YoungGuns1340

SAMMY YOU NO LONGER SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!

Its raining commericals.

I seem to remember a pleasant outcome the last time we blew a 4 minute high-sticking penalty. No frettin, guys.

And the Sharks too. They havent been too sharp either. Giveaways from both ends.

Jesus, now I know why the call it the Shark Tank. THERES NO ICE!!! Its like the guys are knee deep in sludge.

People need to relax about Dom asking for more money. He had great stats with Ottawa too, and he still signed for 750k with incentives. Why? Because the risk with Dom isnt his skill, its whether or not hell get injured. That risk only increases with his age, as we all know. There isnt a team that is going to drop big bucks on the guy when his body itself is such a risk. If Dom asks for double the salary, why wouldnt you welcome him back for 1.5M? I cant see him asking for nor getting a big raise on the open market. Not to mention hes a competitor - hes not going to go play for some mid-range/rebuilding team at this stage of his career.

Well, considering LA is going to sign Backstrom, Souray, Hannan, Smyth, and Drury, I think theyll be pretty good.

I predict a big night AGAIN from our top line. Datsyuk made mention of how he needs to be better on the road, him and Zetterberg, and I think hell follow through with a dominant performance again tonight.

Well, they got started off on the right foot without Schneider. Thier PP went, what? 2 for 6 in his absence, and the 5th and 6th PPs didnt really count given that we were holding off at that point. I love Schneider and all, but if Anaheim is as good as the Sharks were at blocking shots, his absence might not be as noticeable on the point since well have to play more down low. And if the Ducks decide to take away the down low players on the PP now that Schneider is out, thats going to leave Lidstrom open A LOT. IMO, the Wings will adjust. Theyve done so perfectly so far. There are quite a few teams in desperate need of an offensive defenseman. That could up his pricetag. The Wings likely wont get into a bidding war with Schneider given his age and the fact that the young NHL ready Dmen the Wings have are starting to pile up. I wouldnt be surprised if Kenny wants to get Kindl and Quincey into the lineup ASAP while Lidstrom is still around for 1) mentoring purposes and 2) to make smooth the transition when Lidstrom retires. It might be too much for the WIngs to handle if we have too many 1st and 2nd year defenseman without Lidstroms presence.

You can talk all you want about consistency, but Hasek's made the big saves all season long. For the most part he was very consistent game to game. Maybe not period to period, but the guy had very few "poor" games throughout the season. Bottom line, if Hasek wants to come back SIGN HIM. The other primary option is Osgood/Howard. And if Hasek gets injured, what happens?? You go with Osgood/Howard. Might as well sign Hasek if he wants to come back, especially with the way Osgood has played once he got over the injuries. With the lack of options out there, theres no reason to spend more than 1.5M on a goaltender. Put that money towards bulking up your D and forwards.

Translation: If your team can get past me, then you have to be the best.

Where are you getting this from? Just because Datsyuk got a raise doesnt mean we are even close to the cap. The Wings will likely let go of Markov, Schneider, Lang, and Calder at the least, Grigorenko is only coming over if he comes to straight to the NHL and is a regular, and we have 1, if not 2, young defenseman ready to come up. Datsyuk(6.7) Zetterberg(2.65) Homer(2.25) Draper (2.128) Maltby(.88) Kopecky(.45) Filppula(.7) Cleary(.663) Franzen(.942) Sammy(1.2) Lidstrom(7.6) Kronwall(3) Lilja(1) Lebda(.65) Quincey(.535) Osgood(.85) =33.098/~47M Chelios - 800k max Hudler - likely less than 1M Grigorenko - 800k max Hasek - similar to last years Assuming these guys are re-signed, that leaves Detroit with 2 goalies, 6 Dmen, and 12 forwards at 37M. Thats 10M under the cap for a Dmen and a forward. Detroit can probably use 7M of that for a 2nd liner and a top 4 Dman. Therefore, if Detroit wants to sign an expensive goaltender - namely Giguere - theyll bring up Kindl and sign a cheaper forward. Holland has options out there. Detroit wont have studs in net AND on the end AND up front, but he can have 2 of those 3 positions in the elite category.

Sammy on D? I might buy into it if Maltby or Drapes were moving back, but even then, the move from forward to D is a lot harder than the move from D to forward. The only guy whos ever been able to pull it off without a hitch in this era is Sergei Fedorov - lets not forget what a unique player Feds was. Meech will be fine if Lebda cant go. All this really means is that everyones ice time will be bumped up a bit. In all reality, Meech will likely only play 6 minutes or so if he plays.

The best option, it seems, is Hasek while we still have Osgood signed for another year. They can split games and if one is injured, we can get Jimmy in for some games. Howard/Osgood is another choice, but that might be a little risky considering Detroit will likely have a young defense: Kronwall, Lebda, along with 1 or both of Quincey and Kindl.

I read on spectors that Detroit will likely try and re-sign Hasek if he wants to come back due to the lack of quality free agents out there. You can make arguments all day long about who the Wings should sign, but Backstrom and Giguere are the only UFAs who would be worth it.

The series was split 2-2. EDIT: Detroit won 2-1 on Steve Yzerman jersey retirement night and 1-0 towards the end of the season. They lost 4-1 and 4-2 the other times.

Hes been awesome. Just gotten better and better as the playoffs have worn on.

Assuming Markov, Schneider, Lang, and Hasek dont come back, then Detroit really needs 1 big name Dman, 1 big name forward OR 1 big name Goalie. If the cap goes up to about 47M next season, the Wings can afford to spend about 10M on two of those big stars and still be about 3M under the cap. They have a few defenseman who are ready to come in and Hudler and Filppula are ready for a bigger role on this team. They can afford Drury if they want to get him - who wouldnt - and still ice a solid team in all aspects.

hahaha priceless.

Lebda is a good passer. He can set up Nick perfectly fine. If he can do that, then hes an automatic asset on the point given that he can recover from any miscues with his speed from the point. Sammy cant do that, but he has a decent shot when he picks his spots well/gets the puck on net. I actually think Babcock's solution to this will be a slight change in the PP philosophy. Well see a lot more down low play next game just like we did today, which seemed to work very well.

This is a great post to read after a game 5 spanking. Lets hold off on giving the Ducks the Cup until they face a team that has more than half a scoring line. Thats my big beef with Anaheim so far. Once they face a dynamic scoring team, then maybe theyll face a little more competition. Not to mention, they havent had to play at a very high level to beat the past 2 teams. Its pretty hard to turn on the switch against SJ or Detroit who have just had to grind out the wins. THAT is whats most comforting to me, and likely to the Wings too. San Jose has given Detroit the most trouble BAR NONE for the past two years. The San Jose matchup is the scariest for the Wings. If they can beat San Jose, they can beat anybody.

A wrist break usually takes at least 4 weeks to heal. Hes done for the playoffs. This sucks, but I have a strong feeling that the Wings will brush it off and keep on rolling. Players will have to step up and play bigger now, especially our Dmen. Getting Lebda back in Game 6 will at least add more speed to our back end and if/when we make it to the 3rd round, at least Lebda will have had a game or two to shake off the rust.

Meech isnt a bad call up, but thats essentially our #2,#4, and #5 defenseman out of the lineup now. Its not like we're losing scrubs on our D. On the bright side, however, Quincey and Lilja are playing more like #4/5 guys that #7 guys. I think we can cap this thing off with the guys we have. It said in the Free Press today that Lebda practiced yesterday for the first time since the injury, so thats good news I guess.

Now if the Wings could just tune up their 1st period game, theyd be an equal competitor for anyone.

Nice to get a great game from our big boys - Bert, Hank, Homer, and Datsyuk! And what about our 5 defenseman today, ladies and gentleman??? Those guys didnt miss a BEAT without a full squad. Props to them.