norrisnick

Where are you getting 7 months? It says the deal was offered in November. He asked for time. By January (we don't know if this is fhe first time after asking for time that he re-entered negotiations, but I'd guess it likely was) it was down to a 4 year deal. Stevie was making $8.5M at the time. And Fedorov was significantly better at that stage in both of their careers. Can you give me one other example where the offers from a team keep shrinking? I don't care what his agent said. Agents live in their own little worlds. After the ink was put on paper anything and everything out of his mouth is designed to appeal to the Ducks and their fans. And when it became clear that the Wings weren't going to sign him anything out of his mouth was designed to appeal to the other teams interested.

Because compromises suck.

I'd love to hear your take on the '38 Hawks (14-25-9 Cup winner) or '91 North Stars (27-39-14 Cup finalist).

It's not ridiculous. Ilitch offers the 5 year $50M contract. Fedorov asks for time because of his divorce and the firing/hiring of his agents. A perfectly reasonable request. He never saw a 5 year offer from the Wings again. That deal was NOT on the table for 8 months. Fedorov would have signed that deal, or even a lesser 5 year deal as was evident with his contract with Anaheim, but Kenny didn't offer it up again. That was the hold up from his end and that's when Kenny's offers kept shrinking. Fedorov was upset by the loss of that extra year and probably overreacted, but it doesn't seem like Kenny was trying all that hard to retain him. In what other negotiations does the offer from the team keep shrinking?

He was our best forward by far. Why wouldn't anyone have wanted him back? I still don't know how or why Kenny thought it was a good idea to push him out the door with his ever shrinking contract offers. Much like Joe Torre today, the offers were designed to be turned down.

I'm confused... isn't Igor a lefty? How did the original picture come about? Is Igor ambidextrous like Gordie was?

In the words of Stevie, he's good enough to be a Wing.

It's not just one of the GR kids during preseason. Meech is with the roster now and his number is #14.

Then why is it so crazy to suggest similar situations led to the Ducks winning the series? Did you not see the tying goal in game 5? How much luckier does it get than to have your wrister flip off Lidstrom's stick and over Hasek's shoulder after Franzen botched the clearing attempt? A 1-0 shutout goes a long way towards building momentum for what would have been an elimination game (in our favor I might add) for game 6.

False humility has nothing to do with being a man. I guarantee you not one Wing honestly believes the Ducks were the better team last spring. The point is not that I'm blaming everyone else. The point is that the Ducks were not the better team. I agree that the Wings weren't quite good enough, but I disagree that the Ducks were any better.

When there are two evenly matched teams, what else is left to decide the outcome? It's also no mystery that the Cup winner is usually one of the healthier teams. I believe in either the '97 or '98 Cup run we only had 1 man game lost to injury and that was because Joey caught the flu. Any winning team will tell you, that you need to be healthy and you need to get the bounces. It's incredibly hard to win without them on your side. How many times in his two years here have you heard Babcock say "we weren't the better team tonight, but we found a way to win"? Particularly in '05-'06 we did that a lot, relying on special teams and late game surges. Hit posts, funny bounces, iffy penalties, etc... Any number of minor things can sway the outcome of a game. Do you at least agree that the better team does't always win a single game? If you do, why does that magically change just because you play the same team a couple times in a row? The bounces don't always even out.

That's just the rallying cry of losers that don't want to accept they were good enough to win, but didn't. Using the ol' cop out of "oh the other team was better than us!!" It's crap. Sack up and accept the pain that comes with knowing you should have won but didn't!! Nancy boy!

I might agree with you saying had we been better (ie better than we were not better than the Ducks) we would have advanced. Because I don't agree that the Ducks were better than us last playoffs. The "better" Ducks were never there on display during that series. It was two very evenly matched teams with the Wings actually carrying the play more than Anaheim did. The Ducks got the bounces in the WCF. We got the bounces in the 2nd round (though the Sharks did help by rolling over and dying in the 2nd half of nearly every game). In the game of hockey the better team doesn't always win. That holds true for games, and it holds true for series with enough bounces. Unless you are significantly better than the opposition, you're going to need a healthy dose of luck to make it all the way through 4 rounds of NHL playoff hockey.

I wholeheartedly disagree. The loss in the WCF had nothing to do with not being good enough.

Probably because he wasted a lot of his time trying to recover from a nearly fatal car crash.

I merely said I liked the odds. As for your last point, it's not as if I said that on the eve of the playoffs. We were a bad call, bad bounce, or bad turnover (take your pick) from being a win away from the Finals. At that point it is not at all presumptuous to believe we had a team good enough to win the Cup. Can you imagine the confidence boost of beating the big bad Flames, the big bad Sharks, and big bad Ducks in succession? The Sens were one big line and little else. The Ducks shut down the line and the team. IMO, we would have been capable of doing the same.

Unfounded? I disagree. Arrogant? What's wrong with that?

The call on Datsyuk was incredibly weak. Given the context of how the series and that game was being called. Particularly when the Ducks could hold up anyone entering their zone with impunity. And the play worse than Lilly's (at least in terms of impact) was Franzen's weak attempt to clear the zone on his backhand with less than a minute to go. He had time to go forehand and rip it down the ice. He didn't, it got knocked down, passed to Scotty, who fluttered a shot of Nick's stick and over Dom's shoulder to tie it. That puck gets cleared we win and go up 3-2 on the series. We matched up better vs Ottawa than we did against the Ducks. We squeak by Anaheim and I like our odds to take home the silver.

Positive. I've always argued that most 5 goal games are more impressive than what Mario did. His was a fluke of situations (even strength, power play, shorthanded, penalty shot, and empty net). An anomoly that is rare, but less impressive than say Fedorov's where the 5th was an OT winner and not into an empty net. Much like hitting a double, triple, and two homers is more impressive than hitting for the cycle, but less celebrated as the cycle is "unique".

It has begun... http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20...san_jose_l.html Khan says not to read too much into it, but it is interesting that Dom isn't being given the usual automatic benefit of the doubt. If Osgood can keep playing solid hockey with these extra starts there is no reason to keep him stapled to the bench in favor of a guy that isn't remotely close to playing up to his abilities. Personally I'm curious to see how Dom handles what in effect is a benching. I know that when he gets shelled he usually comes back with a strong game, but a benching? When's the last time that's happened?

Mario's 5th goal wasn't in OT. It was into the empty net. Fedorov's 5th goal was in OT.

That's the beauty of Doan. He only makes $4.5M/yr. There is no problem whatsoever of fitting that into our framework. None at all. He's averaged 25 goals per season over the last 7 seasons playing for Phoenix. He's never played with a puck distributer on par with Datsyuk or Zetterberg. And even if his numbers don't improve, a consistent 25goal 60point winger is exactly what we need. Overpaying to get him (or anyone) is always a concern, but if the rumor is true that he wants out, it's hard to ask for the moon. Especially this early in the season when a lot of the usual takers likely don' thave the money available for him. We do.

That's overpayment. I know he's not lighting it up on the scoresheet yet, but Filppula probably has trade value not too far off from Kronwall. Apparently we got a lot of calls from sellers wanting Filppula during the last deadline.

Trade Kronner for Doan and sign Markov.

There is no way Doan alone would fetch either of those two (or anyone of similar calibre from another team). They are both significantly better than Doan and even the guy running the show in Phoenix ought to know that. Remember, that if the rumor is true and Doan wants out, that sort of leaves the 'Yotes' hands tied. You pretty much have to move him and that kills your bargaining power. Plus, Doan has a NTC so he can pick and choose where they send him.