RockyMountainWingGal

I'll add Cujo to the list - although he pretty much tanked while he was still with us. I suppose many players who left were past their prime or close to retirement - Luc, Hull, Igor, Shanny, but still the drop off in play is pretty baffling - HAS to be the curse! Feds still makes me sad - probably the most phenomenal all around hockey player I've seen in my lifetime - destined to be a Red Wing - then he just fades into mediocrity after he leaves. If there was one missed deal on the Wings over the past 15-20 years, that was it - no faults pointed.

Can't or won't? I am not familiar with his personal situation. Remember Luc moved his family to Detroit for a few years to win a Cup - then went back to the Kings. It's just the nature of being a hockey player - moving around alot - especially in the new era. If he wants to play on a good team and have a shot at winning again, he would have to convince his family to spend a few years in D-town. If for some reason his family won't move, then yeah he's gone anyways.....we'll see....

I wouldn't go that far. The double L pairing makes me nervous too when they're on the ice - the puck mysteriously spends alot of time in our zone. However, there is a reason Lilja got the spot in the SCF over Cheli - he played OK for the 3rd defensive pairing. While I love Cheli, and he's good as a depth guy, at some point you have to wonder if taking up a roster spot is beneficial??? You'd have to look at the list of guys with a similar salary to replace Lilja - when I look at that list above in the 1 mill range - nothing looks great... Stuart is Schneider all over again. Holland is right not to overpay him. I think Stu would be great to keep, but remember not alot of teams were knocking on his door at the trade deadline. It would be nice if he took a Cup discount, but don't "count" on it. If he wants to rot with the Kings, with an extra 500g's/yr and be near the beach, so be it....

Because they both wanted a longer vacation - sipping Margarhitas somewhere - while their teammates were busting their ass in training camp and on the ice half the season - as well as the rest of the league. It's one thing if a player has a systemic injury - if they think anyone should feel sorry for them on account of "tired from a long Cup run", I don't think too many tears would be shed around the league....

Totally agree. They got away with it last year but the league should surely look into some rules preventing this exact kind of unprofessional behavior disrepectful to other teams. A certain number of games into the season you should have decided to play that season OR NOT. If you don't come back by say Nov or Dec 1, you have to sit out until NEXT season. 2nd option: you must pass some kind of "waivers" where other teams looking to add a player late in the season get a crack at you too.....

How about Yzerstrom, with an umlaut (not sure how to get those in text here) or Lidsman. Seriously that picture of his family just kind of reiterates his reputation as "the perfect human" - although I do think he needs a girl to round out!! p.s. did Nick leave his wardrobe behind in Michigan? Looks like he borrowed an old pair of jeans and sweater from someone! lol

I heard something about this on NHL live yesterday - that agents can make all the calls for some players. I am curious is this just the contract some have signed with specific agents? It seems like each player would get the final say in whether they accept an offer or not - I guess in the case of RFAs they have to stay with their current team if an offer is matched, but in general this kind of baffles me. IMO, most agents suck....

I posted this in another thread but FYI: IPOD users: ITUNES has all of the SC finals games available for download - commercials all cut - for $1.99 each. Not DVD format I know but was worth the money to have the games all loaded right onto my ipod!!!! There is probably a way to burn an mpg from Itunes to DVD just haven't done it myself..... I missed most of the Dallas series on an out of the country trip and would like to find those too - I'll post if I find anything.

Thanks for the pics - maybe you'll be invited to his Stanley Cup party. I thought Nick had some girls - must be thinking of Stevie....4 future Wings eh?

FYI: Itunes store has each of the SCF games available for download for $1.99 each. Good quality - commercials and dead-time edited out, just have to suffer through NBC's commentators! Type in keyword NHL. I just put games 1,2 & 6 on my ipod and now I can watch them WHEREEVER I am!

Thanks for posting - couldn't stay up til 1am to watch last night - this work thing really interferes with my Red Wings life. Those two are great together! Liked the matching black shirts and jeans - lol!

Madden is a good player and you of course are welcome to your opinion that he deserved the Selke. But I would consider a few things from your stats. Madden is on a team that is not as good as the Red Wings. So he may be their best defensive forward and the #1 go to guy for PKs - but that might be because they don't have alot of top forwards anymore (Elias and Langenbrunner are the only ones I even know), let alone defensive ones. Pavel doesn't take as many faceoffs 'cause the Wings also have guys like Draper who can take alot of draws. You'd have to switch Madden and Pavel on their respective teams. Would Madden be the #1 guy for PKs, faceoffs, 5-3 kills on the Wings? Probably not because we have better players. Maybe Pavel would get more PK time on the Devils. Speculation only I know. This is also why it's hard to win the Hart trophy when you're on a Cup winning team. By default the team is full of good players and is more balanced. It's easier to score boatloads of goals when you're on the ice the whole game, have the puck the whole time, and the rest of your team sucks.....

:rotflmao: So true - he's probably fuming that Lids, Pavel, and AO cleaned up on awards! Cause those Euros are oh so soft! lol Anyhow, I've seen the "Lindstrom" so many times in print I almost thought for awhile it was some alternative Swedish spelling. I've also seen it printed with the o umlaut alot too - apparently Americanized without. Worst transgressions have occurred.

At least have Hully host the awards - we need some humor. Seriously, if there weren't so many Wings nominated and at the awards, not sure I could sit through that. I suppose there is not a big audience for NHL awards on Vs in June - but at least make it a party for the attendees! And yes - Bettman is just intolerable.

I'm a little bit surprised his English is not a bit better since he's been here for quite a few years. But I will say going from Russian to English has to be alot harder than many of the other Germanic and Romance languages. Different alphabet and roots. He is so cute trying though - I thought it was sincere regardless. I will say that when the Wings played the Avs he was the interviewee on the Avs network at intermission a few times and he sounded great - I think the stage fright may have had something to do with it. Go Pavel! Wish him and Z could both have won it - but cannot feel too bad for Hank w the Smythe.

Does Carolina even have 1.5 million people? Avs are reported to have had around 200-250,000 in 2001. Even they are outdrawing the likes of Anaheim, Tampa, Carolina. Just another good reason there are certain locals that shouldn't have a hockey team. I kind of liked the SC Tampa team - but seriously 20,000 fans? Move those teams somewhere else Bettman - you idiot!

I always watch it at night online so I can skip the commercials and guests I have no interest in. There's a bar below the live screen and you can click to the right of it while it's playing - to fast forward. Works OK for me....

Really? Maybe those guys were up front - but the camera didn't span the whole audience. Bummer - sorry although still so cool just to be there for that!!!

Good that he's having it done now. At least it's not his spleen like Floppa. Wishing Homer a Cup-filled summer full of receovery and relaxation! Homer you're the man! Loved his speech on winning the Cup "sometimes it happens to a guy 4 times!"

I'm still kind of shell shocked that serious Nick essentially sang a skit on Leno on National tv. He did look like he was having fun though. For all his faults, I thought it was actually really cool that Leno let all the Wings fans in the audience come up and shake hands with the guys and touch the Cup. What a moment for them. Ozzie was interviewed on NHLlive today by Hradek and LaGreca - Dom was on yesterday . You can watch or listen to the replay on the NHL website - and fast forward through the stuff that's not interesting.... NHL livewire click on episode

Awwww - I thought it was cute. They both had their hair done all nice - for their 2 mins of Leno! lol Hey at least he invites the SC champs on the show every year - even if it's just for a few mins. It's exposure I suppose. Damn long plane ride just for that though......

Good advice. I'm switching back and forth because the Stevie program is really good! How long must I suffer through all these lame jokes before I get to see Lids/Oz?

OK Leno just starting for me. And I'll plug the NHLN again - TOP 1- YZERMAN GOALS on right now!!! They've been playing mostly Wings stuff lately - it's great!

I don't get to see it for another half hour- hour or so... I was surprised to hear Nick was going to fly all the way to LA just for that - especially considering he has to be in Toronto to pick up more hardward on Thursday. Guess it's a tradition to have the captain on the Tonight Show with the Cup. Should have sent someone else since most people won't know the difference anyways. I agree on Huds! Load him up with a few drinks and ship him off to LA! Who is Carson Daley and when does his show air?? Never heard of him but suspect it will make Youtube anyways... OK back to waiting around for Lamo-Leno....... p.s. Detroit vs Nashville game 1 on NHLN right now!!!

yeah I read the comments in the Detroit papers today. The only reason this idiot wasted his time writing a negative article is he's JEALOUS. Maybe he is from Cleveland or Philly? Maybe he would like to tell us what city has MORE championships in the last 15-20 years? Possibly Boston - but Detroit is a great city to be a sports fan. And for those of us who've moved - we still cheer for all the D-town teams. I surely hope Jay Leno doesn't beat up on Detroit when he as Lids/Oz/Cup on - he made some lame outdated remarks about Detroit burning down the city after we won the Cup already. Too bad Mac won't be there to pop him in the face on national tv.... Anyways, who cares what this A$$ hole thinks - I'd like to see him meet face to face with a Detroit althete and tell this to them to their face...