eva unit zero

You can't be serious. Osgood and Cujo have similar career sv pct...Osgood blows Cujo away everywhere else. And Osgood is not old and washed up like Cujo is...Osgood had better numbers than Cujo did last year despite playing on a far inferior team. Osgood is a significant upgrade. Probably Holland's best move since signing Brett Hull was replacing Joseph with Osgood.

Let's see.... Overpaid netminder who we've since upgraded on...nope... Journeyman forward who switched to third-pair defense so he didn't end up in the minors....nope Prima-donna one-dimensional showboat with a giant ego....no ty. World class player with size, strength, playmaking ability, incredible shot, top class defense, big time playoff scorer? I'll take that one. Over the other three COMBINED.

Zetterberg (Born: Oct 9, 1980 - Njurunda, Sweden) Datsyuk (Born: Jul 20, 1978 - Sverdolvsk, USSR) Z: 140 Reg Season Games D: 209 Reg Season Games They are not that far apart and Datsyuk surely hasn't peaked yet either. Datsyuk entered the league at 23...he was 25 last season. Zetterberg entered the league at 22, and was 23 last season. Zetterberg is 25 now...he's a much better player than Datsyuk and he will have a HUGE year.

I like the way you think! Homstrom with the twins is a great idea, but alas, it doesn't look good for Datsyuk: http://www.rushockey.com/events.php?i=sl&s...terviews&id=323 I'm interested in your lineups without Datsyuk! Come on, lets see what you got! My most recent lineup is looking something like this: Holmstrom/Lang/Yzerman Filppula/Zetterberg/Shanahan Maltby/Draper/Williams Lacouture/Franzen/Cleary Mowers Holmstrom/Lang/Yzerman--This line provided just about all our offense in the last couple games of the Nashville series, great chemistry. Filppula/Zetterberg/Shanahan--Shanny gets a kick in the ass from Babcock, and his power and shot is put with two skilled two-way Scandinavians. Maltby/Draper/Williams--Williams is a great energy player, a bit more natural offensive talent than Draper or Maltby, especially his shot. His addition to this line will allow this line to capitalize on many more of the chances they create. Lacouture/Franzen/Cleary--Three solid two-way players with grit. All three have offensive capability if they get a chance or are needed to play on a higher line. One advantage the Wings have over other teams? Lang, Yzerman, Zetterberg, Shanahan, Draper, Williams, Lacouture, Franzen, Cleary, Mowers all can and have played all three forward positions. Filppula, Maltby, Holmstrom all can play two--Filppula has never played the right side but he has played center and left, Maltby and Homer play both wings. Most teams do not have that many easily convertible forwards.

Quincey should join the Wings in 07-08. As it stands right now for next year, Schneider/Fischer/Kronwall are under contract. likely two of Lilja/Rivers/Delmore are retained--Rivers is the oldest, I expect him to be the one cut loose. Helmer will likely not be resigned, same for Lebda. Chelios will almost certainly be gone. Lidstrom is probably 60-40 or so to return. So Schneider, Fischer, Kronwall, Lilja come back. That's four of seven returnees. Delmore replaces Rivers. Lidstrom may return, making a fifth returnee. Deek Meech in his contract year likely would rotate into the defensive pairings with Delmore and Lilja. If Lidstrom leaves, then Detroit goes out and replaces him with someone along the lines of Redden or Chara if Ottawa is not able to retain both, or someone else of that caliber. Fischer, Kronwall, Quincey will be on the defense for 07-08. Lidstrom is a possibility, or whoever replaces him should he retire. Delmore may take a larger role, taking over Schneider's offensive reponsibilities as Schneider likely retires after his current deal. Kindl may join the team at this point as well, giving Detroit a very solid young defensive corps that should be quite good for years to come.

Yeah, sorry about that. I just tend to think of all teams in the Northwest division to be on the "West Coast". Yeah like that West Coast state Minnesota

You ***** about decrepit old men, but then want Mark Messier? Wtf? I'd take Stumpy over Messier. Of course Mess retired, so moot point. And Calgary was a total fluke--they have lost forward depth, have a goalie who is no guarantee to play starter time and lost their backup platoon, so there is a huge ? there, and they have a wash in talent at best on D. There's a good chance the Flames miss the playoffs as a lot of near-postseason teams improved while they got worse.

If you bring Hudler and Filppula onto the roster, and Dats is back: Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom--"Eurotwins" plus Homer for some grit and grinding. Hudler/Lang/Shanahan--Hudler's skill can shine through because he's playing with two big strong guys who can score. Too concerned about Lang, teams can't sit a goon on Hudler. Filppula/Yzerman/Williams--Three skill guys, nothing too gritty, but they won't be facing great defense as they're the third line. Could be reponsible for a lot of timely scores. Maltby/Draper/Franzen--Grind line with a Swedish touch...Franzen is a perfect fit.

And let's compare the Wings' success with the Flames since the beginning of 1989-90... Flames have won 3 playoff rounds, all last season. Wings have won 3 CUPS. As for WHL wings? A notable WHL wing is Chris Osgood, who was huge in the 98 Cup and has 221 Detroit wins. Another is Tomas Kopecky, who dominated the WHL but has had injury issues as a pro. In fact, I think Osgood is the only GOOD player we've taken from the WHL in a while.

The Cup. The team we have is perfectly capable of doing it and stacks up with anyone else at every position. We have one of the best coaches, great, versatile forwards who can score and play defense, one of the best defense units, and two excellent goaltenders. This team will go out and win the division handily like it always has. It will follow by smoking through the playoffs. And all the 90% of hockey fans who have said the Wings are done because of who they don't have back? They will get to eat their words.

Yeah...I saw during the UM Game that Agassi had advanced to the finals....unhappy when I saw it was vs The Invincible Man.

And the game was decided by a 7 point margin. The 'non-touchdown' play was followed by a goal line fumble and touchback. ND started their drive with the ball on the 20. Just about all of Michigan's kicks this season have been sending the ball into or through the EZ. So it's not unreasonable to suggest the game could have gone just as well or better for Michigan from there on out. It goes at least to OT if that call isn't missed, and considering the time left on the clock, Michigan has a chance for another drive.

Hart started better. Grady has fumbled the ball twice in key situations in his first two games at Michigan. Hart has never fumbled the ball at Michigan in any situation. Grady needs to find his handle and soon. As for the red zone.. Am I the only one who rewound the Tivo with 6:01 left in the fourth?

Guiterrez would have been QB last year, but he got hurt before the first game. Tell me Henne performance last year ever warranted Matt getting back in ahead of him?

I agree! Both plays under review were good reviews and the calls went RIGHT. Michigan just doesnt know how to accept the fact that THEY BLEW IT. They had every chance to win this game. Except for the fact that The play before the goal line fumble was a TOUCHDOWN. Just ask my TiVo.

Bobby Hull. Other guys to consider: Jiri Fischer John Leclair Glen Murray Mike Modano

Holland has said that Hudler will compete for one of the final two forward spots with five other players. It's expected that the following ten guys already have roster spots at forward: Lang Zetterberg Draper Franzen Yzerman Shanahan Holmstrom Williams Maltby Mowers If Holland is having Hudler compete with five other guys, then there's no room for Thomas. Hudler, Ellis, MacLean, Bootland, McDonnell, and Manlow are the six forwards currently with a Detroit contract not on the roster (not including Datsyuk), according to RWC. Hudler makes 633k, the rest are minimum wage. Only Ellis' contract extends past this season. That would indicante that those six guys will be the ones competing for those two spots. That would suggest that Thomas si not coming back...and the fact that anyone would think so is silly.

Fischer has hardly been a disappointment. He was freakin amazing in the 2002 playofsf and in the beginning of the 02-03 season before his knee injury which put him out through the end of the season and the playoffs. he had not fully recovered from his knee injury the next year and was slowed BADLY. Fischer in open ice when healthy is quicker than Mathieu Dandenault...in 03-04 he was skating barely better than Hatcher because he was still getting the knee back in shape. Last year in international play and Czech league play, Fischer had his agility and speed back, and was dominant defensively. He had to be restrained offensively because he was paired with Zidlicky at the tournaments, but in the Czech league he was among the leading defensemen in points and was the only one who could play a strong defensive and/or physical game.

I'm still waiting for him to pop up on HF. If they give him what he deserves, he should be around an 8-8.5 unless they go based only on last season.

The Wings certainly have a lot of good looking prospects this year and in the years to come. It will be interesting to see where these guys end up this season. I for one am hopeful that Bootland gets a chance on the Grind Line or even on the 4th line this season. I think he will be a really handy player for us in the future, and will play a role very similar to Maltby's. I'm also anxious to see how Big Snake goes. If he shows the talent and toughness that I have been hearing about, then I will be one happy little Wings fan. Kindl is another guy that I am interested in. There were a lot of people bashing him around here after the draft, but I think that he will turn into a pretty decent player. His offensive skills are noted, but he isn't as soft as people make him out to be. He's not Konstantinov, but he plays reasonably physical and isn't totally opposed to contact. People didn't see that last season, but if you think about it, his entire game was a bit off last year, both offensivley and defensivley. With a couple more years to adjust to the North American style of play and to fill out physically, I think he will come along in leaps and bounds. Kindl reminds me of Fischer. He was considered a offensive defenseman in juniors much like Kindl. Fischer didn't have a spectacular rookie season but had a very good sophomore year scoring 78 pts while adding 141 PIM. I think Kindl is capable of something similar. I see certain elements of Fischer in Kindl as well. Fischer was considered to be an offensive defenseman but struggled in his first season in North America, but when he got some experience and adjusted to the style of play, he picked up his scoring and also showed a solid physical side to his game. That is sort of the development I expect/hope for from Kindl. At this point in his career, people see Kindl as just an offensive defenseman, but like Fischer, I think he will show more of a physical, tougher side this season and in the future. Fischer in juniors...he OWNED juniors. And after how he played internationally... He will do really well this season and is not far off from Norris contention.

Elias is expected to recover this season, though. So Lou needs to find the room at some point. I doubt he trades Gomez, but he's the guy I would most want from their forwards because of his youth and skill. I see it being three of Friesen/Kozlov/Langenbrunner/Matvichuk. Those are the guys who are making a significant amount but are not significant key pieces of the team. Langenbrunner probably is the least likely to go, as he makes the least of the forwards and Elias is out for at least the beginning of the year.

why would it be manny's job to lose? Osgood has won 200+ games as a Wing, 300+ overall. He's got career stats that compare favorably to Hall of Famers and just came off one of his statistically better years on one of the worst teams in the NHL. He is the second best goalie in Wings history. He was scouted heavily by then-scout, now-GM Ken Holland since the age of 16 an became a family friend because they lived in the same city. Legace has never been a starter, but has shown the ability. He has not shown he has the stamina. Holland has said neither has the job locked up. If it's any goalie's job to lose, it's Osgood's.

It won't be the kind of lopsided number like 00-01 though Before midseason, they had each played about half. After midseason, Legace played 5 games and Osgood played the rest. Wings had February undefeated that year remember? First month in club history..I think Ozzie played all but one of the games.

I don't believe it was a case of not being able to hang onto players, but more of a case of not knowing which players to hang onto. He's made countless crazy trades. He's traded away Bertuzzi, McCabe, Berard, Chara, Redden, Brewer, Luongo, Jokinen, Spezza (indirectly), Osgood, etc... Half the time he trades away the assets he traded for. peace Osgood was traded when he was coming back from injury, while snow was playing great and he was opening up room for dipietro. That was not a matter of bad decision and more a matter of moving forward. I think they should have moved Snow while he was hot, instead of moving a guy going into the last year of his deal. Bt they got a decent prospect and picks for him, so it wasn't all bad. The Redden thing was a matter of him not wanting to play there and Berard not wanting to play in Ottawa. Milbury would have rather had Redden, he just didn't get the choice. In all fairness, the deal was made basically at the draft and Berard was considered the better player. Chara was basically equal to Eric Cairns as an Isle...he took a major developmental step in Ottawa that never looked like it was going to happen in NY. Bertuzzi was regressing in his development and he and the coaches had lost confidence. Not exactly the best thing for a young player. Brewer was traded for Roman Hamrlik, who was better then and is better now. At 26, Brewer could get much better than he is now, but he's not nearly as good as Oilers fans liked to make him out to be. To call trading Brewer in that deal a bad decision is like saying Keenan shouldn't have traded Shanny for Pronger. McCabe was appearing to regress as well. His ice time increased yearly, but he was getting worse defensively and only the ice time increased his points from year one to two, and his offense disappeared from his second to third year until after the trade. He scored 12 points in 56 games that yea as an Isle. Unfortunately, it appears to have just been an Isles thing, as he potted 12 points in 26 games with the Nucks (a pace he would not repeat until 01-02, as Toronto's #1 defenseman.) Bertuzzi was in that trade basically so Vancouver got a forward and so the Isles didn't have to deal with him any more. McCabe was the prize. Of course he was later traded for a first round pick in Burke's Sedin shuffling, and we see how good those moves turned out. I don't think he got full value for Luongo...but there was the feeling he had to deal one of the goalies, and he felt Dipietro had better upside (which is why he took him first overall in the first place.) A slick move Milbury might have been able to get away with would have been to trade Luongo to Atlanta for the second pick and something else...He could have then gotten his goalie, Heatley, and whatever else. Jokinen scored 21 points in 82 games as an isle, after scoring 21 in 66 as a king his rookie year. his production would drop again his first year as a panther, before raising to 29 his fourth year. It wasn't until his fifth year, third as a panther, that he posted big numbers. He is also a career -86, his best being even in his second year. He has 210 points in 477 games. Jokinen's first two years with the Panthers were still not as productive as Parrish's career-worst season (first year with NYI.) Parrish has 254 points in 442 games, is a -25, and a 3-time plus. Both are 6-year vets. Kvasha has had the best +/- success (four times plus in six years, career -3), but has been the least offensively productive (185 points in 429 games) So all players have been basically even over their careers, with Jokinen's huge last two years pulling him up to par. Kvasha is just breaking out, so he should be up on that 55-65 point level, and Parrish has shown he can do that. He should hover around the 50-55 point mark for the next few years, maybe a little higher. I think Kvasha will end up as the best forward of the three because while +/- is not a great defensive indicator, Kvasha is easily the best defensive forward of the bunch and he is more physical than the others. I think he might have the most offensive upside when all is said and done as well..he has shown some real skill that is still developing. Jokinen and Parrish should be comparable. So Luongo for Kvasha was basically what Milbury did. If Dipietro pans out as he could and Kvasha does well (he led the Isles in scoring last year and is only 25, so it seems entirely possible) then while on its own that's not great, in context that doesn't turn out so bad. Berard was traded for Potvin around the same time Tommy Salo was traded for Mats Lindgren.and the pick used on Radek Martinek, who has turned out pretty well. That was later in the season in 1998-99. The Isles early the next season traded Potvin and a irrelevant pik for Weekes, Scatchard, and Muckalt, all of whom were very solid for the Isles. Vancouver dropped Potvin for free within a season, so Milbury comes off pretty well there. The next summer, Weekes, Kudroc, and the pick used on Matthew Spiller were traded for a first pick (Torres) and a couple other picks used on crap prospects. So basically, within a season and a half it was Berard, Kudroc, and Salo for Lindgren, Martinek, Torres, Scatchard, Muckalt. That's a pretty decent return. torres was traded in 03 with brad isbister for janne niinimaa. Nice breakdown! Thanks...it's just that I've always thought Milbury was a very underrated GM. The moment he was given a budget beyond 'whatever he could get from the gumball machine in the lobby' he turned the team into a pretty solid team by swinging just a couple deals. He didn't have much to work with from a last-place team--if Chara had been looking at all like future Norris material, he would either 1) never have had to include the pick or 2) gotten a much larger return, perhaps including Phillips. Speaking of GMs and budget management...how about Clarke, Burke, and Lamoirello this year? Burke and Lamoirello were always praised for their skills at keeping a low budget but building a quality team, while Clarke was one of the guys derided for overspending and it was said if a cap was put in that the Flyers would fall apart. Wonder what's going through those minds? I don't recognize Lamoriello anymore. I've always been an admirer of his, but his moves this season has been anything but impressive. Signing Malakhov at $3.6 M?! I think both Clarke and Burke has done pretty good this season so far. It'll be interesting to see how Clarke handles the task of getting under the cap again. Darryl Sutter is looking more and more like the new king of GM's, IMO. Sutter made good moves last season, but his team got worse since 2004. He lost his forward depth, his defense is stagnant (I haven't checked, but I think they may have gotten older too despite bringing in two rookies into the top seven with three changes) and he lost one of the best backup goalies in the league-someone who was a major factor in getting to the playoffs last season-and replaced him with someone with virtually no NHL experience and far less ability at this point, and did this while his starter has never played even close to a full load of games. Burke has 19 players signed for around 34m. However, he is missing one of his top three defensemen and one of his better offensive forwards. After those two, the team will not have any money left. Chistov will get 1-1.5, Salei will get 2-3. That's at least 37m in payroll, possibly a maxed cap for just 21 players. Anaheim's roster is not nearly as good as Detroit's even WITHOUT Datsyuk, and Holland is one of the biggest flak-catchers when it comes to the overspending things. Outside of a few players, Burke has made most of the moves on Anaheim's roster. Signing Niedermayer instead of a guy like Berard or Aucoin is exactly why I think Burke has screwed up. He's top loaded his payroll, when he could have paid half as much for a highly effective offensive defenseman. Nieds is better, sure, but Anaheim needed to improve with more than just him. By getting Niedermayer, Ozolinsh is made basically obsolete but still gets nearly 3m. Paying 3-4m for Aucoin or Berard wouldn't have been that bad, as Ozolinsh would have made up the difference offensively. He was able to sign Selanne for 1m, but Selanne had a horrible season last year so his value dropped, plus he wanted to play in Anaheim anyway so he was willing to take less (which a lot of players did) If he was planning on going after Niedermayer, he should have bought out Fedorov. There's only room for one of them on that payroll.

there ya go. Not saying Hudler is gonna be nearly as good, but you understand the point?