chrisdetroit

Glass is half empty huh? Lids has missed, let's see, a total of 1 game and 2 periods. The partial game he missed we lost by 1 goal and the full game he missed we lost in OT and it was the 2nd of a back to back with travel in between. To say we have been exposed without Lids at this point is ridiculous. As far as getting embarassed by teams that we should have beat, well that's another ridiculous statement. "Getting embarased" in my book means losing by more than 1 or 2 goals. We have lost 7 games in regulation. Toronto 3-2 San Jose 4-2 Montreal 3-1 Boston 4-1 Dallas 3-1 Nashville 3-2 Colorado 3-2 Of those 7 games, only 4 were by more than 1 goal San Jose, Montreal, Boston, Dallas. And of those 4 only the Dallas game was one that we definitely should have won. Montreal, San Jose and Boston are 3 of the best teams in the league so they were certainly not games that we "should have won" That leaves only Dallas that was by more than a 1 goal margin and guess what? The other goal was an empty net goal. So exactly which games are you refering to when you say that we have been embarassed by teams that we would normally beat?

Here's what I think will jumpstrat the Wings - A home and home series against Chicago who is currently only 4 points behind the Wings and have two games in hand. It will be just like the San Jose game. The Wings will be excited about these games and I expect very good performances on Tuesday and on New Years Day. This is exactly the right timing.

I think that he flunked math.

You're kidding right? Legace? Mr. playoff choke? ah...no thanks

30 seconds of my life that I'll never get back wasted on reading this garbage....why did I do it...

Well let's see. He has 31 points in 32 games and he is a +8. The difference is that the scoring is more distributed. This year the #1 line (DHH) has 27.7% of the team's points. Last year they (ZDH) had 33.0% and obviously he is not on the top line this year. This is exactly what the Wings brass was looking for, more depth in scoring. There is nothing wrong with Z, he does not appear to be dominant because the scoring is more spread out. We are #3 in GFA (Only 0.09 golas behind the #1 team) but we don't have any individual player in the top ten in either goals or points. This bodes well for the playoffs where as Pittsburgh learned last year, depth is critical.

These people actually believe this crap? Like we stole the cup from them? We pummeled them in the SCF. The first game was 4-0, the second game was 3-0. They beat us in the 3rd game by 1 goal. We beat them in the 4th game by 1 goal. They beat us in game 5 in triple OT and we beat them in game 6 by 1 goal. Final tally 4 games to 2. 16 goals to 10. Yes, they scored a lousy 10 goals in 6 games. 1.67 goals per game. And they think they had a chance? Come on. It's really funny that they think they are in the same class as us. Incidently thier record this year is 18-12-4 and they are in 4th place in their division. Stole the Cup from them? Pleeeeeeeeeease.

What the hell are you trying to say? English man, English!

Agreed, they are playing great but "Our Best Line"?... Not even close. The Datsyuk, Homer, Hossa line has been setting the world on fire. It's good to see our 3rd line doing well. Now for our 4th line..

Move those lines by 1/2 of 1 degree and what do you get?

My two cents. To do this correctly you would have draw this line perpendicular to the cross-bar. To do that you have to know the angle of the camera. Drawing a line on a still photograph taken from a camera that was at an angle to the cross-bar using photoshop is not very scientific. It is physics but we are missing some vital pieces of information required to make an aboslute conclusion. I don't know how anyone could look at this and say it either isn't or is a goal with any certainty.

I stand corrected. $8.6mil it is. It's a moot point though because it looks like Hank is going to sign for somewhere around the 7.45 that Lids make. This is excellent news. Plus we can stop with the Z or Hossa debate. Z it is. General manager Ken Holland recently met with Zetterberg's agent, Marc Levine, and the sides closed the gap. It will be a long-term deal for seven years or more and likely will be front-loaded so Zetterberg earns more money the first few seasons and less toward the end, keeping the salary-cap number manageable for the club. It remains to be seen whether it will average slightly less or more than Lidstrom's $7.45 million salary. Next we get to debate Hossa or Mule and Huds/Sammy/Kopy.

Sorry but I don't agree. I hate the Pens as much as anybody but you have to be objective. From the replays it was damn near impossible to tell if the stick was above the cross bar. Remember that the video was taken with the camera above the ice. There was a referee right in line with the stick and he clearly was looking directly at the puck as it was deflected. He called it a goal. Now it's possible that he blew the call but being that he was in perfect position and looking right at the play, it's unlikely that he missed the call. There were no replays shown on VS with an angle that indicated otherwise and certainly none that showed indisputable evidence. It's a good goal. You shouldn't be such a Homer.

Really? But they just gave a 38 year old Sundin $10mil. You don't think Kevin Lowe would offer Z $10mil to come to Edmonton? I would if I were him.

He probably wished he had retired on top instead of coming back to a team that will never be as good again as they were for that 1 year... The Ducks only have 4 guys with more than 20 points. And they just lost one of them for a month. As a comparison, the Wings have 8.

I don't think 8 points in 29 games is anything to get excited about...

After all this arguing, my bet is that Z signs for 8-8.25mil and that he could get 9-10 on the free market. My bet is that Vancouver or Edmonton would offer him that in a heartbeat. Neither have cap issues (remeber that Sundin only has a 1 year contract) and both have floated those kind of numbers to lesser players in the last 2 years. It doesn't matter to them as much if the cap drops 1-2 mil next year since they are not near the cap anyway.

The Sharks have benefitted from the NHL schedule makers for once with a season long road trip of only 5 games in mid-February while the SAP Open tennis tournament holds court at HP Pavilion. The Sharks have also reaped the rewards of other teams playing back-to-back games with Anaheim or Los Angeles before traveling to San Jose. As teams have had to consolidate travel days to squeeze west coast swings into the schedule, 6 teams will play Anaheim this season before traveling the next day for a game in San Jose and 3 will play the night before in Los Angeles. To date, opponents have a 4-5-1 record after playing back-to-back games in LA or Anaheim before traveling to HP Pavilion (3-1 against LA). Must be nice.

Even though the league’s board of governors meetings wrapped up Tuesday with confirmation that next year’s salary cap won’t move very much, it’s the potential for a major drop in 2010-‘11 that has some teams prepared to alter their course.

You are making an assumption that is just that - an assumption. The general concenses among the people that report on the NHL is that the salary cap will probably stay the same or increase slightly next year and may go down the following year. That said, the cap went up dramatically from last year to this year so you can't ignore this when comparing the salary of a franchise player whose contract was negotiated 2 years ago with a similar player whose contract will be negotaited this year. It just isn't a valid comparison. There is more cap money to spend this year and next year than there was when Ovechkin and Crosby and Datsyuk signed so it stands to reason that Z will get a fatter contract than Pavs.

Thank you. Finally somebody else understands.

Sundin just signed for $10 mil a year. Last year Edmonton offered Hossa $10mil a year. What makes you think that Z wouldn't command 9-10 mil a year on the open market? $8.25 is in fact a discount. Like it or not, that's the market. Simple economics

You are ignoring one very important part of this. Inflation. All of the guys mentioned signed before this year. Compare that to the one franchise player that signed this year - Sundin who went for 10mil. Any of those guys that you mention sign this year and it's gonna be for 9-10 mil

You're kidding right? Hossa or Z could easily get 9-10 mil on the open market. A 38 year old Sundin just got the equivalent of 10 mil. What makes you think that Z or Hossa in the prime of their careers couldn't get that much? We are talking about franchise players in the prime of their careerss.