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I see Filppula's very optimistic ceiling at 60 points... do a lot of you think I am drastically underrating him?

The voting for the Jack Adams is almost always retarded. Did you know Don Cherry has only one less Jack Adams Trophy than the greatest hockey coach ever, Scotty Bowman? (Bowman only won two)

I wouldn't be too shocked that if Crosby did know any Howe stats he was thinking to himself, "Man, I've already had more 100+ pt seasons by the time I was 21 than this old guy had in his entire career. Who is he to give me advice??" These guys are different than in Howe's and even Gretzky's day. Crosby was an instant millionaire as a teenager and was plastered across posters across North America. He is surrounded by sycophants who tell him how great he is every day. Howe had to work a second job and Gretzky simply grew up in a different time when kids really did idolize sports heroes.

Lol... Defensemen, are absolutely useless to their teams when they miss games... when playing, even when they are not scoring points, they are providing a large benefit to their team through defense. The last defenseman to win the Norris with as many games missed as Green this year was Bobby Orr. When Coffey was winning Norrisses largely because of his offensive play: Goal margin in '85: 32% over #2; point margin of 41% and ranked 5th in points of all players in the NHL Goal margin in '86: 100% over #2: point margin of 68% and 3rd overall Goal margin in '95: 7% over #2: point margin of 35% and 6th overall Green goal margin this year: 35% over #2; point margin of 14% and 28th in overall scoring. Not even comparable. The Norris was a joke this year.

After Howe talked to Sidney, who just walked away without saying anything... Sorry Gordie, you might be the best ever, but Crosby is probably not awe-struck by you and might just think he is better. Gretzky first met Gordie when he was a teenager and utterly idolized Howe, and most likely was too awe-struck to say a word. I highly doubt Sidney at 21, with a Hart, Art Ross and Stanley Cup under his belt and 20 years removed was feeling the same way.

I can't ******* believe Lidstrom was third for the Norris and not even a god damn 1st Team All Star. He has been absolutely robbed in awards so often it sickens me. That is such bulls***.

I am actually wondering if the Bruins are becoming The Sharks of the East... awesome regular season and picked by many to go the whole way, but never get out of the first couple rounds. They were the team I did NOT want coming out of the East this year.

Chara was handed a "we're bored with you Nick, so we're going to give it to someone else the second you look human" Norris. Chara was awarded this because Nick stumbled a bit in the opening months, and Chara was literally annointed in November because of it. Damnit. Since the All-Star break Chara has sucked ass with Lidstrom improving every single month. On his best days Chara might actually get within sniffing distance of Lidstrom defensively, but Nick obviously beat him offensively. That really pisses me off.

I just saw a healthy Pens team taken to 7 games and outscored in the series by an awfully battered Wings team. That does not diminish the Pens win, but I think the Wings will still have the better team -- and Vegas agrees with me. Pittsburgh has had an awfully healthy team two post-seasons in a row -- and that is mighty rare.

A dynasty is head and shoulders above the rest of the league -- and I do not think we will ever see one again. I'm fine with changing the definition a bit, and calling the Wings a "modern" dynasty. The National Hockey League recognizes nine Stanley Cup dynasties: Ottawa Senators of 1919-27 (4 championships in 8 years) 1920, 1921, 1923, 1927 Toronto Maple Leafs of 1947-51 (4 championships in 5 years) 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951 Detroit Red Wings of 1950-55 (4 championships in 6 years) 1950, 1952, 1954, 1955 Montreal Canadiens of 1956-60 (5 consecutive championships) 1956-1960 Toronto Maple Leafs of 1962-67 (4 championships in 6 years) 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 Montreal Canadiens of late 1965-69 (4 championships in 5 years) 1965, 1966, 1968, 1969 Montreal Canadiens of 1975-79 (4 consecutive championships) 1976-1979 New York Islanders of 1980-84 (4 consecutive championships) 1980-1983 Edmonton Oilers of 1984-90 (5 championships in 7 years) 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990 http://www.nhl.com/cup/dynasties.html

I already consider Detroit's current management (and Lidstrom onto himself) a dynasty - but not the team. 97-98 were completely different teams than 08, and 02 was more of a transition year. With the cap and parity as it is, it is probably the closest we will see to the old-school "dynasties" we have seen in the past, which I think requires 3 in a row or 4 out of 6 years.

Pittsburgh needs to get some serious discounts, and so far they have not had them. The injuries Detroit experienced this year would have wiped any other team out in the first or second round, but Detroit was able to overcome it because of the incredible amount of depth they had this year (a very unique year) -- and that depth was only possible because they have been getting discounts on players for years.

You have to look at it this way: Hossa at $4m + draft picks >>> Filppula at $3m + Samuelsson There's just no comparison. As Hossa's price goes up, you start to have an argument for keeping more of the Hudler/Filppula/Samuelsson group. I'm not sure where that cutoff is, however.

It's a pretty good deal for Vancouver -- let's face it, they simply have not earned players taking such a 'home-town discount' as the Red Wings Organization enjoys. So for them, it's a great deal. Two players with great chemistry who average over a point per game each.

NHL Awards are tonight

It all depends on what Hossa is willing to sign for.

Why? Are you saying he would never trade someone the wings drafted? Are we stuck with Kopecky forever then?

Hmmm... Gretzky, Coffey, Messier, Anderson, Fuhr -- all Hall of Fame players in their primes. Bossy, Trottier, Gillies, Potvin, Smith -- all Hall of Fame Players in their primes. How many do you think Pittsburgh has right now?

The league currently has one "super-star" and that is Crosby... The next tier is pretty exclusive as well, consisting of Ovechkin and Malkin. If the NHL is like the NBA, and the "super-star" treatment exists -- yes, it is pretty freaking annoying that two out of three reside on the same team. I really hope Tavares gets the super-star treatments, just to spread it around a bit.

Holland would be a maroon to not consider trading Filppula. Hudler and Flip are in the exact same boat, and both are being gauged for trade value, I guarantee it.

3 seasons (improving from 25 pts to 42 pts to 57 pts is a "hell of a lot more proven" than Leino's 9 pts in 13 gms. See also the AHL. Leino signed a one-year deal for $875k -- now did you think he was going to sign for less than that? I'm not sure where anyone is getting Leino is better than Hudler defensively... they both have a lot to work on, by Detroit's standards. Finally - Leino has 4 inches, yes, but 1 whole pound. Datsyuk was knocked around a lot early in his career... Hudler has hope.

That ignores age. Leino is actually older than Hudler. Hudler had 46 pts in 30 gms in the Czech Republic -- those are great numbers -- at the age of 19. He has produced and improved, consistently, at every level including the NHL. Hudler needs to give a discount, no question about it -- but he is a hell of a lot more proven than Leino. Leino needs to come real cheap to consider him over Hudler. Just like Hossa needs to give a juicy discount if he is to be considered over losing a lot of depth.

Close -- 77 years old. Stan Fischler rules! He may be batty and 100% wrong on a lot of occasions, but I could sit and listen to that guy for months on end.

No team would play their grinding line against Detroit's 3rd line. Unless they wanted to give our first line free reign. Though if Hudler remains this offseason -- he should be on the second line.

Leino is nowhere near the level of Hudler -- and they are the same age. With the Griffins, and years younger, Hudler set a franchise record for assists and had 97 points in 76 games. Leino this year had 46 points in 68 games (Hudler had more in the NHL, playing much less minutes). In his previous year in the AHL, Hudler had more points (49) than Leino in 11 less games.