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We are going to have to hear the announcers talking about Hossa all night tonight and it always annoys me that thePens fans hate Hossa. Here is some more links to back up what we are saying: From wikipdeia: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mari%C3%A1n_Hossa) Right wikipedia is user editable so is lying, so from their source. Some group named TSN: (http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=242261&lid=headline&lpos=topStory_main) Pittsburgh was offering less then the other teams, this tells me they either could not afford to keep him or really did not want him. The fans liked the guy but the organization wanted depth over Hossa and I think they made a good decision (got them back to the big game right). Hossa choose Detroit (and lower salary) over the Oilers and a much higher payday. The Pens did not bid high enough for Hossa to be too concerned.

Pssst he was in court that day far from where Ringo died.

I think you failed to read what you wrote. He did not make any assumptions about the Pens or knowing more then anyone else. He pointed out that the Pens lost several good prospects (and a couple good players) to get a guy for 4 months and that would be hard. There is no assumption there, yet you attack him for one. You may read but comprehension is a whole different world for you.

Franzen does take the odd dive. We know it, admit it and get very mad at him when he does it. We would prefer if he would stay out of the scrums because he may be big but he does not know how to fight. No one wants to see Hossa "rubbing it in to Pens fans". We want our team to win just like you want for yours. If the Wings win I hope Hossa (and the rest) keep professional and do nothing stupid. I also hope the Pens fans do the same. Last years game 6 loss would be hard yet I saw many classy Pens fans clapping and cheering for the cup, the Pens, AND the Wings. Good on them.

He never said anything about the Pens organization.

Wow just wow. If Hossa were to enter tomorrow nights game and through a cheep shot on any Pens players (causing an injury) then I would most certainly hate the guy. I would be the first to sign a petition to send to Babcock to not play him in game 7 and send him away from the proud organization that is the Red Wings. He can do wrong, but he did not do wrong last year. Not being concerned with logic makes accepting when you are wrong difficult. Ask any politician.

Since it was you who made the claim that no amount of logic could sway your thoughts I guess this is a futile attempt to speak to an empty space and expect a response. I must be insane because despite this knowledge I am still talking. My crack about your message board thing is a shot at all Pens fans who claim to have never had knowledge about Hossa wanting to play for Detroit. If you watched TSNs' trade deadline coverage they spoke about Hossa possibly moving to Detroit. In the off season there were many articles written about the connection between Hossa and the Wings (Tomas). Why can you not admit that everyone involved knew that Hossa wanted to play in Detroit? You did not know, but you mean nothing in the decision process. The GM's, agents, and everyone knew. This invalidates your argument that Hossa cost them a chance to make other trades. They did not make other trades because they had no one to trade. The Pens lost several UFA's last July 1st and were left with only the ability to sign new players. But they have cap issues caused by having 2 superstar young players tied up long term. It is hard to do and yet they are in the finals again, you should be happy. Hossa was forced to go to the Pens, while there he discovered that it is a good organization with good respectable fans and he had a great time. Once he was permitted to negotiate with the Wings (July 1st) there was very little in the media about him talking with the Pens. I do not know what happens behind closed doors (as you like to point out), but if the media does not talk about it then there was likely not much. I am sure he enjoyed the respect and experience of playing for the Pens and getting so close to the cup. Why would you feel he was lying when he spoke highly of your organization? There is nothing that has happened to make me think he would hate the Pens... explain why you think he lied. By assuming he lied when he said the Pens are a good organization you are then suggesting that you think the Pens are not a good organization. See how ignoring logic can backfire. He loved playing for the Pens, but he wanted to play with Tomas his friend. If you had a choice to return to a team full of guys you knew for 4 months or to a team where your closest friend plays which would you choose. Tomas had been bragging about the wings to Hossa for years, he did not hate on the Pens he showed some love to the Wings. The Pens offered less money then the Oilers. I do not recall exactly what it was, but it was lower. The Pens had salary cap issues and could not offer what the Oilers were putting on the table. He left the big money in Edmonton. That is when he made that statement and that has nothing to do with the Pens. If he did not sign in Detroit he would have signed in Edmonton for big money. He would be making lots of cash right now and still not playing for the Pens. He was going to leave, sure no one know for certain where but the money was on the table and he turned it down to choose Detroit. Even a die hard Pens fan must admit that the Wings were a better choice then the Oilers this year. Decency is how I would describe Hossa. He spoke about how great the Pens are/were to play for and then looked around for offers when his time there was finished. His contract expired July 1st with nothing tying him to Pittsburgh. He then looked at offers from many teams and accepted one with the Wings, the team he had longed to play for. In the end the Pens could not pay what the Oilers offered, and the Wings had Hossa's friend and a tradition of the most successful franchise of the last 15 years to pull him over. He did not knock the Pens, get over it!

Dude shut-up!! The Pens fan won the argument when he pointed out that not all Pens fans are lacking class. You then went on to prove that there are Wings fans who lack class. Thanks for making us all look bad, now shut-up, and go crawl under a rock. Or are you just Trolling for responses, if so touche!

Anyone who would want to lose the game tomorrow night has not been introduced to the Hockey Gods. If you piss them off their vengeance is swift and painful. We lose tomorrow night due to the team throwing the game and we can expect to have a lot of tears in the Joe in game 7 as Cid carries the cup around the rink. I want a home cup as much as anyone, but I do not want a home loss that much more.

All teams have classless fans. I watched a game in the Duck Pond in January of this year surrounded by Wings fans. We all happened to be in one section. There was an old couple sitting behind us with Ducks Jersey's on. The husband was explaining to his wife the rules of the game as she would ask questions. The whole time there was a jerk wings fan making fun of her for not knowing the rules. Well excuse me mr original six teenager. You may be too young to remember the Dead Wings era but I do. I remember that Hockey was not always enjoyed by fans in California and it is great that people are there trying to learn. Shut up and enjoy your team and the game. Don't piss on other fans. So my point is that 90% of any fan base is great, it is the 10% A-holes who make every one look bad. We have them, the pens have them, we all have them. Don't be surprised people.

I did not and would never apologize for anything Hossa did. You should not be debating an isue if you state that logical arguments with numbers would never sway you. I am sorry I did not put "lol" around my grains of salt statement. I was having some fun. The fact remains that unless Pens management is stupid, they knew Hossa wanted to play in Detroit. Heck Detroit media knew he wanted to play in Detroit, everyone knew except for Pens fans it seems. I will say that we can agree Pens management is not stupid, they must be smart to make the correct moves that got them to the finals 2 years in a row. There is no way that they did not know that Hossa wanted to leave for Detroit. Whether Hossa told them (I would put money on this), or they knew from the trade deadline negotiations when Detroit and Hossa talked at length (TSN spoke about it, if they knew then the Pens GM knew). Somewhere along the way the Pens management knew he wanted to play in Detroit, they would have been planning for the deadline with the assumption that he may leave and looking at this season, they did alright. Suck it up and get over the loss of a rental. Hossa never said "The Penguins organization suck", or "The Penguins organization is worse then the Wings". He was speaking about an Oilers offer for $10 million that he had turned down when he said that he choose Detroit over the Oilers because they have a better chance at the cup. I am not defending the guy, these are the facts. If you did not know he was leaving the Pens before the deadline then you must not be reading hockey journalists. Just reading the Pens forums does not count as a source of news.

Read my post (#44) for an explanation of free agent rules in the NHL. Hossa did nothing to prevent the Pens from signing other players. Also when Hossa spoke of signing with Detroit because he had a better chance to win the cup he was speaking in relation to Edmonton. The Oilers offered him $70 million for 7 years ($10 million per season) to play for them. Hossa then was asked about it and that is where that much over used statement comes from. Hossa signed with Detroit over Edmonton because he felt the Wings organization had a better chance (then Edmonton) of winning a cup. Hossa was right, the Oilers organization is in a heavy rebuilding stage right now.

I feel the need to inform you of a couple of things. 1. NHL rules restrict any teams from talking to potential free agents until their current contracts expire. A team can request permission from the current contract holder for special permission (usually give up a draft pick for this chance) but that is the rule. This means that Hossa not signing before July 1st meant nothing to the Pens. They could not talk to anyone until July 1st so the delay cost them nothing. 2. What someone says to media and the truth is always different. "He has an upper body injury", "I will not change my lines", have you never seen a press conference? Coaches, players and everyone uses the media to get a message out, hide a truth, or misguide the other team. Anything for the edge. In this case Hossa likely wanted to return to Berg but was hoping for a chance to join his friend in Detroit. It is not selfish to want to skate with a good friend. I promise you (without any proof, so grains of salt are all over) Hossa told the Pens management long before July 1st that he was thinking about leaving. Pens Management knew that Hossa wanted to play on Detroit during the trade deadline when he tried to get traded there. The Pens were aware of his desire to skate with Tomas. You have seen the good trades the Pens management has made, they are not stupid. The knew full well they were not likely to get him back. They play it up in themedia to keep people from being mad, but come one give them some credit. Hossa is not Judas, he did not send anyone to be killed. He simply exercised his right as a veteran player to play hockey for the same team as his friend, and learn what it takes to win the Cup from an organization that has done it.

I readn an article (back when Hos just signed with the Wings) that credited Kopecky with the signing. Tomas works out with Hossa in the off season (countrymen) and told Hos about how great the wings organization is. How wonderful it is to play here, the commitment to the players and to winning. Hossa cited that as one of the reasons he wanted to become a red wing. He has a friend here who he wanted to skate with. No one faulted scott niedermayer for signing with the ducks so he could win a cup with his brother. I just don't understand why Pens fans are mad that a rental left. We lost big bert, kyle calder, an others and we have a team that contends each year (just like Berg right now) yet we could not keep some players. (We may not have wanted them but still) Hossa went to the wings because he wanted to skate with his friend, he wanted to learn the championship skills from an experienced team and he likely wanted to escape therrien!

Steve Yzerman was called Stevie Wonder during his high scoring days. Later on the name was used but not as frequently. This was a popular name. Marc-Andre is called Flower by bloggers. I do not know if teammates use it. Lidstrom has always been called "Mr. Perfect" and "St. Niklas". Not sure how you missed that Never heard of the one for Z before. I could see Berg making sense (nicknames are supposed to be shorter not two words)

Best fan run sports forums on the interweb of tubes! Thanks guys!

LOL!!!

This is an excellent post and exactly the same thing I was thinking. Great explanation!

Wow did I miss the boat on this thread. I took the title to mean that Babcock is going to coach the Canadian Olympic team at the 2010 Winter Olympics next year. Took me a long time to even realize that Montreal has a hockey team let alone one called the Canadians. Have they done anything in the last 16 years? lol I really thought it meant the Olympics and that is likely the only Canadian's that Babcock will be coaching. Yzerman knows winners and he knows Babcock. Time for team Canada to get whipped into shape by the coach.

I have been a fan of Osgood's for a long time. I still remember his tears in the locker room after the Wings lost out of the playoff's (mid 90's) and how hard that was on him. He was able to learn and grow from that experience and I am biased enough to say that his career should put him in the Hall of fame, retire his number in Detroit and any other accolades that can be bestowed upon him. He gets no credit and that is exactly how Detroit and Osgood like it. If he was getting all the credit then the Wings would be relying upon him too much, and the stress/pressure would be out of control. As fans we are stressed enough this time of the year, imagine having to rely on one man as our defensive weapon. Teams that rely on their goalie as their primary defensive weapon crack sooner or later (Statue of Liberty). Wings fans are hard on their goalies, take the magnifying glass away and point it elsewhere seems to work wonders. (Although we always remember and point fingers but we do that with everyone) So I thought I would run the statistics to see how our goalie is performing in these playoffs. Since no statistic seems to provide any exact analysis of a goalie's capabilities I thought I would defy the norm and create my own. I looked at the amount of minutes in net for the final 4 goalies between goals, and thus the number of goals scored per min. Ward, Fleury, and even Khabibulin are getting all the praise so they should do well in this statistic. Player Mins in net per goal Goals Scored per Min Salary (million) Cam Ward: 22min/goal 0.044goals/min $2.667 Marc-Andre Fleury: 22min/goal 0.045goals/min $5.00 Nikolai Khabibulin: 20min/goal 0.049goals/min $6.75 Chris Osgood: 28min/goal 0.036goals/min $1.417 As shown above Ward and Fleury are playing at about the same level so far. However Ward makes a much more reasonable salary and has winning experience. Khabibulin and Fleury are significantly overpaid (more so for Nikolai) and both should be ashamed of their performances so far. Osgood is not only the lowest paid (clearly took a Hockeytown discount) but he is also the best goalie remaining in the playoffs. If you only give up one goal every 28 mins in the playoffs, the other team is on average only scoring 2 goals per game. That gives the high flying Wings offense a legitimate shot at winning every game. Knowing these statistics, which of the remaining goalies would you say has been elite in these playoffs? Which one would you want to have as the last line of defense?

A full game is 60 mins, he is giving up a goal every 28 minutes. So 60/28 gives a 2.14 goals against average per game. This is the same as his actual goals against average of 2.14, as found on NHL.com. The method of breaking down the number of minutes between goals is another representation of that statistic. I just find it interesting to visualize that a goal is scored on Osgood only once every 28 minutes compared to every 20 or 22 minutes like the remaining "elite" goalies in the playoffs.

That was one of those occurances that I do not remember seeing before. I laughed hard at that little craziness. Who pulls out the mouth guard, a mule that's who! lol

Lame call, should have been a call against 25 for the hawks when he was tossing sammy, no pick just interference. Happened during the screm in the corner. Stress levels rising!

Well last year Joel is coaching Colorado and we win in 4 games, few years back the same thing happened when he cached St. Louis. I think we have his number. Unless Scotty has shown him the tricks to beat us we may have history strongly on our side.

Come on you are dragging down the spirit of the commercial by putting that crap in here. Save that for the next time we come up against them in the playoffs.