Echolalia

I don't know how much of a rivalry there will be, atleast in a physical, heavy-checks-and-fighting-often sort of way. Two of our three most physical players now play for Anaheim, and the third is still a free agent. In addition, the Wings collectively aren't one to hold a grudge, whether that be for being beaten in the Western Conference Final, or for cheap-shotting Homer in a last resort, desperate move. As much as I hate that, its just the way it is. And now theres the whole drama with Edmonton thats eclipsing us. I think their team would be more willing to get physical in their games than us. Bottom line: However much I would love to see the Wings find a new rival, Anaheim most likely isn't going to be it. Atleast not this year. Also, I like Arnold, and he looks like hes in his prime holding the cup. If only he was saving the world from the apocalypse by bashing it over some robot's head.

I really can't see him going anywhere else to be honest. I know we're his old rivals, but the key word there is old, and as of now were probably in the top 5 favorites for the cup this year, and thats going to be enticing for someone who may be playing their last year in the nhl.

The wait will be well worth it, as the Wings will win the cup. edit: Look at all those W's

I'm playing there currently and love it, despite the lack of physicality and amount of games.

So I just took a quick look at the preseason schedule, and 7 out of the 9 games we play are against Eastern Conference teams. What the hell?

I like it how it is, aside from the fact that some teams are struggling to maintain a fanbase. Move those to Canada somewhere, but keep them all in the nhl

If the Wings end up in that division if moving to the Eastern Conference, we're going to have the most exciting season out of any team. Renewed rivalry with Toronto, as well as 8 wonderful opportunities to show Crosby that he'll never stand a chance against a real playoff team.

I don't know about you but I find Datsyuk and Zetterbergs insane plays pretty entertaining, as well as Hasek's unorthodox style of goaltending, and Holmstrom's amazing abilities in front of the net. And when were in the Western Conference Finals fighting for a chance to get within 4 wins of the cup, I'm entertained. What you seem to be referring to is either their camera personality or their overt physicality or ability to get under someone's skin on the ice, or a combination of the two. (Forgive me for assuming what your definition of 'personality' is, and, of course if I am mistaken in my assumption, please be sure to tell me how you define 'personality' in the context that we're using it in). The latter is an issue that this board has been discussing for a while now, and can be answered more or less in the form of an enforcer. Bertuzzi, Drake, McCarty, whoever you like. But if we're talking about a good ol' fashioned physical presence on the ice (which I will not deny will help bring tickets in), that has nothing to do with said person being a North American, or even someone people can relate to. Its simply someone who can piss people off and beat the s*** out of them afterward. And if we're talking about how good said players can take interviews, then I will continue to disagree with this board in that it cannot help ticket sales. Interviews aren't even displayed at games. Yes its good for a chuckle or two when you're at home drinking with your friends, but I'm not going to base whether I spend 82 dollars on a ticket on a hockey player's off ice personality. Kp-wings, you talked about Holland just signing boring players (I'll assume you just forgot about Dats, Z, Hasek and so forth), but the rest of the board (see first page of this discussion) is dead set on said "miracle-player-who-can-save-ticket- sales-singlehandedly" being a North American, and that is what I was arguing. Well, that and the fact that there are a plethora of other more realistic reasons why the Joe isn't selling out anymore. by the way: its sweet that you quoted me in your sig

I can't believe all this nonsense I'm reading about our European based team thats the cause of poor ticket sales... The argument apparently is that us as fans can identify with the likes of Yzerman, Shannahan, and McCarty because they're based in a North American country, and thus, ticket sales were better the past 10 years than they are now. I can't say that I agree with that in the least. First of all, the past 10 years were our glory years and the entire nhl was predicting that we would run away with the cup more than half the time, and it wasn't because our team was easy to relate to. It was because we were good as hell. Yzerman, Shannahan, Federov, Kozlov, Larionov, Konstantinov, Fetisov, Draper, Maltby, Lidstrom, etc etc etc. In addition to that, all the other Detroit teams were doing terrible, so its not like there was a high demand for ticket prices anywhere else. But now that the Wings have been a powerhouse for 10+ years, its getting old and unfortunately expected for us to be the best every year. On the other hand, Detroit is seeing teams like the Pistons and the Tigers begin to have successful streaks, and quite frankly people are more willing to spend their money on watching a new Detroit team begin their years as a championship team rather then a team that we're quite used to winning anyway. To make matters worse our economy is terrible, especially in the Detroit region, so theres a very limited amount of money to spend on recreational events, and, keeping in mind what I just said about new teams coming to power and how exciting that is, they're tickets are also way cheaper than Wings' tickets, so its little question where the best value for the average sports' fan's dollar will be. The media problem also isn't helping the Wings' situation. Hockey in general is being portrayed as a washed up sport with nothing left to give. Yes theres alot of fans (like us) who know thats bulls***, but theres also alot of people out there who listen to what the media says. Trust me, if the situations were similar to what they were in the late 90's and the Wings won the cup 3 times within the next 6 years, Dats and Zetterberg and Lidstrom and all them will be looked at with just as much popularity as Shanny and Federov and whoever else people idolized for winning. McCarty was popular for being a hard-ass and beating the s*** out of Lemieux, not for being a Canadian, and if it honestly is about where your born and where you grew up, then why isn't Chelios as popular as Shanny, or Dmac, or Rafalski even: he was born in Michigan. Yes, it is easier to understand their jokes when they have interviews, but it makes little difference determining how many people show up for the games.

Konstantinov hands down, and with that said I think its a wonderful time to add this clip of him leveling one of our good friends in the Avs

Thank god a new Federov thread popped up, the other three weren't satisfying my hunger to talk even more about him

Lets stick with the defensman for playing defense. Also, since when has our defense even needed the extra help?

I really think our team would benefit from his presence more than a lot of people think. Yes hes injury prone, but the guy has been taking all the right steps in preventing anything from getting worse, and Detroit knows how to handle feeble old players better than any team out there. We play smart, not overly physical hockey, and his experience would be a perfect match for the plethora of youth we have, ie Grinky, Flip, Kopetski, Huds. And last time I checked our entire second line was still not accounted for (outside of Drake, but if you're going to count Forsberg out of it, you might as well add Dallas to your has-been won't-show list too). He hasn't really slowed down much if you look at his numbers. Hes still a force to be reckoned with, still knows how to make that key pass, that key shot on net, and hes obviously not afraid to play the body (see last year playoffs). The only think that I'm worried about is his calling to Colorado, and if that ends up being the case, lets hope for the grittiest, craziest victories vs the Avs, cuz I want him to regret his decision.

Apparently he isn't happy with however much Calgary offered him after this season ends. http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/rumors/post/Ki...r?urn=nhl,39703 But the interesting aspect is that he is interested in testing the market; however I'll take that for what its worth (Its just a rumor), although I really can't see him staying in Calgary when they seem to get slightly worse each year. A ton of the people commenting at that site really think/hope/dread he'll end up in Detroit.

Atleast we won't have to worry about him on the opponent's blue line.

Kiprusoff is definitely going to want to go to a playoff contending team; the question is how much is he willing to sacrifice from his pay to get to that team? The Wings have been the top contending team for the past ten years, and our defense is currently one of the best (if not the best) in the league. In addition, our veteran goalie probably wont be playing after this year. Combining those three little aspects and the wings suddenly become a pretty appealing option for 1st tier goalies. Now our priorities lie in Zetterberg and Lidstrom which could potentially lead to problems. However, I can easily see Lids taking a pay cut should he decide to play another year, and Hasek's retiring should open up an extra 2 million (plus whatever incentives we may be in debt to him). I'm on the fence as to how much Zetterberg expects to earn. He knows he can get atleast as much as Dats, probably more because hes heading to be our next captain, but in a couple interviews that I've read with him he says he isn't worried about money, and currently doesn't even think about whether hes getting underpaid. And I know hes a modest athlete and his word can only be taken so far, but it'll still be interesting to see exactly how much he gets. And we could always trade Osgood away (or let him retire too) and bring up Howard to take his place for cheaper to free up some more money (and possibly break Howard into a long successful career with the Wings) In any event, I don't think Kiprusoff is out of the question for Detroit, but we'll definitely have to meet in the middle should it happen to occur. And lets face it, if it does occur, our team will be unstoppable defensively.

Forsberg: he fits the new Bernie mascot suit the Wings just bought.

I wish I had a body like that now

Hes not going to retire after this year. I think he would stay at least until we get Zetterberg locked up for another 5 years or so. But so what that he has nothing else to prove. Nobody plays hockey just to prove a point. Everyone who has ever laced up the skates initially did so for the fun of it, and even though it has become a career for Lids, it would be a very big decision to hang em up after this year, and never play at a level where his skills can flourish. Hes healthy as an ox, especially for a defensman and especially at his age, and although he won't play as long as caveman Chelios, it will be more than just this year.

Actually I just read an article/blog on how ESPN was angry that Bettman didn't want to resign with them, and they were trying to make him regret that decision by sabotaging hockey through the media, including their regular bad-mouthing, claiming that its an "unpopular sport", and ignoring highlights. And because more people arguably watch ESPN than VS, the ratings would have to suffer, which would explain why ESPN is so biased against hockey. Take that for what you will, it definitely isn't from a "professional source", but it does explain the total rudeness that ESPN has given to the nhl. Especially when thinking back on when the nhl was with ESPN: I can't recall any of this negativity. Oh, and for those of you that are saying its bulls*** that ESPN is desperate to get a contract with the NHL, just think about it for a second. Sidney Crosby is one of the biggest things to happen to the nhl, and even ESPN can't ignore that, even if they don't have their contract. Think of how their ratings would be if they could utilize what could potentially be the most popular figure in sports (not hockey, but sports). To say that they're desperate might be an exaggeration, but if they do want to get back with the NHL, I'm sure their desire has skyrocketed since Crosby signed with the Pens.

They said the biggest impact of the players listed, not in general. But nevertheless, I still don't think hes going to find what he wants financially with any of the teams interested out there.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/rumors/post/Re...F?urn=nhl,39024 I'm suprised that Holland is even keeping him in mind still. We have enough defensmen, and were arguably one of the best (if not the single greatest) defensive team for the upcoming season as it. We're tight on cash, and we could still use another forward. I say better luck somewhere else, big guy

I sure hope we don't meet them in the playoffs, we don't even have laser pointers

I really think our money is better spent somewhere else. We lost 2 D and replaced one of them (IMO an improvement to be honest). We also lost 3 forwards, but replaced only one of them (however I'm not optimistic about that replacement). Now right off the bat we see that we have a little amount of money to replace 1 defenseman and two forwards. I don't think our defense was bad at all last year. I do however think we could become more powerful offensively, especially when thinking back to all those 5 on 3s we failed to capitalize on in the playoffs. Our defense right now IS amazing. We have Lidstrom. The GREATEST defensman playing right now, and arguably one of the best to play ever. Kronwall is getting better by the day and isn't afraid of dishing the body out (he just needs to show restraint for his own benefit). Chelios is a veteran with the hockey knowledge and leadership of a 400 year old, but he plays like hes 30. Lilja had an amazing postseason, shutting up just about every critic on this board, as well as Quincy, who did greater than everyone expected him to. Lebda is good enough to rely on, and with Rafalski replacing Schneider, I feel in that respect we've gotten better than last year defensively. And to top it all off, we have Dominik Hasek between the pipes who has proven that age hasn't slowed him down a bit. Spend the money on a forward. We need a build-up there. Either a power forward or a sniper. They would both benefit the wings more than another defensman would. Even Markov.