chrisdetroit

What the hell are you talking about? Shanny score 40 goals and was a +29 the last year he was here. You should do your homework before you post. And no I don't want him back. He IS a shell of his former self NOW.

3 years for a 38 year old guy that couldn't even decided if he wanted to play until the season was half gone? No thanks. Plus where the hell are we gonna get the money?

They also lost their 4th line grinder typr in Kopy. Who is going to fill that void? Helm? I'd rather see him on the 3rd line. Greir is the perfect fit for Kopy's spot. Leino and Helm and 1 other guy have to pick up the goals.

I guess that depends on your definition. Certainly Big Rig is big and physical. Lilja's big but not so physical. Then there is (was) Kopy who was big and somewhat physical. It's not only that Grier is big and physical. He is gritty and give 100%. You could say the same about Cleary. Now I'm not saying the Grier is as good as Cleary, but they play the same style and that's why I like him.

I remeber watching Mike Grier in the playoffs for the Sharks in 07 and again in 08 and thought to myself, "Self, who is that guy? He's the only one on the Sharks that seems to be playing like he gives a damn". A big YES to Mike Grier and as far as the salary, he made 1.75 last year. I would bet that he would take 1.0-1.5 to get a chance to play for the Wings.

You should do your homework before you post. Gratton and Grier are the same age but you are worried about Grier being to old. Gratton scored ZERO goals in 24 games last year and was a minus 1. How exactly does that fit in with the Wings? And how does his zero goals make up for Hudler's 20? Todd Bertuzzi? We tried that once. Fortunately Kenny doesn't just big the biggest and "toughest" players like you suggested...

I think that you should give them the assignement to estimate the probability of the following event happening at the same time: 1. The Pens having no significant injuries to their top 5 players. 2. The Wings having significant injuries to 5 of their top players. 3. The Pens winning game 7 on the road against Washington 4. The Pens winning game 7 on the road against the Wngs. 5. The #1 team in the east losing in game 7 at home in OT. 6. The league scheduling back-to-back games in the finals. 7. The league not enforcing their instigator rule. Now of course with probabilities you then multiply each one together. The conclusion is obvious, the Pens won the lottery not the Cup.

So let's summarize: 1. They lost their #1 goal scorer to free agency. 2. His replacement is out with surgery for 4 months 3. They lost their staring goaltender to free-agency 4. They fired their GM and replaced him with a guy that has never been a GM before 5. They are in Salary Cap Hell next year and may lose one of their big three. 6. They overpaid for Cambell and are now stuck with him for 12 years. 7. They fired their coach last year and replaced him with Joel Quenville who in his illustrious career is only .500 in the playoffs. 8. They got their asses handed to them in the WCF last year by their biggest rivals. 9. They were embarassed on national tv last new years by their biggect rivals. Boy, it must suck to be a Hawks fan.......... What's next?

Unbelieveable. He is not the best player in the league but he is going to be paid higher than Datsyuk Zetterburg Crosby Malkin Luongo Broduer Ovechkin

Detroit has a higher road attendance %, Chicago's is higher at home. Overall they are 1 and 2 in the league. Overall, their isn't alot of difference. 1.59 million people saw the Wings and 1.63 saw the Hawks. Attendace Stats

I think the Wngs fans are alot more hockey-savy than the Pens fans. I still can't believe the uproar from Pens fans last year when 1. They lost in the finals 2. Hossa left. This year we experienced both of those things and had a completly different reaction. 1. Well it sucks to lose in the finals but we gave it our all and if not for the injuries, the ridiculous schedule, Boston losing in game 7 to Carolina, and the Pens having no significant injuries, we would have won. We didn't get the breaks but we will next year. 2. Hossa was a 1 year experiment that didn't work out. He didn't help us as we hoped and Kenny was smart enough to make sure that we were only on the hook for 1 year. After the 2008 SCF, Hossa was a very sought after commodity. After the 2009 SCF, not so much. He's gone. Oh well, at least Kenny signed Franzen and Z for life.

I really am not upset with Hossa leaving. He didn't show up when we needed him most. That was my biggest fear. He's had 1 good playoff year in his career and that was when he was playing with Syd. I was concerned about that when we got him. Now he's gone. Oh well, good luck, the 1 year trial didn't work out. Time to move on. As far as Chicago, they are not going far with Huet in goal Quenville behind the bench. Now to top it off they have an inexperienced GM. Sucks to be them. So much young talent but no leadership on or off the ice.....

I get tears whenever anybody on these forums mentions signing Forsberg. The guy hasn't been able to play more than 20 games in a season since 2006 when he played only 40. The last time he played more than 60 games in a season? 2002. Let it go people. The Peter Forsberg of 2002 has lef the building....

You can't trade him before the ruling. What team would want a guy that obviously doesn't want to be here? Then again if the Wings win the arbitration, they should trade him but again, who would want him. Can the Wings withdraw their offer and thereby let him go?

this crap again

The 3 "extra" games are against Washington, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. A little variety would be nice, last year it was Atlanta, Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Who decided this? I want to see Toronto, Montreal and Boston....

I wasn't buying into the Ozzie HOF debate until this year's playoffs. There's no doubt that if he had won his 4th cup and 3rd as a starter and the Conn Smyth that was all within his grasp, he would be headed to the HOF. After I thought about it, it was stolen from him. If not for all the fortunate breaks that the Pens had got, the Wings would have hoisted the Cup, Ozzie would have gotten the Conn Smyth and IMO would have been a lock on the HOF. A few bad breaks though should be the deciding factor, so I think Ozzie gets his 4th ring in 2009-2010 and that cements the HOF. That said, if Ozzie is in the HOF, there is no way in hell that his jersey doesn't hang from the rafters. sorry, I digress...

What are you talking about? You only get 1 time out per game. The Pens only have a couple of guys that are veterans so they had no choice. And the Wings were all over the Pens at the end of game 7. They only hung on due to a couple of fortunate bounces/breaks. Ericsson was playing instead of Cheli wasn't he. And Helm was playing too and they are both rookies.

huh? how many games did Cheli play in the playoffs? Did you watch?

They both signed a "no poaching" agreement a year or so ago and this violates it.

There is no way the NHL is going to let him go. It would set a bad example. The KHL then would be free to raid the NHL of RFA's every year. Think of how many RFA's there are each year. It would be disasterous. Like it or not, Huds isn't going to the KHL.

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. Pavs played 3 games in the finals and Malkin had ZERO points in those 3 games. Explain then how we had no answer for Malkin's line, despite Pav and Hossa being great defenders. We lost becuase of injuries to Pavs, Lids, Rafalski, and Cleary. Plain and simple. Mac or Downey would not have made any difference.

People are forgetting that we could still TRADE a D-man for a forward (Lebda or Meech). We don't have to sign an UFA.

Mike Grier

Maltby is not paid to score goals. He's played 13 years with the Wings and has only scored more than 10 goals 4 times the last time being in 2003. The real issue is that his defensive play which is what he is paid for has declined. The last 4 years he has been -9, -9, -8, -9. The 4 years before that he was +16, +15, +17, +24.