eva unit zero

Savard, Tanguay, Nylander, Langkow, Horcoff, McDonald, Arnott, Briere, Koivu, Gomez, Sedin, Reinprecht, Jokinen, Handzus, York are all first-line centers near Dats' age who make less than that. Modano, Cammalleri, Weight, Crosby, Holik, Staal, Spezza, Sutherby are those guys out of his age range that make less than 5.5m Fedorov, Sakic, Sundin, Yashin are guys outside of his age range who make more than 5.5m Lecavalier and Thornton are only ones in Dats' age range making more than 5.5m. Is Dats closer to Thornton (6.667m) or Briere/Savard/Gomez (5m). I am going to say the latter.

Given that Markov would be the 3rd d-man on many NHL teams...that's just wrong.

Because there was no confirmed source. It's nothing personal.

Datsyuk should be somewhere between 5 and 6 million per season. Certainly no higher than 6m (Havlat) and under 5m (Savard) seems unlikely. Hopefully it's around 22m for four years.

You know Ozzie is doing well if there is a Helene St. James article about it. She has been one of the most notorious Ozzie bashers out there for a decade.

Hmm.. Lang had just as many points as Z last year in the playoffs, and more the year before. And btw, re:last night's game...Lang was named second star, behind Khabibulin's 56 saves.

Calgary or Colorado...either would be good. Colorado probably a better match, but the Flames are not as gritty or tough defensively as they were in 2004, while the Wings have improved dramatically in both of those areas.

The Wings scored 2 goals on 58 shots. Hmm... Sounds like Ozzie is to blame for this loss. I mean the Wings' shooting percentage was a torrid 3.4%! How come Joseph and Hasek can get a free pass when the team doesn't score, but with Osgood it's all his fault? Ozzie has played very well this year. The fact that the Wings lost a shootout when they should have won 6-2 in regulation is not OSGOOD'S fault.

Pavel was in the competition, but finished last with a time just under 15 seconds. Even if you knock of a generous half second for the stumble, he's still at 14.342, which is not anywhere near top-end speed...Fedorov's best time is 13.51, and Niedermayer's is 13.56 (he won in 2004 with 13.783. The only time I can recall Jagr participating in the fastest skater competition, mid to late 90s I believe, he clocked a miserable 15.5. With no stumble like Datsyuk, or clock mishandling like Ovechkin this year. Jagr simply never had top end speed.

17 years ago Jagr was in Czechoslovakia. [/font] In Jagr's best seasons in the mid 90s, he was not terribly fast either. Jagr is like Datsyuk--he has agility and is strong on his skates, but never had top end speed like a Fedorov, Bure, Modano, Kariya, or Mogilny, or someone like that.

You do realize that the only player on your 'speed line' with any speed is Feds, right?

While it's true that a 24 team league would have a higher skill level than a 30 team league given the same talent pool, you have to consider something: [/font] The NHL has expanded by about 40% since 1987. The talent pool of players the NHL has access to who would have been good enough to play in the NHL in 1987 has grown by at least 75%, based on the number of Canadians in the NHL. Meaning that for the talent to have been diluted through the 90s expansion, there would have to be a minimum of THIRTY SEVEN teams. As you know, there are only thirty. Which means that about 140 players currently in other leagues are NHL-level in 1987. The fact that you could assemble an entire 16 team league of NHL-level (circa 1987) players on TOP of the 21 teams that were around in 1987 is pretty remarkable. Ultimately, it just proves that the WHA was ten years too early--imagine if it were still around in the late 80s and early 90s when Europeans were coming over en masse for the first time? Not to mention...the skill level lost by having a 25% increase in teams with a stagnant talent pool is minimal. If you contracted six teams right now, each team would get a maximum of five new players. Only a handful of players total from any six teams would make any significant impact on their new team. And as these players would be pretty evenly distributed, with the better players going to the worse teams of course, that wouldn't really affect the on ice product. A casual fan or a new fan isn't going to notice the subtle increase in overall quality--minor league and junior games can often be much more entertaining despite having significantly fewer NHL quality players--if any. The best way to increase fan base--something the NHL needs to survive--is to increase market size. If we assume the 25% increase in teams coincides with a 25% increase in market size--it's likely more, as the NHL has only been expanding into large markets--that means that 'qualitative changes' would have to eliminate ONE IN FOUR existing fans to gain nothing, and MORE than that to reduce size. While you might not like teams in Florida or California, the fact remains that almost every team now gets attendance that would be a solid mark in 1987, and the worst for attendance are Midwestern teams in traditional markets. Case in point: Winnipeg is often cited as a city that 'needs' or 'deserves' a team. Their best single season average attendance mark (about 13,800) has been outdone SEVERAL times by Phoenix, and that same mark would rank close to last in today's NHL. This was Winnipeg's BEST year for attendance, mind you..they were often much worse.

My all-time dream team: Mario Lemieux/Wayne Gretzky/Mike Bossy--Two of the greatest playmakers and scorers ever with the best natural sniper. Ted Lindsay/Steve Yzerman/Gordie Howe--Production line PLUS. Bobby Hull/Jean Beliveau/Maurice Richard--Gritty scoring wingers with the prototypical star center. Esa Tikkanen/Sergei Fedorov/Jari Kurri--Speed, grit, and top-level play at both ends of the ice. Bobby Orr/Doug Harvey--The two best NHL defensemen ever, together? Scary. Nick Lidstrom/Eddie Shore--I've always felt a physical stay-at-home guy would be the perfect complement to Nick. Shore is the standard for that kind of player. Ray Bourque/Larry Robinson--Two excellent all-around defensemen make up an amazing third pair. Terry Sawchuk--Simply the best NHL tender ever. Ken Dryden--It's hard to argue with the kind of success he had, even though his teams were loaded. Just imagine.... Power play units: Lemieux/Gretzky/Bossy/Orr/Yzerman Hull/Believeau/Howe/Bourque/Lidstrom Penalty killers: Fedorov/Yzerman/Lidstrom/Shore Tikkanen/Kurri/Orr/Harvey This team would be virtually unbeatable.

One difference though, isthat 38 million over six years, the length of the contract, was still LESS than Fedorov's market vaue at the time. Fedorov at the time was considered a superior player to Joe Sakic. Sakic had just signed the previous summer (note, the same summer Fedorov was an RFA) a deal that had the same 2m base salary for three years, coupled with a 15 million signing bonus. Fedorov's offer, even considering all bonuses, only averaged 6.33 million per season, and was a couple years longer. Also, the 12m bonus was paid out in 98-99, not 97-98. To compare further: Fedorov made 38 million over the course of six seasons, from 97-89 to 02-03. By comparison, Sakic, in the same six seasons, made 48,588,745. Fedorov was a former Hart and Pearson winner when he signed his deal, and had two Selkes to his name at the time. Sakic won the Hart and Pearson in 2001, when his one-year, 7.9m deal expired. Fedorov's holdout in 98 got him a BELOW MARKET VALUE contract from ANOTHER TEAM. That means Holland and Ilitch were significantly lowballing the guy and he just wanted a fair deal, doesn't it? If they were that far apart on a deal, and he was still willing to take less than he was worth?

Bertuzzi for the right price is ok. If the money is similar per year, though, I'd rather Smyth long term than Bert short.

I seem to have the opposite problem.. I can never seem to GAIN weight--I've lost ten pounds since high school.

That's a dangerous, ignorant statement. Unless of course you WANT to have witch hunts and executions with no real trial.

Has that not been trademarked in Canada yet?

Here's an early candidate for post of the year...

Aww, Masterton? I thought we were talking about the Bat Masterson trophy, for the player who most exemplifies the qualities of 'dandy' and 'gunfighter'. The Masterton is not for 'the elite player who had a comeback year after playing poorly the previous season' like many seem to be suggesting. Nor is it for 'the former superstar who takes less to play for a good team' like Hasek is being suggested for. [/font] It's for a player who fights through adversity, usually in the form of something beyond his control, and is able to continue playing or return to playing. Not for the player who has an off year and then plays well again (Brunette, Lecav, Sakic, Iginla). That's Kessel.

I never said it was. But throwing out a ridiculously understated attendance figures, and then bringing up a comparison to Comerica, was stretching pretty far. Why not just say '35,000 would be too big for everyone to see well.' 22,000 to 24,000 sounds about right.

Phil Kessel will win it.

Hmm...you left off a digit. In 1982, the Wings were averaging 13,000, not 3,000. Comerica Park is different though. The Tigers had spent ten years losing, and making no realistic effort to even TRY and compete. All they were doing was trying not to be the worst. There will be no point in the foreseeable future where that will be the case with the Wings.

All the rumors about a new arena I saw had the arena situated on the other side of Cass. Perhaps this is preparation for a parking structure that would service both Comerica and the new Arena?

Complete list of Cup-winning GMs since 1980 (active GMs are in bold) 1. Glen Sather, NYR 5 (With Edmonton 84-85, 87-88, 90) 2. Bill Torrey, NYI 4 (80-83) 3. Lou Lamoirello, NJ 3 (95, 00, 03) 4. Ken Holland, Det 2 (98, 02) 4. Pierre Lacroix, Col 2 (96, 01) 4. Serge Savard, Mtl 2 (86, 93) 4. Craig Patrick, Pit 2 (91-92) 8. Jay Feaster, TB 1 (04) 8. Jim Rutherford, Car 1 (06) 8. Bob Gainey, Mtl 1 (With Dallas 99) 8. Cliff Fletcher, Phx 1 (With Calgary 89) 8. Neil Smith, NYR 1 (94) 8. Scotty Bowman, Det 1 (97) Here's top hoping Kenny ties Lou this year.