egroen

I would so take Sillinger. That would be sweet to have him finish his career in Detroit -- what a long strange trip it's been!

Well, the Great66 just went up in my estimation with his new avatar. Ron Duguay freakin' rules! I actually got to see him play at K-Wings games!

See? People think you are crazy if you talk about him in the same breath as Bossy. Of course he is comparable to Bossy! Jagr gets no love! Bossy 1977-78 NHL 91 (6) 1978-79 NHL 126 (4) 1980-81 NHL 119 (4) 1981-82 NHL 147 (2) 1982-83 NHL 118 (4) 1983-84 NHL 118 (5) 1984-85 NHL 117 (6) 1985-86 NHL 123 (5) Jagr 1993-94 NHL 99 (9) 1994-95 NHL 70 (1) 1995-96 NHL 149 (2) 1996-97 NHL 95 (6) 1997-98 NHL 102 (1) 1998-99 NHL 127 (1) 1999-00 NHL 96 (1) 2000-01 NHL 121 (1) 2001-02 NHL 79 (5) 2005-06 NHL 123 (2) 2006-07 NHL 96 (8) I think these guys with shortened careers take on mythical proportions. See Cam Neely.

It is weird how weak LW is.

Gretzky certainly made a lot of his high scoring years, but I don't think he is remembered enough for his defensive play. I would probably put Kurri ahead of Brett Hull, for instance -- because of Kurri's two-way play.

I think Jagr is becoming one of the most underrated players nowadays -- 5 Art Rosses (top 10 6 more times) Top 5 in goals 6 times 8 time 1st Team All Star (1 2nd Team) Top 10 in assists 10 times Robbed of a 2nd Hart by Thornton Bathgate certainly can not compare to that. In fact, I'm not quite sure how strong a case Bossy has for being ahead of him.

I would put Conacher and Geoffrion in there with Bathgate, but don't you think you are underrating Jagr?

I think that applies to both of them -- both played during an unusually deep time in their position. Belfour is owned by Hasek, Roy and later Brodeur while Leetch was playing with Bourque, Chelios, Coffey, MacInnis and later Lidstrom. Both have two awards for best at their positions, but Leetch has a Conn Smythe, though Belfour has some great post-seasons under his belt also. I think Leetch will get in first simply because of that 94 Rangers team and a lack of indiscretions.

Some? I'd say that is an unquestionable fact. 35 Hall of Famers have played for Detroit (soon to be 38) - 13 (14) of whom played in Detroit most of their careers - and only 6 up in the rafters.

I am pretty sure it will be Leetch. It really is a shame Mark Howe is not in yet.... seriously underrated.

Short career hurts him (10 years, but my what years they were). Unbelievably pure goal scorer (yes, I definitely miss those type of goals) who could actually play the other parts of the game too. I'd place him within the top 25 all time, though still behind some other great RWers like Howe, Richard, LaFleur...

Found it: http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins...hara/?page=full It is tough to navigate that site -- you have to either use tags or go through the archives tab on the left side. Nice article!

Not if your goal is to make the playoffs!

Yeah, this is really only statistical masturbation and Datsyuk would never be recognized for it until he actually put up the numbers (like they admittedly have). The fact is, the Wings are not going over to the Eastern Conference and Babcock is going to continue to play his minutes in a similar fashion to those guys.

If you want to get more detailed -- look at PP time and scoring, and the ball lands firmly in Datsyuk's court. He is more efficient on the power play than those guys by quite a bit, but they get 3 minutes PP time extra per game.

This team will be H-U-N-G-R-Y next year! Nice post!

The first two months of the season - and you would be correct. Chara had a worst +/- in front of the Vezina winning goaltender with the league-leading save percentage, while Lidstrom had a better +/- (as well as points) in front of the regular season sieve that was Osgood this year (dead last amongst starting goaltenders).

Describes my mixed feelings precisely.

I actually have a little more respect for the Penguins than you do, apparently. No, I do not think Franzen, Hossa, Filppula plus an injured Zetterberg and Holmstrom would be enough to beat the Penguins. Obviously it was not enough. I have a feeling you have not been a Penguin fan long enough to remember some of the injury-wracked seasons the Pens had. In 1990, a star-laden Pittsburgh team failed to live up to their potential. Why? Lemieux had a herniated disc. 1993, despite a heroic effort from Lemieux who was recovering from cancer, the Islanders were too much for them in the 2nd round. Injuries will take a formidable team out of the playoffs alone. It is amazing the Wings got as far as they did, and we are proud of them. That said, it takes nothing away from the Penguins' Cup, and only a small sampling of guys like me will remember, "Yeah, but the Wings were decimated by injuries by the time the Finals rolled around." So who cares? You really do not have to come here and gloat -- the Wings still had a chance to win, and they simply could not. Credit to the Penguins. Crosby and Malkin will be injured in the playoffs, and it will lead to an early loss -- that is a fact, and I hope you do not WAAAA-WAAA about it, if you think it is not a legitimate reason. Take some time and read about some of the dynasties of the past, which I conveniantly listed above and even gave a link for -- if you still think Pittsburgh has what it takes, good for you. I disagree. But in the future, simply try and come in with a more well-educated argument. That's all I ask.

It's a generation thing. I am now 33, and I can tell you in sports we revered the older players and quite enthusiastically went through whatever hazing they would put us through and went out of our way to adhere to every single tradition there was, even if the said "tradition" was made up on the spot. As I got older, this was in the mid-90s, things shifted. Kids were being taught to be individuals, to stand up for themselves, resist peer pressure, etc... all not bad in of itself, but I can tell you the younger kids had about zero respect for tradition, no matter how slight or great it was, and you can forget about it regarding the hazing -- most of which has since been systematically squashed by schools and colleges across North America. I have talked to numerous other athletes about this, and all have noticed that same divide or generational gap. Yeah, it's not a big deal, especially not to Crosby. But it is a big freakin' deal to most older athletes who have always placed a ton of value on tradition -- I guarantee you Draper was literally outraged when he heard that -- it would have been inconceivable to me as an athlete to skip out on a tradition like that, as a captain, no matter what was going on at the time. In the scheme of things - this is not really an issue at all, whatsoever - but it was reason enough for some Red Wings players to be upset at the time, and reason enough for me to be annoyed by Crosby, and reason enough for it to be a conversation on a message board. When I was in sports, that kind of thing really bothered me.

Franzen and Hudler are natural centers. But don't get me wrong, I would really be happy if Flip was still on the team - if he goes he will make another team very happy.

Gretzky was consistently involved in 50% of Edmonton's goals -- and scored 80-100 points higher than the nearest Oilers player on more than one occasion. Ultimately, the literal description of the Hart makes it a stupid award for the most valuable regular season trophy, that they should just change it to how it is usually voted on anyways. Who cares who is "most valuable to HIS team"? I care who was the best player. Period. If the literal definition of the trophy was used consistently, Mason would have won it this year and a good goalie on a crappy "just made it to the playoffs" team would win it every single year. Lidstrom has been jobbed on that award so many times I want to puke.

I agree... I am just curious if a lot of the "he's the next Datsyuk" posters really think Flip is ever going to put up remotely close to a similar amount of points. I just don't see it, and thought 60 points was incredibly generous. At the same time, Filppula does not deserve to get beaten down, just because he might not be "the next Datsyuk". Trades happen and he would be missed, but that does not mean it was a bad trade. Same goes for Hudler and Samuelsson. I just would rather have Hudler setting up Franzen and Hossa (if he can be retained) than Filppula, who usually just gets those guys the puck, as opposed to actually setting up goals for them.

I still like the Oilers simply from fond days of watching Gretzky (I'd rather remember him as a player, not a coach, so not a fan of Phoenix). I somewhat like the Capitals because of Fedorov and Atlanta because of Kozlov. I have a soft spot for the Predators as well... that team gets so much crap luck and yet fights to the end each year.

Bettman initially insisted insisted they all had to congratulate "Sidney Crosby" but the NHLPA stepped in and threatened to boycott the ceremony.