jawbreaker

It's always nice to have Zetterberg and Hossa on the 2nd line Wings win, but it will be a close game. Something like 3-2, maybe OT, or SO.

Rather strange order IMHO. Yzerman over Lidstrom? And it sure seems that Kelly has to be higher than #7. Top 10 dman of all-time should be higher and should be retired by the Red Wings. I agree, that 3 players from each era is a wise choice. Plus, maybe Datsyuk and Zetterberg in the future (if they win a Cup and two, and will show the same level of play for 4-5 years).

Okay... after some looong technical problems, i'm back in business... and i'll try to resurrect the SEL thread. I'm happy that Kindl is back on track, but why is Ericsson just average. Maybe he is disappointed that he didn't make the DRW, and is just sick of AHL? So there is a lack of effort. If Haydar is as bad as you guys say (well... he is leading the team in points, but is -13), then maybe they should give Mursak a chance. Plus, I wonder why they gave him the C. One of our old guys should wear it, not a career AHLer, who is in his first season with the Griffins. Leino... What did you guys expected? He was one of the best players in Finland. He was never meant to be another Grigorenko (who was, and still is below-average player in Russia). European leagues are pretty good, and have some great talent. It's not just NHL and AHL.

Yeah, this draft rule is really stupid. But I have a feeling that if Detroit signs him, then he will spend another season in Sweden. Dick Axelsson is already signed, but he plays this year in SEL. I can read out of this, that you guys are pretty pissed off, that young talent leaves SEL, and goes to North America. I know that Russians are totally pissed off, but a lot youngsters leave Russia, 'cos they can't get enough ice-time in KHL.

Seems that the Red Wings know a thing, or two about drafting Let's hope that he keeps up his point-per-game production. He will probably spent two more years in juniors. Actually I'm glad that we draft everything, or nothing - I mean he could be a huge steal, or never pan out. It's a lot easier to sign 3rd and 4th liners, than superstars. So we have to steal them from draft.

— Pavel Datsyuk has to be the best player in hockey right now. (Red Wings Corner)

Great posts GordieSid&Ted, egroen! Datsyuk scores a lot of points, hits when needed, blocks shots, leads the league in takeaways & +/-, is right up there in assists, plays on the PK, doesn't take penalties, stays healthy, makes people say: omg how the **** he did that, gives 100% every shift. It would be a crime to ask more.

Thanks for the info. According to scouting reports Joakim Andersson is projected as a shut-down center, but it's will be hard to develop for him, if he can't get ice-time. Plus, teams current position, and lack of chemistry on the 4th line is not helping to increase that ice-time. If team is doing so bad, then there is a chance that coach will get fired. Are there any talks about this? I'm sure that Dick Axelsson is our best prospect in Europe, he might be best goal-scoring prospect in the system. But guys like Mursak have something to say about that.

Funny... You say all this like it's 100% for sure. Voters disagreed. Datsyuk won by such a big margin, that it's not even funny. And Zetterberg was third. It's only your opinion dude, but you say it like Z got robbed, or something. IMHO Datsyuk deserved that Selke, he was our best forward last year, and he is our best forward this year. Zetterberg is probably better at playing defense in his own-end. Datsyuk plays it better in neutral zone, and offensive zone. I value neutral zone, adn offensive zone defense more, 'cause very often you have a great scoring chance after that.

I will try to keep an eye on our SEL prospects. I'll be updating the stats. If there are some Swedes, who can actually watch the games, then it would be great if they could contribute in this topic. We have 4 prospects in SEL: Anton Axelsson and Jesper Samuelsson from Timrå Dick Axelsson from Djurgårdens (DIF) Joakim Andersson from Frölunda Today HV 71 - Djurgårdens 2-2 Dick Axelsson sent the game to OT with his goal. He had three shots on goal, and logged 16:18 TOI. If I'm not mistaken, he has 2 goals in 5 games this season. Match report has Axelsson on the 3rd line, but by the ice-time he was second LW on his team. Frölunda HC - Färjestad BK 2-2 Joakim Andersson is playing on the 4th line. He is scoreless this season, but in today's game he logged only 03:51 TOI.

He did not managed to score a point, yesterday. But despite that Barys owned 3-0 Dinamo Riga. RWC writes that Stolyarov is a Viktor Kozlov-type player. If you say Viktor Kozlov, then I think about a guy who has good size, great skills and terrific hockey sense, but is inconsistent (read: lazy) as hell. We already had that kinda Russian prospect couple of years ago. He didn't pan out. I wonder why Stolyarov started to play great hockey in Astana. 1. Astana is a weaker team, so coach gives him a chance to play. 2. Maybe guy realized that if he will not start to put up some points in Astana, then he will drop out of KHL. 3. Moscow is a lot more attractive city than Astana. So much more to do there. Maybe Stolyarov is working his ass off instead of having a good time. I noticed that he is the last Russian, who we have drafted. We have a pretty sad history with drafting Russians (I'm talking about time, when everybody scouted Russia, not about Feds, Vladdy, Kozzie). Only two prospects worked out well. Datsyuk was a jackpot, and Dmitri Bykov is one of the best dman in Russia. All other prospects are bums. Despite that I still don't understand why we didn't draft K. Petrov this year. I know that he has a contract in Russia, but we have time. We could have wait. This kid is a stud (many Russian experts rate him as high as Filatov), and he went in the 3rd round.

It's 2008 already, and D-Mac is an AHLer. Kopecky > D-Mac

I'm not telling that he was performing all those years as a #1 center. He wasn't. But when the Ducks signed him, he was a #1 center. Some players do not perform after signing a big contract. That is the risk with those long-term deals. Look at Drury, he is playing on the third line. New team, new system. Based on those 5 games Fedorov is not overpaid in Washington. We can talk about overpayment if he will be stuck on the third line, but if he's playing as a top4 dman then he is far from overpaid. Stuart is getting almost as much as Feds, but IMHO Feds is a better dman than Stuart. In July we all thought that Stuart for this price is a steal.

In the Quacks, and CBJ he got paid as #1 center indeed, but when he signed that contract he was a #1 center. But maybe I misunderstood GS&T, 'cos English is only my third language.