Kp-Wings

http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/hock...salavat_yulaev/ Thought I'd point this out, because it's interesting he's allowed to even do this. Tverdovsky cleared waivers last year after a bad season, but still has another year left on his contract with the LA Kings. It's an interesting situation, because apparently LA can suspend him and rid his salary, which I didn't think was possible. Scratch one of the bigger names off the 2008 UFA list, although Tverdovsky has been a lost cause in the NHL for a quite a few years now. I can't imagine anyone really wanted him. Regardless, I'm sure teams with a bad PP probably would have taken him, but that's not a choice now. His NHL career has pretty much come to an end.

The Devils placed him on the LTI (long-term injured list) last season. As far as I know, he's retired, since he hasn't played anywhere in over a year.

This is the kind of crap that makes me so mad. How is this a damn curse? He left on his own terms. The Wings didn't trade or. Or shove him off without offering a contract, so how is it a curse? Oh, but it's because he didn't get his 5-year contract! That's what I keep hearing. Yes, there is such a big difference between a 4-year and a 5-year contract. Wow, management sure f***ed up there! Why couldn't he have signed a 4-year contract? What is wrong with that? He would have been under contract until this summer still. I don't understand why everyone sides with Fedorov when he sits and says "It's either 5 years or nothing". It's just like with Bertuzzi. It's managments fault because they didn't give him 2 years? I swear, some NHL players are like pre-school babies. They are completely un-willing to negotiate anything, like Fedorov was. And it's so stupid to see people take his side, and then say the Wings are under a curse because he isn't here anymore. Well, that logic seems pretty flawed, since considering he left on his own, doesn't that kinda mean he didn't want to play here anymore? I can't wait until the day Fedorov retires, so this stupid talk would stop.

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=215641&hubname=nhl Well, I feel the majority of people here will be happy, becuase his name will no longer be mentioned to come here. I, for one, am not, because he would have been a perfect fit here. Nevertheless, it should be interesting to see him and Cam Janssen playing on the same team. Those two fight each other every chance they get.

He's a damn fool if he does. I think he'll stay in the NHL. He'll probably sign with some crappy fringe teamway below the Cap floor that is willing to pay his ridiculous salary demands. Probably Phoenix.

The only ones of note are Yashin and Tverdovsky, neither of which have had a meaningful season in the NHL in years. I can't think of any other big names that are leaving. Stan Chistov? Draft bust. Nikita Alexeev? Draft bust. Only other two I can remember right now. No way. Aucoin is a pylon. Sure, he has a good shot, but so does Mike Rathje, and you can't seriously say he's going to break grounds anytime soon. Tverdovsky couldn't keep up in the new NHL, not because he's a bad skater, but because of his weak defensive play. Before he could just clutch and grab guys down. Now, he can't do that, and is left in the dust.

Gotta save those exiting Columbus and St. Louis games for the season, you know.

5% back would probably buy me half a watered down beer, or a small bag of chips. Sad it is indeed. Things won't be changing anytime soon though, so we might as well get used to it. Oh, great. I don't see why he can't actually charge reasonable prices to go. If you still lived in Michigan, would you pay $200 for a single playoff ticket?

He's not broke. He doesn't need to charge $200 for 1 playoff ticket. Besides, he'd actually get more money if he made the tickets affordable, and had more sellouts, rather then charge ridiculous amounts for only a half-full arena. For some reason, he's just's being a stubborn idiot and staying set in his ways of highway robbery. I could understand if this was the years of pre-lockout NHL and Detroit Red Wings hockey, where Holland and Illitch would pay a banks worth of money to build a team. Then, Illitch could get away with charging those prices, so he get's the money back that he's losing in high players salaries. But it's not that way anymore. The Wings payroll is no higher then teams that are just as successful, yet do actually charge reasonable prices for tickets.

...and that's the problem. You know, as a businessman, Illitch should be aware of the fact that the Wings, up until this year, have been major underachievers or "flops" in the playoffs the past few years. The smart, ethical, business friendly solution would be to lower the ticket prices becuase the fans will not want to come because they are afraid of more shellshockers, like 2006 against Edmonton, or 2003 against Anaheim. The other big thing he did to piss all over the fans these playoffs was the giant markups he did every round. You know, how the hell are you going to get people to go watch a game when you have to spend over $500 just to go for one night? That's ridiculous. And then, just when I thought he couldn't be anymore of a cheap ass old bag, he keeps the prices the same this year, after it was said millions of times in the media that the reason the fans weren't going is because the tickets cost too much money. Ugh. I have no hope he will ever change things. He's a cheapskate. The only reason he isn't comparable on the same level as some other owners in the league is the Wings recent success.

Ok, so fluke is a strong word. But you figure the whole "year letdown" thing, and it's pretty disappointing considering what we did the year before. I don't know, it just bothers me. With the talent this team has, there shouldn't be these kinds of glaring problems that there currently is. It's just frustrating. As a fan, I want the team to be successful. I don't really want to "settle" for something less. ...and while the Yankees might not seem like a overly huge threat, I'm worried. They do this kind of thing every year. They suck in the beginning, George Steinbrenner rants to the meida, they make a trade or two, and then out of nowhere make the playoffs. It happens every year, so I have reason to believe it could happen again this year, if history is any indication. Maybe I am overeacting. Todays game was a good one, so hopefully it's a sign of things to come. Well, of course it's better then what was going on in the 90's. But still, considering the talent level this team currently has, they shouldn't be losing games to crappy teams like Tampa and Oakland. But yeah, I will say this year is much better then what was going on during the 90's, and was going great up until this recent stretch. I just hope it's just that: a bad stretch.

I got the same e-mail. I already turned it down in 2005, due to the sport just coming off a lockout, and general expenses. I plan on turning it down again, because I see no reason to spend that kind of money at this point in time. Illitch is such a dick. I hate what he's doing to the fans by charging so much money to go see. I guess this is the price we pay for having the Wings be a successful team, because God forbid an owner actually has a team successful and fan friendly at the same time. Sigh... things probably won't be changing anytime in the near future either.

He used to be very physical. I don't know why he hasn't been in recent years. Something tells me it's the coaching staff in Atlanta. Why do I say that? Take a look at Shane Hnidy and Eric Boulton. They both used to hit and fight people all the time, like Sutton did in his days in Minnesota. Now, both of them have gone soft also. I really think the coaching staff in Atlanta is the reason why these players aren't physical anymore. I thought about it, and figured Sutton coming here might get his physical game back. But then again, that's a very debateable question.

Markov is not physical. For God sakes, what are you watching? Just because he laid one big hit out the entire season all of a sudden makes him physical? I don't get this logic at all. The only reason people think Markov is physical is that he the most physical player we've had in forever. But still, that doesn't make him physical. Just because he's more physical then our current defense doesn't make him any of that, becuase our current defense is pretty weak physically by nature. He is not worth 3.5 million. What are you basing his worth off of? ...and for the record, I wouldn't have payed Sutton 3 million either. He was overpayed, yes. But I'd still rather have him over Markov.

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It would be nice if Gary Bettman realized this, and focused on getting the Blackhawks ownership to field a decent team instead of spending time on the current state of the Nashville Predators, who nobody gives a two s***s about outside of Nashville (and even there it's pretty scarce). Bettman should make Wirtz either field a decent team, or sell. He's ruining every aspect of that organization from top to bottom. The Chicago sports media doesn't even acknowledge the teams existance anymore.

Please explain.

Gack... I don't know what to say anymore. It's beginning to look more and more like the Tigers run last year was nothing but a fluke. Sorry to sound so negative, but come on. The bullpen is just ridculous right now, and is in total shambles. Since St. Louis is already a guerenteed miss of the playoffs, if the Tigers miss also, both World Series teams last year will have missed the playoffs. Just like in the NHL with Carolina and Edmonton. Sigh... you know, a few weeks ago, I wasn't worried. Despite the bullpen bulls*** that's going on right now, we were still winning games. Combine that with the fact that the Yankees were way out of it at that point, and there really was no cause for concern. Now, we're losing games left and right, the bullpen looks like a bunch little leaguers out there, and the Yankees keep storming up the standings for the Wildcard spot. This is looking really bad at this point.

Fedorov, in his prime, was the best European forward in the NHL ever. Yes, ever. Forsberg, Jagr, Kurri, Bure, none of them could match the all around game he possessed. After that, I'd go down the list of Forsberg, Kurri, Bure, then Jagr. Jagr has had great seasons under his belt, but his so bad defensivily then he cannot be compared in the same league as the others. Forsberg, Kurri, and even Bure all had a 10 times better defensive game then Jagr. Plus, at various times in their careers, they all scored just as much or even more points than Jagr, and none of them came with the pompus attitude that Jagr has. Just shows that Jagr is not the best European forward, and he's barely even a top 5 candidate. As for top 5 all time European players, I'd rate as follows: 1. Lidstrom 2. Fedorov 3. Hasek 4. Forsberg and Bure tied 5. Kurri

Yeah, so Sutton didn't fight a lot this year. Look at his fight card in years past. You think the Sutton talk is ridiculous? Well, I happen to think the Markov talk is ridiculous. Why? Because he played with Lidstrom almost the whole season. Lidstrom could make Maxim Kuznetsov look like a good defenseman. Besides that, I have watched Sutton, and while he hasn't fought as much, he still hits more than Markov. Markov was a total puss in the Anaheim series. I don't know why Markov is looked at like he's some spectacular defenseman. And before you turn this around on me saying "Well, why do you think Andy Sutton is so good?", I have admit before that Sutton does have his problems. But I still feel he'd be much more valuable to this team, because he's actually physical. Our only physical defenseman currently is Kronwall, and he breaks something every time he lays out a decent hit. The other thing I don't understand about Markov is he is so loved because he "plays it safe". You know, we have so many defenseman on the current Wings team that play the exact same way, and are better, so what is the point of bringing back, especially for his ridiculous salary demands? Like I said: under no circumstance do I want Markov back, unless he takes at or below what he made last season. Signing him would just delay the prospects development, and since he brings no special attributes to the table, he's not worth signing.

I'm aware of how bad the division is, but when has that actually made a difference? I mean, the division is bad every year. It's not like the Lions have a whole lot of competition here, so I guess anything is possible, but if history is any indication of how things usually go, this year will be the same. At best, I expect the Lions to go 5-11.

I'm astounded by the strange sequence of horrible management moves that team makes. First, they aquire the biggest underachiever in hockey with Sergei Samsonov. His near 3 million salary really screws them of making any decent roster moves, barring they are actually in the playoff hunt come trade deadline time (they most likely won't though). Then, they sign Lang to a 4 million a year contract. Robert Lang of all people! The same Robert Lang that was constantly criticized here for his laziness and underachieving. The same Robert Lang that was being benched in the playoffs. They actually signed him for more money then he made here. That's absolutely ridiculous. Now, they trade away their 2nd leading scorer, Radim Vrbata, for Kevyn Adams, who only had 12 points last year. They trade a 41 point player for a 12 point player. Now, nothing against Adams because he's actually a very good defensive forward, but it's ridiculous to see them trade away one of their top offensive player for just that. They could have gotten something else in return, if they were smart (which I guess would be asking too much, since the biggest idiot and cheapskate the world has ever seen is the owner). Sigh... I really wish the 'Hawks would turn it around, so we'd have an actual Original 6 rival again, and a decent one in the division. And no, I don't consider Nashville a decent rivalry either.

You're kidding right? You actually think the Lions will compete for the division this year?

Man alive. I can't believe the amount of people brainwashed by Holland. What's the point of having guys like Hudler, Kopecky, or Samulesson on the 4th line when they don't do anything? Why not have someone like Asham or Janssen play that role and at least make the game exiting? ...and please, I don't want to here the old, famous LGW cliche "You don't think a Datsyuk deke is exiting?????!!!!!11", because that's the lamest comeback I've ever seen, and is nowhere close to the level of a good scrap. Also, I'm curious to know how you think Hudler, Kopecky, and Samulesson are more exiting players then Asham or Janssen. Please tell me. Kopecky and Samulesson are not even NHL calibre players, especially Kopecky. He's a useless as Josh Langfeld. What the hell has this world come to when a guy is 6'3, and yet, doesn't play an ounce of a physical game at all? Same applys for Samulesson. Inexpensive goalscorer? Yeah, so was Jason Williams, and everyone hated him too. You're not taking into account that while Samulesson may be a 20 goal scorer (just like Williams), he's so useless in every other catagory of the game. As for Hudler, I think he's just as useless, and is not needed on this team. Is that what we really need, is another small center? Besides that, he would be totally useless in a playoff series against someone like Anaheim. So why exactly should we keep him on the roster, and not have a fighter? Ugh, I swear. Holland has most of you guys all brainwashed. Either that, or you didn't become a Wings fan until 2005, and aren't used to seeing physical hockey.