StaticWithABeat

Ah yes, the joys of low-level sales...I wouldn't wish 75 cold calls a day on my worst enemy.

The thought of the Red Wings without Lidstrom frightens me. The Wings had the good fortune of allowing other stars like Yzerman and Shanahan to shift to more supporting roles thanks to the ascention of Datsyuk and Zetterberg, but Lidstrom will continue to be their most important player until the very end, and his departure will be devastating. I'd rather not find out just how devastating for as long as possible.

In case the starting lineups weren't a good enough indication, the ASG is a circus act that shouldn't be thought about too much unless you just want to get mad.

Signing Conklin put serious doubt in my mind for Howard's future with the Wings. He has had four years to prove himself worthy of a roster spot and they're still not confident enough in him to give him a backup job. Now he's getting outplayed by younger Daniel Larsson, with McCollum looking very good and knocking on the door for GR. Someone is going to have to go soon, and there's not much question who the least valuable of the big three goalie prospects is right now. I think next season will be judgment day for Howard. If he doesn't earn the backup job I would expect to see him moved, if they don't do it before then.

Yes, when he's not busy punching non-fighters unconscious or slashing people in the face he's got tons of character. My thoughts aside, he does have a reputation for being a good team guy, so hopefully he will do good things for Toronto.

St. Louis and Chicago hate the Wings more than anyone, there is no contest. I'd say St. Louis probably hates them the most right now because their "glory years" of Pronger/Macinnis/Demitra are still fresh in their minds, along with the fact that no matter how good they were, the Wings would still beat their asses day in and day out. Now that they have watched their team regress into failure while the Wings continue to kick ass left and right, their fans are more bitter than ever and full of unprecedented amounts of hatred to spew off. The Hawks are still desensitized from 15 years of bad ownership and team crappiness, but they are coming back strong in the hatred department this year. Still second place in my book though.

Well balls...wish I had known about this before I bought $20 standing room tickets. Could've sat down AND had enough left over to get part of a hot dog.

The Red Wings system puts emphasis on quickness and the ability to move the puck around. Unfortunately the 6'3" players who already possess these attributes will most likely be gone by the time the Wings hit the podium, leaving them with one or two solid picks followed by 6 rounds of looking between couch cushions in Europe for small-but-skilled players who fit the mold. I imagine they would be most interested in top six-capable wingers and defensemen, considering some combination of Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Filppula/Hudler/Cleary/Franzen/Helm should be taking care of center for a while, and there are a good half-dozen goalie prospects floating around with realistic NHL chances. Hopefully Hedman will fall to the bottom of the first round and everything will work itself out.

Fun fact: Sakic has the highest career earnings of any NHL player in history not named Jaromir Jagr.

In other news, Roberto Luongo suffered a setback this week when he stuck his tongue in a toaster. He will be out for 2-3 additional weeks with what the team is calling an "upper body injury."

Just because most of us think he is a goofy bastard who probably still sleeps with Patrick Roy sheets on his bed doesn't mean we enjoy watching him get sh*t on and embarassed professionally.

I'd put Tampa Bay second only to the legendary NY Islanders in terms of poor post-salary cap team management...hey I know, let's sign every free agent on the market, bring in some goofy mullet-headed bastard who hasn't coached in 10 years to lead them, and just hope player chemistry, defense, and a team identity takes care of itself. I also question keeping Stamkos in there so he can experience getting his ass kicked on a nightly basis...then again being rushed onto a crappy roster as an 18-year-old can do nothing but positive things for a player's development, right Brian Lawton?

There's two first-round picks I bet they'd like back.

LA's jersey looks pretty bad judging from the crappy cell phone picture on that site...Sharks' look good. Lose the number on the front and come up with something better than "SJ" to put on the shoulders and I'd have no complaints.

I don't expect perfection from the Wings, but I did think they would keep more pucks out of the net then they have given up. I probably would enjoy games more if I expected flaky defense and blown third period leads all the time, but somehow I think the Wings are capable of better.

Impossible. The league would never stoop to shamelessly bastardizing the game in any way they think might appeal to the casual American sports viewer.

When the Wings regress to a borderline playoff team like Edmonton my expectations will change accordingly, but for now you'll have to excuse me if watching the team that dominated the league last year + Marian Hossa eke out mistake-laden 1-goal slopfests against teams they should be soundly defeating on a fairly regular basis does not meet my expectations.

I don't know if they have the Islanders beat yet, but they're definitely making it interesting.

I wish he had stayed retired the first time.

Partially. Osgood is hardly the primary culprit in the team's massive spike in GA, but he hasn't exactly been Mr. Clutch. I like Osgood and - like the rest of the team - I'm sure he'll get better as the season goes on, but sometimes I consider developing drinking games incorporating his issues with rebound control and covering loose pucks in the crease.

I don't see why the idea of looking at another goalie is a ridiculous notion. Osgood is nearing the end and Conklin is a 32-year old journeyman and little more than a short-term stopgap...Howard will continue to get opportunities, but has failed to win a roster spot the past four years and is approaching sink-or-swim time. Larsson and McCollum look pretty good from what I've seen, but then again so did Stefan Liv. I see Lehtonen as overrated, injury-prone, and probably vastly overpayed come next season, not someone I would be overjoyed to acquire....then again, he might be another Kiprusoff, lots of hidden potential just waiting to develop confidence. If the Wings were to offer up Howard in a package and go after a Jaroslav Halak or Steve Mason-type, I would understand.

Probably just menstrual cramps. He'll be fine.

jesus christ, disgusting refereeing even by nhl standards

If the Red Wings were another team's ***** for 15 straight years I'd probably be a bitter, hateful a-hole too.

I wouldn't expect picks that bad from ESPN.