Drake_Marcus

Four 1st round picks. That's way too much. Sure-- if Holland knew he'd be picking between 25-30 for the next four years that's peachy. But those could potentially include multiple lottery picks (as crazy as that sounds).

I'll say this much-- don't expect Weber to sign a 1 year contract with Nashville just to wait out his RFA period. Spector's said this is unlikely and I doubt Nashville is willing to risk losing him for nothing (if he refuses to sign a deal longer than 1 year it's almost assured that he'll leave when he's a UFA). This would be a great time for the Wings to try and put a package together for Weber. Something involving at least 1 blue-chip prospect, at least 1 non-garbage roster player and at least 2 draft picks would be a starting point. The type of deal would depend on what kind of contract Weber would be willing to sign with the Wings. If Rafalski retires you can expect the Weber to the Wings rumours to really heat up. Agreed. A replacement would definitely come via trade.

Fantastically easy question to answer: Holland. Yzerman has a TON of cups to win as a GM before he can dethrone Holland. (Stevie's career as a GM is looking damn fine right now, though)

Holy s*** Holy s***! Holy s***!!! Holland suddenly has a ton of money to work with and a top 3 defense spot wide open. This basically ties Lidstrom's hands in my opinion. He knows the team will be in a really bad spot if he leaves this season. This summer just got very, very interesting. I guess Rafi's knee is really messed up now. Anyone who thinks this isn't a blow to the Wings going forward is nuts (unless Holland finds a suitable replacement via trade or FA). Rafalski's offensive contribution should not be underestimated. Oh, and Kindl/Smith must both be laughing and rubbing their hands together right now. Actually the problem could also be his back... it's really been messed up since at least the 09 Finals.

I don't think you're blowing smoke because I can honestly say your team has at least 5 players I'd kill to get on the Wings: --Stewart (will only get better and power forwards don't exactly grow on trees) --Taransekco (I was hoping he'd somehow fall to the Wings last year... now I just wish he was with our org so he'd mesh with Dats) --Berglund (he's great and he's so damn young!) --Alex Pietrangelo (tons of talent and room to grow his game) --Backes (stud! imagine what he could do on Datsyuk's wing!)

For the Blues to take that next step and start making the playoffs they need one of their young guys to step up and become the kind of leader who scores that last second game-winning or tying goal. The kind of leader who wins that playoff deciding gaming through strength of will. If we're comparing them to a young team lead by young players I'd say Toews is the comparable. When the Hawks were missing the playoffs this year he was the player who drove them back into it. A bunch of young, talented guys isn't worth much if there isn't enough leadership in the room. Know what I mean? I'm not a big follower of the blues so I'll ask the OP: who's that guy in St. Louis?

With Mursak and Emmerton out of options I don't really see room for a forward signing. Depending on how Tatar does this summer and in camp you could add him to that list too (but I think the Wings will let his situation play out carefully so he isn't rushed to the NHL too early). A gritty depth signing might be in order if we can't keep Miller and Eaves, though. From what I've read Zenon Konopka is a fantastic character guy who teammates love to have around. How's his skating?

Imagine the outcry if a coach outright said refs make 'make up calls' to keep the number of penalties even instead of simply calling it like they see it. At least I'd hope there would be an outcry. Of course refs exercise discression BUT to outright admit they doctor the books to keep the balance sheets stable. Yikes.

Visnovski was tenth among the defensemen on team in short handed time on ice per game (26 sec/game). And he was first on among his team's D in turnovers with 45. That's actually a pretty respectable number. Chara had 62 turnovers this season (16th highest among defensemen in the league) while Weber had 51 (tied for 42nd). Nick only had 33 give-aways (tied for 110th). As far as short-handed time on ice per game goes... Nick had 2:40/game, Chara had 2:48/game and Weber had 2:06/game. The Norris is specifically worded such that voters are told to pick the "defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position". Given that Visnovski was his team's last choice for PK duty in a given game (10th among Ducks defensemen, only 26 seconds a game) I don't think he can rightly be given the trophy. It's the same situation as Mike Green's earlier nominations aside from the fact that Green's defensive play at that time was much worse than Vis' was this year. Duncan Keith and Drew Doughty would disagree.

Sorry Ducks Guy We've all been there. You should be proud of what the Ducks managed to do with the cards they were dealt. Hopefully your goalie situation stabilizes and I'm sure your young guns are only going to get better. So what does this series mean for the Wings? It looks highly unlikely the Red Wings will play before Thursday. 2 first round games scheduled Mon, 2 on Tues and 3 possible for Wed. Who will the Wings play? There are four possible outcomes left for this round: 1. Van/SJ advance: We play SJ 2. Van/LAK advance: We play Nashville 3. SJ/Chi advance: We play Nashville 4. LAK/Chi adv: We play Chicago

Oh really? I invite you to check out his point per game average is in the playoffs (superior to Crosby's and to that of the rest of his competition). Ovechkin's never been the problem with Washington. It's always been Mike Green's pathetic play under pressure. Looks like he's gotten past that this season and the Caps are over that hump now.

I'd actually like to see how Modano-Helm-Eaves would look but I can understand why Babs would be hesitant to break the 4th line up after their performance in the 1st round.

Really? In the regular season Detroit was second in the league in goals scored. SJ was 6th. In the playoffs we've had 4.5 goals per game (1st in the league, the next closest team has 3.6). SJ is 7th with 3.2 goals/game. Our PP has been 26.7% (5th) while SJ's is 10% (12th). I'll take Datsyuk, Zetterberg, (playoff)Franzen over Thornton, Marleau, Heatly any day of the week.

Johnson is talented and physically gifted but he's dumber than a bag of hammers. He doesn't have a head for the game. Very similar to Dion. Johnson doesn't have the hockey IQ to play in Detroit.

PETA are domestic terrorists. f*** them and their extremest bulls***. Firebombing research labs to advance your political agenda is terrorism pure and simple.

Needs an anti-bettman reference.

******* horses***. Bettman and the rest of the NHL "brain"trust won't squash a sacred tradition in this city. Please fellow fans-- don't let them do this to our beloved Wings.

I'd kindly oblige you. I have a home and an away Wings sweater. But there isn't a chance in hell you'd catch me without a winged wheel on my chest. Oh and I'd come with a pair of cephalopods strapped to my body as well.

Adam West. (^Win)

^ Not even remotely based on medical knowledge of the situation. ("hey! that dude's got a limp" isn't much of a diagnostic tool, fyi) Without access to MRI information, an interview or at least some physiological tests from a sports trainer it's ridiculous to conclude anything about Zetterberg's knee. I strongly doubt he'll play soon but the level of certainty people seem to be drawing from the observations of medical laymen* is crazy. *I assume the Hockey Night in Canada crew member who originally tweeted the left knee limp doesn't have a background in medicine or related anatomical training.

Honestly I can't stand the Lidstrom-Stuart pairing. Stuart plays so much PK time he just needs a bump down in even strength time. I like Stuart a lot more as our 2nd pairing rock than I do as our 1st pairing anchor.

It's clearly simulating poor coaching choices.

NO GOAL

I'm so tired of this beating around the bush bulls***. Just tell me he's out for the first round if it's likely he will be. If he comes back early GREAT, but I don't want to be looking at the news feed with baited breath every damn morning. This smacks of Datsyuk in the 09 finals all over again. Time for someone to play hero boys. Who's gonna step up?

Plus they predicted that the Bruins would win a 7 game series. A guy I know in Philly assured me that's impossible.