akustyk

yes. next question

good one for Downey, not the best one from Borat... ummm... Paros that is

as much as I hate this guy I see perfect reason to have him in Wings roster. definitely worth considering. he's such a mean a*hole that Wings could be greatly improved with his package. he's perfect for our 2nd scoring line (with Cleary and Franzen) or 3rd with Flip and Hudler. that would be outstanding

Vaclav Prospal maybe? his name was floating on this board, and altough I still fail to see why Bolts could trade him I'd be glad to see him on this team. dependable if not spectacular. other names... don't know what's their contract status but I'd look among the names like: Bates Battaglia (assuming he's not completely done), Derek Armstrong, Trent Hunter, David Vyborny, Radek Dvorak, Scott Walker, Fernando Pisani, Ales Kotalik...

ideally both. if not... tough call buy I'd take a depth D-man.

that's what I was asking for at this moment Roenick has nothing valuable to show other than his big ever-whining yap. with Murphy being brutal at his job Roenick for him seems the best what we could ask for throw the bag of pucks and ship Murphy for big-yap get it done, Kenny!

shortened for reading purposes. I see your logic and I see what it is about. and yeah, with such definition of clutch goals I'm not going to argue Iginla is more crucial to (any) team than Datsyuk or Zetterberg are with Wings now. the thing I'm speaking about here is that players contribution and role depends on their team shape and how much of the load is on the 1st line guys shoulders and how much can they count on other lines. my point is that with Flames who lack scoring behind 1st line, Iginla must deliver or the team is basically doomed. which is basically what common knowledge says: Flames play good when Iginla plays good. now with Wings who have solid 2nd line and 3rd that is able to chip in a goal once in a while - Z and D don't have to push as much. would any of them be playing this role if he played for a team that has single scoring line - that's possible. neither of them is a power forward type who is singlehandedly able to change the fortunes, though. anyway... I don't think stats are telling the story here. there's just too many factors in assessing how much the player is worth when the game is at stake. if I was NHL coach and had freedom of choice I'd play guys like Iginla, Modano, Lidstrom or (as much as I despise this guy and hate to admit it) Pronger who are able to play shift after shift and be a constant threat to the other team. not because of what their stats say but because they have the tools and experience to get the job done when the game is on the verge. do Datsyuk and Zetterberg belong to the same family? not yet, but they've shown they're capable of joining this elite club

oh the double standards... last year I saw ppl on this board throwing crap at Nashville because they were winning a lot of games by a single goal. this year 1 goal games look OK because it's the Wings, huh? Clarke is an a*hole, but he has some valid, if not overly deep thoughts here. yes those Wings are not winning some of those games by a large margin but it's 82 games season and they simply don't put so much pressure in each games. and if they get a 1-goal win against a team like Wild recently, who put incredible work and still came out beaten... does it means those Wings are bad if they happen to win it in tight competition, coming out flat and still beating Northwest leader? oh, padron... yes, we're not like those 80's Oilers. well, Bobby, do you know a prescription for building dynasty team under salary cap realms? that would be a miracle, because other GMs who are often smarter than you mostly struggle in keeping their teams competitive for a couple of years. and dynasties are just beyond any question. and this: just shows your attitude towards the Wings, not necessarily a valid opinion. if you seriously think not a single hockey analyst sees Wings as a team that will have a strong run for the Cup... that's just shame

are we talking about the same Fedorov who wasn't able to be a man a tell Holland he does not want to stay in Detroit but is looking for a deal with another team? which resulted in Wings fans being cheated and Sergei going to Ducks for the same money Wings offered him after months of talks and promises? sorry, but this certainly does read "hoopla" in my book although I do agree, I'm fed up with endless debates "will Floppa play or will he not". I understand he's foot problems but going through this stuff year after year is just... bad taste

Roenick for Larry Murphy anyone?

if I recall correctly Bowman's determining stat was: PK% + PP% > 100%

the thing is: it means exactly s* when playoffs start. I'd rather see us land a dependable D-man and an experienced 2nd line guy who can chip some goals in. and keep my fingers crossed for some good karma. regular season doesn't really count

agreed I didn't say "scoring". I wrote about load and teams where rosters are so unbalanced that the 1st line simply has to carry the load to keep the team competitive. that's much different than players on teams featuring 2 quality lines (I'm not even mentioning pre-cap 3 lines deep Wings or Avalanche here). if you are coach and have the freedom to not have to play a single line to produce - those 1st line players won't be scoring as many clutch goals. Caps and Ovechkin are perfect example here. yes, AO scores a lot of clutch goals. why him? because no other player on Caps has this skills and if AO doesn't produce the entire team is just a mid-AHL quality I agree, but the thing is, again: there's difference between those who score goals because they're good and those who score important goals because they need to put all effort into the game for their team to have any chance to be competitive. all what you say is perfectly clear when it comes to playoffs. then you'll really see who is really producing clutch goals. regular season is not when best players play their best. see: Pavel Datsyuk. according to these stats he's just a casual "puke-poker". but then, in playoffs he's been a monster who delivered timely goals. this is a common and often repeated saying. and it's mostly one big BS. Wings are 7-7-0 against Central this year so if this is where you're trying to find their 17 point advantage in standings - this is not the case. simple maths and you see Wings having NHL lead without those games against Central Division. which invalidates all this dumb talk. and frankly... if you ever watched a game or two against the team like Chicago or Columbus - Wings are often sleepwalking these games and it's only 3rd periods where they awake and put some effort. at times that's enough to pull a win but often it's not. Wings are not the most talented team in this league right now. and it's not that they only play weak teams and pile easy points. it's the defense, chemistry and coaching that do the job here. that's good question. I think you got the point here. Wings sucked terribly in scoring department in that series. but then it's 2008 now and this team's top scorers are better than 2004 and more mature. Datsyuk 2008 and Zetterberg 2008 are different story I believe. I still keep my opinion that they are clutch players even if the artificial stats don't show this. the thing is Wings have enough firepower in 2nd line to get some load off Datsyuk and Zetterberg. that's still not enough for my liking but this team is nevertheless better than 2004. tough call. healthy Stevie would not drag the team alone through this series with his scoring ability. we missed his leadership mostly, but I'd also say the entire team was lacking heart and desire to win it. whatever was the reason I still think with the talent package they had then it could've still be a won series if Wings put more effort and had more faith. IMHO, they eventually failed because of lack of hunger. or because Flames were visibly more hungry. the thing some ppl fail to see here is: they played about top team in another Division and won it. outhustled, outworked and outplayed - OK. but winner. how come ? I'm trying to keep a bigger picture of this and it says: those Wings have god damned cushion in the standings and there's no reason they should put huge effort into every game if they need this extra hustle in April-June (well... hopefully). they just can and should afford to play lightly as many games as reasonable. if there's room to let 2nd and 3rd line play rather than push the 1st - I'm all for that. Wings youth needs to be given opportunity, even if they may eventually not get the job done. it's 17 points advantage and 30 games to go. plus: I'd not judge star players after just a single game. especially at this time of the year and at this position Wings are now. there's no "must" about Datsyuk and Zetterberg scoring now. they can pot a goal or two but they may as well have a night off. there's more hockey to play this year. you get the point in last sentence. I'd not call it a "must win" game but it's still closer to "Flames need to put the effort" than "Wings must beat Wild". let's get a better example than this. a real "must win" game. Game 5 of Wings-Flames series in 2007 playoffs. Zetterberg pots 2 goals. Iginla? Phaneuf? umm... were they playing? I actually saw Iginla put some effort in that series but Phaneuf was invisible. except for some good hits he's been miserable for the hype surrounding him. clutch? oooops, don't think so. that's right, but I insist you're reading to much into it and take little account what's around this stats. there's different pressure on teams which are 8th in Conference than on teams which are well on top. and most certainly there's more pressure on players who "must" carry their teams at the moment than on those who just "may" pick a goal or two once in a while.

exactly. though, I'm glad we won't have him. for the same reasons he said no. that would be very wrong to see him in Winged Wheel. he's just hall of fame of our enemies and period. that being said, this is ballsy from him. shows that his attitude is not just money or Cup chances.

coz there are more than just Wings fans on this board and I'm sure like hell they don't exactly love Maltby that Chelli got just one vote comes as surpise. looks like people are more forgiving towards old people :D I wouldn't call the outcome a surprise. though, I wonder if Tootoo gave Pronger a run for his money here. I'd say so...

mirrors my thoughts hope he signs with some team that overpays like crazy and then goes down in 1st round

just a though: maybe this is not a measure of certain players skills but also of how uneven his team is in scoring? see... Flames Iginla 33 + Huselius 21 + Lagkow 21 = 75 goals. of 153 total. roughly speaking 50% of team's output Caps Ovechkin 45 + .... = 45 of 154 team goals. which would be 30% of Caps goals Wings Zetterberg 41 + Homer 20 + Datsyuk 18 = 69 goals. of 180 total. not even 40% of Wings scoring. in my opinion this ranking is not about saying player A is better than player B but rather: A has to carry more load in his team because... yeah, it's mostly because the rest of the field sucks. I'd rather say this ranking shows only how bad some teams are in scoring past 1st line. and the thing is if you are single line team this doesn't bode well for you playoff chances. see: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/cgy/stat...postseason_2006 http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/det/stat...postseason_2006 can't find Caps playoffs stats, though

saw Prospal play a couple of times and he looks good. dependable team player who works hard and is a good chemistry guy with decent skills. I'd like him on Wings. my question is: if he's inexpensive and has fine set of skills - why the heck would Tampa want to trade him?

why do you have to hate player, hate coach, hate zamboni driver, etc. ? I mean... Jesus... those are not all likeable types but do they deserve as much as hatred? my list of coaches I dislike is: 1. Crawford 2. Playfair 3. Hitchcock 4. Trotz 5. Carlyle, but I also have a lot of respect for him yeah, and Burke's whiny ass certainly wins any competition to the most disliked GM. it's a shame to see people kiss his ass when he whines like crazy about other GM's expelling rules (see: Penner), and then himself signs players in the middle of the season (see: Scotty "All Star" Niedermayer and Selanne) taking advantage of reduced cap hit... I'd love to see this bunch of goons miss the playoffs

it's on TSN now. Mac is coming back. glad too see him coming back on track.

unfortunately, they may get back into shape and advance to playoffs. I'd love to see this bunch of goons gone golfing in April together with their ever-whining cheating GM and all TSN/ESPN stuff who kiss Niedermayer and Pronger dirty ass. that's not likely to happen, though. I'll keep my fingers crossed anyway and enjoy every game those thugs loose

at that moment Parrish and Kvasha were very promising young forwards. Parrish even scored 4 goals in a single game once, so you get the picture. truth being said Jokinen became Panthers franchise player and Luongo is the second coming of Marty Brodeur and both Parrish and Kvasha disappeared from the big picture

say no to "3 months per season" players who spend most of the year on Bahamas farting into hot sand on the beach and then decide they find desire to play hockey (read: pay the land tax for their own island) NHL should introduce new rules that prevent players from doing this stuff. period

> 22 years old... check > biggest hitter in the league... one of the biggest. check > logs huge minutes for Calgary... he's D-man actually.... > PP QB... OK... there are many PP QB in this league > 20 goals rookie year... check > 49 and 50 points in his first two seasons in the league, on pace for 50 again... check > a plus player... check > one of the most intimidating players in the league... possibly there's one thing you forgot to add: it's not just points and stats that define top tier players. it has a lot to do with their playoff show. and in this case Phaneuf has little to show. he's been very unspectacular against the Wings last year yes, he's 22 and has yet time to mature. and this is my point: $6.5 M is a bold money for this guy at this moment. this relies on the assumption he's going to be better. this is very likely to be the case, though

that's my question: what has he done to warrant this big money? all I keep hearing is how Phaneuf has great potential and is second coming of Jesus Christ. then I see last playoffs and Phaneuf is bust who has a good hit once in a while but other than that shows little and is regullary owned by Wings players. whatever is their cure. Flames are far from my favourite team and I'd gladly see them burying some future