Barrie

Here's what I want to see:

 

• Tootoo destroying Carcillo in a fight (followed by Eddie complaining that Tootoo could hurt someone & should have only bro-tapped Carcillo on the arm)
• A Kronwalling of Hossa (followed by Eddie complaining the Kronwall could hurt someone & should play with pads made of Nerf _tm)
• A Brunner hat trick (followed by Eddie complaining that shooting the puck at the Blackhawks net could hurt someone & that the Wings should just immediately dump the puck in the corner when entering the offensive zone)
• Mule gets a goal (followed by Eddie complaining that the Wings could hurt someone by putting animals on the ice & that they could stick with a lineup of humans all under 5'10")
• The Wings putting up 8 goals on Crawford in an 8-2 win (followed by Eddie complaining that the Wings can hurt someone's feelings by scoring too much & should pull their goalie upon attaining any type of lead to make things fair)

Granted, probably none of this will happen....except Mr. Subtle Interference complaining about something.

If CBC was showing the game they'd have huge man love for Toews, Seabrook, and Keith and would mention the 2010 Gold Medal win 27 times along with 10 replays and stats from the tournament. When they weren't talking about the 2010 Olympics, they'd mention 15 times how Lidstrom retired, the Wings are lost with out him, and can't get the puck out of their own end. Then there would be 14 mentions about how great Crawford is to make the people in Quebec happy, and 9 mentions of Emery leading the Sens to the 2007 Final to make people in Ottawa happy... Oh wait, can't forget about Sharp, he's from Manitoba.

Who cares about the game, because it's "Our Game"!!

I'm still steamed about that call last night against Datsyuk that cost us the game against LA.  Its a call that's rarely made and to make it in a close game to put a team down two men is a complete joke.  The linesman need to drop the puck and not try to be the star of the show.  Don Cherry was complaining about it earlier this season and he's right, that call should never be made.

That's one of my complaints about NHL officials. They have way to much effect in momentum swings in games based on their calls. And it doesn't help that most of their calls are based on the score. They almost have as much effect on the momentum of the game as the players do, sometimes more.

Cabrera will definitely be in the starting 9, as will Rasmus I'd say. I think the Jays are in a good spot this year. Orioles will regress, the Yankees keep getting bad news, and the Red Sox have added a lot of new faces, but I don't know that it they will be better than last year. The Rays are still a threat, and despite the Yankees' poor off-season, they are still the Yankees. That said, I think the Rays could easily take a wild card spot. That line-up is loaded with power and speed.

 

Regardless, anyone bragging about a ST win is crazy, especially when it was in the late-innings when it's farm system vs. farm system.

 

 

 

 

Another tough loss for the Yankees. Any chance they trade for Alfonso Soriano?

I'm wondering if the AL Wild Cards are going to come out of the Central and West? Toronto, Baltimore, TB, and Boston could finish 10 games within each other (I still think the Yankees will win the division), meaning Chicago, Oakland, and Texas may battle for the two Wild Cards. Chicago has all those games against Cleveland, Minnesota, and KC, while Oakland and Texas play against Seattle and Houston. There's no easy games in the East.

Is it just me, or is this season more interesting and exciting to watch then the years when we'd steamroll the West? With the way the League is set up and 8 teams making the playoffs, our season was usually done by December. This year regular season games mean more.

I'm not being ungrateful, I've appreciated everything I've watched the last 21 years with this team, but I find myself watching more regular season games this year.

No thanks, I don't like those 7 and 8 team divisions. Plus I don't like how you only play the teams outside your division only once. All it means is more priority games, and the owners can charge even more for tickets.

I still don't understand what's wrong with the 6 divisions. Just move Winnipeg West and Columbus East.

This was inspired by the Valtteri Filppula discussion, I don't see Abby's name in a discussion title. So he doesn't feel left out if he visits the board, feel free to talk about his game here. 

Let me start:

OMG he's only plays 13:11 minutes a night and has 1 Assist in 13 games!!!! What was Holland thinking drafting him at 42nd overall?! Abby only played College Hockey at Michigan State! Holland doesn't have a clue!

Yeah ok, with 2 defenseman injured, let's sit White.

here we go again...

Yes Babcock is the right guy for this group. If we replaced Holland and Babcock, the rest of the League would think we are insane! There would be a bidding war for their services, and they could name their price.

Plain and simple with this team (if people are disappointed and stressing out) the bottom 6 forwards need to score more. All have the ability to light the lamp 10 times in a 82 game schedule. With Helm, Bert, and Smith injured and the 3rd and 4th lines not producing, we're still 7-4-2. No one is going to catch Chicago, so we'll finish 4th, 5th, or 6th in the Conference. With everyone healthy and reaching their potential, there's no question we're one of the front runners to win the Cup.

To respond to the Holland comments, I don't know how many times I need to say this! The way to build is through the draft. Free Agents and trades are way overpriced, and with a cap, can handcuff a franchise for 10 years. Let the Minnesota's kill their chances for the next 13 years paying only 2 guys.

I'll add, for a team that's won 4 Championships since 1997, and 6 Cup appearances since 1995 (By far the best in the League), it's tough to nit pick on mistakes.

Fedorov was perhaps the greatest 2-way player ever. The guy could make an all star team playing defense or offense. Unreal talent, would have never traded him unless you were getting a top teir forward to replace him

Right, there's NO WAY we would have won 3 Cups from 1997-2002 without Fedorov.

all-time?

 

could be not giving up osgood for roy after the 11-1 game.  probably directly cost them multiple cups.

 

recenlty, keeping franzen over hossa looks really, really bad.

I've heard that argument before about not getting Roy cost us extra Cups. Remember Roy only won 2 cups with Colorado, on a team that was very similar to the Wings, and on paper had better goaltending. I highly doubt we would have won anymore than 3 with Roy.

As great as Roy was, his big ego and taking things to personal, cost the Avs extra championships. In certain situations, Roy couldn't handle the pressure. He had some big loses, three from us (1995, 1997, and 2002). Add to that, I don't think he could handle being the Red Wings goalie, as we're historically tough on our goalies. He's a big baby, just imagine how he'd react if he started booing him. Ozzie with his level head and mental toughness was a perfect goalie for this market.

If the original offer for Roy would have cost us Osgood and Fedorov, maybe we only would have won 2 Cups with Roy, or only 1. Imagine our run from 1997-2002 without Fedorov? Fedorov was excellent for us in the playoffs.

I like this team a lot, they have to work hard for their wins. 5th in the Conference

Looking forward to Wednesday vs. The Blues

Did anyone else watch the game on CBC? Canadian hockey coverage is the worst! They're so pro Canada with their comments that it really makes them look stupid. All game long they talked about Lidstrom retiring, how bad the Wings PP and PK was (after only 10 games), fast the Oilers are, and have the 4th best PP in the League. They also made a comment about how the Wings are retooling and the Oilers are ready to win now.   Last I checked, the Oilers are still in the bottom 1/3 of the Western Conference. What's taking their rebuild so long?

Canadian stations (CBC and TSN) seem to have an agenda before the game starts, they don't call the game as it happens. As a Canadian, it's embarrassing.

To reply to all their stupid comments, the Oilers PP sucked today! They played sloppy all game, and had way to many turn overs.

The best announcers are ones you don't really notice. They let the game control the broadcast. Mickey, Ken, and Murph have to be amoung the best in the League, they just seem to enjoy themselves, and the game of Hockey. You won't find a better broadcast team out there then them.

As for the Wings, I think the first game was a wash, that wasn't this team. Take away Game 1 and we're 6-3-1.

I'm glad I'm not someone who's always negative towards this team. I couldn't imagine having the same thoughts and stresses people here have towards the Wings. It's entertainment people! At some point you need to be proud of what you've witnessed as a fan. No fan base in the NHL has enjoyed the same amount of winning as we've had since the Oilers of the 1980's. Since the mid-90's, only Yankees fans have witnessed a better championship run.

Losing the 2nd best defencemen of all time is going to take a little time to recover from, so it may take a few seasons to become an elite team again.

Edit: If you can't wait a few years, I suggest you jump on the Black Hawks or Penguins bandwagon!

Suter is way overrated. Soooooooooooo glad we didn't sign him even how desperate our D is,

Smith is going to turn out to be better than Suter anyway, we need the cap room for him.

Yes that was true.... before the cap. The 2 things that attract players are winning and money. But yet this past season we where not able to get the top UFA's. In fact it has been 6? years since we were able to get one of the top UFA's in the market. Hossa was the last real big timer that I remember. The rest of our signings have been second teir types.

 

Another thing to keep in mind is under the new CBA the max for resigning a FA is 8 years vs only 7 years for signing some other teams UFA. That will do 2 things: 1. increase the trade value for UFA's-they can get longer contracts and more money by resigning 2. increase trades. Expect this to be explioted by teams.

I don't understand the number of people who can't understand how over priced the Free Agent market is with the lack of high quality players available, and type of contracts that were previously signed, ex) Wisniewski. The next year's contracts have to be more. Also people were complaining about how much Ericsson signed for, but that's what he was worth on the open market. Why would anyone think Holland should over pay for UFA's?

The way to build a winner is through the draft and signing your best players long term. Signing Free Agents for 13 year deals is just insane! Suter and Parise aren't worth that kind of money or term. Plus when the Wild have to resign their own players, all future contracts will be based off of the Sute and Parise contracts. The Wild screwed themselves for 13 years!