Hank

It's true that Winnipeg could not keep a team because they never got the corporate backing required - or had the desired amount of luxery boxes to sell to them. But since their move to the desert both Winnipeg and Saskatoon have boomed in terms of corporate dollars. Saskathewan is rivaling Alberta in terms of oil production while Winnipeg has seen a large influx of corporatations taking advantage of their low taxes and cost of living. I wouldn't doubt in the least if either Winnipeg or Saskatoon had the corporate backing to support a hockey team. No more than Edmonton or Calgary have. The main issue is the value of the US $. If it continues to ride on-par with the Loonie, I think most large Canadian cities could support a team. Every buidling would be sold out and as long as the corporations bought up the luxery boxes, they could thrive under the current CBA.

http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/sto...2e-f9bc43a5d9ce While I hate this writer, I agree with him. There is less fighting today because there's less fighters in the league. And I know people hate me bringing this up all the time, but a lot of that has to do with how many Europeans are in the league these days. It used to be that you had one or two skilled Euros on your top two lines. But now you are seeing a lot more 'grinder' type roles going to them as well. And most do not fight. On top of that, the game is so much faster now, most goons cannot keep up. Lastly, fighters today are from a different cloth. Watch an old Tony Twist, Basil McCrae or Bob Probert fight. Then watch a Laraque, Brashear or Boogard fight. See the difference? Fighters back then used to go toe-to-toe. Let the fists fly. But today, it's as defensive as the game they play in. It's all about 'seat belting' someone. And if you're hurt, grab the pants and wrestle them down. It's a different game these days and I guess dinosaurs like myself need to realise the hockey I grew up on is dead and never coming back.

I think he would too. Besides, I think he has too much left in the tank for an NHL team not to give him a chance. Boston would be a perfect fit for him.

Thanks! I wasn't trying to insult European players or their fans, just that I'd like to see more NA's in the NHL if possible. P.S. I also wanted to add that I completely agree with the IIHF in that some of the European leagues are upset that they're losing their young talent to the AHL more than the NHL. It makes far more sense for everyone to have those kids stay at home to develop rather than have them play in the minors on a foreign continent. The old system worked great for everyone. I hope it goes back to that.

You're actually helping me make my point. You're from the Czech Republic so naturally you'd prefer to see Czech's over N.A.'s. I can totally understand that. But seeing as the NHL is a gate driven league where 95% of the revenue is generated from North American's, you need to have more North American's in the league. It would be no different if I was demanding more Canadians or American's on teams in the KHL or Czech Republic. I wouldn't blame any fan in those countries if they got upset that there were too many N.A. players on their clubs. In fact, Jamie Heward said that many of the Russian players resented the Canadian and American influence in the RSL. And so did the fans to a degree and it's hard to get angry at them for it. If you're born in Canada or the US, you're always going to cheer harder for a guy named Smith over a player named Yachmenev. Just like i'm sure it's the opposite in Russia or abroad. That was my point and it's why I want to see more jobs go to North Americans - when the skill level is equal or close to being on par.

Exactly! You could mention the name 'Vacicek' to 1,000,000 NHL fans and most would say "who?".

Yes they are and I'll give you the reasons why: MOST of the time, a 3rd or 4th line North American player is tougher and will fight more often = entertainment. Also, it's not unatural for a North American player to care more about the Cup and try harder in the playoffs compared to some Europeans that take time to realize what it takes in the playoffs. Lastly, fans in America and Canada can associate themselves more with a local boy than a foreign one. This is a North American league afterall. It would be no different if a Swedish team had nothing but Canucks or Yankees on it. The home crowd wants to see home grown talent. There's a reason why a Canadian or American kid, who only gets 6-8 minutes a game can be just as popular as one of the team's top stars. A good example is this; who would fans rather see eat up 6 minutes a night? A guy like Kopecky who can skate, has decent skills and hits sometimes or a guy like Darryl Bootland or McCarty who might not have as much skill but hits and fights way more. 90% of the time, the fans at the Joe will cheer for a player like that, over a 3rd or 4th line Euro like Kopecky. And you can call me a Don Cherry worshipper anytime you want. I take it as a compliment. I'm not a sheep to his words, but I do agree with a lot that he says. I love players like AO and Datsyuk, but I don't see the need to have 4th line scrub jobs go to Europeans. Give me a Dallas Drake anyday over a 4th line Euro.

I'm sure they treat their players well, but Jamie Heward and my uncle said that some of the arena's they played in were beyond reproach. He said some of them looked like they were built before WWI.

Amen! The more North American's the better. I love all the high end talent that Europe provides, but if the NHL could get rid of all the 3rd and 4th line Europeans, it would be a far more entertaining league.

Ask Jamie Heward. And my uncle recently played in a hockey tour a couple of years ago and he said outside of places near Moscow things were pretty bad. Face it, only a couple of Russian cities or teams can provide the kind of cushy lifestyle that every NHL team can afford. For many of the 20 teams in this league, it's cockroach hotel. Besides, if it was so awesome over there, then why does Yashin want to return? He'll certainly make more money in the KHL than the NHL but yet he's looking to come back. You know things in Russia aren't nearly as good when they can offer twice what an NHL is and still not get them to come home. What has the NHL really lost so far? A former superstar that only played hard once every 5 games. A goalie who's temper and ego eclipse his above-average talent and a young, up-and-coming 20 goal scorer. Radulov is definitely the best NHL player to be lured but the league still has Datsyuk, Ovechkin and Malkin (among other Russian superstars). The KHL won't even come close to competing with the NHL, even if it means a handful of Radulov's are scooped up.

Jamie Heward played in the RSL last season and he was recently on XM speaking about his experiences. While he admitted that there are a few teams in the RSL and in Europe that could probably skate with a few of the NHL teams, he said the arena's and general conditions of this KHL are so pathetic that they are, and I quote "at least 20 years away from competing with the NHL". He went on to say that on average the RSL/KHL is probably on the same scale or lower than the AHL in terms of skill. But as far as amenities like good buildings, hotels, air accomadations and travel, the KHL is in the stone ages. He said one team was so far east it was a 6-hour flight from it's closest team. As far as I'm concerned the KHL is doing the NHL a favor. It's taking all the washed up European players, and North American skaters nobody wants any more. Think of it as an eager Garage Sale Hunter. You put out all the crap you no longer need or want, and they scoop it up like it's gold. Sure, there might be a gem or two in there, but you're still going to have all the things you want and need. So let this league have that old 1972 couch and Hulla-dancer Lamp.

I'm almost positive this is Feaster's wishes. Usually when a coach is forced on a GM by the owner, there's a clash in interests. It's the same thing that happened to Neil Smith when the Islanders owner hired Ted Nolan over his head. In my opinion, these new owners are ass-clowns. If you want to build a winner you let your executives do it. You don't go out and hire a coach to sell tickets only. That was the first sign that I knew these guys are morons. Feaster probably agreed to stay on for the draft, resign players and grab the UFA's needed but after that was accomplished, he'd walk away.

This is a money move, nothing more. The guy came up through the QMJHL and then the AHL before playing in the NHL. For him to return home it's nothing more than $$$. It's too bad because this kid was a lot of fun to watch. In the end though, I'm still not going to cry one bit over this. He'll got to Ufa, score 11 goals among his 30 points in 50 games. And I'm sure while all the money will help buy him a bigger summer home in Siberia, he'll really enjoy the conditions of playing in arena's that resemble a run-down barn, or staying in hotels where there are more cockroaches than amenities.

Ugh, so true.

OMG??? So I'm not the only one that feels this way? Thank you GMRwings1983! I just find our brand of regular season hockey to be quite boring. In the playoffs hardly anyone fights and we played gritty and tough. But it was hard to stomach watching guys take liberties with the Lebda's and Hudlers and nobody even close to standing up to them. Downey did a decent job but he and Drake were literally the only guys on the team that would make someone answer for what they've done. I'd love to have a top 6 forward that could put up points and still make you think twice at looking at Dats or Zetts the wrong way. I recently saw a youtube clip where Probie demolished a guy (Petit on the Rangers I believe) for taking Stevie into the wall too hard during a race to negate an icing call. If that happened to Dats or Zetts today guys like Homer, Franzen or Sammy would face wash and yap in Swedish but that's about it.

LOL. I know, that's exactly what I thought. BUT, if the Wings did have two tough-guys like that, guarenteed Neimenen would not have made it off the ice without some kind of reprecutions. And that's the issue the NHL faces today. It's a copy-cat league so whenever a team shows success, everyone else emulates them. Now you have teams like San Jose and Minnesota trying to look like the Wings. And outside of Downy, we have nobody to make someone pay for an incident like that. And he's only on the ice for 3 shifts a game. If that took place with the Wings 80's roster they would have had Probie, Kocur, Gallant, Snepts or even Dave Barr to handle that piece of crap Neimenen. That's because every line had a guy who could throw punches. And in reality, almost every team had a roster similar to that. Nowadays, every team carries one resident goon and very few top 6 forwards, or top 4 dmen (who are on the ice most) don't fight - hence lots of players like Perry or Ruutu taking liberties out there without worrying about it. The Chris Neils of the league are few and far between. He's a rare breed of someone who can knock you out but have enough skills to take a regular shift.

Thank you brother! I didn't realise this book was out! This is a must buy for me!

Here's another great Stevie highlight: name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>&"> name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" />

Opie, you're right again. Money and the union has destroyed any kind of hatred players used to have for one another. Ted Lindsay hated anyone not wearing a Wings jersey and I think Red Kelly once said "I get paid to play hockey, but I'd beat the Leafs for free!". In fact, back in the day when teams still rode trains for road games, there were occassions when two teams had to ride the same train. It wasn't uncommon for players from opposite teams to cross paths between cars and start fighting - eventually brewing into an all-out brawl on the train. Now you'd have guys organizing poker tourny's. Don't get me wrong, I don't want players loathing each other to the point that they're burning down their homes, but it would be nice to have some honest anger towards another player on the other side of the ice. Some of that still exists but it's more common to see guys yapping over the redline during warmup than whacking them like Avery's prone to do. Everyone seems to hate Avery but that's exactly the kind of thing Lindsay would do back in the day and he was loved in Detroit. Can you imagine any of the Wings today pretending their stick was a rifle and mock-shooting at fans while on the road? It'll never happen but I'd love to see that again some day.

Excellent post Opie!

If he's humiliated by this offer then maybe he should give some of the millions he 'earned' while being a 60-point player.

Thanks for posting this D-N-T. I love these old videos but they also make me sad. I loved that era of hockey. It was tough, rough and had a lot of offense. It's hard to believe that there was a time that you could see a game where a clean goal could be scored from more than 6 feet away and a brawl like this would break out on the same night.

I'm sorry, but I really have to disagree with this. If we had Crosby there wouldn't be an empty seat at the Joe for as long as he played with us. Everyone is pointing out various reasons but none of them fly. The ticket prices have been basically the same over the past 10 years. A great majority of ticket owners have always been corporately owned or bought up by brokers and yet we had 450 consecutive sellouts. Again, I will point out the fact that it's no coincidence that the streak ended after Stevie retired and Shanny moved on. We've never won more in the regular season or playoffs in the past two seasons and yet there have never been more empty seats. People forget that the community here is a vast, vast minority of the fans the Wings draw. People on this site would watch the Wings every game if it had the Leafs roster. But I would guess that 90% of the fans that do show up at the Joe aren't of the LGW variety. I can't tell you how many times I've heard questions like "Is Dallas a good team?", "Who's #93 on our team?", "Are we going to make the playoffs this year?". And this is in the nose-bleed where the 'real' fans are supposed to sit. People relate to athletes that are comparable to them. Stop making up excuses that don't fly. Every sports team in this town hasn't had an issue getting people out to games - only the Wings. And you could make an easy argument that the Wings have been a lot more successful in the past 2 years than any of those teams. And yet, the Wings are the ones with the ticket woes. Don't you think that the Wolverines, Tigers, Pistons or Lions have a great majority of their tickets owned by corporations or brokers? That doesn't seem to bother them. The Wings need a North American star. Plain and simple. And if we were ever lucky enough to get a Crosby or Lecavailer you would instantly see a sea of Red-and-White jerseys with the #87 or #4 on their backs at the Joe.

I definitely think Hossa is a big enough name around these parts that it will help sell tickets. But I will go to the grave saying that if Illitch wants to make sure the Joe is sold out every night he absolutely must bring in a North American offensive star. A guy like Nash, Staal or even a younger budding forward like Jeff Carter. I work in Detroit with several Wings fans in my building and I can't tell you how many of them have said they want more North American stars on the team. Opie, normally I agree with you, but not in this instance. We went to the Conference Finals last year and we still couldn't sell out. And this year, tickets were available up till the SC finals. It's not a coincidence that tickets became available once Stevie retired and Shanny went to NY. Up until then, the Wings had failed to get past the 2nd round in 4 straight seasons and the Joe was still full. And nobody can tell me it's a financial thing. The Tigers broke records for ticket sales while the Pistons, Lions and Wolverines all didn't have the same issues the Wings did.

Out of our 'bottom dmen' I want Quincy to stay. Meech, Lebda and Lilja could all go (not that any of them are bad). But I think Quincy can be a very good 5th dman in this league. He's smart, physical has good skating and can handle the puck well enough for our system. I'd also love to see what Ericsson can do as well.