RedWingsin2011

Yzerman, with no doubt.
Lets say that you had to have one of these two players to bring your team out of an era of failure, which would do the better job?
Without Yzerman the Wings could very well have maintained the gold standard of fail around the league.
I love me some lids, but he could NOT have been the spark this team needed to reach success.
I draft a rookie Yzerman over a rookie Lids each and every time.

Dont forget that Yzerman was a mad mad point producer, scoring 1040 points before Bowman took over and made him a two way player. Had Yzerman remained the pure scorer he was he would have challenged many records.

10 years before 2 way play by Bowman 1040 points, After Bowman, 12 years 715 points.
Now I'm not arguing that this helped us win our first cup in forever, just that Yzerman unselfishly changed his entire game for this team, and he could have gone on to break records had he decided to not put this team first.

Yzerman is the better Wing and the better player.

Stevie Y...

Stevie Y...

This would be a really solid move for the Wings. Spent almost 2 months of the season down in Florida for work, so I caught quite a few panther games. And all I can say is I was really impressed with what I saw on a nightly basis. He has a pretty hard shot at the point, likes to get involved with the offense, yet seems to be defensively sound. Plus he's young, and presumably we can sign him for a reasonable price.

Well, first and foremost let's hope Lidstrom will go one more year. If he doesn't, then I think it's almost a certainty that Stuart will be re-signed. I know Brad wants to be with his family in California, but with the cap space we have I'm sure Holland will offer him more $ than any of the Cali teams. And the Red Wings 'playoff guarantee' year after year should also help sway his decision. Plus, the deal would likely be only 2-3 years tops, then he can go back to Cali.

I don't think it's really a question of Stuart or Quincey. From what I've heard Holland is definitely sticking with Quincey for the next few years. So it really just comes down to what Lidstrom does, and how much space we have. If Lidstrom does play for one more year (please hockey Gods let it happen), we still have a chance to sign Stuart, but we might not be able to overpay for him. If that happens let's just hope his desire to win more Stanley cups outweighs spending a few more months with his family for just a few more seasons.

He may have great offense, but he doesn't have the defense to warrant him as the best player in the NHL.  You have to be able to do both well for me to consider you the best.

Crosby is arguably the best offensive player in the game right now.  But He's not far and away better than others.  Gotta be careful how we can get carried away with that.  There are talents close to that level as well in the NHL.

With that said, I'm looking forward to him getting Kronwalled in the finals .

If you are talking pure offensively, yes, he is far and away better.  If he hadn't gotten hurt last year, he would likely have scored close to 65 goals and won the scoring title by 30+ points.  If healthy this year, probably even more than that.

17 pts, +12 in 10 games.  Pretty impressive after all the time he's missed.  What he showed before getting hurt last year and in the small sample size this year, no one is even close offensively.  He's good defensively as well, just not the best.  Why do so many people try to argue defensive ability is so much more important than offensive when you are talking about best all-around forward?  I can understand when you are talking about a one-dimensional player, but he's not.

Another point of reference....the players voted him the best a few weeks ago even though he had only played 8 games a few months before the poll.

this season Malkin, last season Malkin/Sedins/Crosby, two seasons ago Ovechkin/Datsyuk, three seasons ago Crosby. Say what you want but to be the best player in the game you have to be able to play the game (be healthy). Crosby has all the potential to be the best.

Crosby is the best offensive player in the NHL.

I edited that to make it right for you. Since offense is the easiest thing to measure people jump to the conclusion that hes the best. Red Wings glasses off hes still behind Pav if you put there all around games up against each other. Besides come playoff time when the hitting picks up I give Crosby a 50/50 shot of lasting the rest of the season. His career is a lot closer to being over than Pavs.

When he's healthy, no one is even close to Crosby. Not Malkin, not Giroux, not Dats, not Toews, not the Sedins, nobody.

Also, it's 5 points in 2 games since coming back.

I hate to say it.

Crosby is the best player in the NHL.

Taking away that the Pens had won 9 games in a row before he came back, the last 2 games he has looked very sharp and made the Pens much better. 4 points in 2 games back after missing all that time is a feat in itself. I honestly can't say that any current Wing could have that kind of output after missing that amount of time, even Datsyuk (the goal last night was heartening, but he can't do it by himself).

I kinda envy the Pens fans right now. They are in a position that seriously makes them SC contenders when their season was in jeopardy a few months ago. And we are down because we might not get home ice advantage in the play-offs that we expect to be in year after year.

Steve Yzerman during ANY season of his career.

Almost brings a tear to my eye. He's been my idol since I was 4 years old back in 1988. What a legend. And for my money the greatest hockey player of all time. Could score with the best of them, yet was amazing defensively. The total package player. And he's somehow very modest. Still really miss the guy. I must admit I did shed tears during his retirement ceremony. I just hope one day he returns to the organization. I will always rock my red CCM Yzerman jersey during the playoffs. What a warrior. STEVE YZERMAN FOREVER

Looks like their team is improving each and every year. I can track back to three years ago when their third line center was Wellwood and they just traded for Boyle. Pavelski was youngser back then. Next year Couture emerged and they signed Malhotra. Still no Cup. Now they have excellent three-centers punch in Thornton, Couture, Pavelski and they just signed big body Handzus. In addition to that they traded for Burns, signed him, and signed White as well. I see then way better than they were last year. Personally, I think there is no way for us to get past them in the play-offs with Helm and Abdelkader as 3rd and 4th line centers. So, the actual question. Does someone see them as champions next year? To be honest, I do. I wouldn't bet a dime if we meet them in the play-offs.