sibiriak

What hockey are you watching? How many Bertuzzi-serious attacks happen in a season? Don't act like it's NHL busines as usual, 'cos i tis not.

If you hit a pedestrian with your car and he walks away, you get a ticket and maybe your licence suspended for several month. You hit them and they die - you are going to prison. If one commits an illegal act, one pays according to the actual damage caused, not his intent. That is why Bertuzzi is so villified. For me personally, Bertuzzi's crocodile tears afterwards, and dragging his feet in the civil settlement, only reinforce my impression that he is not sorry for what he's done, and his"remorse" was strictly for public consumption. And I am not excited to see an unrepentant (IMO) criminal wear the Wings jersey.

I think they should move to my backyard. I'll flood the rink for them and let them use it for free, i'll even build the bleachers and they can have all the gate, and parking and concessions revenue. Mario, call me! This deal is even better than the Kansas-City offer.

I suppose I should have put "assuming the Wings win the bidding." in my previous post. Plus, Dstsyuk signed now, even to a high contract, and even if he has undistinguished playoffs, could bring nice return in trade next year.

But easier than if he gets 6.5 after bidding on the UFA market.

Let me clarify my meaning. In the 80s, hockey was more open, with less stickwork, hooking and clutching. That, I think, we may agree on. It was also more liberal in allowing hitting and fighting. Inthe 90s and early 2000s, hockey changed to more defensive, closed game, where bigger, stronger, better conditioned athletes were able to get away with illegal tactics to limit the time and space for the opposition's star players. Scoring and entertainment factor of the games were decreased. After the lockout, the rules were changed to penalize ANY contact using your stick or hands to touch opposition players. Other infractions are not called as harshly. This was done toreturn some space and speed tothe game. It is not a perfect solution, and in the future they will probably change the rules again, to allow more physical play (I hope). But you can't deny that the game has opened up and become more lively, if not without some sacrifice in physical play. BTW, the first thing a new fan notices,is the hits and the fights. If you think that a reduction of them was done toplease a casual fan, you are mistaken, it was merely the by-product of opening the game up. I don't remember Lafleur or Gretzky trying to fight their way to the net through hooks and holds, with a 6'4'' defenseman draped over their back. And it wasn't because fighting was not penalized as much. The players then didn't grow up with the style of hockey where you routinely used your stick or hands to slow down the opponent when he is going by you. Today 's players have that on the instinctive level and it will take more than 2 years to re-learn. When they do, the calls vigilance will be softened. My "catered to" remark refers to the pro teams, not fans. Your main beef seems to be best summarized as: "I hate that Nashvill's got a hockey team, when I have to drive 2 hours to get to a game." Well, you are lucky. For many fans it is not feasible to drive to an NHL hockey game at all. And the fewer teams there are, and the closer together they are located, the fewer fans would be able to see a live game at least once in their lives. And the fewer fans the sport has, the more expensive the individual tix will be. As with any product, per unit costs fall when the sales volume increases.

So, in your opinion, the way for the NHL to attract new fans is to NOT put the new teams out of the "traditional" hockey markets? NOT modify the rules to make the game more dynamic and attractive (like it used to be 20 years ago)? I've followed hocley for all but the first 5 yearsof my life, but if my dad wasn't a hockey fan, and if there was no hockey on TV, and if there was no hockey team in my hometown, I'd not be a hockey fan today. You could like hockey if you had a chance to see it. I'm sure that the Aussie rules football is a great game, but since I never seen one, I am not likely to become a fan. Do you want for hockey to become a niche sport for reverse snobs? As to cities "earning the right" to shell out $150-$250 mil. for a new arena, provide the developers with tax breaks and buy 18,000 seats at $50 a pop on average, for 41 home games + playoffs, every year ... Are you sure you didn't mean that we all should be so lucky to be catered to, like the pro sports teams are?

The only knock against Maltby is his price tag. If he were making 900K, he'd be a steal even with his current play. So if Holland can sign him for 1 mil. or slightly more, I'd be for it. Lang... He does manage to produce somehow, in spite of what people here say about him. But if he doesn't have a stellar playoffs, he shouldn't be resigned, IMO. Kronwall is OK but not yet great. And he already is in the lineup. If Schneider goes, how much will it cost to replace him, if that's even possible? If he can be signed for 1-2 years at about the same rate of pay, Holland should do it. Datsyuk. I will admit to being partialabout him. Because of the fact that he has great chmistry with Zetterberg, and seems to be developing the same with Filppula, and the way he's been playing thesse last few months, I'd take a chance on him. I believe that he will do wellin the playoffs this year. And if he doesn't, Holland can trade him easily, especially if he is signed now below his free market price. Teams will be lining upto get a first-line center of that caliber.

Of course, I can't read, so 1983 turned into 1989. As someone correctly pointed out, he will only be 24 prior to the next season. My mistake. He is listed by his current club Lada Togliatti as follows: Born 09.04.1983 (Apr 9) Ht: 182 cm (5' 11.65'') Wt: 83 kg (182.8lbs)

He was born in 1989, so he'll be 28 before the next season. He's 5'10'' 178 lbs., and may not be as fast as he used to be. While he could be a very effective player, second coming of Kovalchuk he ain't.

The guy that booed was probably the Preds fan.

Can i borrow your crystal ball?I need to pick some stock Seriously, you got it right in almost every detail!

Friday: Pittsburgh @ Carolina Toronto @ New Jersey Ottawa @ Atlanta Chicago @ Detroit Montreal @ Buffalo Columbus @ Dallas San Jose @ Anaheim Saturday: St Louis @ NY Rangers Nashville @ Los Angeles Montreal @ Boston Buffalo @ Toronto NY Islanders @ Washington Tampa Bay @ Florida Columbus @ Phoenix Calgary @ Edmonton Sunday: Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh Colorado @ Detroit Carolina @ Atlanta Ottawa @ Chicago San Jose @ Dallas Boston @ New Jersey Nashville @ Anaheim Minnesota @ Vancouver

Thank you all. < takes a bow> If I get lucky like this again next week, I may be able to challenge FinRedWing for the overall lead. And now back to earth. I'm still in 4th for now, so back to work.

Brown arrived in 94 Burr left in 95 Ciccarelli left in 96 Coffey left in 96 Cummins left in 93 Dandenault arrived in 95 Dollas left in 93 Drake left in 94 Draper arrived in 93 Eriksson arrived in 95 Errey arrived in 94 Fetisov arrived in 94 Gallant left in 93 Gilchrist arrived in 97 Golubovsky arrived in 97 Grimson arrived in 94 left in 97 Hodson arrived in 95 Holmstrom arrived in 96 Mark Howe left in 95 Sheldon Kennedy left in 95 Knuble arrived in 96 Joey Kocur 1984-99 Kruppke left in 94 Larionov arrived in 95 Macoun 1997-99 Maltby arrived in 95 McCrimmon left in 93 Dmitri Mironov 1997-98 Larry Murphy arrived in 95 Keith Primeau left in 96 Probert left in 94 Pushor arrived in 95 Racine left in 93 Mike Ramsey 1994-97 Rouse 1994-98 Tomas Sandstrom 1996-97 Shanahan arrived in 96 Sheppard left in 96 Mike Sillinger left in 95 Tim Taylor 1993-97 Ward arrived in 93 Ysebaert left in 93 Bold are players who I'd consider gritty who came during two-three years before 1997 Cup win, bold and italic are gritty player who left during that period. As you can see, for 11 gritty players come, 14 left before the 1997 Cup. You may count them differently, but the point is that the talent level of the players arriving was way more important than the simple grit. Without Larionov, Shanahan, Fetisov, Murphy, as well as Maltby, Draper, and Holmstrom, there would be no 97 Cup. Probert and Grimson and Ciccarelli and Kennedy and Burr did not lack in grit. But the Wings won the Cup after they left. (I'm not sure if Grimson still was there in 97?)

According to the NHL.com it was Kronwall and Schneider. I must have mistaken #55 for #22.

That was Lebda. But the pass Kariya made was pretty good, and Forsberg snuck in on Lebda's blind side. I wouldn't shoot him yet.

To follow your lead, the Wings should also trade for Ponikarovsky, Tkachuk, Zhitnik, Tverdovsky, Babchuk, Vishnevsky, Mikhnov (both of them), and Zherdev. Did I forget anybody? P.S. Unfortunately, Hawerchuk, Andreychuk, and Bucyk are no longer available.

If Bertuzzi comes cheap, I'd be really suspicious. It's fine for the Wings 'to roll the dice" on Bertuzzi, but Florida already knows what dice will come up, because they know his medical condition. If they let him go for a low pick, then the dice must be snake-eyes.

Jason Blake. LW 5'10' 180 lbs. career 0.55 PPG in the regular season, 2G 4 pts and -6 in 19 career playoff games. OK player, but I'm not overly impressed.

Pray tell, addition of what gritty players took the Wings from "playoff flops" in 1991-4 to Cup champs in 1997?

At these prices, just add a first rounder and go after Crosby, when he becomes RFA. A high pick for every month that Tkachuk is going to play for Atlanta (very optimistically), and a roster player?! Waddell must be in danger of losing his job if Atlanta doesn't go to the Cup Finals at least!

I don't understand this logic. So the team that plays the Wings will not want to win a playoff series against them, because the Wings are a #4 seed and not #1? Do you think that SJ or Dallas or whoever will end up at #5 will underestimate the Wings? Whichever way the tight division race b/w the Wings and the Predators ends, both teams will have approached the playoffs having to play hard and overcome adversity. Neither would be able to coast the last couple of weeks, like the Wings used to do. I think this coasting, rather than the #1 seed in itself, was the contributing factor in the early playoff exits in the past.