Dawgs

My god word coming from the FSN crew is Toronto ruled it inconclusive and the linesman and Leggo overruled the ref that was on top of the play. What a joke. These refs bet on games. I question every call ever made by them again. The NHL is fixed. I never believed that before I do now.

And they wonder why their integrity is challenged? The NHL screwed the pooch here. What a joke.

Ill be surprised if they dont make the playoffs but I dont expect a big run unless the goaltending is improved. Osgood and Howard will not cut it.

I think they will have a better regular season than last year. They should be a harder working team this season over last. They will probably be better defensively from the forward positions too. More physical and better overall skating. I think you improve all these areas replacing Hudler and Sammy with Helm and Leino. And if Eaves can follow the script others like Cleary have, he could find his game after 30 something goals his first two years. Bertuzzi adds physicality and Id love to see Abdelkader see the ice. The penalty kill will be much improved. These guys have track records killing penalties. Last year was an anomaly. Jason Williams will be better at the point on the second PP unit than Sammy. They are soft in goal tho. I wonder how long it takes for Howard and Larsson to change places. That Anaheim series was brutal last year. Couple that with cheap shots to Lidstroms testicles, Erricsons appendix, other assorted injuries, tons of hockey in the last three years and the dreaded Cup hangover and ya have a situation where the best team might just lose a Game 7 to one thats younger and hungrier.

These national "analysts" crack me up. All they do is spew the same old cliches about Detroit over and over. In one sentence Bucci says Selannes 39 but has amazing speed. No mention of his total ineffectiveness against SJ. No mention of the ancient Niedermayer brothers. Yet in the next paragraph 39 year old Lidstrom and 35 year old Rafalski are " a bit of a concern" because of thier age. Really calling us old is getting old. The Wings arent old, they are a really nice mix of veteran talent that can play and still wants to win and young hungry guys whose best years are still in front of them. I keep seeing Anaheims size at the back end as being so impressive that Detroit wont be able to maintain the same net front presence as they did against Columbus. Yet nobody mentions that Columbus has one of the biggest D's in the NHL and average something close to 6'4" and 225. That size didnt do much for Columbus as Detroit went to the net with impunity. Anyone who has watched this Detroit team often, knows that there is no way that Anaheim size and physicality will hinder Detroit. In fact, Ill say that while Anaheim does have a slight edge in size, Detroit is the more physical team. I dont have the stats handy but I was looking at the matchups and they showed the top three players on each team in hits. In 6 games in the first round Anaheims top two hitters had less hits than Detroits did in 4 games, while the Anaheim player that is third had 1 or 2 more than Detroits third. And anecdotally, after watching all the playoff games these two teams have played, Detroit hits as often and thier hits are much bigger. The one area in the physical game that without a doubt swings Anaheims way, is the scrums after the whistle. And thats not physical hockey thats just a brutish attempt at intimidation and the Red Wings have already established the fact that nobody will intimidate them. Between the whistles, when it matters, is at worst even, but I give the edge to Detroit.

I loved Federov and he will remain one of my all time favorites. But no way should his number be retired. He was looking to get out of Detroit almost from the day he got here. He signed an offer sheet with Carolina his first chance at RFA and the first time he was unrestricted he left for less than what the Wings had offered him. Why honor an athlete that couldnt wait to sign with another team? One who you basically broke out of Communist Russia and gave the chance to make millions. Dont compare guys like Sawchuk and Lindsey who were traded with guys who left of thier own accord. Howe had been out of the NHL for a few years before he played for Hartford, and that just to be on the same team as Mark and Marty. As an aside I was at the January 12th, 1980 game against Hartford. It was a tradition for my uncle to give me 4 tickets for my birthday. We lost I think 6-4. But to see Gordie on the ice one last time was something Ill never forget. Id say Ozzie has somewhat less than a 50/50 chance to go into the rafters. The only way he does is if he wins another Cup or two and makes the HoF. Both possibilities. Lidstroms a sure thing. First ballot HoFer. Datsyuk and Zetterberg have a shot if they continue thier careers here and continue to produce on contending teams. Chicago will retire Chelis number. Shannys out in the cold.

Montreal never had a chance with the injuries they had. Montreal fans are the Philly fans of Canada. Lemaire and Riseborough may end up in the mix in Montreal.

That commercial sure does make it look like the series hinged on that goal and that afterwords Pittsburgh went on to win the Cup. Im not sure how marketable Pittsburgh and Crosby really are. It seems to me that the NHL has crammed them both down the fans throats and that has caused considerable backlash. Crosby and Pittsburgh are almost universally hated anywhere outside the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The mistake made was not allowing Crosby to come by his superstardom naturally. His entire identity was created in a backroom at NHL headquarters before any of us ever got to see him. The NHL was basically telling the fans they are too stupid to make a judgement about who is a superstar themselves. If the NHL hadnt been so desperate for a hero and had waited for the natural process to occur, they wouldnt be having this problem with thier "golden boy" being hated around the league.

The cheap s***s gotta go. I hate when two guys are squared off and a third comes in from behind and wraps the guy up around the head and neck area. Thats some cheap s*** there. Anytime a third man comes in between two guys that are squared off he should get an automatic 2 and 10.

What happened to standing up at the blueline? Our defense is constantly backpedalling, allowing the puck carrier easy access to the zone all the way to the top of the circles. It led to more than a couple quality chances at Ozzie. Keep em in front and to the outside, thats the philosophy. While the basic tenet is true, it isnt something etched in stone. You cant be afraid to step up once in awhile. If your constantly giving up your blueline its gonna lead to games that your goaltender would rather forget. This team has a wealth of talent on the blueline along with some extremely responsible two way forwards. I want to see aggression at the blueline. Step up on the puck carrier when you have a forward coming hard on the backcheck. He will cover for you. Alot of our struggles keeping the puck out of the net can be traced to this. We didnt play like this last season. Its gotta be McCrimmon.

With all the attention focused on Osgood by the media he can become that rallying point every team needs. The guys in front of him know they left him hanging out to dry often this past season and that alot of the bashing should be directed at them instead of the goaltender. Just listen to the pre and post games interviews. Were all sorry you have to go through this nighmare with the media, we know it was as much our fault as it was yours. Probably more. Now its time to make up for that and get the media off your back.

He had a strong game last night and didnt look out of place one bit.

The Wings have to have the worst seat colors in the NHL. The red back with the cream colored bottom when empty shows up like a beacon on TV. Look at other arenas and theres empty lower bowl seats. As many as in Detroit. But the color scheme doesnt show up on TV like the red does. Blue seats barely show up at all when empty. This doesnt explain everything but check it out next time your watching a game. I noticed this last season when everyone was on Detroit about empty seats.

The reason for all this hate is that the NHL has done everything in its power to promote Crosby as the next great thing in hockey. People resent having this shoved down thier throats. They dont like the NHL basically telling them thier too stupid to choose thier own superstars so well create one for them before he ever even steps on an NHL ice surface. Let the kid play, and if hes good enough and charismatic enough, the fans will catch on. Unfortunately for Crosby and the NHL, he simply isnt charismatic enough and his game is just on a par with several other players throughout the league. I blame much of this problem on the Canadian media who have been fawning over Crosby as the next "Great One" since he was 12.

Hudler, Filpula, Leino could be an explosive third line.