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Zubov is one of the five best defensemen in the league pretty consistently. So no, he's not overrated.

Did anyone else catch CBC making a VS-style error? They said "Even though Datsyuk and Zetterberg have yet to make a Cup final, there sre plenty of guys on this roster who have." Hello? 2002? Datsyuk won a Cup with the Wings? Anybody?

Well, as Osgood has stolen wins in this postseason, and Hasek didn't, I would say your thought processes are a little off. Because even if Hasek is capable, saying Osgood can't do something he DID is pretty much an ignorant statementand is made more on disrespect for the player than an actual evaluation of his abilities.

There are six forwards on the team with offensive capability scoring this playoffs as well as they should or better; Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Hudler, Holmstrom, Franzen, and Samuelsson. Defensemen who have been scoring as or better than expected are Lidstrom, Rafalski, and Kronwall. Guys who are not up to par who should be scoring more points include Filppula, Cleary, Draper, and Stuart. As far as defense is concerned, guys who haven't been playing up to par defensively include Cleary, Samuelsson, Holmstrom, McCarty, Chelios, and Lebda Guys who have been playing much better than expected defensively include Hudler, Filppula, Kronwall, and Stuart. So ultimately, the list of guys who need to step up or sit out can be summed up in this order, for regular skaters. 1 means 'needs to step up the most' and 18 means 'has the least stepping up to do' in that players at the high end are already likely playing at or above expectations, which much of the roster has fallen short of. 1) Cleary 2) Draper 3) Chelios 4) Lebda 5) McCarty 6) Filppula 7) Holmstrom 8) Stuart 9) Samuelsson 10) Maltby 11) Rafalski 12) Helm 13) Lidstrom 14) Datsyuk 15) Zetterberg 16) Franzen 17) Kronwall 18) Hudler

The difference being that the Wings lost games to Nashville, in part, due to Hasek giving up goals in quick succession multiple times. Normally I would put that sort of thing on the team, but multiple quick goals happened to Hasek multiple times in his 3.5 games this postseason, while it has not happened to Osgood even once in his 11.5 games. The skaters have looked worse the last couple games against Dallas than they ever did against Nashville, yet we haven't sen Dallas score a couple quick goals. That sort of thing suggests that had Hasek not been off his game at the wrong time, or had it been Osgood in those games, we wouldn't have seen those quick multi-goal bursts. Not bashing Dom; as I said his play was at worst a secondary factor in losses to Nashville. But you can't argue with the fact that Osgood has had a Smythe-worthy performance and has been excellent, even in his losses. Osgood has stopped 38 of 43 shots in his two losses; that compared with Hasek's 44 of 47 in his wins and is much better than the 35 of 42 in Hasek's losses. Combine that with the fact that Hasek typically takes a few games to get in a groove, and has historically had a bit of an ego regarding 'his' job, and I wonder if going back to Hasek would be a better option than Howard at this point. Not saying Dom WOULD cause problems if they decided to put him back, but it's the kind of thing he's been known for in the past so the coaches might consider it before taking action. Ultimately, though, the Wings are going to win the Cup, regardless of which goalie ends up playing the last few games.

If Fedorov's salary demands are reasonable, and he's interested, I expect Holland would make every effort to sign him. He tried to trade for him and Columbus wanted too much for it to be worth it. Fedorov would solve several problems at once. He'd be solid secondary scoring, he's still one of the most versatile players in the league, he would be able to provide a heavy, accurate shot on the point along with good playmaking abilities and competent defense, and the guy is absolutely money on faceoffs. He's not an elite player anymore, but I would take him if his salary expectations are in line with his performance. I would love to bring back Brad Stuart, but if I had to choose having one of them for 3.5m or less...It would be Fedorov.

The Wings should clearly pick up Olaf Kolzig for whatever he feels he's worth, as our primary problem in this playoff run has been goaltending.

Whether it is the minimum of two or the maximum of nine, you are probably correct.

Ozzie has been better in his losses than Dom was in his wins this postseason.

Kopecky was playing very well towards the end of his season. Helm has looked good because he has decent chemistry with Hudler, who has been on fire. I would say Kopecky was better this season than Helm has been, the major difference is that some of Kopecky's best games came when the Wings had their losing streak because half the team was injured and others were playing poorly, while Helm has not looked out of place on the fourth line during a run to the conference finals.

I we are bringing Mac out of the lineup because he isn't playing well...why is Downey's name even in the discussion? Mac isn't playing well because of his lack of speed and defensive responsibility...Downey is no better in either area. Downey would play just as little and look just as bad. Swap Mac fo Abdelkader or Hartigan and get someone who can actually play hockey in the lineup.

I want to see Flip and Cleary scoring, or I want to see Hudler getting more ice time. We need someone out there on the second line who is going to produce offense; that isn't Flip or Cleary right now.

Well, the columnist claimed Turco was on a level above Osgood. Osgood led the league in GAA this year and has done so before, and has won a Cup as a starter and has been a Vezina finalist. So claiming Turco is above that is claiming Turco is elite, because Osgood can be argued as either "elite" or "very good" and If Turco is in a whole class above Osgood, elite is the only place he could be.

Because he has been on the roster for a few games and has not looked as bad as McCarty, who everyone has written in ink for next year? Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Hudler, Filppula, Cleary, Samuelsson, Draper, Maltby, Franzen, Kopecky are all going to be top-12 for next season. That leaves one open spot. Helm won't be kept on the roster as a 13th forward. If possible, the Wings will look at picking up another top-nine type forward. I don't think it's as set that Helm will be around as a regular next season as you think. He's only in the game right now because of injury.

Since Franzen has been injured, Jiri Hudler has scored more power play goals than the entire first unit combined. So...I call BS on your post.

Why? Because Osgood has always been disrespected because he plays for the Wings? I don't consider that a valid reason. Because Osgood has played on good teams? Turco's average shots faced per 60 minutes has been at or above 26 ONE SEASON in his career. Once. And then, it was 26.5. A number Osgood has exceeded seven times in his career for shots per 60 minutes. Osgood has 160 more wins than Turco, despite playing for some truly terrible teams in NYI and StL. Turco has never played on a bad team in his career. At the age of 33, as Turco is now, Osgood had 100 more wins than Turco does. He also had won a Stanley Cup. He certainly wasn't just shaking a reputation as a playoff choker as Turco is now. Oh, and btw...that article is incorrect about many things. One of them being Ed Belfour's history with the Red Wings. While true Belfour never defeated the Wings in a Stars uniform, he once swept the Wings - and it was Belfour stealing the series; that's pretty much the only way to describe that series - when he was a Blackhawk. Belfour won twice as many games in Detroit in one playoff round than Turco has won in his career; and the best case scenario for Turco has him playing another game at the Joe this series. Turco is a good goalie; but to argue that he is an elite netminder and that Osgood never was is plain idiocy. Osgood has outplayed Turco this season, this series, and over their careers...yet somehow people think Turco is the clear-cut better goaltender? Is that because Osgood had good teams in front of him? Guess what; Flashy offenses don't improve your GAA. Great defenses typically limit your shot count unless they are extremely unorthodox. Osgood has typically seen more shots per game most seasons that Turco has seen in ANY season. So there goes the 'great defense' argument used to justify Turco over Osgood. Turco might end up with a better career than Osgood. but it sure as hell hasn't happened yet..and at this rate, I don't see it happening. Turco needs three seasons to catch the number of wins Osgood had at the same age; and Osgood himself is only three years older. Osgood is likely to finish his career in the mid 400s if not higher; Turco will be lucky to approach 400.

I'd like to see them try something like this: Hudler/Zetterberg/Cleary Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Samuelsson Abdelkader/Drake/Filppula Maltby/Draper/Helm Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Stuart Lebda/Lilja/Chelios

I'll draw a parallel. Goalies say that the purpose of goaltender equipment is protection, and they don't wear bigger pads to increase their bulk and thus cover more net. Therefore, pad size should be the minimum protective gear possible, right? Well, from the bottom of a person's heel to the top of their knee is about 2/7 of their total height. Let's work with thate ratio for a second. Brodeur is 74 inches tall, meaning that for the average person his height, it's about 21 inches to the top of his knee. He uses 35 inch pads. That's a 5:3 ratio. Conceivably, we should be able to apply this ratio to Legace's height and get the size pads that Legace could wear as an equivalent to Brodeur. Guess what? That would work out to 66 inches tall. So we're going based off of a 19 inch knee instead of a 21 inch knee...which means Legace should be wearing 32 inch pads. So Legace basically has six extra inches of leg pad that he doesn't need for safety's sake, and that's assuming Brodeur's are the minimal pads one would need based on proportion to the body. And then consider that leg pads are probably the most restricted, and thusly the most 'legal' of goaltender equipment, and we still see guys like that who are basically cheating with them. It's not about picking on the goalies. It's about fair play for those goalies who DON'T cheat their gear, and those teams that don't have a cheater in net.

What I would like to see in a new arena: I want the suites located under the lower bowl, similar to how they are in the ACC. Why, you ask? Because the seats tied to the suites, in my model, would be upwards of row 15 or 20 or wherever you made the walkway. This would allow the Wings to sell decent seats to businesses at high prices, and still keep a good number of good seats available for the everyday fan or average joe who wants to buy a single game or even seasons. This solves multiple issues; the arena appears more full even if attendance is the same because the empty 'sold' seats are further from the ice and thus less noticeable, and it allows everyday average joe to get good seats for one game without having to secure his business' season tickets to do so.

Bettman has to say that the call is good. Why? Because it is a discretion call and a judgement call. If, in the referee's judgement, the player interfered with the goaltender's attempt to make a save while the goaltender was in his crease, goaltender interference can be called. Typically, it isn't, but to say that it was absolutely the wrong call for the situation is not accurate. I wouldn't have called it, but Sutherland clearly felt Holmstrom's conduct and positioning directly impaired Turco's ability to attempt the save. On this level, regardless of whether Bettman himself feels the call should have been made, he has to trust his ref. If it becomes a series of questionable calls involving the same ref, that is a different issue. but Sutherland is typically considered one of the league's better refs and I don't remember the last time his name was mentioned with regards to a blown call. It's like if, on a 3-on-1 against Pittsburgh, Lidstrom decides to cover Malkin tighter than he covers Orpik. Crosby then dishes the puck to Orpik, who manages to score because Lidstrom is cheating towards Malkin. Obviously, Lidstrom made a judgement call. Obviously, it directly resulted in a goal against. Do you think Babcock will say 'Lidstrom obviously should have covered Orpik and left Malkin more open' or do you think he's more likely to back up Nick's judgement, even if it ultimately resulted in a goal against? Sutherland cheated towards Malkin, making the judgement he felt was the most accurate. The way the league is set up right now, he can't turn around and say 'oops, I was wrong, it's a goal' and that's a problem, but it doesn't make Bettman a ****** or an ass or anything else for backing up one of his best refs' judgement calls.

I'd rather have Tayshaun Prince than Carmelo Anthony given the option. That's what Dumars claims he was thinking as well, and to be fair, Milicic was supposed to be a blue chipper. Combine that with the fact that, at the time, Ben Wallace was the only effective big man on the team, and it becomes a no-brainer. You take the blue chip big man because you already have your skilled small forward. And for the record, Milicic has become a solid two-way performer in his one and a half seasons as a starter in the NBA...and the guy is only 22, so it's not like he isn't going to get better. Milicic could very well explode in the next couple seasons and become the All-Star he was supposed to be. It's not his fault the Pistons chose to draft him and then never give him an opportunity, despite the fact that the kid showed he could play ball at both ends of the court whever he was given a chance on the floor. Just because he didn't turn into a star in his chance with his draft team doesn't make him a bust. In fact, it doesn't even mean he can't become one of the best players in the world. In the NHL, Brett Hull, Todd Bertuzzi, Zdeno Chara, JS Giguere, Miikka Kiprusoff, Cam Neely, Roberto Luongo, Chris Pronger, and Dominik Hasek are all good examples of this. That said, Hudler cannot be considered in the same league a find as Z or dats. Nobody knew who Z or Dats even were except the Wings. Hudler was, and may still be, considered the most talented center available in the draft. That tag alone keeps him on everyone's radar until someone decides to take him. I assumed even before the draft it would be the Wings because of his size/skill combination; if you ranked all players according to "size" and "skill", the Wings are the team most likely to go almost exclusively off the 'skill" list when considering their picks, in part because of the system they have and in part because they consistently draft late. Highly skilled players with size go early; after that, you have to decide between skill and size. The Wings typically have not had success in their system when using players whose primary ability is size; Kuznetsov, Hatcher, Krupp, and others are proof of this. Players like Jiri Fischer and Jonathan Ericsson, plays who have both size AND good skating and puck skills, are the ideal players for the Wings' system because they provide strength and physicality, but don't present a weak cog as far as the puck possession game. Look to Downey this season for an example of this; he has the strength but he isn't a good skater and can't really play with the puck, which is probably the biggest reason McCarty got his spot going into the playoffs.

Here's where my position differs from the typical fan. I think the referees should be empowered to conference about and reverse calls if necessary, from offsides to icing to penalties and goals. I don't think we should have the 'well, I called it, what do you want me to do now' situation that we have when refs make a call then realize they screwed up. Also, I would rather see officials in this fashion: Three on-ice referees; one head referee with the authority to overrule the other two if necessary. Off-ice line judges, replacing the existing linesmen. There is no reason for linesmen as we know them to exist in an on-ice role. That role could be better served by off-ice officials whose purpose was to monitor the lines anf make calls on things like icing, offsides, etc. This would require some kind of remote signal that would stop play, but that can be taken care of. Either a remote 'whistle' or perhaps even a goal light style system.

Ford Field did one thing for the Lions' attendance. Slashed the average by about 15,000. Why, you ask? Because the Silverdome has a capacity close to 80,000, and Ford Field's capacity is close to the NFL average of about 65,000. The Lions sold out the Silverdome when they played there...so selling out Ford Field is a piece of cake.

One problem; the NHL is unlikely to ever approve a schedule that sees teams playing more games against a different division than they do against their own, which happens in your plan as teams are scheduled to play five games against one other division ever year, and seven games against their 'permanent rival' if that is the scheduled division.

I picked smaller goalie equipment. Because ultimately, while 'goal review' is a popular choice, ALL teams get screwed by unreviewable plays. Goalie equipment is something where a few guys are using gear that is way beyond what they should be wearing, and other guys who are having just as much success are using much smaller gear without suffering a performance deficit or seeing any kind of injury resulting from using less gear. Guys like Martin Brodeur and Chris Osgood are among the best goalies in the league without using crazy gear, while you have the JS Giguere, Ryan Miller, Manny Legace crowd using maxed out pads while themselves being fairly small guys. Why does Manny Legace need to use the same size pads as Olaf Kolzig, Roman Turek, or Garth Snow? That's just ridiculous. Tie pad length to the goaltender's height, and limit pad width to nine inches. Limit how much the blocker and trapper can protrude, and limit how bulky the chest protector can be.