norrisnick

Zetterberg. He's 3 points shy of holding the Wings' single-season playoff scoring record. He already holds a share of the single-season playoff goal-scoring record. Oz has been amazing and absolutely everything we could have hoped for and more, but he's not been as dominant as Z. Hank on the PK has been godly. Z has 5 shorthanded points. Only 2 powerplay goals have been scored while he's on the ice. That's epic.

Sammy and Maltby were already flipped. Maltby was with Mac and Helm on the 4th. Sammy on the 3rd with Draper and Drake.

Maybe... But Z did find a way to counter that empty feeling.

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that #42 links to a youtube uploaded by yours truly who stole said clip from Matt himself. I'm famous!!!11

Not only did he go from hero to goat, but his turnover absolved a nearly unforgivable sin by Franzen late in regulation. Johan had the puck on his forehand down near the corner/halfboards in the final minute on the PK. Rather than ripping it off the wall and out he went with a weak backhanded flip. The flip didn't clear the zone and Niedermayer fluttered a shot off of Nick's stick and in to tie it. Franzen clears that puck, the odds of holding off the Ducks skyrocket and we're up 3-2 in the series as opposed to losing a heartbreaker in OT to go down 3-2. That failed clear cost us a Cup, IMO.

A couple things. A. It's not a head injury. It was headaches. The worrisome part being that Franzen didn't know why he was having them and that they didn't go away for two weeks so he mentioned them to the trainers after game 1 of the WCF. B. NHL injury protocol pigeon-holed these headaches as "concussion-like symptoms" and from that point on the Wings and Franzen were forced to treat it like you would a concussion. Absolutely no major activity until the symptoms are gone for a week. Could he have played through them? Obviously if you look at the way he was playing with them. But if you suddenly get a headache and it doesn't go away for TWO WEEKS, you're going to ask a doctor about them. The second he asked, the decision to play was no longer his but the doctors'. And there isn't a reputable doctor that would sign off on letting a guy with unexplained headaches play a contact sport like hockey. That's a multi-million dollar malpractice suit waiting to happen. Remember all those threads about Franzen re-signing and how expensive that would get? It wouldn't take the best of lawyers for Franzen to win a hefty settlement should he have played and gotten messed up. Better safe than sorry by all involved.

I wouldn't even add that latter part. He's Hal Gill, only a bit shorter. A lot of folks are raving about Hal's play these playoffs, but Lilly was every bit as good last spring leading the playoffs in hits and blocked shots through the Conference finals. He was great right up until he gave the puck up to Selanne in OT of game 5. Lilly was a stud last spring.

Just because Pittsburgh uses Gill more doesn't make him a better player than Andreas Lilja. And that sort of illustrates the wealth of defense the Wings enjoy. If a guy like Gill/Lilly is being used as one of your pillars, you're in a world of trouble. That happened to the Wings last season when Kronwall and Schneider were hurt. Lilly and Cheli became our #2 and #3 defensemen.

1. Or the Pens will pay. PKs are like PPs for us. 2. Ryan Whitney will never be top 5 in Norris voting. Ever. Gonchar is not a Norris Finalist. 3. Z and Pavel are better. 4. Ignorance and cockiness leads to mistakes not triumph. 5. Fleury will have to steal a game or two. Osgood won't. 6. Conklin will make an appearance this series. Book it.

16GP 11G 10A 21P +15 14PIM 3PPG 4PPA 2SHG 3SHA 3GWG 84SOG 57.9FO% That's the best statline of the playoffs.

You forgot another big one. Wings' FO% is 55.7%. The Pens' FO% is 46.7%. Pens will be chasing all series long. Doesn't bode well for them.

GST has a hardon for Pasha's dangle. I wouldn't worry about it.

The biggest problems are when he has the puck and isn't shooting it. Babcock needs to tell him to one-time it every time it comes his way. Period. He can defend fine enough and is solid without the puck, but when he has the puck on his stick he turns stupid. A drunken monkey would make better decisions with the puck.

Just posting to point out that Hudler has as many playoff points as every other player you've named in this post combined. What would cause you to get attached to a player?

I'm only posting to point out the hilarity in having a username tied to the worst instance of goalie-go-round-ism the Wings have ever had. Joseph's tenure from beginning to end was a massive mistake.

He'd be a surlier Larionov.

If Hudler had Franzen's body he'd be a meaner Jagr.

Last year it was Filppula, but apparently at the deadline Helm was inquired about more than any other Red Wing asset.

Wings won't drop a game at home. Dallas needs to avoid a split in their barn like the plague to stretch it beyond 5.

We're significantly better defensively than Dallas is. And Dallas finished #2 behind us as far as goal differential with a +33 to our +73. Dallas is a poor-man's version of the Wings. Much like Zubov is a poor-man's version of Lidstrom.

Anze won't be a free agent for another 5 years. If we wanted to acquire him after this coming season it would probably take Zetterberg going the other way, which would sort of defeat the purpose of Kopitar wanting to play with Z.

The Red Wings have faced and defeated Joel Quenneville's teams in the playoffs four times. 1997 1998 2002 2008

Nope. But it did spread here within hours.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/boxscore;_ylt=...?gid=2008021709 This is Marty Turco's one and only regulation win against the Red Wings in his career.

There is no risk with offering Franzen $2.5-ish-3M/yr for 5 years. He's completely solid all-around and with the rising cap, that's a more than manageable salary for a scoring/checking line utility forward that can spearhead a checking/PK unit or complement skill guys and chip in 20-ish goals. The only concern is injury, but that's a risk with signing any player. I guarantee that he, along with Filppula, are exceedingly high priorities along with Zetterberg come July 1st. Sign those three and our core is intact for at least two more solid cup run attempts (Nick's contract length).