b.shanafan14

Haha more like some crappy gift you gave someone the year before and they unwittingly re-gift it back to you.

Usually I hate this time of year, because its like seeing presents you're getting two Christmas from now. All these wonderful, shiny new toys that are still developing At least this year we finally get Ericsson, Helm, and Leino

I really hope they go back to Zetterberg and Datsyuk on the same line and promote Filppula to second line center. Much better to have Val and Cleary both taking up top six minutes than Bertuzzi or Holmstrom. Same goes for Leino for that matter. Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Leino Bertuzzi-Helm-Williams Eaves-Draper-Holmstrom

Filppula is a lock for the 2nd line Center, he'll have Franzen on one side and one of either Williams, Bertuzzi, or Leino on his other side. Whoever gets slotted on Filppula's other wing could even the playing field, but I think Filppula's playmaking skills are superior to both and if he ever learns to shoot the puck, he'll be all that much more dangerous with his newly found ice time. Filppula should be a safe bet at 20-40-60 this season. I'd love to see the lines: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Leino Bertuzzi-Helm-Williams Holmstrom-Draper-Eaves Especially if Leino has worked, as reported, on his skating and his defense, both being his weak points.

Leino will have way more than 25 points. I don't think its a huge stretch to expect numbers similar to Hudler's last season, 20-25 goals, 50+ points. I'm also hoping that Z gets back on track after underachieving a bit last season, same with Filppula.

So.... is the exercise to pick the most domninant line combos, or the most irritating lines in hockey. Seems like you've done plenty more of the latter than the former, in which I would probably agree. But if it comes down more to a line you'd hate to play than a line you'd love to hate, thats a different thing entirely.

I like it!

Cheli's first act would be declaration of war against the Board of Governors. But he could work to make the league nervous and pave way for the comparatively milder Shanahan when he retires.

I hate what the NBA has become and I think the Lakers are damn near the worse, mostly because of Kobe. I don't understand the assumption that most Wings fans would be Lakers fans. Lets for the sake of argument assume that maybe 2/3 of Wings fans on this forum want nothing to do with the NBA. Now lets assume that of the remaining 1/3 maybe an optimistic 10% of those are Lakers fans. So now 1/30 of Wings fans on this forum are Lakers fans, I wonder what incredible fraction of those understand how Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers could be in any way, shape, or form comparable athletes. I don't think you're preaching to the choir here, and you may be the only one who's going to be drinking the Koolaid.

So... they both know how to win games... in team sports.... and they both score points.... but not the most points.... and one is a "look at me, i'm the best" loud mouth and the other is an under-appreciated team-first guy... I must be missing some obvious connection or something. Is this some 6 degree to Kevin Bacon crap or am I the only one who doesn't even close to understand the comparison??

ummmm..... what? Hockey players are NOTHING like basketball players, and you probably couldn't find more polar opposites than Kobe f***in' Bryant and Pavel Datsyuk. I can't even begin to understand where you are coming from here... seriously... This made my head hurt... going to go lay down now.... EDIT: Seriously, I'm actually honestly confused right now. Are you high? Are you seeing sounds and hearing colors? None of this makes sense. Its like English, but not...

Years Osgood lead the Wings to the Finals: '95, '98, '08, '09 Not in '97 or '02. The OP is confused. Also believes Ozzy has 4 Cup rings.

But not in '97 or '02...

Osgood has 3 Cup rings: '97, '98, '08. He won it himself in '98, wasn't around in '02, and didn't win the Cup last season, unfortunately. He is the best WINGS goalie in my mind, but definitely not the best playoff goaltender of our time.

Let's say for the sake of argument that somehow we could possibly make a series of moves over the next two seasons to bring in Kovalchuk, that isn't how professional sports works. No team makes two seasons worth of moves to change over multiple key roster spots for the hope of getting a single free-agent who could in the end simply say 'no'. So as much fun as it is to say "Player A waives NTC, we trade him for aging Player B. Sign Players C and D for way below asking price. Player E resigns for half-price and at the start of next season, everyones favorite Player F takes a discount to play here, championship won in droves, fanbase euphoria for the next decades" we'd save plenty of arguments if we kept everything within the immediate realm of possibility. That said: Our defense is superb as is. Stuart and Rafalski have NTC. End of story.

Except it'll never be Rafalski/Kovalchuk. I'm assuming that the only way this would ever work in a million years is if you're assuming all of Lidsrom's salary is gone after this season, in which case you're suggesting Rafalski+Lidstrom/Schneider+Kovalchuk. No sale. I would love Kovalchuk on the team as much as anyone, but the league's salary restrictions prevent a team like the Red Wings from having Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, and a Kovalchuk caliber player long-term and having any kind of success. You can't play with 4 all-stars and 16 AHLers and win consistently, thats why Hossa is gone. Right now the Wings are about where their going to be offensively for the next several years from the core, now its all about development of players like Filppula, Helm, Abdelkader, Leino, etc. from inside the organization and moving around depth forwards until we have the ideal group. If anything is just the way we are going to want it right now, its the defensive core of Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Stuart, Ericcson, Lilja. Its so well balanced and talented, and relatively cheap, its almost absurd!

I honestly have no idea why we would ever even want to trade him. The guy is extremely solid, especially as a pair with Kronwall come spring time.

Pretty much all I got out of it

I'm pretty sure with the Wings new signings, they are sitting right at the cap, if not over. Granted we could trade/demote some players, but its been a lot of BS and I think everyone is fine with the idea of Hudler playing overseas. I know its the IIHF, thats my point: The Wings keep his NHL rights and are OK with him leaving and have proceeded without him, Hudler can make more money and wants to play in Moscow. Literally the only thing that would force him to stay is the IIHF refusing transfer and drawing out the drama more, and they did. Just a bit baffling that they would pointlessly cause headaches for the KHL, Hudler, and now Wings management.

WTF? The Wings can't afford the salary numbers awarded during arbitration. He wants to go, the Wings are finally fine with him going, why cause more BS by blocking the transfer?

This. I recently rewatched the Wings-Blackhawks WCF series and it was a complete mismatch. Hossa, despite the broadcasters strenuous insistence that he was big factor, save Game 4, he wasn't. And Havlat was just as affective in the regular series as Hossa was. But the biggest thing thats going to keep the Blackhawks grounded: Cristobal Huet. The guy goes down early and is especially weak to the blocker-side, and everyone in the league knows it. Granted the Wings lost 3 solid contributors, but Zetterberg and Filppula had off-years in the goalscoring department and we have plugged some decent holes with the depth forwards we've picked up, while at the same time, putting no real pressure on them to contribute all of the 90 goals lost. Also, remember that the Wings last season were uncharacteristically putrid defensively, requiring them to score more. I think they know what to expect from a hangover now and will be hungrier out of the gate. My only concern with this team isn't its offensive capability or is defensive core, cause the Wings are still the envy of most of the league in those departments, its our backup goaltending situation in Howard. Not to mention that last season, almost every team in the Central made the playoffs, another year of development later, the Blackhawks will still have to deal with better teams in Columbus, St. Louis, and Nashville on top of the Red Wings. And being labeled as the team to beat in the West has never been an easy target to wear on your back.

I personally have hated Bertuzzi since the Moore incident and if he wasn't the premiere power forward in the league at the time, I truly believe he should have/would have been suspended indefinitely. I'm not going to come here and bash Bertuzzi's play when he was here previously because it is what it is and he really didn't have time to shine and he was coming off an injury. And for the money, you aren't going to find many/any .75 ppg players sitting around willing to take $1.5mil and a one-year deal. I'm definitely willing to give the guy a chance and hopefully he finds his game again in Detroit. Moneywise we have little invested and a lot of potential for return. Rosterwise, I really hope we don't force him into a top two-line position for a prolonged period of time if it doesn't fit. His style of play has never really matched the Wings, for better or worse, and I just hope we don't pull a Hossa and try to force chemistry if its not there. Great signing for the money, Kenny. Now lets see if we can turn Big Bert's game around.

Its going to be: 1) Pav 2) Hank 3) Williams With Franzen, Filppula and Bert being the extra shooters, in no particular order, probably changing as the season progresses. I think everyone is a bit too critical of Zetterberg's shootout prowess. The guy has a great shot on both fore and backhand and has a head/kick fake that freezes goalies dead, he just really, really needs to stop trying the Forsberg move everytime. That move needs a goalie to be pretty antsy in the crease and has to be a once-in-a-bluemoon move like Pavel's drag move, right now Hank goes for the Foppa trick probably every other shootout.

As far as I remember, I think the only time he could have been considered as bitching was when I think a Finnish news story rumored that he may option to return to Finland because he was playing in the AHL. I can't remember any solid quotes of complaint, and even if there existed a few, like you said, who wouldn't complain a little? Either way, the guy has shown a great amount of commitment to the team, willingness to work and we have him signed another year for pocket change. His play will pay huge dividends, considering Chicago is paying Kopecky more