EJ Hradek vs Barry Melrose

[Louisville 112]

Go to ESPN and on the right side watch the "Who is the best NHL team?"

I swear, if the Wings were undefeated Melrose would still have a team higher on his list.. Not that I hate Melrose, it's just too typical of him .

[Dabura 12,232]

To be fair, espn.com's been pretty kind to the Wings this season. They always have, really.

Although I do think keeping the Sens at #1 on this week's power rankings is wack. But whatever.

[Louisville 112]

To be fair, espn.com's been pretty kind to the Wings this season. They always have, really.

Although I do think keeping the Sens at #1 on this week's power rankings is wack. But whatever.

Yeah...I wasn't criticizing ESPN, or that everyone there has to kiss the Wings feet. I just wasn't shocked when Barry came back at EJ with that "Wings jersey is the only thing better" comment.

edit: grammar

Edited November 1, 2007 by Louisville

[auxlepli 17]

Awesome with a capital A!

Hradek said the same think that he wrote in that link I posted a few days ago.

Anyway it's like a mini-PTI. I think they just choose opposing sides to make better TV.

Oh also a link to this week's ESPN Power Ranks as Sens 1, Wings 2.

[Viperar 16]

hahahaha melrose arguments consist of what?

Gerber? Ozzies numbers are right up there with his

Best Line in the NHL? Id argue ZDH battles the Alfie line for best in the NHL

I wouldnt proclaim a winner between ottawa or detroit, but i guess both men have points

[Guest Canadian Wings]

Go to ESPN and on the right side watch the "Who is the best NHL team?"

I swear, if the Wings were undefeated Melrose would still have a team higher on his list.. Not that I hate Melrose, it's just too typical of him .

exactly what i thought...as soon as i saw melrose in that segment i knew he wouldnt agree with hradek...he's so anti-wings its not even funny. he'd only give the wings credit if he really has too!

[mannysBETTER3434 1]

I love Melrose and Hradek. Both do solid jobs. Please NHL go back to ESPN!

[TheBadOne 0]

Yeah, I think that Melrose's points were a bit weak (Redden and Phillips over Lidstrom and Rafalski? Please!), but I guess it would be boring to watch 60 seconds of two guys pretty much saying "Go Wings" who aren't Mickey or Kenny.

Side note: I miss Ken Daniels' style out here; him screaming "GREAT STOP OSGOOD!!! " or "PUT THAT IN YOUR HIGHLIGHT REEL!" to the point where the microphone clips for one reason or another never gets old to me. We do, however, have Dave Strader and Darren Pang here in Phoenix, so I can't complain too much (they had a interview with Yzerman during the last Detroit-Phoenix telecast, that was nice.)

I do, however, think Ottawa's the best in the East and both teams have a solid roster. I think that the best thing that could happen for the sport, the league, and for the entertainment of hockey fans everywhere is if Detroit and Ottawa ended up facing off for the 2008 Stanley Cup Finals.

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

well, it's pretty hard to argue with a 9-1-0 record. but as far as sens first line being better than zdh, here are the stats:

zdh- 50 points and are a +23 in 13 games which averages out to 3.9 points and a +1.8 per game

hsa- 38 points and a +10 in 10 games with averages out to 3.8 and a +1 per game.

so zdh has a very slight scoring advantage, but it plays in the notoriously more stingy conference-advatntage zdh

zdh is about +.8 better a game +/-, so if you put any stock in that stat, zdh is better defensively-advantage zdh

it looks like zdh is the better line for now

as for the sens are deeper, they are getting 5.2 points a game from players other than their top line, wings are getting 5.3. we'll call that a wash.

the sen's defense better than detroit's? thats a long shot, i'm not going to look up stats, but i think we have them there considering our shot differential is nearly double that of any other team.-advantage detroit

i have to go with gerber in goal so far, though osgoods been awesome-advantage sens

it's a tight call, but as of now i'd call detroit the better team.

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

i should also mention schedule. really the only good team the sens have played so far is carolina, they lost that game. then canadiens are decent, too, but that was a close game. every other team they've played has been pretty s*** terrible so far this year.

[KillerB14 2]

Doesn't anyone realize how these segments works? They were talking about who is the best NHL team and they're gonna use conflicting points to start a discussion. They have two teams with similar dominant records and numbers, of course they are going to have two different anchors talk them up. Yes, Melrose doesn't favor the Wings and I've seen plenty of it but in this situation it seems you're just nitpicking.

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

Go to ESPN and on the right side watch the "Who is the best NHL team?"

I swear, if the Wings were undefeated Melrose would still have a team higher on his list.. Not that I hate Melrose, it's just too typical of him .

Well, i'll probably get flamed for saying it but I actually like Melrose because I think he really knows his hockey. He's an old school, NA type of hockey guy so he likes teams that are tougher. And frankly, the Wings would never be listed as a tough team by any rational person at anytime over the past 5 years. Melrose likes his teams to be skilled, but he likes them to also be big, mean, nasty to play against and a team that has guys that, (and let's just call a spade a spade here), he likes teams that will fight. I think, because of his background, history, experience, he believes that to win it you gotta be tougher than the other guy, so I can see why he might prefer a team that has a Mike Fisher, a Chris Neil, a Brian McGratton, etc..

Which team is the best? If we don't play each other you can't say. Offensively, I think its pretty close. However, and lets just not ignore the stats, Heatly, Alfie and Spez are the most productive line around, aren't they? I mean, yeah, right now we're beating them but its a long way to go. Last year all there Sens were in the top 15 in scoring, Dats was tied for that spot. Hank and Homer weren't even close. Look at 2 years ago and Heatley and Alfie were 4th and 5th in the league and Spez was had 90 points in only 68 games. Until our boys finish on top at the end of the year, IMO the most prolific line is the Sens line.

Defensively, its close as well. You look at Ottawa and they don't really have slouches over there. Redden, Phillips, Corvo, Meszaros, Schubert (way underrated), Volchenkov (way underrated as well and the league's best shot blocker) and Luke Richardson who is at the end of the line but is still tougher than anyone we have on D.

Goaltending: if health was no concern, we win hands down. Although Gerber and Emery have both been in the playoffs, Emery took his boys to the Finals and Gerber had a rougher go in Carolina but he was having a great season. I'd still take Dom and Ozzie