Hank

From what's been written about and speculated, think Hudlers skating, with Andreychuk hands and a bit of grit. Me too. But I think he can go from making $80,000 in the AHL to over $1M US, tax free, in the RSL. That's pretty hard to pass up.

Grigs has a clause that says if he's not playing for the Wings in November he can scram back to the USSR. At this point if Grigs makes the team, Kopecky's the odd man out with Franzen moving to the 3rd or 4th line.

But what if Leijla cries like he did last year. Whatever will we do?

No harm at all. And I always thought Sopel would fit in nicely. Right handed shot, good on the PP. He's not bad for a 6th dman and PP specialist.

I agree. I don't think he did enough either. But maybe his 50 goals in 44 games got him in?

You're right. They were both crimes. But morally, I view them differntly. In Bells case, his victim had no chance or choice of the matter and Bell was drunk and speeding which I consider far worse than hotroding. With Heatley, Snyder knew what they were going to do. For all we know, he asked Heatley to gun it. All I know is, if my son was killed by a drunk driver, I'd be far more angry and upset than if he was killed while in the car of a buddy who was compelely sober and wanted to see how fast his car could go. But in the end, I find it funny that some Wings fans are against a player coming here who made an honest mistake as opposed to rooting for a player like Probert who is a convicted drug addict, wife beater and cop beater, or Cicarrelli who exposed himself to chidren and nearly killed Luke Richardson in a vicious stick swinging incident.

The difference is that Heatley had no alcohol in his system. He was just a dumb kid that wanted to see how fast his new sports car would go. I've done it and most of my friends have done it too. Everyone in their town knows of a back road, with little traffic, that they can go nuts on. I remember sitting in my brothers '98 Mustang doing 160 KM in an 80KM zone. Thinking back, it was a stupid move. All you need is one stray cat or muskrat running in front of you and you're looking at danger. But to lump Heatley in the same boat as Mark Bell isn't right. Bell was hammered and still decided to drive and speed and hit someone else Heatley was completely sober and his passenger also knew what he was getting into. It was a tragedy and a stupid move, but I think the two cases are different. EDIT: I think it also helped Heatley's case greatly that Dan Snyder's parents and brother begged the judge for no jail time.

Yeah, I'm a big Bergeron fan myself. For whatever reason I really enjoyed watching them last year. And Bergeron was a treat to watch. This kids got a lot of talent and a bright future. I know every club says this but it'd be great if the Wings could snag a 'sleeper' like him some draft.

Me too! But I have a feeling our big-ticket buy this next off season will be Kipersoff.

I would have kicked her in her old colon and then stole all her Matlock tapes.

They are. If you go to the Wings official site you can order seasons tickets right now. Why hasn't Illitch learned that the ticket prices are simply overpriced? He was spending close to $80M a year on salary and despite that getting cut in half he keeps the same ticket prices? Well now he's learning the hard way. People don't have the same money they used to. The economy is crap and I truly believe that the lack of a North American offensive star has kept some fans away. If this team had a Spezza, Heatley, Rick Nash, even a Patrice Bergeron, there would be more interest. Fans miss their Stevie's, Shanny's and McCarty's.

The Wings are definately having issues getting season's ticket holders. I contacted the Wings and I pretty much have my pick of what kind of package I'd like. They are selling a 12 game package for about $1200 (for two seats). I'm very tempted to buy this. I don't have the cash but I'd like to purchase them, go to about 3 or 4 games and sell the rest. I just don't have $1200 US laying around.

Good points. I think the whole thing has to be changed. Phil Esposito is a big advocate for numbers only and individual awards getting you in the HOF. He says it shouldn't matter if you won 11 Cups or none, as that's a team effort. And the last time he checked the HOF was for individual efforts, not teams. I'm inclined to agree with him. Because of this, he doesn't believe Jacques Lemaire should be in the HOF. He only recorded 800+ points but he won a number of Cups. But like Espo says, those Cups had a LOT to do with the true class talent around him. Chances are, the Habs would have won those Cups without him. That's debateable, but I do agree that Cups shouldn't be a reason to get in the HOF, which is why Lemaire is in there and Dino is not.

Rob the Badger said it perfectly. The HHOF is way too easy to get in. But in my opinion I don't think Turgeon should get in and here's my line of thinking: On XM Home Ice one of the guys said that to get in the Hall you should be judged against your contemporaries. Besides how many Cups or trophies you won, how did you compare to fellow players, in your era, at your position. In Turgeon's case, who would you rather have as your #1 centre? Sakic, Modano, Messier, Lafontaine, Yzerman, Francis, Niewendyk, Sundin, Gilmour (just to name a few - I left Wayne and Mario off because those guys can't be compared to anyone and nobody should be judged against their talent). All of the players I mentioned above were also centermen and were in or around their primes at the same time Turgeon was. They all played a big chunk of their careers during an era where scoring was pretty high. Turgeon scored over 1300 points but out of that list, many of those guys hit that number or more. So in that line of thinking, I don't think Turgeon makes the Hall. He never won a cup or any individual awards, was routinely left off National teams because of the depth of centres in his era and I don't think he was on as many All-star rosters as them either. I never considered him to be in the top 5 centres, in the league, during his better years. I still think he was a very good player and I enjoyed watching him. I think it should also be noted that at one time this guy was supposed to be the next Gretzky or Lemieux. He was the Sidney Crosby of the mid 80's so to speak. In that light, I guess he was a letdown. But he still had a very good, productive career and I wish him well.

Could this guy be the missing link?

LOL. Got it!

Crap! The firewall at work blocks Youtube. Can you describe it?

Me too! I hate how the guy never smiles and I hate how he starts crap with that giant visor on his head but never backs it up. And he's so incredibly overrated as well. Sure, he lays out some big hits, but he makes a lot more mistakes than big hits in a game. He'll get better obviously and I'm sure I'd love to have him on my team, but for now I'll continue making fun of his Cro Magnum status.

Speaking of the series, I'm surprised at how thoroughly the Canadian team has destroyed and embarrased the Russian club. I knew that Canada would win the series but not this easily. I hope this squashes any attempt at doing this again. The Russians juniors can't hold a candle to the Canadian teams heart, will, physicality, speed, goaltending or skill. We're beating them at every element of hockey. And it's been this way for a good 3 years. It's pretty strange to say that. Usually the Russian teams feature a handful of guys that are incredibly quick and have tremendous offensive talent. But it's the Canadians that are showcasing some dynamite offensive prospects. Sam Gagner and Kyle Turris are dangerous everytime they're on the ice. And their creativity has been incredible. I can't say that about one of the Russian players. This series would have been FAR more entertaining if it was Canada's best juniors playing the US's best juniors. The US team has given us a much better fight the last couple of years. This Russian team has only embarrased itself with it's lack of heart and will to fight back. They spend most of the game trying to cheapshot players after the whistle. A tell-tale sign of them being frustrated from being thoroughly dominated.

I couldn't tell you. Sorry. I guess your best bet would be to call your local subscriber. The only problem is that they don't show every single preseason game. But I should get a handful of Wings games in September. I can't wait to see how Grigs and Kindl look.

What??? Are you telling me that a Russian newspaper has made a story up or exaggerated it completely? I don't beleive it!!!! Russain Newspapers make the Enquirer look like the New York Times.

Kisses Centre Ice Package and the pre-season games they provide.

Rugged winger who doesn't wear a visor? I like him already.

I agree that not all MLB, NFL or NBA playes are idiots. But I have never, ever heard one bad thing said about NHL players as a whole. WDFN interviewed a USAToday sports writer (can't remember his name) and he went on and on about how NHL players are the best to talk with and cover. When he was starting out, he was like most US sports writers in that he wanted to cover NFL and MLB. But being a rookie he had to start at the bottom so they gave him some NHL coverage. Eventually, after working up the ranks he was given NFL duty, along with MLB and NBA along the way. He said that after covering all the 4 major sports, along with others, NHL players were always the most humble and gracious. He went on to say that only Patrick Roy had any kind of ego to him and even then it paled in comparison to bench warmers in the MLB and NFL. And I've heard the exact same sentiments from multiple people that have covered all the major sports. Heck even Jim Rome praises the NHL because of how down to earth it's players are. I believe that was actually at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. But you're right, I don't think there are too many players from the NFL, the MLB or the NBA that would do that. I'm sure there's a few that would, but I bet you a far greater percentage of NHLers would have done the same thing.

"It ain't mean enough. Put some blood in there. Show somebody gettin' hurt. A groin injury. Put a f**kin' map of Florida in the background. Get some **** in! Put a "For Sale" sign on the bottom."