Seattle

[Seattle]

I moved to Seattle a couple years ago. A few people here joke the team should be called the Seattle Freeze. Lol.

 

[Yzerman vs Fedorov. Which one was better?]

Depends if you mean the better player over the course of a career or the better player on one given night. We all know the answer if you put it like that.

[Whose autograph is this? Can someone help me?]

I don't think so as I've seen others have something similar, including Datsyuk. I'm not even convinced it is a 13. The reason I don't think it's Kozlov is because there is clearly a letter of some sort missing from what you see in every other autograph of his I've seen.

Edit...can't find the Datysuk one I was thinking of, so maybe I'm off there....but Datysuk has some crazy different autographs.

Edit again....so Kozlov is the closest match so far, but I still don't think that's it...it's killing me and I'm not sure why. I'd love to get some sort of confirmation

I think he probably forgot the K in a hurry.

[Whose autograph is this? Can someone help me?]

It's definitely Kozlov. The sloppy swoopy thing that eventually becomes a 13 seals it.

[Should any of #91, #13, #40, #30 be retired? Poll/Discussion]

In alot of cases this may be accurate, but in this situation IMO this way of thinking is too simplistic. In the case of Fedorov, people that have to "discuss it" are people who are using emotion to cloud their judgement. Had Fedorov had his career cut short in 2003 due to injury and not leaving to Anaheim, I think he would be in the same category as Lidstrom & Yzerman.

Here are my thoughts:

I've come around on Fedorov. The guy is one of the greatest to ever wear the Winged Wheel, and he should be up there with LIdstrom/Yzerman.

Datsyuk IMO was a very special player, one that not many people have the same skill set as. Based on that alone, and based on how good he was a as two way player at his peak, I would say yes. He may not have the point totals, but imagine if his body didnt let him down, and imagine if he played in a different era where there was more scoring.

Z - How can you say no to him and Yes to Datsyuk.

Osgood - At this point no, but I see the argument as he accomplished ALOT and if he gets into the HHOF, that could alter my opinion.

That's just the thing, there are no defined requirements to retire a number. It just has to do with precedent and "how the franchise feels," which I think emotion has a lot to do with. Why do you think they took Larry Aurie out of the rafters? His accomplishments stand, but his number didn't. Yes, all of the players you mention have a very special place in Red Wings history and are elite players, but 100 years from now, looking back, I don't think they will mean the same to the franchise as Yzerman or Lidstrom, much less the production line and the Red Wings dynasty of the 40s-50s.

The other point I'll make is this. Retiring Ted Lindsay, Alex Delvecchio Sid Abel and Sawchuk's numbers were also in discussions.

Only Howe, Yzerman and Lidstrom were players whose numbers were immediately retired.

Lindsay and Delvecchio had their numbers retired in 1991

Sawchuck was retired in 1994

Abel in 1995

Discussing is completely unrelated to likelihood of retirement. Sid Abel retired from the game in 1954 and his number wasn't retired till 40 years after that.

I would love to see you start a thread and call into discussion whether we should have retired Lindsay, Delvecchio, Abel and Sawchuck.

These are players from a dynasty of league domination and five Stanley cups. The production line included players in contention to be the top 1, 2 and 3 leading scorers year after year. Thumbing through the history books, you will always notice that blip of tremendous success. Again, this sets a precedent for future retired jerseys and looking back, I only see Yzerman and Lidstrom contributing in the same type of way. Yzerman captained this team for nearly 2 decades and brought them to championship caliber. Lidstrom is arguably the best defenseman of all time, captaining the team to an additional cup after Yzerman.

[Should any of #91, #13, #40, #30 be retired? Poll/Discussion]

Every year I vote none. And every year I say, if there has to be a discussion thread about it, it's not happening.

There were no discussions about Yzerman or Lidstrom and whether or not they were going up in the rafters.

[NHL Chooses Las Vegas for 17-18 Expansion]

This is just so the boys can party on the road in Vegas for a couple years. I am thinking the away team will have a bad record there playing on a hangover. Then they will move somewhere deserving.

What a blunder. Seattle or Portland are open markets. They are so bored there that soccer is huge. Now that's a statement.

[Official - Little Caesars Arena]

The 20-year naming rights agreement averaging more than $6.25 million per year paves the way for Little Caesars Arena branding on the roof of the arena, on the exterior, at entrances and at center ice, among other opportunities.

Source: http://www.districtdetroit.com/news/little-caesars-arena-announced-as-name-of-detroits-new-multi-use-arena-centerpiece-of-1-2-billion-district-detroit-development

Correct me if I am wrong, but I haven't seen anyone mention that the Hockeytown center ice logo is to be scrapped. We get a Little Caesars logo there too it seems. I guess we aren't Hockeytown anymore either. We are Hot-N-Ready-Town.

[Official - Little Caesars Arena]

Sad sad day to be a fan.

We will all need to go through our grieving process and eventual acceptance of the horrible name and rooftop logo.

[Free Press: Pavel Datsyuk to return to Russia following Playoffs]

More hearsay, but my boss knows his agent and the word is he's leaving.

[Vancouver should make the black retro uniforms permanent]

I always thought the brains behind the blue-green era was stealing from the defunct Hartford design. Those were awesome jerseys. Having created this mythology in my own mind (which may or may not be true), it makes me not like the current color scheme.

This "retro" jersey is what they wore when I was growing up, so those look right to me.

[Going to the Joe. Best place to sit at the Joe?]

I've been to a game in San Jose. The upper bowl felt like miles away. Prepare for a whole other experience at the Joe. The place barely has an upper bowl. It feels like a college rink compared to the shark tank. Every seat is so good that I have always had a hard time paying for lower bowl seats.

[Islanders Unveil New Alternate Jersey]

I'm pretty sure Jay Z designed or had input with the black and white Nets jerseys. This is just following suit. Someone should look that up though because that could have been from a dream of mine.

[Line combos for 97, 98 Cups?]

I remember McCarty having some hidden talent that would pop up out of no where in games. I also remember reading he had crazy raw talent and could have been much better had he worked on his game and not been so distracted.

I am pretty sure the people who remember McCarty's play would take him over Abby. I would.

[Red Wings sign D Mike Green (3-years, $18-million)]

I like it.

Wasn't he acquired with our pick anyway?

[The Bowman Effect]

I'd never knock the hockey genius of Scottie Bowman. However, once you've developed a reputation as a winner, you end up choosing who you work for rather than developing teams from scratch. I think it's unlikely that Bowman was the factor that brought 3 cups to Chicago. Rather, it's more likely he had the hockey mind to see the potential of the team years in advance.

I think successful coaches, GMs, and other personnel in professional sports have a tendency to snowball on their own success. Their padded resume allows them to work with future winners more often.

[Wings open to trading Mantha and/or their 1st Round Pick]

I can start rumors too. Mine will probably be more true: Holland will do nothing all summer. You heard it here first, folks.

[Which Sweater Do RWs Retire First - Feds or Ozzy?]

If there is doubt and discussion about whether a jersey should be retired, it's not going to happen. As you can see, plenty of doubt about 91 and 30 here.

No one here was posting threads to discuss whether 19 or 5 would go up in the rafters.

[Babcock granted permission to talk to other teams]

From the way he took this year's playoff exit, I'd think he'd want another crack at it.

[Recommend me a game from the glory days]

A personal favorite of mine was the come back win in game 2 of the Stanley cup finals against the Caps.

[Babcock: Petr Mrazek is starting Game 1]

Wow, I did not expect this at all from Babcock. Though we're more likely to fall behind in the series than sweep, so I am betting Howard will get his starts too. That's one way to light a fire under a guy's ass.

[Mikael Samuelsson announces retirement]

This guy lived the dream. Holland dropped monster paychecks on him one after the other for doing nothing. Can't say I'm not jealous.

[Do the Nyquist!]

How can you be human and not love this?

[Will Wings Revisit Signing Phaneuf?]

If we're doing them a favor it's not going to be by us giving them Mantha.

[Next Number to be retired]

Fedorov will not go up. He may have smoothed over relations with the club, but I don't think he can recover back to where he would be put in the rafters. It's the right precedent to set.

Z and Pav have not earned it yet. Yzerman and Lidstrom brought the team out of obscurity and made it a premiere hockey club where free agents wanted to play. They built a dynasty with 3 and 4 cups each. Z and Pav are far from that type of accomplishment. I think to be in the rafters it takes more than goals and assists. It requires the player to elevate the club to new heights and make a massive contribution.