The Secret

Whaaaaaa? Another Canadian kid?! Nice. This makes me happy. Just hope they all pan out now starting with Smith, the Ferraro kid, then Sheahan... round that out with a few good Yankee in Callahan and McCollum and I like the transformation! Better balance of NA and Euro styles are in the future!

Im confused by why Price signed with them again? Its not like he is getting much more then he would get on the market-and I do believe he'd be a better goalie else were!- but what boggles my brain is that after seeing him play there for a few years and hearing the booooooos sent his way...then hearing his response to the fans after the boooooos, ............HOW THE HELL CAN THIS WORK???   (unless I am missing somthing)

I agree. After spending a few years in Montreal I can honestly say that they are extremely passionate about their team but they are the perfect example of the old saying "a fine line between love and hate". First off I think they should have taken a page out of Hollands book with Price and let him ripen a bit on the farm team, they threw him into the Wolves way to fast and it might have damaged his max potential! Now for him to re-sign in such a hostile environment and expect to improve is going to be a very tall task... high risk/High reward. If he can do it he will be the King of the city, if he can't they will drag him through the streets and cover him with hot poutine! I think Price would have been better going somewhere else... maybe Hockeytown would have been a better home

I just can't imagine Lilja being a top4 Dman in the nhl, he's not good enough. You need more offensive abilities playing top4 minutes.

Lilja started terribly but was comin along quite nicely and slowly was winning me over as a fan before getting injured but he'd never be a top 4. Salei is a better player if he is healthy anyway and for the price he signed at he basically stole the spot away from Lilja. You snooze, you lose!

The unfortunate part is that most wings fans really don't know what it is to be a goaltender.  Save the must-save shots?  To Wings fans, that means no mistakes.  Every goalie makes them.  Control rebounds?  To Wings fans, that means no rebounds.  Every goalie gives up rebounds.  Play a solid all around game?  To Wings fans, this means play solid and no mistakes.  Every goalie makes mistakes.

Lets cut through things here shall we?  The Wings did not lose in the postseason last season because of goaltending.  The Wings team as a whole did not deserve to beat San Jose who came much more prepared than the Wings did.

The Wings goaltending situation is just fine.  The Wings team is just fine.  If the offense and defense in front of Howard/Osgood stays healthy and consistent, the wings will have a 50 win season.


Name me a Number 1 goalie who swallows pucks more effectively and consistently than Howard.

Like Howard, support him... be his secret BFF but your are kidding yourself. His rebound control was terrible, he was caught out of position and bailed out the the team too often, and his 5 hole was as wide as the grand canyon some nights. It was his rookie season in the NHL and he has a lot of improvements to make. No, we did not lose in the playoffs solely because of goal tending but we weren't helped along by it by any means... some nights he was flat out crap. If he has done his work in the off season and worked out some of the bugs then he'll be fine and if he hasn't then he'd better stop listening to his secret BFF's

Although I agree with this to some extent, the NHL is a different beast and HOW many goalies have we seen that exploded onto the scene, only to be out of the NHL altogether in 3 years? (Steve Shields, Brian Boucher - although he kinda had a resurgence last year, Roman Chechmanek, Jim Carey, etc, etc....) the point is, it's all about how he handles it mentally and how consistent he can stay... I think he has shown through college, to GR, to Detroit, that he can handle adversity and let it roll off his shoulders (remember, he almost lost the job in GR to Larsen and came back to have a Calder'esque first season in Detroit, so I don't think he is in that group and I think he will continue to play solid... let's just keep things in perspective and accept the fact that he may still have a few down points in the season... the focus is, and should be, on how he bounces back from it...

....Jose Theodore, Carey Price, Andrew Raycroft
I was not ever 100% confident in Howard and I thought he had multiple area's in need of big improvement but he did seem to have that calm about him and did bounce back from horrible games. I think after having improved even a bit on those glaring problem area's he could be just enough goalie this team will need with the ability to put on a show now and then... very similar to the career of Chris Osgood.

Drew Miller is a great plug... I didn't mind having him on the team but I think we have seen the max of what he can do. We need to gamble now and then and I would gamble on Ritola at the expense of a plug like Miller without even thinking about it. Look at what happened with Leino... he was given time but perhaps not enough. I was one who wanted him off the team but its proven to be the wrong choice. At least give Ritola an opportunity, there will be other Miller types available if the gamble doesnt work.

Wow, this got me. I'm still in disbelief... these video's remind me of what he brought to the team. What a player... and listen to the crowds, its deafening. There will never be another!

Modano is too old! We need to get tougher on the 3rd and 4th lines not older. Unless Modano comes for real cheap...like so cheap that you couldn't turn it down but I doubt that would happen. I would pass on this!

This is exactly the way I read his comments. It almost feels like he's posturing here, seeing if he can get a better deal somewhere else with better minutes, but maybe it's more showing Dallas that someone still wants him. He could just be bitter too, who knows.

Also, I doubt his jersey number is a huge issue. He could end up wearing #10 or #18... or something. My only true gripe with Modano is that he looks like Jon Heder.

YESSSSSSSSSSS! I think he looks like a decroted piece of crap.

Trade... Getzlaf's game is too big to turn down. Nothing against Z but I'd have to make this trade. Getzlaf is unstoppable!

Yeah got forbid someone wants a player that can score over 20 goals at like the age of 22 and also can hit and fight well. That would be horrible for this team.

I don't talk up NA players, i talk up tyough players. This team needs some hard hitters and some tougher players tyo really be the best ethy can br. Its just more often then not the tuogher guys available are Na players. Sorry that I wanna see some grit on this team, I'm sure I'm not the only one in this boat,.

No, your not alone on this. I fully agree with you and I do talk up North American and more importantly Canadian players. I'm Canadian and I Love the way we play the game and I miss having good Canadian players in the mix on our team. I don't hate euro's but for the most part they do play a different style then NA players. My opinion is that we need a better mix! A better mix will give us a more exciting product on the ice... we haven't had what I am looking for since losing Yzerman, Shannahan, Old Mac, a Prime Grind Line. I'd rather see moves made to bring in a Carcillo or Asham rather then sign an unknown Filpula especially since i am not satisfied yet with the current Filpula.

I Hate the BlackHawks.... So I am invoking the curse!

It cooperated fine last month.     playoff masterpiece

Dom's team only lost one game in the playoffs. He won 12 straight games with 3 shut outs to lead his team, Pardubice Eaton, to the Czech Championship.   See avatar.  He was named MVP of the league, top player and top goalie, with ridiculous stats -- in the playoffs and regular season.  

He's fine.  I wish he was still in the NHL.

Good luck, Dom.  Play forever, if you want to.  

I'd like to see a Hasek/Howard tandem! Howard would have gotten tutoring from both Hasek and Osgood and we could actually throw in a goalie that would win his games when given the chance.... Hasek might even be able to snag the lead role from Howard, who knows?!

For me its always been Wings or bust! If the Wings aren't in it then I cheer for no-one. I will watch, I enjoy a good hockey game, and there's no doubt that the Sharks vs Hawks series will be a good one but i really couldn't care less who wins just so long as they beat the hell out of each other.

EDIT: Never mind... I hate the Hawks and I hope they lose

A second round win for a team who were suppose to be eliminated (with ease) by the caps, and then by the pens as well. This team has already won two stanley cups(at least in it's fan's eyes) by eliminating the only two worthy seeds in the East.

Both my old man, and my younger brother are habs fans... while they of course want their team to advance to the SCF, beating both the caps and the pens has pretty much made this a winning season/post-season.




Side note: any Canadian who doesn't acknowledge Quebec as being a part of this great country, is not a true Canadian.

Go live in Quebec and see if you have the same thoughts after living there! They don't consider themselves as a part of our great country so why should we?

On another side note... wait until the winner of the Eastern Conference (doesn't matter who it is) meets the winner of the Western Conference (doesn't matter who it is either) because I have a feeling the Western team will destroy the Eastern without too much trouble! Remove Halak's miraculous performance from Montreal's current play off run and they are swept in the 1st round!

Quebecers are not Canadians

Thank you for acknowledging this, they are not Canadians! France didn't want them, Niether does Canada. Who riots to celebrate getting out of the 2nd round of the playoffs anyway? They barely won the first 2 rounds and haven't won a thing yet! Quebecois continuously find new ways to make them selves look like assholes!

Detroit is not known to be the safest city in America and I was there in 96 when we won the cup and millions of fans spilled into the streets... it was the happiest, friendliest mob of fans ever! No riots, no looting, no fighting, no burning just happy fun celebration by all.... and we won THE CUP!

Not all Habs fans are Quebecois, and that mentality is slowly dying from generation to generation.

I lived there until recently and its not dying nealry as fast as you think... They are a very prejudiced and racist breed and they instill it into their children. I saw it first hand! Being an anglo I was told to "go back to Ontario where I belong" and that they "don't know why they let my kind into Quebec"