chrisdetroit

Wrong. Playing on the 2nd line vs the 3rd means that you get more ice time. That means that the better player both offensively and defensively gets the 2nd line ice time. Babs is not going to put give more minutes to a guy just because he has more play making ability. The better overall player will get the higher ice time. Hudler and Flip are relatively the same offensively - Huds might be better by a small amount but Flip is much better defensively that's why he should get more ice time.

57 points in his last 62 games. Pretty creative way to look at it. 2008 26 in 21 2007 1 in 4 2006 - 2004 4 in 7 2003 16 in 18 2002 10 in 12 2001 2 in 4 2000 0 in 6 1999 2 in 4 I look at this and say he sucked in 5 out of 8 years. If you want to average it all together I guess you could. I'm concerned though that we will get the 2007 Marian Hossa playoff performance and not the 2008. He is only 1 year removed from a poor playoff performance.

You are picking and chosing the stats that reinforce your argument. You want to ignore last years regular season becuse it doesn't fit your argument but then you want to include last years playoffs and ignore previous years playoffs. Incidently he played in 72 games last year so the injury argument is pretty weak. Fact is his regular season last year wasn't great and his 6 of the 8 times he was in the playoffs he was invisible. He's a great player but he's hasn't yet shown that he can consistantly make a difference especially in the playoffs.

Brett was in Detroit 3 years, he had point totals of 63, 76 and 68. Marian Hossa had 66 points last year. Hmmm maybe you should put down the Hossa crack pipe and start checking your facts. While your at it why don't you look up Hossa's playoff stats for the last several years... And don't come up with that lame ass excuse that he played on bad teams. Alex Ovechkin isn't exactly on a good team and he seems to be doing ok.

Good thing Kenny didn't agree with you.

Anything he wants?! What kind of Hossa pot are you smoking. You are comparing Hossa to Brett fricking Hull. Brett Hull is a first vote Hall of Famer. Marian Hossa has a LONG way to go before you can start comparing him to Brett Hull. Hossa has great potential but comparing him to Brett Hull? Come on...

Flip is much better defensively that Huds and much better at protecting the puck. In short, Flip is a better all around hockey player and should be on the 2nd line over Rex. That siad, I think that these line combinations are subject to change very quickly. Babs will make adjustments as necessary.

Doesn't matter. The Ducks are no longer an elite team. 27th in the league is scoring won't get them anywhere. Selanne may help but they had him for half of last year also. And 2009-2010? The following are UFAs: Morrison Marchant Neidemeier (Rob) Pahlsson Moen Sutherby May Parros Neidemeir (Scott) Schneider Bauchemin O'Donnell Montador Huskins They have to win the award for worst management of the salary cap. Way to go Burke! Stick a fork in them - they're done.

I agree. Flip should be on the 2nd line rather than Huds. But it is a great problem to have

Crosby is a great player - no question, but all those records that you listed are based on his young age. That means that if he were a year or 2 older, he wouldn't have any of those records. When he starts breaking "real" records that were held by the likes of Gretsky or Howe, he will have something that is a testament more to his hockey ability than his birthday.

You guys are missing the point. The article is about trade value not who is better and a big part of that is what contract they have. A superstar with a short term contract has poor trade value (like Z) because the team that gets him will have to give him a big raise when the existing contract expires. get it?

You missed the point. Z would have a very low trade value because he is in the last year of a underpaying contract. Whomever would get him in a trade would have to turn around and pay him big bucks to keep him. Hence low trade value. Pavs on the other hand is locked into a long term contract at a very resonable price. Who ever would get him would only have to pay him his current contract at that reasonable price. Hence high trade value.

Too bad for the Avs. Somebody needs to tell them that it is really time to move on. As much as Sakic is a class guy, he's at the end of his career. Colorado can't win anything if they insist on hanging on to Forsburg, Foote and Sakic. The Wings top players are no longer Yzermann, Shanahan, and Murphy that's why they are at the top of the league and the Avs are not. Granted our top D-man is 38 year old Lidstrom but as he just won another Norris, I don't think anybody would call him washed up.

Pretty fair analysis. One thing that everybody overlooks with the Pens is IMO, their coaching is terrible. I can't see them ever winning a cup with Therien behind the bench. Look at last years finals. I'll never forget watching game 3 when the Wings were on the PP and the anouncers were commenting about Crosby (their best player) not playing on the PK because Therien didn't think he was ready. I'm thinking at this point they have nothing to lose. Also, he sits Gary Roberts for game one - one of the few experienced forwards on the team. And the whinning. 'nough said.

They are already 3-0. Wait..... Never mind

It looks like the preseason Jersey. Remeber that the lettering on the training camp Jerseys are more square.

Hossa was with Atlanta for only 3 years. During 2 of the 3 he was well over a point a game 1.15 and 1.21 and was +17 and +18. The 3rd year (last year) he was at 0.93 pts/game and -14. So to say he "produced with a terrible team (the Thrashers) for several years" is plain old wrong. He produced 2 out of 3 years. The third year his offense dropped off significantly and his defense was terrible. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. I think Hossa is extremely talented and will thrive on the Wings but people are getting carried away. He has had some bad regular seasons and some terrible playoffs before last year. He is not superman.

sigh.... Nobody has the cap space - wrong. There are teams that not near the cap space and could easily add a 1.25 mil salary in alphabetical order - Atlanta, Buffalo, Carolina, Columbus, Colorado... Nobody is interested in Lilja - wrong - Are you telling me that a team that in struggling defensively wouldn't like Lilja - say a bottom dweller like Los Angeles or St. Louis? Nobody wants to help the Wings - ??? - This is silly. All the intersted teams would have to plot to not sign him. Do you think that a non-playoff team is going to not sign Lilja just because they might be helping the Wings.

I hope you are right but before last year Hossa was know as a guy that couldn't get it done in the playoffs and even though playing on some very good Ottawa teams throughout his career, has never been able to get his name on the big shiny silver thing. Let's wait and see.

Hahahah. Good way to stir the pot. I agree with you but there are lots of people on here worshiping Hossa. You know who Hosa is - the guy that until last year disappeared in the playoffs. I'm reserving judgement until he has his second sucessful playoff. Hopefully it will be in 2009 but there are lots of guys that only had 1 good playoff year.........

Waived? Come on. As much as you may hate Lilja, he was a starting D-man on the Stanley Cup Champions. There are lots of teams that would trade for him. You might only get prospects but no way do the Wings waive him. Possible trade bait - Lilja, Lebda, Sammy, Hudler.

Oh for Christ's sake. You are arguing that you could take a big defenseman who leads the team in blocked shots off the penalty kill and put in a skilled forward to replace him even though you already have 2 forwards on the pk. I get it that you hate Lilja but be objective. Nobody is gonna substitute Hossa for Lilja on the PK. Hossa is a very good 2 way forward, he isn't a shot blocking defenseman. What next? You want Hossa to play goal also?

OK I realize lots of people on LGW hate Lilja and now are using the salary thing to push him out the door but nobody is looking at the facts. Lilja make $1.25 mil a year. Dumping a slary of $1.25 mil helps very little with the cap situation. Ericsson makes $0.9 mil a year. The difference is $325k. So lets skip the salary issue, it is insignificant. The issue is playing time and ability. If you want to make an argument about ability, fine but lets not hide behind this salary issue.

One of the posters actually said that the Blackhawks would win the cup in the next year or two. Wow! What kind of koolaide are they drinking in Chicago? Probably the same kind that they have in Pittsburgh....