imisssergei

I got the one that Ozzie was wearing during last years playoffs (not the one pictured above) at the Joe. You have to look for it, not all the booths have it. I got mine at the really tiny shop near the main entrance. It was only $25, you can't go wrong there.

The only reason he wasn't getting paid was because the Ducks suspended him, and under the CBA didn't have to pa him since he didn't report. The other side to this is that he can be fined for each day he missed in camp. The same thing happens in the NFL all the time. It's a little different, usually it's a player who isn't happy with his contract that threatens to sit out until he gets his deal reworked.

Marty looked away from Avery while Avery looked down towards Marty's hand. This one is all on Marty. Classless. :thumbdown: :thumbdown:

I've seen every game of this series. It has been, by far, the most intense and entertaining series so far.

Babcock had to stick with Dom for game 4. If he didn't it would have create a lot of uncertainty in the players minds. HE had to prove that he believed in Dom, and just because he had one bad game he didn't lose faith. Dom had to start game 4, no questions. (Personally, I thought he would get the nod for game 5 as well, but I can't say I was sad when I heard he wasn't.)

I don't think Babs really had a choice but to replace Dom. Throwing out personal bias, when your goaltender lets in 2 bad goals in 2 consecutive games that turn each game around in the manner that Dom did, you have no choice. Add in how listless just about everyone outside of Pav looked, it's really a no brainer. Someone asked if Dom would start the next series. Babs said something to the effect that this is Ozzie chance and they will see what he does with it. To me, that says as long as he doesn't blow it, he is the guy the rest of the way. Someone else said something about the last 2 Cup champs winning the Cup with a different goalie than they started with. Those changes were made due to an injury to Gerber, and Giggy taking time off to be with his family during his sons eye surgery. Not exactly the same situation.

Hah, yeah, oops...

It's drawn on.

Let me break it down for you so you can wrap your brain around it. 2002 Holland takes over the GM position and a team that I could have lead to the Cup. Let's look at his track record since then. He is now the GM of the Red Wings, a team that has won 3 Cups in 6 years. He has inherited a winning franchise and has an owner who simply put, will spend anything for anyone not named Fedorov. Players want to come to Detroit to win. It makes signing UFA's a lot easier than say if he were in Montreal or Florida. Let's fast forward to the NHL after the lockout. What has Holland done to make this team better? He doesn't draft players, he signs UFA's and decides who will stay and who will go. Since the lockout Holland hasn't made one big signing (not knocking him for it), he hasn't made on signing of an impact player unless it was to offset the loss of another (all Matty and Raffy). Holland hasn't worked out any great deals to retain any of his own, Lidstrom would have been signed for whatever he asked, Datsyuk was signed at market value, and so will Hank. Re-signing Ozzie this season was the best deal he has made. And look at the Hasek re-signing the first time. He went out and basically stabbed Cujo in the back for a guy who, regardless of your personal opinion, wasn't any better. Kenny was forced into resigning Hasek this past offseason because there weren't any available goaltenders who were better via UFA. So I say again, Holland has it pretty easy as a NHL GM. The Wings have terrific scouting and drafting. Let me ask you this. What has he done that makes him such a great GM? I know I'll get hammered for this, but it's the truth, so I don't really care. If you want to take a look at an outstanding GM, look toward Anaheim. Burke is amazing. He wins everywhere he goes, he builds teams up from scratch and turns them into contenders. He is that good.

I think most of you are missing something here. The kid is passionate about his favorite team. Kipper is his favorite player. It's fantastic that he is into it that much. If the JLA saw fans that were into the Wings half as much as that kid is into the Flames, the place would be rocking like it was 97 all over again.

He should have never let Sergei get the chance to walk in the first place. Nothing pisses me off more about Holland than that. Well, maybe bringing back Hasek the first time, but that's a different story....

One thing I don't understand is why Holland is held in such high regard. Yes, he is good at what he does, but he has a lot of help, and his job isn't that hard. I'd like to see what he could do in Montreal or Florida. Everyone seems to forget that the Wings dynasty fell into his lap. He didn't build the ship, he just took over after it set sail.

name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>&"> name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src=" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350" /> Yeah, I see what you are saying. Campbell couldn't help out the Wings at all.

Here is something to think about. The Preds were a below average team on the road, and but better than average at home. There were only 6 teams that had a bigger spread between home and away wins than the Preds, and 9 teams with a bigger spread in losses. The Preds are a much better team at home than they are on the road. They remind me a lot of last years Flames. That being said, it wouldn't surprise me if they did beat the Wings. All they have to do is win one game at the Joe. Like I said at the beginning of the season, this team isn't strong enough to win the Cup. That's not doom and gloom, just my opinion. The Wings are to weak up front beyond Hank and Pasha, not deep enough on d, and the tandem of Ozzie and Dom isn't good enough to overcome the rest of the shortcomings.

:clap:

You contradicted yourself there Sparky. In one sentence you say that all the things I mentioned are things that happen when players actually are playing the game. Then you talk about fighting. I won't argue that fighting has a place in the game, but it does not occur while players are playing the game. In fact, the game stops when a fight breaks out. However, you missed the entire thought behind the post, let me spell it out for you. Every game, every shift, there is a player that does something illegal to gain an edge, and at some point in time these antics weren't illegal (generally speaking.) But then someone thought they should be, and we are where we are today. You have to ask yourself, is there anything really wrong with having a 2 inch curve? I mean, there is a point where the curve on a stick becomes a hinderance. God forbid the guy with a 2 inch curve ever have to use the backhand side of his blade! These are things that have very little effect on the game, just like the new "Avery rule". I'll give you another example. Don't quote me on the player, but I believe it was Eddie Shore. One of the most feared, and respected defensemen to ever lace up a pair of skates. What did he do? He would cut the palms out of his gloves so he could grab the opposing players jerseys while making it nearly impossible for the ref to see. Illegal? Highly. Innovative, creative, and beneficial? Certainly. What's it boil down to? Players will always find a way to bob and weave through the rules. I'm not sure what you are trying to say about star treatment. You sound like you are trying to butter both sides of the bread here. You brought up the stomping incidents, so I'll respond. My argument about Crosby absolutely holds water here. I'm not arguing the fact that he didn't do it, merely that if he did, it would be no where near big deal that it is since Avery was the offender. Perfect example is the stomping incidents. Simon gets to take nearly a half season off, while Pronger gets a week vacation before the playoffs. It all depends on who you are, not what you did. If you can't see that, than there is no point in talking about this any further. Avery's actions did contribute to the play, you can't argue that point. The only thing that can be argued is Avery's ability to follow the play. Avery was doing his job, screening Marty, and trying to get into the Rangers heads. Which he did an excellent job of. I won't argue that it was not the ideal position for Avery to be in, however, you can't say it wasn't contributing to the play, Marty had to deal with Avery in front of him, rather than simply following the puck. On the most basic level, it's no different than what Homer does. And to GS&T: The level of 'in your faceness' is a matter of opinion. Personally, I feel more cheated when I find out someone on my favorite club is using an illegal curve, or a tender is using illegal pads. It makes you wonder if he could have roofed the puck as easily, or made that huge save. What Avery did was up front, and for lack of a better word, honest. He wasn't trying to hide anything, he just did it, right in front of everyone. It's like getting into a fight at a bar. Who is being more of a man, the guy who challenges you face to face, or the guy who waits until you turn around and busts a bottle over your head? At the end of the day, you don't like either guy, but you can at least have some respect for the guy who challenged you face to face.

In the playoffs, you live and die with goaltending. Dom let in two soft goals that killed the Wings tonight. You can't place the blame solely on any one player, but this is as close as it gets. What it boils down to is Dom wasn't there when the Wings needed him the most. As much as I hate him, I'm sure he will bounce back in game 4.

What I find laughable about this is most of the arguments against this are based in some manner that what Avery did somehow hurt the integrity of the game. Integrity? How about the little things that happen every game. Too much curve on a stick. The little crosschecks in the corners that the refs don't call. A goalie with pads that are illegal. It all depends on the player who is guilty of the offense. As I said before, had Crosby done this, it wouldn't be an issue. But it was that clown Avery, so now everyone has their panties in a bunch. Anyone remember Probie using tear away sleeves on his jersey, or how quickly he would get it off during a fight? Anyone ever see one of Bobby Hulls sticks? For some reason, what these guys did was viewed as trying to get a competitive advantage, but what Avery did is seen as bush league (that's not a shot at anyone just a general statement). The NHL now has rules as a direct result of both players. The tie-down strap on a jersey is a great example of the NHL actually changing equipment based on a single player. The limit on the curve a player can have is another. Personally, I have no problems with what Avery did. IMO to call is bush league, or poor sportsmanship is losing sight of things. I think the reason you haven't seen someone try this at the NHL level before is there was a general fear of reprecutions. Back in the day, do any of you think Mike Milbury would have hesitated one second before dropping Avery? No, he wouldn't have. I think we can all agree that there is, now more than ever, to a certain degree a lack of respect amongst players. This is the problem, not Avery turning around and getting in Marty's face. (BTW, Drury and the ref told him to keep his stick down, then the ref told him the play was out of the zone. So now, the refs didn't seem to take issue to it either.) If Avery knew he would pay a stiff price for doing that, he wouldn't have done it. It's what made Dino so great at what he did. He knew his role. He knew the price he had to pay, and he always took a beating that would get an L.A. cop thrown in jail. It's not that Avery doesn't respect his peers, or the game. It's that he knows that the worst case scenario is that someone on the Devils might get in his face. While the best case scenario is scoring a goal. Either way, he is inside Marty's and the rest of the Devil's heads, and that alone is worth it. If players were allowed to police themselves as they once were allowed to do, this would have never happened. But instead, Avery has no fear of having to back up his actions, so what's he got to lose? I also think it's ridiculous, as someone else pointed out, that the NHL can rewrite the rulebook within a matter of hours after something as menial as this, yet take days to make a decision on a suspension.

Everyone is assuming that the ref and Drury told him to stop. We don't know that. To me, it looked like both the red and Drury told Avery to keep his stick down. The play was perfectly legal, regardless of your opinion about it. There is no rule that prevents anyone from doing exactly what Avery did. So what's the big deal?

The only reason there was any debate about this is because it was Avery who did it. Had it been Crosby who did it, CBS would be planning one of those 'how to' session with Murphy based on it. It would be labeled as fresh, exciting, innovative, creative, and funny. But it was Avery. Big deal. He isn't the first guy to do something like this. I'm not sure who it was or even how long ago it was. I want to say it was 2 years ago in the playoffs. Someone was screening the goaltender, but the goaltender was looking around him for the puck. So the player just put his hand in front of the goalie, and moved it whenever the goalie moved. I don't remember if it worked, I just remember chuckling about it. I'm not sure why MacLean brought up the rule he did, but I loved the counterpoint Stock made, "Well if someone hits me hard, it might make me want to take a penalty." He showed how Don and Kelly were taking that rule out of context. What Avery did was a great idea to distract Marty. It was a 5 on 3 PP, and we all know that most goals scored on a 5 on 3 PP are a result of a passing play. If Marty is one second late in getting across the net, it's a goal. For the record, I believe it was Drury who came over and said something to Avery. We don't know what he said. For all we know he could have been telling Avery to get back into position so they could work whatever play it is the Rangers had drawn up. Please, those of you who think this was a penalty-worthy play, put your thoughts together in a post. I'm interested in hearing why you think it is. So far all I've read is that you guys didn't like it, or you thought it was 'cheap'. Back up your thoughts.

WHAT?! Bell caught Alfie with his head down. It wasn't a dirty hit. Bell rung Alfie's bell , I crack me up sometimes! Kronwall left his feet which is highly frowned upon, but he didn't lead with his elbow so it's doubtful he will see any repercussions.

My god. I just spent, no I just wasted a good half hour reading every post in this thread. Here is my take on the whole changing the forum layout idea. Not a bad idea, in theory. However, if the DB of LGW were to ever get so bogged down, why not just delete some of the 240+ pages of threads? I think the biggest problem with separating the forum in to a Wings section, and a NHL section is that it won't really make much difference. People will still find a way to weasel in the Fedorov, Lang, Belfour, ect. threads into the Wings section. Then you would just have even more Fedorov threads, there are no two ways around that. Furthermore, if you are complaining simply because you don't want to have to scroll through more than one page to find a topic, you are just being lazy, move on. It takes one freaking click to get to the next page. Grow up, stop whining, and move on. In closing, I agree 100% that there are too many Fedorov threads. Don't get me wrong, he's my homeboy, but there comes a time when we don't need to discuss why or why not his jersey should be retired 6 times a month in different threads. However, it isn't as if topics about Fedorov are the only problem. How about the Ozzie vs Dom threads? Or the (insert current LGW whipping boy) is lazy and he sucks threads? There are far too many repetitive themes in the threads. How about this. We all act like adults, and stop posting redundant threads? I think this would make life a lot easier for Matt. I'm sure he'd appreciate it. BTW- way to hijack another thread GST.

Tough can be nice, but the point is anytime you have a chance to get an impact player like Campbell, you do it. Stuart is a career journeyman, who is at best equally as good on the defensive side of the puck as Campbell. And the Wings don't have 3 great puck moving dmen. They have 2 great puck moving dmen, in Raffy and Lidstrom, and 1 slightly better than average puck moving dman in Kronwall. I don't want to hear about what Kronwall could be due to his potential. We are talking about facts, not "might be's".

As the Leafs want Stamkos, I wouldn't be surprised for them to offer up everything but the kitchen sink to get him.

And a better point producing history over the last 3 seasons. A higher PPG average. More experience, both playoff and regular season. Yeah, that and health is all Campbell has over Kronwall.