RusDRW

as good as it has ever been? Who is going to fight for the puck till the last second? Heatley? Thornton? Nash? Do not think so. They are stars, you know. And these are big time guys for team Canada who almost guaranteed their spots.

Watching Canada-USSR hockey for about about 25 year it looks like there is something missing in this generation of Canada's players. Perhaps this is related to replacing Lemeaux with Crosby and Shanny with Lucic, and Robinson with Pronger do not you think so? This is oversimplification of course but something tells me that Canada won't be that successful in the next few years internationally. As a Russian this is perhaps the first time I feel pretty confident meeting Canada at any stage in 2010 Olympic. This is something I did not have since the first game of 1988' Canada's Cup.

wow. I knew we were cursed but this is definitely too many games missed, especially, compared to Pens. I'm really proud of my team getting that far with such little luck.

Zherdev to KHL is not official yet. Just some rumors flying in Russia's media. He definitely wants to play in NHL but nobody gives what he wants (something around 4M long term).

it is natural I guess. Nowadays, it is one player league. Back then it was Messier, Gretzky, Lemeaux, Yzerman, etc. league.

agree. I would prefer Draper to retire too...

I completely agree with that, including your lines. Our strength is Dats, Zeta, Mule, Fil, and Cleary. These 5 fowards make us an excellent team. Plus we have some expectation in Leino and Eaves. Plus a 40 points producer in Williams. Plus excellent checker and penalty killer in Helm, possibility to call up Abby. What else do you need? We have salary cup, do you remember? And I did not even mention our real strength making us a Cup contender - our defenseman. Lids, Rafalski, Stuart, Kronwall, Ericsson are now best top-5 defs in this league. We're going to be good. Very good in the upcoming season.

I do not think this is unfair. Usually, there is a lot of time to come up with agreement before all the stuff is taken to arbitration.

No to Zherdev, Afinogenov, and Sykora. Yes to Pyatt, Grier, Prospal, Bertuzzi.

Gonchar Sergey (PIT) - Volchenkov Anton (OTT) Markov Andrey (MTL) - Atyushov Vitaly (Mettalurg, KHL) Zubov Sergey (DAL) - Tyutin Fedor (CLB) these pairings look good aren't they?

Perhaps, they are not signed by cited teams.

yes.. hypothetically. I just wonder how many times Richards will score on PK against these guys. No way we'll see this unit on the ice. Except for, perhaps, last minute of the game...

nice... so what does it mean at the end? Does he stays with the Red Wings? Dynamo site is reporting Hudler is heading to Moscow this week.

in his prime he was legitimate top 3 forward on any team. And the best power forward in the league.

he is signed for 550 and its two-way contract. I wish we signed him instead of Newbury. At least he can fight and has a good wheels.

I can imagine how this will be investigated... - Mr. Hossa did you have in mind retiring before 40 by signing this contract? - No. - Mr. Bowman/Tallon did you talk to Mr. Hossa about retiring before 40 when negotiated that contract? - No. - Ladies and gentleman! Everything is fine. I mean they have no tools to carry out any sort of investigation. Asking straighforwadly will always lead to lying. That is all.

Brian Rafalski? Of course, he won't waive his NMC.... just dreaming

These rumors scare me to death. Williams, now Sykora and while Williams is simply bad, Sykora is absolutely useless. Look that even Pens decided to bench him and I can't even imagine Sykora playing for Babcock. Moreover, both are not worth more than 1M per year. Best scenario for us is to somehow get Prospal + someone out of Grier, Malhotra, Peca, Betts. Worst case is these two pylons.

Top 10 Canadian players does not look strong compared to previous years... Oh, wait their choice does not look great. Getzlaf at 6th place? Thornton at 9th place? Are you kidding me? Who added Fleury there? Why not to add J. Staal, T. Kennedy, and C. Kunitz and Talbot there then?

if this will happen everybody here will regret we decided not to sign Sammy.

I wouldn't agree. We shouldn't forget that in such a short tournament chemistry is very important. I remember Finns finished us (Russians) 4-0 in last Olympic quarterfinals. The only thing behind that was excellent chemistry between their lines and willingness to fight will the end in each and every moment of the game, something both Canada and Russia didn't have. So in such tournaments I would always prefer Morozov - Zinoviev - Zaripov (three guys you barely have heard about) over something like Ovechkin - Malkin - Radulov.

Bykov yesterday told that even those invited to the Olympic camp won't be announced till 1 of August. The only thing he mentioned is that the ratio of NHL to KHL player will be around 60 to 40 percents.

I remeber we missed few good players (Latendreese, for example) to select Cory Emmerton at the draft. He was porjected to be a classic Red Wings top six forward - small, soft, excellent skating, and good ice vision. I tried to find something about him and looks like all the reports are more or less pessimistic about his development. Were there any recent news about Cory? Do you think he will meet our expectation? etc.

sexist? there is not such word in Oxford disctionary But you are female 100%. If not, you should change to... Hey I forgot about the topic...!