RusDRW

after some research about the current draft I think Toni Rajala would be excellent option at 29th.

Always liked Boston. Even more this year when they finally started to play like a team. I like San Jose too. Basically, I like those teams showing good puck possession style. Just like my Red Wings. Another bright spot is Toronto though. In this season they always fought to the end demonstrating "good old Canadian" style - not much skill but a lot of pride and will. The rest is basically garbage. Of course, in the play-offs it is Red Wings or nothing.

where did you get it from? Watching Max sometimes I feel he has no chemistry with his own stick and feet.

I remember there was one guy on the Finnish team who skated circles around Canada defensemen during the whole game. Don't remember his name though. Was that Rajala? If so, he is a real deal. I've never seen such kind of skating since Kharlamov.

this draft is very questionable. Both Tavares and Hedman needs a lot of time to develop. Those teams who are going to choose them simply do not have time to wait and will rush them anyway. So they will be busts. The best euro skater (Svensson-Paajarvi) is not only small and soft but has a tendency to disappear in big games. He reminds me Zetterberg as he needs a lot of time to develop (say, 3-4 years in SEL). The only real deal in top 5 is Dushense. I really hop Isles just on him. After these 4 players there is huge drop-off in pure talent. So starting from pick number 5 it is all lottery. For us it does not matter whether we are going to draft in top 10 or top 30. I'm perfectly sure we will choose forward with N/A style of play. After that "all swede" draft. Please, no more 5.11 defenseman.

I didn't see any post game presentations. I haven't visited nhl.com and tsn.ca after saturday's game. I'm perfectly sure they have nothing for Red Wings fans on their sites. The league wanted it and they finally passed it to Cindy. Good for them. I don't understand Red Wings fans in this picture as well. When it comes to the Stanley cup play-offs, I'm not a fan of hockey, I'm a fan of my team. Because of these people NHL officials feel they can do whatever they want to the game I love. And there was one more for reason for me to want us to win this season. I just wanted to see what NHL is going to do with the rules and officiating next play-offs to give it to "the best player in the game" who "rightfully deserve it" and is a "generational talent"...

sometimes injuries do not allow you to be good enough to win. Two out of our three best players weren't even 30% during the whole series. Just bad luck and I hate when my team is loosing due this. I can't move on... Who knows how many years we all have to wait till the next cup... PS At least now I fully understand Dallas fans. After moving through San Jose and Anaheim last year their find themselves against cup healthy Detroit team. Now I have much more respect for them playing without Morrow, Lehtinen, Zubov, Richards not contributing.

I actually watched some KHL play-offs this year. Of course, the level of talent is a bit lower than in NHL (especially in the regular season) but it is compensated by unbiased officiating. There were also mistakes... none of them, however, directly affected outcome of those games I watched.

after following NHL seasons and play-offs since 1990 as closely as I could (lived in Russia, now in Finland) this is the first time I'm ready to give up... And now is the best time for me to follow my Red Wings - I have full season subscription to a service similar to NHL CI (here in Europe it is broadcasted via ESPN), I can shop in NHL on-line store, go to Europe games. Man, few seasons back I spend 3K to go to Detroit and watch two games at the Joe. Everything is in place....except for the quality of the product. Today I cancelled my trip to Stockholm for September games. So if someone from Europe didn't get their tickets you may now book them. 3 tix for each game as I planned to go there with my family. This is just a direct consequence of play-offs. Do not want to watch hockey knowing that it means nothing at the end. PS just noticed I mentioned "ready to give up"... I actually gave up. I wish all the best for my Red Wings but will try to follow KHL next season.

in the beginning of this season I wanted it to be "off season" for the Red Wings. I was perfectly sure we won't repeat. And it was "off season" by our standards. Unfortunately, this team is so good. Do not get me wrong I really want Red Wings to succeed but now I have very bad feelings about the next season.

I guess this sentence pretty much sums up this series. We were out of gas completely still took it to game 7. I'm proud of my Red Wings.

did not see it happen. Turned it off with 2 second remainaing. They got what they wanted to... expecting something like "I would like to be always in this photograph... as promised by Gary"

if you want good quality and assurance that you will actually be able to watch uninteruptedly till the end just pay few euros here.

excellent post. that is pretty much summarize my feelings thoughs Hossa,

no, he wasn't. Not even close. Crosby was as much as I hate to admit it. PS please stop base your opinion on the scoresheet only. PPS any further discussion with you may turn into "Zetterberg is better than Datsyk"... so please do not bother answering.

I remember those discussions. For some people in order to realize that, Hossa needs to have a completely effortless game like game 6. Such games happen to each and every player in this league. Take a look at Zetter, Dats, Crosby, etc., all of them are having off games. With Hossa we have a much bigger problem - he is "one man show" for his shift on the ice. If the rest of the team does not feed him constantly during the whole game he is simply lost out there. Perhaps he was one of the reasons Pittsburgh was really bad last year.

I have no problems with Hossa leaving. He never was a good choice for the Red Wings. Do not get me wrong he is good for every other team in this league. Just not for the Red Wings. Our hockey is a bit different... And after that I see no problems for us to sign Samuelsson and Hudler. I hate to see any of these two guys leaving much more than Hossa keaving...

I purposely did not watch game 5. I was perfectly sure we were going to lose that one and was really surprised we won. Have exactly the same feeling now about game 7. I can't miss it though... For me game 7 with your team involved is the only time I actually regret I'm a hockey fan. It is too much for my health. Meanwhile, I for me there is not difference between this game 7 and that one we played with Anaheim. I'm perfectly sure we played our finals and give 100% back then.

Let's go Red Wings!

You can't do wrong choosing between Dats or Feds but... if you want consistency and some magic in EACH AND EVERY shift then you go with Pavel. If you like dominant performance in each and every game of a SINGLE season, say next one, you would go with Feds edition of 94-95. Both are good, but I've never seen a player with the set of skills Dats has.

No offense, but to be honest I feel sick when somebody jokes about Thomas Holmstrom. Especially, using such a crappy style. He was an integral piece of each and every Red Wings team starting from 1997. He is still an asset. He is still best at what he is doing. I know he started to fade last year. But there is a reason we are winning and players believe in our organization, e.g. like Hossa. And I think the reason behind is that we do not treat older players like a crap. We do not kick them off when they are starting to be less useless than usual (see Draper, Maltby, Homer). Players simply feel secure, feel like at home and this attracts a lot of free agents. Example? Brad Stuart. Do you think this is easy to move from SoCal to Detroit area? He would have gotten an excellent offer at the open market, perhaps, from San Jose (they were looking for defs) and still decided to sign with us...

I guess you're expecting something "Oh, yes, we all agree that it goes both ways, they are just inconsistent" and so on... No, it doesn't go both ways. Officiating cleary favored Pens in game 3. Interference is interference and there are no degrees it. I simply do not understand when people say "it was more severe interference so let's call it". If you like fair officiating you must be in favor of calling all interference penalties irrespective of how blatant they are.

very interesting observations. I do not have any ideas what we are so bad on PK either...

Only one question. Didn't you believe Anaheim got even bigger advantage putting Ryan-Gets-Perry against our lines while playing at home? We somehow managed to win one of those away games in that series. And I'm sure that Anaheim firth line is much better than Kunitz-Crosby-Guerin. The only difference is that we had Dats back then and I admit he is a huge factor...

like I already said here around one week ago one of the old Dats' coaches had a talk with him and revealed that his injury is not related to bruised foot but more like hip flexor which is, according to him, is not that serious but really annoying. Also he said Dats will be out for Chicago series (remeber it was one week ago). here is the link in russian Krikunov's interview.