NomadFromKazoo

No doubt I'm with you that I'm against booing players because it makes us look bitter and pathetic. However, Hossa left for a lot less then 50% more and Federov left for LESS money...

Or you could just become a Penguin fan. Booing him makes Red Wing fans look more needy and pathetic then anything it says about Hossa himself. If you must embarass yourself, please do it in another way...that doesn't involve us.

I agree. Screw you Hossa, don't let the door hit you on the way out. I had no expectations of him re-signing with us until he and his agent started with what turned out to be the the nonsense about he'll be here and the cap won't stop him. Not that I counted on anything until something was signed, but obviously Kenny delivered and was willing to go into a big cap bind to keep him and Hossa walked away based on information he had when he and his agent were saying that drivel. But there is NO basis of comparison to Federov and I won't hold a grudge for any of this against Hossa and I would never be like the Pittsburgh ***** fans who keep booing him when he's on the ice or touches the puck. I just say screw you for the crap you chose to pull, good bye and good riddance. All he needed to do was just said we'll see what happens after the season and not say he'll stay despite the cap when he left because of the cap.

No one but Kopecky and his mother would disagee with your statement and pick Kopecky over Abdelkader to be in our organization. It's just not the point, it's the role and stage of their career they are in. We want Abs to play first line minutes in GR, not rotational 4th line minutes in Detroit. And we have Ericcson, Helm, Howard and probably Leino making the leap as well this year. It just makes sense in every possible way to Keep Abdelkader in GR playing and developing this year since we can still send him down even though Kopecky to your point isn't an "upgrade."

My view as well.

Yes, what a horrible job we do maintaining talent. That's why we can't make the playoffs.

This is so untrue. We're not bringing him to Detroit to be our backup unless the PTB's think he's our best option. We let LOTS of players walk away we invest years into without giving them a shot. And even more so that we're not going to do that is we actually want our backup goaltender to play regularly. Especially with comments from Ozzie that he wasn't mentally ready to play pretty much until the playoffs this year after playing last year to June. I'm thinking they'd like the backup to play almost as much, maybe even "more" then the starter for quite a bit of the season.

Thank you Kenny for not being such short sighted and reactionary as this. Let's "f***" great players based on one playoff that doesn't meet any particular armchair fan's statistical expectations and go after someone else to replace them. Sure, Hossa did have some great playoff games and contributed in other ways and had a great season for us, but we wanted him to score 20 goals in the playoffs, period, and he didn't. Bye, bye! Following your rule, Federov and Datsuk who both sucked not just in one but multiple playoffs would never have won a Cup with us because they'd have been LONG gone by the time either one helped us win one. Maybe we wouldn't have won any without them, but they'd have PAID for their sucking in the playoffs and if you think about it that's what really matters, making sure a player who doesn't score enough goals in one playoff season PAYS for that. Oh, and thanks for the list of suggestions of players we could go after who following your zero intelligence, I mean zero tolerance rule, we can dump the first time they don't score 20 goals in a playoff year to make them pay too. Of course none of them would sign with us because we wouldn't have any good players having gotten rid of them the first time they disappointed and they wouldn't sign with us because they would know the first time they disappoint they would be gone, but maybe they sign before they know that and we can make them PAY!!!!

Hmm...could explain your endless need for violence. Would there possibly be a correlation between your being on LGW demanding the Wings fight somebody and when the cops leave your house because your wife kicked the snot out of you AGAIN? Just curious. Your endless need for violence is pathetic and such a lack of grasp of reality of the risk and damage when 200+ pound athletes are hitting each other. I don't mean on your Nintendo, I mean for real.

I agree. Even if Z and Dats play on the first line, Hudler centers the second and Filp the third? I don't THINK so. I like Huds and hope we keep him, but playing him on the top two makes no sense. Eva needs to check the playoff stats on Filp, he's really getting better. He can also reach the top shelf of the fridge.

Dude, I'd spend the money and buy a clue...

Sorry Mrs. Conklin, you're probably moving again...

You don't mention Franzen even ONCE in your post, why do you hate him?

No way, we want Gordie Howe...

Totally agree. It's amazing how many people who claim to follow hockey constantly miss that point. Like with Ericsson and Cheli this year. Why is Cheli in Detroit? Ericsson is better! Answer, finish the thought, Why is Cheli in Detroit playing 6 minutes some nights and a healthy scratch others while E is playing 20+ a night in GR? The answer is in the question...

It's nice to hear someone is paying attention to what's going on. Actually, it wasn't George Bush who killed all those people though, it was his army of evil flying kangaroos who were trying to murder the homeless disguising the deaths as caused by drugs or crime. Just to pass on a tip, never wear clothing, George Bush learned how to weave clothing from microfilm, it's not safe. Oh, and if you have to wear shoes, wear Crocs. But only the pink ones, it's harder to track you, I don't know why. And always walk backwards, it throws off the kangaroos if they try to dive bomb you. And be sure to always wear aluminum foil on your head, it prevents George Bush from reading your mind through his periscope in the White House bathroom. The one thing you're not up on is that W actually isn't President anymore, Obama is now. But other then that, you are all over reality my friend! Way to go.

This topic is a non-starter

Of those, only Cheli is really comparable to the personal history he had with the Wings. The one you didn't mention because it didn't happen was when Holland was discussing Belfour. I was horrified. I take your point that anything can happen, but Pronger and Lemieux in particular have such bitter personal histories with the Wings I don't see how Holland could ever sign them and expect fans to accept them. But as you point out it did happen with Cheli. But that it COULD happen doesn't change my view that it's one of the worst decisions Holland could make and as for me I'd rather not make the playoffs without Pronger then win the Cup with him. There is no room for him in sports, he has no respect for other athletes who are trying to make livings themselves. That was the difference to me with Cheli, others argue he was as bad. To me though, even though accepting him wasn't easy I never felt he was willing to end careers like Pronger and Lemieux. And I don't think Pronger would even care. It's my view, it's a message board, I'm saying so.

On questions 1 and 1.5 you don't actually say anything, just ask a question seemingly unrelated to the discussion, so I'll wait for some content before addressing it. But yes, I am old enough to remember Lids entire career and being a native Michigander I have always been a Wings fan. On question 2, that's a valid hypothesis. Though if these intellectual Wing fan gurus left because they didn't like postings on message boards then they wouldn't have stayed anyway. I have an alternate hypothesis. Do you think maybe they left because they were sick of reading that considering acquiring sadists and our most bitter of enemies like Chris Pronger made coming to a sight called "Let's Go W-I-N-G-S" pointless? Would you go into a church and storm out when they reject your idea of intellectually considering devil worship without their Christian bias?

Good idea. Then let's sign Claude Lemieux and groin shot Eddie. Then we can become Black Hawk fans. If you wanted to come up with a more stupid idea then the one you did, it would actually take some effort.

I'm not saying you're doing this because I don't know, but it's silly how when he was the second highest producer on the team at the end of the year everyone wanted him back, then they went back and forth through the playoffs as he had good and bad games (with bad being defined only as goals), and after the finals they want him gone. It's silly and thank God Kenny doesn't run the team with such short sighted mentality. If you can lock up a premium talent like Hossa you do it in a second. No, I don't want to lose guys like Sammy and Huds, but the truth is that the mid-tiers are just a lot more replaceable then premium players and the expectations placed on Hossa in the playoffs were nuts. He'll do great as a Wing, it's the short term knee jerk sign him/dump him mentality that would destroy us as a premium team. Fortunately again Holland is ignoring that nonsense.

How many fricking teams in the history of the SCF played 5 games in 8 days? I'll wait for a list. They had an extra day off, are younger and had no real injuries. Your arguing history doesn't work unless you actually look at this in entirety regarding history, this was unprecedented. Then there was Malkin being alleviated of a mandatory suspension because it didn't meet what the NHL "looks for." What were they looking for in his assault on Z? A crowbar and wood chipper? He assaulted him, what does their lame excuse mean? The ice was clearly tilted towards the Pens through the series by the refs, but had that been the lone issue not enough to win, but you combine it with the rest of the farce of a SCF and it made it even more impossible to overcome. The NHL didn't host a championship, they selected a champion, it was pathetic. And I am no history of being paranoid on any of this, I am constantly arguing when we get screwed that it evens out. This time, it didn't. Being paranoid doesn't mean you don't have enemies. This is my one rant on the subject, on to next year! We'll be back.

Hossa played in Pitt just a few months and never signed a contract with them EVER. I don't care if someone is a Pitt fan or not, what obligated the guy to stay with Pittsburgh on any level? I get when players leave a team in free agency they grew up with and played for, but when Pittsburgh fans boo him for coming on the ice, they are the one's being petty and classless doing that to a guy who owes them nothing and never did. And he was a big part of even getting them to the finals last year, they should appreciate what he did. I don't blame them at all for being disappointed he didn't stay, but continuing to hold such a bitter grudge against someone for such paltry reasons is pathetic.

In fairness this one was Micah, not a Pens fan...

I totally agree. If we can possibly sign him to a decade deal and lock him up then over the next few years the cap goes up and it's a lot easier to replace 2-3 mid tier players then 1 premium one. Especially with the (cheap) youngsters stepping up. Ironically in the "who sits" discussions when Dats and Draper come back tonight (fingers crossed on Dats), it's the guys who are rumored to be going if we sign Hoss that are the prime ones being discussed to sit over the kids. That bodes well as they actually all play longer in the regular season in Detroit starting next year. I think we should keep Flip and then move whoever we need to keep Hoss. I like Sammy and Huds, two of the ones discussed, but keep them over Hossa? No chance. I secretly hope Huds loves it enough here to get screwed by us for a year and take minimum pay to stay and we reward him in the next year or two depending on the cap. But I'd lose him in a second to keep Hossa. Hudler so benefits from the depth of our team and I don't think he'd be as good anywhere else. And whoever replaces him if he goes will have the same benefit. I wouldn't blame him for leaving for more money if we can't offer anything more then league minimum, I just hope he feels the same, long run better to stay. TBD.