Echolalia

I don't remember a single spectacular save that he made. In fact, I don't even remember any times the wings even had a one on one opportunity. There were very few odd man rushes at all, and 95 times out of 100 he did in fact have 2 defensmen in front of him; usually two of the best defensmen to play the game at that. Giguere has to be one of the most overrated goalies in the leauge. edit: to jump in on the defense conversation yes the ducks' d is great and it will be even better if Niedermayer stays another year, but our defense is great also, easily in the same league as them at the very least. They also have a decent offense, but they are loosing A LOT when they loose Selanne (and Penner, actually). Thats like loosing Datsyuk or Zetterberg. Fortunately we only lost Bertuzzi and Calder; neither of which really gave us alot last year, and Lang, who wasn't even offered a contract to return. And to replace them we have some solid young talent thats anxious for more ice time to prove themselves, including Grigorenko, who apparently has the stuff of a potential legend. Yes I would prefer that Scotty retires, but I'm not overly worried about him staying another year. We had the last season in a bag, we just got some bad bounces, and mark my words if we verse them again in the playoffs they won't get off so lucky.

What do you guys think about Jason Allison? Hes had a pretty rough stretch the past few years with injuries, but when he plays, hes averaging almost a point a game, and he was also a physical player, also averaging about a minute a game. I know he had a neck injury which was pretty severe, and to be honest I have no idea whether or not hes healed, so does anyone have any info on this guy or have any opinions on him?

I'm actually going to have to disagree with most people and say that for the nfl, nba, and mlb, negative publicity, if anything, will help ratings. Sports fans generally aren't the type to boycott what could quite possibly be their favorite hobby just for an individual player's misdoings. In actuality, I believe that you might as well file it under "drama" and add that entire aspect to the world of sports. "Oh no! This team is without their star line backer/pitcher/defensman due to illegal whatever! How is their team going to cope???" People eat this kind of stuff up. Thats why reality shows are so popular. Unfortunately, with the nhl's current state I can only see this type of publicity hurting.

101. Back surgery over Sullivan

The bias that comes from ESPN is unbelievable, and as they're considered the number one sports media outlet, it goes without saying that they're coverage should be pretty fair across the board. So what if they don't have a contract to show nhl games? They can still show highlights and not sabotage the nhl's already dwindling reputation. The majority of nhl coverage is stretched to make the nhl look worse. Illegal cheap shot, frustration over a loss, ugly politics; thats what they're interested in showing America. And its not just against hockey. Theres an entire hierarchy of their views on sports, depending on the season. September to February nfl reigns supreme and their smallest, wimpiest news will make headlines over any other sports "real" news. After the nfl season is over, nba takes over, with an island of domination coming from the ncaa during March. After basketball ends, baseball gets its moment in the spotlight, occasionally stepping over for spelling bees, eating competition, poker, and whatever else is considered a sport now-a-days. I was actually thinking earlier today how awesome it would be if someone actually made a sports news website that was completely unbiased and had the most significant news as headlines, despite what sport its coming from. Equal attention to every detail, including playoffs, off seasons, trades, fantasy leagues, rumors, etc etc.

I believe regardless of how important an enforcer is to a team (which I believe every team should have at least one), they are essential for us as fans. Pro hockey is entertainment first, and winning second. If nobody was entertained by hockey, the league would fold. Thats the entire point of pro sports in general, and when fights break out, its safe to say the audience is entertained. Not to say that winning isn't entertaining, but if you look at the Boston game provided in the link, you'll notice we lost, and here we are in one of the hottest threads of the offseason discussing it. As for whether the Wings need an enforcer to help them to the cup, I personally think it couldn't hurt if we looked for someone who wasn't Norton. An enforcer isn't necessarily someone who gets penalties every single shift or goes out strictly looking for fights. For the most part they're playing hockey like everyone else. But when games get physical, or when the other team starts playing cheap, the enforcer becomes like an alternate captain, because at this point hes the one thats leading the team into battle. Hes the rallying point; the inspiration to keep on keeping on. If we replace Maltby or Kopeski or someone who doesn't log alot of minutes, or really does much when on the ice with an enforcer, point wise there will be no difference. Yes hes liable to get more penalties, but we have the best defense in the league, and no question as to if we'll make it to the playoffs or not. Post season there isn't going to be alot of stupid fights because everyone knows this is where it matters the most. If an enforcer gets into a fight in the playoffs then its safe to assume that he believes theres alot more riding on him fighting than not and in many cases it is. All in all, I don't see an enforcer single-handedly destroying the wings. I don't see how by getting one we're short-handing ourselves in any significant way. I, however, can see the potential benefits of having one, and what it could do for an entire team if the moment is right.

Slow down, big guy. You actually didn't specifically say we didn't have an enforcer in the post that I quoted, and I never even mentioned Zetterberg. I believe sticknmove is your man if you want to discuss that. I believe the general consensus from those that miss this kind of enforcing the link displays (including myself) is that we are lacking an enforcer/fighter to handle such situations as in the Pronger incident. Nobody really expects our current roster to drop the gloves and dive into a brawl, so the problem doesn't lie in what I would want the current players to do, so much as who can we pick up thats appropriately fitted for handing these little mishaps. If we had an enforcer who took on Pronger and put him in his place; yes he would get suspended as well as Pronger, but hes an enforcer, not a scorer, we aren't loosing much. Its his job to stick up for the team like that. Besides, I recall that the Ducks beat us without Pronger anyway. If anything, having an enforcer who jumps into fights to stick up for teammates will give our guys some extra jump in their step.

Awesome thanks I really hope Grigs turns out to be that solid. It would solve alot of problems.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't the Wings have just about the fewest penalty minutes in the league last year, as well as the fewest fights? I think thats pretty solid evidence of a lack of a fighter or an enforcer. Also, I don't remember anyone having Homer's back when he was blindsided by Niedermayer and Pronger. Or Lebda when he was sucker-punched against Calgary. In fact, the only retaliation that I can think of the entire year is Todd Bertuzzi after Franzen was hacked in the first round, and even that wasn't a fight. And he's gone now. edit: I just love this commentator's favoritism. All these excuses about being too tired to fight

In our current state (depleted of a solid second line, that is) I am welcoming Forsberg with open arms. Even if he only plays 50 games he will be an asset to the team for those 50 games, and definitely come playoffs. Remember, we know how to treat old, feeble players right (see Hasek)

what? Where does it say that Grigs is pairing up with Dats at the start of the season? link plz

I figured if they really wanted to appease the crowd they would incorporate it into the regular season.

Make up your mind Ottawa http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/rumors/post/Ot...F?urn=nhl,42154 I really think the only two real competitors are the wings and the avs, ironically enough.

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?articleid=33597...mp;service=page no espn

ahem...

THATS THE LAST STRAW IM DONE WITH HOCKEY FOREVER DONT TRY TO STOP ME ITS TOO LATE

http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Hockey/NHL/Ottaw...416991-sun.html

who now?

eeehhhhhhh

Broduer and Kippursoff are the best two goalies in that list, and I already discussed them in my previous post. Broduer is on the decline and wont even be here for 5 more years and Kippursoff is a fairly new goalie to whom I gave an exception. He has potential, but hes one out of 100 that don't, and hes also new to the league and still makes rookie mistakes. And Vancouver made it to the playoffs last year, and you can believe it wasn't just because of their goalie. You don't fluke your way into the postseason on one player's skills. Thats not even a complete sentence, let alone an argument. Besides, half the words are spelled wrong anyway. That doesn't disprove what I said in the least about us loosing to them because we shot most of our chances right into the pads of the opposing goalies. edit: cutting some fat

I wonder if its some poorly written experiment to see how ratings and attendance records are during the preseason to compare them to WC preseason games.

Brodeur is a goalie from the last generation (Hasek is also). In addition to that Broduer is on the decline. Yes hes still a good goalie, but hes not going to be here for 5 more years (hes not on the Wings, am I right *nudge nudge*). Turco's win percentage is hovering around .500 somewhere, and has been a constant disappointment in the playoffs until last year, and even still they couldn't get past the first round. Luongo may be said goalie that I'm looking for in a couple years, but as of now I'm not especially impressed. If you compare this new gen's prime to the prime of some older goalies (ie Hasek, Roy, Brodeur, Fuhr, etc) I don't even think its a comparison. Maybe Luongo in a couple years; hes still young, but like I said: definitely not now. Also I'm not going to give Giguere or Roloson credit for beating us in the playoffs. We beat ourselves by shooting 95% of all our shots directly into their pads and leaving our goalies out to hang in some crucial moments.

This is just my opinion, but I think the no 1 goalies out there right now generally suck. Well, "suck" is a harsh word, but I don't see anyone special out there that can take control of a game completely on their own outside of Kippursoff and Hasek. With that said I think Osgood can hold his own in this company, even if he is getting older.

We technically did loose Markov. Hes a free agent, therefore he doesn't belong to the Wings organization, athough its safe to assume he isn't coming back this year. Not unless hes bluffing about going to Russia and ends up lowering his asking price within the next month or so.

His recent history of injuries is worrisome, but even with the lost ice time he would still be a better option for our second line than anyone currently on the team. He showed up to the postseason last year, I think he had something like 6 points (don't quote me on that), and a plethora of hits. And what rivalry are you talking about again? The almost nonexistant rivalry that we had against Nashville last year? Because surely you aren't referring to the Colorado rivalry that died almost a decade ago, now. And looking back on his entire career, Forsberg has done anything but screw up a hockey team. He won a couple cups for the Avs, he WAS the team in Phily, and he was one of the more significant players on the statsheets for Nashville's playoff run last year. Yes, hes not what he used to be, yes he has a foot problem, but if you refuse to sign every player who isn't at the top of their game and completely injury free, you never even make it to the playoffs.