RyanBarnes!

Cut Schneider. He's replaceable.

It's a bit disturbing to see Detroit pass up on Petrecki when they finally had the chance to add some muscle. Instead they opt to go with yet another offensive defenseman. Oh well...

I wouldn't mind any of the players you mentioned. Petrecki would be sweet.

Cross sounds like a very reasonable pick for Detroit and it works for me, although I'd really like them to pick a physical winger.

I'm fine with the Red Wings taking a chance on him, but I'm more intrigued by players like Sutter and Gillies.

Sure. Havlat, Perry, Malone, Latendresse and Blunden comes to mind.

^You can find skill and size late in the first round too, if you are only prepared to take a chance. For some reason, Detroit rarely seem willing to take that chance.

No way Hudler should have gotten more ice-time in the playoffs. Babcock's decision and strategy worked out fine, until Lilja screwed up everything in game 5.

The Ducks would not have won without Pronger. Period.

I don't think Thornton need specific instructions to understand that anytime he can get a defenseman to the box with him, it's usually a good thing for his team... In regards to McDonald and Kunitz play. They're taking advantage of playing on a tough team and if you think about it, there's no reason they shouldn't.

Red Wings scout Hakan Andersson mentioned that Kronwall was up for a comeback in the Stanley Cup finals if Detroit were to make it that far, during a Swedish intermission broadcast last week.

Just look at the way Babcock has this team working their tales off on the ice. They're hitting, skating hard and competing. When you do that, you get rewarded with timely goals like Datsyuk's gamewinner in game 2 and Lang's game-tying goal in game 4. This is exactly what I want to see come the playoffs and finally I am!

Wilson did the right thing, he mentioned no names, only that some players need to pick up their game.

What a ignorant article. Bertuzzi brings plenty to the Red Wings lineup except penalties. In game 2 he got called for hooking after barely touching the guy. How about the NHL benching that referee instead? Perhaps Babcock should bench Hasek too after assisting on Thornton's goal in that very same game?

That's the thing though. Good doesn't get your number retired. Only extraordinary will do that.

Luckily, that will also never happen. Neither one is even close. Now Lidstrom, there's a worthy candidate.

Thanks for posting Mark, that was fun to watch.

Pointless article, on the verge to stupid actually. The format is very entertaining and that's that.

I voted Wings in 6, but that could be more wishful thinking than anything else. The Flames scare me, especially their tough defense and goaltender. I expect a tight and fairly physical series. I hope for Hasek and Babcock to be the difference makers though.

You really think Fedorov was a success?! I don't think Anaheim shares that opinion, hence the trade to Columbus. No Cups for him in Anaheim. That's 100 %.

Phaneuf

And some will jump of joy for any news, probably because the don't know what else to do...

I don't need to list 20 names to prove my point. Yashin is a pretty good example why teams shouldn't offer contracts longer than 4 years. Fedorov is another example. Regarding the potential gains in locking Datsyuk up, what good is a cornerstone that will not produce in the playoffs? Some still think there's a chance he'll come through this year, but if not, then all he is good for is selling regular season tickets. Spare me the most exciting player talk. That money could be used on someone capable of something more.

It would practically render Holmstrom useless, since there would be no spot for him on the second line either.

You act like there's no downside to signing long term deals at all. 9 out of 10 long term deals come back to haunt you in the end. There's no way of knowing how a player will develop in the next three or four years, let alone seven years. Such a contract makes them virtually impossible to trade and in Datsyuk's case it could very well mean that Detroit is stuck with a playoff no-show for the foreseeable future. In my opinion it's stupid to sign these kind of deals, even if the player is Zetterberg.