YoungGuns1340

Having Rafalski on the PP does wonders to keep the Ducks from clearing the puck constantly.

He hasn't been good all series. Or playoffs. In fact, its been pretty much all year that the exception has been Kronwall playing well, instead of the other way around. Kind of disappointing, considering the way Stuart has stepped up his gae ridiculously this post-season.

This is one of those things in hockey that isn't even debatable. This isn't Crosby vs. Ovechkin. Mike is flat out the only response to the question "Who is the best owner in the NHL?"

1. One out of Seven isn't bad I guess. 2. No. 3. Much easier said than done. 4. Impossible. 5. No. 6. Easier said than done. 7. Easier said than done.

This is the best part of the article right here: Yes, clearly a guy who lead your team to a .287 win percentage is, and I quote, your "guy." Just when you thought the Tampa Bay Lightning management couldn't get any dumber..

Great time for this article to be written, I guess: http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=422455 And, no. The Wings are developing their prospects at the perfect speed, and everyone around the league takes notice. They're also jealous that they can't take their prospects as slowly as the Wings do, given our organizational depth and success.

I'm not sure if the punch itself warranted a suspension, as Ward just stood there like a dummy waiting to be clobbered. Did he have his gloves off? No. But Jordin Tootoo fights guys all the time without waiting for them to drop the gloves, and the leave never discplines him for it. Also, usually when guys see that a guy wants to go, they get ready in some way, by either grabbing the guy, skating away, or dropping the gloves. Like someone else said, Walker immediately went to check if Ward was okay. I honestly think - as someone who cares about neither team nor their players - that Walker thought the fight was just going to erupt, like many fights do, where all of a sudden the gloves fly off. I think if Ward does something to show that hes not interested in the fight, then this is an easy suspension. But he seriously just looks like a brainless fool standing there waiting to get hit - not skating away, yet not fighting either. However, I do think this should be a suspension. The league established at the beginning of the season that players "sending messages" late in the game would automatically be suspended. Thats exactly what Walker was doing, and should be suspended because of it. Take a look at the guys who have done things in the playoffs so far that warranted suspensions or did something that was nearly identical as a guy who got a suspension, yet got off scott free. Mike Cammalleri Chris Kunitz Scott Walker Now the guys that have gotten suspended: Colton Orr Donald Brashear Dan Carcillo Notice something about those lists? Top 6 forwards versus bottom six tough guys. The way the NHL doles out suspensions essentially proves that they only have the balls to hand out suspensions when the player in question ISN'T an impact player.

I question whether or not hes had a nagging injury or something that hes finally getting over, and I wouldnt base my assumption on that IF this "slump" didn't start BEFORE the playoffs. Everybody seems to forget that Datsyuk looked completely out of sorts in the last 2 games of the season. When he should have been battling to get those 98th, 99th, and 100th points, he wasn't making Datsyukian dekes or dominating the opposition. I'm pretty sure most people noticed this in the last few games of the season. It wasn't that he was snake-bitten - it was that he was literally not playing his game. Considering Datsyuk is all hands, I wouldn't be surprised if hes had some wrist issues.

Thats not a discussion anymore. Not only will Meech sit over Ericsson, but if in some strange world Rafalski AND Lilja came back, then Lebda is going to sit in favor of Ericsson.

You start chuckling, and other people start thinking about the cap ceiling in 2 years. This isn't about Hossa's contract now - its clear that hes an asset in this playoff run - but his next contract may have largely unintended, yet negative, consequences.

Maybe not 7M, but I cant imagine him taking less than 6M. And definitely not 5M. And if it is a 5M cap hit, its likely to be a 5+ year deal, and then the issue of having 22M tied up in 4 forwards for the next 5 years becomes huge, as 22M could be 50+% of the cap allowance in just 2 years.

There have also been some grim cap projections for the 10/11 season, too. Grim as in ~40M. Like RivalRed said, the money that comes off the books when Lidstrom's contract is up may not even be there to begin with. It may just be that the Wings have to use that 7.45M in cap space to become cap compliant, and not add a single defenseman - other than youngsters - to "replace" Lidstrom. With an aging Lidstrom, Osgood, and even Rafalski, signing Hossa just seems like overkill. Would it be awesome to have that core of forwards? Of course. But it would also be nice to keep have a Stanley Cup contending roster year after year too.

THIS is the concern. Glad to see someone isn't reducing this thread to OMG HOSSA HATERZ vs the pro-Hossa group.

I didn't say that.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with tying up 23+ million in 4 forwards til kingdom come...

As if the regular season means nothing. Theres a reason Datsyuk is a Hart nominee, and Hossa isn't even close.

Not sure if I'm misinterpreting what you're saying, but if not, then FYI, Ozzie is signed for 2 more years.

Not even close. We could've easily made the playoffs, easily been a top seed, without Hossa. And its not even close.

I wasn't saying that the Canadiens were any good. They were terrible for the entire 2nd half of the season. What I was implying (with my punctuation ) is that they are the Candiens. AND they were without their #2 Dmen. I would think the Blue Jackets would've had a decent chance at sweeping them.

More bias. More homerism. How cute. Feel free to show me a clear video of a "spear in the face." Oh, yeah, thats right. Any video that shows Osgood spearing someone in the face can only be watched with those free homer glasses that come in every specially marked box of Wheat Puffs featuring Crosby the Cream puff himself on the front. Why don't you go take your anger out by punching someone in the butt, eh?

Maybe you'd be content if Ovechkin just crosschecked your goaltender in the head? I'm sure you'd let that go, just like the league did you a big fat ******* favor and let that head-shot go. Cue more death threats...

If I remember correctly, Boston slumped into the playoffs just like San Jose. Who was their first round opponent? Oh yeah. The Canadiens. Without their Top 2 Dmen.

Clearly, many of us on here should throw our hats into the ring for the Edmonton and Minnesota coaching positions.

The Game 3 win we had was a controversial blow-out. The talk at the end of the game 3 ended up being all about Big Bad Pronger, and how having Pronger out was going to screw over the Ducks. Well they used that to their advantage, and the Wings didn't press are hard as they should have, knowing Pronger was out. Winning without Pronger gave the Ducks all kinds of confidence and they steamrolled their way to the cup after that. Also, last time the Ducks were the ones to climb out of a 2-1 hole. This time, its the Wings. Thats something to build off of for this team.

Nobody said Hossa sucked (well, most people didn't). People said he didn't fit in on the first line. Same thing with Datsyuk. Those two together do. not. work. He was comfortable on his line tonight, and it showed. Then again, Franzen, Filppula, and Hossa ALL looked phenomenal tonight. Great chemistry.