daniel1

Sign Jason Blake or Ryan Smyth to play with with Datsyuk and Homer Re-sign Bertuzzi to play with Zetterberg and Franzen Sign Andy Sutton to give us that nasty D-man Re-sign Schneider to a 2yr deal Re-sign Hasek to 1yr incentive laden deal and bring up Howard as the 3rd goalie so he can take over when Hasek retires Send Lang off with a box of doughnuts Put Malts in the press box and give the ice time to Hudler/Grigorenko That's my "dream" scenario. In the real world I would be satisfied with bringing Bertuzzi back and signing Adam Mair for the 3rd/4th line.

Boy that would be sweet to have those two (Dats + Z) centering our top two lines. Just put them together for the PP and late game situations. If one or both struggle out of the gate though I don't think it will take too long before they're paired up again though (see Sept 06). I would love one of them to have Homer and the other to have Bert on their wings though... Take the Lang money and the cap increase and bring in another 2-3mil/yr scoring winger and resign Bert. Bert - Z - UFA/Scoring Winger Homer - Dats - Mule Malts - Drapes - Cleary Sammy - Flip - Kopecky/Huds From the UFA list there's; Slava Kozlov, Scott Walker, Scott Hartnell, Freddy Modin, and Jason Blake that would all fit the bill and provide scoring. I hate Hartnell so he must be good. We took Markov from the Preds and that worked out pretty well. *Jeff Cowan really impressed me during the playoffs with the Nucks. I wonder if we have any room for him? He can fight, plays hard and seems like he's finding his offensive game too. Best part of all... he would be dirt cheap. Waiver pickup who proved he can still play the game. Could even be a guy for GR and serve as a verteran call up.

When he first came he was our best player in several games. After the first couple of games in the Calgary series he hasn't had the same jump and determination on the puck in the corners and around the net. He's also being outplayed by Franzen, Cleary and lately Sammy; meaning that he's behind them in depth and ice time. I did hear a rumour about him having a bad hand, but that shouldn't affect his skating I wouldn't think. If he wants a contract offer from the Wings for next year he needs to step it up and play like he did for the first few games after we acquired him. I agree though if he is injured then he should sit and Hudler should be in. That last game against the Sharks Bertuzzi was buzzing around the net like a bull in a china shop and Calder got more than a couple close range chances and couldn't bury them. Give Hudler a shot with Bert now that he seems to have his legs back. Huds-Flip-Bert for game 1 against the Quackers please.

Ok Yorio, the jig is up... we know it's really you under that spamgoblin mask. Now quit trolling our boards fishing for quotes that you can plagerise for your next comic bit that you call a column. Get back to work over at Yahoo-less and start churning out more of those articles which contain all the insight and expert analaysis that one would expect from a talking chimp. And finally, the ultimate insult, "Yorio; you make Bob "doughnut" Mackenzie look good!". And if by chance you're not Yorio in disguise then you might be the first male hockey fan as dumb as she is. Unless Dats, Z, Homer, Kronner, Lebda, Flip, Huds, Grigs, and Franzen all defect to Jupiter, the Wings will remain an elite team with a shot at the Cup every year for the next few years and beyond. If you don't think Hakan Andersson can continue to find talent where no one else can then you obviously are not a hockey fan. If you don't think Holland and Yzerman can continue to evaluate NHL talent and bring in the best fit each year for this club then you are obviously an idiot. If you don't think Mike Ilitch is willing to spend the money to bring in quality pieces for a cup run each and every year then obviously you can't even read the names on the Cup for the years 1996, 1997 and 2002. Now run along and dream up excuses for Patty "Nessie" Marleau and Joe "Jumbo-Dissapointment" Thornton while we Wings fans continue the quest for the Cup.

I like your thinkin but... I think we'll get a 2nd line center to play with Bert (if he stays around), as much as I like Flip I don't know if he'll be ready for full time 2nd center duty and it wouldn't hurt to bring in one more pivot as that fourth line with Huds as center would look a lot better with Flip in the middle and Hudler/Grigs pushing each other for ice time. I don't see Kopecky in your line up either, where would you fit him in? I can see actually see Grigs spending all or most of next year in GR and Kopecky taking his spot unless Grigs lights it up and proves he's NHL ready rather than AHL ready. Michael Handzus is a UFA center (Chicago) with size coming off a couple sub-par years that may be had for around 2.5m over 2yrs, he would be a good insurance policy. Petr Sykora (Oilers UFA) might fit here as well, he's coming off a 20 goal campaign, has good speed and has some experience too. His -20 rating scares me a little... but he was an Oiler last year. Again I think he may trade a bit of cash for a legit shot at winning - under 3mil/yr I would hope. Josef Vasicek (Preds UFA) could be another option. Has good size and put up decent #'s with Carolina before injury problems limited his production for the past couple seasons. From all reports he's got great skills and at 27 may just be ready for a breakout year if healthy. I don't know what kind of dough he would be asking for but after the last couple seasons I have to believe that a short term deal for around 2.5mil/yr could lure him to Detroit. We can dream all we want about Briere or Drury coming over but there's no way Buffalo doesn't hold on to one of these guys and the other one's gonna command anywhere from 5 - 6.5 a year for sure so we probably can't afford it. Lost in the UFA problems for the Sabres might be Adam Mair though. He's plenty tough, with decent size and a good checker and would fit nicely with Draper and Maltby allowing Cleary to move up and play center.

It tastes good when we win; always. I would love to be eating it still when Dats wins the Conn Smythe; he would be the first Russian to ever do so I believe, which would pretty much silence even the most vehement xenophobe. If he leads the team in points and the Wings go all the way, he would have to be considered as a strong candidate. * note * I find myself wondering if Fedorov's departure via free agency had any bearing on Yzerman's insistence for locking up Dats long term. Perhaps the "wYse" one looks back and sees the Feds departure as the beginning of the end for that Championship team and in hindsight wishes Feds would have stuck around for a few more years. Hate him if you must LGW'ers; but in his prime Feds was dynamite in the playoffs and was a huge part of those 3 Cups we now cherish. I can't help thinking that if he had stuck around, he wouldn't have lost his focus or had the injury troubles which led to his decline. Stevie Y may have seen the similarities and the merit in gambling on a 7 year deal based on the mistakes made by both the Wings and Feds in past years.

I was one of the strongest advocators of trading Datsyuk when he was in his early season funk, not scoring or contributing much in the way of offense. After he and Hank were re-united and that line started clicking I could smell the crow roasting in the oven. Then the Dats-Z-Homer line became the best in hockey for a time and mom was setting the plates on the table and getting out my favorite crow-chopsticks in preparation. His new contract came and i nearly choked on the appetizers! I couldn't believe that it was 7 years, nor could I believe it got done BEFORE he had shown that he could compete in the playoffs. Once the playoffs started however it was obvious that my main course would be served, and perhaps I would even have to have a second helping. I don't mind wiping my lips of this delectable roast crow at all, in fact I'm even warming up to the idea of the long term contract (provided there are injury clauses) because that is how we fans build a connection players on the team. Given the choice in September I would have traded Datsyuk for Doan - straight up. Now I'm quite happy we didn't although I don't think we would have got "taken" in the deal, I'm happier that Dats has conquered his demons and is shining here for Babs in Detroit rather than toiling for Whine Gretzky in the desert.

I just saw a Datsyuk slapshot... I didn't even know he knew how. Next shift will be a Samuelsson pass, followed by a Chelios breakaway goal and Snufalufagus with the 2nd assist on it.

Cleary is miked up for TSN; Sammy scores and Cleary says, "What a goal!! I didn't know he had that kind of speed!". Ya... you, me, LGW, and the state of Michigan, Dano my boy...

He couldn't be any worse than J-Willy was back there I have resorted to whipping the ex-whipping boys of LGW due to the current Wings team having no one to whip,

Ya, and he wanted to send a message in "morse code" to the rest of the Sharks to tell them to "pick up Nabby's stick!" for him. Then we find out why they don't give it back to him and Nabby sends a "morse code" note of his own back to Heals saying, "shuttup ya moron, don't you think I would have picked it up if I it WASN"T broken? Now quit talking cause you're mouth is proving that your brain doesn't work."

Yes, me thinks this does pose quite a debacle... That being said, it is a nice conundrum to find oneself in when all the "usual suspects" for LGW Whipping Boy are performing like All-Stars in the playoffs. First Lilja, who has received more ill-tempered ink on this board than Paris Hilton does at the DMV, bails us out and plays like Pronger when Kronner goes down. Then just when we feel that it's safe to ride Lazy and Sucks out of town at gunpoint, he goes and literally saves our season with a between-the-legs snappy on nabby. We breathe a collective sigh and sharpen our knives and tongues for Sammy, he of the 90 foot limp-wristed wasted cream-puff shots on goal, who then scores two monstrous 4 foot steel-forearmed laser beams that put us up by two ON THE ROAD in an elimination game. Hudler... you've got to become "Lousy and Smelly", or the LGW board will simply implode with accolades without an outlet for the pent up hostility of the Wings not winning every single game they play.

Did that bagpipe blowing bastard Healy just say Markov "sold the call in either English or Canadian"? Does he really think "Canadian" is a language unto itself? He gets dumber as this series goes on....

I'm hearing different things about the game time. Yahoo sports has it listed as 9pm (et) in one place and then 10pm (et) in yet another. NHL.com has it at 9pm (et) but then TSN has it listed on their guide as 10pm (et). Why do these "supposedly" reputable sources differ? Does anyone have a 100% verifiably correct link to the real start time for this game?

Thanks for the photos! Do you have any of the inside? I was wondering if it's a typical layout or if maybe there's bunks for napping or an "office" of sorts for Babs and Leyland to work out of while the players rest up?

I agree completely with you. Cleary has more offensive upside than Malts ever did though. As much as I love Malty and what he's done for the organization I wouldn't be surprised if this is his last year here. I would love to sign Adam Mair (UFA, Buffalo) for the Grind line with Draper and Cleary next year. I think Mair is just coming into his own and will command a hefty raise (1-1.5m/yr) that Buffalo won't be able to afford given all their UFA's this year. Mair bangs with the best of them, drops his mitts quite often and is deffensively responsible too. He would fit with Cleary and Draper real well. Cleary was our best forward in the Calgary seriesa and I'm looking for him to continue that into the second round.

Yes, agreed, I watched that one too and thought the exact same thing. I've been calling this guy "the giveaway king" for a long timen now. When i read that stat that he lead the entire LEAGUE in giveaways I wasn't surprised at all. It seemed that every game I watched he was the guy that killed the scoring chance or gave the other team one. I'm confused though; why, why, oh WHY does Babs not change things up with him? I coach a high school hockey team and if one of my better players was pulling a "Lang" I would TRY different things. ie, bench him for a period, move him down to the third line, bench him for a game, call him out in the press! Babs, to my knowledge (which is very limited, lol) hasn't done any of these that I can see by watching the games. So does Lang have pictures of Babs with a hooker or something? Do something about him Babcock!

I don't doubt it. He sure hasn't been "working" for our team.

Drapes needs a raise!

I've actually written a comment to her suggesting that she report on something that she actually knows about. Her articles are usually full of glaring errors and incorrect stats. She is the worst hockey writer I've ever encountered. I hereby decree by the powers vested in me that for now and ever on that anyone who is guilty of committing an aggregious error of that highest magnitude shall be deemed to have "PULLED A YORIO". Score on your own net... you've just pulled a Yorio. Drop a touchdown pass... you've pulled a Yorio too. Walk in the winning run... you have now pulled a Yorio jackass! Maybe if her boss hears of enough people who've pulled a Yorio eventually she'll get canned.

Oh don't be a prissy little jerk! Honestly, some people on this board act like they're in the dressing room or on the team. Why is too early to talk about the cup? Or the next series, or what the Wings will do in the offseason or anything for that matter? If you really believe that anything we discuss here is going to affect how the team plays then you need to get your head out of your ass and get a clue! Now that we're clear; I think he should give it to Hasek. If not him then Datsyuk maybe, or whoever wins the Con Smythe, unless of course Lidstrom wins it.

Agreed; my crow was especially tasty this morning with eggs and toast.

Now don't take the wrong way Jpuppy21, but if "no one" here means anything to you anyhow, then why post here at all? Why not simply record your thoughts in a diary that you keep to yourself? Most of us that post on this board value the opinions of the other members; we may not always agree with them but we try to keep in mind that without them there would be no debate and ergo, no LGW.com. We would like to involve you in a respectful hockey discussion and i'll assume that you're a Red Wing fan so already we have something in common. Let's all play nice and share the sandbox shall we.

I wanted to let all my fellow Can-Am Wings fans know that the CBC website archives their NHL playoff telecasts for a couple days after they air. They're free to stream and i'm sure some inovative techie Wing fan can find a way to archive them as they stream too. The picture quality is excellent and the commentators are decent as well. For those of you who don't get a CBC feed, they also have some telecast extra features inbetween periods that you might want to check out. Kelly Hrudey and Don MaClean are two of my favorite on air personalities and while the CBC is Canadian they're not too biased most nights. They also have the other series games that CBC broadcasts available too. Here's the link CBC Archived Playoff Games Note - You may have to click on the "Archived" tab to see the list of available games.

My apologies friends; after an email exchange with CBC I have just been made aware that due to "marketing" restrictions the internet feed is only available in Canada. However if you know anything about "IP spoofing" you might be able to get around CBC's USA blackout.