DickieDunn

Mitsos is a moron. He said that they could have traded Tootoo and Montreal would have seen that as an equal swap as Weise, ignoring the fact that Weise is younger, bigger, and cheaper than Tootoo. If the Habs wanted a fighter, the Wings don't have anyone they would have wanted.

Arrange them how you want, but going into next year they have 7 legit top 9 forwards, 2 guys who have shown the ability to at least be complimentary players on a scoring line, and 4 guys who are 4th liners or haven't played in the NHL who would have to clear waivers to be sent to GR. Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abdelakder Franzen-Weiss-Nyquist Tatar-Helm-Sheahan Miller-Andersson-Callahan Ferraro One free agent, be it Alfredsson or whoever, bumps Callahan out of the regular lineup. Two free agents bump Callahan and either Miller or Sheahan out, and someone off the roster. Neither Callahan or Ferraro have seen NHL time, Sheahan has and has played well enough to earn a spot next year. Between Callahan and Ferraro Callahan has been better and has taken a step forward every year. Ferraro struggled for most of the time since being drafted, mostly due to injuries, took a step forward last year, but now he's falling back this year. Unless he significantly outplays Callahan I think Ferraro is going to lose the battle for that last spot. I also think that he'd clear waivers.

Miller and Eaves are pretty close to the same player. Eaves has a better shot, Miller is a bit better skater. The big difference is Eaves' medical history, which is why I think Miller was signed to taht 3 year contract in the first place. Ferraro hasn't been called up because he's basically the same player as Eaves and Miller, without the NHL experience, and has seen his production take a step back this year. Since he's been drafted, he's had one relatively productive year in either juniors or GR. He may be a solid defensive role player someday, but from what I've seen he doesn't have a whole lot of grit to his game, and very well could end up as the second coming of Emmerton. His future with the organization is in jeopardy and probably depends on how many free agents they sign this offseason. If they only sign one, I think he'll be back. If not, he's probably gone unless they trade some roster players. Callahan hasn't been called up because they've needed centers and he can't play center. He has a real good chance of being a good 4th line role agitator with a little bit of scoring touch. I'd be very surprised if he wasn't on the roster. I think the only way he doesn't make the team, barring trade, is if he completely craps the bed in camp.

There is absolutely zero evidence that happened, and by all outward appearances he received all necessary care from day 1.

Luke Glendening is a fine fill in at 4C. He should not be the regular there unless he drastically improves on draws and finds even a hint of offense.

Ferraro will be lucky if he's the 14th forward and Callahan will be a reserve. Either Sheahan or Andersson will be 4C and the other or Abdelkader will be the other wing with Miller.

Goals or points?

Unless someone else is hurt and goes on IR, they don't have roster space to keep everyone. Does that mean Eaves gets sent back to GR? And by all rights, Glendening should probably be the odd man out.

If Cleary, Bertuzzi, and Samuelsson got hurt in camp and never got right, they'd get some benefit of the doubt. They've been healthy, just bad. Weiss gets the benefit of the doubt because he has been hurt all year. It is not speculation, it's documented fact unless you think that either Kahn or the team is lying about it. He's 30 years old and has a history of 50+ point seasons, there's no legitimate reason to think that he won't be productive when he gets back healthy.

My mistake. The thing I read is he wasn't eligible to play for the Griffins, it didn't say he couldn't be sent down.

Glendening can be sent down, he just won't be able to play. As such, it will probably be Sheahan

Every hook affects the play in someway. I know, I used to hook and hold all the time away from the play. I hook you and slow you down a step, then you're not in position to make a play 3 seconds later, and the puck is cleared or someone has just enough room to make a play that leads to a goal for my team. The bottom line is, if you keep your stick off of other players, you won't get called for that "inconsequential" hook. And again, if they stop calling penalties except for the most egregious ones just because it's overtime, that's going to give the teams that are more prone to hooking and holding and interfering, usually the less talented ones, the advantage over the teams that have more skill.

So you're basing it all on Fetisov saying something. Given the fact that he has high level care, is given access to the owner's personal luxury suite several times a year, is flown in for major team events, the team sold patches to raise money for him and Sergei, and they promote his charity, I'm assuming that they didn't walk away.

How have they walked away from him?

Isn't the city going to own the arena?

I don't think you watch baseball and football, either. Baseball is horrible. I'll give the umps a break on close ball and strike calls, but if they're pissed at a player, they can call a pitch a good 6" in or out of the zone wrong, and they blow calls at bases all the time. The field umpires have relatively simple jobs. Put your eyes on the base, decide if the ball or the runner got their first. Watch the baseline, decide which side the ball lands on. They blow it on a regular basis. Football is just as bad. There have been some absolutely horrific calls made over the last few years to the point where the NFL has apologized to teams. There are a ton of officials on the field, each with a specific job, and most of them still can't get it right. Hockey you have 2 refs watching 10 players who spend most of the time moving instead of standing around like baseball and football, having to make more decisions. I think that if you could go through and evaluate 10,000 random plays from the 4 major sports, hockey would have at least as high, if not higher, percentage of correct calls as the others.

I think there's only about a 1 in 3 chance he's back. He could just as easily retire or head to another team.

In GR it started with making downtown more attractive. The arena went in, a few restaurants and bars went in. More people started coming down or sticking around after work instead of heading to the suburbs for dinner. It slowly built from there, a new bar/restaurant opened here, one place started pulling in bigger name bands on the weekends instead of just local and regional acts, things got nicer, some buildings were converted to living spaces that appeal to single people with cash to spend, which meant more places to spend that money came in, etc. Now Spectrum hospital and Grand Valley State have both expanded a ton, and downtown GR is a pretty busy place almost any night you go down there. Before, the GVSU downtown campus was one building and no living space. Now they have a bunch of apartments, the original building, a medical center, plus a pretty good sized complex of classrooms and offices. It's going to take more to turn Detroit around, and it won't happen overnight, but given that the alternative is nothing being done and the Wings moving to the suburbs, I think this is the better solution.

I'd go with Nyquist-Zetterberg-Abdelkader Helm-Datsyuk-Alfredsson Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco Miller-Andersson-Eaves

Weiss is more of a set up guy than a goal scorer. They need a shooter.

Someone is covering it. If it's not the Wings, or Konstantinov's insurance, who is it?

I think that Ford Field and Comerica have helped, as have the casinos, but there hasn't been much else added down there that I've seen. This new project is taking out a big chunk of old buildings and either replacing them with new stuff or renovating them. It might not do much long term, but it's better than doing nothing.

If the new arena and surrounding development does for Detroit what the Van Andel, B.O.B. and everything else has done for Grand Rapids, it's a big win for the city. Downtown GR went from a mostly deserted ghost town after 6:00 and on weekends to constantly busy and continuous development.

Wasn't he pissed off that he wasn't offered a new contract after the 97-98 season? Maybe he's still mad about that. I'm pretty sure that Konstantinov's and Mnatsakanov's insurance is covering everything

So what, you think that anyone they sign is going to struggle with a groin injury all season?