Barrie

I know players can get in trouble anywhere, but come on, Vegas?! Players are going to be in the casinos all night, and/or driving 60 miles north of the city where there's legalized prostitution. I think football is the only sport that can work in Vegas. It's only 9 home dates to sell tickets to, instead of 41. A lot of the casinos will be giving away free hockey tickets.

I thought Holland would convince Datsyuk to play one more year. I didn't watch the press conferences, but it makes for an interesting off season. If Holland trades Dats contract, will he go after Stamkos, or use the money to re-sign Helm, and give guys like Nyquist, Tatar, Smith, and DeKeyser raises when they become FA's?

As much as I dislike The Sharks, they're turned into one of those teams that I feel sorry for, because they can't win. We had 6 rough years before we finally won in 1997, but this is 12 years for The Sharks. Unless they can win 3 in a row, they'll continue to be the worst playoff team ever!

I understand it, just sounded funny. Has he talked to Holland yet? When Dats said he still needs to talk to Holland, that was big for me. If he retires, fine, but if I'm betting money, I'll put in on he's coming back.

I know the World Championships are in his home country, but I thought it was funny Datsyuk said he wanted to spend more time with his daughter, but he's playing for team Russia... I haven't been following things close, but I still think Dats comes back to finish his contract. Even if his Detroit house is sold, he can rent a year.

When is this tournament over? Oh woe is me, living in Canada, the all sports radio station I listen too for The Dan Patrick Show, has these games on instead.

I'm not a fan of local sports talk radio. I like the national shows, The Dan Patrick Show is my favorite. Anyone else listen to him and the Danettes? The local talk can get annoying after a while, due to the lack of topics. Right now, only one Detroit team is playing. I watch as many Wings and Tigers games as I can, so I know what's going on. The Tigers need starting pitching help, ok next topic.

I'm guessing Holland will be GM until his contract is done, then take over for a retiring Jimmy Devellano. With Datsyuk retiring, the streak will end, and the team will be rebuilt through the draft. The Wings were built around Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Kronwall since 2006-07. We made it to the Cup Finals twice, winning in 2007-08, now it's time to rebuild via the draft. I don't understand Zetterberg's more aggressive comments. This isn't 2002, big named players don't become free agents anymore, and the only players traded at the deadline are 3rd and 4th line forwards, and 3rd line defencemen. Due to the lack of high quality players available, the UFA market and trade deadline deals are over valued with low supply and high demand. With a hard cap, smart GM's don't want to be stuck with bad contracts. The only UFA we may have missed out on was Suter, but he wanted to play on the same team with Parise. Again, with a hard cap, we would have had to build our team around those 2 for the next 13 years. No thanks! The Wild haven't got past the 2nd round yet with them, so it hasn't paid off, and there's still another 8 years to go. Add to that, the Wisniewski and the Ehrhoff deals were a complete joke. We've had the hard cap since 2005-06, I thought people understood by now how it works, and the risks involved signing UFA's? I guess not.

I hear ya man. I'm a couple years older then you, so I was a couple years out of college then, but it was those 3 playoff years when I decided I can't let the losses effect me so much anymore.

I always figured because of the cap, Helm was gone. That's not a knock against Helm, that's just because of the rules.

We still had Jim Nill in the organization then too. It's this kind of reporting that I'm glad I don't live in the same market as the teams I cheer for. I can take a break from everything if I want to.

I don't think Yzerman is coming here anytime soon, Tampa won't let him go. My guess is Holland will be the GM until his contract is over, and takes over for Jimmy Devellano. As for the next GM, I have no clue, I guess it depends who's available at the time.

I think Holland was going for it as long as Datsyuk and Zetterberg were around. Now with Datsyuk retiring, the playoff streak will end, and we'll get a few top 10 draft picks. We've got some good young players to move the franchise forward with, and it's time to add some top level talent to it in the draft. I didn't expect to go to far this year in the playoffs anyway, so I'm not upset. Plus I'm getting to old to lose sleep over sports . It's on to my next team, Let's Go Tigers!

People can criticize the Wings all the want, but the 6'7 Bishop is the only reason why Tampa is up 3-1. Someone needs to check if Bishop is part gorilla . There's no room for our guys to score. Why do we get stuck playing these guys 2 years in a row?

Great game!

Get The Chicken Dance song ready for when Boyle's skating to the penalty box!

I'm already testing it out, I'm playing the beginning of Dragnet theme, then The Chicken Dance. It's a perfect fit!

I bet the DJ at The Joe will play The Chicken Dance if Boyle gets a penalty Tuesday night. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWjeITmDmmo

Boyle's the chicken. If Abby fought he would have been suspended. I had to deal with a guy like Boyle as a teenager. It's sad when the biggest guy throws his weight around and picks fights with smaller guys, and people who can't fight. Great job by that fan hitting him with the beer.

I agree. I'm not a fan of the fighting and after the whistle stuff, but I think the Wings are doing a good job with it. They aren't known to do that stuff, but they're using it to their advantage.

Great game! As always, great crowd! I'm looking forward to Game 4! Smith was a factor right away, and played great all night. His style of play is great for the playoffs. He makes mistakes, but he's tough to play against. Any time he's on the ice, the opposition needs to keep an eye on him, because he's either hitting someone, or jumping into the play when we have the puck. I don't know if we would have won Games 1 or 2 if he was playing, but why wasn't he playing? Great goal by AA. I loved how hard he shot the puck that close in. It looked like it was out of frustration. If it hit Bishop, it almost would have injured him, or knocked him out, AA shot it so hard!

Get Mantha in there for Game 3! Other then wanting him in GR for the AHL playoffs, what are they saving him for?

I wonder if it's from the same people who say the game has gotten soft, and there's no fighting anymore? I would have thought hockey fans enjoyed it.

I'm not a fan of fighting, but it was good to see the guys show emotion at the end. Hopefully they feed off of it and turn it into some goals!

They're a bunch of sucks in Tampa if you can't wear an opposing team's jersey. What next, they won't let you cheer? Stay home.