C-TownWing

Agreed. I just don't see the confidence that most people have about this. You have a team that sees us as an archrival and is making their first playoff appearance ever. Some of you think they'll be just happy to be there? BS. They're going to be UP, and we're going to have to match their intensity to win this series. Insert some cliche about how we're better on paper but games aren't played on paper here. I do think/hope we'll win, but I'm scared to death about this one. Think Washington last year--the way that entire city and team was after sucking for a while and finally making the playoffs. The good news is that they lost to Philly, but not until giving them all they wanted. I'm not embarrassed to admit that I was rooting for the Avs today with 8-2 in the back of my head. We did okay against the Pens after playing Colorado and Dallas (while they were playing the Rangers and Philly), the travel thing is overrated.

Sick designs...I'm definitely in for a couple too.

I don't think you are, the same thing crossed my mind. Take a look around Edzo--over half the league wears visors now, it's not just a "pansy Euro" thing anymore.

While I wouldn't want him back on the Wings and risk disrupting our great chemistry, I have to admit, I like the guy. And the rest of you have to admit that this thread is proof positive that he's great at his job.

Pretty much stole my (and everyone else's) line. We'll dominate our pool, flame out in the medal round. Edit: I actually like the way Team USA will probably look, maybe more than any Olympic team in my memory (which goes back to 1992) except for the silver medalists in SLC. We won't have the pure awesomeness on tap that Canada and especially Russia will, but we have some pretty underrated guys who can skate and score and if Miller (or Tim Thomas) gets his big-game Mike Richter on, who knows?

lol why wait? I already have Angela Ruggiero on my freebie 5! Hey Angela, if you're reading this, call me!

Post of the day

For sure, on both counts. Some of my favorite stories involve him being overprotective of his sons during the WHA years--he liked to pull guys off of Mark and Marty by putting his fingers in their nostrils. Dude was one tough hombre and fought his own battles, which is why I put him ahead of Gretzky, and he had the durability that Orr didn't. It blows my mind to think that he played major league-level hockey for 32 years. And he scored 41 points in the NHL at age 51. Freaking insane. I just wish I wasn't being born while he was doing that so I could've had the chance to see him play, other than on grainy highlight films. Only met him once, when he was signing copies of the 9 book at the Joe last year. I won't pretend like we talked for 20 minutes or anything like that, but he came off as just a tremendous guy, playfully ripping on me for making my gf carry all of our stuff while I got the autograph and asking to see the back of my jersey. A guy in his position has no need to make some random Wings fan like me feel important, but he does anyway.

IDK that almost seems right to me. I was trying to come up with a rule of thumb and was thinking something like 1:30 for every goal you need. I mean, it's not going to work most of the time, but what's the difference between losing 3-1 and 5-1? I always thought it was kind of dumb how in the NHL, the time when you pull the goalie doesn't differ that much when you're down 2 instead of 1. Down 1, you might see it with about 1:15-1:30 left. Down 2, maybe it's 1:30-1:45. You almost never see the goalie out with more than 2 to go, which doesn't make sense to me. You're saying you need 1:15-1:30 for one goal, why do you only need 15-30 seconds more for a second goal?

I'll take the minority position and say it was a good move that just didn't work out. You were watching the game, so you know that aOSU was pretty much owning the chances at that point, and (going from memory) they did come pretty close to making it 6-4. They do that, all of a sudden it's a hockey game again, get your goalie back in for a couple, ride the momentum and hopefully get another one, then pull the goalie again a little later. Is it an airtight plan? Hell no. But it's about as good as you can do down 3 with 6 left. I remember last year when UNH was getting pwned by Notre Dame in the first round, they pulled their goalie with even more time left. Didn't work for them either, but it was entertaining at least. Edit: Checked my memory against the box score, I was wrong, UNH didn't do it until the last 5 minutes. And ND's 2 ENGs made the score look worse than it was. Ouch.

Oshie's just POed about the Sioux giving that game away against UNH and was out for blood. Seriously, I know this is Wings fan faux pas, but who isn't enjoying watching the Blues right now? And as someone who's seen local TV guys for everyone in the league (including Boston and Nashville), the BJs have the worst homers by far. IMO, the one was a charge. But I did greatly enjoy it, so play on.

I do see the anti-Rinne points, but at the same time, I see a lot of similarities. Both Rinne and Mason came in when the incumbent starter was failing, either due to injury or general sucktitude. Either team would've been completely screwed without these guys, and both have (on the whole) played outstanding, and both will probably lead their teams to the playoffs with almost identical stats. This isn't so much of a pro-Rinne argument I'm putting forward as much as it is a "hey, there should at least be a discussion here" argument. It's a little harder to refute the "it's Columbus...in the playoffs" thing, but given my location, I see a decent number of their games. That's a pretty good hockey team with or without Steve Mason. You could sort of see this coming last year behind the last next big thing, Pascal LeClaire. They made it semi-interesting as far as the playoffs before faltering late. This team's been coming on for a couple years, really ever since Hitchcock arrived. My contention is that Columbus makes the playoffs even with an average goalie. How do I know this? Because that's all Mason's been in 2009, and the Jackets are playing their best hockey, well, ever. None of this is meant to bash on Steve Mason...he's been tremendous (overall). It's just that with most people and awards, mediocre in the second half takes you out of the running, regardless of what you did in December. For whatever reason, Mason's exempt.

You're my hero for seeing past the hype, like me. However, unlike me, you had the stones to post it for all to see and ridicule. But they’d be dead wrong. You pretty much hit it all in your post, but I just wanted to supplement a couple things. First off, why is everyone handing Mason the Calder? Even disregarding the very worthy skater candidates, Pekka Rinne’s put up nearly identical stats behind less talent (IMO) and also has his team positioned for an unexpected trip to the playoffs. He gets almost zero attention (especially compared to Mason), which is a shame. Rinne (season): 24-11-4, 2.23, .922, 7 SO Mason (season): 30-17-4, 2.22, .918, 9 SO The one thing that nobody seems to mention: Mason hasn’t been all that great since the calendar hit 2009. In fact, he’s the second-best goalie…named Mason in the Central Division. Obviously, he had mono for a little of this, but hey, results are results. Besides, he hasn't improved on the overall number in the last month all that much (2.39, .916). Steve (2009 only): 18-10-3, 2.56, .906, 4 SO Chris (2009 only): 17-9-5, 2.04, .927, 4 SO Being that I’m at work, I’m not going to go goalie-by-goalie for 2009, but it would be an absolute joke if someone with (Steve) Mason’s performance down the stretch ends up being a Vezina finalist.

I'm on record here that Datsyuk is the best forward in the league. Z's in the league last I checked. But seriously, what's with the Zetterberg hate-on? Every time someone says something positive about him, you crap on it. The consensus agrees that Dats is better, there's absolutely no need to belittle Z's 3-on-5 play, his leadership, etc. He's still one of the top 15 or so forwards in the league. Epic fail by you.

Jersey in the finals would be great... I wouldn't mind payback on the Leafs for 1993 either, but that's unlikely to be possible anytime soon . As frustrating as the Edmonton series in 2006 was, burning them isn't that high on my list, because I think I put most of that loss on us and not on them. I'd love to just rip Anaheim, but at the same time, watching their gradual disintegration over the last two years has satisfied some of that.

Cool idea! I just shot it off so I'm probably forgetting someone. Anaheim - Ryan Atlanta - Kovalchuk Boston - Thomas Buffalo - Pominville Calgary - Kiprusoff Carolina - Staal Chicago - Kane Colorado - Sakic Columbus - Nash Dallas - Morrow Detroit - Chelios, transitioning to Datsyuk when the inevitable happens Edmonton - Cogliano Florida - Horton Los Angeles - Brown Minnesota - Backstrom Montreal - Komisarek Nashville - Rinne New Jersey - Shanahan NY Islanders - Streit NY Rangers - Antropov Ottawa - Spezza Philadelphia - Richards Phoenix - Doan Pittsburgh - Talbot San Jose - Boyle St. Louis - Backes Tampa Bay - St. Louis Toronto - Blake Vancouver - Kesler Washington - Backstrom Edit: Sure enough, forgot about Streit.

We still had 15 regulation losses at 16 games left. And that means that you made this bet on the heels of the 8-2 loss to the BJs. I don't care if you had 1000-1 odds or how little money it is, that's insane. That said, if you were sticking up for your team or your honor as a fan, it's understood. Basically, San Jose is your friend. Chances are that we won't coast to the finish because we'll want home ice in our hypothetical WCF death match. Just looked at the schedule, and you at least have a chance...a few games against buried teams (Atlanta, Islanders, Minnesota is getting there, maybe the Blues and Sabres by the time we play too). However, the Oilers, Preds (twice) and Hawks (twice) are fighting for positioning. Calgary looked to be locked in 3rd at one time, but they're now being pushed big time by Vancouver. That one's coming Monday, so maybe they won't have that much urgency over it yet (they still have 5 points on them, but the Nucks are coming, make no mistake). The odds are pretty solidly against you, but good luck!

This. Nice work AP.

At first, I was like WTF are you talking about? Then, I realized that you were commenting on the original point of this thread. You can certainly understand my confusion there.

IDK, I think he's having a pretty good season anchoring a very underrated Devils D. Sorry, had to. Mostly because I honestly have never heard of Paul Martin the driver, and I kinda like NASCAR.

Solid move by Sid, I can certainly respect that.

Is there anything Wikipedia doesn't know?

...and has actually been the better of the two over the last couple of months, although nobody's noticed.

+1...Playing the Oil > playing anyone from the Central. Edmonton's strength is in their balance, but they've struggled all year getting consistency out of the guys that give them that balance (see Gagner, Sam). I think they'd be an ideal first round unless Roloson gets hot against us again, in which case all bets are off. I just did a quick count, so I may have missed a game, but... 8-0-0 vs. the Hawks and Blues 3-0-0 vs. the Oilers 2-2-1 vs. the BJs, including a super-embarrassing blowout 2-2-0 vs. the Preds, including a super-embarrassing blowout Pass on Nashville and Columbus for sure. I could live with just about anyone else in that vicinity.

Why not count OT wins too? They're accomplished while "playing the game" (albeit 4-on-4, but you could easily change that back) and aren't really the source of the problem. I applaud the sentiment though--this is based on absolutely nothing, but it seems to me like the less deserving team usually wins when the games go to a shootout.