haroldsnepsts

Info on the Blues website. http://blues.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=706959 I think Miller is a definitely upgrade over Halak. The West is friggin scary this year.

Agreed. The content of what Ozzy is saying is pretty good, but he should definitely do some homework in the offseason. Watch a lot of video of himself, and then watch video from the best guys out there.

But trading him (which I'm not even really suggesting) makes it someone else's recapture penalty, doesn't it? I just get tired of hearing what a huge bargain he is for $3.9 million, as if he's on a 3-year deal or something. It ignores the size and length of that contract he received, which is a massive commitment and contains certain risks. If Mule's regular season production dips then his value vs. contract very quickly gets flipped. In the end I think it'll turn out to be a good contract. But he's not a steal.

yup. And he's making $5 million now. But the last 3 years of his contract the cap hit is still the $3.9 mill, which was my point. His contract isn't some huge bargain just because it looks like a great deal now. His cap hit is low right now compared to his production but will likely be overvalued towards the end of the contract. Ideally the cap will go back up enough it won't matter if they're taking a big hit for a broken down Mule, assuming he's still even on the roster. Under the new CBA won't his cap hit still count even if he retires? I can't remember all the details.

Everyone loves this Franzen. They just wish he'd show up more often. The Wings will be paying that cap hit until 2020 when Mule is 40 years old. Financing a car for 11 years so the payments are small doesn't mean it's a bargain, especially when you're making the same 3.9 payment for the broken down version in years 9, 10 and 11. His regular season production has been good, but playoff beast mule hasn't been seen for three seasons now. He's looking more like a .4 playoff PPG guy who had three extraordinary postseasons, but I'd love for him to prove me wrong.

I'm guessing a lot of people here know this but if anyone ever wondered what "gap control" means, here's a good explanation. It nicely breaks down what it is a subtler part of playing defense and demonstrates how a seemingly harmless play can end up with the puck in the back of your net because of poor gap control. I think one of the biggest differences between a veteran d-man and a young guy is consistent gap control. A kid can play great all game but then have one shift where he's tired and it all goes to hell and they end up blowing their coverage. http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2014/02/26/systems-analyst-gap-control-in-the-neutral-zone-is-crucial-for-nhl-defensmen/#more-89787 I know I've posted this guy's stuff a lot, but I think he's one of the best hockey writers out there.

Agreed. It's easy to forget how hard that is, especially at the NHL level. Matching your speed skating backwards to a guy who's skating at you forwards, while maintaining enough space that he can't blow by you on the outside, but not so much he has a lot of room to move. Like that play with Semin. You let him get too deep in the zone untouched one time and that's all it takes.

Definitely. Lid's brain was his biggest strength as a hockey player. It seemed like he figured out all the little things that were the difference between a good play and a bad one. And he was so disciplined in preparation and execution. I think it was Babcock who summed him up best by saying he simply makes the right play every time.

Sadly, that's not the case. There was no curse filter here for years, but then some members got so out of hand with the profanity that Matt finally felt the need to activate the filter. I'll unlock the Olympics thread, but everybody play nice. And let's get back to the topic of this thread. If anyone wants to discuss us moderators and how we're doing, they can start a thread in the water cooler or PM any one of us.

Ryan should call up Burke and ask him to spell intensity for him. Yandle too. They could make it a conference call.

I agree. I guess I assumed some people would think Kronner was better.

He definitely is, though I wish he'd score like this for the Kings. It may be an unpopular opinion here but I'd take Doughty over anyone on the Wings blueline. On a side note, what's the best place for finding Olympic hockey stats? Anything I've found is usually at least a day behind and kind of piecemeal.

It's only for Canadians. You guys keep all the good stuff to yourself. Like this: https://twitter.com/Molson_Canadian/status/432553007285145600/photo/1 (free beer fridge at Olympics that only opens with Canadian passport)

Agreed. This may be phase 1 of the NHL moving towards a World Cup type scenario where they can better control the timing and get a piece of the revenue. As they've demonstrated with the Winter Classic, the meaning of the event itself doesn't count for much. It's all about the cash.

I'm aware Stern retired. That doesn't change my point that two major pro sports commissioners came from the same law firm that represents all the major sports leagues. Near as I can tell the MLB CBA expires in 2016. The NBA has an opt out in 2017. NHL can opt out in 2020. NFL expires after the 2020 season. That may seem like a long time but it's really not. It was 7 years between Gary's lockouts and when it happens fans still can't believe they're doing it all over again.

Yzerman on future Olympic participation. http://www.latimes.com/sports/olympics/la-sp-sochi-hockey-elliott-20140211,0,5399385.column

Wishful thinking. The same law firm (Proskauer Rose) represents ownership in basically every major sport. NBA, NHL, NFL, MLS, MLB, Pac-12, Big East, Association of Tennis Professionals, and English Premier League. Not coincidentally it's the firm both Bettman and Stern used to work for. So get ready for more lockouts in all the major sports.

There's an opt out after 8 years so potentially it only covers the next Olympics after Sochi.

The difference is that Kindl has a couple seasons and a 100+ more games experience than Smith. Kindl apparently isn't going to be anything more than the soft inconsistent D man he is. There's still some hope for Smith.

Obviously being in Vancouver helped but after the Gold medal game I had a lot of non-hockey fans talking to me about the game because they knew I was a fan. And frankly the Olympic size rinks and lack of fighting probably helps appeal to a broader audience too. True. But it's always about weighing the interests of the league overall against individual owners and franchises. There's the risk of injured players weighed against potentially good promotion for the league.

I'd love to have Greene on the Wings as a bottom pairing guy. Very physical, great character guy, plays a lot of PK minutes. He and Ericsson out there would be a force to contend with. He's been a healthy scratch for the Kings few games this season, so maybe he'd be looking for a change. I don't know that him being a RH shot helps a ton because he's not going to contribute on offense, and he'd have to take a pay cut.

Things like a disco (it was 1980 after all). Even if the rooms are similar, it means that the 2014 Olympic village is comparable to rooms from 34 years ago in buildings predestined to be a prison in the only city who wanted to host the Winter Olympics. That's hardly an endorsement. I wonder what the average Olympic hockey player size was in 1980 compared to now, let alone all the other sports. To the best of my knowledge the Olympic village has always been sort of a dorm style rooms but from what I've heard these rooms are pretty spartan even by that standard.

The dorms in Olympic village were converted into a prison after the games. They were also stripped of a lot of their amenities. What seems really crazy today is Lake Placid was the only city bidding to be a host. Vancouver was a candidate but withdrew before the final vote.

For the last time, keep the posts on topic and not about each other. Anyone commenting on someone else's level of fandom or loyalty to the Wings is getting suspended.

Please keep posts about the topic and not about other Wings fans. Personal attacks will not be tolerated.