rick zombo

He'll be a UFA at age 29. Maybe then.

It would be pretty amazing to win the cup this year by alternating goalies. Grounbreaking.

I'd be careful with trading Howard. If they choose to deal him, they had better be sure that Larsson has big league capacity. And if they chose to hang on to that 1st round pick, they had better use it to draft a goalie. That is all. Also, the Leaf's have Pogge, who has potential equal to or exceeding Howard's. Why would they want Jimmy? Plus, I love Hudler, it would be sad to see him go for a rental in Sundin. edit: I'd give them a 1st, a 2nd, and Sammuelson before I'd part with any other roster players or prosepcts.

Detroit's Andersson with an assist. Sweet.

But Hudler for Malone would be a classic case of Detroit trading from their strengths (small skilled forwards) to address their weakness (big wingers with offensive upside).

I think the team does need something to put it over the top. But those of you suggesting the Wings need to add 3 or four players are going a little overboard. I think the consensus is that a big winger with scoring upside, and a physical, defensive-blueliner are the two holes that need to be filled. - Malone would be great. I'd trade Hudler for him. But I'd rather trade a 2nd round pick and Emmerton or something, and keep Hudler. - I think Hal Gill would be a good addition on defence. He's a guy I could actually see the Wings being able to afford. He's being waaaaaaaaaay over-used in T.O. and with a reduced role in Detroit, I think he would be a nice fit. Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Malone - Filpulla - Hudler Maltby - Draper - Cleary Franzen - Kopecky - Drake/Sammy Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Lilja Chelios - Gill Lebda Hasek Osggod

The gloves eventually came off, Sidney got in a few good shots, and Ferrence was cut. Good to see. Ferrence hit Crosby late and from behind after Sidney scored eatlier in the game, and was playing him chippy all night. I love that Crosby stood up for himself, especially against Ferrence (one of my most loathed players - he's a little pr1ck)

said who?

I think the problem with Simon is that he's shown an inablity to control his temper on the ice. Some people in hockey (Don Cherry, for instance) think that he's a great guy. And while I don't disagree, I think he's clearly dealing with issues and he's a danger to other players. And I'm not sure he'll ever be able to change this.

Well Vandermeer is set to become a UFA at the end of the season. Eager is signed next year @ .65M I think. Seems like this was a lateral move by both clubs. These guys play a similar game. Physical guys who have some offensive upside that they've yet to show. I'd like to give Philly the edge because I think they got the better player. Plus losing Vandermeer really thins out Chicago's D. edit: spelling

I was sure this thread was Sir drake's doing

Kopecky's play was average. Downey took two bad penalties and saw very little ice for the rest of the game. Hasek cost us Pisani's goal, but played really well in spurts.

EXACTLY PEOPLE. WAKE THE HELL UP ALREADY!!!!!!!!!!!! everyone knows that Barry Mellrose picks the rest of the team

Franzen might look OK replacing Sammy. But the Mule's and Cleary have shown pretty good chemistry. Why mess it up?

What some of you are missing is that even if Datsyuk's production drops slightly over the years it probably will be in proportion to the cap growth and the increase in players salaries. Basically, in 3 years time someone making 6.7/yr will be the equivalent of 5 or 5.5 right now. And I doubt in three years time Datsyuk will be playing any worse than Ryan Smyth is this year. Make sense? Edit: pure speculation on my part above ^ ^ ^ Also, as Holland noted, the precedent for length of these deals has been set. Look at Briere, Gomez, Dipietro, etc. Every star player wants length as much as money. Even though Datsyuk's deal was penned before the big ones this past summer, I imagine Holland had a good long stare into the market and realized what he had to do.

Probably more like Filpulla - Datsyuk - Kopecky Hudler - Zetterberg - Sammuelson to spread it out. Homer will be missed though. Hope he's not hurt too bad. Good job the 2nd PP unit is doing well.

Yes. And then cross fingers that Howard pulls it together this year (and his last few starts have been good ones) and you have an 08-09 tandem, with Ozzie getting 50 starts or so. Sound OK?

1.) Chris Gratton OR 2.) Radim Vrbata 3.) Brad Stuart PLEASE

See, I feel differently. Last year's playoff series against the Flames and Sharks were both entirely more satisfying than the previous years 1st round series against the Oilers. Alot of big plays and found memories.

Although Feds was the better player IMO, I'd take Shanny in a heartbeat. He was the missing piece then, and the 96-97 version of Shanny would be the missing piece now. I'd also take Murphy for the same "future considerations" he fetched back then. What a steal.

Looks like Hasek's going to have to drop the gloves or whatever with Boogaard next time these two teams meet.

People said the same things about Gretzky and Lemieux. They were sick of "hearing about those guys". There are always haters. Really though. At some point you have to aknowledge his ability. Also: Yzerman cried and yapped to the officials as much as crosby does. And nobody here, including myself, ever had a problem with that. So go easy on Sidney everyone. He's good for the game. And he's only 20. What were you doing when you were 20?

Agreed. And as good as the team's been playing right now, some questions need to be asked. 1. Is a 2nd line of Hudler-Filpulla-Sammy big enough, and experienced enough to get this team through 4 playoff rounds. 2. Is the defensive depth good enough to win 4 rounds. (Lidstom and Rafalski can't play 27 minutes a night for for rounds) Alot of this can be addressed by augmenting the power play and adding a guy like Hal Gill to the back end. Seriously.

Schneider for Penner !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree with your theory. I truly think that the Leafs would love to dump Gill for maybe evan a 3rd round pick. He's a + player on the Leafs this season and although he's slow, he'd be good paired with Lebda or even Chelios. Up front, it's harder to envision who would be an upgrade on the 2nd line. Maybe Satan or Vrbata to play on the right side. Trading Sammy would free up some cap sapce next year. Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Homer Hudler - Filpulla - Satan Maltby - Draper - Cleary Franzen - Kopecky - Drake/Elllis/Downey Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Lilja Gill Chelios Lebda Hasek/Osgood