evilmrt

The problem with Zherdev is that he is Russian...and I do not mean that in the bigoted way at all. The added obstacle with him turning things around like Dan Cleary, etc....is that when things get tough, you don't change, you can just take your toys and go home to Mother Russia and the KHL. This would most likely happen before he would change his way of thinking and attitude. As far as Emery goes...I think he MIGHT be a risk worth taking if the decision came down between him and Osgood. Hes 10 years younger, even with the hip injury (which I didn't notice during the playoffs this year?) he is an upgrade. And we have Joey as insurance...so its not the end of the world if it doesn't work out. They should invite these guys to camp at the very least if they're still unsigned.

I don't get why they have a Sabertooth Tiger and then want to add in musical themes? Make up your minds, folks! I think they should dump the Predators thing and go with some kind of Nashvegas music name. Nashville Elvises? Enough prehistoric animals...the Toronto Raptors are horrible enough for all of the sports world. The color reminds me of some old 1960s yellow kitchen.

I completely agree, but the problem is that Larsson (as it seems so many euro players do now?) blabbed to the media and made Kenny look bad. He'd probably already be signed if he had his ego in check. Ozzie wins the backup spot if he can go the distance. I'm no doctor, so I have no idea if he can. We could assume the specialists gave Kenny a big fat question mark about Ozzie for this to all be up in the air at this point.

I find it odd that the Jets aren't grouped with Calgary and Edmonton...hmm. Also it is interesting that Leipold seems to favor the Blue Jackets over the Wings...a different perspective than the one most LGWers have. Wait...Dallas in the same division as Winnipeg?

Well, this is interesting...it looks like Seattle, which many people here said wouldn't work...is trying to get an NHL arena and team. This was in the Seattle Times as well, but here is the article from KIRO TV: This would be out of the city limits of Seattle, avoiding all the political gridlock which has stopped this from happening in the past. So, the Coyotes (Metropolitans?) could be staying in the West after all.

Agreed. There just wasn't much out there, and this is a bargain signing, especially compared to the horrible deals we've seen in the past couple of days. The offense will have to be more productive to compensate for the loss of Rafi, but it can be done. As the back-end stands now, it could be adequate with the addition of the yet unnamed Defensive Coach. This is key, because I think much of what frustrated us about Ericsson probably had much to do with bad coaching by McCrimmon. It certainly didn't help. So, there is the potential for a good unit here.

Uh, and the reason they cannot sign Larsson to be the backup is....???

Oh boy! More Pierre on NBC/Versus!

Well well well, another buyer abandons the Glendale city council. They'll never learn. All the Vegas talk...not really sure where its coming from, but it seems very unlikely due to Las Vegas's economy being in the toilet...still one of the worst cities in the nation, often topping places like our beloved Detroit in its awfulness. Imagine for a moment...putting an NHL team in a city that for all intents and purposes is worse off economically than Metro Detroit, yet is in a non-hockey market in the middle of the desert. This is after the BoG just saw a team abandon Atlanta for comparatively tiny Winnipeg. I think the Vegas talk is at best, 3 years too early.

Heh. The Hockey News is a relatively unknown website? That magazine has been around forever, and even Bob McKenzie used to be the editor. Anyway, everyone knows Holland isn't very aggressive. This works out to the Wings benefit at times, and it works against them at other times. It hasn't been working so well the past couple of seasons, and to see the Sharks of all teams IMPROVE when they already kicked our asses two years in a row...yeah Babs has the right to be pissed, and I hope he let Kenny know. That said, we'll see what happens on the 1st. Or, with Kenny....maybe a week or two later into July

Right, because everyone thought Rafalski was a "cancer in the locker room", too. Those stupid religious hockey players!!!

Yeah I like Saad as well, they are both nice options.

Alexander Khokhlachev should be around for the Wings tomorrow morning. Hockey News has this guy ranked at #13!

Its going to be tough for them to outdo the vintage Jets logo. But, we'll see. I haven't seen any confirmation of "Winnipeg Jets" either. It could very well be the Manitoba Jets, something the Premier of Manitoba hinted at earlier. I'm just glad its not the Moose

I think the spirit of this forum allows itself to be more welcoming and friendly than your average forum. Even though I don't live near Detroit anymore, its great to see people WANTING to visit there, and more importantly, see our Wings at home. Lets not act like dicks to visitors, ok? I'd expect that on a Pens forum. Maybe Matt should add something like a "Michigan/Detroit" section to the forum and we could file things like this away in there.

I also give a big thumbs up to Chicago being the Wings only Original Six visitor...the whole season. Yeah, re-alignment please.

Sounds interesting enough, re-alignment is way overdue. I'm not sure about the divisional matchups in the first round...although that could lead to some good playoff rivalries. It could get old after 3 or 4 seasons though. As far as Phoenix moving to QC the season after next?...then more whining ensues lol.

Winnipeg Jets with a logo redesign and new colors done right = ton of merch sold I personally like the Winnipeg/Manitoba Rebels as a second choice. Anyone curious as to why I say that, look up the Red River Rebellion.

HAHAHAHA! This is awesome!!!! Bettman....really? Winnipeg Vs. Phoenix? LOL...

The logo with the full name looks like the Thrashers fonts...hmm... I guess it works since they don't exist anymore

Ok so it wasn't the Wings, but we got treated to some fantastic goaltending by Tim Thomas. As a hockey fan, it was a joy watching him in the finals. As a Michigan native, also from the Flint area, I can't help but have a special appreciation for this guy. And he'll cap it off next week with a well deserved Vezina.

Hmm. Will his play be the same or better than last year? I'm happy hes back but curious about the amount paid. Oh well, it rules anyways

It turns out that someone has some explaining to do. It has now been revealed that a bid was placed for the Thrashers on May 20th, well before the deal with True North was finalized over a week later. Lucky for Bettman that nobody in Atlanta cares... USA Today story

Apparently its not as it seem? here they are from another angle...unless thats just gawkers lol

Even better....Game 7 got the best ratings for an NHL game since 1974. The reports of the league's demise are greatly exaggerated. So is the argument that nobody will watch a Final involving a Canadian team. Best Ratings since 74 And yeah, I love that they point out that it outdrew the Celtics' last two NBA Finals. Enough of the NBA superiority attitude!