Kp-Wings

Velvet Revolver - She Builds Quick Machines

Undefeated pre-season! Is this the year? I'm listening to the post-game show with Pat Caputo, and he made a great point on comments from a caller. Most people feel that the Lions will still suck with Millen and WCF in the helm, but they are not actually hitting the field and playing. They really shouldn't be influencing the players that much from the owner's box. If they are really a decent enough team this year, they should win some games anyways, and at least contend. I think this team is good enough to at least match last seasons record, maybe even a win or two more, but as Jim Mora would say: playoffs? PLAYOFFS? No, it won't happen. I still question Marenelli as a coach, and I never was drinking the Kitna kool-aid at any point last year, and I'm still not now. At the very least, we have a pretty easy schedule to start off with. Atlanta and SF blows, and the jury's still out heavily on Aaron Rodgers in Green Bay. Wow, it would be so nice to actually beat the Packers for once.

If he really wanted to come back to the NHL, I'm sure some bottom feeder team would take a chance on him, using some oft-overused statement like "veteran leadership!" or "playoff experience!", even though most of those phrases usually apply to dinosaurs that are far past contributing anything. His best choice is the KHL; their taking applications from former NHL players in floods, and I'm sure in their mind that, they feel, it'd help their reputation as a league to sign a HOF bound goaltender from the NHL.

Even if Chelios isn't re-signed, Ericsson still wouldn't be on the team this season, unless he seriously outperforms all of Lilja, Lebda, Quincey, and Meech.

Come on, give us some 4th line hints! Tell me Downey is on the team, and not Kopecky.

Boynton sucked in Phoenix, and hasn't done anything productive since the 2003-2004 season. The Coyotes tried to get rid of him a couple of times last season.

eh, nevermind

If you have the Center Ice package, along with the regional sports package (every FSN market) you'll be able to watch the games on FSND. If you don't have the Center Ice package, but do have the regional sports package, then you can still watch FSND, but not during Wings broadcasts, because of blackout rules.

Montreal won't sign Sundin. In fact, nobody will. He's doing the same thing now that he did during last year's trade deadline - leading everyone on a wild goose chase with his world changing decision, which he again can't make up his mind about. Whenever he was asked about the possible trade last season, he never had a straight answer until the bitter end; which ended up involving him staying in Toronto for the last half of the season, basically screwing them out of a possible king's ransom they could have gotten from all the teams that were interested in him, even as only a rental. He'll probably end up waiting until the last possible moment, again, in which he'll then decide to retire. This time, he'll be screwing other teams (like say Vancouver) that didn't persue other free agents because they thought they were going to get him. It amazes me how ridiculous he's being with this decision; he's turning down pretty much every offer in the book; whether it's big money, or a chance to win a Cup. I can't understand why he's leading everyone on like this. He must love the media attention or something.

That's completely unrelated. sirdrake was the ultimate Chris Chelios fan. Don't you remember?

Was he also responsible for the failure of the California Golden Seals?

I'm really surprised to see all the media outlets riding Montreal's coattails. They shown last year in full form that a run-and-gun offense, especially with an inexperienced goalie, is not a forumla for playoff success. Not that I really think Cristobal Huet is all that great, but he was probably a safer bet over a first-year rookie with no previous NHL experience. That organization is still stuck in the day's of Patrick Roy and Ken Dryden, since that's probably what their aim was when they threw Price into the fire.

That didn't stop our old friend Slava Kozlov from re-signing, did it?

Great! If he fights me, then I'll actually get to witness one of his legendary fights that only come around about once or twice a year.

Renovating the Joe is not in the best interest of anyone. I mean, how far can they go with? How are they going to improve the seating quality so you actually have *gasp* legroom? How would you make the concourse bigger so everyone's not running into each other? Where would you put more bathrooms to reduce the 20 minute waiting times just to get up to the door? The Wings need a new arena. I like certain things about the Joe, mainly that I can buy the cheapseats and still see the game, since the sightlines are great, but there are too many other problems with it. When you look at some of these new arena's (like NJ's Prudential Center, and Pittsburgh's future new arena), and compare them to the Joe, it's such a downgrade. The arena could also attribute to the much ballyhooed attendance problem that we so often here about. I mean, when you look at it, the Joe is not exactly a comfortable place to be. The seats are have legroom and are too close together, and the bathrooms are an absolute joke. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are places in Detroit (mainly Foxtown) that an arena would be better suited for. It'd be closer to everything, and it'd be NEW. Joe Louis is too old, and has too many problems. It's time for a new arena.

What's to stop Chris Chelios from demanding a trade to Chicago himself? ...heh, I couldn't resist. It's been a while since we've had a "what's to stop Chris Chelios" joke on here, so I thought it was time to bring it up again. Man, I miss sirdrake...

I had no idea Lilja read ESPN.com...

As per TSN: Maybe I'm missing something, but I always thought he was a pretty good player. I can't understand why three teams in the past two seasons have kicked him to the curb so quickly.

Fixed

...and we are now one step closer to pushing either Lebda or Lilja out the door. Yay! You know, I'm one of the big advocates for the young players to get ice time (mainly Quincey or Ericsson), but I don't have a problem with Chelios sticking around. As a spare defenseman, he brings a good deal of depth to the lineup for a price that you'll rarely find in today's overpriced NHL. I just hope what we seen from him during the playoffs was an injury, and not just old age catching up. He was great in the '07 playoffs, but this year he struggled. We'll see what happens I guess.

I stand by what I said. Being able to skate fast is not that great of an asset if you can't do anything else. Ex: Konstantin Koltsov, Martin Samuelsson, etc. We have other better players (Quincey, Ericsson, Meech, etc.) that will be, or are already, NHL ready. It's time to give them a shot. Since I know Holland will never cut the cord with Chelios unless Chelios leaves on his own, it'll have to be one of either Lebda or Lilja, and it makes a lot more sense to get rid of Lebda.

Lebda brings nothing to the team that virtually any other player we have in the minors can't already do. He was only here in the first place to fill a spot because Quincey and Meech weren't NHL ready at that point in time (and because Andy Delmore sucked so much that he couldn't be given the job). At the very absolute least with Lilja (God knows I hate him, but in this one bleak moment I will defend him) he has size, and blocks shots. Can you say the same thing about Lebda? Lebda should go. He is the easiest to replace out of the whole group, especially when you consider Meech is almost a carbon copy, minus the speed.

nevermind

Great to have him back!

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Hossa - Franzen - Filppula Cleary - Draper - Samuelsson Maltby - Hudler - Downey Lidstrom - Rafalski Kronwall - Stuart Quincey - Meech/Chelios That 4th line is really unappealing, but now with Hossa here, there's nowhere else to put Hudler, unless you switch him out with Samuelsson on the 3rd line.