toby91_ca

Well, I was talking about the Rangers as one of the teams. Of course any small market Western conference team will tell me the Wings are the biggest draw, they don't play against Eastern conference teams. I'm not trying to argue with you, it's just that you make it sound like the Wings are the biggest draw, it's not even close, there's no question about it. Facts are, other teams draw more......whatever the reasons.

It's also not rocket science to look at the numbers and see that Detroit is not the biggest draw and especially not "the biggest draw, not even a contest." Any other arguments are way too subjective. The Rangers, by the way, play New Jersey and the Islanders 8 times a year.

Please explain, since stats show otherwise. Ignoring the Pens due to the Winter Classic, Boston pulled in more fans per game and the Rangers pulled in a higher % capacity per game. In terms of the topic of the thread, it is by no means price gouging. Actually, I think price guaging would be impossible when the product you are selling is not a necessity. In general, it is good business to charge as much as you can for what you are selling. If the market will pay the price, then it's good business. The only exception to that woudl be necessities. I think there is a lot of price guaging going on with gas. While technically it is not a necessity, people shouldn't be driving as much as they are, it's easier said then done.

Kronwall - 22:28 Sammy - 17:13 Stuart - 4:47

I think Yzerman's standing on the scoring list is safe (likely). If Joe played for 2 more years, he'd probably pass him, but it looks as though this may be his last year. He'll still finish with a higher ppg, but if this is his last year, he'll finish behind Stevie on the scoring list. It's pretty uncanny how similar these guys actually are, from class, all the way to stats. They are very close in goals and points for regular season and playoffs. Also, they were both born in BC, although, Stevie didn't grow up there.

The thing I see all the time is that Crosby isn't that good because he won't break records, win all the MVPs Gretzky has, etc. Someone you can bring a guy like him down like that, but it doesn't apply to any other player in the league....which someone catapults them ahead of him in terms of greatness.....I don't get it. Actually, I think I do get it, probably has something to do with hype, but to be honest, I think the perception of the hype he has received has been....for the lack of a better expression, overhyped. I honestly don't think anyone suggested he was going to break Gretzky's records. He can be a better player than Wayne and still not touch those records. From my perspective and the talk I've heard about the kid for the past 6 or 7 years, nothing, to me, has suggested he hasn't been living up to the hype yet.

Can you help me understand why you are so hard on Crosby with your assumed, all he does is score and not play defense, yet, you don't take that into account with Ovechkin? Crosby is by no means a defensive liability. He is solid in his own end, he's just not the best in the league, but I'd be willing to bet he's one of the best at his age (ignoring Staal). He's certainly better defensively than Ovechkin and he's better defensively than Datsyuk was in his first few years.

This is silly. Too many people try and find faults with Crosby. None of his records matter because they are aged based, he's not the greatest because he needs to develop his defensive game, etc., etc. All this at the same time when Ovechkin is clearly number 1, no one will question that, simply because he scores more goals? In terms of records, what records are you referring to with Howe? I'm pretty sure he only holds records with respect to games played and scoring by a right winger.

Did you consider a similar scenario with the Yankees? Since 1996 (12 seasons): Won the world series - 4 times Lost to the eventual world series champs - 5 times Lost to a team that made it to the world series but lost - 2 times Lost to a team that didn't make it to the world series - only once in the last 12 seasons

I don't man..... Since 1996: Wings - Stanley Cups - 4, WC Champs - 5, Division Champs - 9 Yankees - WS Champs - 4, AL Champs - 6, Division Champs - 10 Sox - WS Champs - 2, AL Champs - 2, Division Champs - 1 Maybe more comparable to the Sox simply because they won the WS more recently and the Wings are the reigning cup champs, but come on....the Wings didn't do a lot of damage in the playoffs for the 2003-2007 years.

I think the Lions have the better chance here. I think it is HIGHLY UNLIKELY that the Wings put together 8+ streaks of 5 or more wins. (I'm just using the original poster's numbers here, as it is probably a long shot that the Lions win 7 games too). Think about it for a few minutes....it would be pretty difficult to put together 8 streaks like this, you'd almost have to win 5 in a row....then have a loss, etc. If you put together a streak of 8 or 9 wins in a row, you are really hurting your chances. You'd almost have to have all of your wins come in 5 game winning streaks. The Wings are good for about 50 wins or so, but with 8 streaks * 5 = 40 wins, that doesn't leave much room for wins coming outside of a a streak, or streaks of more than 5 wins each. To compare, I believe they had about 4 streaks last year of 5 or more wins.

Yzerman already eluded to the fact that he may end up somewhere else awhile ago. He wants to progress and there are no job openings in Detroit. Wouldn't be surprised to see him end up in Ottawa at all. It is his hometown and all.

I believe 1998 was the first year the stat was tracked. I know Yanic has led the league for at least the last 7 seasons in a row, coule be more.

Bure reminds you of Datysuk (other way around I guess)?? Am I the only one that sees almost no similarities in their games?

Orpik had 102 hits, Kronwall had 41.

Tkachuk? Why?

Actually, I think today's goals are more skilled from a pure technical perspective, regardless of the larger equipment. Goalies back in the 80's played a more stand up style and relied more on reflexes. To me, this style was more entertaining, even if no goals were scored, you saw more great saves by goalies that in today's NHL are just ordinary saves because the goalies are more positionally sound.

If it was up to me, neither of these guys would be in either, but with Neely in there, you really can't keep these guys out.

Since you listed Mario as one of the best, he in fact said that Kovalev is the best he has ever seen and is a far better stickhandler than he could ever dream of being.

Assuming you are referring to the cup photo, obviously Quincey is in the background (#4)

No....too many others to bother listing.

I know it says he won the past 2 cups (with Detroit and Anahiem), but is his name even on the Cup? He only played in 4 playoff games with the Wings last year (can't remember if any of those were in the Finals) and he only played 1 game with Anahiem the year before.

I'm not ready to go that far yet.

He is turning into a pretty damn good player, but I think the sample size is a little too small to make any huge predictions on the rest of his career yet. He will be 28 in January and he is just now showing that he can play in this league, hopefully he keeps it up. I'll admit that I was skeptical on his abilities to ever "get there", but I had a lot of reasons. I didn't right him off though, I was just skeptical. I do think he gets the benefit of the doubt far too much, or always, on his hits though. I used to think he put himself out of position a lot to make the big hit, which he did, but I think he's been able to pick his spots a lot better recently. I think most fans may overrate him slightly simply because they see the big hits and fans love that, but other than that I think he's a great player and holds his own in the other areas as well.

From what I heard, he will be deciding in August, because if he is playing, he will be attending training camp for sure.