Dabura

Arbitrary, IMO. We need an elite goal-scoring winger. Hossa would give us that and more, barring injury problems. He's got a good-sized frame, he's fast, he's creative, he's a pain in the ass to play against -- the only problem is, yes, his asking price.

They're about 15 years late on that story.

People. Not. Happening.

He's actually #1 on my Semi-Plausible Wishlist. But let's be honest: our chances of landing him this season are slim-to-none.

To be fair, espn.com's been pretty kind to the Wings this season. They always have, really. Although I do think keeping the Sens at #1 on this week's power rankings is wack. But whatever.

Dude. He's just saying a true franchise 'minder would have helped. Can't really argue with that.

Not happening, which is fine by me. Having said that -- we are, barring a small miracle, going to be royally screwed come the trade deadline. Kenny will likely need to think outside of the box this season if he's to address the hole(s) in our offensive corps.

Double.

The shot differential stat isn't perfect, obviously. But the scoring chances stat is every bit as liable to be misleading or altogether unenlightening. If we're going to use hypotheticals -- say a team is on the short end of six 5-on-3 situations, and those situations yield 20 scoring chances for the opposition, giving them an enormously lopsided scoring chances "edge" by game's end. Does it necessarily follow that the team on the good end of those situations just flat-out overwhelmed the other team with superior play? Nope. Really, though, this discussion's pretty silly.

qft

I just hope Kenny pulls off something spectacular at the trade deadline. Because, honestly, no amount of mixing and matching is going to make our current offensive unit competitive enough to win it all.

Trade Lebda and/or Kronwall. Meech as well, I suppose.

No chance. None, nada, zip, zilch, zero. We don't have nearly enough assets to offer. And besides, I think management's fairly serious about making Howard the #1 guy in a season or two.

Like I said in another thread, Sundin's not going anywhere. And if by some miracle he does go somewhere, it won't be Detroit. But to answer your question: NO. I could bear to part with Hudler, as he is and will forever be expendable. But definitely keep Ericsson out of it, and only throw in a 1st rounder if we're getting something truly special in return, not an aging one-year rental.

Obviously it'd be great for him to win it, but we all know it's unlikely. The ZDH line will be split up, he'll cool down, Crosby and co. will pick up steam, and there ya go.

Even so, a Howard-Ozzie tandem doesn't exactly scream, "Cup Contender." Oh well, we'll see how it all pans out. Should be very interesting, to say the least.

Sundin's not going anywhere. And Forsberg's dead, as far as I'm concerned. Now Feds...maybe that I could get behind.

Wouldn't surprise me. Whenever I see or hear the name Larry Murphy, the first words that always come to my mind are "FIRE ON ICE!"

It must be nice having a stable goalie situation.

Personally, I didn't get that from the article. If anything, I think it echoes what we're saying -- that is, that the NHL's business model and marketing strategies are faltering. Chasing the Almighty Dollar is fine, but if you're a professional sports league, you have to be smart and tactful about it. And The NHL is anything but. Bettman is, in a not-so-far-fetched sense, out of control. For the life of him, he can't seem to understand that if you're going to make a move designed to increase revenue at the risk of toying with an already-frail Stateside fanbase, you had better be damn sure that that move is going to get you the earnings you desire. Otherwise, all you're going to do is over-extend yourself and piss off a lot of consumers (and make no mistake: the consumer is central to just about any business's vitality). But his schemes rarely work in that sense, and with each failure, his hole (and the league's hole) grows deeper and deeper. Hell, the brass can't even handle the duties that aren't ostensibly tied to money, duties like taking a hard stance on dangerous plays. "We're going to take a hard stance on recklessness. To that end, we will be keeping an eye on Tomas Holmstrom."

Not really. The shots differential is a "holistic stat"; it can help you see the big picture, e.g. "Team A's offense generally overpowered Team B's defense." It's harder to get a good feel for what's going on if you're just looking at scoring chances -- at least half of which can usually be chalked up to individual players' brain farts, which are rarely indicative of their teams' overall performance.

I didn't realized he faked the guy until I saw the replay from the goal-line angle. Beautiful.

No one is going to deny this. The problem is that the NHL as a corporate entity is nothing short of a joke, always working for the proverbial bacon, but never quite bringing it home. The NFL, NBA, MLB -- at the end of the day, they all know how to get the job done. The NHL? Something something TOTALLY RADICAL JERSEYS something something LAS VEGAS something something EMPTY SEATS? WAAHHH??? something something.... Granted, the league is at an inherent disadvantage, as hockey and the States will never be great bedfellows. But the point remains: The NHL is a bad business.

"Hockey's for goons and thugs. Up next, boxing!"