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Re-watching that third period - The Wild were unbelievably outplayed on every single shift that period. They literally had zero quality scoring chances compared to about ten by the Wings and the toeing goal was on a shot from the point with three deflections, two off Wings players. Frustrating but at least they were playing well, superbly, in fact. Re-watching that third period - The Wild were unbelievably outplayed on every single shift that period. They literally had zero quality scoring chances compared to about ten by the Wings and the toeing goal was on a shot from the point with three deflections, two off Wings players. Frustrating but at least they were playing well, superbly, in fact.

I'm a little worried his wrist still has not healed, as he said over the summer it was still bothering him.

The team could definitely benefit from another $5m individual... Hopefully Holland can get one and not another $2m player instead.

PP looks very good so far today - very aggressive. Nice to see!

Yeah - off the ice/bench, Devellano deserves a lot more credit than Bowman for managing. Bowman, as great of a coach he is, was never a great GM. He had little patience and would trade anyone who got in his dog house, if given full control. Yzerman and Fedorov, for example, would have been gone before '97 if Bowman had full reigns.

Detroit Chicago Nashville St. Louis Columbus I think Detroit is easiest best of the bunch - true stars at the top and solid depth throughout - but the Central is certainly a tough one to call. About a quarter of the way through last season all 5 teams looked like they were making the playoffs.

When Mursak gets back I hope one of Brunnstrom, Miller or Emmerton has shown enough value to be traded for a 4th or 5th round pick, because I think their chances of passing through waivers to GR is low. Then use that pick in a package deal to pick up someone at the trade deadline. Little reason to trade Hudler or Flip now.

Nyquist is great, but I am not that upset with him being sent down - he's so easily knocked down - let him bulk up while he is waiver-exempt.

At this point I am praying for Little Ceasers Pavilion/Palace over the dreaded Amway Arena.

It's half of the lowest of the first two years of the contract - so in this case, it can drop by as much as $3m a year. Probably will all change after this season

I read a little while back he is up 5-10 lbs. Great start, leading his team in pts and 6th in the SEL currently.

If given the benefit of foresight, I take Chelios ahead of Coffey every time. Chelios was the best defensive defenseman in the world for a whille and still brought a high-end offensive game. Coffey was a sublimely unique offensive talent with a below average defensive game. I value defense from a defenseman more than offense.

Vladdy is a 'what If' and I'll agree with you that he would have went on to have more Norris caliber seasons, but the fact is he did not - and I still take a prime Harvey/Lidstrom/Kelly/Fetisov/Chelios/Park/Coffey over Konstanstinov. Maybe Quackenbush, Pronovost, Stewart and Goodfellow as well. Detroit's history at defense is unbelievably strong. And just as a correction - it was Lidstrom whom Bowman matched against the Legion of Doom in 1997, and not Konstantinov. Surprising, but obviously it worked.

Let's see - for Wings defense I would have: Harvey Lidstrom Kelly Fetisov Chelios Park Coffey I do believe Gretzky is extremely underrated as a Captain - he may have not been the most vocal of leaders but he had one of the strongest work ethics of any player and 'always' brought it in big games. Literally the best playoff/tournament player in history and he won 4 Cups as a capatain. Yzerman, Lidstrom and Zetterberg are all more lead by example guys, like Gretzky. Potvin gets underrated as well... There are a lot of guys I rank ahead of Messier in terms of leadership.

Messier also "guaranteed" the Canucks would make the playoffs - but that one is not as remembered.

True - I guess it just is not logical. Clarke is Philly's Yzerman, and he has all the hardware to boot. 3 Harts (up against a prime Orr and Esposito) and captained 2 Cup winners. It's like trying to argue Bill Quackenbush over Gordie Howe as the better Red Wing. Sure, Quackenbush is underrated, but that does not mean Howe is overrated. Though I do agree Kurri was a better Oiler than Messier.

Please, Clarke is easily ahead of Howe and it isn't even arguable.... And I am a believer Howe was criminally underrated. Anyways, I also vote Kurri over Messier as an Oiler

[yt]1koBS6fAykk[/yt] Bert has sick hands! Edit - tried to embed on my phone

I'm very concerned about it - over the summer at his camp, in an interview, he stated it was still bothering him, and he really was not doing anything about it.

Gainey and Ramsay were the best defensive forwards of the time, but Clarke was 'the' two-way forward of the time. Clarke most likely would have had a couple Selkes before the award came about - he had 2 seasons with 19 and 22 goals against at even strength, while playing 1st line minutes and Clarke was a huge PKer. Sort of a Draper vs. Zetterberg thing.

I'll take a stab and say Kindl needs to regain some confidence- the transition to a small fish in a big pond is not easy.

Sounds like Edler - Vancouver sniped him from the Wings a few picks before when Detroit thought they were the only one to have seen him. They used their pick on Franzen instead (had originally planned to draft him later).

I think some of those might be fake.

Lilja +2 tonight