Barrie

Go Rangers.... Man, a Rangers-Wings final would rule!!

Actually I think the Wings are being over looked this year. Apparently our Goaltending is questionable, our offense isn't spread out enough, we aren't gritty enough, we're to old, etc. No one is mentioning we made it to the Conference Finals last year and we're a better all around team than last year.

Good list BeeRYCE, the only thing I would do is switch Delvecchio and Fedorov, just because of the number of games Delvecchio played.

Well the higher the cap the better for us. I hope it continues to climb.

I have to listen to McGuire everyday on TSN and the FAN590 in Toronto. The guy drives me nuts!! Funny how he says our goaltending is unproven, when they have 3 cup rings combined. Along with Giggy and Brodeur, our goaltending has the most playoff experience. Montreal, Pittsburgh, Dallas, San Jose, Vancouver, etc. goalies are unproven. I don't know how anyone can say our scoring isn't balanced, when we've scored the most goals in the League. How can the team that leads the league in scoring be unbalanced? When you look at other teams, their scoring only comes from a hand full of players. We can get scoring from Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Filppula, Hudler, Cleary, Franzen, Sammy, Lidstrom, and Rafalski. Even Draper can chip in a key goal now and then. Due to the Salary Cap and parity, we have the best all around team in the league. We have a good mix of size, strength, and speed. Oh well, it's probably better that we don't go in the playoffs as favorites. But it's funny that no one seems to mention that we went to the conference finals last year, and that we were only a few breaks away from making it to the Finals, and probably winning. There's unfinished business we need to take care of, we'll be a force this year.

Especially with guys I've looked up to for years, i.e. Yzerman, Shanahan, McCarty, Draper, Maltby, Chelios, Osgood, etc. (I'm not saying there doing stuff, just using them as examples) I'm not naive, so I know stuff goes on while teams are on the road, but I don't really want to hear about it. Actually in McCarty's case, it's different hearing about stuff after it happened and find out the guy made changes, that's cool to hear. But if stuff is going on at the moment, I really don't want to know. I'd much rather stick to what they do on the ice.

Ah the majority of athletes sleep around, so it's not a surprise to me that Avery is in a call girl's black book. He's probably not the only one. I'm sure some of our favorite Red Wings players sleep around on the road. I find it funny that some people are surprised when they hear about stuff like this, or it's big news in papers. It's like when ARod last year was seen with some blond women in Toronto. They went out to eat, then she went back to his hotel room. The media went crazy with it like it was a big shock. I honestly would rather not know what goes on off the ice/field.

Yea it's funny some people can't tell that pic was taken during warmups.

Have you ever sat in the lower level? I was 10 rows behind the net the last game I was at and it was loud. I thought to myself, "Wow it's loud down here, despite what some people say". Edit: Also, if you read the game recaps in the Detroit Papers, McCarty got a massive ovation when his name was announced as a starter, to the point where he said it was almost embarrassing.

That's better than a lunch box.

I agree with crazy8legs, I thought Mac played fine for his first game back. He didn't star, and he didn't stink up the joint, so it was a success. Seeing Darren yaking it up on the bench, and seeing his face after breaks in the play, it was almost like he never left. I'm very happy he's home. Also, I was very impressed with Bab's for putting the Grind Line out there for the first shift. Very classy move.

Hey who's watching online? If you are, are you posting messages? My friend signed up as barries_owned, so I signed up as aaron_owned.

16 is to many in my opinion, please no more. I'd rather see them lower it to 12 teams, like the NFL. The 3-6 seeds in the Conference could play a best of 3 series as a play in. Example if the season ended today: East Bye: Pittsburgh and Montreal bye Carolina vs. NYR Ottawa vs. NJ West Bye: Detroit and SJ Minnesota vs. Calgary Anaheim vs. Dallas Pittsburgh, Montreal, Detroit, and SJ would only have a week off. They could nurse some injuries. The NFL gives their top seeds a week off in the playoffs, so it wouldn't hurt the NHL. Boston, Philly, Colorado, and Vancouver don't have a hope to win the Cup anyway. I know it's a pipe dream, but I just think the finals would be more exciting and have a higher national interest if the better teams actually played for the Championship. If the NHL had better ratings, the games wouldn't be on networks like Versus.

Oh man, this has nothing to do with the discussion, but I noticed Mack_Attack, along with being a Leafs fan, is a Blue Jays fan too. Poor guy.

After last year I was hoping we would sign Bertuzzi, now I'm really glad Anahiem outbid us. I wouldn't want to have this type of distraction with the playoffs only a few weeks away. It's better Anaheim has to deal with it.

As I said in another discussion, I think we'll be playing the Rangers (due to the lack of really good teams in the East) in the Finals, and win the Cup.

I agree. I'm not really expecting McCarty to fight, mostly just to hit guys hard and annoy them.

good call!

Funny you should post this. A friend and I were just chatting over msn about this same thing. The East is to up in the air, and besides Brodeur, Elias, Shanny, Drury, Jagr, Gomez, and most of Carolina's roster, there's really not much Stanley Cup success over there or a real clear choice as a favorite. I'm not convinced Montreal and Pittsburgh can go to far YET, and Ottawa's had goaltending problems all year. The West has Detroit, San Jose, and Anaheim as favorites. Edit: Sorry if I jinx anything, but I think the Finals may be Wings-Rangers, based on playoff experience and knowing what it takes to win it all.

You'd think Downey should be in there since it's McCarty's first game back. I agree with a previous post that some of St. Louis big guys will be testing Darren.

Yea I'd put Cleary up a line, but Bab's will probably go with a few different line combos. Also, I'm expecting Mac/Drake/Downey to rotate depending on who's going good at the moment and our opponent. How about the D?

Yea I just found out

Well I hope Mac plays on Sunday too, the game is on NBC.

I'm all for no-touch icing. They have it in the OHL and whenever I see the OHL, and the first icing call is made, I say, "Oh yea, they have no-touch icing, they should do that in the NHL".

Cool, I'm looking forward to Cleary being back on the ice! I'm sorry to say, but I've had enough of Hasek's injuries. If we have Osgood #1 in the playoffs, and Howard as the back up, I'm happy.