haroldsnepsts

As others have already said (at least the ones not smoking crack), Kipper has been playing great. The rest of his team owes him an apology. And thanks for keeping them from being humiliated by the Wings. If not for Kipper the Wings win that first game at least 7-1. He was just as good in game 2. The Dats shot was hardly a weak goal. Datsyuk has a suprisingly good wrist shot, which is why it's great to see him shooting more. And if I remember correctly he was between the hash marks when he fired it. A prime location, a good shooter, no one hooking him. That's a good goal.

He's always had the abilities, they were just overshadowed by the other garbage. Seems like he's getting it together in New York.

The fact they dont' get along actually makes me like Trotz a little.

Why should he? That seemed like a good post to me from an insider's perspective. If the Preds dumped Hartnell, then all they'd have to do is get rid of Tootoo and I could almost respect that team.

I don't see how you can lump Scott Stevens or even the Turtle in with the likes of Tootoo. Claude was a cheapshot artist for sure, but he was also an amazingly clutch playoff performer. He had another function on the ice other than injuring opponents. Tootoo doesn't. For example, in 1997 Lemieux had 13 goals and 10 assists in 17 playoff games. That's 23 points in 17 games. And Stevens was a solid defenseman who threw devastating but mostly clean hits. Tootoo does not belong in the same sentence or universe as either one of those guys.

Rivalry or whatever you want to call it, a lot of people here spend a lot of time talking about the Preds. If hatred = rivalry, then I guess there is one. And as I said in the other thread, Nashville gets a lot of grief here for being dirty, but seeing how they're cheapshotting a player per game so far, they've living up to the hype.

Nah, I'd like to see Tootoo out of the league and back to the minors where he belongs. I loved watching him fail on the breakaway the other night. A clean breakaway and a chance to be a hero, but on the way to the net he must have realized he has no skills that involve a stick and a puck. His only hope would've been to tuck the puck into his pants and run the goaltender. Two games, two cheap plays by the Preds that take out players. People obsess here about how dirty Nashville is, but right now I gotta say they're living up to the hype.

I'll say it again: Holy crap!

Yes. I hate Iginla's antics, but the guy fears no one.

Holy crap. 100% markup? Looks like the Wings management have finally found they will eventually raise tickets to a price where the fans cannot afford to come. Hopefully they'll respond appropriately next year by making some changes. And OsGOD, I don't mean it as a personal attack on local Wings fans or anything, it's just a shock to see empty seats at a Red Wings playoff game, no matter what the reasons may be.

It seems your problem is more with me as a member here than anything I said in this particular thread. PM me if you want to talk about it further. I don't want to derail this thread any more than it already has been. Everyone can rest easy now. Big bad Harold is leaving the thread as requested.

Is it really important that you post about how you didn't like my post? Have you never posted that you agree with someone and reiterated their point? My opinion on the game is that it's too early to give a grade. I think that's a valid point relevant to this thread. Sorry if that somehow offends you. I didn't say it was a stupid thread or insult the person who created it. Jeez...

Wow. What the hell is everyone getting so upset about? Did the mods commission you guys thread police? and didn't other people make the same point, that it was a little early to be giving grades yet? Fine. To make you guys happy. Red Wings: Offense- Incomplete Defense-Incomplete PowerPlay-Incomplete Penalty Kill -Incomplete Passing - Incomplete Goaltending -Incomplete Checking - Incomplete OVERALL - Incomplete Flames: Offense- Incomplete Defense- Incomplete PowerPlay- Incomplete Penalty Kill- Incomplete Passing- Incomplete Goaltending- Incomplete Checking- Incomplete OVERALL- Incomplete

Maybe to express my opinion that I think it's too early to be grading people yet? Is that not relevant to the topic of this thread?

Exactly. It's a little early to be grading anyone yet.

I don't buy the economy thing as an excuse. Aren't the Pistons selling out? I'm guessing it's a combination of raised ticket prices, season ticket holders having to shell out for all the postseason games up front, and a lack of faith that the Wings will go far.

shhh! don't jinx it. I agree. Lilja just needs to make the simple conservative plays out there and he'll do well.

actually he'd probably make a decent roadie.

Exactly. Those guys will always be Red Wings in my book, and a small part of me would love to see them come home, but nostalgia doesn't win Cups.

I'm not failing to consider anything. Albom wrote this lame ass article explaining why even though he was in the writer's union he felt it was pointless so he might as well go ahead and write articles. That he was doing it for his readers. that he was doing it to save the paper. That's not how it works. If Albom felt that way, he shouldn't have been in the union. Or he should've used his substantial influence to try to change it from the inside. He benefitted from the union when he was starting out, but now that he was successful enough he didn't need them, he can just pick and choose what to do while staying in the union. He cast the union away because he had become so successful in other venues. But it all started at the Free Press. The paper wasn't plugging along just fine. I read the Free Press every morning, and as soon as that strike happened, it turned into a poorly printed, poorly written gobbled mess. It took them at least a year to produce anything that you could even call decent. Had a major marketable writer like Albom not crossed the picket line, it would've been a significant loss for the paper. And I don't want to turn this into a political discussion thread, but the NLB ruled unanimously that the Free Press and News were guilty of unfair labor practices and that they had not bargained in good faith. Albom is an egomaniacal scab writer who is a little too schmalzy for my taste.

I think his writing tends to be a bit melodramatic at times, but basically he's dead to me for his lame ass excuses for crossing the picket line during the whole Free Press writer strike debacle.

Yeah, but I thought the Pistons have been selling out, which would mean the economy isn't really the factor. The Wings not selling out a playoff game is a big deal to me. They have been since the team was any good. Playoff tickets were impossible to come by. Now there's empty seats??

Yeah, requiring people to shell out all the way to the Finals is a bit ridiculous. that's an awful lot of money to tie up. Of course, if they didn't, they'd probably get all sorts of grief about how they don't believe in the Wings because they didn't sell tickets to the cup finals.

Everyone keep this non-sellout in mind when they're about to make fun of Preds fans. Or make fun of someone for being a bandwagon fan. Man, I can't believe it wasn't a sellout. How much did ticket prices go up this year?

Definitely. It's pathetic.