betterREDthandead

Funny....and kinda sad. I'll bet before this crap Shane Doan never had an anti-francophone bone in his body. Bet he harbors some resentment now though.

Totally, totally disagree. Rangers, Isles, and Devils fans get to see their team play eight "road" games in basically the same city. It's like the Wings going to the Palace for a road game. Wings fans can make a trip of it if the Wings are in Columbus or Chicago. You can't tell me that, all other things being equal, if you were offered tickets to either a game in Columbus or a game in Phoenix that you'd find it just as easy to get to Arizona as Ohio. (Assuming you live in Detroit.) Just because the Wings don't have any natural rivals in the division that are any good doesn't mean the rest of the league doesn't. We whine that Bettman's trying to force us into a rivalry with Columbus, but we forget that Blues fans consider the Wings their most hated team. We forget that Sabres fans, now that the team is scary good, love beating up on the Leafs as much as they can. We forget that Boston and Montreal have it going on old-school style, that Calgary and Edmonton relish each chance they get at each other, that Toronto and Ottawa can't get enough of beating each other up, that LA and the Ducks enjoy the same advantage that the NY teams do, that Colorado and Vancouver hate each others guts and have some very spirited games. Just 'cause Bettman hasn't swung by LGW or doesn't look at scheduling through red-tinted goggles doesn't mean there aren't plenty of fans who might have reasons to like the schedule the way it is.

Wow. Talk about a non-issue. Maybe Canada has too many politicians. Nobody outside Ottawa gives a damn. Certainly nobody in Russia.

No, I think the point was that Grigorenko will be a free agent in Russia after this season, his current contract being up. The transfer agreement applies to players who are still under contract to their Russian teams. As a free agent in Russia, there's nothing they can do to prevent him from leaving, agreement or no agreement.

The NHL was kind of a hot product in the early and '90s. Lot of visibility. Little things like, say, Clerks coming out and featuring hockey. There was an SI cover that featured the NHL as a rising star and wondering what on earth was happening to the NBA. I can't pinpoint a reason why hockey's been pushed to the back burner a bit. Labor trouble in the mid '90s, bul MLB and the NBA had the same problems. People say expansion did it, but the other leagues were expanding too. Maybe a combination of marketing, lot of the old-school teams moving around, labor troubles, etc. I can't point to any one thing Bettman did or didn't do that allowed the NHL to be pushed to the back burner.

Y'know, we Red Wings fans moan about the unbalanced schedule because it means 8 games with Columbus. But has anyone bothered to think that, say, Atlantic Division and Northeast Division fans might just LOVE the schedule? Fans in NY and NJ, for example, have TONS of opportunity to go to games because the Rangers play eight road games right there in the NY/NJ metro area anyway. Philly fans can travel there easily too. Buffalo gets eight chances to beat the hated Maple Leafs. I can think of a lot of reasons fans elsewhere might like it - Detroit Red Wing fans do not speak for NHL fans as a whole.

Well, problematically for the Canucks, they have more of a history of being on the wrong end of the comebacks

Am I the only one who thinks there's JUST as much pressure on the Sharks going into Game 4 as the Wings? If the Wings get the Game 4 win, the Sharks face a loss of momentum and a best-of-three with two games in Detroit. Bad scenario for San Jose. Yes, they're a great road team. Bet you they'd still rather go to the Joe as little as possible.

No it's not.

Huh? Told someone you would what?

What harold said. Also, the more players have to use their stick to play the puck, the less opportunity they have to use them as a weapon.

Glad to have the Bulls for a nice old-school matchup. Knocking Chicago out of the playoffs never gets old, even though the teams haven't met in the postseason since 1991.

Actually I think this is quite possibly one of the least important games. Game 4 is MUCH bigger. Win or lose Game 3, not much really got accomplished because the other team is still far from dead. Anyway, the game itself. San Jose honestly hasn't impressed me much yet. Then again, neither have the Wings. But honestly I think if we play like we did for the second and third of Game 2, then we'll retake home ice tonight.

Which happens to be part of his job.

I'm with the Sharks fans on this one. What the hell folks. If all we got to complain about is that he just doesn't give us credit, that's pretty weak. Wahhh wah wah. Low-class scum of the league? Get a grip on yourself already. Wilson is worlds apart from clowns like Marc Crawford.

Pretty unimpressed with this draft. Millen is getting credit for picking Calvin Johnson but frankly that was a no-brainer, barring a trade down. As for the second round, what a mess! Ikaikaikaikaika and Gerald Alexander must be "Marinelli guys" because they sure look like projects. And Millen traded up to get Alexander. I have a feeling he'd still have been around. And don't get me started on the Stanton pick. We let Buffalo trade up to get Paul Posluszny. I'd have LOVED Posluszny. EXACTLY the kind of guy we need on the defense.....and now we're stuck instead with two guys who are going to need a LOT of teaching to reach a level where they're useful. Are they telling me Dan Bazuin or Quentin Moses wouldn't have been useful? Ya know....guys who are actually ready for this league and proved it by going out and dominating in college? I read an ESPN guy who works out of Texas said that this Manuel Ramirez guy we picked up in the fourth is a "mauler". He better be. He's the only O-lineman in the whole damn draft. And Johnny Baldwin must also be one of those "Marinelli guys" 'cause every media pundit let out a collective "WHO?" in response to that pick. The Lions used none of their own picks except for the CJ pick and the Mr. Irrelevant pick. A lot of maneuvering by Millen and I'd say it was mostly for naught. I give this draft a D+, Calvin Johnson keeping it from being a D-. And I can't shake the feeling we just traded our best QB in McCown - I thought from Day 1 last year he should have been the starter over Kitna. Kitna's OK, but I wanted to see how McCown would do. As always, Fire Millen.

Why not throw Sammy on the top line? Frankly, he's sucked these playoffs (except for this last game....he looked alright then.) But his suckitude isn't so great that Z and Dats can't overcome it. Put him with the best we got, and he might just stop sucking....and even if he does, Pavel and Hank will still get theirs. And with Sammy on the top line, you can put together some pretty good-looking combos down below. So, me, I say go for it. Sammy's been known to pounce on some rebounds, which there ought to be plenty of if Pavel and Hank can put shots on net like we know they can. Then you can use Bert with, say, Calder and Hudler. I like it. Or Bert with Flip and Cleary. Like that too.

I'm not sure I want Kronwall back. Take all that stuff where people were worried about Bertuzzi affecting the chemistry and multiply it 100 times. The defense has been terrific for the most part. I mean, who would you take out of the lineup? Lilja? Hell no, he's been the most physical blueliner we got, and he's playing great. I'm operating under the assumption that Lebda's out for the rest of the year....it looked like an ugly injury. So if he's still out when Kronwall gets back, fine. If he's back, I think I'd just let Kronwall sit and be the first guy out of the press box in case of further injury.

Just wouldn't feel like playoff hockey without a stop in Denver, and they stopped just long enough to toss an octopus onto the roof of the Pepsi Center to give Turnip fans a taste of what they're missing.

I'll take Scott Parker in that category.

No, they're not. Good god no. That's like saying Oiler fans would root for Calgary with the Oilers not playing. Oh, and Vancouver isn't really a small market. It's the third largest in Canada behind Toronto and Montreal. Definitely bigger than Buffalo. Nice analysis otherwise. I think the NHL will be happy from a marketing standpoint as long as the Devils don't make the Finals and as long as at least one American team makes it. An all-Canada Finals would please the hell out of Canadians but all but the die-hard American fans would tune right out.

The question is not, "Can we get a W in the Tank?" The question is, "Why can't we?"

Criticize the article all you want. Just don't criticize ESPN for writing it. Doesn't make sense to.

Lilja had a couple turnovers early but overall he's definitely made his presence known on the ice. Probably our most physical defenseman right now, even more so than Markov.

I realize ESPN is a popular target around here, but that article was written by the AP. And did you watch the first period? In case you missed it, we specialized in giving the puck away at the blueline. They did it so often it must have been in the game plan. Thank god for Dan Cleary. Only player on the ice for the Wings (well, maybe Flip too) who is forechecking HARD on EVERY shift. I've been saying since last season he is a brilliant PKer....but he's really, really stepped up his 5-on-5 play too.