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Ohio State vs LSU or Virginia Tech for the national championship. But, more importantly....Michigan is almost a lock to go to the Capital One bowl now. Which means the Capital One bowl gets to eat serious crow, after their comments of 'Michigan is not on our list of teams' and that BS.

Lids is the best European player ever in the NHL. As far as defensemen, he's 4th or 5th at best among NHLers, with Orr, Bourque, and Harvey ahead of him. A few more years at the top and MAYBE he can move into 3rd or possibly even 2nd, but not yet.

Hudler is a better goal scorer than Datsyuk. He probably won't be as good in that department as Zetterberg will be. This would put his peak likely somewhere between 35-45 goals. Depending on the climate of the league and who he plays with, it's possible for him to hit 50, but it's not highly likely.

NFL TV revenues also exceed the salary cap. The NFL could have free admission and every team would still be able to cover all of their player expenses with TV revenue. The NHL does not have this luxury.

So does that 'revenues in Canadian dollars' include money spent on the Wings and Sabres, who are at the border, as well as money spent on the Coyotes or Avalanche by people in Winnipeg or Quebec still loyal to their team? Canadian dollars is not the same as 'Canadian teams' and it's a flat lie to present it as such.

If you sued Bettman for the difference, you would have to pay Bettman 10m...because as of right now, the difference is that the local group ponied up a non-refundable deposit while Balsillie wouldn't.

You know what amuses me? People said last year and even into this year 'Hudler won't be effective in the NHL unless he's in a scoring line role, and he will never be that good' and now this year people are saying 'Hudler should be on the fourth line and Flip on the second because we know Huds can score no matter what line he's on, but Flip needs to develop on the second line' and in the meantime, Huds has become our most dangerous offensive player after Hank and Dats.

I don't know about current revenues, but here are the numbers from 2004. Total league revenue was 2.24 billion. Canadian teams made a total of 476m, about 20%. The Canadian dollar has gone from around 85 cents to aroudn $1.05 USD. If the revenue stream stayed basically the same, Canadian teams would now have 588 USD, representing 24% of the revenue. If Canadian teams were 40%, assuming the only change in their revenue was the exchange rate, then that would mean league revenues were down to 1.47B. If Canadian teams increased revenue by 50% in Canadian dollars, that would mean league revenues would have to be 2.2B. League revenues are greater than that, meaning that either 40% is way off, or the Canadian teams have increased their revenue by some ridiculous percentage.

Homer is the best fit for the third spot on that line. Franzen is not as good at that job as Homer is, but is a better skater and is better defensively. That logically would suit Franzen better than Homer to ANOTHER line, while Homer is better suited than Franzen for the top line. It's like arguing which of Huds or Flip do you play as a top-line winger if you split Dats and Z up? Hudler clearly; Flip might be the better player and might have the brighter future, but Hudler is easily the better scorer and is more comfortable on the wing than Flip.

How about Samuelsson/Neely, Graves/Lemieux, Plett/Stefan, and Hextall/Anderson? If you think it has happened more in the past few years than it did before, you weren't watching. Those are all cheapies that happened in the 80s or early 90s...you could even add Hunter/Turgeon to the list as it was during the first season of the instigator. Cheap shots have always happened, and the major ones happen less often nowadays. Especially when you consider that Bertuzzi is the only guy you mentioned who didn't develop a rep BEFORE the instigator as a chippy player who could hold his own in a fight. Why would a guy like McSorley or Domi be deterred by an enforcer...those guys went toe to toe with guys like Semenko and Probert on a nightly basis...they wouldn't have been less likely to pull s*** when in their physical prime than they were after it. The fat is, cheap shots were simple more tolerated by the fans and NHL brass in the 80s and before; combine that with less publicity and you have what would appear to be a non-issue to someone who didn't actually WATCH hockey in those days.

Yes...but Evgeni Malkin made it over. Also, transfer fees only apply for players under contract; making it more difficult for teams to bring Swedish youngsters over is going to reduce the draft stock of Swedes, but it would actually allow the Wings better access as better Swedes would be available later in the draft, and the Wings can afford to leave them in Sweden until they can be brought over without a headache. The Wings have a history of offering contracts that say 'NHL or home country' to top prospects (Datsyuk, Zetterberg. Grigorenko) and the fact that so many Swedish players are coming over and ending up playing in the AHL is the point of contention.

He was bashing the driving in a circle 250 times, not what people actually watch NASCAR for...which is crashing and so they can drink cheap nasty beer.

Wings 4 (Hudler 2, Zetterberg, Meech) Lightning 1 (Richards)

Ellis is peforming about as well offensively per game as Draper did at the same age. Ellis has shown to be a solid forechecker and a capable defensive player, which is what Draper was at the time. Ellis is probably a notch below what Draper was, but he has enough tools to be a valuable third or fourth line checking center for a lot of teams looking for that kind of player for the long-term. As far as Kopecky...having him not develop into a power forward as a Red Wing is better than having him develop into one somewhere else. Kopecky has an excellent chance of being the Wings' third line center for a long time if he develops some consistency to his physical and defensive games, and he has an outside shot at becoming a second line power forward. As long as management feels he can develop into a useful player, they will do what they can to hang onto him. Kopecky's unrealized potential is worth more by itself than what Downey brings to the ice because of what it COULD mean to the Wings of the future. But ultimately, it's not about 'which player is helpign the most right now' it's about 'which player is the least likely to get claimed?' and that guy is Downey.

Yeah, Holland hasn't drafted any North American players in the first or second round the past couple seasons...except Justin Abdelkader, Shawn Matthias, Cory Emmerton, Brendan Smith, or Zack Torquato. He's also drafted guys like Darren Helm, Logan Pyett, Kyle Quincey, Evan McGrath, Ryan Oulahen, Randy Cameron. But yeah...Holland only drafts European players.

We all 'know' that. But let's be honest here for a second. Cheap shots are DOWN. Yes, the instigator penalty reduces fighting. But the general argument against it is that it causes an increase in cheap shots...which is false; major cheap shots have been less frequent during the period with the instigator than they were immediately preceding it. It is impossible to say whether the instigator, the increased talent base, coaching styles, or a combination of those three caused the decline in cheap shots and fighting. I am personally in favor of a modification to the instigator; the current 'last 5 minutes' rule regarding the instigator should be the ONLY instance the penalties are awarded; the language should be modified to reflect this. This prevents last minute goonage in a game that is already decided, but allows for the players to police the game when it actually counts.

What Anomalously meant, correctly, is that the Wings can afford to pay the exorbinant transfer fees that Swedes might start charging, while other teams can't. If anything, this would allow the Wings BETTER access to Swedes as more of the top Swedish players will fall lower in the draft, but could still be brought over by a team with the right finances.

Ok, we'll step away from the Montreal example. People complain constantly that Winnipeg lost their franchise to a non-hockey market liek Phoenix. Yet Phoenix consistently posts better attendance marks than Winnipeg ever achieved, in both actual attendance and percentage of capacity. Winnipeg was a failed market even moreso than Nashville is; Winnipeg had a pre-NHL history of winning and was the only major sports team of any kind in town. As long as there are people (read:Canadians with a superiority complex) arguing Winnipeg deserves a team, Nashville should not be subject to 'moved that failed market's team' bulls*** because it is a more successful market than Winnipeg was, despite having no pre-existing hockey tradition. You are wrong. All teams are subject to a cap in USD. Otherwise it is unfair as the six Canadian teams would have a different cap than the 24 American teams. What happens with the Canadian dollar being stronger than the American right nwo is simply that the Canadian franchises effectively are paying a lower percentage of their revenue than they were a year ago for the same thing. What would have cost 500,000 Canadian when the Canadian dollar was at .80 USD would now cost under 400,000 Canadian. If you're looking at it from a percentage of revenue standpoint, the Canadian teams received an increase in the amount of money they can afford to spend under the cap.

Terry Pascal Martin Patrick Dominik Lebroysekchuck?

And that article also states that the Auto Show pumps 100m into Oakland County's economy. We can assume that Wayne County gets at least hat much as well. That means in two years or less, the renovation is paid for by the auto show using plan B if you compare to what it would be like WITHOUT expanding Cobo and then losing the Auto Show to another city.

That 4m per year could have been better spent on Dustin Penner. The Rangers may or may not be facing cap issues in the next few years. Anaheim is facing them NOW. If Anaheim had retained Penner instead of picking up Bert, they would be better off.

It's not that simple. From the report I read, it was like this: In the first break in, NOTHING WAS TAKEN, and a butcher knife was left on Taylor's bed. In the second break-in, NOTHING WAS TAKEN, and Taylor was shot and killed. That sounds much more like a targeted killing than a robbery with a shooting.

Downey has played well...but Drake is really the only other player on the roster they could waive with any hope of him not being picked up. Kopecky has a potential ceiling of being a second line power forward; he would be claimed just for what he has a slim chance of achieving. Ellis has played well and the tools to be the next Kris Draper; a lot of teams would love to have a guy like that from the beginning of his career. Drake is a vet who is not playing well and didn't do well last season. Teams might take a flyer on him as a veteran presence and a leader, but his on-ice performance has not been there. Drake is probably the best choice to waive if you are concerned about losing someone, because everyone else on the roster except Downey would likely be claimed.

Oh, good...I was just about to run to the store for some Charmin. Now I don't have to!

The most amazing stickhandler in terms of dekes is often not the BEST stickhandler, nor does an extra deke necessarily get you better shooting position. Case in point: I remember one play where Alexei Kovalev, one of the most phenomenal puckhandlers I've ever seen, rushed the puck into the zone rather than dump it while his linemates went to the bench for a forward line change. He had a decent opportunity from the high slot and almost decided to shoot, but instead chose to deke around the guy. This ended up forcing him to the outside, as the defenseman was able to step up. By this point, defenseman had set up at the points and the entire opposing team was in the defensive zone. Kovalev tried to deke around the defender, and was forced behind the net. Ultimately, he ended up trying a couple more dekes and then losing the puck without so much as a scoring chance. Every deke ended up putting him in worse position than he had previously; all he had to do was shoot. Do you play at a level where you can justify buying the "O" stick? If not...I'm calling it as either BS or a very poor financial decision.