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I just hope that the Hudler/Datsyuk/Cleary line doesn't continue to be the team's third line. Although it makes Marc Crawford look pretty silly to say Vern Fiddler is the league's best third-line center when Datsyuk is on the third line to start the year... Of course, Crawford looks silly anyway; the best third line center is either Bolland or Staal. Easily. Helm and Malhotra a distant third and fourth.

Ah, if only he had the common sense to return to Detroit, where he was once a starter.

Which leaves a line of what, Holmstrom/Abdelkader/Bertuzzi? And then we waive either Brunnstrom or Emmerton when Mursak gets back, or just waive Nystrom at that point? Miller will barely be in the lineup. Nystrom would be in it less. Miller can at least play center, even though he can't take faceoffs worth a damn. Nystrom is better on faceoffs than Miller, but he's a much worse player. Nystrom's brand of toughness isn't that significant, certainly not enough to beat out Miller. And Miller's inability on faceoffs and redundancy on defense and PK will cause him to lose out for the 4th C position to Emmerton. Bank on it.

He was originally listed as "Andrew Miller" by the NHL, the same way Evgeni Nabokov was listed as "John Nabokov" because of a stupid secretary. Dan Cleary has been officially listed as Dan, Daniel, and Danny at various times throughout his career. No idea when it changed, except that it was before he was waived by Tampa Bay.

Zetterberg: 73-80 GP / 69-75 Pts - Over. Healthy season playing center between Flip and Franzen he should be good for 85-90. Datsyuk: 74-82 GP / 72-80 Pts - Over. With Hudler and Cleary, all healthy, Dats should be 90+ this year. Franzen: 67-75 GP / 50-60 Pts - About right. Cleary: 70-75 GP / 40-45 Pts - More. Playing mainly with Hudler and Datsyuk, there's no way he doesn't score 30-35 goals unless he gets injured and misses a huge chunk. And he's not going to get 10 assists on the year. Holmstrom: 68-75 GP / 37-45 Pts - Less. He scored around half his points at even strength when he played with Dats. Now he's with Emmerton, and playing five minutes less at ES. Plus, 37 was his output last year; he can expect closer to 25-30 this year, mostly from the PP. Bertuzzi: 68-75 GP / 45-50 Pts - Less. He's going to be spending time with Helm and Abby, not Dats, Z, Flip, and Franzen. Look for around 35 points. Filppula: 72-80 GP / 34-40 Pts - More. Second line winger, a little more offensive freedom and a lot more offensive skill on the line with Z and Franzen. Flip now has two bonafide snipers to pass to, and has improved his own shot as well. 50-60 points. Hudler: 72-80 GP / 41-50 Pts - More. The first half last year was an aberration. Hudler returned to form in the second half, looking great in January and February before being banished to the fourth line in March when Babcock wanted to kick-start Franzen. 65-70 points Helm: 75-82 GP / 28-36 Pts - More. He'll be playing with Bertuzzi, so he now has an offensive linemate (pronounce as you will) capable of scoring and passing. 40-45. Eaves: 65-70 GP / 20-25 Pts - More. He'll likely see spot duty on the higher lines when injuries occur. I also wouldn't be shocked to see him swap with Abdelkader at some point. 30-35, mostly goals. Abdelkader: 70-80 GP / 19-25 Pts - About right. Miller: 65-75 GP / 18-24 Pts - Seems right for the GP, but I don't think Miller plays that much. My bet is that Miller is waived when Mursak comes back; he has 40 games to prove that he is worth significantly more to the team than Brunnstrom or Emmerton. With Mursak, Eaves, Helm, and Abby able to do Miller's job as well or better than him while being younger, the Wings are more likely to keep the cheap, skilled two-way center in Emmerton and the potential top-six winger in Brunnstrom. Again, both younger than Miller. Miller will probably play around 25 games, and when Mursak comes back he'll be gone. Emmerton: 50-60 GP / 10-15 Pts - More. 15-20. Mursak: 35-45 GP / 10-12 Pts - He won't play that many games, but that rate of production seems about right. Expect maybe 5-10 points because he'll play around 20-25 games. Lidstrom: 75-82 GP / 50-65 Pts - About right, although let's narrow it down to 55-60. Kronwall: 65-75 GP / 37-45 Pts - More. He's scored well above that before, and now he'll be given a much better chance to score. 55-60. Ericsson: 65-75 GP / 14-20 Pts - About right. White: 75-80 GP / 30-35 Pts - More. He's running shotgun with Nick and will benefit on the stat sheet because he has a similar skill set to Raffi, although not the same level of playmaking. 40-45. Stuart: 70-75 GP / 20-25 Pts - About right. Commodore: 67-75 GP / 15-18 Pts - About right. Kindl: 48-60 GP / 10-15 Pts - More. 20-25. Not gonna even get into the goalies.

Don't you know? It wasn't enough. He was required to man up and fight Bertuzzi, late in the game after it was well out of hand, when Bertuzzi was stalking him around the ice trying to get him to fight. When Moore refused, Bertuzzi had every right to puch him in the back of the head and follow that up by driving him face-first into the ice, causing severe injuries that would end his career. I wonder this with regards to that incident but... why don't people defend McSorley for doing essentially the same thing, but less? He chased Brashear around the ice looking for a fight. He tried to tap him with his stick on the shoulder, and bounced it off his helmet. Brashear dropped to the ice. McSorley was effectively given a lifetime ban by the NHL, and also was sentenced to 18 months probation for assault. Can someone, someone who loves enforcers, tell me which incident was more worthy of a lifetime ban and an assault charge? Why? I'd love to hear the logic.

You still don't get the reason I brought up any of those names. These are guys whose careers were ruined because they got their brains turned to goo. As for your "legal head hits" go back and take a look at all of the hits Lindros took over the years. I bet you that he took far more shots to the melon than you think. Geoff Courtnall. Yes, that's a very nice hit on Roenick. But I will say it again, he was not a big hitter. Even the power for that hit right there comes mostly from Roenick's legs, not Courtnall's. He was able to lay that hit because he knew Roenick would be there. Roenick didn't even have a clue about Courtnall because he was too busy shooting. Was Fedorov a big hitter? Is Datsyuk? They lay hits like that. Courtnall was a scorer who had enough hockey IQ to be able to hit a guy if he needed to (like that Roenick vid) but he wasn't Kevin Stevens. Whose career was also shortened drastically due to head injuries.

Yep, being a big player who dominates other teams demands that those teams have guys who hit you in the head. Completely warranted. Richter's career was ended by two major consussions in eight months. One was a shot to the mask, and the second was a knee to the head. It? These guys didn't have their careers ended by one concussion. And BTW- getting punched in the face is less impact than a headshot. Courtnall was not a "big hitter" he was a speedy scoring winger. He played 30 games in his final two seasons; he went out after 24 games in 1998-99 with a concussion, and returned the following fall. Six games in he received a concussion, and was forced to retire. Stevens was a big hitter, but he also took big hits. He retired due to PCS, and he didn't get those concussions from hitting people. It's believed that Boogaard's death occurred because he was not of sound mind due to the numerous concussions he has received. So was Semin. You're right. The fact that Crosby was injured when someone accidentally hit his head means trying to hit the head should definitely not be punished or considered intent to injure. I bet you think Todd Bertuzzi should carry no responsibility for the Steve Moore incident, also.

I'm not sure where you get the neck movement thing. This wasn't a "drive my car into the wall" collision. It was more like a bounce pass in basketball. Leblanc's angle of approach was not that different than the actual alignment of Semin's body. As for Semin going to the ice; he had just curled around at full speed receiving a pass, and was hit during this process and thrown off his skates. His body goes sideways towards the boards because of a little thing called centrifugal motion.

He's in denial of the fact that Hudler is going to be playing on Datsyuk's line this season, after all of that bitching (and likely monitor screaming) he did at me about constantly suggesting that H/D/C be reunited.

Wrong. A one-way deal or two-way deal determines how much the player makes if he is not in the NHL. Contract status and waiver status are completely unrelated, although both can and do determine roster spots. Still a good deal.

Hey LeftWinger... just to let you know... Brunnstrom has scored 19 goals and 40 points in 99 NHL games. Hudler scored 10 goals and 37 points in 73 games last season; basically 25% more in terms of points. Even if you take away Hudler's time with Datsyuk (4g-10a-14pt in 11gp) he would have 6g-17a-23pt in 62gp, a pace which would give him 10-27-37 in 99 games instead of 73. In other words, a "horrible" season by Hudler's standards, minus the highly prolific 11 game stretch with Datsyuk, can be considered equivalent offensively with the best Brunnstrom has ever performed. Sounds like Bruno could replace Hudler at something. But it's not scoring.

Watch the replays at around 0:30. He takes the elbow in the left side of the head as he's looking back to his right.

Guys who have played the majority of their career after 1990, but ended early due to concussions largely due to head hits: Keith Primeau. Eric Lindros. Derek Boogaard. Mike Richter. Geoff Courtnall. Dave Scatchard. Matthew Barnaby. Scott Stevens. Adam Deadmarsh. Marc Savard? Sidney Crosby? I guess that does work out to 1 or 2 per decade. But only if you have had a few concussions. This play didn't warrant a diving penalty. Leblanc was skating full on and elbowed him in the head from the blind side. If Leblanc had not stuck his elbow out and tried to get his head, and Semin still fell like that, then call the dive. But that's not what happened.

If you hit a guy in the head, it shouldn't matter whether the other guy dives and stays on the ice or even if he doesn't go down at all. Hitting someone in the head is what gets you suspended, not someone diving. Start the vid at 1:45 and watch the slow-mo at the end. It's pretty clear that he was elbowed in the head, and that is what took him down. He was curling around when he was hit, so his center of gravity was off. When Leblanc hit him, it knocked him off his skates because he was already so off-balance in that position. Had Leblanc hit him shoulder-to-shoulder, it might have looked like a really nice hit. But he elbowed him in the head.

Well he beat Johnson out for the "Play until Mursak gets back" contract. Now he's got a new one; he gets to spend the first half of the season competing with Emmerton and Miller for two roster spots.

Hmm. I see an elbow to the head. Semin had just turned with the puck, and the puck slipped off his stick. He had looked back to pick it up, and was leaning back. Leblanc came flying in and nailed him with an elbow to the head. Semin was practically at a standstill due to losing the puck and trying to regain it, so he was a sitting duck. A guy who dives taking a headshot is not the same thing as a dive.

When Mursak comes off IR, he will almost certainly be assigned to GR for a conditioning stint. Up to two weeks. It will be mid to late January before we see Mursak skating for Detroit in a game. A little more than half the season. So let's see what happens with Bruno, Emmerton, Miller, Abby, Eaves, and Homer.

I thought we weren't supposed to hack other members' accounts? Otherwise there would be a lot of interesting posts around here...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_States There is no "national language" of the United States. Hopefully when you read it on Wikipedia you'll believe it. I'm done.

There is no national language. Also, various evidence has shown that hockey was started in England by the English, in Canada by British troops, and in Scandinavia. Do you know what that means? It's likely that different areas had different versions of a stick and ball game that over time morphed into one we call "hockey". And it's awfully bigoted of you to say "Well, we'll pronounce it properly for French Canadians, but not for Europeans." But I suppose that would put you in line with guys like Don Cherry, who are for some reason massively popular despite (because of?) their bigoted attitudes.

To be fair, he's pretty spot on about the optimism thing. Myself and others who supported Osgood, or Hudler. Ripped to shreds. Filppula supporters. Bashed until he became a vital part of the team. Anyone who liked Kronwall and thought his contract was a good deal was called a blind homer, or worse. A great number of the highly prolific posters, as well as a majority of the casual posters, are very pessimistic about the team. It's almost like it's LetsGoLions or LetsGoSpartans; a site where fans should be expecting their team to crush their hopes and dreams. Not LGW, where fans have every reason to believe in their team's chances for victory.

I love how so many people on here have the "remove Hudler from the lineup simply for the sake of removing him" concept stuck in their head. Is Nyquist better than Hudler right now? Probably not. Will he be in three years? Maybe. But having a guy like Nyquist who can be sent to the minors now, and benefit from playing top-line time with guys like Tatar who he will likely play with for years to come, instead of spending quality time in the press box with some two-man combination of Drew Miller, Justin Abdelkader, Fabian Brunnstrom, Jan Mursak, Cory Emmerton, Patrick Eaves, Mike Commodore, Jakub Kindl, and Jonathan Ericsson. There's no point to having Nyquist on the team this year unless Hudler plays out the beginning of last season all over again. And even then, the Wings are still more than loaded up front with Z, Dats, Franzen, Flip, Cleary, Bert, Homer all being strong offensive players, as well as Bruno and Emmerton available to take Hudler's ice time if offense is really an issue. There is no official language in the USA. We speak English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, German, Portuguese, Greek, Italian, Gaelic, and every other language known to man. Yes, English is dominant, but not to the exclusion of all others. As for the names; they do not change because they are being pronounced by someone in their non-native tongue. The person might not say it correctly, or be able to say it or used to saying it correctly; but it doesn't make it correct. For example, regarding the name Sergei, "SIR-gei" is not correct. "SAYER-***" is correct. Generally, anyway. There are always exceptions. Andrea is a common name in the USA which has multiple pronunciations with the same spelling. Or the name Mikael; "MICK-ull" or "Mick-A-ull" with the same spelling. Go tell Dustin Byfuglien that his name is not pronounced "BUFF-lin", but instead is pronounced "By-FUG-ly-enn" because "We are in America. And in America, we speak English. Period." See what he says to that.

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Eaves out after taking it in the knee... Maybe Nyquist, Emmerton, and Brunnstrom all make it to start the season?