Barrie

I enjoyed it in 1998 and especially 2002 (being Canadian), but 2006 was one to many times I thought. I really missed the NHL during the 2006 Olympics, so I have no problems with 2010 being the last year the NHL'ers are going. Even without the Olympics, there's still the World Cup of Hockey, which is pretty much the same thing.

Same here!

I'm old school too.

Hooking and Holding wins Championships. Remember 2004 the Flames hooked and held their way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Yup, Game 5 of the Wings-Flames series last year.

Leafs Ownership was interviewed today and said no changes are going to be made. This is a story created by a couple Leafs columnists in local papers, who suggested the Leafs make changes, and as usual, the Toronto media and fans ran with it. According to the FAN590, half of the Leafs ownership wants to make changes, the other half doesn't. All that's going to happen is Leafs ownership is going to bicker and ***** back and forth, fight, and no changes will be made, as usual. Even if the ownership smartened up and made a change, it'll take 3 years to get rid of all their big contracts, and all of them have no trade clauses. Also, current ownership has a huge ego and will only hire people who will answer to them, which means they'll never get anyone with a brain to run the hockey team. The only way the Leafs will ever win, is if they get rid of current ownership. The only way the ownership will ever sell, is if the Leafs start losing money. The average Leafs fans could protest the team, but with the massive corporate demand for tickets, the Leafs will always be profitable, so they'll never get rid of their current ownership. The massive number of Toronto based Corporations are in bed with the Leafs, and the Leafs will always sell out. Leafs fans need to face facts, they're stuck in a cycle they'll NEVER get out of. It'll take a lot longer than 3 years. It'll take 3 years to get to a point where they can blow it up and rebuild. Here's how I see it: 3 years to get rid of their current contracts. 5 years to rebuild. 3-5 years to pay their dues and be a solid #1 team in the Eastern Conference and have a few shots at winning a Stanley Cup. 11-13 Years to become a #1 team and have a excellent shot at winning a Championship, and that's assuming they rebuild properly.

Back to the Leafs. They currently sit in 14th place in the East, and have played the most game in the League. Ouch!!

Right. It's not like we missed out on anything not trading for Roy. Realistically you really can't ask for much better than 3 cups in 6 years.

Yeah one of those woulda, coulda, shoulda lines. We still won 3 Cups, and Roy only won 2 in Colorado. I'm not convinced we would have done any better with him between the pipes then we did with Vernon, Osgood, and Hasek. Roy was outstanding, but as we know first hand, he could crash and burn about as many times as he won big.

I was thinking that too. Stevie's only been retired for about 17 months. There will be a lot of Yzerman stuff to buy in the upcoming years.

I can't really add or take away anything from the posts so far, but here's how I see it. I have no problems with players charging for their autograph. There's to many people selling free autographs, so the players should get something for it. Gordie's wife is probably well aware of what goes on, so I don't really see what's wrong with her regulating where Gordie signs. As the saying goes, 'One bad apple spoils the whole bunch'. Also, I have no problems with what Howe is doing to make some extra coin. I heard that Gordie's pension from the NHL is something like $1,000 a month. I'm sure Social Security isn't much either. The guy could probably use the money. Yzerman has made a boat load of money. He was up to $8 Million a season near the end of his career, and he was one of a few Wings who deferred money in 2001-02 to 2003-04 so we could load up with as much talent as possible. He's getting some of the deferred money now, along with his current salary with the Wings. Yzerman, his kids, and grandkids, etc. are set for life. It's not a fair comparison when talking about the money situation between "The Captain" and "Mr. Hockey".

Even though Hasek is struggling, we only scored twice, that's why we lost. I don't care who's in net, you can't expect to win if you only score 2 goals.

Back-to-Back nights, that's why.

Someone is slacking on the GDT for tonight. We're playing in Nashville in an hour and 20 minutes and no GDT! Edit: I guess the only thing that can stop the GDT thread is Thanksgiving. Us Canadians had ours 6 weeks ago.

I'm sure if Howard get's 20 shots or less on net with the Wings his numbers will improve from the AHL. Sometimes you have to take AHL stats with a grain of salt. The Griffins and Wings play different styles. I'm all for buying out Hasek and having Howard back up Ozzie. It seems like a waste to me to have Hasek be a back up. Give Ozzie the #1 tag, he deserves it!

I don't know how close that one was, but that's the story.

According to the Leafs fans and media, they had a chance at most of the top talent in the NHL

I agree, but only 50%, if that makes sense. True it's just music, and music and personal life shouldn't always be linked. However, when a song is used/played in a public place, the band/singer get's royalty money. The more Rock and Roll Part 2 is played, the more money Gary Glitter makes. The more money he makes, the more he can support his sick lifestyle. It's a shame, because Rock and Roll Part 2 is an excellent hockey song.

If the Wings are interested, and that's a big if, 27 other teams need to pass on him.

Good post Crymson. Yea some people need a lesson on some of this stuff. When I heard Bryzgalov was on waivers I thought, "Wouldn't that be nice", but knew there was no chance 28 teams would pass on him. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but the next person who's put on waivers, Phoenix is now 30th in pecking order since they already picked someone up. Right?

Who are we talking about? The link doesn't really say who exactly.

Is it time to start thinking of buying out Hasek, and have Howard back up Ozzie? When is it time to stop saying, "It's still early" when thinking of Dom's struggles? I'm not bashing anyone here, I appreciate what Hasek has done in a Wings jersey, but these thoughts have been crossing my mind, and especially after tonight's game. I don't care if Howard isn't NHL ready, but I'm thinking he'd probably be a better option than Hasek right now.

Funny how everyone has their own feelings and opinions. For me the 2002 Cup was the most satisfying. I knew what winning 3 cups in 6 years meant for our team in the history of the NHL. If a team can win 3 cups with the same core, that seperates the men from the boys in my opinion. With the Salary Cap, we may not see a team win 3 cups in 6 years or less for a very loooooong time.

Well for many years, with Yzerman, Shanahan, McCarty, Lapointe, Draper, Maltby, Chelios, Lidstrom, Fedorov, etc. on the team and 3 Stanley Cups in 6 years, the Wings didn't have to market at all really. This is the first year in a long time the team actually has to market itself. Mike Illitch is a very successful business man, I'm sure they've been talking about new marketing ideas all season long.

I love the 1996-97 team as much as the next guy, but I think some people are just looking at the Post Season. The Regular Season was decent, but not great. The 1997-98 and 2001-02 teams won the cup, but also had better overall regular seasons. From Opening night to the Stanley Cup those two teams were more consistant than 1996-97. Remember that stretch in December 1996 to January 1997 were we only won 1 game in 9 tries and 4 of 15? True the 2001-02 team had a bad finish, but #1 overall was clinched already and Bowman was resting the team for the playoffs. The 1996-97 team got hot at the right time and were due after 1995 and 1995-96. I'm not knocking them, but overall 1997-98 and 2001-02 were better I think. Prior to the playoffs in 1996-97 we were ready to run Vernon out of town, and I don't think anyone expected he was going to be starting in the playoffs. I've always wondered if it was done all over again, if Vernon could have repeated that performance. Another thing that stands out to me when comparing the 3 cup winners is the offensive production of Draper and Maltby. Draper and Maltby in 1996-97 combined for 11 goals. In 1997-98 and 2001-02 they combined for 27 and 24. To each their own when comparing teams, but I'd take 1997-98 or 2001-02 over the 1996-97 squad because overall I think the goaltending was better, we were more consistant, and we had a more balanced attack. I have no problems with an argument saying 1997-98 was the best of the 3. The scoring was so spread out. I mentioned Draper and Maltby already; Brown had 19 goals, Gilchrist 13, and Murphy 11 to go along with Shanahan, Yzerman, Lidstrom, McCarty, Lapointe, Kozlov, Larionov. 12 guys had atleast 10 goals.

Out of the Cup teams, I'll take 2001-02. 1996-97 got going at the right time, 2001-02 were flying from start to finish. Out of the non-Cup teams, you have to take 1995-96, but I think 1999-2000 and 2003-04 should get some mention as well, especially 2003-04.