imisssergei

Anyone?

He did injury his knee, but it's nothing close to the level of Hank's back.

You could argue either way for either guy. Loyalty is a thing of the past. All of us would like to believe that the Wings players are above the greed, or whatever you want to call it. But they are people to.

Here is a question. Could anyone see Holland keeping Hossa over Hank? Think about it. About the same age, about the same payday, both great at both ends. Hank has back issues. Hossa has never missed any significant stretch with a reoccurring injury.

Anyone else see Cliff Fletcher thinking about handing of the reigns to Stevie when he is available?

Damn, he is a lucky man....

Yeah, it is a cop-out. It's like answering "Who do you think will have more points this season, Crosby or Ovie? with "Well, let's wait and see how many games each guy plays before we start thinking about that." Same thing. It was a simple question, Hossa or Franzen. You chose to not choose. Cop-out. Politically correct. Still a cop-out.

That's a cop-out answer.

Here is one for you.... Hossa or Bobby? I take Bobby.

True. You have to let the season play out. But teams won't be focusing on Franzen like they will Hossa.

Agreed. Hossa vs Franzen, is it really a choice? It's like asking 'Who do you think will win today, the Packers or the Lions?' Come on, let's be serious here folks. Hossa and Franzen are nearly the same age (about a year apart). Hossa has proven he is a consistant scoring threat. He is a sniper who is as good or better in his own end than just about any other top 6 forward in the league. Franzen hasn't proven he can score with any regularity. Franzen is like a poor mans Shanny. Why settle for a cube steak when you can have some prime rib? And before anyone starts harping about how great Franzen was in the playoffs, keep it in check. He did step his game up. But that doesn't prove anything. A bird in hand.....

I was reading THIS over at Yahoo. Watch the video. At the 2:07 mark, notice the coaches shirt collars. Yep. That's right, there is some advertising on the coaches shirt collar. And some people think that all those logos on the players jerseys is too much....

Why is it so hard for teams to repeat? For a number of reasons really. They may be too worn down, or lack motivation. They usually loose a few key players that are hard to replace, effecting both the on ice roster and dressing room chemistry. So what happened to the Wings this offseason (on-ice)? Lost Dom (Boo-freaking-hoo! I think we all can agree: Like Dom or not, at least there will be no more Dom vs. Ozzie threads!) Lost Drake. Add Conklin. Add Hossa. I think anyone would agree that the Wings bucked the norm, and got stronger on the ice than the typical team does. Detroit is poised to repeat a championship. On paper. But that's why we play the games, eh?

Maybe so. But Flip is miles ahead of Rex as far as development. You have a huge opportunity to instill a ton of confidence in Flip by placing him in a scoring situation when he isn't the guy teams are focusing on. Rex on the other hand, IMHO, would benefit more from being in that third line scorer spot. He'd be the most offensively talented guy on the line, and would get a lot more opportunities to shoot the puck. And there is no denying his shot, it's terrific. Any way you slice it, the Wings are going to have a sick lineup this season. Just for a second, sit back, and look at it. Wow.

I don't like Rex on the second line. It's not because I don't think he can score. I really think that Flip is the guy you want in that slot. Rex seems to do better with less pressure. The third line suits Rex better. With how Babs has Hossa, Pav, and Hank, I think he has no option but to put Rex on the second line in order to keep things balanced. But then again, I'm not getting paid millions of dollars every year to decide these things.

Where in that post did I say that Howard would make the team over Conklin? I didn't. What I said is exactly what I meant: the sole reason Conklin was brought in was to push Howard. Let me explain, because you obviously missed my point. Regardless if the Wings want to go with Howard as the backup this season or not, they think needs to be pushed. If Conklin was brought in to backup Osgood, then he wouldn't have been signed to a one year deal. Why? Because by now if the Wings don't have enough faith in Howard to provide backup duties on the level that Conklin does, they never will. Much more the less, have any confidence in him as a starter. Both Conklin and the Wings know that if Howard plays well, he will get the spot. Conklin is a serviceable backup, most of the time. Bottom line, he won't be around come this time 2009. Alas, knowing the Wings, they will probably completely destroy this thread by carrying and using all 3 goalies.

You had me thinking about it until you mention Conklin. You have to be kidding. The guy is, at his best, a career backup. He will be lucky to make the team. Yeah, he had a good run with the Pens when MAF went down, but that's it. Conklin was brought in to really push Howard. That's all. By no means is Conklin in Hollands long term plans. Right now, the Wings don't need an elite goaltender. And no, IMHO Osgood isn't an elite goaltender. I'm not knocking him, but he just isn't on the same level as Luongo, Brodeur, or Roy. The Wings will need to find a replacement for Osgood soon. He isn't exactly a spring chicken.

Ok, first of all the sticks you see the pros using aren't necessarily the sticks the pros use. That is, for the most part, you are just looking at the paint job on the stick. I'll give you an example. A friend of mine works in a pro that handles a lot of the odd special requests for a few NHL teams. Nothing fancy, he doesn't get free stuff or meet NHLer's all the time. However, one of the perks he enjoys is discounted pro stock sticks. He actually gets the same discount that teams get. The only thing that sucks about that is IMO, it's not a big enough discount to throw out the warranty replacement. Anyhow, he was ordering some sticks, and I think it was the Lidstrom model he was ordering. He told the rep what he wanted, and the rep asked him if he wanted the stick Lidstrom actually used or the stick it was painted to look like. Turns out, a lot of pros don't actually use the stick it looks like they are using. In this case, Lidstrom was using the Stealth (this was right when it was released) and his stick was painted to look like the traditional silver Synergy. The rep told him that most NHLer's aren't using the stick it looks like they are. The paint jobs are all about marketing. Player X calls up and says I want this stick. The company makes them the stick, but paints it to match whatever marketing agreement they came to with the player, or whatever stick they are trying to push to the general public. Obviously this isn't the case with Dats stick, but you get the idea. Now, if you and your buddy are looking to use one piece sticks for roller hockey, as long as it's in-door on sport court you'll be fine. Someone earlier said something about having two one piece sticks get destroyed playing roller hockey. I've spent a lot of time playing in-doors on sport court, I haven't broke one of my one piece sticks. My suggestion is to pick one up that is cheap. Start out with the low end sticks. These are going to be lighter than lumber, and give you better feel than a two piece. You don't really need to get anything special for roller hockey. Unless you are using a puck I guess. I've used just about every kind of stick, here is MHO.... Easton - cost too much, for the low to mid level sticks for what you get. The Stealth is an awesome stick. Pretty light, and lasts a long time, but still overpriced. TPS - If they would stop discontinuing my curves, I would have never tried Easton. The low to mid level stick is much better and more durable than an Easton, but the high level is no where near the Stealth. These guys are traditionally the easiest to get multiple replacement sticks from. RBK - The low to mid level sticks are crap. They break easy, and have no feel. I haven't used the high level sticks, but I've heard good things, they are kind of heavy though. Warrior - Simply cost too much for what you get. Very comparable to TPS at about twice the price. Bauer - Heavier than most, but a decent stick at a decent price, most of the time. Tour - Piece of crap. CCM - Break too quickly, but up until they do break, I really liked the stick. It was a high end stick, so I'm not sure how the low to mid level sticks are. Mission - Rather use the Tour.

That is a good question. I know that the Jackets own his NHL rights, for how long, I'm not sure. I know there is a set number of years that a team has to sign their draft picks before they become UFA's or go back into the draft in other sports, so I would assume hockey is no different.

Really?

I don't hate Manny. I just never liked him. I straight up hate Dom. I wish he never won with Detroit. That being said, I just never thought that Manny deserved a chance to be the starter. He wasn't that good. He was a pretty sound positional goalie, which made he look pretty good in Detroit. But when push came to shove, he wasn't a lights out goalie. I always wished the Wings would have stuck with CuJo. I really think that could have been something special. Cujo is close to the top of my list of Wings that didn't win it, that I wish would have.

J Will Markov Manny

That's silly. X+Y doesn't always equate to Z. Look at the teams at the time of the trade, not what happened to them afterwards. What the ended up being or where they ended up playing doesn't matter at all. The only thing that matters is what they were and where they were before the trade. LA gave up everything they had, plus $15 million cash. Detroit would have had to not only match the talent and cash in the LA offer, but beat it. And that simply doesn't happen without Yzerman.

100% Edmonton does not give up Gretzky without getting Yzerman. Detroit didn't really have the prospects that LA did. Remember Gelinas was their first pick in that years draft, while Detroit drafted Kocur. Detroit would have to ship off Yzerman to even get Edmonton to listen. EDIT: BTW, just so we are clear, I think both Yzerman and Oates would have been shipped off.

There is no way Detroit gets Wayne without parting with Stevie.