chrisdetroit

He's a big physical defenseman but you don't know what his game is like? What does that mean. He could suck, but you want him because he's big?

Lebda? Are you kidding? He is young and fast and plays hard every night. And who would you replace him with? No. Lebda isn't going anywhere

EXACTLY!

No, LAST YEARS team proved that they could win the cup as long as they get to play weak Vancouver and Minnesota teams and the Wings get hit with the loss of their #2 defenseman and they get a lucky bounce in Game 4. This years team hasn't even proved that they can make the playoffs. They have given up more goals than they scored. That is not a championship team. Can they go from a team that is out of the playoff to Stanley Cup contender in 42 games? That would be an increadible turn around. Possible but not probable even considering that they are getting back a HOF defenseman and a HOF forward at the end of his career. The difference? Even if they get Selanne back, the personnel have changed Gone - McDonald, Bryzgalov and Penner. Don't forget that Giggy missed the first 3 games of round 1 and Bryzgalov had to play. Replacements - Bertuzzi, Schneider and Weight They have swapped big, young players for old washed up players. Agreed that they are better with Selanne than without and I don't want to play them in the playoffs but I'm really not worried about it since they might not even be in the playoffs. The team that concerns me is the Sharks. If they ever get their heads together, they could be tough. But of course that's a big if. And of course, their coaching is abysmal.

Foote? Fedorov? Forsburg? Three washed up players. What is it with people that keep bring these has-beens up?

Flip is going to be a superstar in a couple of years.

On Paper? What are you talking about? On paper means statistically and they are statistically the best team in years. You mean in terms of "star power"? Again, you are missing the boat. We have 3 guys that are hands down going to be in the HOF on the first ballot in Lids, Dom and Cheli. If you want to jump off the bandwagon at the first sign of adversity, please do now so that we can have more room for the true fans. There are to many people that are always negative. This way if the Wings don't bring home the cup they can walk around saying "I told you so". And if the Wings do win the cup, they hop up on the old bandwagon.

No. It's the experience and confidence gained from last years playoff run. You can see it in the way that they played last spring. They got a taste of a great playoff run that came very close last year and now they know that they can do it and they want to win it all. Winning is not 100% about talent. Much of it is about drive and confidence and hunger. The wings now have these ingrediants to go with the talent. Everybody has stepped up their play.

The fact that they brought Drake back is totally ridiculous. He is the ONLY player on the wings that has a negative +/- except for Derek Meech who has just been sent to Grand Rapids. On a team that has outscored opponents like the Wings this year, it takes alot of effort to be a negative +/-. To all you Lilja and Sammy haters, even they have a positive +/-. Even Downey who is our other enforcer is not negative. Mac<Drake< anybody else on the team We should get rid of Drake, forget out Mac, and give the minutes to Flip or Rex.

Only if he takes Drake's minutes. Otherwise, no thanks. We cannot have a washed up enforcer taking minutes from Huds or Flip. Drake or Mac, is probably a toss up IMO.

What playoffs? If the season were over today, the Ducks wouldn't even make the playoffs. They have more points that some of the bottom dwellers but they have played more games. If you take the point percentage (number of points divided by the number of available points, they have a 0.547 "winning percentage" and are on pace for a 90 point season. The number 8 team would be Colorado with ).563 and 92 points. They are out but it is close. All this assumes that nothing changes with any of the other teams. Incidently, also out are Columbus (88 pts), Nashville and Chicago (both with 84). St. Louis would be #7 with 93. We would play the Avs in the first round. It would be great to have both Neids and Selanne to return to the Duckies only to have them not even make the playoffs. That, IMO would be justice.

but they DON't have similar stats. How can you say that he'd be great if he was playing here? What is that based on? A Norris trophy from 11 years ago. If he isn't giving it his all regardless of the team that he's on, I don't want him. I want guys that will give 110% no matter what.

I agree. Nobody played well last night (except maybe Dom). Let's move on

There's no question that Blake in his prime >>> Lilja. But Blake in his prime has left the building. The Blake of today is 38 years old and is currently a -7. "rob blake is a cup winner i do believe he won a norris" is an assanine statement. What he did 5 years ago has no bearing on how he plays today. And yes, Blake won the Norris in 1997. That was 8 years ago. I wouldn't trade one of our top prospects like Kindl or Ericsson for Blake. Meech or Quincy maybe but LA is not going to make that trade.

IF the wings go on to win the 11th Cup this spring, I have a feeling Cheli will retire. Then we will have 1 open spot for the kids to compete for.

You are basing this on 5 games? Are you seroius? If the seaon ended today they wouldn't even make the playoffs. This is 2007-2008 not 2006-2007

"git er done Kenny" [sarcasm]

You're kidding right? Sammy is not the greatest player on the Wings but I wouldn't say he sucks. Samasanov is a -7 this year with 0 goals and 4 assists. Sammy is +9 with 5 goals and 16 assists. There is no way that Sammy is worse than Samsanov. Samsanov just got waived by a mediocre team, Sammy is a regular on the best team in the league.

Based on what? We are just about halfway through the season and here's the numbers: Power Play - 24th PK - 22nd Goal For Avergare - 26th Goals Against Average - 9th Goal Differential - 21st Winning Percentage - 16th (.539) 10th in the West. There points makes them 7th in the west but if you factor in the "games in hand" they wouldn't even make the playoffs. So how on earth can you say they are a contender? They aren't even a playoff team. Sure their is a half season to go but to go from being out of the playoffs to a cup contender in half a season is not realistic. Time to move on. The Ducks were good for a year but so was Tampa and Carolina....

Yea, right we need more big Canadians so we can be just like San Jose who chokes every year. We need good players and I don't care what nationallity they are. And the Ducks have very little chance of winning the Cup. In fact, halfway through the season, they are on the cusp of not even making the playoffs.

For God's sake man, let it go. No washed up Fedorov

Calgary, San Jose and Aneheim? How did we do against them last year?

Oh here we go with the unrealistic aquisitions. A small price for Sundin ?! Sure...right... Next somebody is going to mention Forsburg, then Fedorov, then some other washed up guys. Bertuzzi anyone. Maybe we should just trade Sammy and a draft pick for Crosby. If we can use the 5 mil for a rental player great, but we need to keep our wits about us. We don't want to trade away anybody that is going to be part of our future. If the deal is there and it will help great, but with Huds and Flip playing great, they are now untouchable IMO. Sammy is about the only one I would trade. Even you Lilja haters need to take a step back. I don't want to trade our #1 shot blocker. Buy a player - maybe, but trade, I say we stand pat.

Yea, you're right, Walker punded on Frazen's back, Jackman is out with a concussion and the wings embarassed the Blues 5-0 in front of the largest crowd ever in the Blues building. It IS a *****

Downey is much smarter than that. He knows that there are times to fight and times not to. If he was just a goon that fought at every opportunity he would have gone the way of Brad Norton. He uses the fights to a) fire-up his team and b) to defend his guys when he feels like they are being taken advantage of. He won't fight if it will fire up the other team at the wrong time unless he has a very good reason to. I'm not a big advocate for fighting just to fight, that's why I like Aaron. We need an enforcer but a smart enforcer and I think that we found one.