Echolalia

Now that's a roster with some chest-hair on it. (5 star rating to whoever knows what that is a reference to)

I don't know if using the team that got into the playoffs on a shootout in the last game of the season is the best approach at getting your point across. Especially when the player in question only played in 15 games, not half the season. Anyway, I would love to see a fighter on the Wings roster. But like others have said: I want to know that he can score when needed and wont be a liability.

Mickey Redmond is so likable. He has the kind of personality that makes me want to invite him over for dinner. Larry Murphy is unknowingly hilarious every time he's on screen or opens his mouth.

Hey no problem. If Cleary puts his body where his mouth is and delivers I'll be pleased even if he doesn't have a career year. Although if Babs ends up throwing Huds on the third line to have 3 scoring lines its definitely possible that Cleary puts up a personal best.

In addition to the money, Yzerman was offered a job with a lot of power, and I think that was what he was getting at with the deal that he "couldn't refuse". He was the first person signed after a front office clearing, and he gets to pick who he works with. Vinik said Yzerman will have "full reign" over all hockey related matters for the team. He won't have to consult with anybody or convince anybody of his decisions. The Tampa Bay Lightning is officially his brainchild now, and nobody else's. That's pretty nifty for a rookie GM.

Didn't he just have a surgery to correct some nagging injury recently? I may be mistaken but I think I just read that he expects to be healthier and hungrier than ever in his career come October. Edit: found the article http://www.freep.com/article/20100526/SPORTS05/100526058/Red-Wings%5C--Dan-Cleary-OK-after-knee-surgery

It seems like you want more of a decent complete package forward, which ultimately means a greater cap hit. If you want to trade away a couple players to make room for such an acquisition, I suppose that's fine as we're all armchair GMs anyway, but have you really considered what you would be giving up? The Wings are already chock-full of the two way forwards you desire; in fact I believe we have two of the top three in the league in Datsyuk and Zetterberg. We also have plenty of playmakers (besides, a playmaker is only as good as the scorer he's passing to). Would adding a playmaking defensive forward really benefit the team in any way? In terms of offense, the Wings could use a pure goalscorer or a power forward. Power forwards unfortunately are a dying breed in the NHL, and a team seems to be lucky to claim one on their roster these days. Our one is Franzen. As for goalscorers: again there isn't too much available on the market. Holland would have to give up a good deal to make room for someone who is capable of 30+ goals. Besides, the front office seems to think that Hudler could come close to that mark; certainly close enough considering his caphit. So if the Wings need a goalscorer or a powerforward but there aren't any available, what can we do? That's where Homer comes in. The guy sucks defensively, skates like an 80 year old, is retarded when it comes to stick-handling, and looks and talks goofy. But he makes goalies play bad. When he's on the ice, the chances of the puck going into the net go up, and if you can't be a goalscorer you might as well help your line out as much as possible by raising their chances of scoring. And even better: defensmen can't move him. You can probably count on one hand the amount of players who can continuously take a beating like Homer can and not budge an inch, all the while tipping in pucks and tapping in rebounds. He's the absolute best at what he does and he's agreed to do it for less than 2M. It doesn't hurt that he seems to have decent chemistry with Datsyuk along the boards as well. At the very least he keeps a defensman completely focused on him which opens space up for the others to work their magic. If you get rid of Homer, what do you think will happen to the offensive output of the Wings as a whole?

Maybe you should look at his stats and then his caphit and come back to this thread.

He's certainly the Wings' best shot at replacing one of those two. Next year, I feel will be a better indicator of his future. He's had a full season of NA hockey under his belt and knows what to expect. Hopefully his confidence and experience will take him places that his raw skill couldn't reach in his first season.

Thats what I have them down as doing, so lets hope so!

I'm a fan of Yzerman (and by extension the Lightning) just about as much as the Wings, so this persona non grata thing isn't much of an issue.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=531023 Is it irony when Hossa says "We just have to be much more smarter"?

you guys are no fun

Hopefully this contract is used as a measuring stick for Bert, should Holland carry on with his plans to sign him.

He'd make a great lawyer. Any opposing law team would have to face his ferocious elbows if they tried to win the case.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20100603&content_id=10760448&vkey=pr_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb I don't see last night's call getting overturned, but they did say that they will consider replays in baseball. Maybe some good will come from last night afterall.

I'm starting to like the trade that sent Granderson to NY for Jackson. This kid is a phenom.

They have to overturn Joyce's call. This is something so sacred to baseball that was ripped away, and all sides are seeing it the same way. Joyce admitted it was bad afterward, the Tigers obviously, fans from all over the world are in upheaval online, the NYY and Cardinals managers both say it should be overturned. When has a call garnished this much negative attention?

I wonder if the Wings brass has a part in this as well. Perhaps we have some young talent in the bowels of the front office waiting patiently for a promotion which would never come with Verbeek and Martin (who also want bigger and better roles) sticking around. Granted its just speculation on my part, but it seems plausible given the Wings' history.

We'll trade Verbeek and Martin for Stamkos. Think about it Stevie.

Not to fight someone else's fight, but I don't think that SWF (and Holland) are basing their response on only half a season's worth of performance. The Wings were tight against the cap and were fighting desperately just to make it into the playoffs. Holland had resources waiting (Franzen, Lilja) that could help the team climb the standings, but there wasn't enough roster space to utilize these resources. The plethora of injuries, claiming Miller, and people returning from injuries really complicated our caphit and our roster size. If Holland was serious about wanting to make the playoffs, he had to remove someone from the team to make the roster size and cap more malleable, and Leino was consistently proving himself to be the weakest link. At the very least, everyone else on the roster was bringing something to the table the Wings could benefit from. Despite his talent, Leino did not. Unfortunately, Leino was too talented a player to clear waivers so Holland did the next best thing and traded him for a pick and a defensman. Now that he's in a new setting and playing well on a team who's currently in the Finals, the move doesn't seem so ideal, but Holland didn't have too many options at the time. He would have taken way more heat from fans if he kept Leino around and never removed Franzen from IR.

I gotta ask because I'm a geek: was "purple or pink" a segue from bacteria because of gram-staining results? Short hair. Gram-positive or Gram-negative

I think the issue of Holland moving him was more because players that were picked up on waivers/in the minors were able to give the Wings a better chance at winning than Leino did, but to make room for those players, Leino would have to get sent to the minors, and Holland knew he wouldn't clear waivers. So his choice was to keep an underpeforming Leino on an injury-riddled team desperate for points at the expense of someone else who could help the team get points (and hence better our chance of making the playoffs), or trade him and cut the team's losses.

I don't know how I feel about switching from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3 halfway through the OT. Would the clock just die right at the halfway point, killing a possible scoring play from occurring? I would be more on board with this idea if they waited for the first whistle after the halfway point of OT to go to 3v3. That way no momentum or goal scoring opportunities are lost. I also like the idea of an 8 or 10 minute OT, although I don't know how overlord NBC will react to that, because it increases the time that hockey will cut into some other program. Also, what effect will this have on longterm health? With parity stronger than ever, its almost guaranteed that more OTs are coming than ever before. Will a plethora of OTs during the regular season be enough to wear down the players and increase injury rates? Edit: I like stevekrause's point idea, except minus one point from every column. So 2 points for a win, regulation or OT, 1 point for a win in the shootout, and 0 points for a loss regardless of how it happens.

Holy Jesus. Gallaraga has the gem in my book.