RusDRW

Meanwhile, are there any links showing his play? PS Just found few on youtube. I'm f.... impressed. Patience + accuracy makes wonders. How good is he on defense?

This is the worst possible situation when a rookie enetering NHL request guarantees of any kind. Such things does not end well. Let him earn it instead of having it by default... If he requests guarantees he may sign with any other franchise.,, like Toronto or Columbus.

just one brief looks at this year's SCF removes all the questions.

Looks like their team is improving each and every year. I can track back to three years ago when their third line center was Wellwood and they just traded for Boyle. Pavelski was youngser back then. Next year Couture emerged and they signed Malhotra. Still no Cup. Now they have excellent three-centers punch in Thornton, Couture, Pavelski and they just signed big body Handzus. In addition to that they traded for Burns, signed him, and signed White as well. I see then way better than they were last year. Personally, I think there is no way for us to get past them in the play-offs with Helm and Abdelkader as 3rd and 4th line centers. So, the actual question. Does someone see them as champions next year? To be honest, I do. I wouldn't bet a dime if we meet them in the play-offs.

NJ looked very impressive in their series against Philly and Rangers, especially, against Rangers. They are a very balanced team. Brodeaur could be their problem. Sounds strange but this is true... Kings made it look easy, very easy. I'm impressed. In all their series they were head and shoulders better than their opponents. In think we get a good SCF. Kind of relief after watching semis and conference finals. And yes, they are the best teams in respective conference at the moment. At least, best balanced teams. Looking forward watching the finals.

they are taking it too far in my opinion. Why not to bring Jarnkrock, Tatar, Nyquist??? I was laughing at people claiming we are too old and slow in the past, but now we are indeed too slow to actually compete with teams like Nashville, Phoenix, etc.

He was excellent this play-offs no question about this. But this excellence comes from work ethics not actual skill (he has his share, definitely). It seems we already have such kind of player - Gustav Nyquist looks like a very inexperenced version of Zack Parise. No doubts I would like to have Parise on our team but I also think that a couple of gritty top-9 (mostly third like) forwards may help this team way more. Chris Stewart, David Jones to be realistic. Definitely I would have preferred Bobby Ryan and David Backes...

Kings are playing nearly perfect hockey. Just like we did in 2007-2009. I won't be surprized if they'll win it all.

didn't they lose last year to Vancouver in 4 games as well after beating us? We can call it "detroit syndrome"

watched both PHO-NASH games. There are thouthands of reasons for Nashville loosing and Phoenix winning. One of the most important is that Nashville truly believes they are a better team while they are clearly not. It is in their style of play. We drove to the next as hard as Phoenix is doing right now. The difference is not even Rinne. The difference is the way Nashville defenders are playing now. They are always looking for some opportunities to attack and their defensive effort is not there because of it. Roles are reversed now compared to Nash-Det series. In order for Nashville to win they need to go to their basics meaning that they should not try to win but should try not to lose.

and that is sad.

not gonna watch this one. do not have favorites. do not think this will be hockey.

Can we do "anyone on Detroit's roster for Ryan ******* Getzlaf"???

I want the following line to be out fourth line: Clutterbuck - Ott - Neil

I think everyone on this board agrees that this year we lost to the better team. I have no problem with that. The problem is that this is the first time we lost to the better team since 2008. You can also go back to 2007 Anaheim series when Ducks were allowed to do everything they wanted including putting Hasek into the net. That's the problem. Not this year.

absolutely brutal way to play this beatiful sport. I don't really get how some find it entertaining...

it is not only Red Wings. And it is not a blind bias towards a certain team. NHL simple wants any series to go to 7 games. However, hockey does not work this way as one team is often better than another.

it wasn't even game 6 I'm mostly angry about. It was game 5 overtimes when zebras coudn't stop penalizing our players for just nothing. Finally, Sykora scored. I'll never forget it. Since then I cannot take NHL seriously.

No need for such stuff. We are in a quite similar situation except we have some semi-reliable prospects while they do have a GM who is not afraid of trading underperforming "stars" and some scrubs for some competent players. Thornton, Boyle, Burns, Heatley, Havlat, etc. We were good because of luck getting Dats and Zetter so low at the draft while they were good because of trading. That's huge advantage. At the end they ran into young hungry team just like we did.

major problem with this is that both Neal and Weber are repeat offenders themselves. They already demonstrated they may have lose their cool and try to injure people. What Torres do is indeed worse but basing desicion on repeat offending and taking into account this precedent those two guys had to be suspended for approximately 10 games.

agree.

irrelevant. They better just have a lottery giving it to Pens at the end.

there is nothing new in your post actually. I've lost a lot of interest in this league around 2008 when we won the Cup but hte level of favorism towards Pens was exceptional. Most people forgot about this just because we won. Now it becomes worse every single year.

Grand Rapids?

Well, am I the only one who see a lot of positive stuff in this quick loss? You shouldn't go any further than this thread where most people are way more constructive compared to the last two years' losses. I think Babcock and Holland understand situation even better than we do. I hope this offseason we'll see moves that may make our team a bit better, particularly, bugger, younger, stronger and better offensively. We have all the tools to do that as the only constant we have to worry about is Bert's 2.1M for two years. If not, then we need to do something with management.