eva unit zero

Cleary and Franzen are natural wingers who have played center. Hank, Dats, Flip, Draper, Hudler, Kopecky, Drake are natural centers.

Hmm....Scott Niedermayer, the Conn Smythe winner, had already decided to go to Anaheim BEFORE BURKE WAS THERE. Teemu Selanne had already decided he wanted to return to Anaheim, independent of Burke. Giguere, Getzlaf, Perry, Penner, McDonald, Pahlsson, R.Niedermayer, Moen were all either on the team or at the very least in the organization. Basically, Burke swapped out Sergei Fedorov, Joffrey Lupul, and Ladislav Smid for Todd Marchant, Chris Pronger, and Francois Beauchemin. That's an overall loss of talent in that swap.

If Kronwall hadn't been out, Schneider's injury would have been far less significant and the Wings probably win that series. The problem was that BOTH were out, which put Samuelsson on the point. Sammy is a mediocre passer and makes bad shot decisions...Kronwall is a much better passer and makes good enough decisions about shooting that the Ducks wouldn't have been able to key on Nick like they did with Sammy at the point.

The last real enforcer the Wings had was Joey Kocur. McCarty (90s, not 00s), Lapointe, Shanahan (90s, not 00s), Fischer are the kind of guys the Wings should be looking at. And they are hoping that's the kind of guy players like Kopecky and Franzen develop into.

That's the thing. His number will never be worn again, but he only played six seasons, only two of which he was really an elite player. As great as he was, and he was great--if not for the accident Vladdy might be the guy with five Norrises, not Nick--he simply wasn't around long enough to earn retirement. As much as I'm going to get flamed for this, I think, based on play alone, that Ozzie is more deserving of the honor than Vladdy, because Ozzie was a top-end goaltender with the Wings for several years. Had Vladdy never been hurt in that limo, he'd win that comparison, but both players would likely have much more hardware.

It wouldn't be the same. Yzerman was an elite player in the league for most of his career. Smyth is not and likely never will be, yet he is paid as such. Penner is more likely to be an elite player on his current contract than Smyth is.

Burke can't commit any significant salary past this year or he loses at least one of Perry, Kunitz, or Getzlaf. Those three are more important than any stopgap defenseman he might still be able to sign.

Burke could have signed Rafalski, the only top end two way defenseman on the market, for not much more than he gave Schneider, who is a very good offensive defenseman, but is one-dimensional. Holland signed Rafalski while Burke signed Schneider. As far as Todd Bertuzzi, he signed with Anaheim after he priced himself out of Detroit. The discussions were initiated by Bertuzzi after Holland balked at signing him to a 2-year deal. Burke then overpaid Bertuzzi considerably, which has cost him Selanne and Penner.

Adjusting Penner's goals and assists to Ryan Smyth's total ice time, you come out with 37 goals and 21 assists. If Penner can even get 30 goals and 20 assists, he's worth the money compared to what Smyth got. Not to threadjack..but Smyth is seriously overpaid. I mean, 6m+ for a 31 year old player who has scored 70 points once, and it was 6 years ago? Smyth is not a defensive stalwart, he's not a top scorer, nor is he a power forward...what makes him worth better than 6m?

In one of the earlier threads about this topic, someone posted a blue/green jersey with the skate logo that looked absolutely sweet. I think they should do that, but they won't.

The Ducks outlook is like this: If Perry, Getzlaf, and Penner (if matched) continue developing at the rate they have been, the Ducks should be a contender this season, but will lose a good young player (or players) afterward. If Getzlaf/Perry (and Penner if matched) have down seasons, the Ducks MIGHT be able to stay together, but they will not be a contender this season and will not be able to address any weaknesses in the offseason. So yes, the Ducks are in bad shape, and yes, it's mainly due to the Bertuzzi and Schneider signings.

The facts being that all we can go on is observation, with no clock of Schneider's shot. And observation tells me Fedorov's is harder.

I hope I am not the only person who recognizes the humor in this...

Amusing as hell. Balsillie and Del Biaggio both attempt to purchase the same franchise, Balsillie eventually backs out without a binding agreement, and Del Biaggio ends up as a minority investor. [/font] That's twice in as many teams this has happened...

Schneider never seems to participate in 'hardest shot' competitions. Not in the team competitions and not in the All-Star competition the few tims he's gone to the game. Fedorov, on the other hand, has participated in both team and AS competition many times, often being clocked above 100. If you assume the four hardest shooting guys in the competition to be the three hardest shooters available, and them fit Schneider in at a tenth of a MPH back of that, meaning he's harder than anyone else who shot or didn't shoot, he still probably doesn't come up with a shot better than Fedorov. Ultimately, we can't say without clocking Schneider. But both in-game and skills competition results suggest Sergei has a harder shot.

And at least one who felt he was the best performing defenseman on the team from the start of the season until the incident.

Players like Sanchez and Palmeiro have had positive tests. Not to mention the fact that the steroid testing policy was put in place because of the BALCO scandal. Don't you think they'd have tested Bonds, I don't know, RIGHT AWAY? The chances he will have a positive test lessen every day--even if he had been using streoids before he's probably not now.

Fedorov has been clocked over 100 mph numerous times. Schneider's shot is pretty even with Nick Lidstrom's, who only once has been clocked over 95. The chances that Lidstrom's shot has improved by 3-5mph in the past couple of years while Fedorov's has declined by an equal amount are pretty slim. That would suggest Schneider's shot is still not as hard as Sergei's.

Ok, so you would rather have a young, first-line one-dimensional offensive center playing on your second line than an older two-way center who is no longer first-line material based on offense alone. That's reasonable. I don't necessarily agree, but wanted a first line offensive center over a two-way center is not unheard of. EDIT: And your statement about the skill set Fedorov ONCE possessed? There is not a single guy on your list who is as complete and as good at everything as Fedorov was at his best. Nobody. The closest thing the NHL has to Fedorov in his prime right now is Henrik Zetterberg.

This really comes down the stage of their careers the players were at: 1) Fischer was a budding young star with a bright career ahead of him. 2) Fedorov was a star center, but was on the decline. 3) Vladdy was the best defenseman in the world at the time. 4) McCarty was a third liner who was bought out because he was overpaid and underperforming. 5) Shanahan, like Fedorov, was an aging star on the decline. None of the three forwards mentioned were going to be as good as they had been, while the two defensemen were very good and still had the potential to get better. So, looking at it that way, it really comes down to one comparison. Fischer or Konstantinov. Konstantinov was the best defenseman in the league, and Fischer had the potential to be such. Realistically, though, you have to say Vladdy, for the reason that he was at the top of the league when it happened. Fischer could have gotten there, or just as easily flamed out. With Vladdy still around, the Wings likely win two or three more Cups than they have. There are many moves that would never have been made with Vladdy still around, including Hasek, Chelios, Lilja, and Markov.

Mark Howe started his career as a LW in the WHA, and had three seasons of better than a point per game in the WHA that way. He continued on starting in the 76-77 season as a defenseman, and was a Norris finalist a few times.

Barry Bonds has never tested positive, either. Barry was a dominant player before he is alleged to have started doping, and was not as far and away the best in his alleged 'doping years' as Lance was on the Tour, and Armstrong was a middle of the pack racer until his first win, after which he won six more in a row. Barry is often hit with the 'sudden improvement' label as proof of guilt. Just for reference.

Not true. Sergei's is easily harder. Fedorov's dad complaining is not the same as Fedorov complaining. Sergei never once bitched about his role to the media. As far as a 'career revival'? Fedorov is still a damn fine forward!! The Wings only have two forwards I would even consider better than Sergei, and most teams are weaker up front than Detroit.

He only played 60 games at center and scored 39 points. As I illustrated, his scoring pace had he played all 72 games at center projects to 46 points, which would have ranked around 50th. None of the centers between 30 and 70 are better defensively than Fedorov. So he is top 60 in offense (second line offensively) and better than most of the top 60 offensive players defensively. I can understand arguing him as not a first liner...but he is EASILY still a top six forward. If you remove the 13 games Fedorov played on defense, he ties Scott Hartnell at 148th among forwards with 39 points. There were 179 forwards who scored .5 PPG or better and played 40+ games. Fedorov, even with his minimal output in 13 games on the blueline, falls into that group. Given just his games at forward, he scored .65 PPG, ranking 114th among forwards with 40+ games played. That's top-four scoring, with elite defense on top of it. As far as the 'Fedorov is overpaid' argument...Viktor Kozlov was signed for 2.5m, Lang for 4m. Those two were just behind Fedorov in PPG, and bring no defensive game. Then the real question is 'how much is quick skating, faceoff skill, and top notch defense worth fro man experienced center, without any offense?' And the answer is 2.128m, the salary of Kris Draper. Which means Fedorov is worth somewhere between 4.628m and 6.128m. Which is what he makes. Maybe Fedorov should make 5.378m, the average of the two? Mike Comrie pulled in 3.375 for similar offense to Fedorov. That plus Draper's salary would put him right near the middle of the previously established range.

Perhaps he attempted to contact Burke and Burke was unavailable because he was too busy with his own personal glory to do his job?