betterREDthandead

Why would you say that?

He didn't say that. The original post said Fleury can steal a game, Osgood can't. But eva never said Fleury can't. Just that Osgood can.....and has.

Hey, Mario's off limits

Spurs-Lakers. Oh boy. And you know the network execs are going home each day and masturbating: "Celtics-Lakers....Celtics-Lakers......Cel-Cel-Celllllltiiiiiiics-Lak-k-k-k-k-.....CELTICSLAKERSCELTICSLAKERSCELTICSLAKERS.......ahhhhhhh.....celtics-lakers...."

The Stars BLEW at protecting their own end during the power play. Zetterberg's goals weren't the only shorthanded chances. I've never seen so many shorthanded chances in a series. Datsyuk came close to a goal, Draper had a chance or two, Lidstrom had a chance or two. Every time the Wings challenged on the power play instead of laying back simply trying to clog up passing lanes (in other words, just about every Dallas power play) the Stars looked surprised.

Remember when Mark Bell held the key to the Stanley Cup? And who was that defenseman people loved so damn much? Sarich?

It can't happen. OK seriously: Matchups, matchups, matchups. Lidstrom can't play against both Crosby's and Malkin's lines at once. Win the penalty battle. Don't take dumb penalties, because it takes your best players off the ice - Crosby and Malkin don't do PK. Clog up the front of your own net, BIG TIME. Dallas forgot to do this in Game 6 and it cost them the series. The Wings are programmed to shoot, shoot, shoot, and they'll do it from wherever they have the puck. The further from the net they have the puck, the less chance it'll go in. All 4 Wings goals in Game 6 came from within 2 feet of the goaltender. Most of the Wings losses are low-scoring, because the defense rarely cracks, but the offense can be limited by keeping them on the perimeter. The Pens' game plan needs to stress patience. Hard work in front of your own net, and count on your ability to get a lightning-strike goal when you do have the puck.

Sure, it's pointless, but it's fun. I say let the arguments rage. I like that Pens fans want to come and argue this stuff, otherwise it's just a circle jerk. The thing is not to let our feelings get hurt when they don't bow to our superiority, and for Pens fans to realize that most of us are intelligent, passionate hockey fans, but this is a Wings board, and we're likely to be pretty confident about our team.

An excellent post - especially the bold.....this is the fifth SCF I've seen the Wings in and only the second where they weren't prohibitive favorites. (And we swept the first one.) Going to be one for the ages, I think.

Since the Finals are against you guys: Ovechkin. If it were against the Caps: Crosby We've also been known to give praise where it's due to Joe Sakic, who is essentially Steve Yzerman in the wrong jersey (so, 1 notch below Stevie.....but that's no shame.) Also, Shane Doan used to piss rainbows and s*** gumdrops, but that furor kind of died down thankfully.

I can't speak for what he was saying, but you haven't really had your induction to DKM's sense of humor or extra-unique style, so.....hold off on the criticism for a bit. Sarcasm is sometimes his way. Even if he's 100% serious there, I'll vouch for 'im as someone definitely not to be lumped in with the lesser aspects of society.

When practically the entire board disagrees with you (and the one person who does "get it" is Princess over there) that's not really a good thing. You still didn't answer the question: Why don't the Penguins deserve credit for the 14 of 19 players they use that weren't top-5 draft picks. Finally, you want to know the truly ironic thing? You know how you were proposing a lottery for the draft that includes all 30 teams? The league has actually done that once. So your idea worked. That's how the Pens got Crosby.

That's 'cause we just won a game. Wait'll you see this place after a loss or two. You'll think Mikael Samuelsson had killed everyone's grandma.

Whatever you say, sugarpie honeykisses

Because it takes more than 5 good players to make a conference champion team. Of the 19 players appearing in Game 6 against the Flyers: 5 were Malkin, Crosby, Fleury, Staal, and Whitney, the players you seem to think are the only ones doing anything. 6 were drafted in positions other than top-5 (Kennedy, Letang, Malone, Orpik, Scuderi, Talbot.) 4 were traded for (Dupuis, Hossa, Gill, Laraque) 4 were signed as free agents (Gonchar, Hall, Ruutu, Sykora) So that's 5 that were "handed" to them and 14 that were not. Why would you not give them credit?

63.4%. That's not quite unheard-of (Yanic Perreault tends to put up those kinds of numbers), but it's near legendary.

Excellent point both of you on the faceoffs. That goes for the "who's the better duo" argument too. Crosby is OK at them....he clocks in right around 50% pretty much. Malkin is absolutely brutal on faceoffs. Downright awful. For the regular season he couldn't even muster 40%, which in the world of faceoff statistics is indescribably horrible. Zetterberg and Datsyuk each win about 55%, which for faceoffs is one step shy of elite. During the playoffs Z has won 57.9%. That'd be phenomenal if Kris Draper wasn't putting every single center in the league to shame.

Here's some more food for thought, for those who think the Pens situation is a no-brainer because of so many high draft picks: The Columbus Blue Jackets have been through 8 drafts and been in the top 10 every time. In fact in their entire history they've never picked lower than 8th. That doesn't change this year.

Well, no, it's not. But without taking like an hour or two to figure this out, I'd be willing to bet the following: - The Wings have as high a percentage of self-drafted players on the team as anyone in the league. - Of those self-drafted players, their average draft position is lower than any team in the league. Remember, judicious use of draft resources includes trading picks for quality players as well as drafting them. Look at the Game 6 lineup: Drafted: Datsyuk, Draper, Filppula, Helm, Holmstrom, Hudler, Kronwall, Lidstrom, McCarty, Zetterberg, Osgood. Additionally, Lebda was signed as an undrafted FA.....pretty much the same thing. I consider Ozzie and McCarty our draft picks....they were Wings forever and simply went on hiatus. Drake hasn't been a Wing for a long time, so he's different. That's 5 of 6 on the top two lines, the goalie, and half the defense including two of the top three. Chelios, Stuart, and Maltby were acquired in trades involving our draft picks - again, judicious use of resources as they've been steady contributors. I think it's fair to say the Wings have made far and away the best use of draft resources of any team in the league. Year in and year out the worst draft standing, and yet here they are, Western Conference Champions.

Forum rules: Let's not get into that territory, OK? I don't see any of them "crying".

The Texans are who I'd pick too. Matt Schaub. Because William Clay Ford runs his football team the same way he ran his car company for YEARS: afraid to try new things. I have this theory that WCF feels like the last time he did anything drastic with his team, it resulted in this Millen disaster, so he's afraid to pull another drastic move and fire the guy.

I hated that possibility. Hated it. Before the series was official, the Penguins were my second-favorite team, and they'll go back to being that way win or lose the series. (During these seven games all bets are off ) I was really glad to see that Mario was able to pull off the arena deal because there are some times where a team needs to move because it just can't get the support it needs from the fans. (Hartford.) That was not one of those times. I do hope the Pens get a Cup or two in the future, just not this year.

They would have played for a low salary to begin with. There was always a max entry-level deal. The fact that there's a cap helps them keep their players, otherwise the Pens could never afford the bidding war that would have ensued. And your accusation that the Pens weren't trying to win is disgusting. During the late '90s the Penguins always managed to put together an against-the-odds playoff series win or two. Actually they strung along their success far longer than they should have been able to. Eventually, as always, it came crashing down. Pretty much every word of this post is wrong. Edit: I thought about changing out the word "disgusting". A bit too harsh, maybe? Not usually my style. But no - an accusation that a team was tanking it when they clearly were not, especially during a very rough and uncertain time when the organization was being jerked around by various governmental entities....no, I think it's a fair word.

Without a doubt, the truest thing that can be said. The NHL couldn't ask for a better matchup right now - their "savior" team with Crosby against easily the most powerful of the O6; and they're not only clearly the best in their individual conferences, but the two best teams the league has to offer. I can't think of two teams the NHL would rather have face off this year.

Are you saying that Gonchar has been paired with complete stiffs his whole time as a Penguin? If so, then the debate is moot - it doesn't matter if Gonchar is better than Rafalski or not, because if the other five really are pylons, then they're going to be steamrolled.