StaticWithABeat

Not a very exciting card for me, definitely not worth the PPV...hopefully Penn/Stevenson turns out to be a decent fight, if BJ shows up in shape he will clean house. I'd be more excited to see BJ vs any one of Edgar/Huerta/Griffin.

If I were to make suggestions to the Leafs, it wouldn't involve trades so much as it would involve selling off their assets (AKA Mats Sundin), burning that roster to the ground, and rebuilding the old-fashioned way. I'd also suggest firing and publicly flogging their management staff, as well as selling the team to an owner who cares about something other than money. In reality though, I don't expect them to do any of these things. I expect them to continue with their current strategy of patching just enough holes in the roster to stay in hockey purgatory - not good enough to compete but not bad enough to get high draft picks.

Hudler - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Filppula - Datsyuk - Cleary Franzen - Draper - Samuelsson Drake - Kopecky - Downey Maltby can battle with Drake for a 4th line spot when he comes back.

UM/MSU followed by DET/TOR? Yes please.

Haha...if there was a channel that showed nothing but MMA, hockey, scrubs, and south park I would be set for life. Too bad the NHL didn't look at Spike TV after ESPN gave them the boot.

Michigan definitely looks like the team to beat...2 sweet scoring lines, nice depth, lots of speed, smart D....Sauer isn't a spectacular goalie but he gets the job done. MSU looks good too, they don't roll deep like UM does but it'll be an interesting tournament for sure.

I'd be surprised if he doesn't get picked up. Unlike LeClair before him, he isn't a washed-up injury machine just yet. Definitely not an offensive force anymore, but he works hard and can still contribute in a third line-type role.

Konstantinov pile driving Lemieux has always been one of my favorites... Always had a soft spot for Wendel Clark...possibly my favorite player ever aside from Sergei Fedorov.

Ahh yes...reminds me of the 25-goal, 55-point predictions for Franzen before the year began.

Hmm tough to pick some of these... C Gretzky Lemieux Yzerman Beliveau Messier L Hull Lindsay Bucyk Robitaille Mahovlich R Howe Richard Bossy Lafleur Jagr D Orr Harvey Lidstrom Bourque Shore G Sawchuk Plante Brodeur Roy Dryden

If any of the big 3 are going to be moved, my money is on St. Louis...No one is going to want Richards with that unholy menace of a contract, and Lecavalier is just now kicking it into high gear after nearly 10 years of Tampa Bay commitment, not to mention the asking price would be astronomical. St. Louis is 32 and his value has nowhere to go but down...they're probably better off moving him now while he can fetch a nice return.

Suck it, Eastern Conference.

Wicked SC hangover + losing 2 of 3 best players + better divisional opponents = bad year in Anaheim...they need a year of losing to get the hunger back, not unlike Carolina of last year.

Blake is washed up. I wouldn't give up anything for him beyond future considerations.

That will come in handy in case Hudler, Lilja, and Samuelsson ever decide to quit hockey and start a rock band.

Somebody needs to organize a seminar on how to buy an NHL franchise or something...apparently there's a clause in the new CBA that says you have to partially commit to a purchase, dick around for a few months, then let it fall apart after wasting a satisfactory amount of time and money.

I'll take Detroit vs NYR.

Haha wow...similar paths indeed.

Not surprising...pilot's probably still used to overcompensating for Robert Lang's fat ass pulling the plane to the side his seat was on.

The Wings would be wise to try to capitalize on the next few seasons, because happy times are going to be over when Lidstrom is gone. If Sundin could really be had for picks+prospects, there isn't much I wouldn't be willing to give up to make it happen.

Marleau for Hossa would be a good deal...Kovalchuk gets a respectable center to play with, SJ gets a RW to replace ineffective Cheechoo on the top line.

It's hard say this early who's going to be packing it in come March...Geoff Sanderson, Mike Johnson, Danius Zubrus, Mike York, Mark Recchi, and Jozef Stumpel should all be available at wholesale prices, Afinogenov/Prucha/St. Louis might be on the block, and half of Atlanta's roster has "salary dump" written all over them.

That would sure solve our secondary scoring problem...although he's said numerous times that he has no interest in leaving Toronto.

I would be surprised if he doesn't make it, considering the HHOF's disgracefully lax standards.