haroldsnepsts

that must explain all the fighting in racquetball. I'm generally a pro-fighting guy, but the "never played hockey" argument is a weak one. You don't have to have strapped on the pads to understand and appreciate the game. I have, but am not particularly good at hockey. And I think there's just as many fans who have never played the game who don't understand fighting on the other side of the argument. They love guys dropping the gloves and think they should be out to kill one another. Not appreciating the code, or that it's part of the job and the game. And more often than not there's no hard feelings involved. They usually don't want to brain one another because they want to be able to keep playing the game and go home to their wife and kids at night. and #4 is the lamest of all reasons to fight, as proven by the Flames, and should not be tolerated by the league. It tarnishes the sport and makes it a joke. Yes a fight can rile the fans and team up during a game, but that's different than what Calgary did, skating around gooning it up because they're bad losers and cheapshot artists.

I agree. If it were Luongo for Dats straight up, I'd absolutely want that trade, for all the reasons you mention. I'd miss watching Dats fake goalie's out of their jockstraps, but it'd still be worth it. At the time my impression was that Detroit would have to give up half the team. But seeing what Florida ultimately took for him, maybe not. It's still amazing to me that Detroit won three cups with the goalie carousel we have going. Imagine if they had a true franchise goaltender like Brodeur, Roy, or Luongo. To have that major piece of the puzzle finally locked up would be HUGE. That's why I think Holland and company are silently praying that Jimmy Howard will be the guy.

Seriously, someone needs to just put this team to sleep. i can't believe they had the balls to ask for more tax money and improvements to the arena! They already have by far the best franchise deal in the NHL, if not all of professional sports. It's ridiculous. The city eats all their operating losses, not the Predators. The city paid $25 mill of their initial $80 million franchise fee. Gave them the arena (from which the Preds get to keep the revenue), built them a practice facility, plus they get the most welfare in the league via revenue sharing. And still they want more breaks from the city of Nashville? It's been 10 years and this team doesn't even show a glimpse of being able to sustain itself, even with all the help it's getting.

That's not trying to show obvious blame? How about we keep these ignorant, incredibly over-simplfied posts in the Political forums where they belong? As for opening game not selling out, I am shocked. Even with the Michigan economy and the other sports teams doing well, I still figured regular season (especially the first game!) was a gimme for sellout. Wow. Just wow.

Seems like he should already know that being a Red Wings fan.

Overall my feeling is why mess with it? Give a player the A and have him keep it, or don't give a player the A. The rotation thing just seems silly. Dats is definitely a leader by what he does on the ice. He probably doesn't need an "A" to tell him that. As for being Alternate Captain, some guys just have personalities that seem to fit the role of captain more than others. Holmstrom is a veteran Wings player and pretty much the heart and grit of this team, but I can't seem him wearing the C. Overall, not a big deal. It just seems a little silly.

No I don't think I'd be upset. I'd be extremely surprised, and somewhat concerned to see if Z was ready to be captain of the team at this point. As for Z for captain versus Datsyuk, it has more to do with personality. Both are great players. I think language is more than a minor sticking point. From what I've heard in interviews, Dat's English is not that great. But beyond language skills, he's just such a quiet guy. Lidstrom isn't exactly a fiery personality, but he's yapping on the ice and has already told a few players that they need to step up their game. I just can't see Dats doing that. Dats can lead by example, but there are times where you need to get into it with the refs and also motivate your teammates. It just doesn't seem like a natural personality fit for him.

Absolutely agree with you Gordie (and NFM#25) I have a feeling though that not liking this idea will be seen mostly as some dislike of Dats. My main thing is if you're already got two qualified guys, why mess with it? As you mentioned, there are and have been plenty of guys in the past who all could've worn the A. I just don't see the point of creating this rotation just to give him a title he could probably care less about. Especially when you consider Datsyuk's less than perfect English skills and softspoken nature. He's a core player on the team for sure, but that doesn't mean he has to be an alternate to be considered important. Anyone who knows hockey would agree that Dats is one of the most important players to the Wings success, whether or not he has an 'A' sewn on his sweater.

Actually he said they were boring in that article too. Yes, I know he had the audacity to not fall all over himself complimenting the Wings, so he must not know anything about hockey. If you read his column you'll see most of the time he makes pretty insightful comments and predictions. And even though he called the Wings boring, he still thinks they're a good team. I still hold that his analysis was spot on. Unless someone unexpected steps up in a major way, or the Wings make a great signing at the deadline, this team won't be bringing home Stanley this year. Is that really such a radical statement?

Well, there's a lot of fans who seem to want any player back who's ever worn the Winged wheel. but I chimed in before really accounting for the whole situation. I wouldn't mind Dandenault as a cheap pickup utility player if he were available. Basically a garage sale signing. but Dandenault at $1.75 million? No thanks.

I didn't realize his salary was that high. I can't see Detroit getting Dandenault off waivers, and I wouldn't want them getting him at full price.

For the most part I think they actually do know how to regulate ticket price (from a business perspective), this was just the first year they found the absolute limit of what fans are willing to pay. Every season prior though it seemed like they had it as expensive as possible but still selling out. From a business perspective that's good. As a fan, not so much.

I know. I can't wait to see if these big kids pan out for the Wings. I've got my fingers crossed. Our blueline is where we're most lacking size. Fedorov I included because he's 6'2" 200+ lbs, and impossible to knock of the puck. Dandy wasn't huge (if you don't count his feet) but at 6'1" 200+ would be one of the bigger guys on the current lineup, and he wasn't nasty, but wasn't afraid to muck it up either. That's what made Fischer's loss even bigger for the Wings. I had dogged the guy for a few seasons because he never seemed to live up to his potential, but that last season he really was getting it together.

But you can bring in size without sacrificing defensive responsibility, it just takes more savvy and probably more money. Hell the biggest guy we've got on defense is still probably the biggest liability, not to mention he doesn't even use his size most of the time. The first two Cup teams were by far tougher to play against than this current lineup, and maybe even the 02 lineup was too. They had an all star roster, but still had size in Shanny, Fedorov, Dandenault, McCarty, Fischer. And probably still more overall toughness too. Fedorov was a big stron center who's impossible to knock off the puck. Shanny was fading but still fought, McCarty was still tough, Chelios was nastier than he is now, Maltby was still nasty to play against (unlike now). I agree that the Cup win in 02 was probably more about the Hall of Famers than the toughness, but that team was still pretty darn tough. Fischer alone was a massive physical loss to the Wings blueline, made worse by the fact he was finally getting his game together. As I've said before. The Wings have lost a lot of size and toughness since those years and have done very little to replace it.

Honestly I usually cringe at the Wing's obsession with bringing back former players, but Dandenault likely wouldn't cost a lot and is a great utility guy. He's only 31, adds a little size, has decent grit and still has great speed. All of that would help the Wings.

If the league really does want to control all the licensing for teams including apparel merchandise and memorabilia (as the article suggests), I can't see that sitting too well with the owners. The Rangers are just the first to raise a stink about this. I hope it doesn't happen just because the league does such a poor job marketing itself. Why let an organization that is incompetent at promoting itself control all the affiliates, who probably would do a better job?

True, a winning team doesn't have to grind an opponent down, but I think it greatly increases their chances of making it to the Cup because they can not only withstand but also win the physical war that happens in a 7 game series round after round. Some people claim the only reason the Wings lost to Anaheim is because of a couple fluke injuries. That definitely was a factor, but I think they were also feeling the toll of all the previous rounds and starting to lose the physical battles with Anaheim. Even if a couple bounces had gone our way, I'm not sure we would've come out on top had it gone to 7 games. Beyond that, I look back at the roster of our championship years. Of course this team doesn't have to match that lineup man for man to repeat, but I think there are some crucial elements those lineups had that the current one still lacks.

And if you want to look at it that way, from a logical standpoint, it is true in Anaheim's case. But you're missing or overstating the point. Obviously he's not saying that Detroit needs more PIM's to win the cup. But those are often an indicator of a tough, nasty team who will grind an opponent down in a 7 game series. Detroit hit a lot and played pretty tough for how undersized and non-physical they play during the regular season. But the fact of the matter is they are still not a team that grinds an opponent down or roughs them up over a series.

yadda yadda yadda... where does he say they need an enforcer? It's the same old song and dance. Someone says the Wings need to be more physical and nastier to play against, and people come back saying "we don't need an enforcer." A team can be physical tough and nasty without having a true enforcer. They are not one in the same. And having read Bucci over the years, he's been right a lot more often than wrong. I wouldn't be so quick to lump him in with the "they" you keep referring to.

Amen brother John.

Seriously, this again? Can you show me a picture with the 8 guys jumping on Moore? Because when I watch it I see three guys, and two refs pulling them off. Virtually every player in the NFL, college football, even high school football who ends up in a pileup. There's rarely a broken bone. Weird how more necks aren't broken when a whole team of hockey players pile on each other to celebrate the Stanley Cup. Maybe they should ban those kind of celebrations for players' safety. Or in any of the multiplayer scrums that happen through a season. Maybe it couldn't be 100% proven (a lot of things in life can't). But say a guy has a broken neck, and you're trying to figure out what happened. The two leading possible causes are: a) three or four other players piling on his body. OR b) being unexpectedly punched in the lower head/neck area by a 6'3" 245 lb. hockey player. Especially considering that Moore's lights were out before he even hit the ice, it doesn't take CSI to figure out what the most likely cause of the injury was. Moore's broken neck is 100% Bertuzzi's fault. I can understand still liking Bert in spite of his cheapshot, but splitting hairs about what happened to Moore is a joke. A bad joke, that apparently won't die. As for Downie's suspension, it's more inconsistency by the league. Sure they're tough when it's a scrub player. Suddenly they take a stand against headshots. I have not problem with the length of this one. My problem is how they let the bigger name guys off the hook for similar blows to the head.

source?

NHL attendance in 2007 Tampa is #3 overall, just behind Detroit. And they're listed at 100% selllout. for comparison, Nashville is 23rd.

I don't get what you guys are saying about the winged wheel. I've been looking at photos of the current jersey, then comparing it to the new jersey. The wingtips look the same.