clutchngrab

I don't know why Pheneuf doesn't get more love. He is a huge physical force w/ skills as well. He pretty much carries the Flamers on the blue line except for the randomness of Hamerlik

He's still the best overall defenseman in the league - though maybe not the most dominant as witnessed by Pronger last year in the playoffs. Having said that, his salary still pisses me off. I sure hope he does an Yzerman as he gets on in years.

right on. I vaguely remember the downright fear teams had when they played the flyers. Dave "The Hammer" Shultz was unstoppable.

Please this grit and muscle crap is getting really old. Right now we are as gritty and muscular as we have been in a long time - at least at forward. If you mean one more physical d-man, then I might agree, but the personel is pretty much there - at least compared to most teams - and now it is time to execute. No, my problem with Babcock is that I don't believe he is that good of a gametime coach. I don't think he adjusts well and has shown long stretches of stubbornness and wishful thinking. Jason Williams on the point is the most blatant example, but there are others. I don't like some of his line combos and his allotment of ice time (or lack thereof) to some individuals borders on deluisional.

If I'm Babs I have a meeting with Flip, Sammie and Huds and say that the 3 of them are trying out for 2 slots in the playoffs. The player that does what is asked of him the best is in. Actually, I would throw Maltby and Cleary in that mix as well and say 3 for 5. Personally, I would like to see Huds and Flip stay in. Flip is better than Cleary and Huds is lookin mighty fine on the PP on the half-wall. The smirf has some skills.

OK, Sammy sucks too. Do you feel better?

Or SJ or Anaheim. We match up great with the soft teams like Nashville, because they or soft on D just like us.

flames or sharks.... I want the flames. :-; OK, Mr or Mrs. Sunshine. Have they had one good western trip this year? Me thinks not. This team blows against the good teams in the west on their ice. Let's all hope Z comes back because w/out him SJ will beat us in the 1st round. Sad, but true.

It's gonna take at least 6mil to sign him - no if ands or buts. Holland may be able to get creative with incentives (like playoff performance) - but don't count on it. Datsyuk holds most of the cards because of market demand.

Lets not forget he got Lang for basically nothing when he was close to the top of the league in scoring. Sure he has made some mistakes, but in the cap era it is hard to fault his moves so far. He has kept our core assets and not sacrifices the future as well as upgraded this team to be legit cup contender this spring. What more can you ask for? THe Bertuzzi gamble: brilliant. The Williams trade: Brilliant. The Zetterberg signing: brilliant. The only downsides are Sammy and Lilja signed to inflated contracts, but that can be rectified if need be.

I'm with stupid. Sign him first. Plus, the press we have been hearing this time around, at least from Pavel, is that he really likes it in Detroit and wants to sign. Maybe that's all PR bulls***, but he doesn't strike me as the calculating type. His agent on the other hand....

OK Everyone, put your GM hat on for a second before you start bangin on the keyboard. Stop and think about your team plus the contracts plus the salary cap - BEYOND THIS YEAR Please pretend the following with me: 1. Z comes back from the back and is not Pavs from last year. (soon to be ufa) 2. Bert is 75% of the player he was 2 years ago. (ufa) 3. Pavs continues the same level of play from the reg season (ufa) 4. Calder continues to cotribute at a rate that makes the trade look like genius. (ufa) 5. Lang produces like he can with the right players. (ufa) 6. Schneider produces as he has thru the years (ufa) 7. LIdstrom is 7mil man 8. Flip, Hudler and Franzen are untouchables 9. Grigorenko and other Grif D-guys may be ready next year. Not so simple is it. Frankly, I think Pavs should be signed no matter what (between 6 and 6.5) and potentially dealt after the playoffs in the summer. Maybe for a buttload of picks and prospects. The salary cap sucks for the wings, period. We probably can't afford to resign Lang and Schneider and still stay within the cap. Especially since Z will demand equal or greater than Dats, and is frankly, worth more on the wings. That is the irony, Dats will always be worth more on a marginal team than on a competive team.

You just notice how bad they are when the calls go against. Seriously, NHL officiating is by far the worse of any major pro sport. Not only are calls inconsistent between games, they are inconsistent within the same game. The rule changes have only made it worse, since now as the playoffs approach, some of them sometimes are starting to swallow the whistle again. That's OK, if it they are consistent, but the current inconsistency really hurts the NHL.

Apparently they never got the animal house talk: "Son, fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life."

Do you guys think anyone besides an intern manages web pages?

Its a bit of a gamble, but sign him now before the playoffs where I think he will shake the monkey off his back. If not, then trade him. There will always be takers.

Ooops, I guess I clicked on the Osgood sucks thread by mistake.

Dats is one of the best playmakers in the game, but you know Dats is on his game when he is shooting the puck. I get all happy inside when he shoots from bad angles. That means he is going to have a good game. Also, he has turned into one of the best defensive forwards on the team (if not the nhl) without sacrificing much offensively. Nobody seems to mention that, but it is huge.

Once sam is back I refuse to ever dress again.

FFFFFFFFOrsberg is SSSSSCary. He's BBBBBAAAACCCKKK (and that only spells doom for the wings)

Dear Bert, Don't listen to these people. If it were up to them you would wait until you turned into rotten, moldy stinky French cheese before you play. I say we gave up alot to get you and you need to get on the ice ASAP and crush someone anyone besides Chelios. You might need to play with a little pain, but that's OK because you are a hockey player and you play to please us as fans. No games are meaningless. I expect to see you in the lineup for our next epic battle with Columbus.

I'm not saying he won't be back, just that with disk problems returning healthy is not automatic. If you think so, check how many games Bertuzzi has played this year. And sorry, this team without Zetterberg will do nothing in the playoffs. Call that negative if you want, I call it realistic

Hey, its a back problem and who knows what it is. I would not expect the truth if it were bad. With guys like Zetts, the wings will already be in "playoff" mode when it comes to full disclosure.

Yeah, well guess what! It's a herniated disk so there are no guarantees he'll be back without surgury, in which case kiss the playoffs good bye.

I don't that's proven yet. He has seen nowhere near the quality ice JWilly (R.I.P. in Chicago) has boh in minutes, PP and linemates. Having said that, all will become clear as the contract picture solidifies in the off-season.