akustyk

lemme correct the original one: someone who is lazy and he sucks is there any doubt now?

I love it how year after year people pronounce Blackhawks a power house and see them poised to run for Central Division lead. only to later see them choking badly and falling down to 3rd or 4th in Central, a number of points away of playoff spot or even opportunity to advance. huge sign, OK. seems like another player poised to ruin his career with a crappy team going nowhere

why should we follow their example? just if you forgot - it was us who beat Dives thoroughly in a series which was sweep with a huge 21-9 goal advantage for Wings. and it was Wings who totally rocked clueless and defenseless Colorado. let them have Tucker we'll focus on quality players. let them even get Hossa and Sundin. won't help anyway if your coach is Tony, huh?

let's see what he has left in the tank. Dives turning into a real goon squad... looks like we'll have plenty of hate towards them when the season ends. too bad they have Tony Granato who knows * about coaching because they could make a great opponent if they reached playoffs with such goon squad

Perry is almost worth those $5M now. and during those 5 years he may reach the peak of his potential. which is big. good deal for Ducks

wait, wait, wait... are we talking about the same Cujo Leafs fans made fun of and predicted he's gonna suck big time with Wings in playoffs? oh the irony...

let's put it this way... those are big bucks but long term contracts. which indicates one thing: GMs assume salary cap will be rising next seasons and moreover: the rise will be steeper than most of us think. in effect Stuart's $4.75M now (1/14 of currect salary cap) may soon become say 1/18 of Wings player budget. and this is a huge difference. under $56M cap Stuart is making 8.4% of salary cap. if the cap goes up to $70M that would only be 6.8%. with that in mind these figures get lower. just think of Datsyuk's contract. back then we all thought of his $6.75M as of grand larceny. couple of seasons later we call this a masterstroke of Kenny Holland. and this is rightly so because he anticipated (or knew of) NHL revenue growth and went with a contract that is great for his team's future. still, in my belief those new salaries are quite huge. a bit above what I would call optimistic estimations of revenue rise... but I don't know what GMs know

Tootoo has been Nashville's second best player (behind Ellis) in Round 1 when they faced us. he's not been committing dumb penalties and played with a lot of energy. I too can't stand this spoiled brat and would like to see someone give him what is due. but you have to give him the credit of being effective and playing with a lot of energy when the team needs him. EDIT: and no, I don't think he's dumb. he's reckless and way to optimistic about his future (he'll find his Scott Stevens some day - I hope at least) but he's not dumb.

that's not 100% true. dumping him doesn't mean they think he has nothing left in the tank but rather: $4M is not what they want/can pay him. where "him" is about as important as "$4M". my point is: let's think of signing Bertuzzi for Wings team and for no more than $2M. that's a price which would situate him between Draper and Homer now. has Big Bert enough for this price? and my answer is: yes, I think so. back in 2007 he was recovering from injury and was still a solid factor in our playoffs despite the fact that he didn't have much time to develop some chemistry within Wings team. there's reasons to believe he may be valuable contributor to the 2008-09 Wings. he has a skill/size package that would suit our needs. at a good price - why not? I'm not gonna cry if it doesn't happen but I most certainly like this option.

I'm not talking about fluke. I'm talking about him not being steady defenseman in his own end and not being sound on defensive game. I like his improvement this season and it looks like he's finally getting it done but prior to that he was often quite average in defensive aspect of the game. yes, I understand the importance of good hit but the primary thing I expect of top-tier defenseman is to be sound behind his blue line. especially in playoffs. last playoffs against Wings he was brutal - often inefficient and for most part pretty invisible. so, just to sum it up: yes, I see he has tools to be great but I don't think he's entirely there. he's great at his 22, no doubt. but he is not yet what he is hyped to be. he might very well achieve it soon, though.

Phaneuf is a tough story. he's getting lot of exposure because he plays in Canada and is known for hits. but other than that he used to be pretty unremarkable. I watched him last year against the Wings and he was simply a non factor. yes he scored a goal (1 or 2 if I recall correctly), delivered a couple of hits but when it came to defense and making smart plays to better up the flow of his team's game - Phaneuf was nonexistent. this playoffs he looked much more improved to me and it really is closer to what I'd expect from such a high draft pick and a guy touted to become Norris winner. if this is about to continue and Phaneuf finally got it right - he's an absolutely top defenseman in my book. not Nick Norris but right in top 5. but if this was just a fluke... he's way behind in the ranks. I mean - in objective terms when you look at what he really is and not what Canadian fans call him, Phabeuf is just a strong offensive D-man with quite too frequent defensive lapses. as such he's good for Eastern Conference but not for real playoff contenders in the West who build on reliable defensemen. my €0.02

let's not get ahead of ourselves. Bertuzzi was somehow suspect with his health when we shopped him from Florida. but Wings were in huge need for a physical forward with skills and this is exactly what Bertuzzi brought. sure, we lost Matthias who is very promising but back in 2007 we had to make the deal to increase our chances to go deep into playoffs. and just to remind you - we were right there in WCF with good shot on reaching SCF. and no, it was not Bertuzzi who was the reason we didn't get past the Burke's pest. back then it was a good deal. and if it was $2M per year now he's also worth picking. give him a full season with Wings and you'll see a solid playoff player who gives the team extra hunger to reach the cup. and still, notwithstanding his psychic incidents, and fading career, a good set of skills. he has frame, skills and may still want to prove his place in the league. let's evaluate him for what he is today and what he can bring for those $2M (or even less). this ain't bad, actually Dan Cleary had a chance and become great player for the Wings. and Bertuzzi can bring even more. at least he deserves some consideration. personally, I don't want him with Wings. he's epitome of league's bad handling of the situation. he should be out of the league for a number of years now. as this dirty bastard Crawford who holds big chunk of responsiblity for Moore accident. but... despite the fact that I don't like Bertuzzi I can see him being a valuable player on Wings roster. if that's what it gets for my Wings to edge great team and possibly even repeat as champs - I'll take it.

Simon wasn't dumb. the guy most likely has problems with keeping his cool and taming his aggression, but he's not dumb. Pronger is dumber than SImon because he actually has more skills but is unable to keep his game on civil level and not cross the border (even the border of Ducks standards which is way above league average). but even he isn't a trully dumb guy. this Philly kid who was suspended before the season even started... now that's another story...

utter Bull-Crap Kenny will not sign a guy who is even supsect of being locker room cancer. and Emery is not even suspect. he has reputation of being slefish, whiny and poisoning pansy. no, thanks.

Orpik ain't bad but $3M is crazy money. either I'm wrong or he has wrong sense of his value or just want to bail out of Steel City

great move by the best GM in the NHL... or sort of... :hockeysmile: I hope to enjoy even more of this next season. 2007-08 was already great if you despise Burke but it looks like the parade of his dumb moves continues... magnifico, if you ask me

Central - it's Nashville for me. they'll have more talent than last season and Trotz certainly knows how to make most of it. and they always plays us hard. I'm not sold on Blackhawks, because they managed to waste every talent they gathered for last 10 years and it's pretty difficult to convince me that's about to change. I can see Blues coming back to 2nd in Central. they have tools to make this step forward. West - very tough to predict. might be Sharks, might be Ducks but also Stars. other teams? maybe Canucks somehow or Flames. but that's a long shot

if you assume Howard is coming to regular NHL duty this coming season Wings stay with just Larsson. and to me the assumption seems very logic. about time to give Jimmy a shot and give the Griffs spot to Larsson.

it's not huge money by NHL standards. I was rather reffering to Mason who got big bucks in similar situation. but let's not forget that Ellis has not even played a whole season and is already called starter. as was supposed to be Mason. or a number of goalies who had fluke streaks and then disappeared (Hedberg, Czechmanek, Emery, Theodore...). 1.75 is not huge money and it seems Polie(sp) learned from Mason mistake. but to me it's still about making an unproven guy a starter. if he doesn't pan out Nashville season will be in jeopardy. and it's not difficult to understand that Ellis will now be playing under more pressure and with bigger expectations. simple like that.

I mostly agree on that and I think in Predators economic situation the team did wonders in regular season and has been solid against us in playoffs. but I just can't stop laughing at the resemblance between Ellis signing and Mason story from just a year ago.

last year they "pouched" Mason who was considered their go-to guy and their future. now they're paying big money to Ellis who doesn't even have a single whole season under his belt. next June they'll sign Rinne(sp) for even more money and declare him the guy for the future... let's get it straight... from my point of view a "quality goalie" is not someone who has played great just a partial season. this reputation is built over the years. with all respect to Ellis who was very good this year, he's likely to collapse under the pressure and land with some Blues or Kings next year.

are we talking about the same Mason Predators overpaid big time a year (or was it two?) ago when they sent Big Mouth to Florida and thought a decent regular season and nice playoff push makes Mason a legit goalie??? oh the irony... and the Blues get yet another goalie who's supposed to get the job done. looks like they still don't get it that after Grant Fuhr they've been dead terrible in this area...

it still didn't help and when Homer landed in Detroit in 1995 the very Scotty Bowman told him he's not gonna last a year with Wings. which is why he actually wears the number 96

:lol:

at last. he deserved to be there last year. congrats to Igor. not that it changed my opinion of him anyway but it's nice to see North American ppl finally acknowledge his greatness