norrisnick

Exactly. Which is why HZD is being broken up.

The 2nd line is "broke". As soon as Franzen is healthy, they're gonna fix it.

A year or two ago Holland and Nill signed extensions that took their contracts through the '12 season, I believe, and Nill's deal had a clause that explicitly states he cannot go become the GM of another team. Ilitch made a long-term big money commitment to Nill and Nill made a committent in return by signing a clause saying he won't go anywhere else.

I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Nashville is already in the Western conference. Moving the team further west changes exactly nothing with regards to opening up a spot in the East for the Wings.

Because he has more trade value than Hoodlum? I'd wave good bye to anyone but Z and Nick for Ilya f'n Kovalchuk...

It's a case of a handful of nickels trying to get a dollar but I'd try for a deal of Kronwall, Filppula, Quincey, Emmerton, and a 1st for Ilya (with an assurance he'd re-sign). If it ever gets to a point of trading Ilya away, they'll want as many pieces for the future as possible. Granted Kronwall is a couple years older than Ilya, but what can you do? it does help somewhat that Waddel gutted their farm at the last deadline. Undoubtedly other teams can come up with better packages, but yeah. That's what I'd offer (or work my way up to, you never know if he's crazy enough to take less...).

Nick hasn't gotten a raise since '02. He's won 3 Norris trophies in that span.

Somebody better inform the PA... http://www.nhlpa.com/PlayerOfTheDay/index....Date=2007-10-22

I want this guy...

Long interview from Z's website. http://www.henrikzetterberg.com/podcasts/Zcast1022.mp3

We can't give the whole salary cap to Z. At the very least 19 other guys need to get paid too. Cleary's as good a bottom 6 player as any other.

Not my fault you're stupid enough to try and bounce a jeep off a tank... Trying to bounce a tank off a tank is nearly equally stupid as you're not going to achieve anything, since hitting each other is not how the game is ultimately going to be won. Running or getting run is all part of the extracurriculars of hockey. It's one of many means to an end. If your argument is magically adding a couple inches and 10-20lbs of solid muscle to every one of our players without them losing any over their previous skill, mobility, endurance, etc... I don't really see any down side to it. But as it stands, that's never going to happen so... yeah.

Try reading some of what Fedorov had to say when he finally did get around to talking about the negotiations. His signing with Carolina was a matter of principle as well. He was considerably underpaid at the time. He was arguably the best player in the world and he wasn't getting treated as such by the Wings. He forced their hands and Kenny couldn't accept the deal fast enough (Fedorov would have actually averaged out to making $2M/yr less with the Hurricanes than with the Wings which leads some credence to his agent's comments that signing the offersheet was merely a ploy to get him back with the Wings as soon as possible since direct negotiations weren't going anywhere). Term in most cases means more to a player than flat per year salary. Fedorov wanted the 5 year committment. Fedorov was DUE a huge raise. From '98 to '03 he made $2M/yr (actually from '99 as the donated his entire '99 salary to a charitable foundation). And $8-10M wouldn't have made him the highest paid player on the Wings let alone the team.

Don't forget that there are two teams. You don't think that with that win the Ducks suddenly believed a whole hell of a lot more in themselves? Wings got tight and the Ducks got confident. If the Wings get confident it's over. Quite possibly. They clear that puck and they likely do hold on just enough. Then comes confidence. Wilson and the Sharks were/are a very fragile team mentally. That mistake at that point in the game and series killed them. 10 flips is a small sample size, but 7 games isn't? No one has said that the bounces are the ONLY reason. I'm simply saying that a single bounce can and has been big enough to turn the balance. Franzen clears that puck and going 0-7 on the PP is irrelevant. There are a million different things that can change the outcome of a game/series. Size of the opposition, IMO doesn't rank very high. Must be. Roy corrals that puck in game 6, and that's more than possible. Babcock and Kenny have stated many times now that the regular season is greatly underappreciated. It means something to play 82 games and be the top team standing. That's not to take anything away from the Cup and the playoffs, but IMO it's stupid to completely disregard the season as meaningless. Not doing something does not mean you CAN'T do something.

Square one would be getting back to his original income level for his family. Wanting to play in the NHL is nice and all, but looking after his young daughter is priority #1 I'm guessing. According to at least one Griffins' fan at RWC he's too good for his teammates and the things he's trying to do they can't. Contrary to many of the flashier guys that come over from Russia a lot of what goes over there actually includes linemates. Maybe he should have tried simplifying his game, but that likely won't get him anywhere any quicker. And I'm not sure why you're bringing up the average NHL's stay in the AHL considering the average NHL doesn't have a million dollar contract waiting for him in a different league. You can't compare Grigorenko to Ellis. It's just stupid to do so. Ellis knows he's not good enough to crack the NHL on anything but pure effort alone. Grigorenko believes he's talented enough, but now knows he needs to work a bit harder (had the Wings had his visa in order he'd have known in the middle of the summer and we likely wouldn't be having this debate now). Deserving is an odd sort of principle in the world of pro sports. It rarely applies.

Confidence and the lack thereof can make all the difference. That shot not going in let Giggy's aura of invincibility continue (he stopped 60 some shots that night I believe). Wings started gripping their sticks. Cujo didn't make some of the stops needed and we couldn't recover. Good for the Ducks for willing their way to game 7 of the finals but IMO they weren't a better team than the Wings. With the ebb and flow of momentum. There was a shift there as well, because after that 1st game we started controlling most of the play for the rest of the series. I was talking about that one specific shift when Filppula kept the puck in and fed Lang for the tying goal with seconds left. The Wings weren't outplaying the Sharks. It was a colossal error of judgment (starting with Wilson who had them out on the ice when they weren't doing a damn thing all series long) that cost them the game and ultimately the series as again there was a massive momentum shift. What cosmic law dictates that bounces and luck even out over a 7 game series? It's not all bounces. The Ducks are a good team. So are the Wings. Or conversely it's easier to say a team is better when you hope and dream your team were like theirs? You should it's nice. The Wings weren't the team of destiny that were cruely robbed. They were a team good enough to win, that sadly didn't. My biggest sticking point in this argument is my belief that the Ducks were not the towering team of destiny that were impossible to knock off because we weren't big, strong, good enough to do so. We were just as good (IMO better) than they were. But some just want to stick their heads in the sand and pretend they were better so they don't have to deal with the disappointment.

Would you be willing to take a 90% pay cut for a year on the hopes that you might get back to square one in a year or two?

Yes. Believe it or not, it was a matter of principle. He was offered a 5 year deal, that he never turned down, and that's what he was going to sign. Three extensions that shrunk every time they got together. 2-3 months or a month and a half. Depends on what part of the months we're talking about. And don't forget that Fedorov was going through a divorce and firing his agents (who he blamed for the Kournikova/Enrique mess) at the time, which was why he asked to have time to sort his life out. All accounts suggest that by the time he got back to Kenny, the 5 year deal was gone and thus the negotiations spiral out of control and he leaves.

I don't know what your trying to achieve here since that's what happened in '03. Luc's shot goes in off the crossbar and we advance. It didn't and we got swept. Hockey is a game of millimeters, harold. I'd have thought you'd have figured it out by now. Luck isn't even. Bounces aren't even. Calls aren't even. Any little detail can swing the balance of a shift, period, game, series. Franzen gets better wood on his clearing attempt in game 5 and we win the game and the series after that. It has nothing to do with homerism either, since if Marleau and Guerin, I believe, get their heads out of their asses in game 4 we don't make it out of the 2nd round.

Exactly! Fedorov wanted a 5 year deal. The deal that Ilitch offered him. His personal life was in the s***ter and he asked for time to sort it out. Rather than giving him time, they pulled the deal and he never saw 5 years again until the Ducks offered it. 5 years at $10M. 4 years at $10M. 4 years at $8M. The deals shrunk because Kenny was nudging him out. I'm not saying Ilitch didn't want him back. He most certainly did. I'm not so sure about Kenny.

So you can snipe, but we can't? Conveeeeenient. One bounce and the Ducks go from big, strong, and skilled to big and plodding that couldn't keep up with our style of play.

The team that dominates. Does the better team win every game? If not, why does playing anywhere from 4 to 7 of them in a row in any way change the answer from the first question?

Franzen is going on the IR for Igor, but he'll get healthy fairly soon.

I guess I would like your explanation of "better". Do you mean better as in better or do you take better solely as the one word reference to "won the playoff series"? The '91 North Stars beat two teams that had 20+ more wins in the regular season as well as the defending champs in their run to meet Mario. As far as I can see the only thing you could point to in support of them being "better" than those three teams is the fact that they advanced, which leads to circular reasoning. Why did the North Stars beat the Hawks, Blues, and Oilers? They were better. Why were the North Stars better than the Hawks, Blues, and Oilers? They beat them. ...

I wonder if this is the league's way of saying "my bad" for some of the calls that have gone against him thus far...