Hank

Sorry Eva, you're absolutely right. Bring on more expansion!!! Lets add 20 more teams!

Very interesting! Kronwall still has more potential, I believe, but it does show that Lebda is no one's slouch.

DING! DING! DING! We have a winner for the REAL reason for expansion. Short term thinking is what's kept the NHL in the dark ages for years. The ONLY good thing that could come from expansion is the Wings moving to the East. But even Holland has said the league will never let that happen. So to expansion.

Excellent post Opie. I know this is a pipe-dream and something for fairy-tales but I wish the owners would look at the league as more of a partnership between them and BUY struggling teams instead of having them stay in the league. Again, I'm aware of how naive this thought is, but what if all the owners pooled their money and bought the Preds (just for an example). They then sell off the property and put all the players into a 'contraction draft'. If the Preds sold for $200M, it would cost each owner under $7M to buy it (not including the share they would all receive from selling the arena or other property that came with the sale). But after that, they would then get the Preds share of TV revenue, among other things as well. The CBC contract alone is worth close to $5M per team, per year. Splitting up $5M among 29 other owners is a pitance, I know, but throw in the TV contracts with VS, NBC and Centre Ice over the course of a few years, and you start to see a profit. Not only that, but the product becomes better and the league is stronger for cutting off a dying limb. I know it's unrealistic but I think it's plausable. Last night on XM they were talking about how Phoenix could be facing trouble in the future. If the league would buy back just 4 teams over the next 5-10 years I think it would help not only the league but also the owners bottom line.

Of course a 4th liner today is better than a 2nd liner in the 80's. Everyone knows that. But you're not speaking in relative terms. 4th liners are still 4th liners today. By your reasoning, since ECHL players are much better than 1st line stars in the 1910's then I guess we should have 200 NHL teams today. The fact is, the league is already watered down. We need less teams not more. That, in a nutshell, is why the NHL has lost popularity. There used to be a time when it wasn't uncommon to have a 30 goal scorer on your 3rd line. Now a 30 goal scorer is an allstar. Expansion is the sole reason why we have neutral zone traps, bigger goalie equipment, less scoring and an overall push for defensive hockey instead of offensive minded-coaches.

http://redwingscorner.blogspot.com/ If this report is accurate, then I'm not too impressed myself. This is the biggest window of Grig's pro hockey career and he shows up out of shape? To me, I think the kid's already made his mind up. He probably figured, I'll show up and do what I can do, and if it doesn't work out I'll go back to Russia and make $1M tax free. If that's the case, I don't want him here. But I sure hope he can get into shape and make this team.

Just to add to my point, here's a quote from MLIVE.com No mention of 24-year old Grigs at all. I remember watching the 2002 world juniors where this kid ruled. He was being compared to Kovalchuk and other promising young players. We all know about the accident, but it's still kind of disappointing when you hear how comes in out of shape. He can always get into game shape but my greatest fear is that he came over with the attitude "I'll give it my best shot and if I don't make it, oh well. I'll just go back to Russia and make $1M US to play 50 games a year".

Maybe. But some guy from the Detroit News (or Free Press - can't remember) has been saying the same thing.

Awesome! I was just saying to my buddies "you know the NHL is in such good shape, with an overabundance of talent on each team, they should expand!".

I agree. I hope this is just a case of Grigs thought he was in "NHL" shape and didn't prepare properly. I hope he can get up to speed and show some good hands and possibly make the top 6 forwards. But if he can't crack the top 2 lines, then he should go to the Griffins. We have enough competent bottom 6 forwards. But like you said Jaytan, it sounds as if he's already made up his mind "Oh well, if I can't make it here, I'll just go back to Russia where it's safe and comfortable and where I will make more than playing in the NHL (and less games to 82 compared to 40)". I don't know if that's his attitude but if it is, so long Igor!

I'm happy to hear that Emmerton is doing well. It's impressive that a 19 year old is sticking out amongst a group of veteran pro players. I wonder if they still have plans for him to stay at centre and not leftwing. With Zetts, Dats and Filp I have a hard time believing Emmerton or McGrath will have a chance of cracking this lineup as a skilled pivot in the next 4-7 years.

I agree. I like Lebda and he reminds me a lot of my favourite Tiger Brandon Inge. Both guys do a lot of things well and don't get the credit they deserve. Name another 9th hitting 3 bagger who has 25 homer potential and gold glove defense? Lebda is a phenomanl skater who is very solid in all 3 zones and makes close to nothing. Talk about getting the most for your cash.

LOL! And bashing a guy for not being a 'winner' is subjective. Everyone has different guidelines as to what makes a champion. You can't fool a scale and it sounds like at least 2 people watched him huffing and puffing as he tried to get up and down the ice. Showing up to a pro camp regardless of how old or experienced you are is inexcusable. Tkatchuk was bashed to no end by the hockey world and this is a guy who's already established himself as an elite player. Imagine showing up in piss poor shape as a 24 year old rookie desperately trying to make a team? Grigs and everyone else who would be in his situation should deserved to be bashed if they showed up with a beer gut and a box of donuts. I and everyone else here would be saying the exact same things if this was Patrick Kane, Jonathon Toews or an 18 year old Yzerman coming to camp in poor shape.

Thank you! I wasn't aware that treadmills were different in North American compared to Russia And I don't remember hearing how Pavel Bure came in out of shape when he scored over 30 goals in just over 60 games as a rookie. Or how about Fetisov, Larionov, Mogilny, etc, etc. I read a book called "Behind the Redline" about a college kid that was drafted by Winnipeg in the mid 80's and asked to train in Russia for a year. He said every single one of those players was conditioned like a robot. The first day he was there they went for a 5 mile run on a beach and while he was barely conscience after it was done trying to keep pace, every single Russian teammate of his hadn't even broken a sweat. If Grigs is out of shape it's not because he's coming across the pond like thousands of other Europeans and Russian's have done before him and hasn't learned to adapt. It's because he hasn't been training properly. This would also indicate why he had a poor season the RSL this past year. Or was it because he moved to a different apartment and wasn't use to the lighting yet? Any more excuses to throw out?

But from all indications Grigs doesn't want anything to do with the Griffins. And Zata fan 40, I know that he's adjusting to North American rinks and doesn't know English but that's no excuse at all for coming into camp out of shape. Datsyuk was in the same predicament but he was still in game shape. I have far less tolerance for professional athletes who think their skill is above working hard to achieve something. Many other Russians have come over and were in terrific shape so it's not a cultural thing, it's a character thing. Again, I didn't write anything to suggest I had written him off. I simply have my doubts as to how hard he's willing to work to be an NHL player.

I agree that a 2nd opinion is needed but I think it speaks volumes that the wings have a lot invested in Grigs, who has a fairly large 'out window' and yet they have him on the 3rd line with players who possess no hands. They could have chose to pair him with McGrath, Emmerton, Mursak, any of the other young offensive minded players, but to stick him on a 3rd line speaks volumes to me. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm beginning to think the early assessment of him being out of shape is a fair one and this might be the Wings brass way of saying "We're not pleased. Show us something". Like Babcock said earlier regarding Howards off-season work ethic, you have to be mentally strong to take up a tough training regimen. If Grig's doesn't want to put time in the weight room, what does that say about his character? But I'm sure I'll be labeled a racist against Russian's for having the audacity to question his work ethic. In any event, I hope he's given every opportunity to show what he's got. I'm sure he'll get some quality minutes on the top line during the pre-season.

I imagine Drapes will still take most of the draws and then resume his position on Wing after. McCarty used to do this all the time too.

3 years running now!

Lilja sucks.

I HATE to admit it, but so do I. This could be the only good move this organization has done since '67.

Are you kidding me? Everyone on this board, including me, has been super excited about seeing this kid in action. Nobody's slamming him because he's Russian. I'd be saying the exact same thing if it was a highly touted Swede, Fin, American or Canadian. And while he did get 3 assists in game 2, one was a phantom assist while he was sitting on the bench and the other one was from him trying to ice the puck when Mursak beat out the icing and setup another player for the marker. Also, this is the 2nd time it's been mentioned the he's been out of shape. Not something you want to do when trying to earn an NHL job.

I'm bigger on Sopel than the other two. He's a right-handed shot that is competent in his zone and great on the PP. Cullimore gives us exactly what Lielja gives us now. And while Downey can chuck knuckles better than anyone on our club, he's still a liability out there. Lidstrom-Sopel Kronwall-Rafalski Leijla/Lebda-Chelios That's a pretty good defense right there. Lots of puck movers and everyone takes care of their own end.

Me neither. No way the Leafs organization actually makes an intelligent move.

This probably won't happen until March. But I agree.

Well the Joe did technically sell out every game in the regular season but they probably averaged around 15,000 butts in the seats. Illitch knows that a lot of the time, people will spend more on concessions, parking and food than on their tickets. I'm still not sure why Illitch didn't do the obvious and cut ticket prices by 10-15%.