DickieDunn

For what, 5 games? Those were not the regular pairs.

#1 for OEL with other pieces to balance it out.

I don't recall this Lindstrom guy, but Ericsson didn't play with Rafalski. He was generally on the 3rd pair. Lidstrom-Rafalski, Kronwall-Stuart, Ericsson-XXXX

Bigger ice doesn't pull defenders away from the net. It wouldn't increase scoring

In playoffs, out of playoffs. A few points matter.

I think it has more to do with all the bad contract extensions he's handed out. Lucic and Smith are particularly bad, and losing some of the other guys he's let go instead led directly to their sub par record.

Some beer is better at room temperature and is served that way in Europe where crap like Busch Light isn't popular. Wings in 6. Filppula disappears, the Lightning D is a seive, and Mrazek wins the battle of the young goalies.

Why do people think Babcock won't play young kids? He's put at least one rookie into the playoff lineup over a vet almost every year. They keep the kids in GR for depth, then play them when roster limits are gone.

How many times did Konstantinov fight someone like Twist, Grimson, Domi, Odjick, etc.? Goons rarely fought the guys who hurt their player, they fought the other team's goon, whose job it was to protect HIS teammate. Having a bunch of tough guys on the team didn't keep LePuke from drilling Draper into the boards face first. All it did was give Wings fans a sense of retribution when McCarty beat LePuke into a pulp. That wouldn't have been necessary if the league had suspended him instead of basically telling the Wings to handle it themselves. Kocur, McCarty, and Lapointe didn't keep Dale Hunter from bouncing Yzerman's head on the ice in the '98 finals. If you get to the NHL because you hit people, piss them off, and occasionally go over the line and hurt someone, you're not going to stop doing that because once or twice a year you might have to fight a guy who's going to wipe the ice with you. You keep playing the way that got you to the NHL and take your lumps when you can't avoid it. What fighting does: Entertains fans Gives the team and fans a sense of retribution when the bad guy does get beaten What fighting doesn't do: Prevent cheap shots Get the bad guy beaten regularly Promote long term health and welfare of the players

Because most 18 year olds are mature

The contract is an issue even sending Weiss out because you get a longer contract back. If the term on both was the same, trading Weiss to balance salary makes sense. The way it is you're just pushing a problem down the road

I understand that it's hard to get #1 centers or D drafting this low. It doesn't change the fact that there aren't any sure things in the system. That's why I was willing to sell the farm to get OEL. Sproul is the only D in the system who has a legit shot of getting there, and he's far from a sure thing. The other guys project as 2-4 guys at best. Center looks a little better. I really like Larkin. AA looks more like a winger to me though.

Will Shanahan let the GM be the GM, or is he going to try to be the boss? That's the key to the Leafs' future.

Larkin is the best bet to be a #1 center. If they have 2 high end wings, they can get away with a bit lesser center, like the Ducks had with Kariya-Rucchin-Selanne, but I'd feel better with a better center than Sheahan. With Mantha, Larkin, Athanasiou, Tatar, Nyquist, Jurco, Sheahan, they should be able to come up with 2 pretty good lines though.

There is no clear #1 center or D in the system. There are a couple guys who might get there, but far from guaranteed. That's my major concern.

Former NHL player more like. Because the Laffs had the only GM who doesn't understand the modern NHL. Without Orr hockey is hockey. The hand over the puck rule has always been there

Lots of guys work their asses off. That doesn't mean that they're good hockey players. And who cares about celebrating Colton Orr, he's not a Wing, he's never been a Wing, and never will be a Wing, and on top of that he sucks. If you like goons so much, I suggest you just follow Brian Burke around and root for his teams. He seems to be the only one who still thinks goons have a place in the league.

Weiss's value in Detroit is going to be heavily dependent on what Babcock does. If there's a new coach who will play him at center with some skilled players instead off where ever there's a guy out of the lineup, Weiss is going to provide value. If Babcock is back and he's going to keep using him the way he is now, Weiss has very little value and needs to be moved for whatever they can get.

Guys like him can punch, but if you can't play hockey you don't have much value anymore. Some fans just don't want to admit that.

I don't see it happening unless the Leafs change their demands

I think that the only way Phaneuf is coming here is if the Leafs retain a good chunk of his cap hit, which they've said they won't. He's a good player, but that contract is poisonous, about $2 mil too much and too many years.

Moving from forward to defense or defense to forward at the NHL level is not as easy as it sounds. They're completely different positions with different responsibilities, skill sets, etc. A few guys can do it reasonably well, but most can't. Moving Smith to forward is one of the dumbest things I've heard in awhile.

Like I said earlier, anyone who expects or wants major changes is probably going to be disappointed. Unless Franzen tells the Wings that he's done, there's no room for Cole, and they don't need to sign an older injury prone player to a contract anyway. That's if Cole even decides to come back. If I were him, I'd seriously think about calling it quits while I was still able to walk.

Wings lost a ton of stars and kept going. Kings lose one guy and miss the playoffs. What's Mrazek proven?

Not often enough to make the playoffs apparently