NeverForgetMac25

They had just shown some pictures on the Jumbo-Tron that Sidney Crosby's mom took last week as he was going through puberty.

If the Wings win tomorrow, Mr. & Mrs. NFM#25 will make the trip if our tickets for Game 5 fall through (or if they're not needed).

Regardless, the Wings are fine and they will carry over no cap-overage into the upcoming season. Salary Cap: $53 million - Team Salary: $48.32 million (including Mac and Stuart) Total Remaining: $4.68 million - Dom's Bonus: $2 million - Chelios' Bonus: $0.300 million Total Remaining below the Cap: $2.38 million.......which equals, BOOYAH HOLLAND!

Mac won't be, nor should he be playing tonight.

SIR DRAKE!!!!! Your back....where have you been? What's to stop Chris Chelios from preventing Therrien's whining?

From the league's standpoint, I would have to say "no", but from a moral standpoint I would absolutely say "yes". Here's the thing, if a player is playing in the NHL he should be able to take whatever hits are dealt to him. If a guy has a leg injury and someone hits him there, you wouldn't really consider that "intent to injure", rather that's just making it difficult for your opponent at this time of the year. But someone coming back from a head injury where permanent brain damage is always a concern, I would think would be someone that you wouldn't give a cheapshot to the head behind a play. This doesn't really have to do with "intent to injure" because to take away the objectivity you need to consider an injury an injury, regardless of what it is. All that being said, if you can live with knowing that you could potentially be responsible for causing long-term brain damage to a guy by means of cheapshotting, I question the type of human being you are.

Horrible idea. The moment that line takes the ice, the Wings will 100% percent be focused on clearing the zone and getting the line change to counter it with ZDH & Lids-Raf. If the Penguins do take advantage of it at some point, look for the Wings to shorten their bench to prevent a poor matchup. No problem at all for the Wings, it just means less of the 4th line if the Pens capitalize. If they don't the Wings depth will kill them.

QFT, and TBH...any player on the team for that matter. Now matter how good of a leader you have (I.E. Lids) its the coaches job to set the example. That being said, this is all just politics to get some weak calls tonight.

Agreed, but mine is more accurate (like 55% to your 45%).

I'm not worried, but as others have said, I'm nervous.....as I always am before any playoff game. While I absolutely want the Wings to finish this series in 4 games, I wouldn't be too nervous if they atleast got the split. We need to keep in mind that the Wings are playing with "house money" now so the pressure is somewhat off tonight. Where that will be helpful is weathering the storm early and just keeping the composure. I was thrilled to hear Babs' presser when he said the Wings will be even better in Game 3 because if the Wings can weather the early storm (first 10 minutes of the game) they should be able to take over once the adrenaline wears off.

No, its absolutely 100% isn't. It's exactly like the example I gave. In yours, the losing party didn't do anything wrong.

What are you lobbying for on a Red Wings fan site? The Penguins aren't playing well at all, but the Wings have more than a little to do with that.

I'm not saying Ozzie is or isn't diving, but making the argument that Ozzie is embellishing only because he's being repeatedly ran isn't a good justification. That's like saying, I only steal from people because other people steal from me. It doesn't make it right for either party.

stud_defenseman, I know exactly what you are talking about. While I don't feel like getting into a long debate about which plays are dives and which are for reason, I will say that it irks me to when the acting comes into play. Again, I'm not calling out any specific instances, but when a player knowingly embellishes, it does look ridiculous and embarrassing. I.E. My younger brother has played upper level soccer since he was 8 years old, and being the big brother I've always told him that the thing that bothers me most about Soccer is the blatant embellishments. A little off topic, but I told him at a young age that if I ever catch him doing that in a game, I'll personally give him a little ass-kicking when he got home. Nevertheless, I always used to take pride in the fact that this was one of the major differences between Hockey and Soccer. I was proud that Hockey players never seemed to do that sort of nonsense. Unfortunately, enter the new NHL and the "new" Hooking and Obstruction penalties. I think it took players about a season before they really picked up on this, and now its seems to be becoming more prevalent. The first season back, you didn't see as much acting because the refs simply called everything. Now, its seems that the refs have hidden their whistles on these types of plays just slightly, but enough to get players to try and draw the same type of weak calls they were getting that first year. TBH, its really sad and I hope the league really does a better job at calling the diving penalties. Honestly, if the league would enforce the diving penalty more frequently the embellishment would go away very quickly.

Pretty much my thoughts. As much as those can come back to bite you in a coaching position, the same cannot be said about a scout if the Owner has the money. Not much a concern with Ilitch.

Sidney has man boobs.

:nonono: The first place I always check, is the one I didn't. I shake my head at myself.

Alright, I'm really getting frustrated here. First and foremost, I wasn't able to see the Post Game conference with Therrien, because Versus didn't play it. I'm assuming those that did got it on a local Detroit channel, but I've looked everywhere for a video of it online, or even a transcript with no luck. Please post a link to the conference in this thread if you have one. I'm dying to see it.

QFT....and one of the main reasons I kept my sig for the past 6+ months.

I respectfully disagree. At this point, there is no need to change the lines regardless of the matchups the Pens come out with tomorrow. If the Wings get down by a goal or two, then I will agree but until that happens you have to stick with whats working and clicking.

I'm sorry, but how can you say that. The Wings have dominated the first two games of the SCF's, and once its started to matter the most the Wings have gotten secondary scoring from the second line consistently in the playoffs. The fact of the matter is no matter how good Z-Dats are apart, they are infinitely better (and more effective) together. Combined that with a second line that has been beyond clicking for the past few months, and all of a sudden you have two incredible top lines, followed by one of the best shutdown lines, followed by a 4th line that has been getting timely goals. On top of all this, if Babs didn't change up the lines in Games 5 & 6 of the WCF's, what makes you think he would (or should) change up the lines in Game 3 of SCF's where the Wings have absolutely dominated the first two games?

The nice thing about the Stuart situation is its a good fit for both sides. As long as his family can be happy in/near Detroit, everything should work out very well. As others have mentioned, Stuart really can't be a top line defenseman in the league, but he's vastily superior to most teams second pairing (and realistically the number 4) guys. While I don't necessarily agree that its in Stuart's best interest to sign as quickly as they seem to think he needs to, I do feel that a fair deal can be worked out that will keep him here for a while for a fair price. 4 years/$3 mil per. That may be a little light, but keep in mind he's going to be playing second fiddle to Lids and Raf for atleast the next 2 seasons, and he gets job security and stability with his family.

Taking cheap *head*shots to a player that is playing his first game in 2 weeks due to a well-known head injury is not part of the game IMO. A cheapshot to someone's head is a different ball-game than hitting a guy with a leg, arm, hand or body injury.

QFT This type of stuff is exactly what people are talking about when they say that players are running around without any respect for one another. Here's my beef though: If a guy has a known hand injury in the playoffs, I have no problem with a nice long finished check to the mid-section. If a guy has a known leg injury in the playoffs, I have no problem with a legal hip-check or finshing through the player along the boards. If a guy has a known head injury, think about what the f*** you are doing and how you would feel if someone was purposely trying to re-injure you on a part of your body that could not only lead to permanent damage, but trauma for the rest of your life. Don't get me wrong....I'm one of those that feels if you're healthy enough to be playing, you should be healthy enough to take legal hits to any part of your body, especially the injured part or you shouldn't be out there. However, skating by a guy with a known head injury and purposely hitting up high when you could've just as easily taken your frustrations out on their mid-section tells the whole story here. It's a bulls*** move that shows zero respect and what type of person (not hockey player) you really are.

I completely disagree. I understand people are always going to have the fear that Lilja will do what he did in Game 5 against ANA last year, but Lilja has played not only solid, but great these past two games and anybody that feels Cheli has been anything but brutal these playoffs is kidding themselves. As long as Lilja continues to play the way he has alongside Lebda, Iwouldn't change the defensive core the rest of the way. TBH, Chelios has not been better than Lilja these playoffs.