Matt

Okay, who let Mike Ditka into the room?

Here's the flip of this topic.  Pens fans talking about us getting Parise and Suter...

http://www.letsgopen...php?f=1&t=59084

Mostly "Duuurr-huuuur, who wanna live in Detroit? Derp, derp" type nonsense.

If I were to wager to guess I'd see Suter signing for around $7.25-million. (The Wings are likely going to have to be willing to throw out any self-imposed salary "caps", like Lidstrom's, out the window if they want to be anywhere in the conversation Sunday.) Parise I think would net at (or slightly above) $7.75-million. Get 7-8 year contracts and maybe bump that cap number down. Wings will absolutely front-load those contracts if they need to (within the rules), something that Pittsburgh seemingly isn't willing to do. Ilitch doesn't have any issues with doing that, so that's in our favor.

I think one thing they'll have to really push is the new arena -- the Joe isn't really a selling point. Part of the "program" sell for this club is going to have to be something with a new facility coming within the next few years, because the Joe simply cannot compete as a facility with the likes of Consol Energy Center, or Xcel Energy Center for that matter. Part of that "new era" of an Original 6 club dedicated to winning Cups, treating its players like kings...

Can Holland fly out to Parise's place in Minneapolis by noon on Sunday, and Babcock to Madison for Suter?

Due to popular request I've added back the Red Wings news headlines feature that was present in the last message board version. This one comes with a few differences, however. You can see it by scrolling to the top of the page and clicking on the "Show News" tab. The page content pushes down slightly to display three different sets of news feeds: Detroit Media, Red Wings Bloggers, and Wings on the Web.

The "Detroit Media" is a feed displaying the most recent articles from the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and mLive (Booth Newspapers). The "Red Wings Bloggers" feed displays the latest stories from The Malik Report, Red Wings Central, Abel to Yzerman, The Production Line, DetroitHockey.net and others (as many as I could get working -- some I wanted to add didn't have valid RSS feeds). The final "Wings on the Web" column is a Google News feed that gathers the most recent headlines across the web that are focused on the Red Wings.

I hope you guys like the addition, which is expanded greatly from what the past version was!

Due to popular request I've added back the Red Wings news headlines feature that was present in the last message board version. This one comes with a few differences, however. You can see it by scrolling to the top of the page and clicking on the "Show News" tab. The page content pushes down slightly to display three different sets of news feeds: Detroit Media, Red Wings Bloggers, and Wings on the Web.

The "Detroit Media" is a feed displaying the most recent articles from the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and mLive (Booth Newspapers). The "Red Wings Bloggers" feed displays the latest stories from The Malik Report, Red Wings Central, Abel to Yzerman, The Production Line, DetroitHockey.net and others (as many as I could get working -- some I wanted to add didn't have valid RSS feeds). The final "Wings on the Web" column is a Google News feed that gathers the most recent headlines across the web that are focused on the Red Wings.

I hope you guys like the addition, which is expanded greatly from what the past version was!

Please note: You will likely have to clear your browser's cache (to force the latest version of the site's CSS file) to view the new feature correctly. You should be able to do this by hitting Ctrl+F5.

It appears as though the media tag was consolidated under the "Special BB Code" button (it is the top row, third from the left that looks like a photo -- right before the "Font" dropdown). Inside that pop-up you can select the media you wish to insert and then paste it in the corresponding box. It'll handle YouTube and a variety of other embedded media.

At the bottom of the page there is a "Change Theme" link. Click on it to change between the Red/White themes.

Well, blame Lidstrom for retiring for some of the delay. All of the template graphics were done -- with him in color -- then he went up and retired on me and I had to fade him out. The nerve of that guy, I swear!

Thanks for the comments, everyone. There'll be some adjustments that will continue to occur on the forums over the next few days to help ease the transition a bit.

As you've undoubtedly noticed, things look a bit different around here! The LGW Forums have underwent the biggest upgrade since 2010 and there are a lot of significant changes -- far more than I think I could meaningfully gather into this post. Many you'll notice as you continue to surf the forums as many of the enhancements are functional. Bullets:

There are currently two "main" template skins, labeled "White" (the default one) and "Red"
You're free to switch among them as you see fit by clicking on the "Change Theme" link at the bottom of the page.

Removal of profile pictures
IP.Board opted to merge the two into one avatar, and as of the last update I believe that remote-linking of images for avatars is no longer permitted (security risk).

Speed
The forums should show some significant speed improvements. Some of this is due to inline updating: Posts can be added to threads seamlessly. I'll continue to try to make as many speed improvements to the forums as I can.

More integration with social media
You'll see the ability to add topics to your Facebook/Twitter accounts.

Rep System replaced with "Like" button
No more +/- functionality as it has been replaced with a "Like this Post" button.

Topic Preview
When viewing the forum index (like 'General Discussion' here), you can mouseover a topic and see a dark gray down arrow icon appear to the right -- click it to expand the topic to view the first few posts before going to the topic page itself.

TapaTalk functionality is BACK
Some members have been clamoring for it to return as a mobile viewing option, so here it is. TapaTalk is now compatible with the forum (in addition to the standard Mobile theme that's also available if you're still looking for an easy mobile browsing solution.)

Custom Topic Tags
Options vary by forums and by member group, but there are now customized topic tags (or 'badges'). In the past it was limited to "PINNED" and "POLL", but I've expanded that to include "GDT" (for Game Day Threads), "SIGNED" for *official* signings, and "TRADE" for topics discussing an official trade. (Do not abuse this ability! It's a great visual aid for visitors of the forums and those that abuse it will be promptly suspended/banned.)

Better Spam Protection
All new registrations are IP checked against a known spam list remotely hosted and updated. This should help eliminate a large number of spammers that manually attempt to register and stops them before even seeing the registration form.

New Profile "Statistics" Tab
Just what it says: No see just how addicted you are to LGW by looking at your recorded posting habits by time of day and by forum activity.

Gallery Link added to Profile
A new "Gallery" tab has been added to your User Profile, for quick access to see what user's have uploaded and shared with the community.

Topic "Tags"
These replace the the topic subtitle (the smaller, gray text that was present on the last version). You can enter up to 10 per topic, separated by commas. Use vital keywords describing the topic, like a player name, team, etc., and it'll help catalog forum topics more efficiently to help search engine spiders and the search feature here work more efficiently.


There are plenty more, and I'll add to this thread as I can -- right now I'll be tending to little bug fixes here and there that tend to pop up following a major upgrade like this. (Also, if any members see something I didn't mention, please feel free to add it here!)

I don't think it really matters where he's traded to in the event he is prior to July 1. He can still switch hands prior to July 1 if the team he's initially traded to doesn't sign him. Personally, I think he'd be dumb to not wait until July 1st if he gets traded to another club besides Detroit. The money, term, minutes, organization and track record lines up perfectly with everything that Suter has either hinted to in the press (in terms of market, commitment to winning) or through media sources. There are plenty of indirect ways to drop Suter hints about an offer coming his way without violating any bylaws.

Well, because it is a waste.  Perhaps we should discuss if we need oxygen to breathe, next.  

I don't recall appointing you the individual responsible for determining what is and isn't "worthy" of being a new thread. We won't be suppressing opinions today, regardless if 99% of the membership agrees on a certain individual. All that guarantees is that the topic will slowly get bumped off the first page eventually, unless someone decides to continually debate its merit for no legitimate reason and bumps it.

Likely well below what he'd get on the open market.

Wow, I didn't expect to stop in and see this -- thanks guys! But honestly, you all should be patting yourselves on the shoulders: It's the people that make up the community that have made this place work over the last 15 years. The moderators here, while not always universally liked deserve the REAL round of applause as they've been fantastic in helping to keep the site humming along as efficiently as possible.

Thank you, mods! You guys do a great job and the site wouldn't exist without them. Thank you, fans! Without you guys here this community just wouldn't work the way it has!