LeftWinger

...but he does deserve it and he will see it happen. It's already set in stone..

...gotta disagree with ya! ...Holmstrom was putting in goals like hotcakes and winning Cups way before Z & D were ever thinking about the NHL. Holmstrom has been and always will be the best at what he does. Smyth is good, he is grtty, but when he has 3 Stanley Cups to put on his shelf, he doesn't compare to Holmstrom. He may score more goals than Homer in the regular season, but Holmstrom becomes a whole different factor. Smyth is close, but for the money, Holmstrom is far superior!

...so, you are a really huge fan of Kronwall then! ...Fedorov, 10 years ago, was great. Fedorov, today, is still better than half our team... ...get over your problem with Fedorov choosing to leave, you would do the same in his situation and it had nothing to do with the organization. He was banging Hollywood co-eds for pete's sake. He was given $48MM to come to So. Cal. play a game for a couple of hours and then rub elbows with Hollywood the rest of the evening. Grow up and realize this is a business and when he comes back and helps us to another Cup, you'll be cheering when his #91 goes up next to #19...

...nobody who is a hockey fan or knows the game resents Fedorov for leaving. He had an opportunity and he took it. He already won numerous trophies and 3 Stanley Cups. He was givin an opportunity to ake TONS of cash, live in the limelight that is So. Cal. (for pete's sake, he dated Tara Reid for a while!) He was a partier, he wanted to live a little. What would you do? Make $10MM a year and spend the night in Detroit or Los Angeles? Cripe, he still lives here in the off-season, he hasn't turned his back on Michigan, he just went a played for fun for a while. After-all isn't it all about making money? He'll be 38 in December and will be looking to try to win one more Cup and then retire by 40 (unless he has a little bit of Larionov in him.) He did us a favor by leaving, now he will come back for about $2-3MM a year and help us out on the O and D... ...this will happen, trust me! When it does, Dats and Zetts will be on the #1 line together and Sergei will be the #2 center. Say what you will about Flips and Huds :puke: Fedorov will step into the #2 center or even a wing on the #1 line. Feds - Dats - Zetts would be DEADLY!!!! ...in all honesty, if they could sign Forsberg as a UFA and then get Fedorov at the deadline this team will be heads and tails better than the team that went to the WCF's last season. Zetts - Dats - Holmstrom Fillpula - Feds - Forsberg Sammy - Drake - Franzen Cleary - Draper - Maltby (Kopecky) Lids - Kronner Chelios - Rafalski Lebda - Lilja (Kindl, Quincey, Ference) Hasek Osgood (Howard) ...that looks fine to me! ...BTW when Feds does come back #91 WILL be lifted to the rafters along with #5 and that is it, no others are deserving, yet...

...I don't think he is worth it, but he has to be offended that his own GM says he isn't worth what someone else says he is. Sure, when he signs the deal, Zets will be guaranteed $7MM for sure, and yeah, that is going to ruin the market, but hey, they are doing it to themselves, it's not the players this time, it's the owners greed. Soon the cap will either be voted out or they will have an emergency vote to raise the cap twice as much as it is supposed to go up each year. Somewhere, they owners are going to shoot themselves in the foot for all of this... ...but to hae your own GM say that you aren't worth what someone is offering you, then I'd be a little upset...

...you guys are crazy, I would choose Fedorov, but there is potential for BOTH of them being here. So why be upset about it? They'd be rentals for some veteren scoring in the playoffs. If you just rent them for a few months, then what is the harm? ...get used to the idea of Fedorov though, he will be here come deadline and re-sign for a couple of cheap years to end his career in the city he belongs. It has be written, it will be done, trust me on this, this is guranteed...

Brian Burke - "Edmonton have offered a grossly inflated salary for a player..." ...so what does Penner think of this comment by his GM? I would be offended by this, so Burke says that the offer tendered in grossly inflated, so Penner isn't worth much to Burke then... ...even if they match the offer, I'd be demanding a trade...

...Maltby & Lilja for what? Gary Bettman's underwear? ...dude, Maltby will not lose his roster spot, he's done too much for this organization. Sure, he isn't as effective as he once was, bue neither is Draper & Chelios, but they will always be offered a roster spot as long as they want to play for less and less each year, until they retire. Besides, who would replace Maltby? Hudler? :puke: I'd rather have a 50 year old Maltby than Hudler :puke: sorry, I do that everytime I mention his name...

...you can count Hudler out too, he sux!

but, alas, Fedorov will be back!

...oh yeah, what's the least worn? #9 maybe? #6?

...I would take him, I am not sure about second line minutes, but if you split Zetts & Dats up and second line could be Peca - Zetts - Grigs... ...dunno, I would still like top see Forsberg or Selanne CHEAP for some second line minutes and Hall for 3rd line crashing. But, hey, we'll see. I think we lack something with this current roster. I would say, sign Hall for the 3rd line and obtain Fedorov at the deadline for some third line scoring... ...what about Mike Johnson out of MTL?

...I could see him going into some kind of coaching position in Sweden or maybe running a league ala Fetisov, but if he is gonna stay in Detroit, he'll probably play until he's 45 and then get into the Wings organization in some capacity...

...if he is going to stay in Detroit, he may as well play and make money. Sure, after years and years of $7MM plus per season, he shouldn't have money woes, even if he hung them up today. Even once he gets 40 he probably won't be commanding the top salary and if he wants to still play, I am sure he won't play anywhere else but here, so if you are gonna stay in the States, then why not play a game and make some cash. I don't foresee him EVER again making less than $4MM per season, so even at 45 years old, if he can maintain at least a Chelios type playing ability (which he probably will at 55! LOL!) he should stick around and be Captain for awhile...

...the only argument I have is, in my opinion, NO WAY does Messier rank above Yzerman... Not a chance... :rotflmao: :puke: ...problem is, if Yzerman played with gretzky half his career, he'd be #3 or #4 in scoring behind Gretz, Howe & Lemieux... ...Messier was a beneficiary of great teams in the 80's compared to Yzerman's teams in the 80's... ...and to say that Messier was a better captain? LOL! Look at the teams he captained, all teams with great line-ups, well except the time he spent in Vancouver and well, his GREAT captain skills didn't prove too good there... By FAR Yzerman was a better Captain and player than Messier! ...you're just stupid...

...I knew I forgot someone!!!!!! ARGH!!!! Heck put him on the 2nd line, screw sammy! LOL!!! ...well, my friend, since most of his salary will already be paid by the trade deadline, I would say that he would maybe cost us about $2MM or less to employ for the rest of the season. Of course you sound like you know all about the game, so you probably already knew that. ..Then he is a UFA after 2008 so he will resign here for a couple of years at a very minimal salary and retire here, and his #91 will be raised... ...he doesn't have to, he needs to stay healthy and when he becomes a Wing again, he'll be a third line center so he won't be expected to save to team, but add the extra scoring that we lacked (power play) in the Anaheim series...

...this could actually be a tampering issue. Bettman has no business telling Liepold who to sell to. Bettman just doesn't want one of "HIS" teams to move to Canada. This should piss Canadians off even more! Lets not fire Bettman, lets hang him!

...your deadline aquistion is going to be Fedorov. I wouldn't mind adding Selanne at this point for some added scoring. That wold definately give us 3 above average scoring lines and then this years version of the grind line (Drake probably with Draper and Maltby.) Fillpula Dats Holmstrom Selanne Zetts Sammy Franzen Hudler(Fedorov @ deadline) Grigs Maltby Draper Drake (Kopecky)

...not a big deal. Quincey/Kindl will fill in great in the 7th position...

...anyone have an opinion on Mike Johnson? How is he compared to Dallas Drake? Should Holland be calling him?

...dude, get over it, that was America's Team for the moment. They never ever returned to their greatness or even came close to competing with the rest of the world on a international arena, until that is, the Olympics were watered down with professional players, now it's like watching a bunch of different all star games. Totally bogus, I give no credit to ANY medal won by a team that is filled with NHL players... ...sure 1980 was a cinderella story, and yeah, it was America's Team. But that was the past, just like everyone on here ******* about others living in the 90's with the Wings, we cannot, as Olympic fans, live in 1980 forever... ...fact of the matter is, behind the Canadiens, the Wings are the second most popular NHL team in the WORLD, so there actually is water to the term "America's Team." I will tell you, we are more of an America's Team than the Atlanta Braves EVER were, allthough that was their marketing term for most of the 90's... ..and it will be a cold day in Hades when the likes of the San Jose Sharks surpass the Wings in popularity (outside of San Jose) in America, let alone the World... ...right, but that is Bloomfield Hills, not Detroit. When I go to Chicago, I stay and play in Chicago. Same with Toronto. I want people to be able to come here and stay IN the city, have fun IN the City, not the Suburbs...

...I totally agree, too bad Kwame and his croonies don't give two s***s about the city and because of that, Detroit is not the media mecca that it could be. I went to Toledo twice last week and for pete's sake Toledo, yes TOLEDO is a nicer city than Detroit. I looked around and couldn't find one broken out window or barred up doors. Sure there were some buildings that weren't occupied, but they didn't LOOK abandoned, like MOST of the burned out, busted up old Hotels and apartment complexes in Detroit. If Kwame (I don't care if I spell his name wrong) and the city council would actually care about this city, instead of just crying about afirmative action and what the USA isn't doing for them, they could actually make this place desirable. I tell you what, if Dennis Archer was allowed to do what he invisioned (city council voted against most of his ideas) this place would be rocking! The original idea to put all three cansino's on the river was great! Who decided not to? they are so far apart, you cannot safely walk from one to another, so you are pretty much stuck at one place all night. No mass transit system. The new DTW termial in Romulus is one of the biggeset and best in the country and yet, it is not connected to the city what-so-ever. Could you imagine the visitors we'd get if, for one, the city was nice to visit, but also just flying in for a game to see. They could fly in, catch the train to the city, walk to the Ballpark, Stadium, Arena and casino's and drink and party, then take the train back to the Airport, hop on their return flight and have a wonderful time here. They would ALL make money, the City, Northwest Airlines, Red Wings, Lions, Tigers, casinos. But most of all, Detroit could be a desired destination, with or without the big three. It all starts at the top, so Kwame and city council, c'mon, how can you let Toledo be a nicer place than the "D?" ...sorry about the political rant, but even though we are America's team, could you imagine how much more popular we'd be if we had an American Class CIty, instead of slum capital of the world?

...the year when Kenny says we need to get smaller and softer is when we'll sign a huge gritty enforcer. For now we'll have to cope with getting bigger and grittier and signing small, grossly underweight (for their height) Europeans or old, past their prime players... ...although, I am very interested in seeing Grigs, he sounds like he is built like a bull, hopefully he isn't afraid to finnish a czech (LOL) sorry had to spell them that way!!!

...when are they gonna sign adam Hall?

...first off, Drake is $550k, so he is even a better deal. Just bustin ya a lil bit! ...Holland is not done. Adam Hall, Peter Forsberg & Feds at the deadline...