Barrie

I agree. The other 3 Leagues do an outstanding job at marketing and giving fans what they want the majority of the time. It doesn't take a major in marketing to know the big NHL markets should be playing each other more and that there's to many teams in the League. I've been a life long NHL fan, but many of the changes they've done post lockout have really pissed me off. I'm not surprised seeing 2,000+ empty seats at the Joe this season for games.

Maltby is paying off, haha. I hope he get's 7 more goals this season and can finish the season in double digits.

I'm glad the Bobby Clark one is #4. I agree Clark should have been suspended for the remaining games of the series. It's to bad Team Canada had to win the series by taking out Russia's best player. It would have been better if Canada could have won it man-to-man, face-to-face, fair and square. Funny looking back on the series, no one really talks about that hit, and when I hear about it, Clark is treated like a hero, just like the article says. I'm Canadian and I feel this way.

I've been thinking the same thing the last few games. I know it's early but........

More Leafs Discussion. Man I get enough of this on the radio/tv everyday. The Leafs get to much attention for a team that's a non factor.

They talked about this on the FAN590 today. The eligible age to play in the AHL is the same as the NHL, 18 by September 15th. Tavares is still to young. Since he's under 18 the only way it can be done is if 2/3 of the AHL owners approve it. If approved, the Leafs can only sign him for a one year deal. After that one year, he enters the draft. If the Leafs want to try this they have to convince the AHL that having Tavares in the League a year early would benefit the AHL and help sell tickets. Considering 26 teams in the AHL teams are American, no one other than Canadians have ever heard of this guy, so it really won't effect anything, which means it will be voted down. Plus they said the AHL owners wouldn't allow a 17 year old in the League anyway, considering the level of play in the AHL to the OHL is a big difference. Also they talked to Tavares Agent today. He was asked if JFJ contacted him, the answer was no. If the Leafs want Tavares, they should just unload their average talent, finish last, and rebuild from scratch. This is just a desperate attempt by a GM who knows he's going to lose his job at the end of the season. I'm sure if this was legal, it would have been tried before with Lindros or Crosby for example. Honestly, I don't understand how a GM could be so stupid thinking he could sign a player in the OHL before he's available in the draft.

Well I haven't bought a new jersey and I'm not planning on it. The ones they had last year were fine and, other than trying to sucker people into buying a new jersey, I still don't understand why they changed.

I like the player, I like the price, and I like the length of the contract. Great deal all around It's good to have a GM who knows what he's doing.

I agree, not great, but not bad.

Are you talking about bring Devereaux here or letting him go? I would assume it's bringing him here. Honestly, what did you expect from him? He did a decent job for the amount of ice time he got. It's not like we were needing him to score 15-20 goals every year.

I know Lang's played well against us this year, but it shouldn't be a surprise. He's in the NHL and is a good hockey player. Thinking that we'd only have one regular season loss so far if Lang wasn't on Chicago is unrealistic. It's Hasek's rough start that cause those two loses more so than Lang's goals.

I'm ok with Williams and Lang on Chicago. I don't think it's really going to effect us in anyway.

Infamous means he's more than famous.

You have to think the declining offers by the Wings had something to do with the upcoming CBA. I'm sure the Wings wouldn't have wanted to add another huge salary one year away from a Labor disagreement. If Fedorov re-signed, it would have been interesting to see what else the team would have done to get under the cap before the 2005-06 season. Edit: I've always thought with Zetterberg and Datsyuk ready to emerge, that not re-signing Fedorov was the right thing. He wanted more ice time, but was hard with Yzerman, Fedorov, Larionov, and Draper here as well. Bowman tired to put Keith on RW, but he didn't really like playing there. Also, the team was disappointed with his production in the 1996 Playoffs, 1 goal, 4 Assists, in 17 games. His only goal was an empty netter. Add to that McCarty and Lapointe were coming into their own, so there was no room for Primeau. Trading him and Coffey for a LW Power Forward named Brendan Shanahan made perfect sense.

Good post, I agree.

Think of it this way, if we didn't draft Primeau, we may not have been able to get Shanahan. The best move we made was trading for Shanahan. All the other trades, i.e.) Chelios, Hasek, Schneider, Lang, etc. and Free Agent signings, i.e.) Hull, Robitaille, Hatcher, etc., were made possible because we won back-to-back Championships. Shanny was the missing piece of the puzzle.

With these new ideas, which seem to be weekly, I'm wondering if they'll actually make the game better, or are they making changes to try and grow the game in the USA. Whatever it is, I just wish the NHL would stop beating a dead horse, and just caiter to their core fans. Hockey only works in certain US markets, and I wish Bettman and the owner could understand that.

I think Datsyuk or Zetterberg would have to be in a deal for Doan. There's probably no way would could take on all 3 contracts (Zetterberg's going to get a well deserved pay raise very soon) and still have a well rounded/competitive team. We don't want to turn out like Tampa Bay and have most of our cap taken up by 3 guys. I'd be willing to trade Datsyuk for Doan. Doan maybe the North American the Wings Organization is looking for to sell tickets.

Does this remind you of anyone? Does the name Larry Murphy ring a bell?

Just enjoy our 4-1-1 record. Things are fine, and there's this thing called the Salary Cap we have to stay under. Edit: Also, I'd rather we save money to load up again at the deadline instead of bringing in another guy to play D. See now that one I agree with if we can sign him cheap.

Ozzie is the main reason why if Hasek get's injured or finally loses it, I'm not worried. Ozzie can easily play 60 games this year.

haha! Good one man. I don't really want to pick one over the other, because since they're on the same team it's pointless, but I can't really argue with that.

Uh oh, this is like Yzerman vs. Fedorov part 2.

Columbus is still futher East than we are, so The Blue Jackets will probably be moving before us. I think it'll take two new West teams before we join the East, not just one. I too like the Western Conference better than the East. We've got some great rivarlies going on and I would miss the games against Dallas, Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado, Nashville, Vancouver, St. Louis, Anaheim, etc.... All the NHL needs to do is change the schedule back to where it was pre-lockout, and everything will be fine.

Actually I'd be a little surprised if players don't read message board, but they'd never post because they realize what would happen if fans knew they were there. If I was a players I'd want to check Message Boards. With their job, I bet if they read something negative about themselves it wouldn't really matter to them or they'd just laugh. I'm sure they're thick skinned when it comes to that kind of stuff because it happens all the time. I would think players who'd get offened, would never make the NHL. I remember on the Pearl Jam Message Boards we thought one of the posters was the guitarist, Mike McCready, but we never knew 100%. I know it's not a player, but Bobby Higginson's Dad posts on a Detroit Tigers Message Board I go to on occassion.