gcom007

A) If you don't think there's a difference between the way he should talk about Abby or Miller and Datsyuk, then I feel sorry for you. Again, compare how he talked about Lidstrom's deals to this situation. B) Of Course he wants it locked up July 5, so he knows how much he can spend. That's why there's a rush to get it done.

That he was willing to throw the kind of money he was throwing at Parise and Suter last summer and make the comments he is now is low class if you ask me. Some might argue, but this team is a shell of itself at this point without Pavel Datsyuk. I'm not saying he shouldn't negotiate and get Pavel a deal that helps the team, but you don't go crazy to land a guy like Parise last summer and then come back and make comments to the press like Holland has about signing Datsyuk. I doubt it'll come to Datsyuk wanting Holland to pay big time money, but it just screams all sorts of bats*** insanity to me that he'd make any reference to money and the cap in the press in regards to Datsyuk. It's fine in the negotiations with the agent in a private setting, but to me, it's just utterly and completely disrespectful to Datsyuk at this point, given what Holland's done in the last year, and what Datsyuk's done his whole career for this city. And I don't give a flying f*** about the new cap. You don't play the money card to the press about someone as important as Pavel Datsyuk.

This is the happiest news I've seen all season, literally. I was so pissed off at both sides during the lockout, and the only thing that made me want hockey back this year was to see guys like Datsyuk play. I would've loved for the rest of them to suffer the financial losses from losing the whole season. But Datsyuk is just such a rare and incredible talent who so obviously loves the game in the purest sense of the word. Guys like him rarely come around, and I'm thrilled that he'll still be around after next season. I wouldn't have held it against him if he chose to head home at all, as I understand why he'd want to, and I tend to believe that he was strongly considering that option. But again, I'm just thrilled that he wants to stay here for awhile longer. It's fantastic news.

So, what about games 5 and 6 when we also had a chance to close up shop on the Hawks season?

Hey, we agree in something. On that note, I'd be fine if Flip stayed for $3 million or so. That's the best I can do. And I think it's tough to argue that he deserves a raise from this team given how all has gone down. But at the right price, he'd still be good to have around.

So, what if he pulls the trigger on Jagr, we win this series, win the next and make it to the Cup Finals? With a little more offense, I think that's a real possibility. Sure, no guarantees, can't say it enough, but just a little more offense and with the way these playoffs have been going, we might've had a shot at going all the way. So is a potential shot at the Cup not worth gambling a bit on? After all, draft picks offer no guarantees either.

I'm really not holding my breath with Holland. I don't think four years of consistently NOT making any significant moves besides sitting next to retiring legends and stars in press conferences is going to change. I hope I'm wrong, but I was hoping I was wrong about still being worried about Chicago this whole time too, and that didn't turn out too well. I just hope we don't overpay Flip. I think I'd rather have Cleary back cheap than pay Flip $5 million, and that's saying a whole lot.

I still just point my finger at Holland for not doing more to build this team up. I think these players, frustrating at times or not, did amazing considering the pieces in play. But I've been saying for ages now that it's stupid to not go for it when you still have Pavs and Z, and it was even stupider not to go for it when you had Lidstrom still too. You're going to be a good, competitive team every night still with Dats and Z in the lineup, and they've proven that this year if they've proven anything. I'm not saying we're one guy away from a Cup, but if we had a little more offense and a tighter D, I think we win this series. I'm not talking the need for stars either, though it'd certainly be nice. But to continually lose players and do nothing to make up for some of the loss just stings all the more right now. Like I've said literally for years now, if you're not going to blow up the team and really start rebuilding, do what you can to go for it. Sure, there are no guarantees, but it's brutally obvious that this team needs top-6 help at this point. I hate to say it, really, I do, but I'm just saying, how do you think this series goes if Holland bites the bullet and gives up the 1st rounder for Jagr? In light of what they accomplished with this lineup, you have to wonder. I thought it was the right call at the time, and I think I still do, but you have to wonder right now. People always say that making moves is a gamble, but people rarely consider that not making moves is just as much of a gamble.

I think what actually sucks the most about this is that it's not entirely surprising because a) Chicago in fact is a better team than most of us would ever like to admit and b) our team still just isn't good enough. You get this feeling, like a tease, that maybe the reverse is true, and it feels good. But then reality comes crashing down in one painfully elongated swoop. And it just sucks.

And this is why I just couldn't get too cocky after game 4. Brutal. This one stings on so many levels.

Wasn't interference, Zetterberg had the puck. Not sure it was really tripping either, I've been going back over it. Looks like Z just fell. But they won't show the closer angle in any of the replays, so it's tough to tell.

I can't handle this s***...

I don't disagree at all. You should've heard the fury of my verbal wrath directed at the TV. I'm just saying that the refs were hardly the only deciding factor. We allowed the refs bulls*** call to play a part in this game by not playing well enough at plenty of other times. Like it or not, they hurt themselves as much as the refs hurt us.

They're certainly buffoons, and I'm listening just to see how ridiculous they get, but this analysis of what Milbury actually said isn't exactly accurate. He didn't seem pleased with the call at all, said something like it or not, apparently that's today's NHL, in my day, that would've just been a good defensive play. I don't like defending the guy, but I didn't get the impression at all that he was really pleased with that call.

I want to be positive, but I don't think we're winning game 7 in their building at this point. We're capable, sure, and I'd love to see it, but I wouldn't put my money on it. I've been saying it since we won game 4, I'm fine with losing 5, but we need to close it in 6 if we're going to win. Chicago is too good of a team to let them back into it and then have to head back to their building for a game 7. They really needed to get this done tonight, and they were in position to do so and they got sloppy. It's a shame, and you can talk all you want about the bulls*** penalty shot, the refs, but we couldn't win a face off and we were way too sloppy, way too often. We weren't good enough. Not even close.

What the f*** kind of an effort was that from Kronwall at the end?!? That was pathetic.

Bulls***. Total ******* bulls***. I don't think I've ever yelled at my TV as loud as I just did. Just a tirade of profanity.

I gotta give the guy credit for taking the beating on Twitter pretty well. But man, that article gets funnier with every game...

My TV was muted from the 2nd period on...

I'd be fine with it going to 6. I don't want to have much of a gap between series, and if we win in 5 and SJ and LA drags on to 7 (and I think it easily could), that's just a bit more rest than I like with the momentum we have going. I wouldn't want to play a team coming off of a big 7 game series after just practicing for 5-6 days. But, If the other series ends in 6, I'm fine winning in 5! I just want to win, but I'm really not getting ahead of myself. If any team in the West can come back, it's Chicago. Unless they just implode in the next game, this is likely to be a war.

Perhaps your delivery is simply rough, as ultimately, none of your points really support the idea that Holland had a big role in our current success, yet you felt compelled to bring him into it. Considering Holland didn't really buy into this team either, it's tough to both criticize anyone for "thinking they're smarter than the best GM in the game" when in many ways, the "best GM in the game" felt the same as many fans about this team's chances to even make the playoffs. And I don't buy for a second that he wouldn't have shipped off prospects for rentals if the 1st round pick wasn't a part of the deal. The 1st round pick came up as deal-breaker far more than dealing prospects, from his mouth and according to plenty of respectable sources. But again, I'm not disagreeing that he played it smart either. I wouldn't have liked it, but I think even Nyquist would be gone if he could've landed Bouwmeester or Jagr without giving up his 1st round pick, and I think he'd say the same. But in any event, we're up 3-1 against the Blackhawks, and I don't feel like arguing much anymore. At worst, I say we agree to disagree if need be and go on with being pumped for what this team's doing right now. I think we can both agree that that's an infinitely more exciting situation than anything that went down last off-season or during most of this regular season.

We haven't won the series yet. It was obvious in game 1 that we were going to be in this series, but Chicago's no joke. We could've just as easily lost this game too; it wasn't a blowout. I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just saying, let's stay grounded here. Chicago's very, very, very capable of coming back, and just like the Wings, especially after a 1 goal game, we ought to respect that. I'm glad you believed the whole time, but my point had more to do with the idea that Holland should get some credit for this. All of the new guys he brought in, that he figured would be playing right now, are hanging out in the press box. And I'm not exactly sold on our D, to say the least. We had plenty of breakdowns, but luckily, Howard's been absolutely outstanding in this series. If Howard was playing like he was in the first round, which wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't great much of the time, this would be a different series right now.

No, he refused to give up his 1st round draft pick. Not saying it was a bad call, but get your facts straight.

You're really going to try to give Holland credit for this? Give me a break. He didn't think they had what was necessary to even make the playoffs either. It's not as if he didn't do anything because he believed in this team, he just didn't get anything done. Oh, the guys he did sign in the off-season, they're not exactly doing much right now. And that is also just plain insulting to Babcock. What he's done with what he was given is the story here.

Absolutely unbelievable.