Dabura

No, I'm looking for protection. Protection entails retribution, among other things. It's because people realize there's a difference between winning more games than anyone else in the regular season and winning more games than anyone else in the postseason. The former means nothing for a perennial contender; it's the playoffs that truly test the mettle of Cup favorites. Unfortunately, the Wings have not been up to snuff in that arena for the better part of this decade. '98 is now ten years gone. Those "dynasty" years should be viewed as irrelevant now.

It's all good.

The board has been filled with people who want to see the Wings lead the league in fighting minutes? Really? Honestly? Seriously? Not hyperbolically? Starting a thread here to call out, what, five or six lunatic fringe posters is stupid, especially when the OP doesn't even understand where the supposed lunatics are coming from. When people say we need something, it's usually for good reason -- even if the urgency is often overstated. For example: no, I don't think we need to lead the league in fighting majors, but I do think it's worth considering the sad notion that someone can run any of our stars without having to truly own up to it (no offense to Downey, but come on). What's to stop Pronger from "accidentally" taking a liberty with Hank's back? Certainly not the fear of being pounded by a Wing, let alone the possibility of a severe punishment from the league. Just some food for thought.

k

Picking up a guy like Hossa right now...having a good team for the next seven years....These things don't have to be mutually exclusive.

Hardly. What people want is a truly well-rounded team. A couple seasons ago, we didn't have enough grit. It hurts us in the postseason, people complained, the problem was more or less addressed, and it paid off. Now there are a couple "new" problems that need to be addressed -- namely, the second line and our lack of a big, physical, stay-at-home blue-liner who can log big minutes without being a liability. A big part of winning is keeping tabs on your weaknesses.

I agree that Ken generally comes off as a very reasonable guy. But this "eye on the future" business is bordering on masochistic.

You know, the more I think about this.............. We're not getting Hossa. Seriously. We have zilch to offer.

I question how big a hole Kronwall would leave. As good as he's becoming, the injury problems have gotten ridiculous and they're not going to stop. But you're right, we're not parting with him anyway, so it's a moot point. In all likelihood, the same goes for Flip.

Hossa will be looking for a long-term deal. If that's not what he ultimately wants, then no, don't go after him. As far as I know, though, it is. So this "Too much uncertainty!" business can stop. We have a secondary scoring problem. We've known this since the end of last season, when the need was so obvious that management identified it in no uncertain terms. Instead of bringing in a legitimate scoring threat, we honeymooned with largely unproven youngsters, only one of which (Hudler) is a "goal-scorer" by trade. It was a lazy makeshift plan that would have ended only three weeks in had Zetterberg not taken it upon himself to carry 95% of the offensive load himself. But see, the thing is, secondary scoring is supposed to come from your secondary guys. While Zetterberg has truly become one of the elite forwards in the NHL, he, by the very nature of his role on this team, can't help our secondary scoring problem. Babcock has tried sparking something by putting Datsyuk on the second line, and though it has worked pretty well, using a first-liner to help a lame second line is a copout solution. What we need is a scoring winger to anchor the second line, preferably one with a big body. Hossa is tailor-made for that role and would almost certainly give us a lights-out top 6. He's not Todd Bertuzzi; he doesn't have all of that baggage, he's an infinitely more complete player, and he's only now heading into his prime years. He's a potential franchise guy. Speaking long-term, Hossa is more valuable than Hudler, Flip and Kronwall (not combined, obviously). Hudler is, like Hossa, a goal-scorer, but his upside is far inferior. Hossa plays a shifty "puck wizard" game like Hudler does, but where Hudler will always be pushed around, Hossa is a really big guy who uses his size to great effect, making him extremely difficult to contain. Additionally, he plays a solid game in all three zones. You wouldn't know it looking at his +/-, but remember: he plays on the Atlanta Thrashers. So shipping Hudler is a no-brainer. I'd be more hesitant to let go of Flip and Kronwall, as the former has the shown the makings of a great playmaker and the latter has become an important part of D. However, their contributions (present and future) can be replaced. Hossa, being a potential franchise guy, is someone you can build a team around -- and right now, not three or four years down the road when half of the present roster will be gone. Bottom line: The real "risk" here would be taking a guy like Hudler over a guy like Hossa, not vice-versa.

Also, what is this "guy like Hossa" crap? What, you mean a guy who's big, knows how to put the puck in the net and is generally a pain in the ass to play against, even for the league's elite shutdown players? That kind of a guy? I can't imagine why we'd want to sacrifice a guy like Hudler for a guy like that. Seriously, reality check time.

If it ain't broke don't fix it!!1 We're in first place for a reason!!1 We have all the scoring depth we need!!1

The NHL is killing the NHL.

Now imagine this Ducks team with Blake and a shiny new second-line forward, and this Wings team without any roster changes. You can say the Ducks have had a disappointing season all you want, but they're getting their s*** together now and they're only going to get better from here on out.

Kopecky running Selanne. Nice.

Eat it, Scotty.

Atta boy, 'stein.

I like that we're not being fancy with the breakout efforts. The Ducks still own the Wings in the d-zone.

Pavel Datsyuk storming through neutral ice must surely be the scariest sight in the world for a gassed D-man.

That's why I like Rafalski.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Come on, guys, we'll be fine. Our offense is totally stacked.

Oh please. I don't know how many times this team needs to get upset in the postseason before people realize regular season success means nothing. It absolutely boggles my mind that even now, after all our recent playoff upsets, people would still cite dominance in the regular season as proof that no changes need to be made. Instead of gloating over another Presidents' Trophy, this team should be focusing on those postseason losses that prevented it from winning the trophy that really matters -- the Cup. Every team is 0-0 at the start of the playoffs, and every team plays harder than it did in the regular season. We all know this, and we all know it's foolish to think we'll be OK if Flip and Hudler and Sammy just try really, really hard. Bah, my head hurts.

The more bad losses, the better. Anything to erase this "If it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality.

Never count Brian Burke out of anything. If he wants something, he usually gets it -- "conceivable" or not.

Taking on a rental player is not tantamount to "buying your team," nor is it something that is preventing any team from "learning how to draft" and groom their prospects. No GM sits there at the beginning of the season and goes, "Well I'll just neglect our farm because I know we'll just end up buying someone." Come on. If anyone has/had that probably, it was pre-lockout Holland. But he seems to have learned his lesson, so I don't see what the problem is. I can understand not wanting to see us go for Sundin or Hossa. But your argument against the general practice of renting is lame. It'll look even lamer when the Ducks pick up Blake and/or Forsberg and pound us into the ground en route to their second straight Cup. But they will have merely bought their Cup, right? They won't have truly earned it, right?