YoungGuns1340

Are you serious? Having a major league sport to put money on in Vegas is where its at. They could make half the arena entirely suites and theyd get em filled up all the time for big rollers. Phoenix isnt even a fraction of a draw that Las Vegas is. Las Vegas has people coming in from all over the WORLD year round, and the majority of them are adults. Its essentially Disney World for anyone over 21..

Because Vegas can support it. The temperature doesnt reflect it, but Id say a good 50% of the population of Las Vegas are northern or cold-weather transplants. I used to go to Vegas about once a month, and every trip it never failed that Id see somebody wearing U of M apparel, not to mention countless license plates from states like Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Massachusetts, etc and Red Wings and Avalanche car stickers. There are obviously more and more generations of people who can say they were born in Vegas, but if you go there, I can guarantee half of the residents you talk to will be formerly from other states.

This had to happen. Vegas is growing like a weed. Hell, the school my ex-girlfriend went to went from being a community college to a straight up college in less than 3 years. Vegas has the money to pull it off, and players will probably be dying to play there, considering theres no income tax in Vegas.

I agree. Columbus is simply a team whos number might be up right now. Theyve had a team with tons of potential talent for a while now, and this year is probably the year where a lot of that will come out for them. I think Wings fans should be a little less cocky. Columbus gave the Wings lots of trouble last year, and they havent lost any key pieces. Injuries tackled that team last year, itll be a rarity if it occurs again like it happened last year. With Hitchcock, Peca, fewer injuries, and the young guys having another year under their belt, they might be a bit of a force this year. Maybe even 7-8, like you said.

Sean Connery? Is that you?

Calder was good, then he was terrible, so he averaged out to sucky. Babcock was smart to keep his ass glued to the bench in the playoffs.

So, what? You think next year has no bearing on what happens in 08/09? Meech will be the one with the games under his belt as the 7th guy (at least Chelios and Kronwall will get injuries at some point), and its very likely over the course of the year that he turns out to be steadier than Quincey once hes been on the regular roster for a year.

Exactly. Lilja may not instill any fear in the Corsons of the league, but he might be able to make some scrubs think twice about running Dom or the like.

Its contracts like these that go completely under the radar, yet are the ones that allow teams to be competitive in the salary cap era. Meech and Lebda could be a potential bottom pairing in 08/09 and itll only cost the Wings around 1.2 million to have them. As for the whole issue about next year, why are people ready to throw out Chelios before Lilja? If Lidstrom re-signs next year, then we have Lids, Rafalski, Kronwall, Lebda and Meech. IF we re-sign Chelios, itll probably look like this: Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Meech Lebda-Chelios Quincey Although, ideally, Quincey replaces Cheli, and Ericsson is our 7th Dman if he cant clear waivers. I like Kindl, but I wouldnt want him here in a 7th man role. Either way, our D will be pretty sick and deep for a few more years.

Wow this is so unexpected...except not.

I think people are completely lost on Sammy and forgot how little he played. He missed 29 games, and he had so many injuries that you have to tack on at least another 5 for the first games back after serious injury where players are still getting their timing back not to mention the lack of confidence associated with regrouping your game after injury. Sammy WAS on pace for 22 goals and 54 points. Whats so bad about that? If you want to rag on Sammy for taking bad shots or being a pretty all-around boring player, then do that. But you cant say that, on a team whos only glaring need are players who are just going to put up points, that Sammy is bad for the Wings. If he were softer than butter, defensively irresponsible, and a completely lethargic skater getting paid over 3M, then hed be worthy of the Lang-like criticism he recieves, but if/when he scores 20/20, people need to realize that hes a bargain for that production and the fact that he doesnt detract from other players' games.. Im not a fan of Sammy, and I dont think hes a complete, exciting, stud player. But he is decent and at his pace over the past 2 years, a bang for the buck.

Better than GETTING hit, which is what Kaberle is apparently REALLY good at. At any rate, I know you are just either trying to stir s*** up or are a moron, because no one in their right mind would call McCabe anything close to the greatest Dman in the league. Hell its a stretch even to say hes a great Dman. Yeah I was gonna say that too. Id give Rafalski top 20 in each.

Babs just said that Lilja will be playing with Kronwall, and its easy to see why theyre keeping Lilja in the top 6. The departure of Markov leaves little physicality, and while he hasnt done it consistently over his career, Lilja showed over the last part of the season he COULD be a physical Dman. My bet is that Babcock will do all he can to make sure Lilja keeps up with the physical edge, and make sure Lilja knows that his minutes are contingent upon a physical performance. I like the idea of a Drake-Kopecky-Maltby line. That gives Kopecky some responsibility as the center and Im willing to bet that having Drake on that line will help Kopecky with his game and rub off on Maltby. As of now, Id also be willing to bet that Drake will be the most physical forward in the lineup, even if he didnt play that way last season with the Blues. He knows he was signed to be a gritty, physical presence, and Maltbys little ice time will be in jeopardy even more if theres an apparent, vast difference between the physicality of Maltby and Drake. oh yeah, and Chelios-Lebda will be the bottom pairing.

Actually, Rafalski is probably one of the best Dmen flying under the radar in todays game.

Babcock is an awesome coach. Comparing him to Bowman is crazy, and I dont think anybody was doing that directly so much as they were saying hes coaches in a similar style, but then again, people have to remember how young Babcock is, and also the fact that hes not been a one hit wonder. He took the Ducks to a game within the cup, he took the wings farther than anybody expected without his #2 and #3 Dmen, and with an injured Lebda, Zetterberg, and Bertuzzi. Thats as good as a SCF appearance if you ask me. As for his 1st year as Wings coach, thats hard to include if you want to look at what hes done as a Wings coach, because for all intents and purposes, the likes of Yzerman and Shanahan were running that team. I think people underestimate how much players like Zetterberg and Datsyuk looked to Shanahan, Yzerman, etc to carry the work load and determine the identity of the team. Now that those Hall of Famers are gone, Babcock was able to form his players into grinders, skill guys, leaders, hard workers, etc. IMO, the greatest value a coach can have is getting the most out of his players. Considering he had Datsyuk playing like a Selke contender, Cleary going from an unskilled version of Yashin to a Mike Fisher type player, Lilja throwing his weight around, Franzen showing off shoot-out worthy skill, and Hudler and Filppula playing like seasoned vets, and had 90% of the roster playing a hard hat gritty game in the playoffs, among other things, Id say hes done an absolutely phenomenal job as a Red Wings coach.

Bottom line with the Devils: It doesnt matter if you have the best goaltender in the NHL in net. Theres only so long a team can sustain the consecutive losses of Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, and Brian Rafalski and replace them with guys that cant even hold a candle to their predecessors.

Ehh, Islanders didnt do too bad. Guerin = Blake Comrie can = Yashin Sutton > Hill at this stage in Hill's career Vasicek < Kozlov - no biggie cause they are both subpar players who dont use their size So they lost Smyth, which wasnt with the team very long and wasnt exactly a stellar player for the Isles. They didnt do too bad considering.

Correction. Allison WAS a point per game player in the OLD NHL Now, hes a joke.

Its not going to compare entirely to ratings, but you can bet your ass that theres no mistake that the biggest US hockey markets are at the top. But you also have to take into consideration whose getting play on Versus simply because they are playing against a big name team. Im willing to bet that teams like Phoenix, Columbus, Florida among others are only being featured on Versus because they are playing against one of the top 10 most popular teams in the league and/or the closest thing said team has to a rival.

Ive heard rumors of the Nucks and Isles being interested in Allison at about 1M per.

As much as I cant stand Vasicek, a 1 year 750k is not a bad deal for the Isles who needed that center depth.

Haha I just got the same email. I can afford the tickets, but what the hell is up with the availability?? In the email it says that the two most expensive groupings (ie, better seats) are unavailable. My brother-in-law and I were gonna go in together for lower bowl seats and of course, there arent any available. Any ideas?

I dont know how you could completely misinterpret my post, but you did.

I actually think Markov coming back is even MORE of a possibility now that Sutton signed with NYI. They were the leaders to land Markov, so now it may be down to Detroit or playing in Russia. I wouldnt be surprised to see Markov coming back and negotiating with Kenny, then signing a 2 year deal worth about 2.8 per. Wouldnt be a bad deal, but if it does happen, then I hope Detroit can find a taker for Lilja. Maybe Chicago who was looking at cheap vet depth.

Im expecting half of the people on this board to be completely pissed off at this news. No fans get more pissed off about sub-900k signings than Wings fans do. If hes sticking around for another 5 years as backup, why the hell not. Fan favourite, knows his role, loved in the locker room, elite in terms of backups.