Drake_Marcus

As Lilja proved many times, it's not about whether you win or lose a fight in a Wings sweater, it's about voluntarily fighting. We're happy enough seeing some stand up for themselves, a win is a bonus. (remember when Ericsson wrecked Perry? )

Agreed. Not all players should bulk up quickly. Remember when Zetterberg and Datsyuk did that one summer only to shed it through the year and get better as they did? I think it was the 06-07 season?

No where near Hudler's skill. People here seem not to understand how skilled Hudler is. He put 57 points up in the NHL as a 25 year old midget based 100% on skill. He was a scoring monster in the AHL. We don't really have another prospect in the system that's shown that level of skill on the professional level.

He used to on the Wings at least. It's not like he racked up 20 fights a season.

It's not related, but I love the picture.

Actually, the Wings offered him 3 million a year for 5 years. That was the last offer on the table before he signed with the KHL. And the problem with cap space isn't actually a problem since Holland clearly anticipated the possibility that Hudler would sign the offered contract.

Don't even both trying I've posted at least 4 times the exact moves necessary to free up 3 million for Hudler (before the debacle with the KHL) and people like Iceprincess(sp?) still refused to believe it because it wasn't on capgeek. The Wings can easily free up 3 million in cap space by simply signing a low cap hit player (lower than Abdelkader) for the 12th spot, keeping Meech as the spare part and trading or releasing Lilja. Of course that's one of a few different ways to do it.

No need to pull the punches, eh?

Speaking of Ferraro, apparently at camp he was a rediculously good skater. He was one of the three guys that lead all the skating drills. And he also had some of the best hands in the whole group, which is especially good for a first year.

We'll see this season. Regardless, we know he loves to play physical, so fighting is just a bonus. It's more important that he enjoys laying the body on people.

Not sure yet. He hasn't ruled it out though.

I agree with you there. I'm just saying that Ryno is approaching the point of no return as a prospect... he'll need a new deal next year (for the 10-11 season), so this is their last chance to call him up to the NHL before re-signing him.

Would you put him in the "picks his spots fighter" category with guys like Shanny in his prime and Pronger? That's where I'd put Abs, not based on comparing his talent to those two Superstars, but based on the fact that he's a productive hockey player who's not afraid to drop the gloves a few times a year.

Which is why Holland will probably sign a veteran grinder free agent and let Abs get 20 mins a night in Grand Rapids. His development will be much better served playing a season of 20 min games than a season of 6-8 min games.

Yeah, from what I've read getting along with Bowman as a coach is like pinecone sodomy.

He had a great rookie season last year. The Wings are expecting(hoping) his offensive numbers to jump this year.

Big fan of turn-overs?

Because he was impressive at training camp(s) and in GR before he ran home. Also he's big, capable and closing in on the magical make or break time in a prospect's life so the Wings will want to get a good look at him.

At least Hossa isn't injured half the time. Seriously though, I hope Havlat manages to stay healthy, he's a really talented player.

Actually I think it's more about responding to the fans that are sending him messages on Twitter complaining that he left. If you get enough of those messages I'm sure you want to make statements like that just to clearly get across how you feel about the situation.

Post of the day.

Ok. So the year is 2005 and the Blackhawks are the laughing stock of the league. They forget what the playoffs feel like and are struggling to get asses in the seats. Chicago could care less about the team. That summer Dale Tallon is promoted to the GM position. The next season the team does horrible and gets themselves the 3rd overall pick. Dale and his team choose Jonathan Toews and manage to make some other good choices. Next season the team is still weak as hell and tanks, ending up with a 1st overall selection in the '07 draft. Tallon and his team choose some kid names Kane. September rolls along and the team's idiotic owner passes away. Now the door is open to finally get the team on TV again. Cool. Kane and Toews have amazing rookie seasons- Tallon looks pretty smart. The rest of the team's young talent starts to filter up through the minors and looks very promising. The people in Chicago start buying tickets to Hawks games again. Things are looking up. In the off-season Tallon adds some more talent to the team and makes some moves. The next season the Hawks make it all the way to the Conference finals. All their games are sell-outs now. Under Tallon's eye the Hawks have gone from the league's laughing stock to a legitimate contender in only 4 seasons. I'm not saying he's a genius, but the description above doesn't make him sound like a bad GM. From what I've read the bad offer sheets weren't his doing. He's not perfect, but given how far the Hawks have come since he took over this is an undeserved shot in the nuts for him.

Nice job rewarding Tallon for all the good he's done for the Hawks. I guess this is what you get when you bring a team from last to the conference finals in Chicago? lollerskates.

I completely agree. And I'm sure Kenny can find that type of guy.

That's true, but like another poster mentioned- Lidstrom and Schneider are both lefties and they were pretty potent together on the PP. Yes it's nice to have a left-right pairing on both PPs, but it's certainly not a huge disadvantage to have two lefties. They just need to practice together quite a bit.