stevie for president

I wouldn't mind trading Stuart for a top 6 forward. Without him we have: Lidstrom-White Kronwall-Ericsson Kindl-Commodore/Smith I know most people would disagree with Ericsson being in the top 4, but he's certainly being paid like one so maybe thats what the wings believe his future will be. If Anaheim still wants to move Bobby Ryan, I would give up Stuart and some combination of picks/prospects.

I don't see what the big deal is about the Florida teams. North-south travel isn't that bad. If they flew 1,000 miles west than they'd have a legit gripe. You know they'll just schedule longer road trips to save on travel costs. Plus now Boston, Toronto, and montreal play in their arenas 3 times each and if they make they playoffs they'll most likely get national coverage playing those 3 teams=more exposure, higher attendance, more money. I think you guys are over exaggerating about the Florida teams. Just my 2 cents.

I hate the argument about teams getting screwed out of the playoffs. You're goal year in and year out should be to win the stanley cup (i.e. be #1 out of 30). If you can't manage being #5/8 than you don't deserve a shot to be #1/30. I know playoffs are different animal and upsets happen, but under the current system #9 in the west could (and actually might) have more points than #7 in the east and they aren't in the playoffs. Its the same concept. If you can't be #9/15 you shouldn't have the right to compete for the Stanley Cup! Dallas's 95 points last season would've been good enough for 8th in the east. St. Louis's 90 in 2010 would've put them in 7th in the east. Florida's 93 in 2009 would've made them #6 in the west. How is that any different?

I'm really curious to see what happens with the Prince of Wales and Clarence Campbell Trophies. Scarp them or add 2 more trophies?

This might sound crazy because I can't think of a stanley cup contender that would trade a top 4 Dman, but if Stuart says he wants to go back to Cali to be with his family, I think the red wings should call up the anaheim ducks and ship him there. Here's why: 1.) he may be a huge part of the team now but on July 1st he is worthless to us. might as well get something in return for him. 2.) The Wings have 8 NHL defensemen. Smith and Kindl are young and it would make sense to keep them. No one is trading Lidstrom ever. Kronwall's our future at the point. Commodore won't get us anything in return. Ericsson I believe has a NTC and even if he doesn't he's 27-28 and under contract next year. That makes Stuart tradable today, in my opinion. 3.) As a UFA he is free to sign anywhere, obviously, and he would hypothetically only want to go to california teams. that means Anaheim, the Sharks, and the Kings could get him for free. If we trade him to Anaheim, he gets to live where he wants and would hopefully sign long term there instead of signing with 2 teams that could very easily stand between us and the cup this year and in the future. 4.) The Ducks are heavy on top 6 talent and really need to retool/ rebuild to become cup contenders again. The wings could get creative and trade something like Stuart, Nyquist, and a 2nd for Bobby Ryan (I'm not sure why the Ducks would want to trade him, but apparently that was the rumor). This would help both teams. The ducks get a solid, reliable dman, a high pick, and a high-end prospect. the wings get a young top 6 forward. And most importantly, Stuart wouldn't be a Shark come next season. What do you guys think? Or am I crazy for wanting to trade Stuart and give Ericsson more ice team?

depending on the new cba, the wings can now re-sign stuart, a top 6 forward, give helm and abdelkader a raise, and keep lidstrom or replace him with an elite defenseman. based on that i say this is a great deal. heres potential ufa defensemen http://capgeek.com/free_agents.php?year_id=2012&team_id=-1&position_id=D&fa_type_id=2 id say kronwall is top 5 on that list and could've gotten 1-1.5 mil/year more on the open market.

I hate to feed the trolls but when the biggest complaints you have about a gm are an injured hatcher, an "injured" Krupp, an injured Williams, and Cory cross, you gm is one hell of a gm. And to equate the positive impact shanny had here with the negative impact Krupp did is the most idiotic thing I've ever seen on these boards. Based on the first four games, Im beyond pleased with the Ericsson contract. Hopefully the next 78 don't change my mind.

Not sure how the Red Wings would benefit from trading Hudler, unless Poile is still on whatever he was taking when he traded Franson and he gives the Red Wings Weber or Suter.

I think travel-wise it makes most sense to go to 3 conferences. Western Conference (11 teams for now). Northwest: Wild, Jets, Canucks, Flames, and Oilers Southwest: Stars, Avs, Coyotes, Sharks, Kings, Ducks NorthEastern Conference (9 teams for now). Canada Division: Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Sabres Atlantic Division: Bruins, Islanders, Rangers, Devils, Capitals Central Conference (10 teams). Midwet Division: Red Wings, Blackhawks, Penguins, Flyers, Blue Jackets Southeast Division: Blues, Panthers, Lightning, Predators, Hurricanes. If the Coyotes move to Quebec, which I guess is a strong possibility, they simply move from Southwest Division to Canada Division, otherwise just go with unbalanced conferences. it works fine for the MLB. For playoffs, top 2 seeds from each division play vs each other, and the winners play vs the other division series winner in the conference. Have 3 conference brackets and 1 wildcard bracket (top 4 seeds that didn't happen to be a 1 or 2 seed in their division. seed them 1-4 based on points and have 1-4, 2-3 and the winners play for a chance to go to the semis) Seed the remaining 4 teams based on regular season standings for the semi finals. I know its complicated, but every team will have similar travel and geographic rivals and most traditional rivals are in the same conference.

I'm good with fighting. Fans love it, players love it, and it absolutely has its place in the sport of hockey. I am against punching a bloodied player or a player that is covering his head, and i absolutely think the take downs should come with an additional minor or even a game misconduct. The so-called "unwritten rules" or "code" should be written and enforced. the unwritten rules are mutual agreements between fighters that are there because it makes fighting safer. So simply write the rules down. theoretically it'll make fighting safer. I wish they'd do something about the cheap shots after the whistle though. that wings-ducks series in 2009 was the most egregious example i could think of off the top of my head. The penguins would probably need a new game plan if they did that though.

Didn't dion phaneuf have a Norris nomination early in his career? I didnt really watch the flames at all but as far as I know he was pretty average until the midway point of this past season when the season was basically over for the leafs. I guess this is the norm for the salary cap era. Pay for potential instead of the old way of paying for past success.

I was thinking 3-4 games. 5 seems a little much considering wiz only got 8. So does smith forfeit his salary as if he were in the NHL or the ahl? Just a little curious.

I don't know any statistics or anything but I wonder if this also has something to do with draft position. I'd imagine north American players are far easier to scout so gms might take them over a euro they might not have seen play. Since the wings draft at the end of the round, the best players available now might be european because the north American players that were scouted more were drafted. Just a hypothesis.

I know I said this half jokingly but I just wanna repeat... If Moore can sue bertuzzi, why can't naslund sue Moore? Why can't lindros sue Stevens? Crosby should sue steckel and hedman an half the NHL should sue Cooke. No matter how much you want to clean up the game, the fact remains hockey is a very dangerous sport and you should assume all risks when you play at the highest level. We've come to a point in society where we want to always blame the other guy. Sure, this would have all been avoided if bertuzzi didn't cheap shot moore. Then again, this could all have been avoided if Moore didn't cheap shot naslund. At any rate, naslund, Moore, and bertuzzi all share some blame in this mess. When you get injured it's your fault and the other players fault. Therefore, in my opinion, the injured player assumes some of the blame and ALL of the risk. Don't play hockey if you want to get injured. And don't head hunt on the leagues top scorer if you don't want to fight (and yea you might have to fight multiple times. Claude Lemieux wasn't done after he turtles against McCarty)

Naslund should sue Moore, lindros should sue Stevens, savard should sue Cooke, etc. Any time any hockey player has a serious injury, he should be able to sue the player who injured him. You should never be held responsible for your own choices and actions in life if your a victim**

My last name was staal

About the whole Gretzky thing... it's nice to know that even in 1988 when the wings were far from the model NHL organization it was still considered a good hockey town and one of the most desirable places for the greatest hockey player that has ever lived. and I'm pretty sure Jimmy D has said on multiple occasions he wanted and tried to get Ray Bourque in a wings uniform multiple times.

Zholtok, Cherepanov, and Mickey Renaud all died of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, along with dozens of other young athletes. At this time, there is no conclusive evidence that shows a link between hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and anabolic steroid use. There is no proof at all that any of these players mentioned above, or Rick Rypien, have used steroids. We don't even know what the cause of death was for Rick Rypien! For all we know, this could have been a suicide. (And to anyone that thinks "he had nothing to be depressed about" and things along those lines, depression is a disease, much like addiction. The general public is very ignorant when it comes to both of these diseases.) EDIT: Only the first sentence was intended personally for you, just to clarify how those individuals died.

That team hasn't been the same since Jimmy D left them for the "Dead Wings"

I know most of us Red Wings fans really hate that Crosby because the NHL shoves him down our throats every chance they get, and because he is a diver and a crybaby, but he was truly on the verge of something amazing before his concussion. He has a 25 game point streak and was on pace for a 60 goal season to follow his Rocket Richard winning 51 goal season. He was also on pace for a 130 point season. Theres no telling what numbers he could've put up this upcoming season either as he should have kept getting better (If I'm not mistaken, an NHL player's prime is from like 26-32 or something along those lines and he is only 24). Hopefully he can recover fully, but I can't really think of many athletes who do after a severe concussion.

What he did in 2002 is something we'll be telling our grandchildren about. Obviously, he had a hall of fame career and was one of the most beloved figures in Detroit History before that season, but what he did that year separates him from all the other great leaders and athletes that have ever played professional sports in North America. When a normal, sane human being would've called it a very impressive career, one of the best careers of all-time, Steve Yzerman fought through all the pain and adversity and single-handedly lifted a team of future Hall-of-Famers out of a 2-0 series deficit and eventually hoisted the Stanley Cup when it was all said and done. Amazing stuff from the greatest captain in North American sports history (Mark Messier Leadership Award is such a load of crap. He couldn't hold a candle to Stevie Y as far as leadership is concerned). As you can probably tell, I still haven't gotten over my Yzerman obsession.

I hate the proposed offside rules, unless it's clearly intentional offside but that puts too much control in the linesman's hands. I can't think of many situations when a team goes offside for their own benefit. The one change I would make is if a player is interfered with at the line he is not considered offside. I've seen it too many times where a player gets pushed over the blue line before his teammate has a change to skate the puck over or dump it in, resulting in a whistle. I also dont like the idea of moving a player back if he does something illegal on the face-off because I feel like the officials randomly decide when to throw a player out of the circle. I like the ideas of the 4 on 4 ot followed by 3 on 3, then a shoot out though. Its different and I think it'd be more exciting a shootout.

Edit: wrong thread?

The new NHL realignment will see campbell and wales conferences instead of east and west. Wings become the first team I can think of that has won both the prince g wales and Campbell cups.