LeftWinger

This series I don't know too much about...guess I should watch since both of these teams will be rivals next season... I am just gonna go with Ottawa. Montreal has enough Cups...

Gotta to go with the Kings, not because they are defending Champs, but because of my hatred for the Blues and most of their fans...

Caps.....nothing stinks more than the NHL Rangers. To this day, I am so sick of the 1994 Cup being re-lived...hey NHL, how many teams since then ended 40+ year droughts? We get it, the Rangers won but they haven't had a sniff since...get over America's Team already...sheesh!

I am going with Toronto. It's about time this team gets a little deep into the playoffs...plus I don't like the Bruin's fans...

'Nucks in 5....I hate the Sharks.

Hawks in 4.....suck it Olsen Twins....and ha ha at centcougar.

Islanders in 6.....book it. We know all too well, just because you destroy the regular season and laden your team with stars, doesn't mean jack wagon... I would say the same thing about the Hawks in the 1st round, but I would rather see the Wild take a dump...

Not photoshop, but when you play the Ducks in the playoffs, this pic must be shown!

meh... ...anyway I like being the underdog! How many years did we as Wings fans endure the "favorite" moniker only to be upset by the #8, #7, #6 seed before? I like the experts picking Anaheim in 6...it doesn't matter, because we weren't supposed to even be in the playoffs because of what happened to our team last summer....we lost Lids and Stu...top UFA thumbed their noses at us. We were written off as a playoff team even BEFORE all our injuries....BUT, here we are! Little did those "experts" know that our kids were this good. They aren't superstars (yet) but they got us to the dance...now those same experts are picking us to lose...how original, pick to #2 seed to beat the #7. Let's not look at the season matchups or the stats or anything...I know its a new season but Detroit not only won the season series, they beat BOTH of their goalies, scored on the PP, did not back down from intimidation, defended themselves and their teammates, all in all, played better than Anaheim did. Frustrated Anaheim to the point to where Perry, Getzlaf and Selanne blew their wigs and totaled up 44 mins in penalties at the end of the last game....PLUS Detroit is one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now...go ahead, make the easy prediction Ducks in 6. I say, Wings in 5. Wings win the first two games in Anaheim, lose game 3, then win games 4 and 5... Wings are hot right now, they had no problem with the Ducks over the season and will have no problems this series... ...and if something happens and they Wings don't win the series, whoopee-doo! 22 years ago we lost to St. Louis in 7 games in the 1st round when that Wings team was just being born and the rest is history...

On a related note, if we have to trade one of Fil or Franzen to someone, at least Nill may be comfortable with those guys!

Speaking of a Winter Classic and alumni game (just a quick reference to a couple of post here, don't want to derail the thread) wouldn't it be just dandy to have a Detroit v. Colorado Classic? Imagine the Alumni game in that? 1997 all over again! Someone call Uncle Gary and get this matchup booked! Ok, back to the subject at hand....I am glad that Jim Nill wasn't named the Dallas GM before we signed Danny D. It is said that Nill had a pretty big influence on him coming here....I am sure the Detroit factor would have still won, but you know Nill would've been pursuing him hard if he were already Dallas GM...

Heck, we can go on and on with Execs, coaches, etc... that started their career's in Detroit and went on to be very successful elsewhere. Here are two more that come to mind that may have slipped through yours Neil Smith & Colin Campbell. Edit: When it comes to who will replace Nill, I wouldn't worry too much. Remember when we were wondering who was going to replace Devellano? Bryan Murray. Him? Scotty Bowman. Him? Ken Holland... All of whom have done a hell of a job as evidence to the last 22 years of NHL mastery... Whoever steps into Nill's spot (Mark Howe possibly) will continue that great work! Whether or not Yzerman returns doesn't matter. He has his own team and soon will Nill. The next step for the Wings is to groom the NEXT GM now and not let him get poached away. Jim Nill was the obvious next in line to be a GM...and it seems Holland isn't going anywhere, anytime soon. But sooner than later, someone needs to be named GM Heir apparent so to say... So if Howe is to be the next one, he needs to be groomed and given the job within the next 5 years or he too will get poached...

Lest we forget all the "Stupid" penalties that Jordin Tootoo took this year that killed us too, eh? A lot of us called that signing great when it happened and a lot of us called it stupid...turns out that of the three guys they signed, he turned into a bonafide important cog to our team this season and I reallt don't recall many if any of those "stupid" penalties....Tootoo needs to end his career in Detroit. Period. ( and I do not mean retire after this contract is up...)

I agree and mark this down in history, Franzen (this season) was more valuable! oh uh..... Sorry, excuse me, it really upset my stomach to say that, but for what it is worth Franzen out played Parise this season when it comes down to contract...Even if he didn't, Parise is in no way worth his contract...that is why Holland didn't offer him anywhere near that much.

I love the Wings chances of advancing, it would be great to play to role of the upsetters...weird, but fun!

someone post this average goalies stats the past 4 games please? seems to me this average guy just won us into the playoffs...

Whew! Glad I didn't make that Filppula & Franzen for Ryan deal now! Seriously, the Wings handled the Ducks pretty well all season and have to be one of the hottest teams rolling right now...2 shutouts the last 4 games, outscored opponents 14 to 3...PP lit it up, PK shut them down, Euro twins pumping all cylinders, seems like Playoff-Franzen may make an appearance and the bottom 6 are killing teams! There is no way that Babcock makes a roster change until he has to! Sorry Bert and Sammy, but team playing too well together right now...same with Cola and White.... edit: That being said, The Wings handled themselves well against Chicago and Vancouver as well. I think they could upset any of them...starting with the Ducks. Don't "they" say that the 2 v. 7 seed is more so the upset round then any others? Far be it from us to upset the Hockey Gods!

Blah, too bad Colorado couldn't knock them off tonight....but hey, seems Detroit finished ahead of Minny in the standings anyhow, do you think centcougar will show his head in here afterall?

anyone else catch Babcock's comments about Danny D? He said that he believes that if they don't sign DeKeyser then he believes they don't make the playoffs.... ...this may or may not be true, but it shows just how high this organization really regards him...looking forward to 20 years of Danny D in the D. BTW, I am going with the nickname Diesel.

I love watching the photoshop wars! I am not that good at it to contribute, but enjoy it for sure! BTW: I am SO looking forward to seeing NEW and FRESH photoshop wars next season in the East!

see: Alan Trammell

No doubt either would have been nice additions to this team. But even as much as I would've loved them here, I think their contracts are too much now in hindsight. Now, with them nearly out of the playoffs, they lost one of those opportunity years to take advantage of a great roster before the cap goes down. Next year their top 6 will probably look different and who knows what will come with that....they will compete, but this year was their chance to really make a statement. That is, afterall, one of the reasons Suter chose there instead of here. Heatley told him they have the team to win now and Suter fell for it.....poor sap.

Although I agree that we should have waited to bump this thread, but how frickin ironic would it be if Minny lost today to back itself out of the playoffs and allow Detroit to slide in? They did a grand job of showing up last night, lets for one day, hope the Aves can pull out a victory!

With a win tomorrow Dallas still has a chance to make the playoffs (if the Wings lose) so while they are both playing, Dallas will be playing for their playoff lives (as will Columbus) but I think Dallas will prevail because if Dallas loses then they pretty much are out especially with a Wings win....and if the Wings take care of Nashville again, we get a one game breather....

Tomorrow we are root for the Stars...and Wings of course!