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Carolina 2006, Tampa Bay 2004, New Jersey 2003, Detroit 2002, Colorado 2001....all were #1 or #2 seed.... Thge last team that was no a #1 or #2 seed to win the Cup? New Jersey in 2000, and they were second in the conference in points, but behind division winner Philadelphia. Dallas in 99 won the pres trophy. Detroit in 98 was second in the division, and the third seed, but had more points than Colorado. Detroit in 1997 was the Cup-winning last team that was not either a top-two seed in the conference, or top-two in the conference in points. New Jersey in 1995 was the fourth seed and fourth in points. The New York Rangers were president's trophy winners. So under the current system, a top two seed has won eight of twelve times, with two more coming from the 'real' second best team. Montreal in 1993 was fourth in the conference, but entered the playoffs as the visiting team due to divisional seeding. That would be the only series they did not have home ice, as Boston and Pittsburgh would both lose the round before they would have faced Montreal. Pittsburgh in 92 was in the same situation as 1993 Montreal, except they did play their division winner in round 2. Pittsburgh in 91 won their division. Edmonton in 1990 was second in their division with 90 points, but that was better than Chicago's Norris-division leading 88. Montreal in 1986 was the fifth best team in the conference, second in their division. But they had home ice advantage throughout the conference because all four teams ahead of them lost in earlier rounds; Only Calgary in the finals hads home ice over the Canadiens; That was only by a two-point margin. That's 20 years of history, and only a handful of winners WEREN'T near the top of their conference. Just goes to show...that to win the Stanley Cup without having home ice advantage in the playoffs is extremely difficult. EDIT: If you were to take the top six teams in points each season, and declare that those were the only 'eligible' teams to win the Cup...only one team in the history of the league would be an ineligible winner. Montreal 1986. And those Wales conference upsets featured 3 upsets in the first round and one in the second, none of which involved the Canadiens, plus two upsets in the first round of the Campbell playoffs, and one in the second. Montreal ended up playing sixth-overall Calgary rather than first overall and defending champion Edmonton in the finals. In other words, to win the Cup if you aren't a top team in the league takes an incredible amount of luck in the form of better teams losing.

Shaky goaltending can be named the culprit for 2003 and 2006, but 2004 was the failure to overcome a ridiculous episode of clutch and grab.

Yes. From the simple fact that the team scoring the goal is able to pull the goalie without fear of being scored on (unless Jozef Stumpel is playing for them) they should not receive a power play if they actually do score with the goalie pulled during a delayed penalty--as they will have just scored the man-advantage goal. Unless of course, the penalty is a major in which multiple goals could be scored without negating. Personally, I feel the penalties do need to be revisited; but making it so that power play goals would NOT negate the man-advantage, and double-minor penaltes would be served concurrently; instead of a 4 minute 5-on-4, it would be a two-minute 5-on-3.

Michigan has played in three bowl games since their last bowl win. Against USC when USC split the championship and a tight loss to Texas in the Rose, as well as an Alamo Bowl that required an innovative 60-man defense to stop Michigan.

Smith and Wesson.... Yes, a Winchester is a rifle.

Until Amaker has had a couple teams that 'should' make the tournament and manage to choke it up, he gets all the time he needs. If this team chokes it up in th Big Ten, and next year that happens too, maybe Amaker should go. But certainly not until after next year at the earliest. Amaker's job is effectively that of the guy who will replace Matt Millen. Take a total and complete mess and bring it back to respectability.

Mursak is a couple years away. He'll likely play out his eligibility in juniors, followed by perhaps a season or two in the AHL before he hits the Wings.

If you play in CHL, you can't play in AHL until you are 20. Mursak's decision to play for Saginaw meant he couldn't jump to the AHL for two years...had he not laced up for the Spirit, he'd be playing for Grand Rapids right now.

Both Dats and Doan are UFA at the end of the season. Doan has a bad back. Doan is on pace for his worst season since the year before Datsyuk was drafted. Doan is two years older. Realistically, Datsyuk for Doan straight up should be a fair trade. Not that Phoenix would do it, having Nagy and Comrie already,...but the value should be fair based on health, age, and production. Hudler has sick skills and is scoring very well considering his very limited time per game...either you want to trade him for a fourth round pick or you are VASTLY overpaying for Doan. If we trade Dats...we should keep Hudler on. Hudler can do or soon will be able to do all the things Dats does, plus Hudler is actually a feisty little bastard who drives the net...something most of the Wings forwards don't do, and something most Doan slappies say is a huge reason to trade for him. Datsyuk and a mid-round pick for Doan would be fine. Realistically the Yotes either won't trade Doan, or will try and pull what Washington did to Nashville with Witt--jacking the price up artifically well beyond what the guy is actually worth to sell him to a team that 'really needs a guy like that.' I would be content with signing Doan to replace Dats in the offseason.

He was considered a top-5 prospect for the 2005 draft heading into the 2004-05 season. Being stuck low on the depth chart on a team full of offensively capable defensemen hurt his numbers in his draft season and allowed the Wings to pick him up. The next season, when he received more ice time, he showed the same kind of form that was getting him ranked top five. This year, he's doing even better. People were complaining and saying Holland picked 'just another euro' instead of someone like Blunden or Latendresse.... How many people are still upset we drafted Kindl?

Michigan lost big to the undefeated, unanimous top team i nthe country. Meanwhile, Ohio State lost on the same day by a similar margin to a worse team. Ohio State is ranked sixth after that loss. So Michigan played about as well as the sixth best team in the nation in one of only two losses this season...and that's enough for Amaker, who had NOTHING when he took over and has built this program from rubble...to be booted out?

Maltby likely won't be back. If he is, it certainly won't be at the cost of losing Hudler. Why we would give up a great young prospect with amazing offensive potential to keep around a redundant winger whose effectiveness has been drastically limited is unimaginable.

It's because the winners of the Pro Bowl from now on get a reward....they get to play the Lions a week later.

No, if Millen had taken over, he'd gut the team and uses his next few first round picks to draft outfielders, and he'll draft a highly touted pitcher and sign a crappy catcher, and when the catcher lets the ball past every other at bat, the pitcher will be blamed by the fans and the team. Then he would cut loose the pitcher and an outfielder, and sign two new pitchers, one of whom would be moved to the outfield ahead of one of the first rounders. THAT is what would happen under Millen.

Maybe it'll be Lang and Schneider.....

Datsyuk and picks for Sundin AND Tucker???

You lose. Nagy is a converted center.

So trade Datsyuk for someone younger who will be around long term? You DO realize the drop in skill level that means? A couple good examples: Bill Guerin for Anson Carter Edmonton deals a top level winger who will, in a couple years. command a huge salary for a mediocre winger who will play less than three seasons with the Oil. Robert Lang for Tomas Fleischmann. Washington trades the league's leading scorer at the time for a mid-level offensive prospect who has scored only 3 points--all assists--in 22 NHL games in two years of spot duty with what might be the league's weakest team at forward. Mathieu Schneider for Sean Avery, and Tambellini/Grebeshkov for Parrish/Sopel Yes, Kuznetsov and picks were involved as well. But Avery is the only one to make any sort of impact on the Kings--Kuznetsov is long since gone and Tambellini was dealt away with Denis Grebeshkov for impending UFAs Mark Parrish and Brent Sopel. Parrish is no longer with the team, and Sopel is a third pairing defenseman in the NHL. Effectively the two trades could be laid out as one simple Schneider+Grebeshkov for Avery+Sopel. Hardly a good swap for the Kings, but worked out great for the Wings and Isles.

Grigorenko will probably at least sign a contract. How long he stays is another question, but he wants to come over. Based on some of the things he has said regarding his family, I wouldn't be shocked if he only plays a couple years and then returns to Russia...but I als owouldn't be shocked to see him play a nice long career. Either way, it'd be idiotic to not do everything possible to get him signed. Seluyanov will play his whole career in Russia. He would already be over if he was veer coming over. Best Russian defense prospect we've had since Vladdy as far as overall ability. Unfortunately he never even considered leaving Russia for the NHL.

If Michigan wins against USC, they will be #2. Possibly even unanimously. OSU will destroy Florida, and the only one-loss teams that will be left after the bowls will be Boise State, Wisconsin, and Louisville. None of those teams will receive votes ahead of Michigan. The top ten after the bowls should look like this: 1) OSU (d. Florida) 2) UM (d. USC) 3) Florida (l. OSU) 4) Louisville (d. Wake Forest) 5) Wisconsin (d. Arkansas) 6) USC (l. UM) 7) Notre Dame (d. LSU) 8) Oklahoma (d. Boise State) 9) LSU (l. Notre Dame) 10) Auburn (d. Nebraska) The best part about UM going to the Rose Bowl is the fact that, after picking USC apart the way they will, UM will be the overwhelming #1 in the preseason polls.

Considering a lot of analysts projected him as the next Nick Lidstrom, I don't think calling him a top flight prospect is overly optimistic.

The Division II playoff started with 16 teams on Nov 18th, and will end on December 16th. There's two answers to this--a no-bowls in a playoff and bowls included. Realistically, you could bump the start of the season one week earlier-the season started on the last weekend in August in 02 and 03, so no 'that's too early' statements. First round of the playoff would be Nov 18th this year, with the four teams that had byes getting a week of rest. Playoff is finished by mid December, just like every other Division. If teams still go to bowl games, they can go under the old conference affiliations. A second alternative includes the bowl games. This playoff would have to either happen entirely after Christmas, or be split up--with the first two rounds perhaps being played on the last weekend in November and the first in December. As for the BCS bowl quarterfinal thing? Here's the solution. Two bowls for the semis, one for the championship, and one for the consolation.

Eriksson was not a throw in...he was, at the time, a top prospect who was only a year removed from being a top four defenseman on a Cup winning team.

01-02...Nebraska goes to the title game despite failing to win their conference. Oregon, who is ranked second in both polls, but fourth in the BCS, is the 'more deserving team' in the eyes of the media. Notes: After this season, margin of victory, the 'culprit' in the Nebraska selection, is drastically reduced as a BCS factor. 03-04--USC, LSU, Oklahoma. USC receives the same treatment in the AP poll that Florida received this year. The team two spots ahead of them lost, so they were jumped into that spot while the team directly ahead of them did not move. Even after the loss, Oklahoma remained ranked #1 in the computer polls, with LSU second and USC third. LSU should have been a consensus national champion in 2004--the Tigers, not the Trojans, were the shafted team. Notes: USC would have likely finished second in the BCS rankings if margin of victory had not been drastically reduced the prior offseason. Strength of schedule, ruled to be the culprit this time around, was drastically cut back as a deciding factor. 04-05--Three undefeated teams. Two places in the final game. Auburn never proved to voters they were better than Oklahoma, and USC would have had to lose to fall out of first due to voters feeling sorry for them after the 03-04 season. Notes: Auburn had the strongest schedule of any team i nthe nation and went undefeated. Under a prior system, they make the championship game ahead of one of USC or Oklahoma. After this season, the human element is considered to 'not have enough influence' and the polls are redesigned to subdue the impartial computers and give more influence to conference biases and voting to get matchups rather than voting a true top 25. See---if people hadn't demanded changes after a fluke of mathematics sent Nebraska to the title game, the system would have produced the 'correct' results of USC v LSU and Auburn v USC/Oklahoma. The only viable way to produce a championship with no disputed result is a playoff. You could complain about your #9 or #10 team getting left out, or whichever teams would be just outside the bracket. But when the team that did make it over your team gets stomped in the first round, that complaint is done as the 'deserving' team likely wouldn't have done any better.

The next step is a playoff. After the way the Hartris poll was so blatantly rigged (Florida earns a 1st place vote with an unimpressive win over 10-3 Arkansas, and idle Auburn jumps idle Notre Dame) they have no choice but to create a system that decides it on the field. Currently, the top 14 teams in the BCS Standings are BCS bowl eligible. All major conference champions are automatically granted a BCS bid. So do this; Take the champions of the six major conferences, as well as the six highest non-champions. Twelve team playoff, the top four teams get byes. That would get us: 1. Ohio State (Conference Champ)--bye 8. Boise State vs 9. Auburn 2. Florida (Conference Champ)--bye 7. Wisconsin vs 10. Oklahoma (Conference Champ) 3. Michigan--bye 6. Louisville (Conference Champ) vs 11. Notre Dame 4. LSU--bye 5. USC (Conference Champ) vs 12. Wake Forest (Conference Champ) A playoff bracket that looked like that would most likely play out as follows--predictions made based on common opponents if possible. Round 1 Auburn d. Boise State Wisconsin d. Oklahoma Notre Dame d. Louisville USC d. Wake Forest Round 2 OSU d. Auburn Florida d. Wisconsin Michigan d. Notre Dame USC d. LSU Round 3 OSU d. USC Michigan d. Florida Round 4 OSU d. Michigan Regardless, Michigan fans can take consolation in two things. One, Florida vs OSU guarantees Michigan will finish second in the final polls. Two, the 'master coaches' poll, considered to be the authority on who the best team really is, ranks Michigan ahead of Florida.