eva unit zero

I said it at the time that trading McDonald, their best center and arguably their best forward at the time, for Weight was a huge mistake and a precursor to many other bad things. Just think where the Ducks would be if they had followed my advice and simply traded or waived Marchant instead, and done their best to avoid trading their young stars or their better players. For example...waiving Bryzgalov? That should have at least been a trade for a pick of some sort if he is trading Bryzgalov at all. Now, given that Bryzgalov is equal to or better than Giguere, and costs $5m less at the time, Burke should have shopped both goaltenders and seen what was available. If you can get an equal return for Bryzgalov or Giguere player-wise, you trade Giguere and open up the cap space. Now, given that Giguere won a Conn Smythe a few years prior, he's probably got better trade value despite the contract difference. I still say I could out-GM Burke.

Even without his recent "hot streak" Kopecky is one of the five or six best players in the league consistently playing on a team's fourth line this season, and the best on the Wings given the performances by Draper and Maltby, although all three might make that top-six list. The thing is, Kopecky has been performing well enough all season to play on most teams' third lines and has the skill set to fit in full-time on many teams' top-two lines without them missing a beat. Because he has been used as a fourth line grinder and has more capably filled that role than, say, Filppula or Samuelsson would have, Kopecky hasn't been given many chances to play on a scoring line and to use his offensive abilities. Recently, he has been given that chance, and has shown that he is perfectly capable of being an offensively threatening forward who plays all three forward positions, is solid defensively, and can play a physical game. I wouldn't call him an intimidating power forward...but there are many players in the league that label is applied to who are no more intimidating than Tomas Kopecky. Dany Heatley, Joe Thornton, Rich Nash, Corey Perry are among them. Yes, they are better overall players...but it Kopecky were to keep his recent point production going full-time...would they be considered better players any longer? Would Kopecky suddenly be considered one of the league's better power forwards? Not making a prediction; simply asking a couple questions. I have maintained that Kopecky would be a good scorer at the NHL level since the Wings first drafted him, but I'm not saying that next year is his breakout year. Certainly there are many potential circumstances in place that could give Kopecky the perfect chance for an excellent breakout year; At least one, more likely two, and possibly even three of Franzen/Filppula/Hudler/Samuelsson being gone by the start of next season, plus Kopecky's hot scoring streak as well as impressing defensive play recently should earn him more ice time next year, depending on how he looks in the postseason.

Four more wins and he is top ten all-time, tied at 389 with Hasek. Detroit has 12 games left...think he does it this year? He should. If he plays the majority of remaining games, and wins most or all of his games, he could hit 30 wins. He should clear 390 wins this year, and maybe get close to 395. Next year, he could reach as high as maybe sixth or seventh on the all-time list depending on what the goaltending tandem looks like-meaning how many games does he play and how well do and his backup perform? Definitely the most underrated goalie of my lifetime, with apologies to Andy Moog, who was, IMHO, the best goaltender to play any significant number of games for the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL since they joined the league.

Which is why I never said Osgood's stats would make him the best goalie that the team has ever had; just that he could potentially become the best goalie statistically that the team has ever had. COMPLETELY different statement, don't you think?

Backes ran Ozzie two or three times all night. How many times was Kopecky even on the ice at the same time as Backes, let alone on the ice at the same time as Backes when Backes ran Ozzie? Think for a second, will ya? It's not just Kopecky who has to want him to do something about Backes; Babcock has to put him out there when Backes is out there.

Minnesota can max out at 100. Nashville can max out at 99. Detroit, by beating Columbus, moved from 99 to 101. Clinched.

The answer is clearly: Defenseman Brad Stuart. Rafalski provides defense that is at least equal, and he is much better offensively. Kronwall has outplayed Stuart in pretty much every aspect and is younger but not completely inexperienced so he is likely to continue outplaying Stuart for years to come despite the fact his price tag is lower for the next few years. Lilja has been top-four quality all season so he has earned quite a bit of credit in this regard as his role is as a third-pair defenseman. The only player who might displace Stuart is Filppula, if he returns to the level of play he was displaying earlier this season next year despite the fact it is a year later, bringing further into question the contract he signed. It won't be Hudler as his scoring level per minute is among the best if not the best in the league; he scores raw numbers that keep up with second liners despite playing ice time of fourth liners, and he is solid defensively as well as improving his skating a great deal, something some of his teammates have not put the work in to do.

Yes...my point was that his stats were similar to last season. Most of the Kopecky bashers in this thread were acknowledging he had performed well physically with his frequency of hits last season. So what's the beef this year?

Ok, so now that he's second in hits on the team behind Brad Stuart (acquired at the trade deadline last year) he's not using his body at all? Your post makes TOTAL sense. He led Wings forwards in hitting last year. He leads Wings forwards in hitting this year. Seems like he's doing his job with respect to hitting. Let's take a look at hits last year vs this year for Kopay. 2007-08: 111 in 77. 2008-09: 96 in 66 (to date) which projects to 112 in 77. As you can see, if Kopecky were to play 77 games this season hitting at the same rate he has been this year, he would end up with about the same number of hits as he did last year, when he was doing his job as a hitter just fine according to the way this thread, including yourself, was posting. How does the same performance suddenly go from "good" to "completely unacceptable" over the span of one offseason where the guy was recovering from knee surgery?

Wow, a year to get them broken in? Most players I know get new skates baked in a special oven and there is no break-in period for the skates. I know the Missions I have used for the past few years had no break in period and have been wonderful the whole time. The baking, at least in my experience, is included in the purchase if new Mission skates...which is yet another plus for that particular brand.

It will end the way all Choose Your Own Adventure books end. With the choice between doors 1 and 2, you-no matter what choice you make-inevitably choose the one that ends up with ninjas and your death.

Just to let everyone know, I have been working on increasing my weight while building my muscle mass. Since posting in this thread on the 12th, I have increased my weight to 133 and have been able to maintain strength while increasing endurance. So I'm off to a good start, now all I have to do is keep it up.

He needs to work some push-ups and side planks into that routine.

"there is no way Osgood touches what Sawchuk did from '51 to '55." Osgood is constantly downplayed in comparison to Sawchuk, despite having strong stats. So what exactly makes Fedorov not good enough to get his number retired again, since several of Sawchuk's teammates who Fedorov outplayed did?

Yeah, because Brodeur playing in the shootout era is TOTALLY his fault. Fine, we'll reevaluate it. Brodeur has won 27 shootouts in his career. He will play at least one more season. Only in his rookie season, the lockout-shortened 94-95 season, and his injury-shortened year this year did Brodeur win fewer than 30 games in a season. So Brodeur may not have passed Roy in that particular game...but he would still pass Roy as he will likely play at least two or three more seasons and put his records well out of reach for any current veteran goaltender; unless Chris Osgood somehow manages to play at last season's level for another ten-plus seasons.

How the hell does Datsyuk get voted player of the game over Osgood?

So what you're saying is, Semenko should have won a few Hart trophies when he played with Gretzky instead of Gretzky winning them, since toughness is more important to winning in hockey than finesse is?

Don't know what was wrong with Ozzie earlier this year...but it looks like the magic is back.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but one thing I have noticed that Ozzie has been doing today that he has been doing differently all season is the way he hugs the post. He has been jamming his skate against the post the way he used to, rather than just moving close to the post the way he has been doing most of the year. Do we have the old Ozzie back?

For all of you penciling Pavel Datsyuk in for the Selke...you are wrong. Think about this for a second. Most of the season, Pavel Datsyuk has centered Marian Hossa and Tomas Holmstrom (when they were healthy) on the Wings' top offensive line. In the meantime, his former linemate, and a finalist last year, Henrik Zetterberg, was centering the Wings' second most productive line, which was being used as the Wings' top shutdown line. That fact should push voters away from Datsyuk and towards Zetterberg...if they vote for a Wing at all. As far as the Lady Byng...I still say the number one candidate should be Patrick Marleau. Parise and Datsyuk are among a slew of players deserving to be mentioned, but Marleau should win it.

Osgood's and Sawchuk's numbers with the Red Wings, currently, are below. OTLs are counted as losses. Sawchuk: 734GP, 351W-243L-132T, 1,774GA, 85SO, 2.44GAA, 43,606:00TOI Osgood: 520GP, 299W-163L-46T, 1,227GA, 37SO, 2.46GAA, 29,926:37TOI I've always maintained that shutouts rarely occur without the team playing very well; Osgood himself would have probably three or four this season without the defense (most likely Brian Rafalski or Brett Lebda) having directly caused an unstoppable scoring opportunity that led to what ended up being the opposing team's only goal. The number of goaltenders who would have had ten or more shutouts over history without defensive miscues is, well...very high. So let's take a look at what their stats would be like outside of the games that ended up as shutouts. Sawchuk: 649GP, 266W-243L-132T, 1,774GA, 2.76GAA, 38,506:00TOI Osgood: 483GP, 262W-163L-46T, 1,227GA, 2.66GAA, 27,706:37TOI So, despite Osgood's horrendous season this year, he has still been the more consistent of the two goaltenders as a Red Wing, if nothing else. Actually , the fact that Osgood has better numbers in non-shutout games despite his season this year is a huge boost towards that statement. If Osgood has a couple good seasons after this one and wins a Cup or two as starter with the Wings before retirement, it's entirely possible that, at least statistically, he will be considered the best goalie as far as play within the franchise.

So what you're saying is that Aaron Downey is a better hockey player than Wayne Gretzky, since despite Downey's lack of skill, he's tough enough to make up for it and despite Gretzky's incredible vision and finesse ability, he was one of the most physically weak players in the NHL, as well as being a skater on the level of Downey. Toughness is part of hockey, but is not more important than finesse, despite what Cherry and his brainwashed followers would say. If you believe an otherwise useless enforcer is more important than a player who, while not being a first liner, can play a skilled game at one or both ends of the ice and hopefully is capable of contributing physically as well, then you are, well, wrong.

The Flyers are still considered "in possession" and therefore the penalty would be called immediately upon being committed, regardless of when the shot had been taken. The only way the goal gould have counted is if a Caps player had gained possession of the puck and THEN accidentally put it into his own net, or if the cross check had occurred after the puck crossed the goal line. From the way you described it, it doesn't seem as if either of those situations occurred.

A little background on my writing experience; I used to be the editor of the sports section of my college newspaper as well as a sports columnist, and I also was a featured columnist as well as the Red Wings columnist on Hockeyjunkies.com until it went under. So the answer would be yes, and I actually have quite a bit of published work.

What is odd is years like 1988-89, when those who voted on the Hart trophy decided that the "MVP" was the second leading scorer, one of four players with 150+ points, and one of two players on his line to clear that mark. This is while those who voted on the Pearson decided that the "Best player" was the only 150+ point scorer who didn't have at least one linemate with 100+ points; in other words the two trophies were awarded using the criteria of the other trophy looking at the circumstances surrounding the players. It's like Gretzky's eight consecutive Hart trophies; I find it hard to believe that another player was not more valuable to his team in any one of those seasons. Not discounting Gretzky's ability...but Ray Bourque as a Hart winner in 1986-67 might have been a better pick, as one example. Edmonton was still a top team even if you take Gretzky away. Bourque was Boston's top scorer by a wide margin, as well as being their top defensive player. He did win his first of five Norrises in eight seasons that year, however.