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2-1-3 in 18 games is worse than 1-2-3 in 15 games. Neither has done well offensively in the postseason, but without his rookie year on the fourth line, Williams' numbers are better. Fact.

Take away his 0 points in 9 games on the fourth line in 2002, and he has much better career numbers. Calder's career numbers are second-line numbers with PP time.

Looking at what the Wings gave up in various trades that were still with the teams they were traded to, or the return from those traded to. This is as of 1998, for both the Wings and trade partners, projected from players involved in the Carson/Murphy deal. Only post-trade NHL regulars will be mentioned. Keith Primeau, Dean McAmmond and Bobby Dollas for Brendan Shanahan. Trade partners included Edmonton, Los Angeles, and Hartford. Edmonton and Los Angeles each went to the Cup final immediately after the trade, with Edmonton winning. Detroit went to the Cup final the season of the Shanahan trade, winning that season and repeating the next year. Detroit 2, Edmonton 1, Hartford 0, Los Angeles 0.

fact-based questions: 1. What is the most common number among all players? 11 2. What is the least common number among all players? 99 3. What is the most common number among goalies? 30 4. What is the least common number among goalies? 99 5. What is the most common number among defensemen? 3 6. What is the least common number among defensemen? 99 7. What is the most common number among forwards? 11 8. What is the least common number among forwards? 99 9. What is the biggest number among all players? 97 10. What is the smallest number among all players? 1 11. What is the biggest number among goalies? 50 12. What is the smallest number among goalies? 1 13. What is the biggest number among defensemen? 97 14. What is the smallest number among defensemen? 2 15. What is the biggest number among forwards? 96 16. What is the smallest number among forwards? 4

Since we have included waiver wire stuff; Waiving Chris Osgood instead of Manny Legace in 2001. Had Legace been waived, Detroit would only have needed a backup goaltender after Hasek retired; likely Marc Lamothe, who was named best goaltender in the AHL in the 2002-03 season. Lamothe would have played for the Griffins in 2003-04 after Hasek's return from retirement. As for Wings trades since 2000: The worst trade was Jason Williams for Kyle Calder. Calder had a nice run in Detroit in the regular season, but he disappeared in the playoffs and then jumped ship. He's also always been much more expensive than Williams, who typically outproduces him offensively.

Hudler played scored 3 points in 12 games on the fourth line at age 19; Frolov played none. Hudler was 20 during the lockout, and cannot be compared with Frolov's year at age 20. Hudler played 4 and scored nothing on the fourth line at age 21, Frolov played 77 on the first line and scored 24 goals and 48 points. Frolov was 22 during the lockout, so the two cannot be compared. Hudler played 81 games and scored 13 goals and 41 points on the third line (13 minutes) at 23, Frolov played 69 and scored 21 and 54 on the first line (19 minutes). Hudler played 82 games and scored 23 goals and 57 points on the third line (13 minutes) at 24, Frolov played 82 and scored 35 and 71 on the first line (20 minutes). That lays out their careers and compares them. Now, if we set a projected level of total time for a 'first-liner' to play; say 1200 even-strength minutes, 250 PP minutes, and 150 PK minutes. Project the last two seasons listed to those totals and we come up with the following for total point production: 23 years old: Alex Frolov: 26-38-64 Jiri Hudler: 17-38-55 24 years old: Alex Frolov: 36-25-61 Jiri Hudler: 29-39-68 So while Frolov has a fair advantage in goals, The two are basically even in points. And given the fact Hudler has been playing with guys like Downey, Helm, Draper, and Maltby while Frolov has had Cammalleri, Kopitar, Brown, and Handzus on his line...it's fair to say that Hudler is the more offensively gifted player. Would I take Frolov on the Wings? Absolutely. Will he sign in Detroit as a UFA? Probably not for less than $5m. If Hudler decides to come back next season, there is no better bargain the Wings can find on the market. Hudler would be worth $4m-$5.5m as a UFA and the Wings have him locked up in his prime for under $3m. Given the "Happy New Year" story, it seems all the more likely he'll be back before July 1st.

His age.

I said then and maintain now, Lebda should have been the one exposed. At no point has Lebda been better than Meech, and they are similar players. What is the point of keeping a player with a ceiling of 6th defenseman whose best season was his rookie year over a player who could potentially develop into a #4 defenseman/PP specialist? Quincey had a higher ceiling, and was playing well but not as well as he could have, so should not have been left open either.

1) Osgood 2) Howard 3) Eaves 4) Helm 5) Abdelkader 6) Ericsson 7) Meech 8) Miller 9) Bertuzzi 10) Kronwall

Well, let's look at this for a second. Franzen has been injured, and he is graded an A-. Zetterberg is graded an A. Cleary is graded a B. So you can't really count them in the forward average and then criticize the grade based on recent slumping. The players who have recently been playing average out to a C+. Barely above average, and many of them are defensive specialists. Explains the scoring slump a bit, huh? Last year's regular forward average over the entire season would average to a A- due to both the large number of elite forwards on the team and the strong performance of the depth forwards. This year we have a strong performance by the depth forwards, but the elite forwards aren't there.

I stated that my grades were based on actual performance, not performance vs. role or expecation or anything like that. You tell me May is better than a D in that respect and I'll send you to drug rehab because you'll need it.

Well, we could argue all day over whether grades should be based on expectations or straight performance. I'm going to grade on straight performance and I'm going to lay out what the grades are. Obviously the scale goes from F to A+. That's twelve slots plus the failing grade. For forwards, the 'A' grades would be first-line forwards, 'B' grades would be second liners, and so on. F would be any player who didn't belong on in the NHL. For defensemen, it would be different; it would be in steps of 2, with A+ and A being the first defenseman, A- and B+ being the second defenseman, and so on. And goaltenders would be A+ to B- and C+ to D- as starters and backups, respectively. So the grades? Zetterberg A Datsyuk A- Franzen A- Holmstrom B+ Filppula B Williams B Cleary B Bertuzzi B- Eaves B- Abdelkader C+ Miller C+ Draper C Helm C Maltby C- Leino D May D- Kronwall A+ Lidstrom A Rafalski B+ Stuart B+ Ericsson B- Meech D Janik D Lebda D- Howard A- Osgood B+ Coaching B-

This is definitely on. Roest was perhaps the best young grinder and also the biggest disappointment that the Wings have had in a long time. He was ridiculously fast and great on faceoffs, but for some reason his offensive dominance at lower levels simply didn't translate over to the NHL. He was still solid defensively and made for a good PKer, and was effective when asked to perform offensively, but never managed to earn a spot with a team's top forwards. He did have 50-point type of scoring in his second season in terms of points-per-minute, if you were to adjust it to a first-liner's time. Roest has been dominating the Swiss league the past six years with Rapperswil-Jona.

I would rather have the following, by far, if we're picking a young replacement for when Nick retires: Duncan Keith, Drew Doughty, Shea Weber, Paul Martin, Alexander Edler. There are others who are older who I would also take, but I was looking for guys who were really on the lines of young defensemen with a high ceiling.

Phaneuf...to replace Lidstrom? Phaneuf would be the second or third best defenseman on the team if he were to replace Lidstrom on the team after this season. Phaneuf is a good defenseman, but the Wings have some damn good defensemen already. Yeah, it would be better than getting nobody, but there are a lot of better options than getting Phaneuf, too.

Only if we can replace him with John Wharton.

Howard has performed slightly better statistically than Osgood in their respective ten losses. As losses make up half of Howard's games and more than half of Osgood's, that difference overcomes the difference during wins. Also, during the Buffalo game (no decision) Howard posted solid numbers, while Osgood had poor numbers in the Vancouver game (no decision) and that also contributes. Also of note: Osgood has allowed 5 goals twice (Toronto and Buffalo) and 4 goals one other time (St.Louis in Sweden). Howard allowed 4 against Dallas, Edmonton, and Anaheim and 5 against Edmonton and St.Louis. Osgood lost all three games, Howard went 1-3-1. Osgood has received 5+ goals of support once, and 4 goals no other times. Howard has received 4 goals against Vancouver, Dallas, and Colorado, 5 goals against Edmonton, 7 goals against Anaheim and 9 against Columbus. So not only has Osgood more consistently been 3 goals or less, he's also HAD to be posting those kinds of numbers given the far superior play the team has put in front of Howard. Osgood deserves more starts, and probably will get them. His frustration is understandable, and will likely be resolved in the coming months. As will any questions about his play.

The Wings have scored 1.15 more goals per 60 minutes in Howard's wins than in Osgood's. This is on a shot difference of 0.6 shots per game in Howard's favor; the Wings have a shooting percentage of 14.9% in Howard's wins, compared to 10.0% in Osgood's. Conversely, in losses, the Wings have posted a 0.9 shots for advantage in Osgood's favor in losses. The Wings have also posted a 7.9% shooting percentage, compared to Howard's 4.3%. However, the Wings have won by an average of 2.44 goals with Howard in net. Osgood has only won by 1.56, despite posting superior statistics. You want to see the numbers, you say? Osgood's GAA and sv% in wins are 1.41 and .951, compared to Howard's 1.68 and .938%. The Wings have scored 4.12 in Howard's wins compared to 2.97 in Osgood's. Overall, Howard has been getting 0.63 more goals per game; For Osgood to close that gap without more goal support, he'd have to only allow 1.85 per game. If this is what Babcock is expecting of Osgood every night, then that is ridiculous.

Well, to determine a player of the decade we should first determine the best at each position. Defense is clearly Lidstrom; six Norrises and a Conn Smythe in leading the Wings to two Cups plus a gold medal for Sweden. Pretty convincing. Goaltending is pretty clear as well. Brodeur has won four Vezinas in the same timeframe, won a Cup and a gold medal. Only Hasek has more Vezinas under the current rules, and no other goalie has more than one Vezina in the decade. Which leaves forwards. Forwards who have been named to the first or second team at their position four times include: LW: Alexander Ovechkin RW: Jarome Iginla Forwards who have been named to the first or second team at their position three times include: C: Joe Sakic, Joe Thornton LW: Markus Naslund Forwards with two selections include: C: Mats Sundin, Evgeni Malkin LW/RW: Dany Heatley RW: Jaromir Jagr That's twenty of a possible 48 selections spent on four centers and five wingers. So we'll start consideration from these eight. Art Ross trophy: Sakic, Thornton, Ovechkin, Iginla, and Malkin once each from this list. Hart trophy: Ovechkin twice, Sakic and Thornton each once. Pearson award: Ovechkin twice, Sakic, Iginla, Naslund, and Jagr each once. Richard trophy: Ovechkin twice, Sakic, Iginla, Naslund, and Jagr each once. NHL assists leader: Thornton three times, Jagr and Malkin each once. So from all of this, the dominant forward at each position this decade is: C: Joe Sakic LW: Alexander Ovechkin RW: Jarome Iginla Who wins from that group? Ovechkin has been one of the top three forwards in the world since entering the league. Ovechkin is the only one who has shown clear dominance over others at his position for several years. Sakic and Iginla were the best at their position multiple times, but did not show clear dominance over others at their position. Sakic and Iginla, unlike Ovechkin, were also much closer to the other star players at all three forward positions than Ovechkin has been. So it comes down to Lidstrom, Brodeur, and Ovechkin. In that order. They have been the most dominant players at their respective positions, which is shown further by the fact that no other player has been named the best at his position four or more times.

The only Red Wings on the current who realistically have a chance to be traded (now or later) are: Bertuzzi, Williams, Filppula, Leino, Lebda, Stuart, Howard. Meech is not on the list because he is as good a sixth/seventh defenseman as just about any other, and better than most, in the NHL. Why does that make him untradeable? He makes less than the league minimum and likely will sign a minimum deal after this season.

The article you link to is worthless. It says that the NHL opposed Russia's claim, and the IIHF backed Russia. End of story, end of thread?

Of the four forwards taken from KHL, all of them are offensive forwards who play little to no defense. Of the four, only Jagr could even be argued as better than Hudler based on performance last year and this year. And that's just KHL forwards. Hudler belongs over Cervenka (Czech league) as well as Erat, Fleischmann, Michalek and perhaps even Havlat. The Czechs have left perhaps their best playmaker home when they need better offense. They have several finishers, but few highly skilled passers. This combined with the fact that if you put him on in place of someone else Hudler would likely have been the 5th or 6th best defensive forward on the team, and perhaps even play on the PK, So you have to wonder if they just forgot about him, because there's no reasonable explanation why he's not there.

Based on the idea of picking up a shutdown defenseman first, with offensive potential simply a bonus, these are the guys I would consider from your list. Youth is also a factor; I'm not going to drop $2.5m-$4m on an mid-30s or older defenseman who has been solid defensively the past couple years unless he's capable of being a Norris contender and brings more than just defense. Defensemen 24-27 I would expect to get a raise between $500k and $2m, depending on age and skill. Those from 28-31 I would expect a raise between $250k and $1.5m. Defensemen 32+ I would expect to stay within $750k of their current salary, unless they have had significant decline since signing. So projected paycheck is a factor. I have included expected pay range for each defenseman on the list based on these criteria. I have also re-ordered them in order of preference as to who I would choose to replace Lidstrom should he retire, based of course on their pay ranges and ages, as well as skill level and style.

Kiprusoff getting Vezina votes last year was a tragedy. But if a goalie plays more than 70 games and posts similar stats than a goalie who played 45-50 games, that does count for something. A lot of goalies can't handle the heavy, everyday workload and their performance suffers because of it. It shouldn't be considered a huge factor, but workload does factor into a goaltender's performance and should be considered as a factor in the player's overall performance and season.

Baking is a huge help. When I got my Missions they fit well, but getting them baked really helped with the comfort factor and the fit was much better. A brand new, baked skate is better than a broken in skate you've had for a while because instead of wearing out the leather, you are simply reshaping it. Think of it like this; breaking in a skate is like folding a piece of cardstock back and forth a few times to get a place where the card folds properly, but leaving cracks and such around the fold. Baking is like having that piece of cardstock scored for folding. Nice and clean, without unnecessary wear and tear.