hockey&beer

I'm all for Mrazek. The Monster story, year in and year out, of, "he's a slow starter" and his wonky groin have worn thin with me. Bring up Petr, split games 40-60 and let him get some work under his belt. If he doesn't get some NHL work he's going to eventually leave free-agent and we get nothing for him

The part that bothers me the most is that if the net had not been dislodged, the player would not have been in position to score the goal. But it is what it is

Is it just me or shouldn't a professional that has played the game for +20 years (in a lot of cases) be somewhat aware of what type of stretching/conditioning their body requires to minimize injuries? I know when I played a number of different sports over the years I required certain regimines to perform my best and I figured those out after a few practices. That being said, I think that The Wings are very cautious when any groin issue arises. If anybody recalls, back not too long ago, a groin strain would have a player out 2 weeks, bare minimum. Now, although inconvienent, the team takes them out at the slightest tweak and they (not always) are headed back to the lineup within a couple weeks.

Would not have guessed this, but congrats Jimmy

I noticed the same thing. I have a sneaky suspicion that there will be a few Wings that suit up in a Leaf sweater for the second game. Last I heard, the second game's roster for the Wing's will be Cup winners and Hall inductees, leaving a handful of guys (if they are up to it) to skate for TO.

He does provide the team with a guaranteed offsides call every other time he steps on the ice (I was going to end that comment with a smiley or an "lol", but it's just too darn aggrevating)

Great re-sign! Like mentioned previously, now to lock up Gus

Personally, I think these two moves were briliant. Bringing in Alfie finally gives us a 2nd PP unit that is a legitimate scoring threat. That was the main issue with the PP last season, other teams could throw their shutdown PK unit at our first PP and there was a slim chance the 2nd would produce anything. And Weiss is a better center than Fil in every category. He's coming from a team with glaring short comings and produced, Fil was only a threat when he was paired with Datsyuk. On top of that, Weiss is FAR better at faceoffs.

He may be worth $5m, that's true. But he is already getting paid 2m from the buyout. He is in NO WAY worth $7m. The only reason Detroit even talked with him was because they thought he would take a discount due to his buyout money.

$5m/5yr is too much. He isn't the player he was and his leadership isn't needed in the locker room.

Bonehead move on Letang's part. The only way he is going to get anything more than that is from a bottom feeder that is willing to pry open their wallet. Secondly, how in the world could Shero even offer that much? He does realize that he needs more players on the team than a goalie, 2 centers and a defenseman, right?

I all reality, the spin-o-rama is, technically, already illegal in shootouts. The shooter is required maintain forward momentum, clearly that cannot happen. Just sayin'

Just my 2 cents: Part of the necessity for a new barn is the lack of high dollar corporate suites. The new arena will have mid-level boxes (think The Palace) that will pull those "visting suits" away from ice level. Also, with proper luxury boxes and club level the bulk of the increase in ticket prices will be absorbed by the big wigs. As far as decreased capacity goes, that's also a function of the mid-level boxes. To keep capacity at 20k fans would be a long distance from the ice.

If I recall, one reason the NHLPA rejected the proposal was that they were not given ample time to research the travel aspect of the realignment. If that is the case, then there is ZERO chance this will fly.

The biggest issue with the revenue sharing isn't exactly the percentage. THe issue that players have is that the definition of "hockey related revenue" changes drastically. Even if the profit was split 50/50, with the owners new definiton of HRR, the players would be taking a MUCH larger hit than the perceived 7%. Bettman and Co. have been doing a great job trying to appeal to the fans by "giving back" some percentage points from the initial offer, but the fact is still that it is from a smaller piece of the revenue pie.

WIthout a doubt Vladdy. He was an absolute BEAST. Plus/minus of +185, nobody scored when he was on the ice. http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid%5B%5D=2780

That... is... PRICELESS!

Just a little something to keep in mind, this is one of the first off seasons that the Wings have a sizeable chunk of cap room. Also, Nashville has a rather tough choice to make here. There is almost no way they will be able to re-sign Suter and Weber(next year). Both would have to take the old "hometown discount" to remain Preds.

The way I see it, he shouldn't have even come out and said anything. The league should have told him he couldn't go. He's suspended, that's what that means. If he hadn't declined to go and the league allowed him to participate, I would be screaming BS with the suspensions of Pavs and Nick. Maybe, just maybe, someone asked Ovie to backout so the league wouldn't have to take a stand and tell one of it's most exciting players to stay home.

I'm all for more teams north of the border but, although numbers don't lie, they sure can tell a fib. The average Canadian NHL arena holds 19000 rowdy fans. This is not taking "The 'Peg" into account since I'm unable to find current stats. The remaining 24 barns hold an average of 18375 puck heads. (If you do move Atlanta north the numbers only change slightly, 18429 Canada and 18368 US). The fun part comes in when you look at average price per ticket. All 6 Canadian teams are above the league mid-point. The NHL average as of last season is $54.25USD where the 6 teams north of the border average $76.49USD. That comes in at about 42% more per seat. Also keep in mind that league average seating capacity is 18500, 4 of 6 Canadian teams come in well above that with Montreal tops at 21273. Just saying. References http://www.fancostexperience.com/pages/fcx/fci_pdfs/4.pdf http://www2.canada.com/topics/sports/hockey/oilersstory.html?id=c349931c-a5c2-4734-8bec-18a41138aaeb&k=98487t

http://panthers.nhl.com/club/roster.htm I haven't really been paying attention to the Panthers, then again who does, but secretly they have seem to put together a half way decent roster. Yes, 'tending is questionable, but their overall lineup isn't that horrible. In the weak-a$$ southeast can they make a push and see the playoffs? Possibly even win a round or two?!?

THe only way a new areana behind the Fox would HELP the parking situation and not hurt it, is if they build a lot that can handle 10,000 vehicles. If you do some quick math that number is pretty much impossible to reach with the land that is available.

The big drawback to a new areana in that the sightlines and overall proximity to the ice will be lost. It's guaranteed that the luxury boxes will be in between the upper and lower bowls which will move the upper bowl seats up 20ft. A new areana will more than likely be the "norm" for new areanas: very little character, the fans are moved away from the playing surface, and it takes forever to get out of the building. Not to mention the rumors seem to still be swirling that it will end up behing the Fox. WHich, as mentioned before, will be HELL to park. Especially if you consider it is entirely possible to have Wings, Lions and Tigers all playing, not to mention other happenings at the Fox, Second City, and Fillmore.

I'd take Hitchcock. I wonder if Bob "The Boogieman" Boughner stepped down in Columbus to be defense coach here since we are a lot closer to Windsor?!?

I don't recall who said it last night in the pre-game but, "either team could have won any of the games". These two are so evenly matched that there isn't anything the Wings could specifically change to alter the out come of the games. When all is said and done, the only real difference was SJ was better than Detroit on special teams. Their PP converted and won them games 1-3 and, obviously, w/o their PP goal and shutting the Wings down on their opportunities, game 7 would have ended differently.