eva unit zero

Yeah...one of those times was a 48 game season where we were first overall (95). One was an 80 game season where we were second overall (92). One was a Cup season (97), and one came after two consecutive seasons of being a top regular season team that won the Cup, and likely had some fatigue issues (99) Unbelievable run. And it's set up to continue for quite a while.

Guys who WILL be on the roster next season (RFAs and signed contracts for players who are not waiver-exempt) are as follows: F Datsyuk F Cleary F Zetterberg F Holmstrom F Draper F Samuelsson F Hudler F Franzen F Maltby F Kopecky F Filppula D Lidstrom D Rafalski D Kronwall D Meech D Lebda D Quincey G Osgood That's 11 forwards, 6 defensemen, and 1 goaltender; leaving room for 2 forwards, 1 defenseman, and 1 goalie, plus one additional player to max the roster at 23. UFAs Drake, Downey, and Hasek are not expected back. UFAs McCarty, Chelios, Lilja, and Stuart may return for full-time NHL duty. UFA Hartigan may return with to Grand Rapids. RFA Howard has one more year of waiver eligibility, but will likely be the backup if Hasek retires. If all of McCarty, Chelios, Lilja, and Stuart were to resign, and assuming Howard gets the backup job, that would leave us with 12 forwards, 9 defenseman, and 2 goaltenders, for a total of 23 players. Reportedly, Holland would like to retain all four of those players. I would believe that Meech will see some time up front if Holland manages to sign all four, until the logjam on defense can be sorted out, likely by shipping out one of Lebda or Meech, or possibly even by converting Meech to forward full-time.

Well, as was said in the original thread...whatever doctor let that slip should lose his license.

Bill McCreary is pretty universally considered the best ref. That's why he was in what, 17 consecutive finals series, and SHOULD have been in this one.

The fact that you think Draper shouldn't have been called for that completely invalidates your post. The only more certain call than Drapes' hit on Gonchar was Hudler getting the extra two minutes in game 5; and that's automatic. Draper and the Wings were lucky he only got two minutes.

Helm, Ericsson, Kindl, and Abdelkader can play in Grand Rapids without clearing waivers. So it's likely that will be where they are, at least to start the season. There is also a logjam on defense, where nine players cannot be sent to the minors who were under contract for this season. Look for one of Lebda, Meech, Quincey, and Lilja to be sent packing if Stuart returns; most likely Lebda. Zetterberg Datsyuk Holmstrom Hudler Filppula Franzen Draper Cleary Samuelsson Kopecky Maltby Drake McCarty Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Stuart Chelios Lilja Meech Quincey Osgood Howard If Drake chooses to retire, look for Meech to spend some games up front during the regular season while they sort out the Lebda/Lilja/Meech/Quincey thing.

Name me a goaltender with better numbers than Oz who is eligible but isn't in the Hall. What's that? You can't? Because I can name plenty of goalies who are in the Hall with careers that don't rival the Great and Powerful Oz.

Marc Joanette. I personally rank him as the second best ref in the league. He does an excellent job and typically calls a very fair game, and is consistent from game to game with his calls.

In 1997, we shipped out Mike Vernon. We also lost Konstantinov due to the accident. In 1998, in the best deal of all time, we signed UWE KRUPP to replace the departing All-Star Dmitri Mironov, who had been acquired at the deadline and promptly went on to perform as the 6th best defenseman on the team. Krupp would play 30 games for the Wings during his 4 year contract, In 2002, we lost Hasek, Duchesne, and Olausson. They were replaced by the trading deadline with Joseph, Schneider, and Woolley. We also lost Uwe Krupp at this point, but he barely counted and only played in the first two games of the playoffs before being replaced by Olausson. Krupp was replaced on the roster by Will Stoneman.

MAF outplayed him only in game 3 and game 5. In other words, in the games Ozzie was the better tender, the Wings won. In the games Fleury was the better tender, the Pens won. Ozzie had better stats in the series coming into Game 6, and had a better game in Game 6. Fleury had one great game in Game 5, and people act like he was that amazing all series; which he wasn't.

Amen. Nick Lidstrom was right on the money when he introduced Z as 'The next Steve Yzerman.' six years ago.

Now that the season is over, and the Wings are officially the Stanley Cup champions...I thought I would put up my thoughts on the top 25 players in the league this season. To properly represent each position, I have tried to have the proper 'proportion' of players; there are 12 forwards, 8 defensemen, and 5 goaltenders on the list. 1) Nicklas Lidstrom, D 2) Alexander Ovechkin, F 3) Henrik Zetterberg, F 4) Pavel Datsyuk, F 5) Sidney Crosby, F 6) Evgeni Malkin, F 7) Martin Brodeur, G 8) Marian Hossa, F 9) Jarome Iginla, F 10) Chris Osgood, G 11) Sergei Zubov, D 12) Joe Thornton, F 13) Roberto Luongo, G 14) Zdeno Chara, D 15) Vincent Lecavalier, F 16) Marc-Andre Fleury, G 17) Brian Rafalski, D 18) Daniel Alfredsson, F 19) Dion Phaneuf, D 20) Dany Heatley, F 21) Marty Turco, G 22) Sergei Gonchar, D 23) Alexei Kovalev, F 24) Tomas Kaberle, D 25) Mathieu Schneider, D

Nah..I need to sleep. But I might shave first.

First time winners this time around (among guys whose name is on the Cup automatically) Zetterberg, Hudler, Filppula, Samuelsson, Drake, Franzen, Cleary, Helm, Kopecky, Downey, Stuart, Kronwall, Lilja, Lebda. 14 of 24 players with 40+ regular season and/or 1 finals game are first time winners.

Z wins it. I still say it should have been Ozzie.

You are responding as if I said 'Dom couldn't teach Ozzie nothing because Ozzie is the best goalie in the world, and Hasek is a bum' when all I did was object to a statement that suggested Ozzie has had to seek out Hasek's wisdom. I didn't suggest that Ozzie has had a better career (which is what I was accused of earlier) nor did I bring up the fact Oz has had a better season until I was debunking the previous claim. It would be nice if I were allowed to object to a factually unsupported statement without the hounds being released, loo. But then, I should know better I suppose.

So when will Pittsburgh get called for a two-minute minor for "Gamesmanship"?

The columnist you are referring to was saying that TO THE PENS, Osgood looked like he was wearing mattresses. You know, after his second straight shutout to start the Cup finals? That's where the dig on Malkin being asleep comes in. As far as Fleury, his pads are legal. They wouldn't be, if they adjusted the regulations to how I feel they should be; that being a length limit of 3 inches above the knee, and a width limit of nine inches...but I doubt there is a set of pads in use that WOULD be legal by that standard.

But ours are in an area where ice occurs naturally all winter, so they are legit fans who know more than any fan from a warmer area. /sarcasm

That I have a sense of humor, even if some other posters in this thread are severely lacking in that department? Not naming names or anything.

No. it's like this.

Paul Devorski is a referee, not a linesman. The primary purpose of the linesman is to determien when infractions such as offsides or icing occur. The secondary purpose is to call a limited number of infractions (as stated above) if the referee does not see the play occur. I still believe a switch to three referees with a crew of off-ice linesman (not terribly dissimilar to the line judges in tennis) with one referee designated as the head ref (with the ability to overrule calls) would be a better system that saw most missed calls get called, and most bad calls corrected. And with fewer officials on the ice in the way of the play, too!

The statement I was referring to was, to paraphrase "I'm sure Ozzie has had a few questions for Hasek" which is different than the article you posted. In the article you posted, Osgood says he started following the approach to games that he saw Hasek take. That is not the same context as saying he had questions for him, which implies that Hasek in some way helped Ozzie's technique. I was stating that since the two play completely different styles, that is extremely unlikely. The best analogy is if someone said Nick Lidstrom had questions for Chris Chelios in 2000. Chelios had the greater career at that point, yet it would have been foolish to say that Lidstrom would have been seeking Cheli's advice on playing technique, as was implied about Ozzie and Hasek. If you would go back and reread my posts, I never said that Ozzie didn't or couldn't learn anything from Hasek; I simply objected to the statement that made it seem as if Osgood were a raw prospect that Haske molded into a great goaltender and not a seasoned veteran who had won it all before.

Thanks for making sure to use the term 'deposit' Mack. Most people around here are under the mistaken impression that Balsillie took complete payment for season tickets in excess of 14,000...rather than a small fraction of the cost as a completely refundable deposit. The question, of course, is not really whether a team would survive in Hamilton. The question is, is Balsillie willing to follow the rules to get one? Hamilton is capable of supporting an NHL team. So is Ann Arbor. So are the other cities that have been mentioned as interested. However, if those cities have an owner willing to play by the NHL's rules, neither city will end up with an NHL team.

I did not dispute that Dom has had the better career. But Ozzie right now is the better goaltender, and he plays a completely different style than Hasek, and always has. It's not like he was some raw kid or some career backup who suddenly got in the room with Dom and Dom was able to magically bring his career to new heights...Oz is a seasoned veteran who has been an elite goalie, a star netminder, and a Stanley Cup winner while Hasek was still in Buffalo. The post I replied to made it out like Osgood, who didn't play a single game for the same team as Hasek until he had over 300 career wins, was a rookie who would otherwise be a backup or in the minors had it not been for Hasek's veteran presence...which is completely incorrect.