rick zombo

Ahhhhhhhh, ye olde Carbonneau Curse.

For sure. His helmet is up. I'm not going after Sammy here at all, by the way. I'm pointing out that their seemed to be some anti-euro bias coming from one particular play-by-play guy. Why else would they make a comment about him wearing a "shield"? And just him?

Yep. Point being, over half those players were wearing visors. But they chose to make a note of Samuelson. As in, Sammy's a coward (euro) and Stafford? A good Canadian kid? I'm probably reading too much into this.

"Samueslon throwing hay-makers with that shield on" Meanwhile, Ericsson, WITHOUT a visor gets jumped by Stafford who was WEARING a visor. Seemes like some bias, anti-euro color commentary. Thoughts? edit: spelling

Hudler was a 2nd round pick and had 97 (!!!!!!!) points as a 22 year old in the AHL. In 76 games. Pare, at 21, had 47 points in 61 games. He has a ways to come before he can be metioned in the same breath as Hudler.

2 of the last 3 Red Wing 1st round oicks have been offensive d-men. Kindl and Smith. Detroit needs a BIG center and a BIG physical defenseman. Or a right hand shot on the wing.

So now to the question: Has Lidstrom won the last Norris trophy of his career?

Whatever team has the shakiest goaltending. So St.Louis.

*single tear* Happy 12 year anniversary everyone!!!!!

Get er' done Kenny.

Clipped from the original post: Win a Conn Smythe trophy.

Franzen - Datsyuk - Cleary Hossa - Zetterberg - Kopecky Hudler - Draper - Samuelson Maltby - Lebda - Meech (use very sparingly) (barf)

Whoever takes the "discount" rate will sign first. That's who signs. Whether it be Franzen at 3M or Hossa at 6M. Then, regardless of who signs, the Wings wait and see how the playoffs go (who performs, who doesn't, amidst the group of Filpulla, Lilja, Samuelson, Hudler, Kronwall, Stuart, etc.) THIS will determine what they do with either Hossa or Franzen, depending on who signs. If Flipper puts in a bad playoff effort, then maybe he gets traded. Same for Kronwall. If Sammy stinks it up, they let him walk, same with Lilja. and so on...... I'm sure, regardless of any NTC, that Holland will make the right decisions. Remember, this is a man who bought out McCarty's contract after the lockout. So loyalty, when push comes to shove, is secondary to logic. I doubt there is any other way to speculate at this point.

Savard is a loser. I'm not a big Crosby fan, but Savard is a loser.

They look....... something. To be honest, I'm not sure I can even say what The Wings problem is right now. Chemistry? Doubt it. Boredom? Maybe. Poor goaltending? Lack of confidence in the goalie? Who knows..... Someone actually mentioned the trap. And seriously, that might be it. Maybe the team is actually transitioning into a new defensive system. And maybe they've been working out the kinks all year. You know other teams in league are adjusting yo or have adjusted to Detroit's system. Which means they've figured out how to beat them. Maybe The Wings are trying to do some counter-adjusting of their own. All I know is if this team gets it's mojo back early in the playoffs, combined with it's insane insane depth? Lights for everyone.

yeah me

Yes, but Meech would have to clear waivers.

Hudler and Samuelson are both in contract years. That should be enough motivation to play well. Samuelson has always been streaky and Hudler may just be tired.

This is not a knee-jerk reaction to tonight's loss. I fail to believe that the Wings defense is the issue. I know they're playing poorly, but I don't attribute that to a group on the decline. Lidstrom is aging, no doubt, and Rafalski's having a bad year in his own zone. BUT I still think Stuart and Kronwall are quality players. I just feel like there's something going on that's making all the guys under-produce. Maybe it's Todd leaving to coach in SJ, maybe Conklin's an ******* in the dressing room, or maybe the guys are tuning Babcock out. Maybe they don't listen to him anymore. What I think solves the problem though: 1. Let Conklin go in the offseason, and bring in a #1 goalie. Someone you can call a #1. 2. Filpulla, Howard, and a 1st for Garnet Exelby and rights to Kari Lehtonen's RFA contract 3. Kari will cost at less as an RFA than what Franzen will make. So farewell Johan. + the loss of Filpulla would free up room for Hossa. 4. Re-sign Hossa. 5. Samuelson goes. Lilja goes. Lebda goes. Major shuffle. Bring in some new blood, that will LISTEN to Babcock. Like this: Hossa- Datsyuk- Holmstrom Hudler - Zetterberg - Leino Kopecky - Helm - Cleary Maltby - Draper - Abdlekader Downey Lidstrom - Kronwall Rafalski - Exelby Stuart - Ericsson Meech Lehtonen Osgood

I've waited this long to say it. I really like Howard.

I can't believe, with the 3000 Osgood threads, that these topics were merged.

Not to nitpick, but CuJo wasn't on that team. He signed the summer after the Wings won the cup.

I'm almost 100% sure that a Montreal Canadian (from the 70s dynasty) originally said this. It might have been Bob Gainey.

Most recent hated players: 1. Barret Jackman - can't brush his teeth without cross-checking a Red Wing player 2. Steve "The Snot" Ott 3. Dion Phaneuf - although I like him alot more now than I used to.

Green is a bit of a tough pill to swallow. But Tomas Fleischmann? I'd be willing to bet that Leino could rack up 16 goals by mid February if it was his third year in the NHL. And Detroit got him for nothing. Not to mention that Franzen was a 2nd round pick as a 24 year old. Which means that 30 teams passed on him 6 times. Screw Fleischmann.