frankgrimes

 

I truly believe that Homer's retirement has gone massively, massively under-recognized.

 

The coaching staff still appear to be implementing an offensive system that saw Lidstrom launch slap-passes at the net and try for a Homer tip or rebound. The only problem with this is that they are missing two key parts to it; namely, Lidstrom and Homer.

Very good point I fully agree just wanted to add something:

The Detroit Red Wings used to outskill almost every other team, these guys aren't prepared to work hard and grind it out nor does Babcock haas the roster to do it. I always thought, that Holmer was extremely underrated, he was one of the best ever to position himself in front of the net and screen the goalie, we have no one even close to that category now.

Going forward this team needs to become a hardnosed defense first team, because sadly they aren't going to outskill anyone for quite some time, they are getting outskill and outworked (which does bother me way more) ,because a bubble playoffteam should work their hardest at this time of the year.

Hart - Alexander Ovechkin

Vezina - Craig Anderson

Norris - Ryan Suter

Selke - Jonathan Toews

Masterton - Josh Harding

Richard - Steven Stamkos

Jack Adams - Paul MacLean (Senators are still in the hunt without Spezza, Karlson, weeks without Anderson just unbelievable)

Lady Byng - Pavel Datsyuk

I really hope Smith starts getting in form soon.  He's been tossed around a lot this season with different pairings, and I think it's been bad for his development.  I forget who has it in their signature, but it says that DeKeyser and Smith will be paired up next season.  I hope they are correct because I think that would be a good pair.

I like that pairing extremely but  I am still angry at not giving Smith some time with an alltime top 3 defenseman last season. It would have helped his development soo much just too bad it didn't happen.

Anyway, I just don't understand why Holland didn't trade White and Filps both won't be cap next season, so why not get a first and at least a 3 rd for this duo?!

It is simple really, Wings need to win at least 3 of the next 5 and take the other two to overtime like someone mentioned. Anyway, I wouldn't be pissed if they missed because a chance at the first overall would be great and who cares what tank to win teams are saying about the RedWings? This franchise still has broken records and provided so much great hall of fame player there aren't many others who have been done that.

Let these bandwagoners brag about it, once this joke of a league is fixed the Wings will be back s tronger than ever. Imagine if this team gets a top 10 pick and gunning for the cup in two or 3 years again :-)

I'm dying for an uninteresting finals and toilet ratings for that very season. at some point it will happen.

I so hope it is this year, best thing would be something like Dallas versus Carolina, maybe then the owners and other responsible people will come to their senses. One can still hope right?

 

agreed. they've been lucky with parity so far with good finals matchups. but good luck with the ratings when we see a nashville vs florida finals

Somehow I wish this would happen, just to show the NHL how damn wrong they are with their parity BS.

Lets just hope. the watered down Winter Classic is going to fail and therefoore the experiment will be over after next year.

Watched the whole press conference, boy I've seen arrogant idiots giving pressers but Lowe is just in another league, what a SOB. So great you've won a lot of Stanley Cups (bypasser) but that doesn't mean anything in terms of management qualities and therefore they are 0. Hard to believe, their owner hasn't fired him yet and now he is bringing in a guy who has no experience as a GM at any stage and someone who just got fired.

So yes Lowe you may know a lot but not about hockey-management...arrogant bastard slow down

My rankings are

Holland > Shero > Chiarelli > Poile > Stevie

Do I think Holland is perfect? No way, but which GM is? Hollands hands are tied, because the league is an absolute joke and embarrassment under the current office stuff and owners are blind enough, to keep these non-hockey-guys employed.

I think not trading White and filps at the deadline was a mistake and if Filps walks for nothing in the summer, missed chance in a deep upcoming draft. Holland is damn smart and still the best GM but honestly, I think he should move up in the organization and by that time Stevie should be ready to replace him.

btw. nhl.com is still blocked not going to give their site traffic thanks to the lockout.

Term sucks

Caphit sucks

I love his attitude - like mentioned before - and I know, GMs have to overpay for future offers but Howard just isn't a 6 year 31,8 m type of goalie. Thats close to Luongo money in terms of caphit and that guy has won a gold medal, also for a few bucks more you are reaching elite league at this pricetag.

not sure what else you guys expected. a workhorse goalie getting his first big payday is always going to be "overpaid" to some degree. 

 

heck, every player getting their first big payday as a FA is overpaid, after being underpaid in the earlier years in the league

4x4,5 = 18 m OR

5x4 = 20 M

I have nothing against Howard, I love his attitude but he isn't a 5,3 per year for 6 years goalie.

5 mil for a top 5 goalie... Moveable contract too good job Ken

Lundqvist, Rinne, Miller, Luongo, Price, Ward, Andersson easily > Howard

5 Mill would be a huge huge overpayment in my eyes

Smallish tweaks, slightly if that better graphics, smallish tweaks and an updated roster - 65 $

It is so funny the whole Crosby:Ovechkin thing was never a rivalry to begin with, just something the media tried to create and they've failed miserably to do so. One of the best rivalries will always be Pittsburgh versus Philadelphia and not Pittsburgh versus Washington.

As far as Crosby competitors there are guys named Stamkos, Malkin, Toews (I hate to say it but this guy reminds me so much of Stevie) its not even funny

http://sports.yahoo....-211428976.html

 

Its a long article, but its well worth reading.  It in fact shows that the NHL as emerged from the lockout stronger than it was before.  For all the doom and gloom that was discussed, the NHL is looking like future growth is going to be a reality.

 

 

Personally, I think it is the shortened season.  With a 48 game schedule, everything is magnified.  Every game is important.  With 82 games in the regular season, every game isn't as important.  I know the ownership doesn't want to hear this, but having less games would keep this exciting.

 

From a pissed off fan point of view, I won't be going to see any games in the NHL for a couple years.  No Winter Classic for me next year.  The NHL and NHLPA have equally pissed me off, and I won't be investing in their product for a while.  I am glad the NHL is back and they are strong, but I am still a little peeved.

While I will still be staying true to my goals (no money for anything NHL related for a long time), I also not jumping on the everything is great bandwagon. Never trust statistics you didn't fake on your own.

Of course the league and their relative sponsors will try everything to tweak things, till they are looking good for them but the truth of the matter is, as normal fans we will never see the important information because it might not be good as the league wants fans and sponsors to believe. From a personal stance this season has been the most boring one in a long while, I don't like it and I am not even ticked off when I don't have time to watch the games. At least to me the lockout showed, that both the NHL and NHLPA don't care about the fans, so why should I care or support them?

Also that a certain guy can survive 3 lockouts and continue to provide a watered down "product" is beyond ridiculous, statistics be damned show us the real data if you have the balls to do so NHL till then, get bent.

i dont miss that time at all. before the lost season, hockey had become incredibly boring and stale. there was little to no excitement because it was a giant hugfest with all the interference and holding. the only reason people here pine for it is because the wings were a top team.

 

in general, the salary cap rewards well run franchises. because everyone is on a level playing field, its all about resource management. everyone likes to wine that the only way to win a championship is to tank for a long time, but there are only 2 example of that; chicago and pittsburgh. and if you honestly look at their situations, its more luck than a strategy of tanking. chicago was terrible because old man wirtz was an awful owner. the only reason they turned it around was him kicking the bucket. the changes that were made after he passed are what allowed the hawks to actually turn that talent into a good team. and if you look at pittsburgh, they just got lucky to get 2 of the best players of their generation in successive drafts. theres more examples of teams that are bad and stay bad than the 2 that managed to turn around their franchises. think of columbus, the islanders, and the oilers. heck the oilers had the #1 pick 3 years in a row and are still terrible! if tanking for draft picks was an effective strategy, i think we would be seeing something there.

You can see it as a giant hugfest for sure, but I for one felt it was more intense, meaner and the overall product was a lot better than todays event-NHL. Detroit wasn't the only top-team there were are lot of top-teams like someone mentioned the Avalanche under Sakic, Roy for example.

Sure as we are getting older, we are focusssing on more important things than a game, but obviously watching hockey should be a thrill and not something to despise but the lockout has changed a lot for me. 8 more years of this stupid parity crap are for sure not something I am going to watch, so yes give me pre 2005 hockey back and this is not just nostalgia.

I am strongly in favor of the hard salary cap that the NHL runs.  The burden of success is equal across the league as teams need to draft, develop, and manage talent wisely.  I shudder at the mere suggestion of a soft cap/luxury tax.  I honestly can't stand baseball because big market teams can steamroll free agency and the gulf between the haves and the have-nots widens.  This is definitely something that the NHL got right.

I am just learning about the MLB (getting better but still) from what I've read, the have-nots and the league itself should kiss the Yankees, Red Sox because the more the spend, the more these teams are getting in hard $, the difference in the NHL is Ilitch doesn't gain anything from feeding the "have-nots". Now even UFA players are under contract limits and only their "own" team can offer them more, this is just turning into a joke sorry.

Please note, I am not against the cap per se I am against the fact, that the teams who are paying the most aren't getting a reward for it. It should be a give-get kind of thing which it is not, if Ilitch is paying 5 % of the teams revenue on other teams Wings should be allowed to be 5 % over the cap, you get the idea?