eva unit zero

I was referring more to the fact that Hudler got in behind the defense, and when Robidas was slashing him on the elbow he turned away and put a no-look backhander top-shelf. But feel free to ignore that part of the video.

The same way this happened: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq4FYLZw9dU

Given that in his last season in Detroit, he was such with less offensively skilled linemates than he would have this coming season in a similar role, and is a more mature player with more developed skills, why would he drop from 57 points to the 40-50 range?

Anyone claiming that is seriously on crack...Yzerman would have been as likely as anyone on the Blues to pick up that puck had it hit the glass, and the rest of the Wings team was just crossing the red line.

Playing on one of the top two lines, Hudler should be looking at around 30 goals and 40-50 assists, if not better. He'll either be on the wing with one of Dats or Z if they're split, or he'll be on a second line with Flip and Franzen. For a guy with Rex's offensive talent, 70 points or more should be the result from that kind of linemates, real top-six ice time and PP time like he should be getting.

It's only a mistake if you think Quincey should have been kept over Meech based on their performance and potential at the time. The fact is, the ONLY thing Quincey had on Meech during their time together with the Wings is that he is younger. Meech was better at everything the whole time they were in the system together. There was absolutely no reason to keep Q over Meech. Now Lebda, OTOH, I was advocating THEN for him being the one waived. He was no worse then than he is now; and he is FINALLY leaving the organization now. Quincey has had some success, but who is to say that Meech wouldn't have the same success given the opportunity? RFAs do not need to be given a raise. Their qualifying offers need to be a certain percentage higher unless they make $1m or more, but the player can sign for the same amount or even less than he made before.

At least parts of Scream 4 are being shot in the Ann Arbor area as well.

Anyone think this thread should be merged with the one about the Coyotes being bankrupt and Jim Balsillie not getting his way?

Why not Aaron Ward? How about because we want to spend less than $1m and get a defenseman who can actually skate? The Wings' defense right now is this: Lidstrom Kronwall Rafalski Stuart Ericsson Kindl Meech? Janik Hnidy is a possiblity, if he takes a pay cut. Boynton won't sign for under $1m, and certainly not the $750k he would have to, unless he's forced to given what he was making last year. Exelby would be decent if he takes $750k, but he's barely an upgrade over Janik so I don't know if that's even worth it. Sutton is going to cost more than the Wings can afford. On the open market he might even get Kronwall/Stuart type money.

The argument was more to disprove the "you need an enforcer to win the Cup" idea. If that were true, we wouldn't have seen five in a row and counting that played a playoff run without an enforcer and won the Cup. Yes, those teams may have had enforcers who dressed regularly or semi-regularly (Carolina didn't, actually) in the regular season. But none of them dressed those enforcers in the playoffs, when the game is tougher, tighter, and more physical with the refs putting away their whistles. I'm sure enforcers are appreciated, but don't you think if they were as valuable as claimed by the pro-enforcer crowd on LGW, that the more successful playoff teams would actually be dressing one or even two to discourage rough treatment of star players? Now, to give a different thought to it. Say we define enforcer a little more loosely, as a tough, gritty player who plays physical and stands up in defense of his teammates. Throw the 'fighting' requirement out, whether it simply be he has to be a tough fighter, or he has to fight X number of times per season, etc. It is this looser definition that is why teams win Cups. Gritty players who are willing to stand up for each other. Abdelkader. Stuart. Drake. Errey. Macoun. Rouse. Gallant. Burr. Having a Boogard or a Parros might be entertaining, but it's a waste of space. The Wings might not be the biggest, meanest or grittiest of teams, but the players they do have, while smaller than other teams, are not squishy marshmallows. Well, maybe Bertuzzi, but only because of his diet of marshmallow sandwiches. If someone can provide me a serious VALID reason why a goon is necessary on the roster, I will give that person my next paycheck.

Defensemen in Meech's age range who scored a similar PPG make between $500k and $1.5m. Another thing is that Meech can use Jonathan Ericsson's contract as a comparable, as given similar ice time Meech's offensive numbers come close to Ericsson's despite play time, plus Meech has the advantage of speed and is better than Ericsson defensively. Meech could end up with a contract at $525k, or he could end up with a contract at close to $1m. My bet is that he is signed before arbitration occurs.

Tell me the last Cup champion that won with an enforcer regularly dressing in the playoffs. I'll give you a hint. It was Tampa Bay and Chris Dingman in 2004. Five Cups won with no enforcer? All of those star players left unprotected still won Cups? Hmm.... Go watch some MMA if fighting is what you want. Otherwise, shut your yap and appreciate hockey, whether it's a physical game or a finesse game. Both things are still hockey, believe it or not.

Played 5 playoff games in 2007 playoffs as an injury replacement for Shawn Thornton. Did not play in playoffs. Did not play in playoffs. And for the cleanup, the closest thing Chicago had to an enforcer last season was checking winger Ben Eager. None of the last four Cup champs have dressed an enforcer during the playoffs regularly, only one of them has even dressed one for any games. Very interesting to say the least.

Zetterberg is one of the five best forwards in the league. Yzerman was such in 1993. Sundin was one of the top 15-20 in 1993, while Getzlaf is today. The playing styles are similar, and the age gaps are similar. As for Getzlaf putting up "a lot of points" while Z puts up "a bit over 70" let's look at something: Getzlaf has scored 68 goals and 242 points in 224 games over the past three seasons. Zetterberg has scored 97 goals and 235 points in 226 games over the same three seasons. Getzlaf averaged 23 goals and 81 points in 75 games to Zetterberg's 32 goals and 78 points in 75 games. Hardly a significant scoring difference. Certainly not enough to offset Z's defensive ability or clutch performance.

Probably means Holland was trying to get him at the league minimum. Most of you guys forget, Meech has been playing on a contract that was BELOW LEAGUE MINIMUM because of when it was signed. Arbitration doesn't necessarily mean the player wants a huge contract. It often means that the team and player have not come to an agreement, yet would like to and intend to. Meech could be asking for $850k and Holland offering $500k, and Holland might be spending more time negotiating with Eaves/Miller/Abby/Helm so Meech filed for arbitration to ensure he would definitely have a contract with the team because he is worth more than $500k.

Getzlaf is a big, physical center and a very good playmaker. He can score a decent amount of goals. He is no better than average defensively. Zetterberg is good sized, can play physical, has a very good shot, is a good playmaker, and is one of if not the best shut down forward in the league. Getzlaf is one of the top 15-20 forwards in the league. Zetterberg is one of the top 5. In three years, who knows. But this team is built around Zetterberg. It would be like the 1992-93 Wings trading a 28-year old Yzerman to Quebec for a 22-year old Mats Sundin. A big, strong, young Sundin had just scored 114 points and placed among the league's top scorers. It could be reasonably argued based on this thread that he would excel well offensively beyond Yzerman's performance through the 90s as he was much younger and not yet in his prime, while Yzerman was heading towards the downside of his career. Yet such was not the case. Sundin and Yzerman typically posted comparable offensive numbers in most seasons.

And even though he's dead, he could STILL kick Tie Domi's ass. RIP Probie.

I projected Kopecky on the second line (Kopecky/Sharp/Hossa) while Versteeg and Ladd were still Hawks, you haven't been paying attention. With Versteeg and Ladd gone, we may even see him end up on the first line, as he was for the finals (Kopecky/Toews/Hossa) as that line had some solid chemistry.

Any NHL-level Canadian-born goalie could have won that gold the way that team played. Osgood, Giguere, Theodore, Lalime, Mason, Ward, Turco, etc.

The only player in their top-six forwards the Hawks lost was Versteeg. They lost none of their top four defensemen (Hjalmarsson pending) nor their goalie (Niemi pending) and have either replaced every player lost with a younger player who is just as effective, or have a replacement lined up. The only exception is Byfuglien, whose net presence may or may not be recreated effectively enough by guys like Kopecky and Brouwer. But my main point is that Chicago's main players are still in place, so to write them off as a team that isn't a contender because they lost easily replaceable depth players who were overpaid anyway. Eager is no better than Maltby and made $1m last year. Fraser is in the same boat and made $700k. Both were RFAs and would have cost a combined $2m+ to sign...for the team's #12 and #13 forwards. Sopel was outplayed by rookie Jordan Hendry, and was dumped because he was making $2m, which is #4/#5 money when he was the team's #6 defenseman. Bring in a rookie or another vet to replace him for $1m or less with no discernible difference in play. The Hawks lost 54 goals between Versteeg, Byfuglien, and Ladd. Kopecky is likely to serve as the primary replacement in Buffy's role, so we'll see an offensive increase from him, maybe an increase of 10 goals between Kopecky and Brouwer's total of 32 up to 42, given the increase in playing time and linemate skill during the regular season. So we have to replace 44 goals. Viktor Stalberg, the primary piece returning in the Versteeg trade, scored at a better GPG than Ladd or Byfuglien and only slightly behind Versteeg. Given better linemates (any of Chicago's top three lines) and a real chance, which is likely what Stalberg will get as a Hawk, he should be able to score at 20 goals over a full season. So let's see where another 14 goals come in. Bolland playing a full season and Bickell playing a full season works out to about 30 goals, which replaces the 14 contributed by Eager and Fraser. So realistically, the Hawks have pretty much covered their losses so long as the intended replacements work out as they 'should' shall we say. Can't speak for the playoffs given the increased number of inexperienced players, but definitely a contending team with the core having had Cup experience last season and the team being perhaps only marginally worse.

Hopefully, Babcock will manage his goaltenders better and give Howard 50-60 starts and Ozzie the remainder, if not more for Ozzie depending on performance. Play your goalie 70 regular season games and you won't go far in the playoffs.

Hmm, really? The Penguins had 13 forwards and 8 defensemen who played in the playoffs in 08-09. The regular 12-6-2 are bolded. Members of this roster who played for the 09-10 Penguins are underlined. F: Malkin, Crosby, Guerin, Fedotenko, Kunitz, Talbot, Kennedy, Staal, Cooke, Satan, Adams, Sykora, Dupuis D: Gonchar, Letang, Eaton, Scuderi, Boucher, Orpik, Gill, Goligoski G: Fleury, Garon So the Pens did keep more of their roster, losing Scuderi, Gill, and Garon, and paying out big to keep Letang. However, part of that is due to the fact that almost all of the existing contracts went for at least one more year. But this year, Guerin and Fedotenko are UFA, and they are already pushed up against the cap as it is. That's two more. Chicago didn't buy a cup; their core was almost entirely homegrown players. The problem is that the Campbell and Huet contracts handcuffed their cap for this coming season, as did Toews' and Kane's bonuses. Beyond that, they had three excellent young players, all of whom had contracts expiring at the same time. Had Byfuglien, Versteeg, Sharp, Bolland, and Seabrook been signed to more reasonable contracts given WHEN they were signed, then the Hawks would not be in this mess. Campbell was overpaid by about $2m when he signed, and Huet got about $2m too much when he signed. So figure between Buff, Versteeg, Sharp, Bolland, Campbell, Seabrook, and Huet the Hawks save $10m with more reasonable deals. That would have allowed all of the bonuses to count on last year's cap, and saved the Hawks plenty of cap hell. So it wasn't about buying a Cup at all. It was about developing good talent but paying too much for it. A lot of teams have this problem, Tallon just managed to make a Cup winner out of the young talent he did get and the money he was allowed to spend, even if he was sent packing midseason before the Cup was won. Chicago is losing players quicker than normal Cup champs, but most lose a third or even half of their talent within three or four years, and except for a couple players have usually seen complete turnover in six or seven seasons. Compare the 2002 Wings to the 2008 Wings. Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Draper, McCarty, Maltby, Lidstrom, Hasek. Hasek was the backup in 2008, Maltby and McCarty played very little time in 2008. Rookie Datsyuk didn't play much in 2002. So basically, Holmstrom, Draper, and Lidstrom are the only true "carryovers" from 2002 to 2008.

Next up, Holland feels those pangs of loyalty, and signs Lebda, Schneider, and Maltby at the league minimum to play in front of MacDonald.

Vancouver: Top six forwards: Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Ryan Kesler, Mikael Samuelsson, Alex Burrows, Manny Malhotra (!) Top four defensemen: Christian Ehrhoff, Dan Hamhuis, Alex Edler, Keith Ballard Goaltender: Roberto Luongo Now, is that the team to beat? Let's take a look at how they compare to the Wings: Top six forwards: Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Jiri Hudler, Valtteri Filppula, Tomas Holmstrom Top four defensemen: Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart Goaltender: Jimmy Howard Henrik Sedin vs Pavel Datsyuk: Sedin won the Art Ross and the Hart. Datsyuk won the Selke. Sedin has been considered one of the less talented first-line centers in the NHL for years, Datsyuk has been a Hart trophy finalist before and has multiple Selkes. EVEN. Daniel Sedin vs Henrik Zetterberg; Most people consider the twins to be about even in skill, and most people consider Pav and Dats about even. So I'll ignore the comparison and go no further. EVEN. Ryan Kesler vs Johan Franzen: Kesler is good. Franzen is better. DETROIT Mikael Samuelsson vs Jiri Hudler: Can anyone SERIOUSLY say Samuelsson is better than Hudler? No? Didn't think so. DETROIT. Alex Burrows vs Tomas Holmstrom: Burrows would have outscored Holmstrom had Holmstrom played the full season. Burrows also was playing with two of the top ten scoring forwards in the league this year. Holmstrom is still the best net-front presence, although Burrows does provide a more rounded all-around game. EVEN. Manny Malhotra vs. Valtteri Filppla: Filppula is a top-six forward; a defensive specialist with good offensive skills that have been blossoming. Malhotra is a very fast skater who was supposed to be an offensive force, but that never happened. Instead, he became a good defensive forward who is also a great faceoff man. DETROIT Christian Ehrhoff vs Nicklas Lidstrom: I almost laughed putting up this comparison. I feel bad including Lidstrom; maybe I should put him last to make the Canucks' defense compare more favorably. DETROIT. Dan Hamhuis vs Niklas Kronwall: This is a fair comparison. Hamhuis and Kronwall are both solid defensive defensemen who play a rough, physical game. Except for the fact that Hamhuis is an average offensive defenseman for a top-four guy, while Kronwall is one of the league's most capable offensive defensemen. DETROIT. Alex Edler vs. Brian Rafalski: This is pretty close. Both of these guys are skilled offensive defensemen who are generally lacking in physical presence, but play a decent defensive game. Edler is younger, and has the brighter future, but Rafalski is the better defenseman right now. DETROIT (for now). Keith Ballard vs. Brad Stuart: Stuart is better physically, both are very good defensive defensemen and good penalty killers. Ballard gets the edge on offense, but who knows what happens to his scoring numbers going from being a #2 defenseman to being a #4 defenseman. VANCOUVER Roberto Luongo vs. Jimmy Howard: Luongo is one of the league's better goalies every year, but has always cracked in pressure situations. Howard had a great rookie year and followed it with a questionable playoff. There is no guarantee Howard will be that good again, but Luongo is not the secret weapon some seem to think. VANCOUVER. Ultimately, Vancouver's core is not nearly as good as Detroit's. Luongo's presence plus a couple good forwards and a couple good defensemen doesn't automatically make the Nucks the team to beat. The Canadian media needs to give up the hard-on for Luongo and realize that he's not the superstar goalie that he is hyped to be. The "team to beat" in Canada is probably Calgary. Iginla, Jokinen, Langkow, Stajan, Bourque, Tanguay, Glencross, Kotalik, Hagman for a top nine? That's actually pretty solid. Sarich is probably on the outs, and then the team uses his $3.6m to sign Ian White. White, Bouwmeester, Regehr, Staois makes for a decent top four, and Kipper in goal is a good option if the 'on' switch is flipped. Henrik Karlsson and Leland Irving are good safety measures if Kipper hits the skids, though. As far as the team to beat in the West? Right now, I would say Detroit, partially because Detroit is the best team based on actual players signed. That could change. But most teams are not that far off from closing in on their final rosters. Some need to make a move or two, but the Wings have the best setup right now.

Capgeek automatically includes it now.