Lou_Siffer

very nice I also got a laugh out of the whole outskating Claude thing. Please...i bet Boogaard could outskate him!

Hank- I agree with everything you've said in this thread. Claude would indeed beat the hell out of 95% of the posters just like you said. Nobody likes to talk about the McCarty rematch because of how close that fight ended up being. Its like its erased from everyone's memory! Hey, remember the Tkachuk fight from the World Cup of Hockey? Claude got his nose broke right off the bat by a Tkachuk jab during the squareoff, but rather than drop down to the fetal position like most here assume he would, he went toe to toe with him and actually ended up on top if i remember correctly. Also as for the Draper comment, there is some sentiment of truth to what he said. Why is it that if Claude was such a wimp that Draper himself (who's dropped 'em a few times) never went with him? Its funny because i hear all the time about how Claude never fought his own battles. What about Draper?!

I know where i come from, kids arent calling each other up for a good ol' game of soccer! Seriously i think played soccer twice as a kid in gym class and thats it. And even then, all of us revolted against it so we could play kickball instead.

I dont know what neighborhood you live in or grew up in, ...but hell no it aint! Soccer isnt even close to being the most played sport by kids in the U.S. Basketball and football are leaps and bounds ahead of it.

For s***s and giggles...assuming each team had their "toughest" lines out and everyone paired off accordingly.. Laperriere vs Lilja Sauer vs Markov Klee vs Williams McLean vs Maltby whoever vs Draper With May gone Colorado is no better than the Wings in the toughness department....what a pathetic line brawl this would be! Laperriere would beat Lilja but after that they're probably all draws.

I dont like the Norton comparison, I'd say Eager is essentially a better version of Bootland. Norton is a guy who has ZERO ability not to mention is a boring lug who just falls down all the time. Ben Eager is actually a guy capable of igniting a spark when need be, and like i said he's not completely inept offensively. If he were on the Wings for a full season im sure he could chip in 6 or 7 goals. He was a first rd pick in 2002, so there's at least some skill there that can be brought out.

Yeah, i think that has probably alot to do with identifying with what you're watching. Most Americans just dont play hockey at all, while seeing someone jam down 70 hotdogs gets people talkin'! Same thing with poker, everyone plays it, although the poker fad has definitely been slowly dying off over the last year or so.( In another year, itll be dead) Its crazy to think how more people know who Phil Hellmuth and Kobayashi are than know who Crosby and Ovechkin are.

I bet the Nathan's hot dog eating contest could outdraw the NHL...seriously. Kobayashi probably eats more hotdogs than the NHL has viewers on Versus.

What would be wrong with Ben Eager on the 4th line? I think that would be great to have him. He's certainly better than having schmos like Langfeld out there, and while he's not an offensive stud at least he has the same amount of pts as Maltby! He'd be a real nice fit.

I can seriously see that happening, in fact, if i had to set odds on what player the Wings are most likely to acquire...Modin might be at the top. Just seems like classic Holland. I wonder realistically what it take in trade to get Tucker...(please no one mention Williams and a draft pick)

In all seriousness, putting your all-star game up against by far the #1 rated program in the country is completely assinine. Bettman is a fool.

"The NHL's decision to go up against ME with their cheesy all-star game was completely and utterly horrid. Worst decision by far this year."

Im talking a rental type defenseman for the postseason...the guys you mentioned wont be seeing time then. I also think you're overrating these guys (especially Meech)...but thats a different issue. If you see no reason to worry at all about Schneider and Chelios i think thats rather naive.

Is anyone else wondering if the Blues would even trade Guerin to the Wings after the whole Illitch incident? I mean, you know there will be other teams interested, and i cant help but wonder if that little grudge could make Davidson say hell with improving Illitch's chances if he views him as a whiner. But assuming we could get Guerin, i'd like to see him as well as a 3rd/4th liner like Tom Kostopoulos picked up. I also think its a big mistake that Holland seems so happy with the defense. Im tellin ya, one of if not both Schneider and Chelios are gonna wear down.

Hey im certainly no Claude fan, but i dont think the fact that he did eventually step up to McCarty and hold his own should be completely ignored. Especially with all the coward comments...no?

I dont like being a Claude defender here, but in his defense i havent seen one mention of the rematch with McCarty where he stood in there and came pretty close to earning a draw.

Yeah but that could easily be a case of good coordinator/bad head coach. I bet Cameron sucks at Miami.

Anaheim over New Jersey

Yep, new Dolphins head coach. Stupid move for the Dolphins if you ask me!

Yep, I remember Joey Eischen! I think the other pitcher was John Cummings, I know we got him around the same time so im pretty sure it was the same trade.

Who the hell woulda thought we'd end up with the Colts and Pats again! I predicted the Pats to beat the Chargers but never in a million years did i think the f'n Colts would beat the Ravens! Im still in shock over that....not to mention it completely blew my playoff pool. Today's games seriously could go either way, but for the AFC im gonna have to stick with something i said to people 2 years ago...the combination of the 2 chokers Manning and Dungy will never win a Super Bowl together. So i'll just have to go with the Pats. In the NFC...i'll go with the Saints continuing on their path to being the NFL's Detroit Tigers....bad team rising up out of nowhere with a new coach winning their league but just falling short in the end. Oh and just thought id mention, i simulated next year's season in Madden and the Chargers went 16-0....then subsequently lost in the first round of the playoffs. I thought that was hilarious...apparently Marty ball loses in video games too

But at the same time, Horton is physical while Zetterberg isnt. Now, im not saying that physical play is everything, but i do believe it factors into being a complete player. So each of them has their weaknesses at this point. However, i think its obvious that theres a much, much better chance that Horton will become better defensively with age than there is for Z to ever add a physical dimension to his game. I just think offensively Horton will be a stud in another year or two, ...while Zetterberg may actually drop off in production this year compared to last. BTW its not my intent to trash Zetterberg if its coming off like that, hes actually my favorite Wings player right now.

Thats a very bad example. Luongo is 27 and had been on Florida for years, also i cant remember what was going on with his contract but he was due for a huge payday. Nathan Horton is 21 years old and isnt even close to reaching his peak yet. There is no way in hell he gets traded this year...perhaps in 3 years down the line if the team isnt doing anything they'd trade him for multiple players in return. But not now...no way.

NO. There is a beyond zero chance of him getting traded to Detroit , this is just all hypothetical because a WIlliams/Hudler for Horton deal was brought up. Horton wont get traded anywhere...

Retarded? Far from it. Horton is already producing similar to what Zetterberg is and is only 21 years old! So its not retarded one bit, and actually its quite logical for that matter, to assume that Horton will turn out to be better than Zetterberg in probably another year...or two max. They wouldnt make that trade straight up...