akustyk

I don't get this Cleary hate. the guy is a tiger along the boards and one of the hardest working Wings players, absolutely invaluable on forecheck. he's like total opposite of Franzen: few points but huge game without the puck.

as of now this team seems to be coached to the max and playing very decent as a team. they have a good chance to make the playoffs, no doubt about it in my mind. having said that... there's a lot of salary cap space and obvious shortage of pure talent on this team. if Holland decides to pull the trigger soon enough this team, when healthy, might as well get through 2 playoff rounds... the point is that if the Wings are going East next season, they'll likely be slightly retooled to fit better to the style of play in the East. so this might be a good moment to just tank the season and grab a high draft pick...

tough call to make, I'd say Tatar > Andersson and Emerton, but that's just my $0.02 I don't necessary agree with him being the best forward, but the kid has pure offensive talent, something this team badly needs

Olczyk is a Hawks-homer, and known for being a poor commentator. not to mention his, more than blatant, anti-Wings bias, but that doesn't matter in case of Yakupov here... as for Yakupov ducking out... good for him. suck it up Carcillo, that's the risk you take when taking runs at the boards.

holy potatoes... well anyway... aren't they by chance eligible to buy him out for free under the new CBA?

you mean like we'd call our offense our defense, and our defense the offense...? I don't want to sound defensing, but some of you may find it offensive... but 2-3 is nothing more than one forward playing deep. a Selke-candidate type of forward can easily do it. even 2 forwards for a 1+4. but it obviously is tough to generate much offense of that...

easy ones, but why not... "Ladies and gentlemen, here's you Yzerman speaking. We'll shortly be landing in Detroit" "Temperature outside is Tootoo degrees" "Prepare for rough landing, runway has not been properly Sobotka'd" "Traffic jams today are really Maltby'ing me off!" "He's got his * really manProbbie'd"

thing get hazy when you reach certain age... but, yes, it had to be 2012 as what I recall is him being big factor against the Wings... and 2008 seems a bit too far away in the past... as for the opinion on him right now... we'll see. he's been OK so far. if Wings advance to the playoffs and Tootoo brings the same energy and inspiration I remember - it'll be a great deal for Holland.

yep, but back then in 2008 Tootoo was IMHO worse player than he is now. back then he was more about dirty tricks and being pure pest and I myself didn't like the idea of him on the Wings team. he made progress later in his career and as of 2012 I liked the idea of Wings shopping for him. his performance in 2012 playoffs was very convincing to me. not just dirtbag and pest but also a player with tremendous energy and a true inspiration to give their best for other players. he was IMHO Nashville's top player in that round. this Tootoo, I gladly welcome. not the 2008 version. Pronger, Lemieux - I don't think there ever was discussion about their skills. that's pretty different than Tootoo here..

because every time Wings/Leafs/Pens (but also Rangers, Hawks, Kings, Bruins, Habs, Flyers ...) visit teams in weaker economic spots, their arenas are filled with spectators and good ol' bucks are streaming to their pockets. and there's also bigger chance to get national TV. for the sake of those weaker clubs the NHL will do everything possible to get as many of those highly marketable teams playing everywhere possible. some of those team may end up in the same division but NHL will do everything possible and more to split their money-makers as much as possible between the divisions.

you understand that, in terms of economy, any chance of a division featuring two of the Wings, Maple Laughs and Penguins is low to say the least? and all three of them together is like totally zero

haha! thanks for a good laugh. truth being said - a lot of my perception of Tootoo changed after seeing him play against the Wings last playoffs. and I was already a believer the moment Holland signed him - thankfully, this time I was right and don't need to change opinion again

you could make the case about Tootoo's hit being dangerously close to the boards and that always means a significant risk of eg. neck injury. but other than that I agree it was feet on the ice and by far not a head shot.

guilty as charged to me. and Shanabans explanations makes perfect sense. jumping waaaay before the hit and aiming at the head. really, nothing to discuss... and yep, it is very Kronwall-esque in its nature. probably more skates into the air than little Nick, but still - long approach and boom upstairs. that's a textbook dangerous hit. one thing is different than Kronwall, though. Kronner spins before the hit to use his back as impact point, not arm/elbow. that way he has more chance to hit the other guy because the surface is larger. I guess this also means heavy shake of whole body but less chance of injury of particular body parts.

well... voices like Karen, Ken Kal, Paul Woods, Ken Daniels, Mickey Redmond - it's sure as hell part of Wings home game broadcast experience. or Murph, as bad as he can be. like them all or not... Karen works for me. she's much better voice than most anthem singers through the NHL (and I'm not even going to touch St Louis or Nashville). and apart from audio, she's also perfectly OK visually

talk about a drop in contract cap... good for him, and great god - what a steal for Sharks. even if it's one year the guy should be poised to prove everybody wrong. unless he pulls a.... mmmm... Scott Gomez... and scores 2 goals the entire season

there's every logic for tanking the season when it's clear that Wings have slim chances for playoffs. which will only be obvious around first week of April I guess. other than that... why? it's a short season lot of factors come in to play that make playoffs that much more unpredictable. and most certainly nothing can be said about the situation after just 2 games. chill out. I mean.. it's not like we're very deep into the season, huh?

if anything then the current draft format of the NHL is bad and rewards teams for being bad. I mean... come on... this draft systems dooms players to serve their youth with teams like Islanders, Jackets, Maple Laughs or Habs - who dwell at the bottom because of inefficiency of their owners and poor decisions of GMs. the post-CBA draft system seems a bit more fair, but there's still work to be done with contract structure. as of now those bad franchises can still escape by keeping high talent signed for a couple of years without real success. truth being said I'm not sure if a Cup of Hope is better solution. it should be more entertaining to the fans, that for sure.

Tootoo is great distraction for the other team and one huge motivation/energy bomb on the ice. he can prove invaluable for Wings team. those who remember last Wings-Preds playoff series - Tootoo was Nashville's most energetic player and every shift he was on the ice there were things happening for Preds. He may not have the talent of the likes of Fisher or Erat but he is a driving force for his line and guys watching on the bench to push more. sure he has drawbacks but if Wings are to see the same Tootoo when they advance to playoffs... that's not a good news to the other team(s)

50$ is not huge money, especially if this is the only alternative to illegal streams in a country like Netherlands. and yep, I could stomach the price and the fact that a lot of games are played at more than barbaric time of the night local time (7pm EST being 1am CET)... did anyone outside US/Canada try it and could confirm it works?

commish has to be a diplomat who manages to get all the 30 GMs who seldom represent the very same interest, on the same page. I'm not sure Stevie Y is a good choice, there's no evidence to me. Burke has an understanding of the game Bettman lacks. he could be an improvement from our, fans, point of view. but the other aspect is being able to float between the 30 GMs and get them to do something no one particularly is fond of, but what serves all the league at the longer distance. Bettman did it quite well I have to say. it's easy to hate him but it's also easy to forget he has to sell same vision to a bunch of guys who try to circumvent rules every way they can with mountains of money (i.e. Holmgren) and at the same time guys who lead decent organization in tough climate (i.e. Poille). can Burke do this? honestly, I don't think so. too hard nosed and not good enough as a diplomate. plus, I have serious concerns about his impartiality and integrity knowing how many of his buddies swerve around the NHL...

you mean like Ducks where he inherited very well drafted core (courtesy of Bryan Murray, mastermind behind current good youth at Ottawa) and was gifted Pronger deal? and then dumped all the assets to build a team with one shot which luckily worked out, because his old buddy Colin Campbell put a blind eye on Pronger's "specific physics"? or Nucks where he had Bobby Lou and Swedish Twins. and still the team sucked a** ? Burke is overrated but what I most hate about him is how he's media who*e who loves to bath in flashlights. the guy is perfect example of how talking a lot and having buddies builds a reputation of actually being knowledgeable, despite all the evidence to contrary. Nonis is a good choice for Maple Laughs, unfortunately. he may build something decent in this mess. though, with new draft lottery system building team by pulling Penguins/Hawks (dwell at the #30 for a number of seasons) is no longer warranty of success so he might need a couple of years to really develop some decent core... frankly, few things make me laugh as much as seeing Burke fail. can't stand this guy. hope he doesn't replace Bettman. the later might not "know the finer aspects of hockey" but is at least decent at diplomacy and knows not to stick with the same circle of old buddies... Burke and his hard nosed pals could be a disaster for the league...

lockout over, Burke gone. what an epic week... thank you, hockey gods!

so is it "this year"? sorry, couldn't pass such opportunity

it's not the die hard fans which they need to address now, as those are pretty much lock for the teams with solid fanbase. it's about attracting non-regular hockey fans outside of big hockey center. so, yes, free or cheaper center ice might do it, but don't expect it in Motown, NY or PA, and most certainly north of US borders. FL, TN, OH, AZ on the other hand... and yes, that would, as usual, be the money of the owners in traditional hockey states/provinces... those who orchestrated lockout...