NeverForgetMac25

Not denying that, but saying he's horrid defensively is completely inaccurate. Yes, he had a tough season this past year, but who didn't on the Ducks aside from Schneids? With Schneider and Niedermayer out the beginning of the season, he was thrust into a role he shouldn't be in (no different than Stuart on a team like the Kings). Just because he had an off season most certainly doesn't make him the type of player you are insinuating. Pronger was sh*t last season as well, and he certainly isn't "horrid".

Calling Forsberg "Foreskin" is not only juvenile....its stupid. It's no better than when Blues fans call Detroit, "De-troilet".

Right before Pre-season starts he'll say he's retiring. Mark it.

Sure it is.........

They would've made the playoffs even if Niedermayer and Selanne hadn't returned. Probably not a 4 seed (and 3rd overall in the conference), but they would've made it. I'm not arguing their offensive problems, but their backend simply had an off year this past season. Players like Pronger (although a ****** bag) are too talented to not be a force. Couple that with Schneider being hurt for a good chunk of the beginning of the season and you have a very good reason for the slow start this past year. Beauchemin is a phenomenal number 4 guy for the Ducks and could easily play in the top pairing on atleast 1/3 of the teams in the league, and they have a solid positional goalie that keeps them in games. Of course it was good to see them struggle after the Wings' heart-breaking loss in the CF's, but that doesn't make them a poor team simply because we don't care for them and they struggled out of the gate.

Why exactly are the Ducks going to suck next year when almost all their players are signed on through the 08-09 season? Also, stating that the "Ducks are gonna suck for at least one more year" implies that they were a poor team last year. Even with their goal-scoring woes they still finished tied for 4th overall last year, and will be a solid team this coming season.

What dumb move for Niedermayer. Ok, I get how difficult it is for players to decide whether or not they are going to retire or not, but giving yourself a deadline that's so close will accomplish only one of two things: (1) You'll make a rash decision that may not be indicative of your long term interests or (2) it will make the decsion even harder to make when you know you have a deadline. Need-a-vacation (Copyrighted by edicius I believe--I hate when people change hockey players names, but this one is actually clever) should give the Ducks plenty of time to figure out there next move, but he should've been thinking about this the moment the Ducks were eliminated from the playoffs, and should've come to some consensus by practically a month ago. Strapping yourself this close to the Draft and FA period only makes things more difficult.

That's good to hear, because while Flip is important to the team, he isn't the guy the Wings need to be putting down mad-cash to keep around. I'm thrilled to hear he likes it in Detroit and that money won't be an issue, as that will make things very smooth when the two sides come together. No doubt he deserves a nice raise, but those stating he should be making $4 mil per are kidding themselves. A nice fair deal would be in the ballpark of $2-$2.5 mil per for a term of 3-4 years.

Yeah, its in Section SJ-3.2.

I actually don't mind the new icing rule considering they were thinking about going toward no-touch (which I absolutely don't want). That being said though, I wonder how long this will be tightly called, because as the season wears on and the playoffs roll around, it'll be pretty tough for the refs to make calls like this in a pivotal game. The more I think about it, the more I'm indifferent and yet not-so sure about this one.

Stupid is, Stupid does. Dumb people that need to defy their own existence.

All the 2-3-2 format does is reward the team with the lower seed by giving them a chance to be in the lead in the series if they can protect their home games. I've never cared for that format.

I really wonder where people come up with stuff like this. It literally boggles my mind. Just look at this chump though. He looks like a California surfer boy who once heard the Ducks won the Stanley Cup and decided to try and wear big-boy pants on SI.com.

You're not telling me anything I don't already know. I completely understood the upside of retaining Hossa and then shopping Malkin, as that wasn't part of the debate I was having. Where I question it is how far Shero will get with it. I can see him looking at the wrong way. I could absolutely see him thinking his team has a legit shot of winning it all in the '09 playoffs and feeling he's got time to figure it out. 2008 free agency comes and goes, the team starts off on a decent pace, then the deadline hits and they once again try and make a run for it, absolutely needing all their pieces. Look, here's my point....if you want to trade anything, I'd trade Hossa's rights to a trade-and-sign that Hossa is okay with *today*. Maybe Hossa would sign, maybe he wouldn't given that he's healthy and free agency is a couple weeks away, but if you could get the right team in place for the right price, I can't imagine he'd say no. Then you've got some great return for a soon-to-be 30 year-old (who BTW maybe in his prime the next couple seasons, but is not going to be in prime for the majority of this 7-year contract), plus room to retain Malkin. Cast Hossa's name out there immediately and see what fish bite before July 1st.

Evidently, its not that easy as shown in the SCF's.

Gimme a break. Malkin put up 22 playoff points compared to Hossa's 26. Malkin had 3 points in the finals compared to Hossa's 6. So Malkin had a tougher round than Hossa, but he put up similar numbers in the postseason, yet destroyed Hossa in the regular season. Couple that with 8 years of an age difference and things aren't as lopsided in Hossa's favor as some here believe.

Yashin for $3 million per and 15 Turtle-necks. e5

...And if they do "get there" they'll be too expensive for Pittsburgh to afford anyway.

That's *beyond* a huge "if", and when opposing GM's know your teams weakness they are very good at exploiting how much they give you in return even with a name like Malkin.

Well, this is where you and I disagree because while Pittsburgh's defense isn't that bad, its most certainly isn't very good. Also, I don't see why people are so gun-ho on Hossa over Malkin anyway. I don't deny that Hossa is a pure goal scorer and a damn good one at that, but lets put this in perspective. Hossa is going to be 30 this season, Malkin is 22. Hossa had 29 goals this season, Malkin had 47. Hossa finished with 66 points, Malkin with 106. Hossa will likely always play on the first line with Crosby, where as Malkin can shore up your second line and balance out your attack. So instead of spending $16 million on 2/3 of a top line and being one-dimensional and thus forcing Malkin to be shipped out, you now have two of the best centers in the game creating scoring chances, and BTW Malkin can bury plenty on his own. I guess my point is, there isn't too much of a difference in value between Hossa and Malkin, and when you look at the numbers, Malkin has much more of an upside at this point, *and most importantly* fits the team needs more so than Hossa. Bottom line, get a solid Dman....then worry about up front.

The pick was based on Regular and *Postseason* play. I'm sure thats what tipped the scale in Z's favor.

So because Dmen are slim this offseason, it advocates spending $7 million per on the other end? Don't get me wrong, $7 million for Hossa is a good deal, but team needs can't be overlooked. First and foremost, there are good UFA Dmen out there. While there isn't a profusion, there are solid Dmen available that will help Pittsburgh's cause. On top of that, Shero should be working the phones right now. He needs to be looking around the the league for tradeable Dmen or ones that are entering the final year of their contracts. Just because the UFA list isn't overriding with names, doesn't mean most GM's wouldn't entertain trades for guys heading into their final contract year. It happens all to often.

Who's advocating spending $7 million on Mike Green or even someone of the like? All I'm saying is that you can't continue to put all your teams' money into forwards and expect your all-star goalie to carry you the rest of the way. The playoffs aren't built that way, and as a Red Wings fan you should know that. The Red Wings spent $21 million on defense last year (and thats when Kronwall was in the "tiny" year of his contract) compared to Pittsburgh's $15.25. That's a huge difference as far as the blueline goes and the Finals showed that. This isn't about Crosby, Hossa and Malkin being better than Vinny, St. Louis and Richard. You can have all the fire-power up front you want, but teams like Detroit that are balanced will generally always win a 7-game series against a team built like that.

Not when offense isn't your problem. The Red Wings do as well as they do each year because they have solid goaltending and a great blueline. Neglecting your defense will only set yourself up for failure in the postseason. As someone already mentioned, they are starting to take the steps to being the next Tampa Bay.

Penguins File For Arbitration with Fleury Can't say I'm too surprised, but this would be an interesting ruling if it got that far.