look scary.

Thanks! I've been getting a lot of complements on it at HFBoards. I found the photo this morning on MLive. Glad I grabbed it first!