egroen

5 minutes is perfect, but I would not be upset with a game suspension for that.

I want Leino as a first option and than Abdelakader. Leino is not afraid to go to the net (neither is Abdelkader), but is far more skilled and ready. Produces every darn time he comes up.

Cobo Joe's is always interesting and a unique experience after a game -- and it is literally around the corner from the Joe. I always see Joey Kocur there. EDIT: Holy crap - I had not realized how many times I wrote "Joe"! Ya' know!?

Would a hunger strike, until a Wings player scores a hat trick, be too extreme?

If I do not get a free Arbys sandwich out of this playoff run, whether the Wings win or not, I will feel empty inside. A Stanley Cup with no free roast beef sandwich is a hollow, soulless victory.

What I have learned is that when the Wings are down two important defensemen (either Schneider/Kronwall or Rafalski/Lilja), these teams can be very evenly matched, especially when the refs actively take away legit goals from the Wings. Even given this, the Wings are still capable of taking their game to a much higher level than the Ducks can match (witness the 5-0 blowout in '07 and the game last night).

The Ducks and Wings have gone about building a team the right way - They pick a style of play and players that will compliment that style and incorporate it into their drafting, trades and player development. I would argue the Wings have been much more successful, however. That does not mean a skilled euro like Selanne does not compliment the Ducks or that a power forward like Bobby Ryan would not compliment the Wings. The Wings have drafted with an entirely different set of parameters than the Ducks have -- having traded picks often for free agents (to help stay on top) and late round picks when they do possess them. Large, skilled players are often the first to go - especially prior to the lockout. Getzlaff, Perry and Ryan are all first round picks.

Totally. Weird there has not been one - this regular season was the first season since 1972 (I believe) that no Wing recorded a hat trick. The Red Wings need to drop Arbys as a sponsor if they are going to continue to jinx the team like this!

Fixed. It's clear you view the 70s and 80s as the hey-day of the NHL, but that is really only one small chapter. Enforcers did not exist in the league until expansion, which watered down the overall talent in the league enough that teams could bring in someone less skilled to play that role. Like it or not, as the sport of hockey expands internationally, more and more talent will be coming into the NHL, and once again we will see the enforcer all but disappear. The only way to combat this is with expansion - so you better be hoping Bettman succeeds in putting an NHL team in every major city. Dino Ciccarelli is no bigger than Holmstrom, and stood up to those guys, so I see no reason why Holmstrom would not be able to... especially since Holmstrom was also very effective in the 90s, against much bigger guys than you listed. I am undecided on the instigator rule as of now (I was against it for a long time). I now actually think helmets contributed more to the increase of dangerous cheap shotting than the instigator rule has. But like it or not, both helmets and the instigator rule are here to stay. and cheap shots certainly existed before 1992. You love fighting, and while I like it, I love hitting more -- and I do not think someone like George Parros should be able to pummel someone like Pavel Datsyuk because Datsyuk legally hits Teemu Selanne.

The only time I noticed Parros in Game 1 was when he desperately flipped the puck over the boards and served two minutes for delay of game. I personally liked Kopecky taking a top 4 defender, of an already defensively depleted team, off the ice for 5 minutes towards the end of the 3rd.

I am so thankful we have a very classy organization. Malkin is about the only young superstar in the league right now that I really like (and Helm). Crosby is annoying and Ovechkin is too much of a spoiled rock star for my taste. Could you imagine Bodreau if he actually made it to the Wings?

Subtle

Man, I even had my wife excited about free Arbys tomorrow!

Perry is such a *****.

I call Leino!

Well, Kopcky did just take out a much better player... well done there.

Oh please just pepper Giguere.

Can some of these goals carry over into the next game???

That is hilarious! We had commercials...

thank god - fall apart hiller!

Nothing wants to go in the net for the Wings... even pucks in the net want to come out (with the refs help).

Hmmm... I once threatened to kidnap Jamal Mayers and make him play for the Wings.

Anaheim or Vancouver VS. Carolina would get pretty darn low ratings. I am spiteful right now - so that is what I wish upon the NHL should the Wings lose

Very believable to me -- if I was making up something like this, I would have taken out at least 2 or 3 of them before they overwhelmed me.

You're kidding right? The Wings have been trying to play Ducks' hockey and they look awful doing so - running around, getting out of position to make the hit. Outhitting the Ducks is ruining their game - which is largely positional. The Ducks are succeeding in throwing them off their game and it has been really noticeable.