Jedi

Errr, it's still not "official" until it's announced by the NHL. All that the story confirms is that the UM Board of Regents voted to allow the NHL to use the Big House for the 2014 Winter Classic. The story goes on to state that the NHL is "closing on terms" with UM and the Tigers to use their stadiums for the weeklong festival. So I've edited the topic title for now. Although we all know it's likely a foregone conclusion, there's still nothing "official" about the game, other than Michigan will allow the NHL to use their stadium for the game.

Seriously, NHL. What the hell is the point of the War Room in Toronto if you're not going to use it. I'm really starting to hate the NHL refs. In a shortened season, bad calls like that do nothing but screw teams out of goals, points, and playoff spots.

In case anyone missed it (the news is a page or so back)... http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2013/03/red_wings_darren_helm_has_mino.html

Helm, full speed ahead!

Well, we're only on pace to let in 20 or 30 goals tonight...

Since its official, and no longer a "proposal", its time to close this thread. There's already a new thread up discussing the official changes, so feel free to continue the conversation there.

Holland, Stan Bowman and Paul Holmgren sat down for a conversation with ESPN's Pierre LeBrun regarding possible trade mindsets for their respective teams. When the conversation came around to the Red Wings needs, Kenny Holland says the phrase we all know we LOVE to hear... (emphasis mine) LeBrun wraps up the Wings section nicely by pointing out the Wings would like a top-4 D man, but that might be hard to get come deadline time. I'd recommend giving the full story a read.

We now have earned 3 points out of 10 possible in our meetings with the WORST. TEAM. IN. THE. CONFERENCE. Disgusting.

It's worth noting that the Jackets are the worst team in the West, with 20 points. 5 of those points came against Detroit (1 SO loss, 2 wins). Had Detroit won the other 2 games, they would be sitting at 32 points, a full 6 points ahead of LA, SJ, Dal and StL for 4th place, rather than the 2 we're ahead now. Another win today would have been 34 points, 8 ahead of the pack. And since StL and SJ are playing each other, it's guaranteed we'll be tied in the race with one of those teams after today... Missed opportunities against the worst team in our conference...

To be fair, last year's playoffs were all kinds of crazy. Who would have predicted that Boston, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, San Jose, and Chicago would all be out after the first round, St. Louis and Philly out after 2, and an 8th seed not only winning the Stanley Cup, but also being the first team in history to go up 3-0 in each and every series they played... From all the reports I saw post-deadline last year, each team that Detroit contacted for a trade wanted no less than Brendan Smith in return. That's too high a price to pay for a one-playoff run where we were already likely to lose in the first round anyway...

She Drives Me Crazy - Fine Young Cannibals

That's no different than as scheduled last season. 2011/12, we played each team in the Central 6 times. Had we gone 7 games against Nashville, that reaches your potential 13 games. The only difference now is that we can stay in the same time zone guaranteed for the first 2 rounds, and significantly help our travel time. Had we been in a more favorable travel situation, 07 (Calgary, San Jose, Anaheim) could have ended a bit differently for us...

The Wings still haven't scored a PPG on the road this season...

I agree that it's inevitable. Just was making sure that they hasn't officially agreed to play in Sochi.

It very well might, though I thought the NHL still hasn't committed to Sochi?

Mark your calendars now. The Avs can't trade him until one year from today. They better hope the trade deadline next year isn't before March 1st...

That second year is completely designed to ether screw Colorado (should they match), or cause the Avs to decline to match. That second year of $6.5 means that their qualifying offer at the end of this contract has to be at least the same $6.5. Shrewd move by Calgary. We'll see what happens in 7 days.

In case anyone missed it, Ed Oczyk proved his idiocy in fine fashion during the Oilers/Hawks game... The author of the article wraps it up nicely. Click on the link to read the rest of the article.

Can't say I've ever seen a team get 3 5-on3's in one game. I'm not one to blame a loss on the refs, but a game like this makes it awful hard not to...

Per the Detroit Red Wings twitter feed... Financial terms not yet disclosed.

Dreger's tweeting that the PA isn't happy about the playoff imbalance. He says its probably 50/50 as to whether or not they approve the deal. The owners, however, are wanting this deal as-is, so they're going to try to get it pushed through without any changes. This is all starting to sound very familiar...

I've lost all faith in Wysh now. Everyone knows it's Darth Sidious not Darth Sideous... *shakes head*

LeBrun now has a story about the realignment proposal on ESPN. (Yeah, yeah, I know, ESPN...) http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/8991414/nhl-realignment-proposal-adds-playoff-wild-cards-drops-league-4-divisions

It was awesome, until I saw Yoda with a red (or possibly Flyers' Orange) lightsaber. The Force is mild with this one. Not weak, but not strong either...

Looks like the NHL has two scheduling plans out. The one mentioned by Bob McKenzie, and then the one mentioned by Pierre LeBrun. So it could go either way at the moment. Bob McKenzie is now breaking down the scheduling matrix according to the "alternative" plan (the plan tweeted by LeBrun)...