Airborn

I saw that too and felt the same reaction.

This should be one of the most entertaining series to watch. I see a fast-pased, up and down series. Should be fun. I have no idea who'll win, but it's going to come down to goaltending. BTW, is Vokoun definitely starting in net - any idea?

It would be a mistake to seperate them, at least for this series, because Calgary's D doesn't match up all that well against them. Hamrlik and Phaneuf make up Calgary's top D-Line; while they're a great offensive tandem, they are prone to defensive lapses. They could go with Robin Regehr and Brad Stuart. Regehr is their shut down defender, but he's paired with Stuart who isn't exactly the 2nd coming of Nick Lidstrom (he was a -22 before the trade). Additionaly, Stuart is prone to taking bad penalties, which makes him a liability against two players as quick and creative as Zetterberg and Datsyuk. They could try to mix up the Defense to get a more solid pairing, but then you've got two guys without the chemistry that comes from playing with each other all year long. From the forward perpective, Calgary could try to match up with the Friesen, Yelle, and Nilson line (their best defensive line), but that's going to take ice time away from the Tanguay, Conroy, Iginla line. Either way, I think it actually makes life a little easier for Calgary by seperating them, because I don't see that they have a good answer right now to defend against them (other than Kipper, of course).

Thanks for the solid brief. Any thoughts on why your team has struggled so much on the road? I have a feeling this is going to be a key question in this series, since we're dealing with the top 2 home teams from the regular season.

PUDGE!!!! Unbelievable; 3 run homer in the 9th that wins it for us. Also, great job by the bullpen to keep the game close, and another quality start by Bonderman! Now if we could only get Inge to do something. He still doesn't have a hit on the season and he popped up with the bases loaded. Before Pudge's homer, we were 2-12 in the series with runners in scoring position.

Classy move by the orginization and fans to give him a standing ovation.

Two of the strongest home teams in the league. With that in mind, I expect both teams to keep serve and win their home games, or at most, lose one. So I see this series going 6 or 7 games.

Sometimes I wonder if you have basic reading comprehension skills. Who's hitting the panic button? I certainly don't disagree with signing Datsuk and Zetterberg. I was making the point that, as Zetterberg and Datsuk's salaries take up more of our cap room, we will need more good young players to fill out the roster. There is no guarantee the cap is going to keep going up, and even if it does players are going to demand more money. Realistically, Zetterberg should sign for more than Pavel (I think people are kidding themselves who don't believe this). The bottom line is, we are going to need to cut costs somewhere. Hence my point of having good young players developed to take over for less important veterans that we can no longer afford.

Yikes, another Sunday game! Hopefully the guys are awake for this one.

Realistically, Bertuzzi would never take that deal. He's got no reason to offer us a hometown discount, and he's surely going to get offered better deals than taht on the open market. I think Smyth hitting the market in the same year helps, but there are only so many true power forwards in the league, and they're not gonna come cheap (or without risk in some cases).

"Worth" is such a relative term. I'd agree the offense hasn't come yet, but I think that has more to do with his timing. He's basically been out the entire year, and he's playing his way into shape now. That's why I think the playoffs will be so telling.

They should come around. There's too much talent there not too.

I would think Zetterberg would have to make at least the salary Dats is getting, and probably more (inflation, better player). So, I'm guessing we'll need to throw in an extra 2 to 2.5 million. Still a valid point; it's nice planning, and should make dealing with Zetterberg's contract easier.

The playoffs should tell us everything we need to know. Personally, I've been very impressed. The guy hits like a freight train and has the hands of a much smaller skilled player. I think he's the perfect fit for this team, since he can play a puck possession style ,yet still make us a bgger, tougher team to play against. There are not many players around that fit that bill. Edit: Grammar

Agreed. We better keep developing prospects, because it's only going to get worse when Zetterberg's contract expires.

Nice summary. We're not in too bad of shape judging from this.

It's probably the hardest matchup they could have drawn. I'd honestly rather play San Jose. However, if the Wings prevail, it will make them that much better for have beaten a tough, battle-tested team: Similar to the 97 and 98 Cup runs where we had to go through those tough St.Louis teams early.

Agreed, I rest Lidstrom, Datsuk, Scheider, and Hasek for sure.

The Wings have earned themselves one of the toughest matchups in the 1st round for all their hard work. We should find out quite a bit about this team over the next couple of weeks.

Pretty sorry game tonight against the Royals. I never would have thought it possibe, but I think Ordonez's defense has gotten even worse over the Winter. Three more bad plays in the outfield (error in the 1st, misplayed foul ball in 4th, and poor throw negating a double play in the 7th). Leyland might want to rethink the whole "Sheffield as DH" idea if this continues. On the bright side, Verlander pitched well (6 innings, no earned runs). He was lucky the 5 walks didn't hurt him more, but he was virtually unhittable when he got it over.

I agree about no points for a loss. That would probably further infuriate the opposition group against shootouts, but who cares. I persoanlly favor a simple 2 points for a win and 0 for a loss. Also, I'm not a huge fan of shootouts, but I prefer them to a tie. What I'd really like to see is the adoption of a OT system similar to college football. After 5 minutes, give each time a PP. If they each score, go again. If neither score, go again. I'd try three rounds of this, before settling on a sudden-death shootout (home team goes first). It'll never happen, but it's more rational than a shootout, but still gives you a winner.

Looks like the topic was deleted, but 13dats stated the contract was for 7 years.

Agreed. Kulfan from Detroit News is closer to this situation and he's reporting 5 years. TSN sounds like they're guessing.

$6 million wouldn't consern me, but 7-years would.

Here's an update on Andrew Miller's 1st outing for Lakeland. He pitched 5 shutout innings, 3 strikeouts, no walks, and 3 hits. http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art.../704060396/1254