norrisnick

I'm seriously hoping you were cracking up typing this. I certainly couldn't do it with a straight face. Putting up 50+ win 110+ point seasons certain shows a lack of confidence...

Not an argument, just a simple question. How did the Wings survive the 82 game grind in '06 and '07 without a fighter?

By a light heavy with pink hair standing on one leg and holding the fence with his other hand no less. It was only a matter of time before they had to give Kimbo a semi-legitimate opponent and Ken Shamrock hurting himself made that possible. At least Brock Lesnar is an elite level wrestler and has a massive amount of raw physical talent. Kimbo was a sideshow from square one. EliteXC needs Fedor or they're finished. Having a truly elite marketable fighter can save them. Without it, they're doomed. Gina Carano can only do so much.

There isn't a single agitator, goon, etc... in the NHL that is going to be scared off by anyone. The threat of losing their NHL paychecks because they won't go out and try and punish the opposition is far greater than the threat of maybe getting punched a couple times by the opposing enforcer. Guys like Tootoo, Avery, Ott, Hollweg, etc... don't give two s***s about who is on the bench or even on the ice. Downey was dressed the night Ian ran Nick. Shouldn't he have been too scared to do so?

The Wings are plenty gritty. And the type of grit that guys like Cleary, Franzen, Helm, Draper, Stuart, Z, Pavel, and pretty much everyone else on the roster displays is far more important than the type of grit that a Downey or McCarty displays. The willingness to go into high traffic areas and take a hit to make a play is far more important than circling around looking for a fight.

You misspelled bigger. He sure as s*** isn't better.

Downey took 3 minor penalties. The last one being quite embarassing. Downey got run from behind by Andrew Peters (Buffalo's tough guy). Downey gets up, gets in Peters' face and crosschecks him in the chest. Peters tells him if he wants to go, lets go. Official is right there presumably telling them that if they're gonna go do it rather than pissing about. Downey gives Peters another crosscheck to the chest and skates off. He got whistled for crosschecking and Buffalo got the PP.

I'd say the pecking order is such. Leino - He has the least to learn in GR and at 25 being a part-time player isn't going to stunt his development much at all. Had a better 2nd half of the preseason schedule than Helm. Helm - Kid is a high octane injection but would be best served playing a ton of minutes in GR. Being a part-time player would hurt him the most. Electric early but a bit quiet the last couple preseason games whereas Leino stepped up. No one - The Wings are more likely to go with 12 forwards than keeping one of Downey or McCarty with the big boys. McCarty - Just barely less useless taking a semi-regular shift than Downey. Downey - He pissed away the only edge he had over anyone when he managed to back out of a scrap with Peters AND put the Wings down a man. Not to mention his two other stupid penalties. His camp has been a trainwreck from the moment he injured Filppula.

You serious? AO is 6'2" 220lb. He's maybe an inch shorter than Franzen, but just as solidly built.

You've got that last part backwards. Why would Peters be risking an instigator penalty if it was Downey that skated up to him and crosschecked him in the chest? Syndrome was the guy that wanted no part of it.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2008/10/02/...by_or_ovechkin/ Jim Kelley's take.

Kop's initial ACL rehab schedule was supposed to stretch to early November.

So he doesn't have the next year or two of massive numbers in the OHL driving up his potential bonuses.

With the notable exception of their most important defenseman (not to mention captain) and most important forward spent half the year dicking around because they didn't know whether they still wanted to play. And it showed in the end. Dave Lewis happened in '03.

Are you serious? Guy scores 52+54 as a rookie, has a "down" year of 46+46 , and obliterated the league for 65+47 this most recent season. And only NOW guys are going to start focusing on him? Good luck! Not to mention that the same argument can be made for Crosby. Extra attention, reasonable assumption he won't hit 120 again, etc... I'll agree that 65 goals and the Art Ross is a long feat for anyone, but you can't deny that Cherry goes for shock value at all times (whether he truly believes it or not).

Willy was an unrestricted free agent. Did anyone else hear the announcers being stunned by Brad Stuart deciding not to take Kovalchuk's head off in center ice? Was about 5 minutes ago or so. Apparently Ilya had his head down and Stu had him perfectly lined up but made the conscious decision that the trainwreck was unnecessary in preseason. Q or Lilly probably would have felt compelled to take that hit (were they good enough to get in position). I like that Brad had the presence of mind not kill Kovalchuk. Lighting him up doesn't help Stuart or the Wings.

You think it's expensive to splice the in-arena video feed with a radio feed and pump into the interwebs?

Q needs to be the headcoach of a Western team. The Wings have faced a Q coached team in the playoffs 4 times. 1997 1998 2002 2008

You forgot the other trend. Montreal has won a cup every single decade...

Z is making $2.9M this season and Marian $7.45M. At this point neither player is making anything next season.

In a perfect world trade Cheli and Lebda but Chelios is going nowhere. So trade Lebda and Q (or waive if there are no takers). And again in a perfect world our 3rd would be Lilly and Ericsson but we don't have the cap space for a $2.15M 3rd pairing. Not this year anyway. So... Nick - Raf Nik - Stu Meech - Lilly Chelios With Ericsson being only a phonecall away.

http://thrashers.portspaces.com/post/bluel...ta_detroit.html Blogger seems to be the only "live" coverage available.

Wuss...

It works doesn't it? I probably should have quoted his head cheerleader in toby, but whatever... So he might improve his faceoffs a bit, might get a bit better defensively, and you agree that his offense might take a hit for this. So do you agree that the notion that many seem to take when they argue that "Sid is just 21" or say things like "Datsyuk wasn't even in the league when he was 21" with the unsaid implication that there is still a meteoric rise head for The Kid is kinda silly? And if you argue that that implication isn't there, what other inference can there be besides "look what Pavel did since he was 21, Sid is going to do the same"? If that isn't the case, why bother bringing it up? Who gives a rip how old someone was when they cracked an NHL roster?

What the f*** are you talking about? The e-penis is not the issue here, Dude. I'm talking about drawing a line in the sand, Dude. Across this line, you DO NOT... Also, Dude, e-penis is not the preferred nomenclature. e-peen, please.