eva unit zero

Dandenault improved quite a bit as a player thanks to switching..he would never have stuck around so long if he had just stayed at forward. Remember, he did not play 70+ games until the year he switched to D, and last year was the first year he dropped back under 70 games. He also fell out of the top six with the emergence of Kronwall, and was used at forward many times later in the year.

We have a bright future ahead and great young wings. it does indeed look very good not great, but damn good. That's a lot of really strong young prospects and roster players who are going to be core players for this team within two years-assuming Dats' contract situation is resolved. 2009 or 2010, maybe sooner, the Wings will have an elite team comprised mainly of 20-28 year olds. That's killer.

MacIntyre wasn't shuttling back and forth to Toledo last season..he played the whole season in Grand Rapids as Joey Macdonalds back-up and was awful. Thats why He only played like 10 games, because he got shelled every time he stepped in net. He needs another full season in Toledo, or to be traded 2004-05 Grand-Rapids Griffins AHL 24 0 0 0 1048 47 0 1 2.69 7 8 0 431 0.902 - - - - 2004-05 Toledo Storm ECHL 2 0 0 2 87 6 1 0 4.12 0 1 0 34 0.850 That's MacIntyre's stat line from last year.

Only 16 times was an instigator handed out in the last five minutes of regulaton in 03-04, happening in 14 games. Eight of these 14 games were decided by 3 goals or more. Two went to overtime, each featuring one instigator. So 14 suspensions for instigator over the course of 1230 games. Happened in 14 games, which is 1.1% of the total games. Pretty tiny fraction. Hard to say that it's a push to make fighting against the rules. More than likely, it's designed to prevent players from being injured in meaningless fights that usually do not affect the outcome.

eh I'm sorry but in my opinon not only does Kopecky suck, after this year he'll be done in the AHL. That GR roster though, I'm liking how it looks, got some good young strong players there. Yes, after this year Kopecky will be done in the A. He will have a good shot at being in Detroit because this year he'll be back to the dominant form he showed when he first started in the AHL.

Might as well close this one...seeing as it's highly unlikely we trade Dandenault anywhere now.

It's much harder to hide prospects in North America, the media coverage is much heavier and a lot of fans can see the kids play in person. This is actually one reason I like the Kindl pick. He was known as hugely talented with all the tools, and then his ranking dropped because of his stats. A Wings scout actually lives in Kitchener and saw him regularly, so we know that he wasn't just sitting there on the ice not doing anything. More than likely he was just having every unlucky break when it came to bounces or whatever.

I wasn't stating it as a preferred path. Simply that it was a possible course of action if we had to trade Pudge.

You forgot Kopecky. Liv will be the starter in Grand Rapids...MacIntyre hasn't even fully recovered from his injury and was shuttling back and forth to Toledo last season. Liv will probably see 50-60 games as a Griffin this year. The rest will go to Mac and/or Koopmans. Kopecky and Hudler will both have big years. Kopecky has added size and strength (he's now 6-3, 203) and has had some time off over the summer to recover from the injury that cost his large chunks of the last two seasons. Jiri Hudler Tomas Kopecky Eric Manlow Eric Himelfarb Matt Ellis Ryan Barnes Ernie Hartlieb Tomek Valtonen Darryl Bootland Todd Jackson Ryan Oulahen Valtteri Filppula Defense Bryan Helmer Derek Meech Kyle Quincey Brett Lebda Travis Richards Mirsolav Blatak Goal Stefan Liv Drew MacIntyre/Logan Koopmans

Holland is looking to get those four in under 6.5m.

The way Inge is hitting, and the kind of D he can play behind the plate, we could just as easily look for a 3rd baseman and put Inge back at catcher, or trade Pudge for one. Or put Infante in the lineup and move Polanco over-he has played plenty of third. Polanco/Guillen/Infante/Shelton, Monroe/Granderson/Ordonez, Inge? Not a bad lineup, plenty of good youth and excellent vets.

Oh man wouldn't it be awesome if they tried Palmeiro for purjury? Being rich and all he could hire some hot-shot Latino lawyer and have the guy spout off quotes like "If the needle don't fit, you must acquit!" I'd much rather see Raffi sticking his hand in a batting glove and not fitting

the 'era' of steroids? Steroids have been in baseball forever. Long before Palmerio or Sanchez, or Giambi. Long before Jose Canseco. Steroids are known to have permeated baseball as far back as the 60s. How can you be so sure Mickey Mantle or Hank Aaron weren't taking steroids yet be adamant about what a guy like Bonds is taking now? Bonds is supposed to have taken steroids since 2001. Let's hack off 25% of his power numbers in those years. 209 HR drops to 157, career total drops to 651. He's still within 104 of Aaron at that point. 438 RBI becomes 329, career total drops to 1734. Steroids are not a major factor in increasing your batting average, and while Bonds led the league in walks recently, he also did so in the early-mid 90s. Bonds also has won several MVP awards, far more than anyone else. And he won a few in the late 80s/early 90s, so it's not just "the steroid years." Even if you cut his numbers down like that, he's still the greatest ballplayer of our era and probably one of the three or four best of all-time.

only 48 yards? Just give it to Hart..he can get 48 yards on one rush no problem.

I would have rather kept Robinson than Bootland...but I supposed Bootland does have some offensive potential. Robinson probably didn't get retained because of his block-hands. I like the resigning of Kopecky...he's had a difficult couple years with injuries, but he should get that righted and get back on track. He has one of the best size/skill combinations the Wings have had in the system for a long time.

In about ten years....

Doesn't matter where Grigs plays...he'll be one of the best players in his league, and then come over and will win the 07 Calder. Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Grigorenko/Fischer/Kronwall/Howard... Future All-Star core! Hudler, Quincey, Kindl, Liv could do it too.

I would be sad to see Liv go elsewhere...I think even with his weaknesses he could star on several teams based on 03-04 rosters. He wouldn't be a top goalie by any means, but there are teams out there whose best tender was AHL-caliber.

Had he grabbed Alexander Sundstrom I would have given it an A or A-...instead it's a B+.

Bowman didn't like Drake either, that is why he was thrown in... But as for this being the worst trade in your lifetime, how old are you? Adam Oates for Bernie Federko was pretty bad, much worse than this trade. Cheveldae didn't do anything after leaving here. Drake turned out to be pretty good (he was one of my favorite wings at the time, I was mad that he was thrown into that trade), but nowhere near the level that Adam Oates went to after being given away by the wings... I don't agree with that assessment. Yes, Oates was great after the trade. But Federko contributed a lot more than Essensa and Bautin combined ever did, and Federko was just as solid a contributor as Oates in his time for Detroit. Oates likely would not have done any better for the Wings had he stayed--his improvement was largely linked to Hull and Neely, and would not have happened because of Steve Yzerman being engraved on the first line. Oates would have never had the opportunity and possibly would have been demoted when Fedorov entered the league. Drake was developing into a heck of a player real quick, great defense and a solid offensive contribution. He's been one of the top 4-5 defensive forwards during the past decade consistently and has always been a big time ferocious hitter...would have been a huge plus for the team.

Oulahen was named the most underrated player in the OHL last season by the coaches and ranked in the top three in faceoffs, penalty killing, defensive forwards, and skating. He scored nearly a point per game while playing against the best offensive players in the OHL every shift. And he's the captain of the team. He doesn't put up spectacular offensive numbers, but he is a spectacular player. Howard can still sign with Detroit. The deadline was for signing 2003 drafted players that are eligible to re-enter the draft or become UFAs. There is no deadline to sign college players or Europeans, so he can still sign. Howard could sign in November if he wanted to. I never said Oulahen wasn't a good player. But he's much more of a Draper type...solid contributor offensively, defensive stalwart. The kind of guy I would call spectacular is Fedorov. Elite defense and amazing offense, big and strong. Most complete player to play in the NHL in a long time.

Wasn't it Bowman that dealt Drake and Cheveldae to the Jets at the '94 trade deadline? That was Murray's last significant act as GM. Bowman was in his first season as coach, but Murray was still GM. Bowman's first significant act as GM was trading Chiasson for Mike Vernon.

He might do Bertuzzi for Fedorov straight up. Nah...Burke probably wants "his" goalie.

Dallas Drake. Although Burr is a good one too. Drake was and is a solid all-around player, great defensively, great hitter, good skater, and a nice shot. Only reason he didn't stay in Detroit was that Murray bent to media pressure and dealt Cheveldae (worst trade the Wings have made in my lifetime imho...Bautin played 1 game, Essensa did not play much either.) EDIT: Steve Chiasson also as at the top of my list...he was Detroit's first all-star defenseman in 13 years and he's among the most prolific blueline scorers to play for Detroit, was very good defensively and a nasty hitter. Plus the combination of Konstantinov/Chiasson was just awesome.

Oulahen would be less of a loss. Quincey is the top defense prospect in the Wings' farm system (Kronwall aside-he's on the big club now) Oulahen is a solid player but is nothing spectacular.