C-TownWing

A lot of guys on their entry-level deals Taking out them, I'll go with Mikko Koivu's at a 3.25 cap number, although he's FA after next year. Really though, pretty hard to argue with Parise, although in terms of real money, he jumps to 5 next year. The issue to me with both of these guys is length...although if you're looking for a star player locked in for 3 million for the next 10 years, you're going to be looking for a while. Tim Thomas is in at 5.0 through 2013, so that's pretty good too. Homerish call alert, but I think Datsyuk is waaay under market value.

I'm not sure I buy the "pick least deserving player in the Hall and compare" argument. If that's how we're going to do it, all that's going to do if further crapify things over time. You don't like Neely and Anderson being in? Well, get ready for legions of similarly-qualified guys who did the absolute minimum, if others think that way. To me, it's sort of like when jersey retirement comes up, the old "if you have to make the argument, the answer is no" line. I realize that's not the HOF's philosophy, but to me, "should he" and "will he" are two different questions. I'm inclined to say "no" and "yes." That said, Lindros was flat-out dominant for a few years, no argument whatsoever on that point.

Same here. Gartner? Hawerchuk? Geez. I feel like an idiot.

It's pretty much a law of nature that the most obnoxious fans are the ones who are recently successful after sucking for a while <cough>Pens<cough>Hawks. Wings fans were probably in this group in the 90s (it's sort of hard to tell from the inside), but now "complacent" is probably a more accurate description.

I've never heard anyone chant "Jackets suck," so I'm going to take it as an honor. If they care enough about you to say you suck, you must be doing something right. 1961.

I just wish they didn't have so many other guys down, otherwise it could be the definitive Malkin > Crosby argument, since they haven't missed a beat the couple times Sid's been hurt.

Always love the massive emotional swings of this place. Good stuff as always. Last week's epic bust is this week's Vezina finalist. He was awesome last night. Stole us 2 points. Hopefully there's more where that came from, because we're probably in a spot where we're going to need the goalie to steal a few, and that goalie's going to be Howard 30-40% of the time.

Meh...joined March 6, 2003. Kovalchuk's rookie year was 2001-02. I'm sticking with my previous declaration of fail.

Could be. Mr. K is enough of a d-bag to do something like that.

The crazy thing is that when the team moved, they kept #9 retired but unretired the other two numbers retired in Hartford, #2 Rick Ley and #19 John McKenzie.

Fail.

I absolutely hated this line at first for exactly that reason, I felt like Datsyuk needed at least one guy to sort of keep up with him to give him options and prevent him from trying to do too much. Starting to come around though, because of the way Datsyuk sucks in the defense, yet can still get a pass through guys and on the tape. It's given Homer and Bert a lot of open ice and a lot of great looks that I don't think they'd be getting playing with anyone else, not even Z. One's buried a lot of these chances, one hasn't obviously, but I think that'll balance out over the course of the season.

And what happens if Ozzie wins in that scenario? We get the same problem Anaheim has right now, just with a smaller buyout later. I agree that he might not be washed up, a change of scenery might give him a few more productive years, who knows. But I am saying that when a guy approaching his mid-30s has consecutive bad years, you at least have to have the idea that he might be in the back of your head before throwing a bunch of your cap space at him.

In the US though? Unless you have someone like the Rangers (probably the only good US ratings team not already involved in one...maybe Washington too), I doubt it. There's a reason you never see the Leafs on the Versus/NBC games. I'm trying to say this without homer goggles on, but I think last year's numbers will be tough to beat in the near future. I think Toronto definitely deserves one, but I hate their venues. I think it either needs to be big (football stadiums) or have character (Wrigley/Fenway). Toronto has neither of those things really. Of the two though BMO > Rogers. You're going to need a calculator to count the ticket prices for a Winter Classic in TO at a small venue

That's pretty much how I see it too. This ain't 2003, kids. Or even 2007. I mean, sure, he was an elite goalie as recently as two years ago, but you just can't ignore it when a 32-year-old has what looks to be back-to-back crappy seasons. Even forgetting about the "dressing Meech/Lebda" issue, NTCs, etc., I wouldn't trade him straight up for Rafalski right now. And I'm not exactly the biggest Rafalski fan in the world either.

I thought so too, hopefully this is the last push needed for him to get going. If this works, the next step will be finding someone who can skate to play with Datsyuk

Lot of disrespect for Hully going around. Guy scored more goals than anyone not named Gretzky or Howe. That's pretty heady stuff. Yeah, okay, there's that matter of the other half of the ice, but still... Three of the top 10 goal scorers in NHL history are in the 2009 class (Yzerman #8, Robitaille #10).

I caught this suggestion on Coach's Corner and immediately thought it was one of the smartest things Cherry's ever said (not saying much, but still), it makes perfect sense. I think the impact of the trapezoid on offense is overrated in the first place. Sure, you have a couple goaltenders in that Brodeur/Turco category, but just as often as not, you'd have some terrible puckhandling goalies getting away from the crease and turning it over. Added bonus for Wings fans: not having to watch Ozzie wait at the edge of the trapezoid for slow moving pucks coming around.

Pretty much how I see it. We don't have to like it as fans (and I don't), but that's how his job's done effectively. ...and just like that, the sucktitude of the guy standing in his client's way is a story yet again.

I won't take it quite that far, but he's certainly gotten a lot of mileage out of the 1994 Cup, and the Game 6 guarantee. Without that, I don't know that he's held in nearly as high esteem, even with the Oilers years. Leetch was actually the one who won the Conn Smythe that year, so score one for 2009, I guess. Leadership? Stevie hands down. Better player? Really, really tough call.

Best of luck to Manny, I always liked him and not trying to start anything, but I always felt like he was a good goalie and sort of hung out to dry both in the 2004/2006 playoffs for us and last season with St. Louis. He's going to need it though, yikes.

Agree with all of this, with the slight possibility of flipping the Hull-Stevens one, or at least making it equal. MacInnis is one of the most overrated players ever, IMO, thanks to his shot. Balanced out by Ronnie Franchise, maybe the most underrated ever. 1-4/5, 2009 was stronger, and I think I'd say that even without three who won a Cup with the Wings in that class.

Loving the votes for Lebda, but you KNOW he's going to be the absolute last guy to get hurt, that's just how it goes. Homer, Bert, Z are all solid picks up front for obvious reasons. I went Bert. And Lidstrom for the D, mostly because I've been wrong a lot lately and I'm hoping me picking him means he won't get hurt.

They also did someone else (Emmerton, I think) saying that he misses his high school choir buddies. Basically, the Monsters devote way more effort into coming up with those and stupid skits mocking the opponent than they put into the on-ice product or selling tickets.