egroen

Hiller, unlike Giguere, gives up some nice, big, fat, juicy rebounds as well. The Sharks were rarely able to capitalize, but the Wings should be up in their grill a lot more than the Sharks were.

The Getzlaf line was playing over 23 minutes a game against San Jose. For the Wings, Zetterberg is the only forward playing more than 18 minutes a game.

I'm actually in favor of playing Chelios over Lebda in this series.

Oh - and don't forget Kyle Calder. Did he even get off the bench in the Ducks series two years ago? Man, that guy sucked. Lidstrom - Markov Lilja - Chelios Lebda - Quincey VS Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Ericsson - Lebda Big Difference. wish Lilja was back, however - he would be a big improvement over Lebda.

Great post - people need to remember these are completely different teams facing each other this year. One has gotten better since then and one is lucky to have even made the playoffs. The Ducks are not the best 8th seed to ever make the playoffs, they simply had the fortune of coming into their own at the right time and being the perfect poison to a San Jose team with almost no spark of life whatsoever. Yes, the Ducks played very well against the Sharks, but that Sharks team that came to play would have been rolled over by the St. Louis Blues this postseason. Even then, that series was not exactly a slaughter as the Ducks continue to struggle finding secondary scoring.

Ultimately, the Ducks are a one line team. I strongly believe not even a one-line team from the All-Star game could beat the Wings in a series. Yes, they will get some points, but the Wings can afford to lean on them not only with their defenders, but their forwards as well, without sacrificing offense, as the Wings have three legitimate scoring lines. Players like Moen and Pahlsson were a constant problem in the '07 series - those guys are gone now. Hiller is a freakin' rookie; he shined against a flat Sharks team that was content to cycle and fire shots from the perimeter and not establish their game in front of the net. Andy MacDonald, Kunitz and Penner gave them a scary and legitimate second line two years ago - all gone. Selanne is mainly a power play specialist now. Our defense is twice as good as what faced the Ducks two years ago. Lidstrom was forced to play over 30 minutes a game, with Schneider and Kronwall out the entire series. Rafalski, Stuart, Kronwall and Ericsson have all been added to our defense, while only losing Markov and Quincey. Datsyuk and Zetterberg were just starting to come into their own two years ago, but they are both better today. Lang is gone, and essentially replaced with Marian Hossa. The Wings should beat them, and beat them handily. I have been hoping for this matchup for some time. Teams able to consistently roll four lines of forwards will be more difficult for the Wings, IMO.

Brutal.

Lol... it actually sounded like they said "Cindy" in that commercial!

Personal problems this year is the one Ducks fans are sticking with. I believe his father passed away earlier in the year.

I'll pretend for a moment that you are not an obvious churlish troll, and answer as if you were raising points not laced with adolescent antagonism and bravado. I think Datsyuk especially, and maybe even Zetterberg are better and more suited to this team than perhaps even Crosby and Malkin for the present and probably a few more years. Ignoring the fact that Malkin and Crosby will improve in the future, in the here-and-now these players are a lot more equal offensively than what a quick glance at the leader board might show you. I posted this about 2/3 throught the season, though the projections at the time turned out to be awfully accurate: All things are not necessarily equal in the game of hockey. Players should always be looked at in context. Mike Babcock had the luxury this year of not needing to rely on any two stars too heavily this year in order for the Wings to make the playoffs, so he was able to limit their ice time and spread the power play time amongst all his forwards. Obviously the Penguins were not in the same position.

Go Ducks!!! EDIT: And again. Sharks are toast.

I see someone has been watching too many Versus commercials.

Tussels with Brashear, if you are lucky, are about as avenging as a bake sale (I figured you had watched him)... seriously, Brashear is such an awful example you are better off just saying "someone" cheap shots our player. I really have a hard time seeing Brashear on the ice against the Red Wings (and by the way, it was the Wings player cheapshotted by Brashear I saw going off the ice, not Downey). Anyways, the answer is - I don't really care what the Wings do, as long as they come out ahead because of it. Whether that is someone fights; delivers a huge hit; picks himself up and takes his game to another level; or if someone scores on a power play, I'll feel a bit redeemed. I guess I don't feel on-ice violence and cheap shots need to be answered in kind, for justice to be served. I believe a payback can come in many forms, especially when the ultimate prize of the playoffs is winning. Thus far, the Wings have done a good job of doing that , in whatever form it might take. Unlike you, I do not think there is only one acceptable "answer" to your question. Why do you keep laughing and using the words "hoping" and "wishing" in the same sentences as terrible things happening to the Wings players? Are you even trying to be subtle?

Though I didn't think Shanahan was that bad at all. I think NJ has even been using him on the PK.

Check my sig.

Oh, you're actually rooting for the Red Wings? I keep thing you are a Ducks fan trolling the boards. Anyways... now you tell me. Having watched Brashear, you tell me what the Wings should do. Should they play Downey, who is not even half the hockey player Brashear is, just in case something happens... and then, suppose the Wings are lucky enough to have an incident occur during the whole 4:00 Downey is on the ice, Downey will proceed to get his ass kicked by Brashear or bear-hugged until the refs break it up. I don't know about you, but that will really pump me up as our player is being carted off the ice in a stretcher. In reality, should Washington ever meet up with the Wings, Brashear will not be playing. If they are stupid enough to ice Brashear, like the Penguins iced BGL the first two games of the SCFs last year (how did that go for them?), I care more about the Wings scoring on the power play and winning, than I do someone playing huggy-bear with Brashear. These are the playoffs, after all.

Yeah, I'm sure Brashear would never dare do anything like that with Downey on the ice. I know you're all lathered up and excited to see the Red Wings beaten like rag dolls and out in the hospital or playing golf to prove your point, but unfortunately, they seem to be doing alright so far.

Jimmy D has stated the official reason Larry Aurie's number was un-retired was because he is not in the Hall of Fame. Under current owners and management, I would say HoF is definitely a must-have. Guys like Aurie and Pavelich would need to go in well ahead of Draper.

It's a fair point -- Probert, McCarty, and Avery contributed to their departures from Detroit, for sure. Bertuzzi, as well as Ciccarelli were a few years removed from their violence on-ice and had not exactly shown those incidents had much of a chance of being repeated. I do think it is safe to say character is important to Wings' management, but that they are also willing to overlook past transgressions.

Dino has one of the weakest resumes of all the guys up for the HoF right now. It is more than his on/off-ice altercations that is keeping him from it. 600 goals loses a lot of its luster when you put them into the context of the 80s and consider Dino never even came close to the league leaders in goals in a single season. Longevity should be a part of the equation, but peak performance is an equal if not more heavily-weighted factor, and dino comes up woefully short in that department. Bringing Kris Draper (or Maltby/McCarty) opens up the rafters to a number of players from the Red Wings past, many of whom have more accolades than Draper. As I have brought up before - Ted Lindsay left this organization in about the worst possible way you can imagine. If the Wings and he could patch things up, surely they can with Fedorov - whom by many accounts has already bridged many of those divisions - enough that the Red Wings actually considered trading for him from Columbus, which would have been at a large premium considering Columbus is in the division. If Fedorov's number is retired, I certainly agree it will not be any time soon.

As a player? Yes. As a captain? No.

I agree - and think Fedorov deserves to go up -- but it certainly won't be for a long time if it ever does happen. For those bringing up Osgood: Ozzie will need to make the Hall of Fame before his number is retired, which is not guaranteed.

Chara's performance this season is significantly less than Lidstrom's. Chara has a worse +/- despite playing in front of one of the best goalies in the league this year, while Lidstrom was playing in front of the worst. The Wings let in almost 50 goals more this season than Boston. Lidstrom beat him defensively and offensively this year.

83-84 Coffey's +/- needs to be taken in the context of the team he was on, ie. one of the best ever. Wayne Gretzky had a +/- of 76 that year, which does not mean he was an incredible defensive player, but that he simply scored a crap load of goals that year (87). Coffey and Gretzky contributed more offensively that year than they did defensively. As a whole, that Oilers team scored 446 goals and allowed 314. Both very high numbers. Boston that year was not nearly as good, scoring a lot less goals, which makes Bourque's similar +/- that year much more impressive. Green, playing most of his time with Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom also enjoyed a high +/- because they scored a ton of goals, and not necessarily because of stellar defensive play. One only has to watch a game to see Green is not even cose to the same level as Lidstrom or Chara. Looking at who Green was on the ice against (I posted earlier) also explains his good +/-. Lidstrom and Chara are consistently out against other teams' first lines -- that is not the case with Green. Given that Green was largely defending against 2nd and 3rd line players, you would hope his +/- was high. I 100% disagree on the games not played - especially for someone who should be playing defense, games not played are nothing but a negative stat. You can argue that "he would have scored ___" but he didn't, in fact he did nothing at all those games. Lidstrom for 80 games is a hell of a lot more valuable than Mike Green for 68 games. Lidstrom contributed more to his team this season. I think there are a lot of writers who will look at points and vote Green, but when you start looking more into it -- it starts to become very clear that Lidstrom had a better season.

I would have voted for Bourque that year - his defense was closer to Langway than it was to Coffey. When did I ever say Bourque was a defensive liability? Or even Coffey or Green for that matter? But Coffey and Green are definitely a far cry from Langway, Bourque and Lidstrom, defensively. Coffey, the years he was winning the Norris, was absolutely obliterating his competition in points and scoring in the top ten for points of all players, not just defenseman. Obviously Green is not there this year. I am not impressed by Green missing 14 games, and judging by the voting for the Norris over the past 50 years, the voters have largely agreed with me as no one but Orr has missed as many games and still won the Norris. Endurance and durability play a large part in a defenseman's value. Green was no help at all to his team while he was out. It's not like the refs awarded Washington any extra goals while he was away, and even more importantly, he certainly was not helping keep the puck out of his own net those games. Any one who thinks that will help him, doesn't understand the game of hockey.