McAwesome

is this guy a leafs fan or something? no way lebda is better than salei

Agreed.  Lebda may be younger, but that's the only advantage he has.  About the only thing Lebda does better than Salei is suck.  Also, he says Salei has a Stanley Cup ring, when did he win that?  In 2003 with Anaheim?  I'm pretty sure that's the only time he's sniffed the Finals.

I love your wean-on strategy.

Thanks, I didn;t really plan it that way, but I saw that the Wings would be in Tampa that preseason and I really wanted to go, and my wife wasn't too enthusiastic because she knew nothing about the game, so I had those 2 DVDs and asked if she wanted to watch them to learn more.  Boy am I glad I did, now she shows my son the Stanley Cup DVDs (2002 & 2008) and one of his first words was hockey.

How can I lobby to get you to change your avatar? lol

Motion seconded, pleased get rid of that disturbing thing.

Osgood will be turning 38 this November and his contract is up after this season, so it is no surprise that people are already speculating that he will retire.  I don't remember reading anywhere about Ozzie himself mentioning retirement, but he really doesn't have anything else to prove, other than perhaps wanting to win another cup before he retires.  I hope he earns more playing time this season, he has a realistic shot at passing Grant Fuhr and Glenn Hall on the all-time wins list, and if he splits the starts pretty evenly with Howard, he may even catch Tony Esposito, pretty much guaranteeing himself a place in the HHOF.

He's talking about this.

Meh, that was nice, but that wouldn't even make Stevie Y's top 10.

Since so many have been quoting stats to make their arguments, I decided to look at their numbers on a per-season basis rather than their whole career and here's what I found:

Yzerman and Sakic both had 6 100-point seasons, look at the difference

Yzerman: 155, 137, 127, 108, 103, 102
Sakic: 120, 118, 109, 105, 102, 100

As someone else pointed out, only 2 players have ever recorded more points in a single season than Yzerman's 155.

Top 5 goal totals

Yzerman: 65, 62, 58, 51, 45
Sakic: 54, 51, 48, 48, 41

Again, advantage Yzerman.

Basically, what it boils down to is that Yzerman had the higher peak, while Sakic's peak lasted longer.  You can attribute Yzerman's "decline" to a combination of injury and coaching style, but for a long time he was the only good player on his team, whereas Sakic had a better supporting cast for longer.

From a purely objective view, the slight advantage goes to Yzerman, but as a Wings fan and more importantly as someone who grew up idolizing him, there is no contest, Yzerman hands down.

If Babcock is trying to create 3 scoring lines and a grind/shutdown line, this is not the group of forwards to do it with, there are not enough scorers to fill 3 lines, plain and simple.

If you go with something like this:

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom
Hudler/Filppula/Franzen
Bertuzzi/Abdelkader/Cleary
Eaves/Helm/whomever

that gives us 2 stacked scoring lines and 2 wreckingball lines that also have some scoring potential.

No way Hudler or Filppula are going to be bumped down to the 3rd line in favor of Bertuzzi, at least not on a regular basis.  Putting Bertuzzi together with Cleary and Abs will be one heck of a hard line to play against, they may not be the most scary line in terms of skill, but all 3 will crash the net (hopefully not all at the same time) and wear the opposing unit down, even if they spend their entire shift chasing the puck in the offensive zone, that is what a grinding line is supposed to do, forecheck and hit.  The 4th line of Helm and Eaves + whoever will be our shut-down line, and having 2 4th-liners who hit double-digit goals last season is nothing to scoff at.

I'm actually in the camp that I don't know how effective coach's can be when they were former teammates of the players they're coaching and I'd also like to see a guy work his way into the AHL and up from there, rather than just getting a spot on the big stage right out of the gate, but with Chelios, he has such a great hockey mind and was viewed as an elder statesman by all his teammates anyway, that it might break the mold and work...

One thing about Chelios, is that regardless of how confident he is, he's never been one to expect to be handed anything (hence being willing to play in the AHL last year) and I don't think he'd have ANY problem being an assistant, or even lower to start to be honest...

I'm also in the camp that I want McCrimmon gone one way or another, but I think Chelios will eventually be a coach in this league anyway and I would have no problem with this move...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't Dan Bylsma teammates with some of the players he coached on last years's Penguins team?  I'm not saying I disagree with you completely, but most of the players that would consider Chelios a peer (Except maybe Lidstrom, Draper, and Holmstrom) are already retired or no longer with the team.  On the topic, I definitely agree that anyone could do a better job than McCrimmon, and if anyone can get hired as an NHL assistant without prior coaching experience, it's Chelios, he was practically a player-coach when he played, and his hockey knowledge, more importantly his knowledge of defensive strategy, would be a huge improvement.

If he can be had for less than 1mil, Moreau would be the perfect fit on the 4th line, he may not be the heavy that some feel we need, but he definitely has the Dallas Drake style of play, and we could absolutely use another hard-hitting, shot-blocking, gritty forward who will stand up for his teammates.  As for the other players mentioned, no thanks.

1) Versus and NBC will run more ads featuring Crosby lifting the Cup than Toews, sparking infinite anti-Crosby threads, and Carman's post count will triple as a result.

2) If we stay healthy, we have a realistic shot at winning the division, especially with the depth that Chicago is likely to lose due to their cap situation.  

3) Tampa Bay will make the playoffs and upset a division winner in the first round.

4) Toronto will make the playoffs (that's right, I said it).

5) Either Crosby or Ovechkin will be injured and unable to play in the outdoor game, ruining Uncle Gary's grand scheme.

6) Canada will have to wait yet another year for a Cup winner.

7) Very few people will be happy about Holland's free agent moves.

8) One of this season's division winners in the West will finish out of the playoffs.

I had to pick Avery, and here's why:

Pronger today is still an above average defenseman, but he is not as dominant as he once was, so the gag factor would not be outweighed by his contribution.

Carcillo is too much of a loose cannon, his value of being an agitator and grinder would be wasted by spending too much time in the box, not exactly Red Wings style of hockey.

Tootoo doesn't really have enough upside in any category, offensive, defensive, fighting, etc. to make me want him on this team.

Avery, on the other hand, has shown that he has some offensive touch, and everything he does to agitate is cool and calculated, he rarely takes "stupid" penalties unlike the other forwards in the poll, and plus, aside from the off-ice comments, he reminds me a lot of how I played the game, always trying to get in the opponents head.

Pros of next season: It is a clean slate

Cons of next season: It is 4 months away

Tonight, NBC proudly presents this .



Go !

WTF was NBC thinking?  At least we know that the Cup won't be awarded on Versus, yet another sign that the NHL needs to dump their current TV deal ASAP.

Hartnell is one fugly human being, or an average-looking ape.

^It's the internet man, sadly this is the prime place to go to say stupid s*** just to get a reaction.

Yeah, I know, I just had to put my 2 cents in.  I'll admit that I often laugh at some of the outrageous things said on here and on the internet in general, but the sanctity of life is one topic which I tend to have no sense of humor about.

Human life is precious, and any untimely death, whether by accident, illness, or a conscious decision to take or end a life, is tragic.  Ron McLean is a hero and should be recognized as such, as should the unnamed bystander who also jumped in to help.

OK, public service announcement over, I'll let you get back to your morbid humor

So far this offseason is proving to be boring, which doesn't instill me with a lot of excitement about what the team's going to look like when winter rolls along.  A winning team yes, but much beyond that is wishful thinking as you never know what six months from now is going to bring.  I'm really not worked up one way or another at this point.  

I am becoming concerned about the lack of young talent entering the team with the same old faces still hanging around that aren't getting any younger or more talented.  I heard grumblings from my father earlier that Maltby is being considered for resigning, (not sure...)and as much as I appreciate what Malts has done in the past for this franchise, I have serious doubts as to what more he can do, along with a host of guys that we've had here for long enough to see what they're going to be able to do.  I sincerely hope that there's going to be some emergence of some kind next season, but as I stated before you never know what six months from now will bring.

Bolded: it's not really the offseason yet, the Finals are still going on, the draft is not for 3 weeks and free agency signing doesn't start until next month.  Holland has done what he can for now, talking to players who are under contract but up for renewal, making qualifying offers, etc.  I don't expect much excitement until July 1st, and even then I don't expect much from the Red Wings as Holland has already stated his intentions, re-sign Homer, Bert, some of our RFAs, and add a 3rd/4th line player in the mold of Dallas Drake.  Unless Bert walks and we have the money to go after a top 6 guy like Plekanec or Lombardi, I don't anticipate much fireworks.

Underlined: I don't have time to dig up the links, but Maltby and Holland have both been quoted as saying that it's a foregone conclusion that he won't be back next year and if he does play another year it will be elsewhere.