chrisdetroit

How can you say both these things in one post. Huds may improve and Mac maybe a failed experiment. You are not being logical. Mac has shown nothing to warrant your blind faith and Huds has had runs where he played great. Both deserve a chance to earn ice time and with Homer and Sammy out, they will both get their chances. It's too early to reach a conclusion on either.

I almost forgot. This year they are 28th in GFA. Down at the bottom with Columbus and the Islanders. Now before everybody jumps up and down about how that doesn't matter in the playoffs, last year they were 8th going into the playoffs. Sorry but you can't win in the playoffs if you can't score. It would be quite a feat if of the 16 playoff teams, the one that had the lowest GFA of all of them in the regular season suddenly was able to score enough through 4 rounds to win the Cup. Yes, scoring in the playoff drops, but it is pretty much across the board. Last year they scored 2.6 GFA IN THE PLAYOFFS, this year they scored only 2.35 GFA IN THE REGULAR SEASON. 9 teams scored less than 2.5 GFA in last years playoff. 7 of them were gone in round 1 and the other 2 in round 2. This means that they have to have a much better GFA in the playoffs than they did in this years regular season to not get bounced early. Think about that. Has it ever been done before? There scoring has to go UP in the playoffs. I can't believe that that has ever happened. It always goes DOWN.

Also they lost their back-up goalie. If Jiggy's back is a problem, they are done. Most importantly though after last's year, we are HUNGRY and that is the biggest intangeable of all. We got screwed last year by having to play Calgary and San Jose and losing Kronwall and Schneider while the Ducks played weak teams and had no significant injuries. I'm not sure which I want the most, for the Ducks to go out in the first round or for us to hand them their asses on a plate.

That's not correct. The division winners still maintain their seedings. This is from NHL.com In the Conference Semifinals and Conference Finals, teams were re-seeded according to the same criteria as the Conference Quarterfinals. Higher seeded teams gained home-ice advantage So the Northwest winner if they suvive will still be seeded over the previous #4/#5 winner.

So you get off on going on the internet and calling people "retard" when they agree with you. Didn't your momma teach you any manners?

The year before last in the West, the #1, #2, #3 and #4 teams all lost in the first round. Anything can happen. I think that the Ducks are ripe for an upset with the way they are playing right now. They are still having trouble scoring goals, Getlaff is not going to be 100% healthy and Giggy was out last night with back spasms. Add to that the fact that dickhead (oops I mean Pronger) is going to be rusty after his latest suspension, and I see it in the cards. Maybe I'm wrong but there are 2 things that I would enjoy most. #1 the Wings hoisting the cup and #2 the Ducks going out in the first round.

I guess if you want to define "luck" as only those things that happen on the ice. But I don't know how you can say that having injuries or not and which opponent you draw are not relevant. Those 2 things a 100% luck and which guys you can put on the ice because they are not injured can have an significant effect on whether or not you score those "clutch" goals or make those key plays. How beat up you aren't from playing weak teams which you drew by luck certainly has an effect on how you play. If Krowall or Schneider was handling the Puck instead of Lilja he might not have handed the puck to Selanne in OT of game 5. I don't know how you can dismiss injuries and schedule so easily. They could have won with the injuries if they made the right plays. Yes, but how do you do that? It's not that easy to make the right plays without your best guys on the ice.

No. If there are no upsets, that leaves 4 teams #1 Detroit #2 San Jose #3 Northwest Winner #4 Aneheim #1 plays #4, and #2 plays #3 The only thing that's sure is that we can't play the Sharks #2 or the Northwest winner #3 in the 2nd round. For us to play the Ducks, they would have to be the lowest seeded team left. That means that there can be no upsets. #8, #7, #6 and #5 ALL have to lose. On paper that's what SHOULD happen but I wouldn't bet on it. I'm betting that either the Sharks, Ducks, or the Northwest winner loses in the first round. Then we play whoever benefitted from the upset. That said, we probably will not play both the ducks and the sharks. If you think about it, there are 3 rounds in the West. We cannot play either the Ducks or the Sharks in round 1 - it's impossible. For us to face those 2 teams in sucessive rounds is not likely. It's only possible if there are no upsets in any of the 6 series.

Yea sure. No luck. They played Vancouver and Minny while we had to play Calgary and San Jose. They had no significant injuries while we lost our #3 D-man for the entire playoffs and our #2 for the entire Aneheim series. Explain to me again how they didn't get lucky.

I don't get it. How can people pick a guy that hasn't played a single NHL game in two years over Downey and/or Drake. Screw the nostalgia, I want another cup. Mac should get a few minutes every couple of games and spend the rest of the time in the press box.

WHAT?!! You wouldn't be totally heartbroken if somebody other than the Wings won the cup??!! I would!

I'm with you except on the McCarty thing. He hasn't played a single NHL game in over a year. I understand nostalgia and all but it should have no place in the NHL. McCarty was a great role player. We already have an enforcer in Downey and we really can't afford to carry 2. I'd give the nod to Downey because he has the NHL experience. What Mac did 4 years ago has no bearing on what he can do today.

This is an ignorant topic. We could easily handle Nashville and it's only an hour plane ride away. I wouldn't mind playing them in the first round. We need to be firing on all cylinders entering the playoffs. Almost everybody but Pavel have had their rest so right now the emphasis is on getting everybody back playing at the top of their game. Who we play in the first round is out of our control. My preference would be to not play a team that will require us to spend lots of time on airplanes such as Vancouver or Calgary but my preference really doesn't matter. I want Aneheim to play Dallas only because it can't be San Jose and Aneheim. And I'd like to see San Jose and Minnesota because those two teams hate each other. But we'll see...

People have short memories. Al the experts were saying the sam ethings last year. There was no way that Detroit could beat them. Luck? I guess it depends how you look at it but... That shot that Lang scored with 30 seconds left in game 4 was a bad goal by Nabokov. Call it luck or bad goaltending. If you remember, in game 5 we KILLED them. I think it was 4-1 and in the following elimination game, we also beat them soundly. Remember game 2. They blew a 2-0 lead. In fact if I remember right they blew leads in 3 of the 4 games we beat them. Luck? Or poor coaching? Yea they are bigger, younger and faster but they have proved repeatedly that they don't have the mental toughness to get to the finals. Two years ago they had a 2 games to 0 lead on Oil and lost. I'm not worried. They are on a regular season streak but they still have basically the same guys the same goaltender and the same coach. On paper they should win it all but the same goes for the last 2 years........

Well said

Well that's certainly original. Neither Downey nor Drake can score. They are tough guys and as such will get limited minutes. Lilja a Forward? You must not watch him. His one flaw is handling the puck. Ericsson for some size? Not a chance. Ericsson has what 5 games experience. This is not the goon squad so we are not going to sit our talented players over inexperienced big guys or enforcers. This isn't the Ducks forum. You must be lost.

Proven playoff role 6 years ago means nothing today. Fail

You are not being objective. McCarty has not played a single NHL game in 2 years and you have him on the 3rd line ahead of Downey, Hudler and Hartigan. This is 2008 not 2000. McCarty is one of our depth guys until he proves otherwise.

Lids is irreplaceable. With all the money in the world, we couldn't find a replacement. We will survive, we just won't be as good on defense. It's that simple. We won't totally suck - we just won't be as good. Eventually Kronwall and Stuart (if he stays) will help fill the void until Ericsson and Meech are ready. But it's inevitable and at least we are deep in young D-men.

I like Osgood but I don't think that he is HOF material. I thought that maybe based on the number of games won that he might have an outside shot. So I went and looked up who was on the list and if they were in the HOF. Active Players - Brodeur, Belfore, Joseph, Hasek, Osgood, Sean Burke IN - Roy, Sawchuk, Plante, Esposito, Glen Hall, Fuhr, Gump Worsley, Billy Smith, Turk Broda OUT - Vernon, Vanbiesbrouck, Andy Moog, Tom Barasso, Rogie Vachon, Mike Richter This is the top 22 in all time wins. Of these 22 - 6 are still active. Of the 15 retired, 9 are in and 6 are out. I just don't see Ozzie in the company of the guys that are in. Consider also that most of these active guys on this list are going to retire soon and many of them are shoo ins - Brodeur, Belfore, Joseph and Hasek. I don't think that Ozzie even has an outside chance.

The number of trophies is irrelevant. Kirk Maltby has 3 Stanley cups, Jeremy Roenick has none. Obviously Maltby is not HOF material and Roenick is. I agree Neids is a shoo in but it has nothing to do with what you mentioned.

The Sharks are not going to catch us. Let's do the math. We have a 5 point lead and each has 8 games left. If it ended in a tie, we would win because we won the series against them 3-1. So essentially they need to win 3 more of the eight than we do. So if the Wings go 5-3, the Sharks would have to go 8-0. If we only go 4-4, the Sharks have to go 7-1. And the Sharks still have 2 more games against Dallas and 2 against the Duckies. In theory it is possible, but not very likely.

Can you believe that this yoyo is predicting a loss to Vancover? LINK 1. Detroit Red Wings vs. 8. Vancouver Canucks The best team in the NHL against the best goaltender in the NHL. Looks like somebody is primed for another postseason fall. Prediction: Canucks in seven. Just like last year when we lost to Calgary then San Jose...

I keep seing people rant about how we lose in the first round "AGAIN" and though that maybe I missed something. So I went and looked it up we actually only lost in the first round: 2005 to Oil 2003 to Mighty Ducks 2001 to Kings Before that you have to go all the way back to 1993 to Toronto which was even Pre Cup #8. So that's 3 times in 8 years with a friggin Stanley Cup in between. We really are spoiled. Check out the Stars 3 IN A ROW! Ouch! And YES, I also want the cup every year but to keep harping on 1st round losses when we have all those cups is being rather pessimistic

You should never even mention Nick and the goon in the same post. Nick has class, the goon is well....just another goon.