Stu in Israel

Thanks for your comment. I agree, anybody who uses the word "sucks" is an unlettered, inexpressive, immature 8 year old, which, sadly, describes a number of posters on this site!

We're not supposed to interpret what people MAY have been thinking, a person's response should be self-sufficient. Wonderful posts from everyone above. Intelligent, discerning, truly representative of the great organization (the Detroit Red Wings) we all support. Regarding the "grooming" of our players: How many people think that maybe Yzerman is being "groomed" for a future role? Holland is not that old, and with all his success I wish him the Hebrew blessing related to Moses: Until (age) 120! (Deuteronomy 34:7)

OK, I can see where "hammer" and "shield" have a certain sonorousness of strength, but as a person driven by facts and accuracy I can't accept willfully changing a person's name. If they want to do it, it's their business, other than that, respect a man's name because that's HIS/HER name!

Somewhere in Dale Carnegie's book, How To Make Friends and Influence People, he says something such as this: "A man's name is the sweetest sound in his language, learn how to pronounce it, and learn how to pronounce it correctly." Living in Israel I have to put up with Israeli mispronunciations of American names, such as a basketball player whose name is Earl Williams yet the arena announcer always said Errol Williams. Sorry kid, Hammershield don't sound "badass" to me! (The grammatical error in that sentence is intended for effect!

Speaking of name changes, what about the fact that Americans are too lazy to pronounce foreign names correctly and consequently change names. Dag Hammarskjold, a former Secretary General of the United Nations, whose name is pronounced Hammarskyold, became Hammarshield Salah-e-din, the Kurd who drove the Christians out of the Holy Land, became Saladin, et. al. Or, better than that, an island with many birch trees which the French called Bois Blanc (white wood) became Bob-Lo Island; how about de troit (deh trwah, [city] of the straits) becoming Deetroit (I mean Detroit) Sorry for not sticking to a hockey response!

Fedorov signed and played with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks in the 2003-2004 season. 2004-2005 was the lockout. The Salary Cap didn't begin until the 2005-2006 season. That means the Wings could have/would have had Fedorov for one more season BEFORE the cap, and maybe been able to adjust his contract afterwards.

Footnote to previous regarding Fedorov: The Wings' management should have realized the above situation and featured Fedorov on posters, tickets, etc. Yzerman could've handled it and maybe the Wings would've had a succession of "Stanleys" until the salary cap came into existence.

So what should we call all those Detroiters that boo Fedorov every time he comes to JLA? By the way, Fedorov didn't leave because of money. Fedorov left because of an ego problem. With his romance or marriage with Anna Kournikova either over or on the rocks, and Steve Yzerman idolized by Red Wings' fans, Fedorov wanted "love;" i.e., the adulation of the crowd, and he felt that he couldn't compete with Yzerman, that's why he left!

Regarding home and away jersey colors: NHL policy, requirements, or tradition were originally the same as the NFL's and the NCAA's; i.e. dark jerseys at home and light jerseys away. However, sometime in the 1960s (perhaps) the Montreal Canadiens petitioned the league (the original six) to switch that arrangement so that they could show their home fans the tri-color jerseys they wore for the road games. Television wasn't that widespread, and color television was even rarer! This change lasted for many years until it was decided to go back to the original concept. As I said in a previous posting on this topic, I'm not against any artistic changes in the Red Wings jerseys as long as the team's colors remain the same; black may be the colors of another team but it is not a Red Wing color!

Can someone please tell me what the purpose of a third jersey is? Is it for pajamas? For gardening? For what? There's home jerseys and away jerseys, and that's all that's needed! Having said that, I agree with "Cern" that there should be some sort of a retro game and accompanying jersey. I propose that, similar to the Lions' Thanksgiving Day Game, the Red Wings should designate one of their games against an original six team as "retro game" - retro game is merely the idea, not the actual name of the game that I am proposing. I'm sure that each of the original six teams has an old design that they could wear that night. The game could be scheduled on a date of some significance, such as the founding of the NHL. Furthermore, I am absolutely opposed to black anywhere on a Red Wings' jersey. The Red Wings' colors are red and white, and ONLY those colors should be used, even in new jersey designs! Every time the Lions wear their black jerseys I root against them as the Lions' colors are silver and Honolulu blue, and that's all that should be used!

Will Datsyuk win the Lady Byng again? Will Datsyuk win the Selke again? Will the Wings win the Stanley Cup again? Will Zetterberg win the Smythe again? I have read the many intelligent responses by the posters to this topic. Nevertheless I feel that this topic is a prime example of "hockey withdrawal syndrome," "full of sound and fury and signifying nothing!" (Shakespeare's Macbeth)

There are six retired jerseys hanging from the rafters at JLA (plus two jersey numbers that aren't used, but have never been formally retired: Aurie, and Konstantinov). Five of those jerseys are from players who played together: Sawchuk, Delvecchio, Lindsay, Abel, and Howe. The sixth jersey went up thirty years later, Steve Yzerman's. Interestingly, the next group of jerseys to be retired might also be from players who played together, starting with Steve Yzerman. Lidstrom is a no-brainer, and I don't want to jinx individuals now playing for the Wings, but it certainly appears that Datsyuk and Zetterberg (barring unforeseen circumstances) are heading in that direction. One or both could sign elsewhere, but it certainly looks like the "teamates" idea is proving that history repeats itself. Sorry for this silly little post, but this is what happens in the off-season.

OK "DaKineMaui" I see the wisdom of what you've said. A "former" alcoholic has to have the inner strength to see liquor all around him and still be able to resist it.

I was never one of those people who "lived and died" for Darren McCarty. He was let go because of the salary cap and I never moaned or groaned about it. Nevertheless, I'm really glad that he was able to start straightening out his life, and to come back to the Wings. Some day, he'll retire as a Red Wing and I'm sure that will please him On the night of the Stanley Cup victory I'm a little sorry that some of the Wings didn't turn down the champagne and ask for the Gatoraide which McCarty was drinking. They'd won the cup, big frigging deal with drinking champagne from the Cup!

In a recent interview, Hakan Andersson, Red Wings Director of European Scouting, said (something to the effect) that any draftee below the third round doesn't have a realistic chance of making the NHL. Andersson's analysis may be correct, but in addition to the Red Wings' success with low round draftees, the ENTIRE first line of the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings, were all drafted below the third round: Tomas Holmstrom 10th round 257th player taken 1994 Pavel Datsyuk 6th round 171st player taken 1998 Henrik Zetterberg 7th round 210th player taken 1999

I don't know why I'm responding to this post seeing as it has as much significance as the Middle Ages discussion of "How many angels can stand on the head of a pin?!" Nevertheless, for the 3rd time I'm telling this story: When Henrik Zetterberg arrived in Detroit, Niklas Lidstrom met him at the airport, he had dinner and slept at Lidstrom's house, and the next morning when Lidstrom took him to the Wings' dressing room he said, "Here's the next Steve Yzerman." Furthermore, Zetterberg's original locker was changed to one next to Yzerman. Does that give you a clue as to who will wear the "C" next?!

Scotty Bowman recently said that it will be difficult for the Wings to repeat as Stanley Cup champs. OK, I agree with that; then he comes up with talk about keeping the core (players) intact, and integrating new players that have the "desire." Sorry Scotty but it's ALL about DESIRE. Scotty contradicts himself with the following: "The best dynasties, Montreal in the 50s and 70s, then New York Islanders who won it four years in a row and Edmonton in the 1980s, did this and it is hard to beat." Yeah, it's hard to beat, and hard to repeat, but those teams mentioned above evidently had DESIRE. Next season's Red Wings have potentially, the (should I use a superlative) greatest array of offensive and defensive talent, certainly in Red Wings' (maybe NHL's) history. Now it remains to be seen how much DESIRE they have; and all you sportswriters out there, stop telling us about psychological letdowns after a Cup win - Montreal, N.Y. Islanders, and Edmonton won multiple cups, and Detroit can too (barring injuries) if they have DESIRE. This is why computer matchups can never be accurate, because DESIRE can't be statistically measured, but that's the "X factor" that makes champions!

Dear Probert 5 For Fi..., Henrik Rules 40, Wingman, blues_demitra 38, and 55 fan: Enjoyed your posts tremendously, and had more laughter reading them than I've had in a week! Zion, you really had them going!

I agree with "puckbags," that it's quite premature to be discussing the MVP winner when the playoffs aren't even half over: "wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy to early!!" but I can also see "BeeRYCE's" position of whipping Datsyuk's slate clean.

I don't see what the big deal is about winning the Stanley Cup two years in a row. The Montreal Canadiens won the Cup 4 straight years from the 76/77 season to the 78/79 season; the New York Islanders won it 4 straight years, 79/80 to 82/83; and between 55/56 to 59/60 the Montreal Canadiens won it 5 straight times! By the way, after the Wings won their "double" in 97/98, Marty Lapointe criticized his teamates for not playing with enough passion the following year, indicating that he thought the Wings were capable of a "triple" at that time.

Here's a piece from the GR Griffins site regarding Kyle Quincy's last appearance: "McGrath faked to his forehand before slipping a backhand through Weiman's pads at 13:52, but before he could even raise his arms in celebration, he was driven into the end boards by Dale Purinton. The dirty hit drew a pugilistic response from Kyle Quincey - but no penalty from the referee" At 6'2" and 210 pounds, Quincy just might be someone to stick up for his teamates whenever (if) he's called-up and manages to stay.

I COULDN'T care less!!!

I'm not liking Brad Stuart's play, nor am I hating it, because both like and hate are "Stative Verbs" and cannot be done in the Progressive/Continuous tense!!! However I do like, appreciate, and enjoy his style so far!

I really don't think that Brad Stuart will resign with the Wings; no matter what happens in the playoffs. He's only 28 and he'd be a great acquisition, but he married a California girl, probably has a home in California and will want to return. As great as Chelios has been playing, he may have to be told that he won't be resigned because there's some great youngsters in Detroit's defensive corps and they need to play regularly. I wish all our guys the best of luck and am glad that I don't have to make the decisions on who stays and who goes, etc.

There's a big difference between a team's "wish list," and the actual securing of those "wishes." Here's Holland's words on this matter, from an article in the Freep: Holland said he had some conversations with Atlanta general manager Don Waddell, his former assistant, about Marian Hossa. Hossa ended up going to Pittsburgh for prospect Angelo Esposito, forwards Colby Armstrong and Erik Christensen and a first-round pick. “Anytime a deal is made, just analyze the deal,†Holland. “Angelo Esposito is a number one overall draft pick. Just look at our lineup and start plugging things in.†I.e., it would have cost the Wings Brandon Smith, Valtteri Filppula and Johan Franzen, plus a pick. I (Stu in Israel) say enough of the doom and gloom, and enough of the Holland-bashing!