egroen

Are you gonna call an f'n penalty on that? Jesus.

Oh make them pay!

Oh luck, please do not stay with Hiller all game...

Helm is not only a fast skater, but he is a great skater.... Just teach that kid how to shoot the f'n puck!

I just hope they wake up sooner than later....

Wow, quick whistle there...

Heart, keep beating...

I always thought a team could f*ck with the Wings' game by purposefully making their ice bad.... Just sayin'

That guy is right on. The Hawks fan that are writing in and calling him a moron are bandwagon fans who care more about a "good game" and "beating the best" than a win. Give me a break -- I am hippy-dippy-skippy-happy if every team Detroit faces in the playoffs is decimated by injuries. Give me the easiest road possible, thank you.

Yeah, number 4 is wrong on many accounts - contracts can not be restructured and multi-year deals on players over 35 are something to avoid. For instance, if Lidstrom retired 2 years into his 5 year contract, his salary would still count towards the cap for the remaining three years. 5 and 6 do not properly convey cap hit, as you have to take the average salary for all years of the contract (so Kopecky would be $1m and Hudler $3m).

You would not want to buy out a decreasing contract like Zetterberg or Franzen have - it would be a dead weight on your cap (for years) -- the Islanders still have Yashin on their cap, for example. The one-year waiting period only applied in that first year buyout option.

I'd be steaming over that call if I was a Caps fan. This game looks like recess hockey... entertaining though!

You can not restructure a contract under the current CBA. I have a hard time seeing Zetterberg and Franzen being dead weights at the end of their contracts. 1) The cap will be far and away higher than it is right now (we are still talking about a league without a lucrative TV contract) - at a conservative average growth of only 5% per year, that comes to a cap of $84.5m in 8 years 2) If they retire the cap hit comes off the books 3) If they are on LTIR the cap can be exceeded by their cap hit (assuming the Wings are at or near the max) 4) If they are sent to GR their cap hit comes off the books 5) If they are waived and claimed their cap hit comes off the books 6) If they are traded, their cap hit comes off the books (and cash-strapped teams struggling to hit the minimum will love a veteran player with a low actual salary and high cap hit)

Holmstrom is on the last year of his $2.25m/yr contract next year, as well. Hopefully Maltby retires after next year and Draper the following - Draper retiring before that would be pointless, as his salary would still count towards the cap. Holmstrom should be looked at on a year-to-year basis, eventually becoming a 4th line player and power play specialist.

Wings got a discount - but they had to give him a long-ass, decreasing contract in order to do so (he will make $5.5m next year) - which definitely exploits a current loophole in the CBA. What worked in the Wings favor was that Franzen had barely any history of doing what he is doing now (literally one regular season and one post-season), is injured a fair amount of the time and is not much of a playmaker, which keeps his total points down. But you are right - I am quite positive Franzen would be receiving some massive offers this summer if he was a free agent.

I'm actually missing Lilja more right now. Rafalski is great 5 on 5 and on the PP, but the wings are still doing pretty well in those areas... though of course I would love to have him back But the PK has just been brutal, and I feel Lilja would make a big difference there. The Wings are doing a good job of disrupting their PPs transition and cutting down passing lanes, but once the Ducks get down low and get a cycle going I start biting finger nails - a big bodied PK specialist and shot blocker would come in awfully handy right now.

Hmmm... I have a tough time seeing McCarty in.

Am I the only one who thinks he might just play down in GR?

Though in the case of Holmstrom vs. Pronger, it would be a pretty nice exchange. Holmstrom takes enough punishment though, that I do not expect him to drop the gloves with someone who has over half a foot on him.

Finally! I've been wondering when you would come out of the closet as a Ducks' fan. That's gotta feel a whole lot better to get off your chest!

Now here is a perfectly good point that you once again ruin and make it very difficult to actually concede your point because you consistently disparage and ridicule great players on this team. Yes, it would be great, if Prongers was actually dumb enough to do it, if Holmstrom was able to take Pronger off the ice for 5 minutes. That does not make him a nancy-boy however. Quit projecting your fantasies and own insecurities onto Red Wing players.

Ferndale it is then!

If you think "fine print" will somehow stop litigation, you are really fooling yourself. What state are you from again?

This is seriously the funniest thing I have read in a long time; whether intentional or not.

Isn't that way more common than a hat trick?