haroldsnepsts

It would be surprising if he left Detroit to run another franchise. I'm pretty sure he does want to be GM one day. But I could see Lidstrom retiring, Holland retiring, and Yzerman becoming GM with Holland in a Scotty Bowman like advisory capacity. My only hope is that if Stevie does one day take over the Wings, he doesn't suck. He's had a lot of talented guys to learn from, but being a great hockey player does not necessarily translate to being a great GM. I think sometimes it can actually work against you because you don't have a dispassionate stance towards players and the game.

I think Lids is definitely top three in the league but I'm not sure it'll happen. Unfortunately it's the same problem he's had working against him his whole career--how boring his game is. The quality of Lidstrom's defense is measured mostly by the things that don't happen. How many times in his career have you seen Lids get absolutely undressed the way the other top Dmen do from time to time? Pronger, Niedermayer, Chara. All those guys have been on the wrong end of highlight-reel deked out of his jockstrap kinds of plays. It's hard to think of Lids being on the wrong end of many of those in his whole career. With Lidstrom it's sound positioning, a great stick (even I get tired of hearing announcers talk about his quick stick), tremendous hockey sense. There's no devastating hits, no cannon of a slapshot, no crazy Mike Green play like a forward kind of rushes. So if he's not scoring a bunch of points, it's easy for people to dismiss the quality defense he's playing, in spite of the fact that when Lids is on the ice, the puck just doesn't end up in the Wings net as much, no matter the situation. I'd love to see him at least nominated this season, but it wouldn't surprise me if it didn't happen. Doughty, Keith, and unfortunately Green, will probably get the nods. And I think people are talking about Pronger lately too.

Sammy won't be fun to play against in the playoffs. He's irritating to play against and tends to score big goals. Plus former Wings seem to love to come back and score the backbreakers. Considering how much attention the Sedins and Kesler will draw, I'm guessing Sammy will be able to get some quality shots off. And not all of those are bound to be into shin pads and the Winged Wheel on Howard's chest. My main fear of facing Vancouver in the first round is having to listen to "Loooouuuuu" every time Luongo comes within 4 feet of the puck.

Agreed. But honestly, if at the start of the season someone would've told me people would be discussing Jimmy Howard for the Vezina, I would've chalked it up to insane homerism instead of a legitimate discussion. He won't win it, but I think he's worthy of mention in the Vezina conversation, and that alone is pretty incredible. I really didn't know what to make of Howard based on his AHL play, but what a tremendous surprise he's been this season. And a HUGE part of the reason the Wings are in a playoff spot. My main beef with him has been rebound control, but he's really improved it, makes himself big in net, and is aggressive without taking himself out of position as much. He's made me a believer.

Were the security guys in the beer line or something? I don't know how it is anymore, but back in the day if a fight broke out in the stands at Joe Louis, you'd have three greycoats on you in seconds, happy to beat the living snot out of you for kicks as they threw you out the doors.

There's so many great things to like about Iggy. Watching the Wings play against him though, when the flames were losing I did get sick of him trying the crap you expect of guys like Perry. Like chasing Schneider down the ice crosschecking him in the back, trying to get him to fight. I can't see him coming to Detroit, but I'd absolutely love to have him here. Something tells me once he got out of Calgary and away from coaches like the Sutters and Keenan, he'll feel less obligated to start that crap and instead be more of the player he is. One who can score, pass, hit, and drop the gloves. He's asked to do too much on the Flames. Or feels obligated to. Either way, it'd probably be good for his career to go somewhere else rather than trying to carry that team season after season.

Agreed. The player was making a pretty clear effort to take a run at him. He got what's coming, I guess. Maybe I just miss Ron Hextall. Yes he was putting on the brakes, but it didn't look nearly hard enough to have stopped his momentum, even before he got bumped. Plus he put himself on a collision course with the goalie when the play was obviously dead. I agree though, I think it was just a reaction from the goalie for the guy getting in his face. Yes it was high, but not some vicious cheap shot.

I wanted to chime in before you got grief for this post. I think sickening might be overstating it a bit, dont you? this is a Wings fan forum after all. But Dats's worthiness aside, I think you're spot on about the way the award tends to be given. And specifically why Kesler may win this year over Datsyuk this season. As I mentioned before, it's no coincidence that Draper finally won the year he scored 24 goals. Though he had other seasons he was probably as good or better defensive forward. In a perfect NHL, or my perfect NHL anyway, the award would go more to the spirit with which I think it was intended. Guys like Bob Gainey and Carbonneu. Or to put it in terms of Wings, guys like Drapes, or hopefully in a season or two, Helm.

I would've never guessed Gallant would be so high on the list. Pretty good for 9 seasons. They should put his PIMS up there too.

Ah, forgot about him. Yes, definitely.

It's supposed to be for "the forward who best excels in the defensive aspects of the game" which to me means defensive forward, especially since Bob Gainey was the one who basically inspired them to create the award. More often than not though, it's best two-way forward. Drapes and Madden are the only two recent guys I can think of who best fit the defensive forward description, though there may be others I'm forgetting. And even then Draper didn't win it until the year he scored 24 goals.

Red because it's olderschool.

For the price, he's ok. But I don't know about re-signing. We're 71 games into the year and he still takes shifts off defensively, takes bad offensive zone penalties, turns the puck over, isn't as physical as he should be, and doesn't shoot the puck enough. He doesn't look like a guy playing for a new contract. And for a detail guy like Babcock, all those little things probably matter as much as the points. It also shows what a bargain Sammy had been at 1.2 mill.

Agreed. I think E had a solid game, minus that "pressbox" pass he made behind his own net. I'd still like to see him be a lot more physical in front of the net. Even if he took a penalty for crosschecking or something, it'd be good to go over the line and then reel back a bit. I'm not a big Lebda fan, but having to sit dressed on the bench like that for the entire game must be humiliating.

Wow. That was like a boxing match. Both of them gave and took a lot solid punches. Janssen looked like he could've gone longer when the refs stepped in, but Leblond was totally gassed so he stopped. Is it just me or did it look like they were smiling a little when the fight ended? They deserve a standing ovation for that kind of effort. Here's the embed for those too lazy to click a link.

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and it's starting already? Ozzy's got a weak five hole for sure, but that was a point blank shot from Backstrom as he walked around Stuart. that's not a weak goal in my book.

f*** me. STuart just got schooled.

Man Bert takes a lot of bad penalties.

Maybe if OVechkin weren't skating out of the zone looking for the breakout pass, Rafalski wouldn't have had all day to take that shot.

RAF!!!!

that's it boys SHOOT THE PUCK

I think that's a pretty generous view on his diving. As I've said before, I like AO, though it's fading. He's just such an exciting player that I can forgive a lot of stuff. But it's getting harder and harder. He dives, he whines, he's had several questionable hits.

I'm guessing this is the soft makeup call on Washington?