BeeRYCE

I feel bad for you, I really do. But I guess most of us feel the same way about the Lions being garbage. Having a bad team has it's advantage, self pity is always fun.

It's not THAT bad. It's just the thing that ruins it is the fact that their recent jerseys were so amazing, one of the best in the NHL.

Avery, a known ******* in the NHL, but people look past how much of a brilliant player he is. He is effective, and knows that being the pest will get players thinking about wanting to kill him as opposed to winning the game. Having him in Detroit would only do better things. Also, year by year, he is coming better offensively.

I have a question, do they sell RBK 9KO sticks in the states? (Datsyuk's stick with holes in it).

Everyone's going to mention the cups. My favourite were 1997, 2002, and 1998 in that order. Aside from the cups, it's the brawl at the Joe. I was fortunate to watch that game, and just remember how amazed I was.

Sad news. He wasn't really that old either.

Rafalski is an upgrade over Schneider because of defensive awareness. Also Schneider's even strength offensive ability isn't as crisp. What Schneider has up on Rafalski is him being the shooter on the PP and getting points for it. Also spending 4-5 years on a defensively spectacular squad does wonders.

Who was most effective TALENTED in the 90s, Yzerman or Fedorov? I'll post my thoughts later.

Don't ask me, I'm Canadian. I watch true hockey channels like TSN.

Yeah, can't go wrong with Easton. Those new Synergy Elites look really nice, but you can thank them for bringing in a whole new wave of hockey sticks. The first two piece alluminum hockey sticks changed sticks forever in the early 90's, thank Easton.

Every underpad I own is Nike Bauer. I have Mission pants, and gloves. I just got an RBK helmet after I've been rocking Bauer helmets throughout all my years of hockey. I just got a RBK 7K stick which is sick, but I go through a few sticks. I just got a new pair of Nike Bauer Supreme 10s which I love. So for sticks and helmets, I prefer RBK, or Easton. Pants and gloves, Mission. Everything else, Nike Bauer.

Oh, I know, they have good guys coming up, but with the 23M cap space that they have going on, they could have done alot of things this offseason. Also, with the names you mentioned, I don't know how strong they are to build around when teams like Pittsburgh, Washington, Chicago, St. Louis, LA, Boston, Buffalo, etc. all seem to have even better guys on the horizon. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

In all fairness, Marcel Hossa is UFA.

For the record, I think Feds should have won Conn Smythe in '97. Just sayin'.

Smartass. No one predicted Philly to be the worst team last season, but they were by far. So yeah, you're right, it's always a surprise.

No team wants his 6.5M, injury prone ass on their team. Morris is good though.

Sounds like a pretty good core of coaches. I think the Isles will do good this season.

Souray was signed for a bargain, but Rafalski is way more defensively sound and responsible than Souray will ever be. Maybe this year, Rafalski will hit double digits in goals.

I can't see Minnesota not making the playoffs. They're a very well disciplined team with 2 top lines of steady skill level that can blow alot of teams away. Plus, Minnesota made the playoffs basically without Gaborik, who played a little over half of the season. I can't see him missing a good portion of the season again. I see 70+ games from him, which means big things for the Wild. With that said. I can see the playoff teams being (in no order) Detroit, Anaheim, Vancouver, Minnesota, Colorado, Calgary, San Jose, with Nashville (just IMO), Dallas, and Los Angelas fighting for the 8th spot. I still don't see any room for St. Louis, maybe in 08/09, not 07/08.

Legace did do real good last season. To say that St. Louis is extremely deep in good goalie prospects. Pretty much every single NHL team is deep is good goalie prospects.

Too many people believe the addition of Kariya will change St. Louis' nature entirely. What they did was got a minor (yes MINOR) upgrade over Guerin. Kariya is too inconsistant lately to rely that heavily on. He's a hit or miss, you either picked up a point per game player or someone who's at risk of underachieving. For 6M dollars to boot? Eek. Too many people also say that Erik Johnson will make a big impact to the Blues. This is ridiculous. I thik Erik Johnson will do good, but there's too much weight on his shoulders. I mean, he's a rookie defenseman, and defense is a tough position to play as a rook. Not everyone's Dion Phaneuf. It seems like a huge stretch to expect a huge turnaround with him there. He's a first overall pick, but the Blues better hope for a prodigy, not another Berard or Hamrlik in the works. It seems to surreal to consider STL even a playoff team with two very minor upgrades.

Lindros, I hate the guy, always hated the guy, wouldn't want him on the team. If Lindros came here, I'd probably react like DraperFan (or whatever his name is) did with Bertuzzi coming here. Sopel... another NO. I think our defense is pretty set, with or without a Markov.

It's never too late to rule out the possibility of a trade (maybe during the first half of the season), or even a Peter Forsberg signing.

Bertuzzi for 4M? NO. Lang for 4M? NO. Calder for 2.75M (More than Holmstrom)? NO. Schneider for Rafalski? Hell yes. Drake for 850K? Hell yes. Holland has done nothing but good things so far to be honest. Some for better, some for the worse, but his intentions have been good, and he himself said that he wants to do more.

Having no other option but putting Samuelsson and Franzen on the first and second line respectively, I feel is a problem. I think the only way Datsyuk and Zetterberg should be split up is if we got maybe a Peter Forsberg to play with Zetterberg.