Packer487

Ken Holland's head just exploded. -Tim

I bet Jonathan Blum is thrilled to go to Nashville.... -Tim

Way to go Patch!! Strong work representing with the maize and blue tie. And he's getting booed by the fans in Columbus. Like you care about hockey..... -Tim

You know we're taking Backlund if he doesn't go yet...... Should get a pretty highly ranked player there for us though. -Tim

Maybe they'll be willing to take on bad (but expiring next year) contracts in exchange for draft picks. That way, they'd meet the salary floor but still be able to get something for their troubles? -Tim

Thanks, now I'm all depressed again. So fricken close...this was definitely a missed opportunity. That said, I don't think it's necessarily fair to say that with Schneider we win that series. He would've helped for sure, but the Ducks were also missing a 25 goal, 65ish point guy in that cherry-picker Kunitz and they fought through Pronger's brain farts and won without him both times he was suspended. Losing Schneids hurt our PP, but they had guys out too.... Without Datsyuk taking that penalty (whether it was a good call or not is another debate), Detroit wins the Cup. And it's a bummer..... Kronwall really needs to get it together this season. He's a key to the future...can't have a guy making that much money for that long of a time period playing like he did last year (or continuing to get hurt). I still wish we had dangled him to try and get JMFJ when the Canes gave him away for 10 cents on the dollar. -Tim

Absolutely not, since I don't think we can realistically get one of those guys if we sign Schneider, who I think it's pretty clear they want back. Honestly, I'd be really surprised if they break the bank to sign one of the marquee free agents out there (like Drury). With Zetterberg coming up in 2 more years, they can't afford to sign a high-priced guy long term, especially if they think Lidstrom will be playing for a few more years yet.... It'll be more like a Kozlov type signing. -Tim

He edited that from yesterday. The draft order he had yesterday wasn't even close (No Wings pick in the first round, Florida picking 26th, etc.). Note to self: Before making mock draft, check draft order first. -Tim

Pretty sure that Holland said when we got bounced that they weren't going to ask Calder to come back. He said that it definitely wasn't injuries that hampered his effectiveness. I don't know that I totally buy that because he looked SO good when we first got him, but I'm pretty sure Calder's gone. I'd take him back in a second if it was at a big paycut from the $3 million or so he was making. -Tim

I loved watching Sweatt play when he was with the NTDP. He was one of those guys that really impressed me the first time I saw him like Kessel, Kane, Hensick and Mueller. I'm kind of surprised he didn't have a better year out at CC...but then again their team was way down in scoring from what they're usually at, and he was 3rd on the team in points. I like that kid a lot. He's a burner for sure. -Tim

I want them to take Pacioretty. He sounds like he's going to be nasty, and it'd be nice to see a Wolverine end up on the Wings for once. But he's a college player, soooo....... -Tim

Mmmmmmmm Spaaaaaam.....

I always joke that we'll take the best available Jiri or Tomas. -Tim

Guh? Out of the 346 players from colleges (or headed to college) in the 2001-2005 drafts, the Wings drafted 3. That was actually the lowest number in the entire NHL and the next closest teams (TOR and MTL) drafted 6 apiece. Source: http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/stories/061307aab.html The Wings basically ignore the college ranks--which is really strange being that there's a half dozen teams in their own backyard. -Tim

Nashville's going in the tank. They're going to be like the Cleveland Indians in Major League....suck bad enough that no one comes, so they can move the team. Just don't move to Hamilton. Go somewhere West so they don't jump us in the pecking order to move to the Eastern Conference..... Just so long as Kariya doesn't come here, I'm happy.... -Tim

I still can't believe how real that shot of Crosby looks. Now if only they could make the game play like it should....... Thanks for the post Brent. Can't wait to see this stuff at the draft. -Tim

It might've happened when Denny Crane knocked it off the balcony of Crane, Poole, & Schmidt in the season finale of Boston Legal -Tim

Isn't that kind of the rule now? I mean, you're allowed to drag your foot along the blueline to stay onside even if the rest of you is in the offensive zone. Hockey doesn't need any radical changes. Call the game consistently (meaning if a team wants to interfere on every dump in ::cough:: Anaheim ::cough:: then call it every time....even if the power plays get out of whack. They'll stop doing it before too long), get rid of the trapezoid, get rid of the dumping the puck into the crowd is an automatic penalty rule, and make the instigator a 2 minute penalty. And enforce more strict rules on goalie equipment...less wiggle room. They definitely don't need to dump offsides. The playoffs were great this year. We don't need to "dumb the game down" so with more offense so the masses may fall in love with it. -Tim

The guy who runs that site is a buddy of mine. He sat in my group at U of M games last year and we'd always go back and forth about offsides. Anytime there was a play that was a fraction of an inch offside, he'd elbow me and be like, "See? See?" And while I'd agree that offsides on rushes like that do slow the game down, I really wouldn't want to see hockey without offsides of any kind. And there needs to be a boundary of some sort. Widening the blueline would probably work to eliminate a lot of those "rushes" offsides I do disagree with Brian that teams wouldn't risk playing a man down in their own zone in favor of camping someone out at the other end of the rink. If anything, it would make offensive zone play more like 4 on 4 or 3 on 3 because the other team wouldn't risk playing 5 on 4 in the offensive zone at the risk of leaving someone wide open down the ice. The pass wouldn't even have to go tape to tape. Just have a defenseman rap it off the boards and the guy would be able to pick up the puck anywhere it went and be in cold turkey. And being that even the best powerplays are only 25% (when you get to play on one for a full 2 minutes) and penalty shots are 35-40% when you have ONE attempt at it, I'd say teams would be much more likely to try and play "short-handed" when the reward is a chance at a breakaway. Thus the other team would have to drop a man back. It would also lead to speedy wingers being far too valuable. Let a guy like Kariya take off up the side once his team gets possession, and not have him have to worry about being offsides? C'mon. I would like to see them find a way to eliminate the "offsides by an inch on a rush" calls, but not at the expense of eliminating offsides altogether. -Tim

Thank God. Can't wait to wear my new Hasek jersey during games next year Yay Dom!!! -Tim

God I knew we weren't crazy. I love that all black look. Now that begs the question, since you got THAT game to load, does it mean I finally get the video clips of Jim Hughson going, "He's got a breakaway, he's in the clear, heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee dumps the puck in" "Schlooooooop shoooooots" "Rangers Rangers" and "Quick shot on goal by Rouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse"? -Tim

Is that the only problem? God those were great games.....I still remember that "holy s***" moment when we first realized that the players had their real faces. -Tim

It's probably normal. It's a big file and it all depends on how many people are online "seeding" it. If you just leave it open for awhile, you'll probably end up seeing the speeds increase. Torrents are amazing! -Tim

When I typed the post, I originally put "The bottom of the jersey was black, all black pants, all black socks..." Then I looked at the picture. I still think the allllll black was pimp, but that uniform is awesome anyway, even with the orange and yellow socks. I found one of those jerseys on ebay a few months ago. I was hoping no one would notice and I could get it fairly cheap. Thennnn the bidding went up to like $200. Damn. -Tim

I always loved this one: I think the bottom of the jersey being black, combined with the all black pants was an awesome look. -Tim