Nightfall

Dats really misplayed that. He shouldn't have tried to do what he did. He should have just cleared it. Instead, he coughs up the puck and they score. He is pretty upset about that play, and I think he should be upset. We expect that kind of play out of players like Smith.

It was a solid win. Wings outshot the Sabres 34-20 Wings killed some key penalties Wings power play looked solid and had a lot of chances Miller played solid, and thats why the Sabres only lost 2-1 I know many here wanted to see a 10-0 shutout, but the Sabres are still a professional team. There are no guaranteed wins.

Which is why he won't hit waivers. We are talking about the playoff MVP here. He will be playing with the Wings. If anything, the wings will send Nyquist down.

I have always been a strong supporter of the Wings management. Now I am seriously questioning their judgement? Why sign Cleary? They already are $750,000 or so over the cap. They had options, but none were very bad. Worst case they send Nyquist down if everyone was healthy. As it turns out now, they are $2.5 million over the cap and now have another player to be concerned with. What a debacle.

If this isn't the definition of overpayment, I don't know what is. Seriously though, Cleary worked his ass off for us and I appreciate everything he has done. I just don't think he is worth that much.

Once again, it all comes down to expectations, and Franzen falling short of those expectations. There are hundreds of NHL players that never live up to their expectations. Some are blessed with great goal scoring touch, physical presence, or hustle in the minors. Yet, when they come up to the NHL, they fall short of expectations. Only a select few are elite. Hell, Dats and Zetterberg weren't even drafted in the first round. Those late round selections that turn elite are even more rare. I think instead of concentrating on what Franzen doesn't bring to the table (hustle, desire to be #1 player), people should just concentrate on what makes him a good NHL player (scoring touch, playmaker, size). He is not getting paid big money to be something he is not.

I believe the management of the Wings saw this in him and thats why they made the offer that they did to him. Its a good thing that the Wings didn't misread him and offer him 5-6 million a season. There are many players that make it to the NHL that have great talent to excel. Some, like Datsyuk, turn into elite players. Others, like Franzen, turn into decent/above average players. Then you have some, like Patrick Stefan who fizzle out. So, while everyone is whining about Franzen and him not living up to his potential, I believe many people have to step back and look at the potential that hundreds of players enter the NHL with every year. How many of those become elite? Very very few. Which is why the Wings fans are holding their collective breath on who is going to take over when Dats and Zetterberg start their decline and/or retire. Nyquist, Jurco, and Tatar have the skills to be elite, but its not a given that they are going to be elite. So once again we go back to the original question. If a player is being paid $4 million a season and is meeting/exceeding expectations for what he brings to the table, is that a bad thing? Its obvious that Franzen is not a elite player, but he is not being paid as such, so why all the hate?

One good season and a shortened one at that. I would have waited to see how he did the following season before locking him up for 6 years.

In other words, challenge denied. I agree. He provides a good value now, but he may not provide that good of a value in 4-5 more years. It really just depends.

I think this is an awesome way to announce you are coming back. Lebron ought to take notes. I also think the NHL is better off with Teemu playing. He is a class act! http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nhl/story/_/id/9616536/teemu-selanne-return-anaheim-ducks-21st-final-season Selanne's announcement video shows him struggling at golf, eventually throwing his bag into a lake in frustration. When he realizes his phone is in the bag, he jumps into the lake to retrieve it before calling Ducks general manager Bob Murray.

The Wings can't buy him out now. The compliance buyout period ended on July 4th. So now they are going with him the whole way unless Sammy is injured OR he agrees to a trade.

Somehow circumvent the cap and sign him for $3 million a season. Yea, that would do it.

This really is beyond cool. I intend to rip these to movie files and put them up on my video system at home so I can watch them on my big screen. They really did a good job on these. The only complaint I had was that they didn't censor all the bad words. They should come out with an unedited version.

They had Ken Kal on for the first part. He talked about the signings of Weiss and Alfredsson. Then they talked about the rest of the team. They pulled out some good stats out, such as Dats scoring over 40% of the Red Wings goals through the shortened seasons. Thats just unbelievable. Finally, they predicted the Wings would finish 3rd in the conference. It could go as high as 2nd if the Wings secondary scoring picked up. It could go as low as 6th or 7th if they have similar struggles to last season. Either way, they predict the Wings are playoff bound next season.

SiriusXM NHL Network ‏@SiriusXMNHL 8m Team previews continue today on @SiriusXMNHL. 2 teams per day on the Power Play. Today @DetroitRedWings and @DallasStars We begin at 4pm ET I really like the coverage that they give to hockey. They probably have Ken Holland lined up to talk to as well as other experts. Its an hour long so it should be a pretty in depth conversation.

http://blackhawks.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=90891 Correct. I am ok with this as well since all the proceeds go to charity.

http://www.themontrealeronline.com/2007/10/pierre-mcguire/ He is more respected than you think. Only hypocritical if you actually believe it. I am just saying that I would at least understand if people hated Mcguire if he did those things. Personally, I don't give a crap. Its easy to judge people and I don't spend time doing that.

TSN is good if you can get it. Hell, I turn on the NHL Network and The NBC Sports Network. They have better hockey coverage than ESPN. The only personality that I like watching on ESPN when it comes to hockey is Barry Melrose.

I think the thing to take away from this was that he was a bad coach, or that it was a bad fit for him from the Whalers. How many of us have been in a job where we were not respected or where the management or employees didn't like us? I think all of us have been in a situation like that at least once if you have been in the workforce. Pierre is now a respected analyst who is on TSN, NHL Network, and has a gig on NBC. Sure, not everyone likes him but I think he does a decent job. Hell, I think that he is less biased than Eddie. The fans who want homer announcers aren't going to like him. As for his past, who cares. So he did a bad job as a coach, or it wasn't a good fit. Its not like he had a drug problem or raped someone.

After reading four pages of discussion, I can say that I agree with some points here. They should be penalizing the hits, not the result of the hits. They should be reviewing these hits after every game, and make the penalties stiffer. At the same time though, I go back to my refereeing experience and say that its not that easy. As fans of the games, we love the big bone crushing hits. We love to see Kronwalled players fall on their asses after being hit. With the speed of the game as it is now, we aren't going to see a reduction in the amount of concussions unless we change the game. Case in point, as a USA Hockey ref that has refereed up to AAA hockey, there is a hit to the head rule there as well. In the course of a game, without review there seem to be 2-3 contact to the head penalties called per game. That is just what the referee sees. Now imagine how many there could be with video. Point is that there are many hits that go to the head in every game in the NHL as well. Some go called, and others don't. If they are going to start calling every game more strict, then the game is going to change. Players will be more hesitant before hitting. Checking is going to be a lot more cautious. We won't see as many checks because of the fear of being suspended. I have zero problem with going that route. You see that in youth hockey when players are starting to hit. None of them are charging all over the ice hitting everything because there is a certain sense of being careful that they still have. I think better helmets would help matters out a lot. Mandatory visors and mouthguards are also huge too. The owners want to protect their million dollar investment? What about investing in better equipment that all players have to wear? No more wearing pads they have had for 20 years. Just my .02 cents..... http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/feature/?id=50596 Agreed. Just last season alone they hit a good number of "star players" with suspensions.

Lets also not short change one of the real reasons why Grand Rapids won the Calder Cup last season. Blashill really did turn this team around. For years we had a good roster of players when Kurt Frasier was the coach, and for years we never made the playoffs. Blashill comes in, and in a single season takes the same players he had last season for the most part and turns them into champions. Yes, the roster looks good next season, despite the fact that Mursak, Nyquist, Tatar, Andersson, and Billins are gone. A lot is going to depend on how the new players do that are coming in.

I don't think anyone is in a position to say if a change of scenery will make Flip a better player or not. Chemistry is just as important as talent. I wouldn't be surprised one way or the other. If I was a betting man though, I would say that Flip doesn't do well in Tampa Bay.

At that price, I agree. I wouldn't have made that deal. Just read that. Thanks! I am surprised at this though. They should be trying to resign their RFAs. I would have rather had Billins resigned. It was a mistake to let him walk.

There is no way Tatar gets dealt. He was the MVP of the AHL playoffs. The Wings like him, and they will play him. He will replace Brunner very well this season.

What goal scorer is available at the deadline? Briere and Vinny? I certainly don't think Ryan is a goal scorer. The Red Wings would be much better served making all 4 lines deadly rather than get 1 goal scorer. Everything I have been reading has been pointing to Cleary and Brunner being gone at this stage. Where are you hearing that the Wings are trying to sign Cleary? Got a link?