Kp-Wings

I never really hated the guy, but he is weird. I'll leave it at that... Hanta Yo Baby!

ZZ Top - La Grange

Why are you pissing all over Wilson for making a depth signing? It's not like he came out and said "Yeah, we expect Sandis to lead our team in ice-time, points, and... well, everything else". Good for Ozolinsh. Hopefully for his sake he can get it together.

I remember seeing articles on McCarty about how he "disappeared", since nobody heard from him for so long. Those we're mostly just rumored, though. The last report on him was about 3 weeks ago. He is apparently training alone in Calgary, waiting for contract offers from any team that would want him.

Really too bad what happend to Fischer. He was one of the only guys that brought toughness on the blueline, and that element has since been lost for a long time now. I would love to see him back, and it would be a great feel-good story if he did, but at the same time I want him to retire. It's just too risky for him, and it would be awful if something happened to him again. It would be best for him just to be with his family, and help out the Wings from off the ice.

What? I don't see any empty seats... *removes rosy-colored glasses* I could get into a whole thing about, but I've stated it already enough times. Between the economy, Illitch laundering our money away with expensive tickets, parking, beer, concessions, souvenirs, the Wings terrible PR and marketing staff, the success of the Tigers, and whatever else, is the reason this team doesn't sell out games anymore. It's a simple truth. I don't know why it has to be talked about anymore, because I believe the problem has been discussed enough. End of cue. I think for the sake of things, the slogan should be removed. Just to shake off the negative media attention that follows because of it. That's my opinion anyways.

Usually that only happens on home games for the losing teams. Rarely do you see a visiting team get a player selected in the 3 stars on a road game, unless they were a 1-man show out there. Great game tonight by the Wings. I can't believe Osgood is a perfect 7-0-0. Nice to see the donut holes in the losses catagory, and if he keeps this up, could easily dethrone Hasek as the starter.

Various reports say various things. The most I've heard is he wants a 1-year contract of around 4.5 million or more a season. I have seen the multi-year deal thing thrown out there, but it's really hard to believe anything anymore when it involves Forsberg. He's been rumored to be going to just about every NHL team now. The Wings would never do anything like that, as far as free agents are concerned. The salary cap. When it was still around 44 million or whatever, the Av's didn't have the space to re-sign him. Philly did, because they cut guys like Roenick and Recchi loose.

Hence the whole "we'd never have him anyways" line. I actually think Babcock would play him. He seems to be Babcock's type of player. Then again, so is Aaron Downey, and he's only in the lineup if the team is in a state of grim death with injuries.

He's an idiot for doing so. In my opinion anyways, since Shelley isn't really a detriment in any ways, and he's easily their toughest player. I would love a guy like Shelley on the Wings. But, you know, no sense thinking of ridiculous things like that. We'll have Luongo before we have someone like Shelley.

Ah, I see. But that Tomas Kopecky, he sure brings plenty of that.

Win Boogaard. King did good early on, but Boogaard dominated the 2nd half of the fight clearly. I like Ivanans a lot personally. He's a mildly skilled player so he'll be able to keep a roster spot, and he had some good fights last year against guys like Boogaard and Parros. I don't know why Holland didn't sign him. He is a European, after all.

Ugh... hopefully this week is better than last week. Stop with these brutal upsets already... it's almost become impossible to predict an NHL game, because there's another upset everytime you turn around. Luckily there isn't money involved in this, or I'd be way down in the hole! Oh well. Here goes nothing... Friday: Toronto @ New Jersey Philadelphia @ Washington Florida @ Buffalo Phoenix @ Dallas Nashville @ Edmonton Los Angeles @ San Jose Saturday: Toronto @ Montreal Boston @ Ottawa Pittsburgh @ NY Islanders New Jersey @ NY Rangers Florida @ Carolina Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Calgary @ Minnesota Chicago @ St Louis Anaheim @ Phoenix Vancouver @ Colorado San Jose @ Los Angeles Sunday: St Louis @ Columbus Nashville @ Chicago Ottawa @ Boston

Hossa blows. He's looked downright terrible this season. The only guy I'd even consider on Atlanta is Kovalchuk, because he's the only one who plays anymore. That team has some major problems. Their scorers don't score, their fighters don't fight, their goalies don't stop the puck. They've gone from Divison winners in argueably the weakest division in the league to basement dwellers in one season.

Welcome back sirdrake. You are truely a LGW legend.

Fights! Make it happen guys! Columbus shouldn't be in any harms way. Shelley plays pretty much every game anyways (which is great that they keep an enforcer in the lineup full-time, something that the Wings should do), and guys like Boll and Tollefsen can hold their own just fine.

I noticed you just added Downey to the lineup... do you know for sure that he's playing?

Fantastic job Matt. This month's schedule sucks. 9 games against Central Division. Ugh, I hate the Central so much. I can't believe the game I'm most looking forward to this month is Tampa Bay. Oh well. Not really much to look forward to this year at all in that regard. We don't play the Northeast or Atlantic at home, so it's a wash in that catagory.

Luongo to Detroit: e5

Fire Bettman night would be about as successful as Fire Millen day at a Lions game (well, every game is already that anyways in a way). Oooh! Conspiracy theories! In the case of Carolina and Anaheim, both teams we're much better than their opponents. Edmonton did take Carolina to 7 games, but really didn't deserve to be there. Heck, look at where they finished last year. They weren't even good enough to begin with. As for Ottawa: although they did roll over and die completely, Anaheim was still the undisputed better team. It's hard to believe that now, considering how bad Anaheim is this season. If, say, Selanne and Neidermayer did stick around, and Pronger was not named captain (Pronger's captaincy in St. Louis proved he isn't capable of being one), you'd see the same Anaheim team that we saw last season. Dallas was an obvious mulligan by somebody, and whether or not that was planned from the start (that is totally screwing Buffalo when it mattered most) remains to be seen. Dallas might still have won, since that happened in a Game 6 I believe. But, given the circumstances, someone's error mark did lead to a Sunbelt team winning over a northern team. Again, whether that was planned or not to screw Buffalo in some way still remains to be seen. Tampa and Calgary was an even matched series. It was more or less Calgary's fault they lost, because they blew a 3-2 series lead going into Game 6. You can make a case for the league conspiring against northern markets, but then again, not every southern team has beat a northern team. Detroit beat Carolina, Colorado beat Florida, Montreal beat LA, and so on and so fourth.

I've come to the conclusion that playing in a market where the fans actually care about the team was too much for guys like Williams and Lang, which is why their doing so well in Chicago. It mystifies me to see how bad Sergei Samsonov is doing, though. I thought he'd do great in a no-pressure market like Chicago. His career has really gone in the toilet since signing with Montreal.

What's to stop Chris Chelios from retiring his number himself? And while we're on the subject of LGW cliche jokes, I think Mark Mowers will have his retired league wide. He's a HOF'er that leaves Gretzky in the dust.

Nice Pain Train text. You know, against Calgary, the Wings would be really smart to play someone like Downey. He'll be good to have if someone like Regehr or Captain Visor takes a run at Z. Plus, I want more fights.

Blue Oyster Cult - (Don't Fear) The Reaper

Forsberg is not a low-risk gamble, because he is seeking over 4.5 million annually on a 1-year contract. That is simpily too much money to give someone who you'll be lucky to get 30 games out of. ...and if you don't believe me, his agent has publicly stated that's what he's seeking many times. Couldn't agree more. Holland would have been well advised to not sit on his hands over the summer, and instead go out and sign somebody (or trade). Obviously it's easier said than done, but I really can't stand the whole "let the kids play" thing sometimes. If these are sure-fire prospects, like what Pittsburgh and Anaheim have got, that's one thing, but the guys we've got aren't nearly around that level of talent.