haroldsnepsts

Man I hate Crawford and his big fat face. I wish the Kings would fire him. It'd be a good step towards them being a respectable team.

Your wish is Kopecky's command.

Amen. Red Wing's President's Trophy wins: '95 Lost in SC Final '96 Lost in Conference Final '02 Won Stanley Cup '04 Lost in Conference Semi '06 Lost in 1st round 1996 is also the year the Wings set the record for most regular season wins with 62. Yet they lost in the Conference final to arch enemy Colorado. I'm definitely not saying the Wings are going to lose, but regular season domination does not equal the Stanley Cup. We've seen that several times now. Yes this team is really good, but they can still be better. As much as I don't like the guy, if Forsberg were healthy and would play in Detroit, I'd want him on the team come playoff time. The guy is a postseason beast.

Is this even supposed to be attributed to him as the reason? Or is that just Ansar Khan speculating? All we know for sure is Detroit isn't on his short list.

Exactly. Sammy isn't bad, but he's not really good either. He's not terribly expensive, he's not great defensively but not too bad, he's not great offensively but not too bad. He's basically a placeholder in the lineup. I think Ryder is a definite upgrade in terms of ability, but don't know what it would take logistically (it seems like it'd take more than Sammy and a 3rd) to make that happen and if it would be worth it.

Wow. What a steal tonight by the Wings! Nice job boys!

Anaheim wins 3-0. Don't get me wrong, I would love for them to miss the playoffs. :fingers crossed:

nm wrong thread.

Good for him! I'd love to see Dats lose out on the Lady Byng for punching someone in the face. (not that I want Dats to lose an award. I'd just rather he punch someone)

he didn't quite do that, but he has been involved and looks good. He'll probably end up playing 17 minutes tonight. I agree with edi that it's early to say the Ducks are back on track, but Teemu will definitely help. And did I mention I hate Giguere?

I hear ya. And I'm not being sarcastic when I ask this, how are the Ducks not going to make the playoffs? Man I hate Giguere. A sound posiitonal goalie with giant pads. I expect to see clouds of down fly out every time a puck hits him.

They're up 3-0. Their drought is over.

Drake was signed for a year. He's a UFA at the end of the season.

In the Anaheim game, Selanne has an assist (so far) in his first game back on the lone Anaheim goal. Overall he looks good for a guy who missed half the season.

thinking it through even further, if the Wings trade sammy for Ryder, because Ryder is a UFA, they could lose him next season a la Bertuzzi. Then they have no Sammy or Ryder in the lineup and need to pick up another winger like them in a hurry, which would be expensive. I may be talking in circles, but I think I just convinced myself it's not worth the trade.

In terms of overall ability and potential, he probably he is. I don't see him enough to know why he's having such a terrible year, but he's still managed as many goals as Sammy. And he's a two-time 30 goal scorer. He's got a better chance of reaching that number again than Sammy. And I think Babs could get him to improve his defensive game. The thing is, I don't really know why Montreal would make that trade. A 3rd round pick won't have them drooling, and what does Sammy bring that they need? Ryder is a UFA, so they can do what they please with him. I guess if they're about to lose Ryder anyway and have given up on him, they might see an advantage in having a guy like Samuelsson who is already signed through next season at a good price. I'm guessing the Wings would have to sweeten the pot, and then it likely wouldn't be worth it. But I could be wrong. I'm certainly no expert on what exactly it ends up taking to make these deals happen.

I never really understood the argument that bringing in a player somehow disrupts this magic chemistry. Sure, a new player will have to learn the system, but we're talking about professional hockey players. It might take a bit to get all the nuances of their linemates, but I don't see how it will upset some team chemistry. They're all still playing hockey. Especially because with the exception of Hank Dats and Z, it's not like some line has clicked in some really special way.

So he's already lazy and he sucks, and he's not even on the team yet? When will he become anything close to a consistent 20 goal scorer? He's 31 years old, he's scored more than 20 goals once in his career, and has a whopping 8 goals this season, a couple of which are empty netters. He's got fewer goals this season than Flip, Hudler, Draper, Franzen, and even Rafalski! He's fairly responsible defensively, but he's been a disappointment with his increased ice time. And I don't see him getting better and turning into a consistent scorer. He showed promise in 2006, but now that's looking more like an aberration. He's responsible defensively, and not very creatively offensively. When he's carrying the puck he either shoots it immediately, or thinks about making a move, then panics and dumps it back to the defenseman at the blueline. Had Homer not been injured, he would've been ahead of Sammy in scoring last playoffs for sure. Samuelsson managed 3 goals, as many as Franzen and Flip. If anything it's a sign of the Wings lack of scoring depth than evidence that he's crucial to their success. Sammy's not killing this team, but I wouldn't shed a tear if he were traded.

good question. Honestly I don't know. But they're competing with L.A. to be the worst team in the league. It's possible they'd have a fire sale, trying to shake things up and rebuild with youth and prospects.

I hope not. (hang on before you jump on me as a Hasek basher). He will be 44 next season. It's great he's been at it this long, but goaltending is a position reliant on reflexes and flexibility, both of which get worse with age. No matter how religious he is about working out and taking care of himself, the best he can hope for is not to lose ground. It sounds like he's pretty much prepared about as much as anyone can. After his poor start, Dom has been good this season. But he's still not the goaltender he once was. He hasn't been the Dominator for a while now. After you were once among the extremely elite, why come back to be above average, at best? If he played again next year, it would definitely feel like he is hanging on too long. More importantly, it would also be bad for the Wings. They need to sh*t or get off the pot with Jimmy Howard. Dom coming back next year complicates that. He would have no future with the team and only be delaying the inevitable. Ozzy is already signed. What would become of Howard? He needs time up with the big club to see if he can become the Wings #1 guy. Or they need to go out and find someone else with that potential to play with Ozzy. It's better for the team if Howard comes up next year, even if he struggles, then have Dom get off to a slow start to eventually become as good as Ozzy. That doesn't gain the team a whole lot.

A pretty physical winger who can score, comes fairly cheap, and is a UFA at the end of the season so Holland can decide to try and re-sign or let go based on his playoffs. Sounds pretty good to me. I wouldn't read too much into the +/-. He logs a lot of minutes and anyone not named Lecavelier or St. Louis dont have a very good +- either. Still, I haven't had an opportunity to see him play this season, so I can't say for sure. But on paper he looks pretty good. As for the "we don't need to get anybody" camp. The Patriots were great during the regular season too. The Wings have the cap space, and they do have some 2nd line scoring issues as well as a thin defense if someone goes down. Why not position themselves even better for a Cup run.

My post wasn't really a direct response to yours (so I probably shouldn't have quoted you. ). It was a more a general comment about why all the Gratton love? I haven't seen him play a lot lately, but like I said, he struck me more as a guy to grind it out than one to put the puck in the net.

I'm biased as a hockey fan, but I gotta go with Miracle on Ice. A bunch of college kids taking on the Soviet hockey system and winning. Talk about underdogs. I'm surprised people are considering the Michigan App State upset as #2. I'm not a Michigan fan, so it was kinda fun to watch them go down unexpectedly like that, but that game didn't mean nearly as much as the other upsets listed up there. Outside of the state of Michigan, I'm not sure it even belongs on the list. You could also include the Red Sox coming back from 3 down to beat the Yankees in 2004. Maybe that belongs under "Biggest Chokes of All Time."

a big part of the reason no one touched Gretzky was because guys like Semenko, McSorley, and McClelland were policing the ice for him. I strongly disagree though about Gretz and Lemeiux being overrated. Yzerman benefitted from that same "special treatment" when we had Probert, Kocur, Gallant, Norwood, Snepsts and many others in the lineup. If anyone went after Stevie, there was always at least one guy on the Wings they'd have to immediately answer to. And if Probert or Kocur weren't on the ice, that player would be answering to them later.

he might have the heart of a lion, but the legs and lungs of an 80-year old chainsmoker. He's only been playing hockey what, a couple months now? I'm so glad he's getting his act together and that there's even the potential for him to crack an nhl lineup again. But it would take a miracle for it to happen this season. I'm not worried though, no matter his history, if Mac were to get a shot on the Wings again, it would only be if he absolutely has earned it. Otherwise it would be a waste of a valuable roster spot. Right now it's just cool he's playing in the AHL for the Griffins. Hopefully he keeps improving and stays healthy.