gcom007

This is why I've been prepared to be disappointed. Again, I don't want to be negative, but I'm trying to be realistic. We are simply not the destination we once were. I don't blame Holland for not getting deals done now; you can't just flip a switch and fix it. I absolutely do blame Holland for all the terrible decisions over the last 5-6 years that lead us to this point however.

I don't want to be negative for the sake of being negative, but I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be brutal for us.

It's okay, maybe we'll get him in 8 years...

I bet we have a lot of cap space left come the start of the regular season...

Well, f***.

Howard's going to get moved. It was inevitable. The fact that they're acknowledging it in the press now and it's Detroit says to me one way or another, moving Howard is a done deal. Again, people need to keep in mind that even if Holland wanted to keep Howard, does Howard really want to surrender to being a backup at this stage in his career? No way.

I'm definitely not saying that they don't have problems, but I'm not about to count them out yet. And don't get me wrong, I'd be happy to be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if they find a way to make the necessary moves to stay competitive through Toews' and Kane's primes. And people have most definitely been saying that they're screwed around here for years. It's been a very, very common occurrence since their first Cup win in this era.

People have been saying Chicago is screwed for years and they keep finding a way to win another Cup every couple years. I'm not saying I want to sign the guy for $11 million, but it cracks me up how biased we are against Chicago. They keep finding a way to make it work. Eventually that will stop, but I suspect it will have more to do with Toews and Kane slowing down than bad roster management.

Yzerman was definitely the hardest. Watching my childhood hero retire was brutal. This is the only one that's come close to that. Datsyuk was magical.

Knew it was coming. Still gutwrenching. This one stings more than Lidstrom for me. But it's hard to blame him...

Makes me sick.

f*** Crosby. Bring on October.

It's days like today when you feel weird being away from home. Gordie meant so much to us in Detroit and the hockey world. He was a hero some of our parents grew up with and legend to us kids. When we'd see him at an event or at a rink, you knew you were in the presence of pure, bonafide greatness. The hockey world won't be the same, but we won't forget.

Well, Hasek kinda did cause locker room issues for us his second time through... That said, I'm not wildly concerned about Radulov corrupting Larkin. Given how hard it is to land FAs or make decent trades these days, I think it's worth the gamble.

Curious about Bedard... Good call on bringing in more experience at the assistant spots.

One upside to this year in the playoffs is looking at Mrazek's performance. Ignoring the last play that partially lead to a goal, he looked good in his three games and had no drop off games like last year, despite getting less help than he did before. The guy is clearly a real deal playoff goalie. Imagine how good he'd be if he had a real defense in front of him...

Crap lines. No real adjustments. Failure to get Mrazek going at the end of the season, who clearly once again proved to be the vastly superior playoff goalie. Ericsson. Mediocrity reigns in far too many areas of this team these days, and it's nothing short of sad. I really, really, really hope Datsyuk finishes out his contract and gives it one more year, but it's based on a surely stupid hope that someone in management will finally do something to get this team going in the right direction again, and the likelihood of that happening is slim to none. Either way though, if this proves to be it for Datsyuk, it's going to really sting...

Ha. That might have been Mrazek's best save of the night though.

Just realized that in 8 NHL playoff games, Mrazek now has 3 shutouts. That's a playoff goalie.

He had some good moments, don't get me wrong, but too often he ends up circling around and going backwards instead of pushing through and finishing the play. Datsyuk always had the finesse but he wasn't strong enough early on, but once he bulked up and could fight guys off and keep going, it made him a far more impactful player. I'm not saying Nyqvist is Datsyuk, but I really think if he got stronger, it'd improve his game dramatically.

I'd love to see him get going, but he just always looks weak out there. He needs to take a page out of the young Datsyuk playbook and take a summer to put on a s*** ton of muscle and toughen up.

Really, really, really happy with Smith tonight. He really showed up and made his point. Let's hope he can keep it up. Mrazek didn't have to be outstanding but he was steady and made the saves he needed to. Whole team looked better tonight, sans power play, which is still profoundly miserable. They can't sit back on Tuesday though. It'll be a much harder game, no doubt, but there's no reason why they can't beat this team right now.

Such a good laugh. I needed that today.

Brutal. I feel for the guy. He's always been different and so, so special. If this is it, it'll be incredibly sad to see him go, but it's hard not to understand where he's coming from.

I'm happy we're in and I'm obviously hoping for the best, but this doesn't feel like other years. I have a hard time saying honestly that I think this team belongs in the playoffs. Mrazek carried them for several months to a better record than they deserved as a whole, and when he slipped, the cracks became all the more clear. We'll see how it goes, but I hope they come out hard as a team and prove they belong there, because right now, they simply are lucky.