Heroes of Hockeytown

The Canucks don't mess around. When they want to lose, they lose big. Tim Thomas was also credited with a hit for his interaction with Sedin.

Burrows not being suspended for the bite is just like Nathan Horton not being suspended after he threw a water bottle at fans after Game 6 of the East Finals. Stupid, trivial bulls*** should not have any impact on these big time playoff games. As for Heaten, I've never before witnessed someone lose their sanity in real time. Fascinating...

Bingo!

Possibly it's the kind of situation Brad Stuart found himself in a few years ago: good enough to be desired by many of the league's teams, but not quite good enough that he gets signed long-term.

Stuart is replaceable, but you don't need to replace Stuart if you already have Stuart. Plus he has the advantage of having been here a long time and knowing how everything works, so it would make sense for Kenny to try and re-sign him next year.

I would say the power play will be the difference, but the Bruins have managed to win three series so far while running a dismal 8% PP so I guess they've got something figured out. Probably the biggest development is that the Sedins stepped up their game in the conference finals; if they carry the mail in the SCF than Vancouver wins for sure. But if they wait around for Kesler to do all the work again then I'd pick Boston. The weird thing about the B's is that they don't really have a big time superstar player like the Sedins but manage to get good scoring from all up and down the line up. I wouldn't have guessed a "scoring by committee" type team would manage to get this far, but they beat the team that had all the superstars in Tampa, so here they are.

I agree. These guys were able to beat up on the Yotes but when it came time to play the Sharks again, the secondary scoring wasn't a big enough factor. And for the second year in a row, as well. Not that there seems to be a whole lot that can be done about it.

I'm sure Rafalski is a stand up guy, but I sincerely doubt he's retiring in some bizarre effort to "help" the Wings, especially when it wouldn't be any help at all if the Wings can't get someone to replace his offensive ability. In any event, I still appreciate Brian and his effort in Detroit and the Cup he was a big part of the team winning. No regrets; mission accomplished, man.

He had more ice time and PK time than any Wing in the playoffs, although he didn't draw the top match-ups that Mike delegated to Nick/Stuart. His point totals will go up if Rafalski/Lidstrom retire and he gets on the top PP unit. I'm sure Kenny will pursue whoever he can to make the team better, although I'm not sure there's really a market for a better #1 Dman, but anyways if necessary I think Kronwall could be the top guy.

Tampa's 3rd and 4th line guys are in for big raises after the playoffs they've had so far. Next season they have five forwards spots to fill (including re-signing Stamkos), two defensemen (including Brewer) and both goalies, so there might be a player or two to be pilfered.

I refer you to the game-winning goals for the Wings in Games 5 and 6 against the Sharks for a display of Homer's effectiveness at even-strength.

Homer is sometimes an anchor at even strength, but he's still capable of producing there. Do note the Wings' game-winners in Games 5 and 6 against the Sharks. He was more effective than any of the other Wings' forwards not named Zetterberg and Datsyuk in that series.

Maybe part of the problem is coaching, because Ericsson gets consistently burned whenever he tries to pinch and is frequently wandering around in the attacking zone in places he has no business being. He should be playing defensively, making the easy play, playing within his talent level instead of trying to be Lidstrom. Also, he's a gigantic wuss. If he would just use his size more, chip pucks off the glass and hang back in the O-zone that would make me happy. He does none of these things and it makes me unhappy. Anyways, he said this:

In Kronwall's defense, Nick gets more PP time and gets the A-team power play, wheras Nik gets saddled with disaster-zone Flip and Hudler power play. Kronwall's performance in these playoffs made me feel much better about the Wings whenever Nick does retire. As for whether or not that will happen next year, he was talking about how close a series it was, and could have gone either way, and he's right. Even if they don't change much at all he knows that the Wings are still going to be in the mix next year, especially if he turns in another performance like he did this season.

I'm surprised some folks here and saying he was even decent in Game 7. I thought he was far and away the worst forward on the team in that game. He was much, much better in Game 6. But the bottom line is, the team's secondary scoring type players had a very disappointing series, but at least they all chipped in at some point with a big play or two. All of them except Hudler, of course.

He was great against the JV Coyotes, but when it was time to play against some real opposition he wasn't very noticeable until Game 6. Pretty much the same story last year, too.

As much as I know anything, I know this: I love the Detroit Red Wings. Have a nice summer, fellas.

I hate everyone and everything, let's go Armageddon.

They should do something, although I don't know if they really can. Because for the second straight year against the Sharks, all of the guys not named Datsyuk and Zetterberg that were supposed to score for the Wings didn't do that very much.

It was a bad turnover, but Hank contributes so much to every Wings game, and it's inevitable that a player will screw up sometimes but he makes so few, that it's easily forgivable. There were just too many other players that were passengers in this series -- Dano and Bert unfortunately were hurt tonight, but were only a factor in 2 of the 6 games they actually did play in. Flip was only a factor in one of them. Obviously Hudler was terrible. I can't blame Franzen, it's a real shame injuries scuttled his playoffs. Hank and Pav pretty much carried the Wings to Game 7. Their secondary scoring needs some retooling because they should've had enough firepower to compete without Mule.

Allow me to join the choir... Hudler was brutal tonight, "big hit" on Cleary notwithstanding. But, there were too many passengers in this series. And they still nearly did it, but if they had someone that could contribute besides Hank and Pav (Mule )... The game though resembled way more Game 1 and 2 rather than 4 or 6. The Wings were outplayed, so that's the way it goes.

Look at you, Sharks. Pathetic creatures of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you cross my blue line. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?

It's been a long time since the Wings have needed anyone to be a contender. I thought the Wings would need to grab a top pairing defender when Nick retired, but Kronwall has come up huge in these playoffs and Babcock has put him into the #1 role (except on the PP) and he's flourished, so even that has allayed my fears a little.

I disagree, he and pretty much all the rest of the Wings had a great night winning puck battles, moving it quickly out of the defending zone, and controlling it in the attacking zone.

I agree. The breakaway miss made me want to swallow razor blades but he had plenty of jump tonight, and in the last two games as well.