Hank

Just to play devils advocate here. I did a quick Excel sheet with all the salaries the Wings have on the books at this point as well as my estimated resignings (indicated in bold) and if Filpulla and Kindl were used to get Hossa out of Atlanta. The only way I see us coming close to keeping everyone under contract is to sign Lids to a deal that averages $7M a season and then sign Zetts and Hossa to deals that average $6M. I know that sounds very optimistic of me, but if they front load the contracts so that Z and Hossa make a HUGE chunk at the beginning they may go for it. Especially if they feel they can win it all with them all together. So for example both Z and Hossa take a 5 year deal worth $31M but the first two years pay out $10M and 9M respectively with the final 3 years paying $4M a season. The first couple of years look doable but year 3 looks tight as we'll have a little over $45M on the books with only 11 forwards and 5 dmen signed. And who's to say the cap doesn't go down. Anyway, this is a really rough estimate of resignings. I'm sure I got something wrong. But I thought it would be good food for thought.

This is off-topic but since it deals with the Ducks I thought I'd post here rather than make a new thread. I don't care what anyone says, J.S.Giguire is the most entertaining player in the NHL. The other night I watched him get burned on some goals that every other goalie in the league would stop. It's highly entertaining to watch Ultraman slowly turn his body or try to move but can't because he has no athletecism or skill and is trapped in an overabundance of padding. He reminds me of one of the goalies from an old table-hockey game of mine. The goalie simply moves east and west. No glove hand or blocker. No diving, flopping or making acrobatic saves. He's very simple at what he does. If the shot is on net and it doesn't hit a peice of him, it's a goal. That's J.S. to a "T". Don't expect any glove saves or desperation saves. He simply doesn't have the talent for that. Once he's squared up, that's where he stays. It's like watching a damn sasquatch on ice out there. Hahaha! I love how Burke spent a combined $15M+ on 3 players that are either hurt or hores**t for him this year. JS is making over $6M a season and he's a terrific 1-3 this season. Well done Michelen man! Way to steal some games for your team. But it's not his fault. You need actual skill to steal games as a goaltender! hahahaha!

I heard he's busy curing AIDs while developing Cold Fusion technologies. Is there anything this no-talent liar can't do?

If they're kept together in the playoffs don't expect many wins on the road. Anaheim and San Jose shut them down fairly well during ES situations. We need more balanced scoring and that will come when Franzen gets back into the lineup and D and Z are split up. They're better players with each other but we're a stronger team with them apart.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, beat me with the unstoppable combo of 2 big guys, one medium and 1 small. I was unstoppable!!! Damn! Why coudn't the Wii offer this game online???

I'm a complete Blackhawks bandwagon fan now. With Toews and Kane out there, I find myself tuning into Chicago games more than Wings games. Toews is awesome and I think he's going to be "Yzerman-esque" type of player for many years to come. Besides, I'm like a lot of people here, I have a warm spot for any original 6 team - except Toronto.

Maybe he's watching too many Sammuelson tapes?

Before he finally did come to the US I was also hoping that he'd live up to the hype. But alas, that's not going to happen. He's got a really sweet ride happening in Russia and I don't see him coming back over. For $1M us tax-free dollars he'll play half as many games as he would here and he can stay fat and out of shape. The Grigs experiment is over. It's time to watch our other prospects blossom. Guys like Emmerton, Mursak, Smith, Dick Axelsson, Ericcson, etc. We don't need a 24-year old prospect who doesn't think he has to work to make this team.

Sorry, I corrected it:

Yup. And if I can recall it was Shanny and Lapointe that were on the cam but neither wanted to engage each other. So Yzerman leaned over and kissed Marty for Shanny. See, Yzerman with another assist for Shanny!

And I don't think Kellie Pickler is going to be buying tickets anytime soon.

You and me both.

I agree that the division has gotten better but when you consider how poor it was last year, I don't think it says a whole lot. IMO, it's still the weakest division in the league, but at least it's not the most boring. However, saying that, for those that say Detroit has a bloated record due to their weak division, all they have to do is look at our travel time. I'd love to see Philly or Buffalo players do this for a year. Biron had a blog on NHL.com about their 10 day road trip and all he did was ***** about travel and time changes. Suck it up loser! That'll be the only real road trip Philly will take all year and all they can do is complain. Try doing it all year like the Wings.

Attendace for last nights game was 13,383. But I would bet my bottom dollar at least 1,000 tickets were comped. In all reality there might have only been 11,000 tickets sold for last nights game. By Christmas the Preds will have to average over 15,000 paid tickets to keep their team. That's not going to happen. Looks like even the powerful Eklund couldn't save this franchise. EDIT: according to a poster on the Nashville board 3100 tickets were comped. If this is true there were only 10,283 tickets sold. It sure sounds like this hockey crazed town is trying to save their team. Sorry, last edition. So the unofficial average for paid attendance has been: 11766. That means that the Preds will have to average 15,195 over their next 36 home games to save their team.

I know this won't be a popular thought but we overpaid. I like Drapes but his worth is below $1M/year in my opinion.

Yeah, I didn't put much weight into it either. It's still fun fiction though.

<Insert Old Man joke here>

Probably. But I actually don't mind if this could be done. I probably dont' have a clue on what the future ramifications could be, but I don't see an issue with a 17 year old playing in the AHL if he can still keep his draft eligibility.

I'd like to see the kid in the AHL next year as he has nothing left to prove in the CHL. But I highly doubt he'll be bogged down by any contract that prohibits him from playing in the NHL until he's 21. This kid could probably score 25 goals in the NHL right now. Holland! Trade Dats for Tavares now! (ducks from oncoming insults from LGW members)

LOL. That's not saying much. I think the Preds would draw more fans in Iraq.

Okay, I'll tell you my story but you have to tell yours. First off, this is all hearsay so I'm sure it's not true at all. This comes from a source through a source who knew John Leclair. Anyway, Lindros banged Brind'Amour's wife. Brindy was traded to keep things under wraps and to keep Lindros around. When the players found out about it, supposedly John Leclair, Eric Desjardins and Chris Therien took Lindros aside and roughed him up. It was at this time that Lindros was working out with the Phantoms to get in shape after suffering an injury. But remember how he suffered a 'concussion' during a Phantoms practice? Well supposedly it was a concussion due to the beating he took from his teammates and not from a hit in practice. This was in the 99-00 season - Lindros' last with the Flyers. What's the rumour with Comrie?

I think the biggest reason Forsberg gets a pass is because he won 2 Cups and when healthy is still dominant. The last couple of seasons, even when Lindros was completely healthy he was a good 3rd line winger, not the dominant center he was in Philly. Another reason why Floppa gets a pass over Lindros is that the Big E is Canadian. People are always looking for the next great hockey star and usually that means great Canadian star ala Gretzky, Lemieux, Orr. People were really thinking that Lindros would be a mutli Cup and Hart winner. I don't think Forsberg ever had those expectations coming into the league. P.S. Is it true that Lindros nailed Brind'Amour's wife and that's why Rod the Bod was shipped out of town?

I agree. If Neely made it in, so should Lindros. But in my opinion Neely didn't deserve to be there either. The only thing he did that was truly special was score 50 in 49 games. Other than that, what makes him better than Cicarelli who scored 608 goals? The HHOF is a joke. You've got guys with over 1000 points on the outside while Jacque Lemaire has only 850 and he's in it. That's a joke.

This is great news! The skin-tight look was brutal. And I'm sure the new designs will stay the same for the 'old' sweaters.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/stor...&id=3077186