NeverForgetMac25

Yeah, I probably should've mentioned that this season the Wings (or their palyers) have already won the Presidents' Trophy, the William J. Jennings Trophy, the Clarence Campbell Bowl, the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup. That's a s***-load of hardware.

I'm not touching this thread with a 10-foot pole. How do you decide between your two children? While I can see an argument for both, its just impossible to say with any form of accuracy which of the two should be ranked higher. While I'd probably give the nod to Stevie Y for the all-around player/Captain he was, Nick's playing ability is beyond amazing. Whatever.

Unfortunately for him, that'll be the closest he comes to lifting the Cup in foreseeable future if that organization continues as is. Funny stuff though.

I was at Game five and when Rafalski scored, my wife and I were starting to wonder if the ground was going to collapse under us. It was so damn loud and the ground was literally shaking. It literally felt like it was moving an inch or so up an down for the first 10-15 seconds after the goal. That was a phenomenal third period to see until the last 40 seconds.

If he's ok taking a smaller role on the team, than I don't mind signing him for a 1-year deal in the ballpark of $750,000. He really struggled in the playoffs but keep in mind that after the trade deadline any team is just a hit away from losing a Dman for the season. If he's willing to play 40-50 games and on an as-needed basis in the playoffs, I'm all for bringing him back. If he wants 70+ games and to start every game of the playoffs (which I don't think he does given his comments), its time to part ways.

Actually, the interview and questions were very well thought out. Great interview, and Oz just continues to be the model player you want on your team. Its funny how the OP entitled this thread, "Need a reason to love Osgood?" when I just don't see how anyone can't love him given the quality player he is and type of person he continues to come off as. A wonderful athlete, teammate and person.

TBH, I'm not so sure thats good for him. IMO, Stuart isn't a top-2 Dman, but he fits perfectly in the Wings system especially as a top-4 guy. He doesn't need to play against the oppositions' top lines here, and thats part of the reason he flourished and also part of the reason why people questioned his value when the Wings picked him up. He was getting top line responsibility on a weak LA team, and he was merely ok against other top lines.

Nothing to say but "Good for him". The guy just plain deserves, and he'll be instrumental in leading the Sharks in the direction they need to go. Sucks to lose him though, but you can't fault the guy for taking the opportunity.

If anyone DVR'ed the Jim Rome show with Oz and has the capability to upload it, I'd really appreciate it! BTW, the Tonight Show bit with Lids and Oz was pretty rough.

I hate Crawford too, not to mention I'm thrilled he got fired, but why do you want the LA Kings to have a respectable team? To me, there just another one of the 29 that is in the way of Detroit's success. Well, maybe the Kings aren't "in the way" of the Wings success, but you know what I mean.

My thoughts exactly. This guy is a keeper. Congrats Babs!

I couldn't agree more, but that's not what you said. You did contradict yourself. Either way....its unimportant seeing as this thread has nothing to do with it and I'm sure the OP is pissed that it got nowhere thanks to this conversation. What are you talking about? I absolutely think Wilson is the very definition of a mediocre coach that can bring a team to contention but can't win the big game. Never once did I say or imply that Wilson was a great coach. I don't think you're understanding me. My point was that Wilson fell under your initial definition of a great coach, which you said was "taking a mediocre or lousy team and turning them around", but Wilson will never be a great coach IMO.

Thanks to all 138 of you that participated and congratulations to winsgnut_19 for winning our game (even though he can't type/spell his own S/N correctly ) with a final score of 94 out of possible 120 points! Rank - Player - Mid-Round Score 1 winsgnut_19 94 2 Lidstrom5 D-Man 91 2 UKWING 91 4 Ontario Wingsfan 88 5 rwfan007 86 6 Wildwings44 85 7 Doggy 84 7 wingsgirl001 84 9 Frozen-Man 83 9 HockeyCrazy3033 83 11 Wings_Dynasty 82 11 Z and D for the C 82 13 Dano33 81 13 interminded 81 13 scotvm 81 13 tweekvp 81 13 wings1fan19 81 18 3dominikhasek9 79 18 johnnyoski 79 18 Never Forget Mac #25 79 18 Shaman464 79 22 55fan 78 22 Batigol2k 78 24 redwinger4747 77 24 redwings2002 77 24 redwingslady87 77 27 Breadgy 76 27 JayUp88 76 29 dallas27 75 29 Echolalia 75 29 edicius 75 29 Firehawk 75 29 pjgj13 75 34 Hockey13Playa 73 35 pavyaz19 72 35 RedWingedKitten 72 37 Eva Unit Zero 70 37 vangvace 70 37 wingsfan40 70 37 zetterisbetter 70 41 GoWings1905 69 41 McCartyFanForLife 69 41 PunkChildP 69 41 The Nephilim 69 45 dgodzina 68 45 Welt 68 47 -=Red_Force=- 67 47 FinWing 67 47 Giant Robot 67 47 IceMunkee 67 47 marcaractac 67 47 russianswede919293 67 53 Aussie_Wing 66 54 CaliWingsNut 65 55 OsGOD 64 55 StaticWithABeat 64 57 #19=Legend 63 57 captainsteviey 63 57 PashaFan 63 60 jim3033 62 60 Wingslogo19 62 62 BlackhawksFan 61 63 naranja 60 63 sibiriak 60 65 RedStormRising 59 66 aflac9262 57 66 puckhead 57 68 awingsincebirth 56 68 Reds4Life 56 70 Dominator2005 55 70 Saran 55 72 calfan 54 72 Donohue75 54 72 FinRedWing 54 72 juice71285 54 76 WhiteLightning91 53 77 ashenhigh 52 77 VM1138 52 79 Bluedevils_13 51 80 hckypete96 49 81 redwingrob 47 81 wingsfan979802 47 83 This Is Bida 46 84 Majsheppard 45 85 CupChamps979802 43 86 Herr Hockey 42 86 Kp-Wings 42 86 Redwingsfan18 42 86 WiNgSowN 42 90 hillbillywingsfan 41 90 TRD604 41 90 T-Ruff 41 93 Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 40 93 Gutierrez 40 93 lets go pavel 40 93 Lou-Siffer 40 97 12Newf 39 97 Barrie 39 97 Lebda22 39 97 Superman54 39 97 ultrapail 39 102 Drake_Marcus 38 103 evil204 35 103 tazzer82 35 103 TheHoff 35 103 #96 35 107 omnipotent_hudler 34 107 RedLightGoesOn 34 107 Vladinator 34 107 Yzerman191 34 107 yzershanafan 34 112 Hank=FutureCaptain 33 112 hoogs 33 112 The_Clear(y)_Picture 33 115 KillerB14 32 115 Never_Retire_Steve 32 115 shannyfan1414 32 115 timothy1997 32 119 mmorland 31 120 CrossCheck24 28 121 bellarina 27 122 F.Michael 26 123 Magus Relmyn 25 124 Pletzke26 22 125 PhoenixAD 21 125 redwing_sparty 21 127 Hockeytown0001 20 127 Beeryce 20 127 Sgt Sharpie 20 130 bluejackets61 19 130 Real1 19 132 WingsWingsWings 14 132 WingsWingsWings-Wife 14 133 Duck Guy 13 135 swedeforall 7 135 Red Flying Wing 7 135 ZETTERBERGPWN 7 135 sixer 7

That's very interesting EUZ. I actually like that alot, and maybe we could somehow incorporate in the bonus for picking the correct WCF/ECF/SCF winners before the start of the first playoff game as well. See the attached link: 2008 Playoff Picks Game

I just checked the spreadsheet and it shows that you never posted any picks for the final series. If you would like to go back and check to see that you got your prediction in on time, I'll be more than happy to fix it for you.

Unfortunately, you have to look at it from their perspective. How many people watching the show tonight know who Justin Timberlake is as compared to how many know Lidstrom or Osgood combined. Don't get me wrong, it still sucks to have to play second-fiddle to that asshat.

Pretty sizable contradiction. Your first post implies coaches such as Ron Wilson are great, while the second post implies something completely different.

By your definition of what a great coach is, you are implying the Ron Wilson is in that category. How can you say that a great coach makes a struggling or mediocre team good and not put Wilson in that category? As for Jackson, perhaps he isn't as great of a coach to basketball as Bowman is to hockey....as I said, I don't follow basketball, but you seem to brush him off as just some run-of-the-muck coach who just had to sit back and watch his teams win. The fact of the matter is the years leading up to their respective championships the Bulls didn't win before he came there and neither did the Lakers. Either way, we have so derailed this thread and I greatly apologize to the OP for that. I'm not going to get into this anymore within this thread as its not what LGW is meant for. Thanks to you and I derailing the s*** out of this thread, I must post the following:

While I agree that it isn't impossible for him to start 75% of the games this season and not still be at the top of his game, I simply question the need for it, especially given the fact that its time to see what Howard is going to bring to the table.

The same goes for Oz. If this were a year ago I would've agreed in regards to Howard, but this is the year to see what he can do for us when given a decent amount of starts. Its a pretty thin UFA market this year, Howard has been in GR for 3 full years now. It's time to s*** or get off the pot. If Oz gets hot it'll obviously be hard to bench him, but you still need to be smart enough to do that even if he is playing great. I don't care about giving him the 70 regular season starts "he deserves" if it means he won't be as fresh for the playoffs.

Which I what I said from the beginning of this thead. Absolutely Oz should be given the opportunity to start well more than half the games this coming season. Like I said, 50-55. That was the point of this thread, not Howard's readiness. As for Howard, I feel there is more of an argument for him to play 25-30 games this coming season than for him to play in the ballpark of 10. Simple as that.

I'm not dazzled by rings either. I'm dazzled by coaches that come into a team that is talented but can't seem to win it all, and then bring it all together to put that team over the top. This argument could be made for both Bowman and Jackson. Jackson must have brought out the best in his stars or those teams probably wouldn't have gotten over the top. How do you feel about Ron Wilson then? Just like the '02 Red Wings all-star team? The answer is no, because coaching is still required (even if part of it was from Yzerman). If it wasn't, the Wings never would've beaten Colorado in Games 6 & 7. Great coaches help great teams deal with adversity. If you can honestly tell me that Jackson's teams never had to deal with any, I question your allegiance to the NBA, because there had to have been some (even though I couldn't tell you what that was seeing as that I've never followed the sport). This is exactly my point. You probably know a hell of a lot more about Bowman than you do Jackson, thus you have the same bias toward him as I do. A guy who knows all about basketball (and Jackson for that matter) would probably hold him to a higher regard and rip someone apart for comparing Bowman to him. But you were the one that stated they don't compare.

That's not necessarily true. For some teams it is, but not this current Wings team with the situation they'll have next year. TBH, I don't really think we're talking about the same thing but from different perspectives. I don't feel Oz playing as many games as you're suggesting is good for him or the Wings for their run next year, nor do I think it will help in regards to getting a read on Howard. The point is, I don't feel a goalie that has averaged 32 games a year the past 3 seasons should be asked to play 70 games before the playoffs even get here. He's not a kid anymore, and all I (and I'm sure Oz) care about is winning the Cup again next year. I feel playing him as much as you suggest will hinder the chances of that happening. As I said, Oz gets 50-55 games while Howard gets 27-32. If we really want to split hairs, I could handle seeing Oz get close to 60, but I absolutely don't want to see him hit that number. 70 is unthinkable.

Thanks!

Once again, this has *nothing* to do with being a naysayer. I have 100% faith in Osgood, and absolutely believe he'll play at the level he did this past regular and post season all next year. This has to do with whats best for the *Wings* first and then *him* as well. Oz has proved he can come in while not being a workhorse and deliver the goods. So why should Babs overwork him and possibly burn him out with 70 games next season, especially when Oz proved he could get the job done playing less games in the regular season and at the same time it would be the perfect opportunity to see if Howard will be the guy of the future?