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Had Homer been wearing a visor, he'd be retired right now. The visor would have caused Conroy's stick to stay in the vicinity of Homer's eye, and with Homer moving away from Conroy, likely would have caused a much more severe injury. There are only two options--full shield or no shield. If you want facial protection, go with the full shield because it makes no sense to only protect part of your face from some angles. If your goal is to protect your face/eyes, do it from all angles. Otherwise, avoid the pitfalls of the visor which can be MORE dangerous than not wearing a shield.

St. Louis is the most likely candidate, despite his NTC. He has won a Hart, a Ross, and a Pearson recently, and he makes the least of the three. Vinny will not be traded, and Richards' salary makes it impractical. St. Louis also is the least likely to receive ungodly raises in the future as he is five years older than Vinny or Richards. St. Louis stands the best chance of being traded and likely will bring a decent package return--A top-six forward, top-four defenseman, and a third depth player or prospect seems right.. San Jose could offer a package of Bell/McLaren, or Phoenix could offer a package of Reinprecht/Boynton. Both deals give a top-six forward and a top four defenseman, things that Tampa would need in return, as well as providing comparable salary coming back in more than one player.

None of the bonuses this year will carry over--the Wings can fit all bonuses (Hasek and Cheli) under the cap this year. We are also only taking a 400k hit this year from Stevie's bonus, even though Stevie's bonus was greater than that.

If Calder or Sammy sits, Kopecky is probably first into the lineup. Langfeld, Ellis, and Bootland the likely progression after that.

Just for the record: Detroit went 15-3-5 vs Columbus/Chicago/St. Louis. 35 points in 24 games. San Jose went 12-4-0 vs LA/Phoenix...gaining 24 points in 16 games against the two worst teams in the conference. Detroit went 7-1 vs LA/Phoenix, for 14 points in 8 games vs the two worst. San Jose went 10-2-0 vs Columbus/Chicago/St. Louis to get 20 points in 12 games. So against five of the six worst teams in the Conference, Detroit went 22-4-5 for 49 points in 31 games, while San Jose went 22-6-0 for 44 points in 28 games. That means, excluding head-to-head games, Detroit went 27-12-8 for 62 points in 47 games against Playoff clubs, Edmonton, Colorado, and the East, while San Jose went 26-19-5 for 57 points in 50 games against those same opponents. So in other words...Detroit gained more points and more wins in fewer games against better teams, while San Jose gained points at the same rate against weak teams. Please never try the 'weak division' argument when it's so easily refuted.

Wings 4 d. Sharks 3 Ducks 4 d. Canucks 2 Sabres 4 d. Rangers 1 Devils 4 d. Senators 2

Lidstrom would have been our MVP even if he hadn't scored a single point.

BUMP! So...by my calculations, of the seven series that have finished, I have 35 points for picking winners, and I lose 6 of a possible 21 points in those series from picking incorrent length, for a total of 50 points, which could rise to 57 if Vancouver wins game 7 against Dallas.

And it collapsed in 'Sudden Death" starring Ken Wregget!

This is the sort of thing I don't get. Yes, Lang is slow. Yes Lang is not a Selke candidate. Yes, Lang appears to be giving less than full effort at times. Guess what? He's still been one of our best players most of the past 2 1/2 seasons! I thought he was our easily best forward the first half of Game 3--he was working hard in the corners, creating chances, and generally doing what is expected of him. Here is where I draw another comparison to Sergei Fedorov. Even though Fedorov was often the best player on the team on a given night, he would take flak for taking 'nights off' because people were expecting him to have his 1994 season every year, and when he didn't score 50 goals and 120 points in the season, it was because he didn't try hard enough. Not because of a 35% reduction in ice time compared to 1994.

I will be recoridng the game on TiVo likely...Saturday is my son's 2nd birthday.

Fedorov's number will not be retired. Had he stayed and performed exactly as he did after he left, his banner would already be prepared and folded neatly in the basement at the Joe. After Lidstrom, the next most likely candidate is not Fedorov or Shanahan, but Chris Osgood.

Lang is one of the best faceoff men on the team. And even as the team has been getting progressively worse on the draw overall, Lang's numbers have been improving with each game.

The Wings have 13 forwards available to choose from (not including Kopecky, who won't play if the team is healthy) The ones who might be considered to sit are Lang, Filppula, Hudler, Samuelsson, and Maltby. Maltby ist he only one who could be classified as a defensive forwards. The rest are offensive forwards, with varying degrees of defensive capabilities. It's pretty safe to say that the Wings' key to success has been defense, and that alone means Malts won't sit. Of the other four, Filppula is clearly the best defensive player of the bunch, which makeshim the obvious choice to stay in the lineup Which leaves a discussion about offensive play. Of the remaining three, I will rank them in order of how effective they have been offensively the past couple weeks; 1) Hudler 2) Lang 3) Samuelsson Hudler staysin the lineup, as the most effective offensive player left, leaving Lang vs Samuelsson. Another key to Detroit's victory has been faceoff wins; Lang is very good on faceoffs, one of the best we have. Samuelsson's miniscule defensive advantage does not outweight Lang's advantage offensively and in the circle. Sammy should sit.

1) You said NICK said it, which he did not. That was opinion from the article, not a quote. 2) I said Hasek normally would make the save on Iginla. I never blamed him for the loss. Just for the one goal. Detroit should have been better as a team, yes. This doesn't mean Hasek was not the main culprit on that particular play.

Had he done that any more than he did, he would have been called for interference. Giving up one unscreened 40 footer is better than our MVP being in the box for two.

Nowhere in there does Nick say 'I misplayed Iginla.' Now, maybe since you are so wise, you could tell me what Nick SHOULD have done in that situation? If he made a mistake, that means there was a correct course of action, right? Enlighten me what he should have done.

I think I am in the minority with this opinion, but: Lidstrom did not misplay Iginla. What is being forgotten is that Iginla did not have the puck until after he passed by Nick. There was nothing Lidstrom could do except what he did. Try to steer Iginla to the side without making contact. Hasek was cheating way too far to the left...he normally makes that save. Ultimately, it's one goal and one game. If Calgary needs Detroit to make unusual mistakes to win by one goal in a close game on home ice, this series is already decided.

Well, here's one way of looking at Hasek. Either he's not flashy, wastes no motion, and just plays a more efficient style than everybody else, or: He is flashy. Please note that claiming the former means goalies that have posted comparable stats to Hasek playing a less efficient style would mean those goaltenders are actually more skilled than Hasek was in his prime. Not sure if you want to go there, but that's the logical conclusion. The goalie I've always felt gets screwed because he's not flashy is Ozzie. All he does is stop pucks, and he always had the 'good defense' label dogging him because he wasn't making the spectacular save, because he wasn't out of position in the first place.

Fedorov didn't try to leave. [/font] He signed an offer sheet with Carolina that was less than his market value, but still significantly more than the Wings were offering. He simply wanted to be paid something close to what he was worth. When he left, it had more to do with the fact the Wings came out with a 5 year deal, and then changed to a 4 year deal worth the same money per year. Fedorov ended up leaving for the same amount of total money, but spread over more years. Had Holland put up the same offer Anaheim did, Fedorov likely would still be here.

It's the generic 'man', like 'pal' or 'bud'. [/font] It carries no sexual connotations with it. Much like the generic use of 'he' to refer to individuals with unknown or neutral gender. In other words, it's a safe bet. Imagine if it were someone referring to you as a girl if you were a guy? Much more awkward, because there are no explanations for the use of things like 'she', 'her', or 'dudette' other than 'thought he was a chick, sorry!'

The NHL hasn't been majority Canadian since the 1925-26 season, when there were four Canadian teams (Toronto St.Pats, Ottawa Senators, Montreal Canadiens, and Montreal Maroons) and three American teams (Boston Bruins, New York Americans, Pittsburgh Pirates). The next season the NHL added three teams by expansion; the Detroit Cougars, New York Rangers, and Chicago Blackhawks. [/font] It's not as if suddenly a 30 team league that was entirely Canadian pulled up and moved most of their teams to the US. Counting Ottawa as one franchise as the current Senators since they want to share history, the NHL has seen a mere eleven Canadian teams: Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, and Ottawa currently, as well as the Winnipeg Jets, Quebec Nordiques, Quebec Bulldogs/Hamilton Tigers, Montreal Maroons, and Montreal Wanderers. The NHL had seen seven American teams by the 1930s. The number swelled to 13 in 1967 when the NHL added three teams in markets that previously had NHL hockey (Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, St. Louis) as well as three brand new markets (Los Angeles, Oakland, Minnesota). Hockey has been played in the US for just as long as it has been played in Canada. The NHL has been majority American teams for most of its history. Realistically, there is no good justification for calling the NHL a Canadian league that was taken over by teams moving, as the NHL had as many or more more American teams every year since 71-72 than Canadian teams EVER.

I don't hate Maltby, nor do I expect him to lead the team in scoring or pummel the opponent into submission. [/font] What I expect from Maltby is a grinding defensive game and strong PK, and he has been wildly inconsistent at delivering that the past two seasons. Kopecky is more skilled, bigger, stronger and FAR more physical than Maltby. Kopecky's defensive/PK disadvantage compared to Maltby is irrelevant because Maltby is now about the 5th or 6th best PK forward we have, a role Kopecky is perfectly capable of filling right now and certainly in the future. Maltby might be a 3rd liner on some other teams, but the fact remains if the Wings were 100% healthy he would be my pick to be up in the press box along with Sammy.

Should have gotten a hot, great, fun, sexy, smart, talented wife like mine.

Wings will come out flying, like last game. [/font] Flames know they must win to have a chance in the series. Conversely, the Wings know that their chances of winning the series diminish greatly if Calgary gets the split--Calgary has a massive discrepancy between their home record and away record this season, and can't win the series without winning a road game. Detroit has the momentum and the mental advantage right now, and judging by the way they started last game, should come out flying again. Detroit 4, Calgary 2. Zetterberg, Hudler, Lang, Schneider Lombardi, Hamrlik Even though he did exactly the same thing Fedorov did that drew ire....signed the next offseason with the team that beat the Wings in the playoffs most recently.