up2here

Theres that blame Bettman mentality again. Bettman is a weasel but HE IS PAYED BY THE OWNERS! The owners run this league not Bettman.

I would say: 1. NFL Football 2. Baseball 3. College Football 4. NASCAR 5.NBA Basketball

I'm hearing a lot of Bettman bashing on here as usual, so once again I feel I have say this: I am not a Bettman fan but to blame him for thing like this is assinine. He is employed by the owners and does as they tell him to do. If you fire Bettman another puppet/mouthpiece will take his place.

Dont I remember this exact same thread about this same time last year about Hossa?

I could be wrong but I beleive Babcock coached Sykora in Anaheim. He should know if hes worth a flyer.

Your double negative confuses me.

I know he'll do a lot less yappin' for the next 6 weeks.

(Insert Doctor's Name Here) is lazy and he sucks.

Isnt Semyon Varlamov a rookie also? He got hurt but is having a fine season.

I've been on the fence on the enforcer debate for a very long time now. I tend to think that people who are actually IN hockey know more than I do or any other fan for that matter. Whenever this debate rages on here (About 2 or 3 times per minute) I notice that no one ever mention how poorly most tough guys actually play the game and how that affects the team. I watched the Minnesota game the other night and Boogard must have given the puck away at least 3 times in his 4 minutes of ice time and took a minor penalty causing his team to be short-handed. Not to mention that my 5 year old nephew could outskate him. I would love to have another Bob Probert or Darren McCarty but those guys are rare tough guys who can play a regular shift and maybe us Wings fans have been spoiled by them.

To me thats a very minor problem. There will be some rinks that cant expand to the larger surface but most will. When the NHL adopted the 200' X 85' rule there were actual NHL rinks that were smaller than the new size but it didnt stop them. I know the Boston Garden ice was noticeably smaller but I'm too lazy to look up the actual dimensions.

Once again we seem to agree (Kinda terrifying actually). Players are so much faster, bigger and stronger now, they need more space. The NFL is a good example of a league that has evolved its rules over the years to compensate for things (eg. kick-off lines). As far as calling this Bettmans league I always take exception to that. Not because I love Bettman (he actually acts and looks like a weasel to me) but because he is employed by the owners and does what the owners tell him to do. This is the owners league.

I would argue that calling Lebda a pylon sully's the good name of the pylon. A pylon cant give the puck away.

My team in NHL10. I win games 7-6 routinely.

LOL. We even had to steal Peter Nedved from the Czech Republic.

Actually Brett Lebda would have been a welcome addition to the teams prior to 98. Like I said before, nice try. [edit] 1994 Winter Olympics Head coach: Tom Renney Mark Astley Adrian Aucoin David Harlock Corey Hirsch Todd Hlushko Greg Johnson Fabian Joseph Paul Kariya Chris Kontos Manny Legacé Ken Lovsin Derek Mayer Petr Nedvěd Dwayne Norris Greg Parks Allain Roy Jean-Yves Roy Brian Savage Brad Schlegel Wally Schreiber Chris Therien Todd Warriner Brad Werenka

My hat's off to the Americans, they seemed to want it more. I thought that was a very poorly coached Canadian team.

I hate goalies so I cant put any on my list. In no particular order: 1. Eric Staal 2. Mike Richards 3. Marian Gaborik 4. Shea Weber 5. Ryan Getzlaf

Canada didnt play their 'A' game and still won, that doesnt bode well for the other teams in this tournament. This is a very fast USA team but theres just too much speed and talent on Canada. Interesting stat that they mentioned about Team USA. There are 10 states represented which is the most of all time. Maybe the southern expansion is working after all.

Thats a pipe dream. If the Jackets traded Filitov for Lebda and draft picks their entire front office would be canned. Filitov is one of the best prospects in all of hockey and the Wings do not have what it takes to acquire him.

Vaive was a great goal-scorer but apparently his people skills need some work. I saw him at a charity event in PEI just a few years ago and he was stand-offish and unfriendly then too. I do have a friendly celebrity story tho. I literally brushed arms with Steven King at a bookstore in New Hampshire a few years ago and then realized it was Steven King. I guess I was going through a bit of an honesty kick and told him that I thought his books had gone downhill a bit but that i was still a fan. We had a 20 minute conversation and he said he appreciated the honesty and signed a copy of 'Different Seasons'.

You just lost all credibility with this statement. This thread is dead to me now.

How can you possibly experience the "Joy Of Victory" without first experiencing the "Agony Of Defeat"? I know there are plenty of Wings fans in here ,like myself ,who remember the late 80's and early 90's or even the late 70's, early 80's when the "Agony Of Defeat" stayed with us for years. I say shame on anyone who bails on this team and go ahead and leave and become a Blackhawks fan. Oh and dont let the door hit you in the ****** on the way out.

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