Drake_Marcus

You could always put Helm on the 4th line and give him lots of time on the 2nd PK to account for the missing minutes. How does this look: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi Cleary-Williams-Leino Helm-Draper-Eaves Maltby PP: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Rafalski Franzen-Filppula/Leino-Cleary Kronwall-Williams/Ericsson PK: Datsyuk-Filppula Lidstrom-Ericsson Zetterberg-Cleary/Helm Kronwall-Stuart (assuming Babs wants to keep them together, otherwise switch Stuart and Big Rig) I'm not sure how keen I am on using Williams at centre given the fact that he's not as defensively strong as you'd expect from a

Reminds me of how we all felt this year when it looked like the Pens would miss the playoffs. *sigh*

Yet another reason why I wanted Floppa to join the Wings back when he was a UFA a few years ago and talked of coming back to the league. Turns out he wasn't terribly effective against us in Colorado, but then again, everyone on the ice looked like an amateur compared to Franzen during that series. I still can't get over just how dominant Franzen gets during the early rounds of the playoffs. I wish he stayed that hot through the last two rounds (not that he goes "cold" in the third and fourth rounds, just that he loses his ability to score seemingly at will). Anyone else here think there's a good chance we'll see a Franzen McFarlane action figure coming out sometime in the next few years? Here's hoping

Yeah, remember how nice that felt?

The whole point of it is this: The last NHL game played was a 2-1 victory for the Pens (I remember well because it was followed by excessive alcohol conusmption on my part). As it stands, based solely on the NHL games played recently you can pretty confidently say the Cup winners should be #1 and the runners-up should be #2 on any pre-season rankings. It's not about what's likely to happen 8 months from now, it's about the proof that's in the pudding right now.

Not unless they miss the playoffs. (hey, a man can dream, can't he? )

Just a quick update: Hockey Canada just sent a tweet with the link to their official unveiling of the jersey. http://www.hockeycanada.ca/index.php/ci_id/65447/la_id/1.htm [url=http://breakaway.hockeycanada.ca/productList/1038174/1000345]http://breakaway.hockeycanada.ca/productList/1038174/1000345[/url Only $135 for the jerseys... I'll have to pick one up when they get them in at the mall. EDIT: The $135 price is for the replica Don't get your hopes up-- the official is $400.

Sad, isn't it?

I have to agree with you. The Pens don't need Crosby's hands to get banged up fighting. That's not why they're paying the kid nearly 9 million a season. Leave the fighting to 3rd and 4th liners. It is pretty disappointing that a guy like Stuart isn't a fighter, though.

Ahhh GST? I think you forget how bad our penalty kill was last year. Although I suppose killing off that many PIMS (they can't all be fighting majors, can they?) would've helped tune the kill for the playoffs.

I forgot how epically they failed this year. Hey, at least when then lose in the second round this year people will consider it an improvement.

Good point-- they don't even have a full roster and they're up against the cap

Oh yeah, good point.

I lol'ed. Traditionally one puts the Cup winners at #1 and the Cup losers at #2, but why not throw a 2nd round loser in there instead. Honestly, how do hockey writers manage to put any faith in the 2nd round Sharks?

Your wish is Hockey USA's command! http://twitpic.com/e8qbi That camera phone shot comes from the Icethetics twitter account.

Ok, I'll give you that.

So much bitterness and resentment.

Bah.

I doubt it. The Wings don't like pushing their prospects into the big show too soon. Larsson's a great young goalie, but he's still got a few seasons in the AHL before he'll be asked to carry more than a handful of NHL games a season. However, if he has a crazy camp/preseason and dominates in the NHL when given a call-up all bets are off (of course). Holland is the type of guy who would rather take a veteran over a rookie 9 times out of 10, so I doubt he'd bring Larsson up full time to replace a failed Howard (baring a surprise dominance scenario like the one outlined above).

Stamkos came into the league weak as a kitten. I was under the impression that Tavares was physically ready to play in the NHL.

If Howard doesn't work out by the time the trade deadline approaches I imagine he'd go after a veteran back-up. Certainly not CuJo, since he's got almost nothing left in the tank, but someone.

I should add that I'm not only considering giveaways when I say that Markov isn't a great defensive player. I learned a lesson about using one stat to justify defensive ability when the Selke nominations were released. Penguins fans on TSN bitched that Malkin got snubbed because he was the league leader in takeaways. Of course none of them seemed to notice how highly he ranked in giveaways.

I'm just saying-- when you lead the entire league in giveaways it's hard to make the argument that you're even average defensively. He may have taken quite a few pucks away, but he still gave the most away in the NHL. You're right that that isn't the only significant defensive stat, but you can't say it isn't an important stat. Giveaways are definitely a bad, bad thing to be accused of. This guy was the master of giving the puck away last year. I'm not saying he's the worst defensive player in the league, but I do think he's below average defensively, especially compared to other #1 d-men. So in summary, while your giveaway/takeaway ratio isn't the only measure of defensive proficiency, it's certainly not something you can ignore when talking about defensive skill.

Well said.

Randy Cameron (who the Wings declined to sign this year, making him eligible to enter the draft again or sign with another team) is expected to get an invite. The Wings are big fans of inviting kids who didn't get drafted or have been released by their original drafting teams. Nill calls them "bonus picks". I expect we'll see a few bonus picks at the camp this year.