haroldsnepsts

From the article: If he ever did go there though, it would be nice to see Toronto become a respectable team again.

He did. And he knocked out two of Moses' teeth in training camp with a crosscheck to the face. Cheli doesn't take any sh*t from anybody.

http://www.nhlnumbers.com/det.html

Here's hoping his groin holds together one more year.

It's because he let in a few bad goals over 10 years ago, and they were absolutely positively the only thing that kept the Wings from winning the Stanley Cup in each of those years. It's all his fault the Wings don't have at least three more Cups.

Not at all. My main point was that having a lot of giveaways (according to the questionable stats) does not necessarily mean you are easy to move off the puck. Jagr is incredibly strong on the puck, yet he has a massive number of giveaways.

Chelios is a good deal for the Wings, because I'm pretty sure Medicaid picks up his medical bills.

Shortening the season probably won't happen because of the greedy owners, but I hadn't considered potentially shortening the pre-season until an article linked in another thread suggested it. It'd want to hack down the season a couple games still, but if they could start earlier and end the playoffs earlier, it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Give lie to my statement?? Not really. I couldn't find the giveaway stats, but wasn't Jagr first or second in giveaways? Hmm, I guess he's easy to push off the puck too. Many of Lang's giveaways are from him carrying the puck in traffic and oftentimes bad decisionmaking when trying to pass. When he's going to the net to shoot he's pretty good. When he's carrying the puck through traffic and tries to dish it, things often don't go well. I know he's strong on the puck because I've watched him play. A giveaway stat doesn't make that untrue. Especially since as far as stats go, giveaways and takeaway stats are fairly meaningless and inconsistently recorded. An interesting analysis of giveaways/takeaway stats And you seriously can't think Lang was brought here to be a checker. There's an asset to being a big guy with long reach, even if you're not crushing your opponent into the boards. He's still a big body and was good for the Wings the last few seasons and especially in the playoffs. As I said, this year was a disappointment. I realize it's kind of pointless to argue any point with you regarding Lang, because for whatever reason he does not fall under your umbrella of optimism you have with the rest of the Wings.

He has Dom getting $5.5 mill and Bertuzzi getting 750k. It never ceases to amaze me how stupid this guy is. And that people still listen to him.

Defenseman with Schneider's abilities are definitely going at a premium right now. Hopefully it's not gonna cost the Wings too much, but it's still gonna be cheaper to keep him than to try and go out and replace him.

Honestly it's hard for me to say. I'd bet Hudler is quicker in short bursts, like moving around the offensive zone. But in terms of getting down the rink, Lang covers more ground in three long strides than Hudler probably does in 15. It's probably time for Lang to go, but like I said before, it's disappointing to think the Wings may be even smaller than they were last season.

Exactly. So much of what he does doesn't really look spectacular. He just makes the right play time and time again. This isn't so much a moment, but if I had to pick something it would be the Cup Finals in 97. Before this series there was all this talk about how the Wings small defense wouldn't be able to handle the huge Flyers forwards - Lindros, Leclair, etc. So the evil genius Scotty Bowman had the defense doing the opposite of everything you're taught - Play the puck, not the body. And one of the only reasons a strategy like that can work is when you've got a guy like Nick Lidstrom on the ice for half the game playing against the top lines.

Hudler isn't that hard to catch, especially compared to Datsyuk. Hoodlum does a lot of his best work moving without the puck. (it didn't quote the initial post, but this response is to Eva's changing my post to read Hudler is hard to catch).

The point still holds true. Datsyuk is harder to catch, but Lang is physically harder to move off the puck.

Part of the problem is they need to shorten the season, or at least shorten training camp and move everything forward. Fewer people are going to watch the Stanley Cup Finals when they take place on a beautiful June summer day. And even with the night games, there's considerably more daylight, people are outside more. They need to get the playoffs over in may.

I'm guessing he's probably going. This past season was a disappointment, and he didn't really redeem himself in the playoffs. With his departure, it's hard to believe it but the Wings will be an even smaller team next season unless Kenny makes some impressive moves. I know Lang wasn't a crasher or banger but it's a lot harder to move a 6'2" 215 lb buy off the puck than a 5'9 180 lb guy (Hudler).

to me Hartnell is one of those guys like Darcy Tucker. I love almost everything Darcy Tucker brings to the game, except he's Darcy Tucker.

exactly. Take any wiki entry with a large helping of salt. And when I first read "uni's," I thought you were saying uniforms. It didn't make a whole lotta sense to me. someone must've come through and cleaned up the entry... Wikipedia sounds like a constant war between those trying to put forth an agenda or those simply screwing around, and those who want it to be a legit source of info. Oh well. It'll back up there soon anyway.

If there is no NHL team in Detroit in 25 years, it's because there is no longer an NHL.

On paper he's a lot of what the Wings need. I just hope they find it in someone other than Hartnell. Especially since with the level of interest he's already getting, Hartnell may replace Witt as one of the most overpaid UFA signings under the cap.

Good news. For what they probably signed Chelios for, it's hard to get that level of play and experience. I think one of the reasons he's still so solid on defense is because he started his career back in the days when you couldn't clutch and grab, and now it's come full circle.

Hasek was great this year, but honestly I think resting your Stanley Cup hopes on the groin of a 42 year old goaltender two seasons in a row is pressing your luck. Unfortuntately the Wings don't have a lot of other options out there. Osgood doesn't instill much confidence as a starter anymore, it sounds like Howard isn't ready. And I'm not sure the Wings would be willing to participate in the Giguere sweepstakes that will be taking place this off season. The goalie saga continues in Detroit...

The trick is trying to convine the owners to give up those precious seats they'd need to get rid of to widen the rink.

1) Absolutely 2) Great. but easier said than done. It's not like ESPN was begging the NHL for the contract. 3) I agree and will go one further. Move the season up and shorten it by a couple games. It'll never happen because of greedy owners, even if it would make the season less of a grind and improve the quality of the product. 4) Definitely. Whistles were swallowed in the Finals. Anaheim figured out that as long as you don't use your stick or take your hand off your stick, you can pretty much run all the interference you want. they had set plays off faceoffs, particularly in the defensive zone, where guys were clearly setting picks and interfering. 5) The article suggests that composite sticks make it a lot harder to receive passes. I've not played with them enough to confirm that, and I'm betting the passes I receive don't quite have the heat on them that they do at the NHL level. The busted sticks are annoying though. I'd be curious to hear if this is true about composite sticks and catching passes. 6) I agree, but good luck. Southern arenas are going to be harder to have good ice. And multiple use arenas won't be excited about honoring any restriction of what events they can have before a hockey game and how soon. 7) Yup. 8) I'm not sure what Bettman does to dissuade casual gambling, but okay. 9) No no no no no! They better not increase the net size a millimeter before they seriously crack down on goaltender pads. Decrease the ridiculous trapper size, decrease the blocker a little bit, shave some more off the leg pads, and definitely work on preventing the Michelin men goalies like Luongo and Giguere. 10) Agreed. hockey players as a group are the least offensive, most likeable pro athletes you'll find. Generally humble, pretty articulate, usually no criminal records...