betterREDthandead

Hakan Andersson will even say luck has a lot to do with it. Better to be lucky than good. Still, a properly-written article would have pointed out other factors besides luck. It's not all a roll of the dice.

Heh.....Barbados would have to beat us by 9 to knock us out of the World Cup anyway.

You do also realize that playing in the home country would also be part of the equation, right? Some people do actually like to do that.

That's just it. It's not a particularly valuable pick. I take back what I said earlier. I said that there were at least 2 or 3 players on each team I'd trade the pick for. I see about 7 LA Kings I'd trade the 1st rounder for. So bump that up to "at least 7 or 8" and about 250 players around the league.

I'd call it 2A and 2B myself. Neither one should be starting on a regular basis in this league, not if you have aspirations of getting past the first round, but they're very solid backups. I guess the biggest surprise to me is that the Preds would help out their division rival like that. They're at real risk of not making the playoffs and strengthening a division rival doesn't help. I'd think they'd be better off trading Mason to an Eastern team for a 6th rounder rather than to St. Louis, who might just replace them as the 8th seed.

I think it's already a topic. http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=51261

Lilja + Kopecky should do it

There's probably at least 50-70 players in the league on that list. Two or three on every team, minimum.

I dunno about solid backup. Hedging their bets is more like it. Manny's 35. 36 by the playoffs if the Blues think they're that caliber of a team next year. Mason's a little bit younger. Legace and Mason is a fair tandem that won't strike fear in anyone but won't implode either.

when did the league lower the draft-eligible age to 14?

1, it would be tough to fit that trade under the cap, and 2, Florida's GM would slap Kenny in the face if he offered that.

I'm sure, also, that Yzerman was probably getting painkiller shots, cortisone shots or something like that, to numb the pain. As mentioned above, the torque on Tiger's knee when he swings, and the stress fractures also getting torqued, probably really is painful. And because golf requires such precision, the risks to Tiger are huge. A stabbing pain at the wrong time cause an awful shot and make him double bogey a hole or something, but that's not the worst of it. If the pain causes him to try and compensate, it could really mess up his swing and it'd take years to recover from that. That's what happens to pitchers with leg injuries - they try and compensate in their delivery to avoid the pain, and it messes up their shoulder or their elbow.

I don't think it should matter what position the Wings take first. Just take the best player available. That's what the draft ought to be about. You never know how these guys are gonna pan out and you never know what your needs will be three or four years down the road when they're ready for their shot. It's not like the NFL where you can draft a starter with your first pick, so you can look at need. Just take the player you think most likely to make it to the league.

Girl hits ball over fence. Girl blows out knee rounding first. Opponents carry girl around bases. Important points: - It was her first, last, and only home run of her college softball career, and she was a senior. - Home run was eventual margin of victory. - Players and coaches are not allowed to help teammates around the bases nor can a pinch runner be put in to finish the home run trot. Only option was this, or a pinch runner at first and the run doesn't score. (Or so everyone thought. In reality, umps got it wrong and the pinch runner may in fact score.) There you have it, the Cliff Notes version.

I don't have any problems with the 2-3-2 format in general. But there's no need to switch. It's the answer to the question that nobody asked. Want to go back to to the original names? Get ready for something exciting then: how about switching to "Eastern" and "Western"? Or we could go wayyyyy back for something even more original? "American" and "Canadian" sound good? Wales and Campbell Conference, and the associated divisional names, aren't the originals or the most traditional, you see - just the coolest. They weren't even around for 20 years.

Honestly, I'm not even worried about this. Penner got signed because there was reason for the Oilers to believe he would become a franchise scorer - he was just that in the AHL and had a really good rookie season. I don't think anyone's looking at Flip as a potential franchise player.

I positively hate that idea in baseball. Their hearts are in the right place, trying to make the All-Star Game mean something. I like that. I just hate what they came up with. Home ice should go to the more deserving team.

I think putting them in no-pressure games against Columbus in November is easing them in just fine. And Meech, especially.....he's 24, he's played 3 full seasons in GR and 36 games with the Wings. He's been eased through. Time to see if he can handle those minutes every night, on the PK, etc. Ericsson and Quincey aren't far behind. Helm proved he can handle a regular role in the biggest pressure-cooker of them all....I don't think Meech and them are going to be overtaxed.

And they never will be ready if they never get that chance. Sooner or later, Ericsson, Meech, and/or Quincey are gonna have to be given their shot. I'm more than willing to use the regular season as an experimentation ground for these guys to pair up with, say, Kronwall, and see how they do. For those three, it's getting to be put up or shut up time because letting them rot in the press box as the seventh and eighth defenseman is a disservice to them and to the team, and keeping them in GR is going to block the development of the lower end of the pipeline - Kindl, Smith, etc. If we're going to keep on signing new top-four defensemen and keep on bringing Chelios back (as we're about to do) and still have Lebda (who's signed for another two seasons) then what's the point of bringing guys through the pipeline and patiently developing them if they get to the threshold and we decide they're never ready? It's a waste of money to spend on a top-four defenseman when we now have an entire regular season to see what these guys can do.

Depends on the length of the contract. Also if I were Kenny I wouldn't let the draft picks come into play in my decision making - it's all about the cap, how much room we have underneath it, and whether Flip is worth the money.

Once again: If I wanted to "shoot the thread down", believe me, you'd never see it again. The OP stated his opinion that we need another defenseman.....my opinion is that such thinking and such threads are a waste of time, and I said so, along with my reasons. So it's pretty funny to get angry at me for "shooting down" the thread and at the same time tell me what I should and should not say.

Other than Larionov, to me that looks like a long list of definite maybes. I think you could make a case either way for each one of those players. (Though I haven't taken the time to look at them each individually.) Igor's induction will be awesome. Just keep piling on the accolades for the Wings In terms of the sheer amount of honors, trophies, and whatnot else bestowed on the Wings this season, it has to go down as possibly the Wings' greatest year ever. And it adds a little more luster to the 2002 season as they induct more and more of that team into the Hall.

If people don't want their opinions disagreed with, they shouldn't post them.

Why, why, why do we keep seeing new threads like this? "Let's get this defenseman, let's get that defenseman." Markov, Smith, Sydor.....we already have 11 possibilities for 6 spots next year! Even if we lose Stuart and Lilja, there's a logjam. Please, no more "let's sign my favorite defenseman" threads.

Didn't think I'd do this, but yesterday I found myself actually pulling for Junior to win the race. (I think it's because it was Michigan and I liked the idea of Michigan being the track that Junior broke his streak at.) Unfortunately, other than a little bit of fuel-mileage drama, it was kind of a lame race otherwise. Definitely looking forward to next week's road course race (even though it has Toyota's name on it, grrrrrrrr)......chance for my man Robby Gordon to shine. The dude likes road courses. Does better at the Glen but his roots are in open-wheel racing. Hopefully that will also bring out the best in Penske's Sam Hornish. Always pulling for the Penske cars. (Plus the 77 is one of the best lookin' cars on the track, and one of my favorite numbers besides.)