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Kiprusoff's name should not be mentioned there next to Brodeur and Luongo, and Luongo shouldn't be mentioned next to Brodeur. Backstrom has been more consistently great in his career than Kiprusoff; the difference is that Kiprusoff had an amazing season that was considered Vezina-worthy while Backstrom, like Lundqvist, has been merely a contender for several years in a row since entering the league. Nabokov is another example of a goalkeeper who has been greatly inconsistent; he was a first-team All-Star last season because he played nearly every game, but his save percentage and GAA were not good enough to justify Vezina nomination or first team selection, most certainly not ahead of Brodeur whose numbers were far superior with comparable games played and games won.

How many games had Datsyuk dominated the season he signed his contract? Now, how many games did Zetterberg dominate last playoffs? I'll give you a hint; the answer is higher. Even if you just limit to offense only or defense only. Z still wins. Just from the playoffs. That's how good he was in the playoffs, and how good he is overall, compared to how good Dats was when he signed his deal. Maybe Dats deserves more...but Dats signed his deal several years ago, before he was established as an elite player. Z is established as an elite player. I wouldn't be shocked to see him sign for a similar number to what Dats makes, but he deserves more based on the NHL's pay scale.

No, the whole team was terrible except at faceoffs. Conklin gave up some pretty s***ty looking goals in there and wasn't facing a ton of chances, so it's not like he was playing shutout hockey and the defense just stopped playing. The defense certainly gave up a few big chances and Conklin stopped some of those chances, but he allowed some weak stuff tonight too. Certainly one of, if not the worst performance I have ever seen from Conklin as a Red Wing, and the stats definitely bear that statement out.

2004- Tampa Bay finished second overall with 106 points, behind only Detroit's 109 points. 2006- Carolina finished fourth overall with 112 points behind Detroit's 124, Ottawa's 113, and Dallas' 112. Dallas had 53 wins to Carolina's 52. Not only were they both better than at least one other Eastern division winner, but neither TB nor Carolina had to play a series without home ice advantage.

Dats has not been better defensively; Z has been used as the shutdown center most of the time. Dats has a better +/- because most of the season he has played on a line with another elite two-way forward and the league's best crease crasher. Babcock, for whatever reason, doesn't want to take advantage of the fact that Hudler has many of the same kinds of offensive talents that Datsyuk does and Hudler could perhaps develop the same kind of chemistry as Dats has with Z. Here's how it breaks down simply. Of the Wings' top four offensive forwards, two are better suited as playmakers (Dats and Hudler) and two are better suited as goal scorers (Zetterberg and Hossa) while three of the four can play center and wing capably. SO the Wings should be using one of the two following line combinations for the top two: Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa OR Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Hossa Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen The second set has more balanced lines; the first set has the utterly dominant line we all love plus a Franzen/Hudler/Hossa line that would be the first line on 20 or more teams.

Kopecky has been, IMHO, the best player on his line this season. He's also the youngest and cheapest. Waiving the three of Draper/Maltby/Lebda, and Chelios retiring and replacing them with Griffins would make keeping Franzen/Hudler/Samuelsson/Hossa more likely and having Meech as the 13th forward/7th defenseman on a 21-man roster would help free up space.

What I would like an answer for: How come everyone is picking Datsyuk (if any Wing) for the Selke when Zetterberg is being used as the team's primary shutdown forward against opposing scoring forwards. If Datsyuk was truly the league's top defensive forward this season, the team would be using him as the primary shutdown forward instead of Zetterberg.

Who is a better playmaker on the Wings than Hudler? Datsyuk, perhaps. But that's about it. How about who is better at goal scoring? Hossa and Zetterberg are the only names that come to mind. Hudler is scoring at basically the same pace Datsyuk is per minute with much weaker linemates. Hudler is usually the most offensively talented player on his line. Franzen is usually NOT the most offensively talented player on his line, and usually plays with Datsyuk, the team's best playmaker.

Hart: Ovechkin Selke: Zetterberg Vezina: Backstrom Norris: Lidstrom Byng: St. Louis Adams: Julien Calder: Mason Masterton: Sullivan

I wouldn't have a lot of guys in there who are in. Osgood would probably be on the cusp or in; he's won some awards and some Cups and has won a lot of games without really having any bad seasons in his career; a lot of other goalies with similar win numbers have had some terrible seasons, or took forever to get them. Every year up to four players can be inducted into the Hall. Assuming that players are inducted based on the proportion of positions, that means two goaltenders for every three years. If the average regular NHL goalie's career is nine years long, that means six of the regular NHL goalies would make it into the Hall for a given nine year period.

Steve Yzerman is the only player to ever score 150 points and get a first place vote for the Selke in the same season. Ever. He's also the only player to ever score 150 points in a season and win the Selke in his career. And he's one of only three players to play in he All-Star game before his 19th birthday; however he was the only one to do so as an All-Star. The other two were rookies on the defending champs.

Take a look at the categories of bad stats I picked, such as save percentage below .900 or GAA above 2.70. By only using the time they played in the league together for Fuhr, I cut off MANY years Fuhr posted those kinds of stats. But I used Osgood's entire career, if you will take another look at my post. The thing is, Osgood simply didn't put up numbers that were bad enough to fall into those categories. Sorry to disappoint you. If you want, you can simply compare Osgood's career stats to Fuhr's, and notice that Osgood's stats are more "better than" Fuhr's than Brodeur's are "better than" Osgood's. Ozzie is, and has been, a great goalie. No, he's not the best ever. But he's HHOF caliber, and should be in there when he retires.

Fuhr also retired before they instituted the rule where the All-Star team was REQUIRED to have a representative from every team; they always tried hard to do so in the past, but only in the past few years has it actually been a rule. Fuhr was voted by fans to start the All-Star game three times (1986, 1988, and 1989) and played with teammate Andy Moog in the two before that as fan voting began in 1986.

Hudler was a better player than Datsyuk was at Hudler's age. Hudler is better defensively than Dats was at 25, and Hudler has been hovering close to a point per game on the third line all season. Dats was posting comparable offensive numbers with Hull and Zetterberg as his wingers on the first line. If Hudler had linemates of comparable skill and comparable ice time, he might be leading the team in scoring right now. He's been a capable defensive player and a decent skater since Babcock made him work on those areas. He doesn't kill penalties, you say? Yeah...and Filppula doesn't play the PP. He's not one of the four or five best defensive forwards on the team. He still knows how to play defense; watch a game. Oh, and when Hudler was drafted, he was considered by many scouts to be the most talented center in the draft; the only reason he dropped to where he did was size. If he can overcome the size issue, what says he can't potentially be the best forward in the league? Hype? He's better defensively than Crosby, and scoring more per minute than Crosby. He's improved his skating to the point where recent game recaps have referred to him as "speedy forward Jiri Hudler" and his puck skills are SICK. Does he need a Canadian birth certificate?

I would be interested in Turris, Carcillo, Michalek, Yandle, Hanzal, Mueller if the Wings could draft a player or players from the Coyotes. Young, skilled, versatile players.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg have been very closely matched in skill level for a while. I would take Zetterberg most years honestly. As far as the Blake question, because he was Canadian and had a goal scoring streak at the end of the season. People remembered how well he seemed to be doing right before the voting. There's no way he even deserved to be a finalist, but Blake's goal scoring was the only thing anyone had on Lidstrom, and a lot of people just didn't want a European to win it. Same with Pronger in 2000 over Lidstrom (and Jagr for the Hart) It took consistent domination by Lidstrom for people to get over it and give him the award. He should probably have won it three years running in 98, 99, and 2000.

Why doesn't Jokinen go back to NYI?

It was based on Hudler improving his physical strength as much as he has improved his skating as well as continuing the trend of outperforming Datsyuk and Zetterberg at the same age...as Zetterberg was rated the top player in the league by several publications going into the season, it's not completely ridiculous. I didn't say I expected it to happen; just that if Hudler fulfilled those conditions, it was possible. Reading comprehension is a wonderful skill to have.

Luongo, Lundqvist, and Miller have nothing on Osgood. None of them have won ANYTHING. Not one ******* thing. Osgood was a Vezina runner-up, Jennings-winner, Smythe runner-up, and Cup winner in his first five years. Osgood was a Second-Team All-Star once. Luongo, Lundqvist, and Miller have two selections between the three of them...and both are Luongo's. Ultimately, Luongo is the only goaltender of the three who has an argument that he has a better career than Osgood so far (Osgood was a Cup winner, an All-Star, and a Vezina contender at the age Luongo is now) and Osgood has a few more years to add to his legacy while Luongo doesn't look like he'll necessarily be winning much of anything up in Vancouver. What exactly is required for Hall entry? Individual greatness in itself? Individual greatness and winning the Cup, even if it doesn't happen together? Individual greatness that contributes to winning the Cup? Or just winning the Cup? Does a player who is a great individual contributor but does less to help his team win games deserve to make the HHOF over another player who is great at coming through when his team needs him to and has good numbers but because he's played on strong teams he hasn't always had to be "the guy" that came through for the team even if he has a HOF career in terms of numbers and Cup wins. How about this one: Does Glenn Anderson deserve to be in the HHOF? He was at best the fourth best forward on the Oilers during the dynasty years, at BEST. Gretzky, Messier, and Kurri were the top three easily. Tikkanen, Krushelnyski, MacTavish, Dave Hunter, Craig Simpson, Geoff Courtnall all were about the same level or better during the time they played together in Edmonton. Other guys could be mentioned as well. Anderson was never named to the postseason All-Star team. Osgood was. So Anderson got in on the strength of ok numbers and having been a support player for a few Cup wins. Osgood has excellent numbers, and twice was second in Smythe voting in a Cup win as starting goaltender. He's got more than enough to get it if Luongo is your measuring stick, and IMHO deserves it more than Anderson, who was just inducted.

Osgood's numbers in NYI and StL were average...for Osgood. His Detroit career stats and his numbers outside of Detroit are very similar. He played behind TERRIBLE teams and carried them to the playoffs; he was the most valuable player on his team each year in 01-02 through 03-04. Osgood has HOF numbers he keeps improving upon.

Hudler was a mediocre skater. He has worked hard on that and is now a quick skater. He is an above average defensive forward and he is a very good offensive player. If he builds muscle the way he has worked on his skating, he might become the best forward in the league.

Savard won't get the Hart. Thomas will be considered for the Vezina, but the fact that he plays in a tandem will probably prevent him from winning it. Nicklas Backstrom is probably the frontrunner right now because he's the only guy among the league leaders who has started more than 30 games, while most of them have started fewer than 25 and many fewer than 20; this with teams having played 40-45 games. Backstrom for the Vezina. Calder is definitely Steve Mason. Selke? Ryan Kesler. Lady Byng? Martin St. Louis. Jack Adams? Claude Julien or Joel Quenneville. Mike Keenan would also be an acceptable choice. Norris? Lidstrom. Hart? Ovechkin

Grant Fuhr is in the Hall of Fame. Yet he never posted a GAA below 2.70 the same season he posted a save percentage above 90%, and only twice did he EVER post a save percentage above 90%. In Fuhr's best season in terms of save %, Osgood nearly won the Vezina. Grant Fuhr never posted a better save %, GAA, or win % than Osgood did in the time they were in the league together. Never. Only once did Osgood during his entire career post a GAA above 2.90, while Fuhr did it three times during Osgood's career. Fuhr posted sub-.900 sv% five times during Osgood's career, yet Osgood has only done that three times. You don't think if Osgood ends his career with about 450 wins that he'll be in the Hall of Fame? You don't think that ending his career with what would have been the All-Time Wins Record when he started is enough to get him inducted? That's before considering the fact he has won Jennings awards, been on the postseason All-Star team, and won Cups. You can not like Osgood if you choose; but he has had an amazing career and will be a HOFer.

Are you suggesting Hasek was not inconsistent?

Jonathan Ericsson will be on the roster next season. His past as a forward, combined with Derek Meech's ability to play forward and defense, might be the secret to what allows us to keep Hossa. If Ericsson is on the roster as a top six defenseman, and Meech is the only spare, for a 21-player roster, that might allow enough flexibility under the cap to keep Hossa. First, the signed players from the current roster: F: Datsyuk, Filppula, Cleary, Holmstrom, Draper, Maltby D: Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Lilja, Lebda, Meech G: Osgood These players add up to $41,216,666 in total cap hit. Add six to eight more forwards and one goaltender for a complete roster. Assuming the cap is the same $56.7m, that means $15,483,334 in available cap space to sign or replace the following players: Zetterberg, Hossa, Hudler, Franzen, Samuelsson, Kopecky, Conklin Zetterberg will likely cost less than Lidstrom currently does. Hank's respect for Nick alone is enough to keep him from asking for more than Nick makes. Look for a contract close to $7m even. Of Hudler/Filppula/Zetterberg/Datsyuk, Hudler outperformed each of the other three in the season the player turned 24, and is continuing the trend as the years go by. Does this make Hudler the best player of the quartet? Scary thought. And yet, I don't see him costing the Wings more than Filppula does. Probably about $2m or so for a few years. Franzen is an interesting question. He'll probably be worth decent money in the 35-40 goal range and approaching 55-60 points for the season at the end of the year. He's good defensively and big and physical, and can play all three forward positions. But he just turned 29 and hasn't "proven" anything yet. Is $3.5m too much as an estimate of what he'll go for? Is it too little? It's hard to say. Samuelsson will probably be close to $1.5m, but as a discount from what his kind of performance and ability would normally earn. Kopecky will stick around on the cheap, likely about $550k. I expect either Howard or Larsson to replace Conklin because he can get big money with his performance this year and the Wings can't afford to pay him. So signing all of those players EXCEPT Hossa already has used up $14.55m in cap space, plus the cap hit of either Howard, Larsson, or someone else. The only way Hossa stays without significant loss from the roster is if the forwards agree to take big cuts and go something like this: Zetterberg $4m Hossa, $4m Franzen, $2m Hudler, $1.75m Samuelsson, $1.5m Kopecky, $550k