joshy207

You think your player(s) would be happy with you? Maybe you're right, maybe there are only a handful of guys over the 3/4" limit. Maybe the coaches just don't care.

I'm sure Washington isn't the only team with players using illegal sticks. There are probably at least one or two on every team. If Team A's coach calls for a measurement on a Team B player, you'd think the Team B coach would turn around and have a Team A player checked later in the game. I don't think anyone wants to open that can of worms.

I wouldn't mind seeing them try yellow again, but not like their last third... Maybe something retro, from the Bobby Orr days, same logo and striping they use now but a yellow body?

Two words... DRAFT LOTTERY. Finishing last overall does not guarantee you the first pick in the draft.

You're right, I forgot the roster limit ends at the trade deadline. I knew it wasn't around for playoffs... Thanks.

While I'm not crazy about this roster either, I think you're right, this is pretty much what it will look like. Especially if the Wings advance far into the playoffs. Anything more than a small change seems to be taboo.

Keep in mind, until the end of the regular season, there are only 23 available roster spots. Cleary is out until April so we can probably assume he won't be back before playoffs. McCarty has to be called up from his conditioning assignment in 2 weeks though. So once everyone but Cleary is healthy, we're going to have: Goalies--Hasek, Osgood (2) Forwards--Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Filppula, Franzen, Samuelsson, Draper, Maltby, McCarty, Drake, Kopecky, Downey, Hudler (13) Defense--Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Lebda, Lilja, Chelios, Meech (8) Hartigan, Ericsson, Stafford, and Quincey can be sent down to GR without having to go on waivers, the others cannot. So unless the Wings are prepared to possibly lose a player for nothing, Ericsson won't stay in the lineup. Meech, as some have already said, is making a strong case to stay in the lineup on a regular basis.

Yup. And those Fischer and Datsyuk cards, as someone said, were preseason pictures. There are no written rules about players and numbers, but there's a code that they follow, like when Rafalski and Hasek got "their" numbers from the young guys. Of course, the young guys don't always have to give up their number, maybe they wear it for some personal reason. And some guys could care less what number they wear.

Who said this... "You ought to put some ******* Downy in those jerseys, Charlie!"

They all think they're forwards! All 3 goals are defensive breakdowns--Lidstrom should know better than to stand still all by himself; Rafalski and Lebda can't try to leave the zone if the puck's not out; and the third one, Nashville's speed burned the Wings on the transition. Not playing responsible hockey. You can't fault Osgood for any of those goals. Putting Howard in is a wake-up call to the team.

You know what I miss? Divisional playoffs. The old first- and second-round Norris battles were the absolute best. I hate the "Conference" crap. The league should go back to 4 divisions, expansion or no expansion, and back to the divisional playoff format.

The problem with ESPN though, is that hockey gets lost on that network. Other sports/events get more publicity and better ratings, so hockey gets pushed aside. If hockey was so important to ESPN, it never would have let it go in the first place. At least on VS, hockey's the big show.

Funny sidenote about Sakic wearing 88... Quebec took that number away from him, saying 88 wasn't a "hockey player's number". Then a couple years later, they drafted "the" #88, Eric Lindros.

McCarty isn't "all but washed up"... sadly he IS washed up. He hasn't been able to stay healthy for the last 4 years and his body can't take the punishment anymore from playing the style of game he's best at--hitting and fighting. He'll help Flint a lot though, not just on the ice but at the box office as well. He's a great ambassador for the game.

Eva, I understand what you mean, and in the sense you're referring to proper decades, you're right. Same would apply to centuries and millenia (like the 21st Century didn't begin in 2000, it began in 2001, and goes through 2100.) However, when people refer to "The 80s" they don't mean from January 1, 1981 to December 31, 1990... they're talking about 1980 through 1989 inclusive.

Keating is BRUTAL.

You might find a few ACHA alums playing in the ECHL, IHL or Central League, but that's about as good as it gets from that level. Not that ACHA hockey is bad, it's just not a path to the NHL.

Maybe he had "visa problems" again?

The Wings don't have the depth to keep them together! Breaking Datsyuk and Zetterberg up gives them a better chance of having 2 scoring lines. If they can't find anyone on their roster (Filppula, Hudler, Franzen, Samuelsson, even Cleary) to produce with either Datsyuk or Zetterberg, then it'll be time for Holland to get another scoring forward.

I don't see this working out under any of the scenarios laid out in the article. For one, the AHL and NHL are very closely tied together. All AHL teams are NHL affiliates and the AHL is used as a testing ground for tweaks to NHL rules. The AHL honors NHL suspensions and contracts. The AHL basically doesn't function without the NHL. This wasn't the case when Patrik Stefan and Petr Sykora played in the old IHL as 17-year-olds. The IHL had NHL affiliations but was more of an independent league, using some different rules and at one point had aspriations of rivaling the NHL as a major league. I could not see the AHL allowing Tavares to sign the 3-year deal and spurn the NHL draft, this would strain relations between the leagues. Even the one-year deal would be tough, because it would hurt the OHL, which also has a very strong working relationship with the NHL. Basically I can't see the applecart being upset here. If Tavares wants to play pro next year, maybe he should look to Europe. This sounds like the NHL in the pre-draft years, up until the late 60s. The O-6 teams all had territorial rights to every player in their area, and could sign players outside their territory as young teens. Boston signed Bobby Orr at age 14 (yeah, 14!!!) and had him play with one of their junior teams, the Oshawa Generals... same team that Tavares is on. Every player, like my dad, who just played midget and junior hockey in Detroit in the mid-60s had to sign what was called a "C-Form" which made him property of the Detroit Red Wings and unable to sign with another NHL team. The Canadiens had rights to every French-Canadian player, which is why they had so many Francophone stars in the O-6 era. This was all before the Entry Draft, and I can't see any form of a return to that system happening.

Shop around. Kohl's had Red Wing jerseys on sale for like 40% off (might have been more) a few months ago. If they have any left, I'm sure they're much cheaper now... maybe their Chicago-area stores would have carried Hawks jerseys. River City Sports might be another good place to look (rivercitysports,com) or try some of your local hockey shops and sports collectibles stores.

Since when do ill-prepared, underperforming rookies get to call the shots? Is this the NBA or NFL?? Grigorenko has done absolutely nothing to warrant being on Detroit's roster at this point. I'm sure the only reason he's here is that the Wings' brass is hoping to get at least SOMETHING out of their investment in Grigorenko. Maybe they can show him just how not ready he is at this point and convince him that, if he wants to play here like he says he does, a year of hard work and learning in Grand Rapids will be the best thing for him. A more vindictive management would send the clown back to Russia on the first plane they could find. My guess is that after a few weeks, unfortunately, we never hear anything from Grigorenko again.

The booths at Joe Louis have been selling replica jerseys with non-authentic letters and numbers for YEARS. Only their authentic jerseys have the official lettering style. I always thought it was a poor way to help sell the (more expensive) "real" jerseys. As Septser said, any retail shop can get authentic lettering from Stahls' and sew it on. I think it's shameful that the Wings would sell their own jerseys with different lettering and numbering. It looks extremely cheap on their part--and those jerseys are more expensive at the Joe than you'd pay at Harper, Perani's, B&R, or any other local hockey shop for a replica jersey with the real lettering. This situation pre-dates Reebok's involvement in hockey, and it's pitiful. Sepster-- You guys run a nice store. I repped for Itech in the late 90s and called on you a couple times with my boss, and my brother now reps for DR, Blademaster and Jaybird among other companies and still calls on you.

You have to remember, that was the IHL's heyday. The league had lots of teams in big markets and had aspirations of rivaling the NHL as another major league at some point in the future. Only a handful of IHL teams were affiliated with NHL clubs; the rest were filled with veteran players, some career minor-leaguers and others former NHLers still looking for another shot at the Show. IHL teams were also known for signing NHL holdouts. The caliber of play was at least as good as, if not better than, the AHL. The IHL was probably one of the top 5 leagues in the world at the time. And for Stefan to put up the points he did as a 17- and 18-year old, playing mostly against men in their mid 20s to early 30s, well, that's not too shabby.

My brother and I caught the end of the Red Wings' preseason special on FSD earlier in the week. The host--I don't know who he was, voice didn't sound familiar--has a speech impediment. Several times I heard him say "Wed Wings", and he even told the viewers to tune in during the season for episodes of "Wed Wings Weekwy". We have DVR, so we rewound the segment several times just to make sure we weren't hearing things... but he definitely said "Wed Wings Weekwy".