2003 Top Line VS. 2013 Top Line

[Guest The Axe]

Who would you rather have in 2013-14 and why?

[Guest Crymson]

Who would you rather have in 2013-14 and why?

I don't think Shanahan, Fedorov, and Yzerman would be particularly useful as a 1st line right now. Yzerman can't even skate.

[Guest DeGraa55]

I don't think Shanahan, Fedorov, and Yzerman would be particularly useful as a 1st line right now. Yzerman can't even skate.

Lol no kidding.

[Guest The Axe]

2003 players where they were in 2003.

[Euro_Twins 4,475]

2003 players where they were in 2003.

Obvious answer. In their respective years, 2003

[Guest The Axe]

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Fredo is sick, too.

[Euro_Twins 4,475]

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Fredo is sick, too.

Shanny hull and feds combined for 103 goals all scoring 30 and more. So Ya 2003

[Guest The Axe]

Shanny hull and feds combined for 103 goals all scoring 30 and more. So Ya 2003

Tough to beat that.

[Guest DeGraa55]

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Fredo is sick, too.

that won't be the top Line lol.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Yzerman was injured most of 2003, so that wasn't the top line. It was the top line in the playoffs, but that ended in disaster.

Still, I'd rather have that line. Three of my favorite players on one line.

[Guest Crymson]

2003 players where they were in 2003.

Yzerman couldn't really skate back then either. He missed most of the 2002-2003 season.

[Wings3:16 318]

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Fredo is sick, too.

Love that nickname!

[DickieDunn 2,571]

Who plays on the top line is pretty fluid. Fedorov, Shanahan, Hull, Draper, Maltby, and Zetterberg were the top 6 in terms of time on ice. Fedorov, Shanahan, Hull, Datsyuk, Larionov, and Zetterberg were the top 6 forwards by points.

[P. Marlowe 748]

Did Hull really play with Feds and Shans in 2003? Was it that or the previous season when the "Two Kids and a Goat" line dominated?

Shans-Feds-Huls would cost quite a bit more than Zets-Dats-Abs. Abs is cheap and unlike Dats and Zets Feds took no "hometown discounts".

[_SP_ 129]

Who plays on the top line is pretty fluid. Fedorov, Shanahan, Hull, Draper, Maltby, and Zetterberg were the top 6 in terms of time on ice. Fedorov, Shanahan, Hull, Datsyuk, Larionov, and Zetterberg were the top 6 forwards by points.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEGOOOOORRRRR.

(Yeah, I know it is with an I. But that would look weird.)

[VM1138 1,921]

Hull played on the "Two Kids and a Goat Line" first in 2001-2002, with Boyd Devereaux and Pavel Datsyuk. I didn't see much of the 2003 season, but I think he played with Zetterberg and Datsyuk there, too, and the line had the same name.

[StormJH1 231]

Yeah, I was going to say, there really isn't a defined "top line", and if there were, Yzerman and Fedorov probably weren't both on it in 2003.

Wasn't Abdelkader basically on the "top line" for the end of 2013 and the Playoffs. Somebody's gotta carry the piano!

[Richdg 267]

It is really eye opening to see the different levels of talent between 03 and now. Even our best player today are not as good as our top guys then. But that is part of the reason why we are going downhill and it has been 5 years since our last cup. We really need Mantha and the next couple of years 1st rounders to turn out.

[Marty Barry 230]

It is really eye opening to see the different levels of talent between 03 and now. Even our best player today are not as good as our top guys then. But that is part of the reason why we are going downhill and it has been 5 years since our last cup. We really need Mantha and the next couple of years 1st rounders to turn out.

Agree. After the '97 Cup Scotty said "We got a little less pretty and a little more gritty", or words to that effect. I think that right NOW, we are pretty enough, if we can get a little gritty, then we are golden. Especially in the east.

[Euro_Twins 4,475]

Agree. After the '97 Cup Scotty said "We got a little less pretty and a little more gritty", or words to that effect. I think that right NOW, we are pretty enough, if we can get a little gritty, then we are golden. Especially in the east.

We've played much more gritty this year. Tatar will help out with that too

[Guest Crymson]

It is really eye opening to see the different levels of talent between 03 and now. Even our best player today are not as good as our top guys then. But that is part of the reason why we are going downhill and it has been 5 years since our last cup. We really need Mantha and the next couple of years 1st rounders to turn out.

Guess what? The salary cap didn't exist back then, and Detroit could spend more than almost any other team.

Agree. After the '97 Cup Scotty said "We got a little less pretty and a little more gritty", or words to that effect. I think that right NOW, we are pretty enough, if we can get a little gritty, then we are golden. Especially in the east.

Yeah, it's a good thing we got rid of that scrub Lidstrom. He wasn't gritty at all.

[55fan 5,133]

With Flip gone, the pretty factor took a nose-dive.

Oh, well. As long as pretty isn't replaced by something else that rhymes with gritty.

The problem with looking at the past is that nostalgia tends to be rose-coloured. We look back at the greats from that time and remember how great they were in their best moments. And, man, those were some seriously great moments.

Ten years from now, we'll look back and think about Pav and Z and we won't remember the first round exits. We'll remember the '08 cup. Hopefully we'll have a few more cups to remember from those two.

The 2003 team was a bunch of superstars who figured out how to work together and do it well. They were great, but the best thing about the 2003 team was what they did in 2002. I'd still take them back in a heartbeat if they could be restored to their 2003 form.

[Euro_Twins 4,475]

With Flip gone, the pretty factor took a nose-dive.

Oh, well. As long as pretty isn't replaced by something else that rhymes with gritty.

The problem with looking at the past is that nostalgia tends to be rose-coloured. We look back at the greats from that time and remember how great they were in their best moments. And, man, those were some seriously great moments.

Ten years from now, we'll look back and think about Pav and Z and we won't remember the first round exits. We'll remember the '08 cup. Hopefully we'll have a few more cups to remember from those two.

The 2003 team was a bunch of superstars who figured out how to work together and do it well. They were great, but the best thing about the 2003 team was what they did in 2002. I'd still take them back in a heartbeat if they could be restored to their 2003 form.

Yzerman still wouldn't be able to skate if he wad in 2003 form

[55fan 5,133]

Yzerman still wouldn't be able to skate if he wad in 2003 form

Ok, then. I'll take a 1990's Yzerman, hold the mustard.

[The Secret 304]

2003