Hank

At least there's some good news out of this post.

I voted no and here's why. I simply do not think he did enough to warrent getting his jersey retired. If he had stayed here, then yes. But he ran out of town for the wrong reasons. He was even offered more money to stay in Detroit. He was a HUGE part of us winning the Cup 3 times. But saying that, then I believe if he gets his jersey retired then so should Larionov. They basically did the same things while in Detroit. Fedorov had some good seasons but he's not even close to being one of the top all time scorers in Wings history. He won some hardware but I really don't think he did enough in a Wings jersey to have it hung beside true greats like Yzerman, Howe, Abel, Lindsay, Sawchuk and (eventually) Lidstrom.

QFT. It's early yet, and so far in limited action he looks very good. But I don't know if any scout or GM had him penciled in as a top 6 forward. But it looks like he might have turned the corner in that regard. If so, good for him and the Panthers for getting something for Luongo (which it comes down to). I still think he'll be more of a 3rd line centre capable of netting 15 goals. Perhaps a Ryan Kelser type player. But who knows? This kid could be the next Oli Jokinen for all we know? It was still a good deal at the time (as was the Lang deal). But looking back, it'd be nice to have this kid in our cupboard.

I understand what you're saying. But your example actually exemplifies my point that people only like long OT games if THEIR team is involved. How much of the OT game did you watch in last years Stars-Canucks game? If you said all 5 OT's, then you're in the 5% that did. I love watching any hockey, especially playoff hockey, but too many times over the past 5 years I couldn't watch the completion of them because they lasted 7 hours. And most OT goals look nothing like Stevie's. Most of them are off 3 pairs of legs, someone's butt and in the net. OT hockey is usually some of the worst hockey you'll see all year. That's because every team goes into a shell and doesn't chance anything. I used to be a purist, but I've changed as I've gotten older. Sports=Money nowadays. And if we all want the NHL to get more TV exposure changes like these will be on their way. It's been well documented how much ABC, Fox and now NBC hate how long some games will go. It hurts their ratings and kills their other programming lineups.

I haven't followed Eklund much but from the little I've seen of his site, I've never seen any of his predictions come true. He had Smyth signing with Calgary E5. But anyone with a slide rule could have figured out with big contracts like Iginla and Tanguay's on the books and with upcoming free agents like Kipersoff, Phaneuf and Regher there was no way they could have afforded Smyth. In all honesty, despite my brain telling me there's no way Hossa comes to Detroit I was still excited about the prospect. But now that Ek says it's almost certain, you can put money down that it won't happen. There has been proven cases where he's posted 'rumours' that have come from children and internet bloggers.

Actually there's rumors that it'll be simplified even further. 2 points for a win and 0 for a loss. Bobby Holik came out a few weeks ago and said that a majority of NHL players are tired of the extra point. And so am I. If you lose, you should get nothing. There's also some talk going around the NHL offices that playoff OT might change as well. Some are suggesting that they'll make it the same in the regular season and the playoffs: - 20 minute 4-on-4 OT period followed by a shootout. Yes, the Stanley Cup might one day be decided by a shootout. And I know a lot of NHL fans would HATE this. But nobody here can tell me that a game 7 shootout to decide the Cup wouldn't capture the attention of several fans and non-fans across the US. The attention it would recieve would be tremendous. And to speak frankly, I think only fans of the losing team would hate it. The other millions of fans that have no emotional investment in the finals, would love to see something like that. Pure drama.

Very true. Unfortunately, to get both we wouldn't have any prospects or good young players left on our farm or roster. Unless Holland has the same Kool-Aid that Lou L. gives out, we'd have to pay through the nose for both those players.

Eklund is so full of crap that by him saying there's an excellent chance this happens, it means Waddel and Holland haven't even spoken. Anyway, to get Hossa we're going to have to give up a LOT. I don't see us getting him without departing with Filpulla. And if not, then say goodbye to Hudler and a couple of very good prospects like Dick Axelsson, Ericsson, Quincy or maybe even Brendan Smith. Hossa will NOT come cheap and the reason why I don't think it happens is because if Holland has to spend highly to get him, he'd want to resign him. And I don't think they can fit him under the Cap. My guess is that San Jose is the team that has the best situation to pick up a guy like Hossa, Jagr or Sundin. They have tonnes of room under the Cap, they're a Western conference team and have a bunch of good young prospects they can afford to give up. They could also use another big talented forward. Can you imagine SJ with Hossa or Sundin? Especially Sundin. Two giant centres that are very offensively gifted. That could be the final peice for that team.

That's the only thing that ESPN has over VS in regards to the NHL. In my mind, I wish the NHL would find a way to help VS get on every basic cable and satellite package in the US. They do a fantastic job representing the sport. They always have great pre and post game analysis as well as a quality production during the game. ESPN couldn't care less about hockey. It's too busy buying up rock-paper-scissors and major league gaming contracts to care. ESPN is turning into MTV.

So true. There's no reason that guys like Jagr and Fedorov shouldn't be in the top 10 scoring. Especially in the 'new' NHL. If a 37 year old Sakic can still get 100 points then Fedorov could certainly score 90. And there are nights where Jagr shows why he's considered one of the best in the league. If he had a tenth of Crosby's drive he'd be leading this league in scoring. That's why I think if he lined up with Datsyuk he'd be awesome. But I'm not willing to part with Flip for him - even if we found a way to have him, Zetts, Dats, Rafalski and Lids under the cap. Jagr is so moody and unpredictable, I'd hate to give up on such a great young player for someone who shows up once every 5 games and possibly not at all in the playoffs.

That's the rumour. Who knows how much is true, but the Rangers can't do as poorly without him.

Price is far too high. One guy I think the Wings might have a legit shot of picking up is Jagr. His price is a little less because he's an absolute head case and nobody knows if he'll play hard for you every night. But something tells me that he'd play well with the Wings. I think he'd match up well with either Dats or Zetts. But even his price would probably be too steep. The only big name UFA I can see landing here is Blake.

I had Orr winning it because he ended up dropping Laraque. But it was a good tilt either way. I really enjoyed this game. Crosby sure showed why he's considered the best in the game right now. How many times did he undress a dman? Man this kid is awesome to watch. Watching the Rangers free fall brings a smile to my face. Sather is so completely daft it's not even funny. Letting Nylander walk and sign for peanuts compared to Gomez was a colossal mistake. And with today's NHL, every GM should know that if you have chemistry, you keep them. Gomez and Drury have been big busts so far. $15M could have gone a long way in resigning Lundqvist long term as well as picking up a dman or two. I hope they don't make the playoffs and I hope Sather is fired. I'm tired of idiot GM's that continue to believe that throwing money at problems is the solution.

I've always liked that idea. Back in the day there used to be fights too. Can't see that happening now but I think there'd be more emotion.

The NHL doesn't have a 'real' national TV contract because nobody in the US cares about the NHL. Sure, there are millions of fans that follow 1 team and 1 team only, but the NHL is more regional than any other pro sport in North America. And, whether you agree with me or not, the product on the ice isn't good enough yet to get a big national deal with a big provider like ESPN. If you're going to suck in, and retain, new fans, you need to make the product more North American friendly. There needs to be way more goals, more room and more fights/physical play. And I know this is blasphemy for some to admit, but too many of the NHL's stars are European. If 4 out of every 5 star/top scorer was North American it would be a lot different. But North Americans relate much, much better to North American athletes. It's as simple as that. Give the people a reason to love the sport and then they'll come. But watching one 2-1 game after another where offenses are easily supressed by boring defensive systems won't win over any new fans or bigtime TV contracts.

Well done Toby!

How about this non-McCarty trivia: Who's the last NHLer to wear the #99 besides Wayne Gretzky? And for bonus rounds, what was Joe Sakic's original number when he broke in the league.

I guess this is an obvious question, but watching how well Mike Green of the Caps is playing it sure makes that Lang deal look bad. I understand that Kenny had to do what he had to do, but I'm glad to see that in the last couple of years, we aren't throwing away our 1st rounders as much. Especially when the last few drafts have been quite fruitful. Mike Green on our blueline would sure look great. He's a right-handed shot, can skate, hit, has a great offensive skill set and is sound defensively.

I believe that Phoenix is finally going to tear away from Toronto in this regard. With Hanzal and Mueller already establishing themselves and guys like Turris, Lisin and Wheeler on the horizon, soon only the Leafs will be in the basement in regards to their horrible drafting. Out of their entire prospects list only Tlusty looks to have any star qualities about him.

I understand your point, but this is done all the time around the NHL. And not just by clueless armchair GM's like myself. I've heard countless commentators, journalists and even other NHL GM's say "What if?" when talking about deals that involved draft picks which turned into HOF players. How many times have we heard people lambast the rest of the NHL for watching Lidstrom, Fedorov, Konstantinov (among others) slip by? Again, I never once said that Lang sucks, only that when you compare what we got to what Washington made of the deal, it would be nice to have Green on our side. I also made sure to say that I understood why Kenny made the deal. I would have made it at that time too.

Thanks for the assessment. It's very much appreciated. I remember when he was a 2nd year pro with Adirondack and during the summer he trained with the local Junior C club in my town (Kingsville Comets). I never saw him train with them, but someone close to the team told me it was night and day with his skating compared to the other kids. He was so much faster and more agile than any of them. Apparently during a drill where they were forced to skate around the rink at their top speed until they dropped, all the Comet players were on the ice looking for buckets to puke in while McCarty was still skating around like he was having a good old time. I also heard that one of the Comets tough guys fought him during a scrimmage and Mac destroyed him. I've made it known that I'm not a Mac fan but I do wish him the best for his and his family's sake. He's got some young kids so my hopes are that he cleans up his act so they can enjoy their dad for several more years and McCarty can rekindle a little of what he threw away.

That wasn't my intention in the least and I don't beleive I wrote one bad word about Lang in my initial thread. All I was saying is that Green would like nice in red and white. What's wrong with discussing hypothetical issues? Your logic still makes no sense. Our defensive cupboard has never been more packed and we still drafted Smith. It has absolutely nothing to do with making sure our AHL team has enough Dmen, which is a ridiculous concept - teams draft for their big clubs not their farm teams. If the Wings need help on the farm they'll sign guys in the offseason like they did with Norton and others. The Wings, like most teams don't draft for need but rather the best player available. And since Holland and company know that dmen are at a premium they'll continue to draft quality dmen and worry about the log jam later. You gotta love LGW. Every post is an invitation to an argument. You could say "I think air is great" and you'd get half a dozen posts telling you off saying that air is overrated or how air sucks because one time you got punched in the stomach and lost all of it - where were you then air! Huh? Huh??!?!?! Me too. He's been dynamite. Not like that bum Carle! What a nightmare season he's having. (again, an invititation for people to jump down my throat) "Carle is the best player who's ever lived! He hasn't been a nightmare in the least! Lots of guys love to draft dmen in their fantasy pools that are on pace for 20 points!!!!"

Thanks for the update Zata40. What was his speed like compared to the other players? My concern is, if he's only marginally faster than those of the IHL variety, he'd be mud in the NHL.

You're absolutely right. Afterall, we had so many dmen in our cupboard already the Wings decided to draft a forward this past spring. Oops. That's right, we drafted Brad Smith didn't we?

I agree with you there. If there is a small chance McCarty plays for the Wings it won't be this year but maybe next year. The thing that makes me laugh about everyone wanting McCarty back is that they're not using their heads. Before Mac got a tryout with the Generals I don't recall one thread on these boards that said "We need another 4th line grinder". Suddenly Mac is back skating and this plays blows up about how this team needs him. No it doesn't. Not in the least. The Wings could use more pucks, water bottles, more fans in the seats or a depth defenseman, but they absolutely do not need 35 year old Mr.Glass. P.S. Regarding the Grinder incident, it was never in print but I heard a few Canadian journalists mention it. And what has been in print (Windsor Star after Mac declared bankrupcy) is that Bowman, Holland and Draper all told him to dump Grinder as they were a terrible influence and a group of drugged up idiots. He never did it. And while he might say he's done with the band I still have my doubts as the last time he was at the Joe he had a Grinder hat on. Anyway, I guess I'm done repeating myself. When the Wings signed Drake and Downy they filled their quota of players that could fight, check, play D and bring character & leadership. McCarty isn't better than either of those two in any category. And that's an in-shape Mac.