norrisnick

Good thing irony isn't fatal.

Do you fantasize about another '83 draft, Lou? Probert, Kocur, Grimson (oh and a guy named Yzerman). I dream about another '89 draft...

Bump Cleary or Filppula up a spot, then bump a 4th liner up a spot, then dress one of the scratches.

Aw crap....

I was thinking of catching the Caps/Canes game on nhl.tv Hooray for College Football being broadcast on Center Ice!! Finally switched over to the Caps feed.

Hudler is a grown man playing a game for a living. He's a cocky little SOB and shows very little regard for self-preservation. The big meanies from the other team do not have him shaking in his boots. If they did, he never would have made it this far to begin with. He's a fierce competitior and no one, not Kubina, not Winchester, not whoever is going to scare him away from making plays and going to high-traffic areas of the ice to make them. Choosing not to fight and/or playing a skilled style of hockey doesn't automatically make you a coward. Oh and FYI, you couldn't put me on ignore if you wanted to.

I repeat. Hudler is fearless. He knows he's not a good fighter so he doesn't fight. But he'll jaw and jab at anyone. He took a poke at Brad Winchester. And it doesn't affect his play. '05-'06 AHL playoffs he gets run into the end boards face first and gets cut/busted up pretty bad early in the first game. He scored the OT winner that game and led the Griffins to the Conference finals. He'll play in high traffic areas. He'll go anywhere on the ice. He's not afraid of the opposing players. Considering his size, maybe he ought to be, but he just isn't. Last pre-season Kubina crosschecked Hudler in the face and ended up getting suspended for a few games. This preseason Jiri was pushing and shoving in a scrum with? Kubina. You're barking up the wrong tree with Hudler. Seriously.

Tougher as in how we played in the '07 playoffs tougher or tougher as in randomly adding a Laraque/Neil to the mix? If it's the former? Absolutely. The latter? Nope.

Hudler doesn't give two s***s about who is on the bench or who he's tangling with. He's gone nose to nose with Winchester, Kubina, etc... Guys that have a foot and 50lbs on him. He's fearless. Bad example.

And yet, very few teams are as successful as the Wings. The av. http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=45637

There haven't always been enforcers. The NHL was around for 40-50 years before the first real enforcer was brought into the fold (John Ferguson Sr.). Didn't hurt that he could play and ended up in the HOF. Or guys like Robinson and Gillies that were HOF talents, but also were the toughest SOBs on their respective dynasties. The Bullies took it to an extreme. IMO a lot of teams tried to copy one or the other format, but not every fighter can end up as good as Ferguson or Gilies. Or even Probert. But to address the point at hand, don't Kenny, Scotty, Nill, Ilitch, Stevie, and Babcock full under the same class of guys that know more than you or I about building a team? They haven't iced an enforcer in years. Strange that.

Picked on? These guys are professional world class athletes. Men in the primes of their lives. Not your kid sister. For f***'s sake, man. Get a grip. If Homer weren't wearing the armor he does, he'd need dialysis. And it isn't all encompasing. There are vast swatches of unprotected Holmstrom sticking out. Areas that the puck, and guys like Pronger hit on a game to game basis.

Potential. Downey has none. Which is why I raised the question later, that if the cheapshot artist isn't going to have to fight anyway, what good are enforcers? Enforcers fighting enforcers don't prevent anything from happening so just cut out the middle man and don't dress an enforcer.

Somewhat. There is an age/games played (NHL and AHL) formula. The older you are (to some point) the less games you can have on your record before you have to start clearing waivers. It's a mechanism to keep teams from hoarding talent in the minors that are good enough to be NHLers elsewhere.

Which further goes to prove that enforcer can't enforce s*** since they don't even fight the cheapshot artists.

Then why is it that no other enforcers ever take Pronger to task? He doesn't only hit Red Wings. Fact is he has one fight since '02. How is that possible considering every other team in the league has an enforcer that sticks up for his teammates?

Because it isn't smart to pitch a fit whenever our guys get hit. Common sense? I'd run the Ducks all night long and enjoy the PP opportunities they'd give me in return. No one in this league is afraid to hit Duck players. Because they were valuable 2nd liners in the AHL? That roughly translates to 4th line NHL duty. What has Downey ever shown?

Absolutely. That's why McGrattan didn't play late in the playoffs. An enforcer that can't play kills the 4th line causing the 10th and 11th guy to not get regular ice time unless there is some scrambling and double-shifting going on. The Oilers are an extreme example of an incredibly top heavy all offense team. The rest of the team didn't care about defense so Semenko fit right in. You're embarassed to cheer for the Wings? That's sad. Particularly since not fighting =/= *****. Homer doesn't fight, but he's tougher than 99% of the league.

How do you come back from the devastating injuries like has if he's lazy? Igor isn't out of shape like you or I are out of shape. The RSL is a different league from the NHL. There they use training camp to get into game shape, whereas here you'd better already be in shape. And that's NHL game shape which is a completely different animal from RSL game shape. Shifts over there are longer, slower, and more tactical rather than all out up and down skating/hitting/etc... He's used to pacing himself and you just don't do that here. Had the Wings had his visa in order, he could have figured that out during the rookie conditioning camp during the summer rather than during training camp. C'est la vie. He already took a pay cut to sign with the Wings. The move to the AHL has dropped that lowered pay by another 90%. There is no reason for him to stick around in the AHL toiling away when it isn't a better league than the RSL. The AHL won't help him get up to NHL speed, which is his only trouble so far.

As it stands many teams in the league alter their lineup to compete with us. They take out the brawn and add a bit more brain (if possible), because they know a tough guy won't help them win against us. If we change our roster, and a touch of our style, to adjust to the competition we won't be as effective of a team. Yes, it's only one roster spot, but Babcock wants 4 lines that he can trust to toss out there against any other line in the league. It's the same thing Scotty did. It's not a massive difference, but inserting Downey for anyone else takes is a step away from that goal rather than a step closer. If Igor isn't in the press box, he's in Russia and that helps nothing. There is zero chance that Downy will be with the Wings next season. There is a hope that Igor will be. That's why the moves being made are being made.

You make it sound like he'd be a fixture on a lineup elsewhere. There's a reason his average number of games is hovering around 30gm/yr. He's simply not good enough. As an enforcer or otherwise.

You don't. It was a 6 year deal at $2M/yr plus a $14M signing bonus PLUS the controversial $12M bonus for reaching the Conference Finals which Carolina had no shot at in '98 and the Wings were expected to, and did, reach en route to the '98 Cup. Fedorov made $28M that year. The rest of the roster made $28.5M.

$28M. Sergei was half a mil shy of being paid as much as the rest of the roster that year.

Even at his age, I dare you to tell it to his face.

Hedman is in the '09 draft. Got the years mixed up when Tavares was tossed into the mix. Many scouts believe he could be playing in the NHL now and he's still two years from draft age. He's bigger and a better skater than Pronger. And he's only 16. I'm not sure if there is anyone coming down the pipe in the next 2-3-4 years that'll be better than Victor. He's a massive, mobile franchise defenseman in the making.