rick zombo

BAN and delete thread pleeeez!!!!!!!!!

I'm really not keen on the D right noow at all. Lidstrom looks tired. And he should be. He's playing too much. Lebda's not playing well. Lilja has two modes: steady and completely aweful. Kronwall can be explosive, but not the best in own end as we saw on the Sharp garbage goal tonight. This team really misses Markov. No lie. Up front, there are elements missing. Filpulla needs to play more on the PP. And he and Hudler need a big winger.

I'm not worried about the loss tonight. And I'm not worried about Dom's SV % in the last 2 games, or on the season for that matter. 0-4 against the hawks is frustrating, but I'm not worried about that either. What I am worried about are all the things that make Dom awesome that are missing from his game right now. The old Dom would have been out on top of Sharp on his breakaway goal. The only way the current Hasek could have been deeper in his net on the play would have been to remove the mesh. He looks like a shell of himself. Totally rattled, no confidence, and no swagger to his game. I realllly hope he can get it together. I think he can. Right now, it's worth the gamble for Babcock to keep playing him. How else are we going to know?

Yep. Gross. Oh well, on the brightside, Mr Burke is losing a possible #1 goalie and getting the jack of squat in return. I used to think Burke was a good GM.

Like I said, it was pretty good.

For the record, he did write an article on Yzerman's retirement. It was pretty good.

I agree, but I think Philly would want so much more than Cleary and Meech. I think 29 other teams would and could offer them more than that.

He said it during the on ice celebration after the cup clinching game at home against the Hurricanes. Darren Pang was interviewing him. Here's the link: @ the 8:20 mark.

Yzerman said in an interview that the 02 cup win was his most satisfying.

The Wings aren't too bad at center. It's the RW that's in need. LW is in good shape.

Filpulla, Helm, and a 1st. That probably wouldn't get him.

The 97 team for sure IMO. That team had it all.

Well, the Leafs are constantly exposing themselves as "pricks". So he should fit in nicely. edit to add:

I fully agree with you. Non- Parity.

The Lightning are a great example of a team that started out in the basement and drafting/builing a team that was capapble of winning the cup. They are not an example of team helped by league parity. They, like the Red Wings of the 90s used there misfortune to draft a core of winners. If anything, the Lightning are an example of a team KILLED by parity. They could have dominated for a few more years except that they had to dismantle their team due to cap restraints. All this while the rest of the league was allowed to get better becasue of the cap. edit to add: Imagine, as a Wings fan, how much it would have sucked to lose Fedorov in 98 because of Cap restictions on the heals of winning a cup the year before. Or any of the Wings key players. That's waht happened to Tampa.

Jumpin' s*** people. Hasek is OLD so he's starting SLOWER than usual. Not to change the subject here but I think the goalie drama is outshining the real problem the Wings have right now. They need to add a reilable #4 defenceman. I agree, and I'll take it a step further. This defense, specifically the #2 pairing: Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Lilja Chelios - Lebda Is not good enough to win the cup. They miss Markov BAD. And replacing Lilly with Lebda and bringing in Meech is no good either.

I was thinking more along the lines of a reliable stay-at-home physical #4 defenseman.

Just watched this. The Leaf's goals except for maybe the rebound in close, were all good shots from the hashmarks out. It's all about the goalie gear if you ask me.

You think goals are the problem? They're tied for 6th in the conference in Goals. They given up the 5th most. They're the only playoff team right now that has GA>GF. They've also scored 15 goals in their last 4 games. And I'm not sure you can blame saturday's meltdown on Doug. Seems like the coaching staff would be where you'd begin. But who knows what's up in Dallas.

Maybe they should make the neutral zone smaller and the offensive/defensive zones bigger.

Both Prospal and Norstrom are UFA at season's end. Prospal always plays his best hockey in contract years. Not to imply he only plays well when a contract is on the line. Either way, Tampa may not be playoff bound this year, and if Prospal continues to play hot hockey (6pt in last 2 games) he may price himself out of Tampa. In which case they trade him at the deadline rather than letting him go for nothing in July. Makes sense to me. And Norstrom would be a terrific rental.

Norstrom and Prospal

Watching the highlights of last night's Sens Caps game I noticed Fleischmann scored on a great shot coming down the wing. He has three goals and is playing on a scoring line with Backstrom. His other two goals this year came from chipping in pucks around the net. So he gets his nose dirty. He had 32 points in 20 games in Hershey last year. He along with Detroits 1st round pick went to Washington in exchange for Lang as you all know. The Caps used the pick to draft Mike Green, a 6-1 208lb defenseman projected to be a top four guy. He plays a physical game and has offensive upside. I know we've talked about this before, and I'm not Holland critic, but I think this was a bad deal. Thoughts?

Man, I love how when Zetterberg scored that goal to make it 16 games he didn't even flitch. No hand in the air, no big deal, no nothing. Man Love 4 hank

I would rather trade what it would take to get Antropov, but get Sundin instead.