LeftWinger

The worst move in Bryz's career was being moved out of Anaheim...

Cute.... ...at the time, Jimmy was playing pretty average. His rebound control was horrible and still is a little suspect. That, if anything, is the one thing that will hurt him. Cannot deny that as the season progressed so did Jimmy and in the end he was a HUGE part of the reason we made it to the playoffs. He needs to play this way a ton now in order to justify his contract. Hope he is up to the task..so far he has done a great job, I hope he keeps it going. But ya, when the thread started he was playing pretty average...no need for personal attacks by calling someone a troll. Whoops!

Shaved this morning....game on!

4. Stay at a Holiday Inn Express the night before....

OoOoOoOoO The rubber match! I like it! I don't think I could take all the Pittsburgh knob-gobbling though....ugh.... I don't want to sound too much like a homer, but I am damn sure on their side until its over! So ya, Detroit in the Cup final is my prediction. Root for them until its over!

Suter has regretted that from day one. Just wait until they out of the playoffs early and don't even make the playoffs next season because they are going to lose some players. They have $9M available cap space, but have at least 8 players to sign including their current $6M goalie Backstrom. Will he take a pay cut to re-sign everyone? I still think that the All-Star is going to be traded or bought out, which would be the only way to clear enough room to keep Backstrom happy and still have most of their team... Suter will wish he signed here, of course I don't miss his salary, and with the emergence of Kindl, I don't think we need him anymore...especially with Diesel coming home... BUT, for giggles this is what he could have been playing with: Suter - Kronwall Ericsson - Dekeyser Quincey - Kindl Smith (Lashoff) He would have been much happier here from a winning standpoint, but the "Man" of the house spoke and she said "We are staying in Minny..." But his loss is our gain, we have a great young D corps and really don't even have a need for him...

I agree...I think if it comes down to it (if Pitt doesn't get upset earlier) this is the year Ovi takes out Cindy Lee....

Ya well, its not like they get paid for what they actually know. They all picked either Chicago or Pittsburgh to win the Cup...uh, really? Let's just take the top two teams from the regular season and choose one....jack wagons. I got an idea, lets take the top two teams and let them play for the Cup, since no other team has a chance or deserves any chance at Chicago or Pittsburgh. At least EJ chose Detroit to beat Anaheim...but come on guys, lets get original. It's easy to pick Chicago or Pittsburgh. I am saying it here and now and guarantee it....NEITHER Chicago NOR Pittsburgh will be in the Finals...

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!