norrisnick

And Cleary wasn't enhanced by Lang? That line went hot November through December (Dan had 27 points in those 27 games), but don't forget that Cleary was ice cold apart from that (13 points in the other 44 games he played). I remember Z giftwrapped Dan's 20th goal on an empty netter because Z knew he had 19 and felt 20 was a nice milestone to hit. That was Feb 2nd. Cleary finished the season with 20 goals... They each have their roles, and provided they stay cheap they'll stay Wings. But the notion that one is junk and the other not, or that one is a superstar and the other not is just stupid. They're both 2nd/3rd line tweeners. One being more offensively oriented and the other more defensively oriented.

This is his 3rd or 4th alcohol related offense. He had a prior DUI and apparently beat up a cabbie once while drunk. I believe Paris' big issue was driving with a suspended license, which isn't quite as weighty of an issue as DUI, injuring another driver, and fleeing the scene (he walked off).

How dare they f*** with tradition!!!11

Fedorov is a mortal lock for the HOF. I wouldn't worry about it.

The Wall, currently Comfortably Numb

Anyone remember the Jishi Fischesh threads of old?

So should you. At the very least Bertuzzi has achieved $4M/yr status in the NHL. Penner is at most a $2.5M/yr player right now. Whether or not he becomes a $4M+/yr player in the future is a bigger IF than Bertuzzi being one now.

They can some, but not in and of themselves. If you don't have a good team it doesn't matter how much you fight. You're still not going anywhere. And if you fight at inopportune moments and/or lose you're not helping anything. I just don't see a point in obsessing about it before patching bigger more important holes.

If we didn't already have Kopecky, Drake, and Maltby... sure go nuts, sign Asham. As it is we're stocked with pluggers and we don't need any more. I'm just not gonna freak out because Kenny didn't sign a 4th liner which in turn would force him to pawn one of other 4th liners off to someone. The 4th line is the least of my worries. Ken hasn't done a thing to me. I just don't see the need in freaking out about players that won't make a meaningful impact. Plus, I don't think Asham would be nearly as good being the go-to tough guy. He usually rides shotgun with bigger badder dudes (Cairns, Godard, Erskine, Simon, Witt, etc...). Since one is the most you guys could possibly hope for, Asham is probably not the guy for you.

Ever see a team come out flat because their fighter was tooled? I sure have. Can't that lead to losses? Only if you have guys that can score them. Hence the need for a top 6 goal scorer instead of another bottom 6 plugger.

I want wins. Goals get you those. Not fights.

How would he be a perfect fit here? We have so many bottom six forwards that they're spilling into our top 6. It's a top 6 goal scoring winger that would be a perfect fit, not a banger for the 4th line. Why does no one realize that what the Red Wings need most is skill/scoring up front? The Wings aren't a soft all-skill team anymore. They're a hard working gritty group of forwards with only half a handful of true skill guys mixed in. Times they are a changin'. We haven't been able to purely outskill other teams for a while now.

The trainwreck in question goes higher than the head of hockey operations. From the ownership group to the team, to the fishbowl media, it's just a mess that I highly doubt Scotty wants to subject himself to at this stage in his life.

While it's possible MLSE is tossing truckloads of money his way, I do believe Scotty is smart enough to avoid that trainwreck.

I've never heard it. I got to know the Manson version off of the Lost Highway soundtrack and noticed in the track listings that it wasn't his song and looked up Screaming Jay Hawkins' original.

"I Put a Spell On You" - Screaming Jay Hawkins. "I Put a Spell on You" - Marilyn Manson

I, for one, vote for the former.

Babcock would. That's why he kept mentioning Shanny has to move his feet. Shanahan personified what was wrong with the Wings come playoff time. Not willing to put in the effort to get his nose dirty and firing harmless wristers from the blueline.

There is a sizable contingent on this, and any, board that honestly don't know what is going on. People were ripping on Lilly late last season and into the playoffs when he was playing SOLID hockey. It takes a while for the bandwagon to transition but that doesn't mean that everyone who gives their opinion, now or then, is being hypocritical. Could be that I've ignored a lot of the noise but there were more than a handful of people early in the season coming out of the lockout that felt Jiri was playing great. It causes you to push a franchise forward out the door...

Vlad, Sergei, and Fisch are the only ones to consider for me as I wanted to get rid of the other two before they actually left. As for hypocrisy regarding Fischer... I think you weren't paying attention. Fisch was great in '02 and the Cup run. Took a couple steps early in '02-'03 but then blew out his knee. '03-'04 he was playing on an unstable knee and fairly tentative so he wasn't anything better than average. Then he played in the World Cup and World Championships as well as over in the Czech league during the lockout and he was great early in '05-'06. Second only to Lidstrom IMO in his play. He was skating, hitting, shooting, etc... just playing with confidence. He was a beast out there. Then his heart gave out on him. Fischer was always a case of great potential and right as he was starting to show it, is when his career ended.

I believe those are Dom and Cheli's bonuses from last season.

Smyth is a better all around player than Homer, but Homer is better at what he does and Smyth is most certainly not more than TWICE the player Holmstrom is (contracts).

Fedorov from '90-'91 to '02-'03. I wouldn't trade his contributions for anyone else. No one else would have made the Wings a better team. As for the Fedorov of now... as the last deadline showed us (and our own acquisition) odds are Sergei will be the best option to be had. Kenny won't want to be fleeced for "safer" names and Fedorov is still leaps and bounds better than the Bertuzzi we were treated to.

I also said that Fedorov wouldn't be brought in to play defense. He'd be a forward. BUT... should the need arise and we're short a few defensemen, as we were last playoffs, he'd be more than capable of stepping in and doing something about it. He's the most versatile player in the league. Even in his diminished state. Scoring line, checking line, blueline, PK, PP, etc... During his tenure as a Red Wing there was not a single player in the league I'd have traded him for. Some, possibly you, might see this as some sort of grossly inflated opinion of him, but I stand by it. Not Jagr. Not Sakic. Not Lemieux. Not Bourque. Not Forsberg. No one.

Had Fedorov signed with us we wouldn't have gotten Lang and probably wouldn't have re-signed Schneider. In other words our team would have been better. Hull was the guy that was really holding the kids back because they felt obligated to funnel everything through him. Fedorov would have been on his own line or possibly with Z on his wing. I don't see how that could possibly have been a bad thing. The team we have currently (the one Kenny is saying they're probably going to start the season with) could absorb Fedorov's contract with only a minimal amount of salary shaving here or there. Maybe Maltby doesn't re-sign. Maybe Kenny talks Pavel into taking half a million less. Etc... The team wouldn't have been crippled.