Hank

I also agree with Donals S. Cherry. I know that the regular season hasn't meant much to the Wings in over a decade but they need to find a way to 'get up' for some games. Even in their tilts with Nashville there isn't that intensity we used to see when playing the Leafs or Avs. And I think it has a lot to do with the fact that we have no fighters and really nobdy that hits. Only Maltby seems to lay the body and even little Hudler but we need to get some more grit on this team. Despite all the rule changes and Cap restrictions, ground-and-pound is still the most effective way to get to the Cup. We need to get more players that can provide this. Getting Calder and Bert will help in this regard.

I think Maltby can still agitate at times but I think it's safe to say both players are on the decline. And it's a very steep hill. Maltby will be gone after this year and Draper will be gone after the 08 season has wrapped up. This is why I wish Babcock would give more time to Flip and Hudler. Both those guys deserve to be on the 3rd line at the very worst. Leave Drapes and Maltby on the 4th line with PK time added in. In the playoffs you need your 3rd line to produce to win cups or even win series'. You won't win any games with Draper and Maltby on the 3rd line. They simpy can't score those big goals or make those big plays they used to. And it's not their fault. They're not spring chickens anymore and they were amazing during our Cup winning years. But it's time to pass the torch.

Man is Draper useless offensively. This guy lost whatever hands he might have had during his 24 goal season. I love the guy as he still works extremely hard, kills penalties with the best of them and I'm sure he's a great leader. But Draps should be on the 4th line and only given extra time on the PK. He should be centering Bootland and Ellis not a 3rd line. And boy does Hudler impress me more and more each game. I actually think they should put Hudler with Lang and Bertuzzi when Big Bert comes back.

What controversial stuff has Hasek done this year? NONE. All he's done is keep his mouth shut while putting up one good performance after another. Meanwhile, Belfour has been in bar fights and gotten his goaltending party injured. That's high comedy. You can't buy that kind of newspaper fodder. Time to pick up your game Hasek! There's only a few weeks left till playoffs!

Oh man! Crazy Eddie would be the PERFECT drinking buddy on St.Patty's day. Can you imagine? P.S. Has anyone seen those pics of a drunken Eddie being taken advantage of in a Toronto bar? He was basically passed out (or very close ot unconscienceness) and all these people were pilling into the booth he was sitting at getting photos taken with him. It looked like a scene from 'Weekend at Bernies'. Too funny. I'll try to find them. In the meantime enjoy this golden drunken moment from the Billion Dollar man:

LOL, yeah that was great. My favourite Belfour moment was when he was playing for Team Canada in the 2002 Olympics. After Canada won the Cup all the players went on the ice to celebrate and get medals. Belfour was the 3rd man out so he came out sans equipment and only his jersey. Well it sure looked to me that he had a pair of jogging pants on, a 5 day old beared/stubble and his eyes looked very glazed over. I think everyone knows that he was boozing during that last game. Another one of my favourite Belfour stories is when he was 15 and playing Junior Tier II he and his coach were driving together for a road game in the States. When they get to customs they answer all the proper questions and are quickly ushered into the US. But as soon as they started driving away, Belfour, with his window down, yells out "Haha, Those idiots didn't find our drugs!". He did it as a total joke (they didn't have any drugs on them) but they were quickly stopped by customs agents and had their entire car dismantled down to the last nut and bolt. They didn't make their game.

They are in section 206 row 22. All the way at the top.

I'm kind of bummed. I have 2 tix to the Colorado game but I can't get anyone to go with me. (I know, I'm a loser). I only have a handful of friends that are hockey fans and all of them are either away or can't make it. My brother doesn't care for hockey so he's out. My wife is dying to go but we can't find anyone to watch our two boys as both our parents are busy. If I can't go I think I'm going to give them to WDFN to auction off with the proceeds going to the Sabrina Cancer foundation.

I agree with you as well. People seem to forget that ESPN didn't start off being a mega Sports company either. We need to have some foresight here. ESPN would hide most NHL games on different channels, days and times and after the game was done that was it. Versus has been very stable and they start each game with a pregame show and end each one with a postgame show. They also have excellent coverage on the league as a whole. Sure, not as many people have VS. compared to ESPN but that will change in the future. Regarding Bettman, what does Hull think? Bettman is HIRED BY THE OWNERS. What do you think his #1 goal is? TO MAKE THE OWNERS MONEY!!! Afterall, the owners OWN THE LEAGUE. Duh! If you were hired to be a manager of a company would you go into every union negotiation trying to give the union as much money as humanly possible? Would you go against your bosses orders to change things in the company because you thought it'd be better? Of course not. You're going to do whatever it is you're told by your bosses to keep your job. When are all the anti-Bettman people out there going to get this through their thick skulls? Bettman is a hired gun by the owners. He will do what he's told. I'm not a Bettman apologist and I don't agree with some of the things he's done but I'm not ignorant enough to realise that it's not really him making the decisions. From expansion to rule changes to CBA negotations every decision must go through the BOG first. Bettman simply pushes whatever agenda his bosses, AKA the Owners, give to him. Please wake up. Bettman is nothing more than a puppet or figure head for the owners as a whole. If Hull or anyone else hates what's going on in the NHL start writing 30 letters to each owner in the league. Dear Mr.Illitch, Dear Mr.Karmanos, Dear Mr.Snider, etc...

Hallelujia!!!! Here's to JW and the suckers that wanted him! I'm shocked that we got someone as good as Calder for him. He's a great addition and should help Robert Lang and our 2nd line greatly! Good job Kenny H. So long JW. May you turn pucks over and miss empty nets for the Blackhawks. But seriously, good luck. Calder was having a very bad year in Philly but so was everyone else. Trust me, this guy is a 25+ goal scorer with some grit. With the right centre and guys around him he could easily return to a 25 or 30 goal scoring clip. He did it with the Hawks and they have nobody compared to the Wings.

That's awesome! I love it! This means the Leafs will suck for even longer. Tucker will never win the Stanley Cup as a player. His temper and penchant to make bone headed decisions always come back to bite the Leafs in the ass. Once they resign Sundin to a $7 mil contract they'll have almost their entire Cap wrapped up in only a handful of players. Good job Fergie!

One good playoff is better than none. But I see your point. I still think it's in both parties interest to wait until after the playoffs.

Awesome. Now Datsyuk will have zero incentive to peform in the playoffs. I wish Holland would stop handing out fat raises for regular season accolades. If anything, this is the reason the players are getting the wrong message. He's treating the Presidents Trophy like the Stanley Cup. We're already choking on Williams, Liejla and Samuelsson's contracts. What happens if we give Datsyuk $6 mil and he ends up putting another goosegg on the board? We'll be saddled with a playoff bomb for how many years?

Don't be too hard on him. He once killed someone drinking and driving when he broke into the league with the Bruins. He spent 1.5 years in 'F*** me up the bum Prison". He probably still has issues with that. But you're all right. The Oilers are a bunch of babies. First Markov hits Stoll with a perfectly clean hit and half their team goes after him (seeing Monreau lost for the year trying to fight him was awesome!). Then Torres hits JW with a head shot and then he injures Cleary and they have the audacity to complain about another team headhunting. STFU Edmonton. I hope they don't make the playoffs either. And it would be even nicer if they were buyers at the deadline and lost a bunch of picks and prospects for nothing.

This is GREAT news! If Eklund is saying the Islanders it means there's no way he's going there. Detroit's still in the running.

Yup. Although, it wouldn't be a bad idea to juggle lines from time to time incase a line starts to struggle in the playoffs. Bowman did this to perfection. Unfortunately, Babcock hasn't any options to do that at this point.

Exactly. All he does is throw names out hoping one rumour sticks. I've spoken to people in the media that say he's a nice guy and that he does have some contacts but in the end, most of the time only the two GM's about to make a deal know anything. His contacts could be local reporters, a stick boy, the zamboni driver, etc. Heck, I actually have a couple of contacts myself. I know a kid that once played in the OHL with a prospect in the AHL. He heard, from him that he said,..... By the time the rumour gets to me who knows how accurate it is? In the end, the NHL is a lot like highschool. Rumours get started because someone heard a name from someones mouth and suddenly it turns into "Crosby's going to Toronto for Bill Berg and Wendel Clarks Explorer". Eklund is right about .01% of the time and even then it's only because he's mentioned every single name for every single team. I could do the same right now and be right more than he is. In the end Guerin will probably go to San Jose, Tkachuk to the Rangers and the Wings will trade for Derek Armstrong. What kind of worries me is that Eklund is so wrong so often that these current rumours would mean that we're not going to get either Tkachuk or Guerin. In fact, bet on it if Eklund says so. Now I'm depressed.

But is there really anyone else out there that has grit and scoring? I think Tkachuk and Guerin are our only options. Besides, if we get Tkachuk then I can finally dust off my sign "Don't F*** With Tkachuk!"

Yes it is. If the Wings were to do this I would hope that either Tkachuk or Guerin would like it enough in Detroit to resign. But it sounds like a lot of people love living in St.Louis.

Very true. But he's a UFA next year so we could have dump his ass after the last playoff game. My main concern is that Holland might miss on the big fish he's hunting for and by then all the FA's are gone.

I'm still waiting for someone to play a clip fo the Predator on the jumbotron when he takes the ice and then Arnold saying "You're one ugly mutha..."

LOL. But he's still better than Williams.

Dang! He would have been a great replacement for Williams. And for a 5th? That's a steal. But I doubt Cbus would deal with an inter-divion rival. Good for Carolina though. Carter has proven he can score with the right linemates. I'm sure he'll do well lining up with either Staal or Brind'Amour. I think he would have looked great with Lang or even with Dats and Z.

Yeah, I wonder if it is the cage. Less vision perhaps? If the Wings are going to get a dman I'd love to see them get a player to compliment Lidstrom like Olausson or Murphy did in recent years. It's an absolute pipe dream but I would have loved it if the Wings could have picked up Adam Foote to play with Lids. I know that will never happen but he's the type of player that works so well with Nik. Kind of like how it was with Neidermeyer and Stevens. And Mors, I think Bowman would be better on the point than Williams.

It looks almost 100% that Laraque will be a Pen before the weekend is over. Malone doesn't have a lot of goals because he broke his forearm and missed 18 games. And when he did come back he wasn't on the top line. I believe they moved Recchi to LW and put him and Armstrong with Crosby for a time. Malone is now on the top line again and he's been producing pretty well. CloudConnected's right when he says that Malone needs a change of scenery and in a lot of ways he reminds me a bit of Gerard Gallant. Not overly big but will mix it up, hit and has good hands. He'd be great for the Wings. In fact, I think a Schneids-Malone deal would be very good for both teams. But I doubt it happens as Kenny's not going to deal a core player at this point in the year. But it would be nice. Having Malone with Lang would be awesome. Especially if we could get Guerin or Nolan. Dats-Zetts-Homer Malone-Lang-Guerin/Nolan Cleary-Drapes-Maltby Franzen-Flip-Sammy The best part about that forward group? NO WILLIAMS!