eva unit zero

I want to see John Moschitta, Jr. for play-by-play and Vincent Price for color.

Waved off. As in waving your (or in this case, the referee's) arms. Not waived, as in placing a player on waivers. Don't tell Murph. Schneider was a flop because the Wings didn't win the Cup with him? He was very good for the Wings, and one of the league's best defensemen. You forget that the Wings also lost Hasek (and others) after the 02 Cup, and while Joseph was good he was not Hasek. Hatcher, otoh, was a massive flop. Modano is already a huge success compared to Hatcher. False. Kypreos stated that he heard the deal to keep the team in Glendale was dead, and that an announcement would be made after the playoffs. He said nothing firm and nothing about Winnipeg. That was all speculation. Meanwhile, Bill Daly has stated that Kypreos' "inside info" about the deal being dead is false and that the NHL is still actively working to keep the team in Glendale.

Modano a healthy scratch? Maybe we will see: Hudler/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Bertuzzi Cleary/Abdelkader/Eaves Draper/Helm/Miller. Or even better... Maybe we see a line of Hudler/Draper/Eaves, and they score a goal? If only Doan was on our team.

P.J. Stock was a second-rate enforcer, but he was still better at that than he is in front of the camera.

Zero risk. The waiver period is from opening night until the last day of each individual team's regular season. According to the CBA, the team is entitled to four recalls from their minor league affiliate. But there is also a provision that allows for the recall of any player on the reserve list once the minor league team's season has ended. The Wings played their last game on Sunday, April 10th. They recalled 15 players from the Griffins (who missed the playoffs) on Monday, April 11th. No possibility for a waiver claim on Meech. As I said, zero risk. And even if there were, he's a UFA next season; claiming him now would be pointless.

I had one where Yandle, Morris, and Aucoin were all close to 40 minutes and the other three Coyote defensemen were all under 2 minutes.

This is what I have been talking about all season with Stuart. People on LGW are all up on Stuart about how great he has been this season, when he's been ignoring his defensive responsibility without gaining anything offensively.

Eva, please tell me your being sarcastic. Kevin Stevens didn't make Mario Lemieux legendary. Same goes here. I followed that up with this: And that didn't tell you I was being sarcastic? I know some reading comprehension teachers you may want to get in touch with.

My favorite is how it divides up the TOI and all that. One game I simmed had Helm and Abdelkader played almost 7 minutes of PK each, without any other forwards playing any. Meanwhile, the PP unit featured Hudler, Cleary, Franzen, Lidstrom, and Kindl. Kindl, in fact, played a total of 6 minutes in that game; 2 PP and 4 PK. No even strength minutes for Jakub! Beyond that, the top forward line was playing 30 minutes a game. Terrible simulator.

Draper was about two feet from the boards, maybe even less. I used to be a copy editor; I'm not going to say "couple" when I don't mean it.

Hudler has been one of team's best forwards since Christmas, even while Dats was watching games. That said, the Hudler/Datsyuk/Cleary line was easily the best combination Babcock put on the ice this season, and needs to be put back together because the line was broken up because all three were playing well, and other guys (notably Franzen) were not. With the way Abby has been playing, I don't see him being relegated to a trash line that can't check or play defense, and doesn't have the right pieces to serve as a functioning scoring line in the Wings' system. More likely we'd see: Hudler/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Bertuzzi Cleary/Modano/Eaves Draper/Helm/Abdelkader This puts out a third line with speed and scoring ability, with the ability to play some defense. It also puts out a proven fourth line that is very physical. I am definitely in agreement with breaking up the Lidstrom/Stuart pairing; I think it has been a huge failure. Stuart has put out his worst defensive performance as a Wing and his offensive performance tapered off after a hot start. I also don't think Salei has performed well; this poses a problem when putting together the pairings. If Salei performed like the Salei of 2-3 years ago, then your pairs are wonderful. But I would rather have Kindl in; and I don't want a Kindl-Ericsson pairing. So I have these options: Lidstrom/Kindl Kronwall/Stuart Ericsson/Rafalski Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Ericsson Kindl/Stuart Lidstrom/Ericsson Kronwall/Kindl Stuart/Rafalski Another debateable point is this; why not move Rafalski to the left side? The Wings' offense is supposed to flow based on puck control and smooth passing, but it's not a Bobby Orr/Paul Coffey environment where the defenseman is supposed to be carrying the puck. The idea is that the defenseman provides a quick, accurate breakout pass to the forwards. Opening up Rafalski's stick to the middle of the ice provides better passing lanes. It also places him so that he is already in "shooting position" when the Wings have control in the zone.

Datsyuk will only become a playoff legend if he keeps on playing with Hudler. You all know it's true. Seriously, I'm not concerned about Dats' playoff performance. He's not Z in the postseason, but that's like saying Yzerman wasn't Gretzky offensively. The guys I am concerned about are Filppula and Franzen; they are big parts of the team and have not played well down the stretch. Yes, Franzen has made his name as a playoff beast, but that doesn't give him a pass; Fedorov holds the record for most consecutive 20-point playoff seasons (4, 1995-1998), yet when the playoffs rolled around a big topic was always "Will Fedorov show up?" even though he was the best clutch forward of the 90s. Franzen has a tendency to pop into "playoff mode", but he's been floating a lot more this season which worries me.

The "signature penalty" of this playoff will be elbowing. Usually marginal elbows are let go in the regular season and only the ones that can't be ignored are called in the playoffs, but with the head-shot directive and the number of big name players who have gone out for some period of time due to concussions, the Air Canada flap, and especially Crosby's pending not-retirement, the league's refs will be keeping an eye out for those who believe in Pronger Physics. You do realize the inherent danger in such a hit, right? Kris Draper was only a couple of feet out. Ace Bailey was only a couple of feet out. Gordie Howe's skull injury was from a missed hit at that distance, and sent him into the boards headfirst. Boarding includes any hit that causes the recipient to be thrown into the boards in a violent manner, as well as hits where the player is in a vulnerable position - see wasting a guy on an icing play. I would say sending a guy into the boards from five feet out certainly falls under that spectrum and can justifiably be called as boarding. Detroit v. Tampa in the finals. Brawl on the ice, Hudler lines up with St. Louis.

Recuperate. Unless you mean that you want him to be even more of a team player than he already is. In his last twenty games, Howard has allowed 3+ goals nine times. The twenty games also include the Toronto game where he was injured, and likely would have given up a third the way he was playing. If the goaltending keeps on like that, Ozzy may yet see ice time this playoff season.

Round 1 Template: VAN/CHI: 4-2 SJS/LAK: 4-1 DET/PHX: 4-1 ANA/NSH: 4-2 WAS/NYR: 4-1 PHI/BUF: 4-1 BOS/MTL: 4-2 PIT/TBL: 4-2 WC Champion: Detroit EC Champion: Washington SCF Champion: Detroit

Re-entry waivers are likely why Janik saw time instead of Meech this season when a call-up was needed. Janik is 31, while Meech turns 27 in less than two weeks. But we don't have to worry about that anymore, so Meech in the postseason is quite possible.

Draper was hit blindside, true. But he was hit into the boards in a violent manner and he was in a vulnerable position. Let's review:

I couldn't. Smith will be solid, but he's not NHL-ready and certainly isn't playoff ready. Janik and Meech are the obvious choices. Each has a few NHL playoff games of experience, and have played at least two full seasons on an NHL roster. Meech holds the advantage in that he was on the Wings' roster for 07-08, 08-09, and 09-10; putting him as part of a very talented defensive corps which went to the finals twice in a row. Or we could go based on Cup rings, and pick Meech.

A trip and a dive can be called on the same play, and can be committed on the same play. Tripping is typically called on plays where one player intentionally uses his stick or leg to cause the other to fall. Diving is a penalty for embellishment with the intent to draw a penalty. A player can be tripped and then also dive. Just because the league's officials generally refuse to call diving penalties don't make it a rare occurence. It's like saying that Gordie Howe wasn't a top offensive player because he never scored 50 goals, and only posted 100 points once?

In the thread posted a few weeks back that discussed an article which went over potential Olympic teams, Bernier was either one of the Canadian goalies or in the "just missed the cut" section. Of course, the same article had a then 40-year-old Tim Thomas on the US team if I recall, so there's clearly a limited amount of accuracy there.

If we draft Jamieson Oleksiak and Troy Vance, we'll have an unbeatable defense.

Osgood was playing better hockey than Howard when he was in, despite Babcock's completely irregular starting decisions that might have him sit for ten games and then play two of three. I can understand your opinion on Bernier; I mean, he's supposed to be on the 2014 Olympic team right?

And you got Dallas Drake and Tim Cheveldae in return for Bob Essensa a few months later. Add Draper in to that deal and it is much closer to fair, but still in the Jets' favor.

Whether the Wings score 40 goals in a 4 game sweep, or the Coyotes win the Cup, the Yotes are not moving back. Winnipeg has proven itself no more successful a market than current "failing" markets. And Winnipeg is at a huge disadvantage because those markets have a much greater population to tap into, as well as being much larger TV markets. If you want a successful small market, try Green Bay. And why are they successful? Because they have a long history of winning. Winnipeg, Hartford, Quebec? Those cities won nothing. Quebec is the most realistic suggestion for an NHL team, and even then they would have trouble. Maybe less if you buy up the Avs and move them back...

There was nothing accidental about the elbow, it wasn't a matter of his elbow coming up after contact; it was up before he hit. Watch the replay again; Seabrook's right shoulder and arm go between Abdelkader's arm and body. Whether he had intended to hit him with the elbow initially or stuck it out because of Seabrook's attempt to avoid, it doesn't matter. It's still elbowing, and a hit to the head.