Neomaxizoomdweebie

A Winnipeg or Nashville vs. Columbus or Tampa Bay series would be horrible for the ratings. As much as the league wants "parity", it wants viewership more.

Same can be said about Gretzky. No individual player should ever be bigger than his sport. Not Gretzky, not Jordan, not Tiger, etc. No one player should be so "big" that they have a league mandate to retire their number. Not even 42. Individual players always benefit more from their sport than the sport benefits from one individual.

True to some extent. A lot of people give credit to Bird and Magic for "saving the league", but they played on the coasts. Middle America didn't really start tuning in to the NBA until Jordan. What Bird and Magic started, Jordan escalated. During his time in the NBA, the league grew from 23 teams to 30. So yes, I credit Jordan more for that than I do Bird and Johnson. Before the Pistons and Bulls, the NBA was pretty much an East Coast, West Coast league because it was always between the Lakers and Celtics for the Championship during the 80's. Although the "Bad Boys" had some HOF guys, they never had anyone of Jordan's caliber. Those 90's Bulls teams did more to grow the NBA than anything before that.

My predictions for the first round: Nashville vs. Colorado: Predators are a legit Cup contender. Killer D and goaltending. Avs are just lucky to be there. Too much is placed on MacKinnon's shoulders. Nashville in 5. Winnipeg vs. Minnesota: Jets are just too strong up front. Suter is out for the Wild. Never believed in Dubnyk. Winnipeg in 5. Kings vs. Vegas: Kings have been able to do something few other teams have- earn a .500 or better record against the Knights. Vegas has overachieved during the regular season. The playoffs are a different story. The clock strikes midnight Cinderella. Kings in 6. Sharks vs. Ducks: San Jose was 1-5 in their last 6 games to end the season. They blew home ice advantage in the first round. The Ducks have been basically the same team for years with nothing to show for it. Should be a good 7 game series. I should pick Ducks, but I am going with the Sharks. TB vs. NJ: This should be an easy series for the Lightning. They are better in every category. The only first round sweep. Tampa Bay in 4. Boston vs.Toronto: Leafs are still too green. Boston is the 2nd best team in the East. Remember 2013? Bruins won't need a Toronto choke job to clinch. Boston in 6. Capitals vs. BJ's: Until Columbus actually accomplishes something, I just can't pick them to win a playoff series. Capitals are basically the Sharks of the East: always invited to the Prom, but never gets to be Queen. They'll at least make the 2nd round this year before crashing. Washington in 7. Pens vs. Flyers: Clash in the Keystone State. Philly's goaltending is too suspect. Penguins shouldn't have any issues scoring.Pittsburgh is the 2 time defending Champs seeking a third. Sorry Wings fans, no more draft improvement from the Mrazek trade. Penguins in 5.

He was traded to LA and continued to put up points. He didn't do anything differently than he did in Edmonton, just in a bigger city. That doesn't exactly make him any kind of trailblazer. I agree, he brought a bigger spotlight to the sport by playing in a nationally marketed city, but that was hardly anything groundbreaking. Jordan did exactly the same thing in the NBA and yet 23 is still used by players today.

Why wasn't this being done before?

I stand corrected. The Wild have a better record against Vegas than the Kings. You are correct. I missed that one.

I think they mean misidentified publicly? I don't think the deceased's family thought he was alive at this point, nor do I think the other family thought their child perished after this much time has passed. I think they would have known by now that their son was alive,

Why? TD has been our best defenseman over the course of the season.

Q is out. They will start shopping anyone not named Kane this summer.

There are 63 players in the HHOF that have suited up for the Red Wings, If we retired all their number, there would be barely enough left to fill a roster plus callups. There obviously has to be strict criteria when there are only 98 numbers available now. Especially for a team that has been around since 1926. And their are only 7 of those 63 in the rafters: 11%. The criteria of Stanley Cup, HHOF, Individual Award, and most years played doesn't even apply to all those 5 up there now. It does however apply to Fedorov, Chelios, and soon Z and Datsyuk which is why I think those 4 should be retired. No to Osgood.

Compared to someone like Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, or Willie O'Ree...No. He's basically the Michael Jordan of the NHL. I didn't see the NBA retire 23 league wide. Although ironically the Heat did for some reason.

Found this article from last year, but its still timely. Really well written. https://www.nhl.com/news/detroit-red-wings-25-year-playoff-streak-comes-to-an-end/c-288192312 Think of how much time has passed since the Red Wings last missed the playoffs. No player in the NHL today was in the NHL then, not even Jaromir Jagr. Nine of the franchises in the NHL today weren't in the NHL, 10 if you include the Vegas Golden Knights. Fifteen players who have appeared in a game for the Red Wings this season hadn't been born. Now think of how much the Red Wings accomplished over the next 25 seasons, a quarter of the Centennial the NHL is celebrating this season. They won the Stanley Cup four times, tied with the Pittsburgh Penguins for most in that span, and came within a game of winning it a fifth when they lost Game 7 of the Final to the Penguins in 2009. They went to the Final six times. They won the Presidents' Trophy six times, three times more than any other team in that span. They won 1,133 regular-season games, 104 more than any other team, and earned 2,536 points, 209 more than any other team. They set records for wins in a season (62 in 1995-96), road wins in a season (31 in 2005-06), consecutive road wins (12 in 2005-06) and consecutive home wins (23 in 2011-12), and they tied the record for home wins in a season (36 in 1995-96). For 21 seasons, they didn't come close to missing the playoffs. They finished in the top four in their conference 18 times and had a cushion of at least a dozen points the other three times. It wasn't until the past few seasons that they had to fight to make the playoffs. But the Red Wings streak might have been the most impressive. It was really two streaks in one. The foundation of the first was Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstrom, whom the Red Wings surrounded with a strong supporting cast, many of whom ended up in the Hockey Hall of Fame, and Scotty Bowman, the greatest coach in hockey history. The foundation of the second was Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Zetterberg. "Right when everyone thought we were going to slip, when Sergei moves on, Stevie's getting to the end of the road, next thing you know, Pav and Z come in," Draper said. "Unbelievable. That put us on another 10-year run." Lidstrom retired in 2012, and still the Red Wings kept making the playoffs. Babcock left in 2015, and still the Red Wings made it another season. Datsyuk left, and, well, finally, this is it. Until now, the Red Wings were the only team to make the playoffs each season of the salary-cap era. Can the Penguins surpass the Red Wings streak? Fifteen years from now, Sidney Crosby will be 44. Evgeni Malkin will be 45. "I don't know that you'll ever see this again," Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman said. "I don't know that you'll ever see a team be this elite of a franchise for that many years. That's what we're striving to do, and we're not even a third of the way there, really, for the number of years that they've been able to do it." This is why Holland doesn't get enough credit IMO.

True. But like warp speed, its still theoretically possible.

First 3 picks are the 28th. We better get one.

Trying to keep NHL 18 as realistic as possible, huh?

"Change does not always equal progress." - Neomaxizoomdweebie

"Process"

In contrast to the Al Davis philosophy shared by so many that SPEED = GOOD, I agree with you which is why I advocated for trading him last summer for help on D. It was met with less than enthusiastic appeal around here. We have Helm, we have Larkin, some other guys with decent speed, so a one-dimensional, speedy winger is just not a player of need. And no, I don't think he would get us a 1st either. Likely a 2nd.

Svech bros? Actually it is. That's why he hasn't officially retired yet. They aren't making up Franzen's career ending condition, but they are clearly taking advantage of the system.

If this happens and the Hawks pick first or second, there is clearly a fix.

I am basing that on the hope that VGK get upset in the first round. That would put the 2nd pick around the late teens I think? I could see one of those guys dropping. Every year, there's a guy who drops that noone expects. That's good for us.

Why does this always seem to happen to hockey players? Unfortunately the number of deaths has risen to 15, including the Head Coach, Team Captain, and Radio Announcer. https://www.denverpost.com/2018/04/07/15-dead-canadian-junior-hockey-team-crash/ Here's an article about helping out the families of the victims. With the hospital bills of the survivors expected to be in the millions, I hope they reach their goal. http://www.newsweek.com/humboldt-broncos-gofundme-canada-accident-bus-crash-876483

I say yes and yes. The one number that the Wings should not have retired is 99. The idea of retiring one players' number league-wide is dumb. Yes, he has the greatest numbers in the history of the NHL, but its not like he was a trailblazer of any kind or had any meaningful contribution to the sport other than that. Theoretically, if someone else passes him, do you make everyone retire their number too? Why not make everyone retire #9? Gordie Howe was the Babe Ruth of the NHL, and he was just as important to the sport as Gretzky was. Oilers, Blues, Kings, Rangers are the only teams that should have 99 retired.

I really want to see them win the first round. They'll alternate. I'm guessing it's Tampa, Sharks, Ducks, and Penguins.