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Is there an owner out there who is considering moving to Winnipeg? If not, is there a prospective owner with a Winnipeg team in mind? I feel I can say pretty reliably the answer to both questions is NO, and THAT is why Winnipeg has no team.

Osgood played stellar that entire series. The fact that the Wings were up 3-0 and STOPPED PLAYING was not Osgood's fault. That and the fact that in game 4, there was never a conclusive replay shot and Faucette could not possibly have seen the puck cross the line, combined with the Kings' second goal in Game five being scored on a missed offsides play. If you take those two plays away, and everything else happens as it did, the Wings are up 3-1 in the series going into OT in game 5.

I would love to see Harrington make the pro bowl and Atlanta do very well then next couple years...for a great many reasons, not the least of which is that it would be a 'Vick is a cruel bastard, and he was a worse quarterback than Joey Harrington'

In this case, projecting numbers works, and I'll tell you why: The years Yzerman missed the most time due to his knee injury were also some of his worst seasons for PPG. There exists a very strong chance that projected numbers in any year with a significant amount of games missed would have been BELOW Yzerman's point total had he played all the games. As far as Lemieux is concerned...you did see the fact I ranked him ABOVE Yzerman, yes? Lemieux sees an increase of several hundred points when you pro-rate the large chunks of missed games, and that doesn't even include 94-95 or 97-00, a span which likely cost Lemieux upwards of 500 points on its own. Lemieux missed 761 games during his career. Only in his final season did he drop below the point-per-game mark. Figure that he only scores a point per game over the missed games, he's still at 2500 just from that.

Because ESPN wouldn't accept any deal that had them paying a rights fee. They wanted a deal like NBC ended up with later on and Bettman was vilified for. Imagine if he had signed that deal with ESPN instead of signing a deal with OLN? Versus is owned by Comcast. It has nothing to do with NBC, except that both show hockey.

Winnipeg has no need for an arena that large. They have never averaged even close to 15000 in any season AT ANY LEVEL. In fact, since the 2002-03 season, EVERY SINGLE NHL TEAM has ecllipsed the 13,900 mark for average attendance at least once, something the Jets never did in their entire history. Chicago and the Islanders are the only teams that have to go back before the lockout to hit that mark. 2003 is also the last time Phoenix was UNDER that mark. Ultimately, Winnipeg and Quebec proved they could not support an NHL team. Nashville is floundering, but FAR from done. How about give them another ten years like Winnipeg, Hartford, and Quebec had? They already get comparable fan support to those teams, and are far from established. Given that Winnipeg, Quebec, and Hartford were considered hockey markets when the WHA put teams there, and Nashville is considered a non-hockey market...shouldn't their support be considered good?

I said Jagr's best seasons came with Francis. Meaning the run from 95-98...Francis was his center every one of those seasons. After that he had to downgrade to Martin Straka for two seasons, before giving seeing time with Jan Hrdina for the first part of the 00-01 season, in which he had one of his least prolific periods. Until, of course, Mario Lemieux came out of retirement and helped him along. My major beef with Jagr is that he has always had a couple very talented teammates. Even in Washington he had Lang, Gonchar, and Bondra. I don't like that Jagr is given all kinds of praise for singlehandedly leading these one-man teams that had solid offensive players BESIDES Jagr, and whose problem, like Jagr, was in PREVENTING goals. The 00-01 Pens are a fine example--they were the only team in the league to allow more than 240 goals and still win more than they lost. In 99-00, they were the only team giving up 230 that won more than they lost. In 98-99, Toronto gave up 231 (and still bitched and moaned when Joseph didn't win the Vezina) and had a winning record, the only team in the three year span other than Pittsburgh to do so while allowing as many goals as the Pens. Interestingly enough, the Pens of 97-98--Tom Barrasso's last healthy season with the club and Ron Francis' last year in Pittsburgh--was the last time the Pens allowed fewer than 225. That year, they allowed 188. That's why I use the 'if Yzerman hadn't destroyed his knee' argument. Simply by projecting his per-season points per game over the games missed each year with his knee injury, he comes darn close to the top 2 in scoring. Before any 'woulda coulda' adjusting his scoring pace, simply adjusting his numbers based on his actual per game average puts him right there near the top. Given that Yzerman, not Messier, was an elite defensive forward, it's difficult to argue Messier ahead of Yzerman. Certainly not impossible, but an uphill battle, especially on this board.

If I were building a team and could pick one player to start with, it would be Yzerman. I have posted elsewhere that had he not had a major knee injury during the 88 season, he LIKELY would have ended up second on the scoring list (he comes damn close just by filling in games missed due to the knee with his GPG and APG for that same season, and only a fool would think the long term effects of the knee injury didn't affect his play drastically in later years) However, it would be foolish to rank Yzerman's career ahead of Gretzky or Lemieux, who overshadowed him most of his career, or Howe and Orr, who I obviously ranked ahead of Wayne and Mario. I think Yzerman suffered in that the only supporting cast he ever saw in his career came after he had suffered two major injuries and was on the back nine of his career. Most other 'great' players had excellent players to play with during their prime. I do think Maurice Richard gets far too much credit, though. People talk about his 50 in 50, but forget that the Hart winner that season was not Richard, but his centerman, Elmer Lach. Richard is the only Hart winner in history to have also been beaten by two players who were his linemate at the time (Lach and Jean Beliveau) Richard was a great player, but in 18 seasons he only led the Canadiens in scoring five times. Jean Beliveau, Elmer Lach, and Dickie Moore all led the team in scoring at least three times during Richard's tenure and both Beliveau and Blake led more times overall yet receive a fraction of the praise given to the Rocket.

Jagr would have ZERO Art Ross rophies if he hadn't played with Francis in his best years. Francis is one of the most prolific offensive players ever, and also just happens to have won a Selke and contended for others. Extremely underrated player.

One fact that is overlooked by the 'Move Nashville' crowd: BALSILLIE is the reason no binding agreement was reached. He wanted the league to vote on the sale and relocation BEFORE he entered into a binding agreement. in other words, he wanted a 'yes' vote that he could buy the team and move them to Hamilton BEFORE he paid a cent. The league's policy is that a binding agreement must be reached before a vote is made on either subject. Sorry, but Leipold deciding he won't ever receive money from Balsillie has NOTHING to do with Bettman.

Balsillie is, at this point, simply whining and crying to get his way. One thing people should remember: Balsillie tried to purchase and move the Pens when they had been sitting at the bottom of the attendance list. Bettman and the BOG refused to allow them to be purchased with the intent to be moved. Why should Balsillie be allowed to move Nashville but not Pittsburgh? And why should his blatant disregard for NHL rules and regulations be ignored?

Wrong. Yzerman received Selke votes as far back as the 80s, and is the only player in league history to receive at least one first place Selke vote in the same season he scored more than 140 points. Bryan Trottier has said Yzerman, even as a rookie, was excellent defensively. Darren Pang has said that Yzerman played that style as far back as juniors. 1) Gordie Howe 2) Bobby Orr 3) Wayne Gretzky 4) Mario Lemieux 5) Steve Yzerman Any other top-five list is just wrong.

I guess I understand why people trash the guy on here. But Jamie McLennan has consistently been one of the better backups in the NHL the past few years. Until the playoffs, he was the only veteran goalie available I would have even considered signing had Hasek retired; given his combination of solid play and low price tag. Obviously that changed after the playoffs, but I'm still somewhat surprised nobody signed him.

Expand to KC and Las Vegas. Realign into 4 8-team divisions as follows: Western Conference: Pacific: Anaheim, Calgary, Edmonton, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver Central: Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Dallas, Kansas City, Minnesota, Nashville, St. Louis Eastern Conference: Northeast: Boston, Buffalo, Detroit, Montreal, Ottawa, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Toronto Atlantic: Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, NY Islanders, NY Rangers, Tampa Bay, Washington Schedule the season with 6 divisional matchup games, 3 conference matchup games, and 1 vs the opposing conference for a total of 82 games. Seed playoffs by division. Alter the instigator rule to allow for policing during the same period or game, but to discourage 'later in the season' incidents like the Bertuzzi/Moore incident. Secure a TV deal like the NFL's that would pay for all player salaries.

Another way of looking at this: Toronto has the first overall draft pick. They are considering three forwards. The top-ranked player is an American who has also been drafted high by a baseball team and is considering which sport he wants to play, The second-ranked player is a Russian who is a star in his home country right now. and the third is a Canadian kid who grew up in Hamilton and idolized Doug Gilmour and Wendel Clark. Now, the American is clearly the best option as far as potential. But the fact is, the American hasn't even decided he wants to be a pro hockey player. So that wouldn't be a good top pick. The Russian is the next best player available, but as he is a Russian there is no guarantee he ever plays for the Leafs, or in the NHL for that matter. Which leaves the Canadian kid, whose dream has always been to play for Toronto. Yes, he may not have the highest potential, but he's the most likely to reach his potential for the Leafs in the NHL.

They've been around a while, and I like the guys very much, but if you think the 1998 or 2002 Wings team would not have won the cup without Homer, Drapes, Maltby, or Mac you're nuts. Those guys were of minimal importance to those teams. The last three could have been replaced by a large number of easily available third line pluggers, and Homer was far from a deal breaker as far as scoring is concerned. Hasek was nearly traded to St. Louis instead of Detroit. Robitaille and Hull wanted to come to Detroit because Detroit was the ONLY TEAM THAT SHOWED INTEREST. To criticize a guy for picking up two strong players that NOBODY ELSE WANTED is mind-boggling. Burke, on the other hand, picked up two players a larg number of teams were pursuing, but only wanted to play for his team. Not the same. Plus Burke is an arrogant ******, and that just pisses me off. But let's take a look at players who played on the Cup roster Burke acquired in Anaheim: Selanne, Pronger, Niedermayer, Beauchemin, Marchant, Moen, O'Donnell, Thornton, DiPenta, May. If Selanne doesn't ignore other offers and go to Anaheim for a discount, Burke can't trade Fedorov for Beauchemin and Marchant. If Getzlaf, Perry, and Kunitz don't develop the way they do, Burke can't trade Lupul for Pronger. So that means Burke's biggest acquisitions were Moen and O'Donnell. Also, people act as if Holland just added Robitaille, Hasek, and Hull to the 2001 roster, which had just lost a couple of playoff performers in Kozlov and Lapointe.

I cannot say this enough: NASHVILLE WAS NEVER HAVING A FIRESALE. Timonen and Hartnell signed for crazy amounts, and Nashville said they were traded because of their contract demands and the fact they were about to be UFA. Better to get something than nothing. Vokoun was traded because he costs several million dollars more than Mason, who outperformed him last season and has been healthier. Kariya left because of uncertainty about the sale, and because St. Louis offered him way more than he is worth. If Nashville were having a firesale, don't you think guys like Arnott and Sullivan would have been dealt? And move Ottawa because they had many years near the top of the league where their attendance was just as terrible. Wait, they're Canadian, so their team isn't allowed to be moved even if they don't support it. I am sick of this racist BS that bad Canadian markets like Quebec, Hamilton, or Winnipeg deserve to have a team but equal or better American markes don't.

Of the six regular defensemen in the 2002 Cup run, Lidstrom and Dandenault are the only ones who were on the team before Holland took over. Of Chelios, Fischer, Olausson, and Duchesne...which one was a Hall of Famer who wanted to come to Detroit? As far as the 'core' Holland had Yzerman, Shanahan, Fedorov, Lidstrom as 'core' players who were on the roster when he took over that stuck around until 2002. If that core of four guys is so unstoppable that a terrible GM like Holland could win a Cup with them, why didn't the Wings win seven in a row from 1997 to 2003?

I cannot stand this 'we need to replace big Bert' stuff. People just don't seem to get one thing: BERTUZZI DID NOTHING IN A WINGED WHEEL. HE WAS LESS EFFECTIVE THAN LANG. And that goes hand in hand with another thing: COMING BACK TO DETROIT WON'T MAKE MCCARTY THE PLAYER HE WAS SEVEN YEARS AGO. THAT PLAYER NOW PLAYS FOR OTTAWA, AND HIS NAME IS CHRIS NEIL.

Bettman has been at the helm for four expansion teams. Two of them had previously had an NHL team (Atlanta and Minnesota), another was a Northern city with a strong college hockey following and no competition from other pro sports (Columbus) and another was a city with many transplants from Detroit (Nashville). Also, people sit and complain about Nashville having a good team and not getting good numbers. Nashville's failure was corporate support. For Nashville to have had corporate support last year, they would have had to have been good the PREVIOUS few years. Nashville has now been good for two seasons. Regular Joe fans go to the games as much or more than any other market. Give the businesses a chance to catch up.

Holland took over the same time we lost the best defenseman in the NHL. He inherited a good portion of a Cup winner, but not all of it. And as far as 2002 is concerned, the Wings had 13 players who were acquired by Holland. So it's not like the team was in place and just stayed together for years and won three Cups...Holland had to do work to keep them up there.

I cannot stand you 'move Nashville, they don't go to games' types. Why? Because you're the same people who felt it was a travesty that the Jets left Winnipeg, even though they NEVER ONCE cleared 14k attendance in Winnipeg, and have done so numerous times since moving. So Nashville should be moved because of low attendance, even though they get better attendance than Winnipeg did? And as far as the expansion thing is concerned; there is far more NHL-level talent than there was twenty years ago. This is a point I have made over and over, but there are 10 teams worth of Europeans and 5 teams worth of Americans in the league, compared with 1 team worth COMBINED in 1987. That means, assuming Canadian hockey has stayed the same quality and not degraded, that there are 5 teams worth of NHLers from Canada who aren't in the league. Even if there is not a single additional American or Euro, two more teams could still be composed of 100% NHL-level talent. Plus, adding two teams in the West means Detroit moves East.

They were a top four contender last season, and the only big gun who left was Lang, who most people seemed to think was a negative presence. So is every other team in the league. Would Anaheim have made the playoffs last year had Selanne and Niedermayer gone down injured in addition to Pronger? Detroit tied for the best record in the league last year with Zetterberg and Schneider missing significant time, and return almost their complete roster. There are no 'major holes' and that 5m in cap space will be used to cover for injuries or to add a top-end player at the deadline.

Detroit, Anaheim, San Jose, Dallas, Nashville, Vancouver, Minnesota, and Calgary made the playoffs last year. Teams that were close include Colorado and St. Louis. Nashville, Minnesota, and Anaheim got worse this summer. Detroit, Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado, and St. Louis got better. Colorado probably moves back into the playoffs, likely at the expense of Minnesota. St. Louis should challenge for a playoff spot, and could possibly bump off Nashville or Dallas.

WCHA. He played for St. Cloud State with guys like Tyler Arnason and Ryan Malone, and against guys like Dany Heatley and Andy McDonald. Hartigan was as big a star in college as any of those guys, too.