What do you mean screw your Blackhawks out of the Wings talent? You have Martin LaPointe, Robert Lang, and Jason Williams. Be happy with that.

The Wings are going to come up against it soon. Zetterberg has one more year left on his ridiculously cheap contract. He's been by far one of the best bargains in the league over the last few years. That gravy train is coming to an end. Probably as early as this summer. The Wings will sign Zetterberg to a long term deal, probably along the same lines as what Datsyuk is making, likely a little more.

The other player at issue is Dan Cleary. The guy's been a hell of a player the last few years. His contract is up at the end of the year and I think he's been working on an extension. He's been quite a bargain and will certainly be seeing a significant raise.

Odds are, the Wings will make it work so both players will remain with the team. They are currently $5 million under the cap, so they have some wiggle room to work with.

One of the biggest advantages the Wings have in the cap era is that the players who are here generally want to stay here and other plays want to come and play for the organization. The organization has been one of the best in the NHL for the last 10-15 years. They treat their players right. They have been very loyal to the players who made the team what it is and the players have returned the favor in kind. The Wings didn't just reward guys like Lidstom, Yzerman, and Shanahan back in the day, they also more than took care of the likes of Draper, Maltby, and McCarty.

There are plenty of Wings' players who are more than willing to give a bit of a "home town" discount when negotiating new contracts. This will always gives the Wings a bit of an advantage.

I think worse is calling only the 2nd punch. At least in theory, if guys know they first punch will get called, they won't throw the 2nd. I mean guys like Ruutu, who I love on the Pens, but takes his share of dumb penalties, will still throw the 2nd one. But the majority of players would restrain themselves.

Of course, like last night, you can get punched 7 times, to the back of your head, with your gloves still on...and get a fighting call. :confused:

Of course, back in the day, before salary caps, the Wings also had the financial ability to treat even their third liners and goons like stars, as well as bring in a whole lot of other talent when age took shots at their roster.

Money makes for a nice difference.

This is obviously true, but there were a lot of team with a lot of money (e.g., Philadelphia, New York Rangers, Dallas, Toronto, etc.) who never managed to gain the same reputation Detroit did in terms of the quality of the organization.

Mike Ilitch knows how to run a sports team. Yes, money helps build that foundation (it is the foundation), but he knows how to take things to the next level.

Now if only he'd buy the Lions...

Nik Antropov threw his stick at the ref last night.

Good times.

Two important questions...

1. Was there an intent to injure?
2. Was the ref hurt?

1. No.

2. After the game, the ref was diagnosed with severe brain damage. But based on the hooking call in overtime, it was a pre-existing condition.

it's also worth pointing out that the Wings barely lost a step when the cap was instituted, while the other big salary teams have struggled to adapt (Colorado is a great example of this). Definitely a quality organization.

That was some sort of reffing last night.

I thought Maurice was going to have an heart attck.

Detroit is the counter-argument to the whole "you have to blow it up and tank for a few years to be any good" line of thought. While teams like Washington and Florida (and Chicago and St. Louis and Atlanta and Columbus and...) go long stretches without being even vaguely competitive and yet never seem to get significantly better, Detroit just keeps chugging along. Yes, they had the Yzerman pick in the mid-80s, but since then you're looking at over 20 years of sustained excellence.

I'd love for the Leafs to get a #1 pick or two over the next few years, but I'd trade that to have a scouting staff and player evaluation department like the Wings have had.

The Leafs are entertaining.

Or just hope for a team with some talent (such as Nashville last year) to make some nice trades with the Leafs. :)

Are you trying to subtley bring the Flyers into a discussion on well-run teams?

When's the annual goalie trade scheduled for this year?

They were never well run under Clarke. But you cant dismiss the fact that they were the worst team in the league this year and now they are contending while the Leafs once again are in limbo.

The jury is still out on Holmgren, but I like what I see so far.

As far as the goalie trade...we are waiting for you guys to get another one so we know which ones to stay away from.

So, Horcoff is out tonight and who takes his place on the first line between Hemsky and Penner??

Marty FRICKIN' Reasoner.

Even better, he also slides into the first powerplay unit.

Marty FUCKIN' Reasoner. Brutal.

How'd you like the second unit of Reasoner/Pisani/Moreau (as the setup guy) on that last PP.

I can only hope that Katz being buddies with MacT means we can get a real coach if/when he takes over the team. I know it's beyond a longshot, but there's not a whole lot of scenario's out there right now that would include MacT leaving the organization.

My wife is asking why I watch the games because of the profanity I'm spewing at the TV right now. Friggin' ridiculous!!!

And, how about that Brendan Morrow icing from his own blue line that cleared the glass behind Rolly?? No penalty. Retarded.

By the way...Garon isn't starting tonight because????? Stopping 36 of 38 shots a few nights ago isn't good enough to earn another start???

MacT should've worn a helmet.

I can only hope they're in the process of trying to showcase Roloson for a trade (though at his salary I find that hard to believe) because after talking about giving Garon #1 goalie type minutes, suddenly Roli is getting more minutes in the last 5 or so games when there has been plenty of off days. I mean at least the mental side of the game and confidence don't play large parts in a goalies game, at least according to the MacT school of coaching.

Maybe he's holding Garon back as a shootout specialist :mad:

As for the "tip" the ref called on the Morrow clear, well, I had to double check and make sure it wasn't Mick McGeough out there making the call.

Dola, just checked and this is Roli's 4th start in the last 7 games (running a 1-3 record in those games if they end up losing tonight). Garon had started 7 in a row prior to that. So looks like we're back to whoever wins the coin toss each game day. Good thing Garon was only 5-2 in those 7 straight starts, would hate to think he was excelling in the role and helping us to get back in the playoff race. Guess one bad start (against Carolina) is enough to undo all that good in MacT's eyes.

I was at that game...sitting right behind the Dallas net that night...and probably broke a knuckle on the glass after he made that call...and broke another one after seeing the replay!!!!!!!

I say Garon makes that save on the third goal...he gets across the net so much faster than this dolt does.

About dealing that sack of hammers...I doubt it. But we got a decent kid for Tarnstrom...so you just never know.

Roli was solid in relief during that game, too.

:rolleyes:

Tough not to become a casual fan after suffering through crap like this. I could understand if MacT didn't have any other options to play with but when you start your 2nd best goalie more often than not and have your checking line on during a powerplay you can't help but get upset.

I'm certainly glad I haven't paid for a ticket in 5 years.

Well, I won't fully go into MacT bashing mode, but they do have Schremp sitting in the minors who apparently isn't even worth a look in MacT's eyes, and a guy (Pouliot) who isn't a physical player and is being punished for it. Pouliot showed last year that not only is he responsible in his own end, but was also willing to take the puck to the middle of the ice in the offensive zone to make a play which nobody else on the team other than Hemsky will do. Yes, he was less than impressive at the start of the year, but he's young, that happens. Heaven forbid we give some of these offensively minded guys a shot in that sort of role rather than trying to turn them all Pisani. It's great that Gagner and Nilsson are getting ice time (and at least some glances on the second PP unit) but there are other options that could potentially give this offense a shot in the arm. And when you're mentioning the names Horcoff and Reasoner on the top few lines, they're options I'd at least like to see explored if Lowe can't make a move for a guy like Hossa (yes, I'm still clinging to that one too).

Thanks, Colin White. No, really, thanks. Take a(nother) stupid ass penalty, allow the Rangers a power play goal, and the Devils lose 3-1 (the third was into an empty net).

Thanks a bundle, dick.

We aren't making the playoffs so it's time to start thinking about next year. Yeah, I don't want to give Burke a high pick but that looks inevitable whether we play the guys we've got now or bring up half of Springfield.

Just for starters, get Souray under the knife next week. Give Horcoff some time off if his shoulder is that bad. Give Hemsky some time off if his wrist is bugging him. Call up Schremp. Call up Pouliot.

Get Hemsky, Cogliano and Gagne on the penalty kill, now. At this point in the season who cares if they give up a few goals but as these guys mature they need to be the guys who are playing the most minutes on this team as soon as next year.

I can't see us being buyers at the deadline...sorry, Travis...unless we can get a guy who's under contract past this year. If we aren't going to play Schremp then we might as well package him with Stoll and somebody else and see if we can get ourselves a bonified first liner. Unlikely, though.

I know we're not likely to be buyers, which really sucks because I truly believe a true first liner would be enough to put them into the playoffs (assuming Garon were to get the lions share of the starts the rest of the way) and make them a threat. Whether it's a true #1 center to play with Hemsky, or an established sniper who'd bump Penner down to the 2nd line (putting him with Gagner/Stoll and Nilsson would make for a nice trio), it'd turn a rebuilding season into a potential darkhorse run.

That and I really don't want that pick Burke owns to be in the top 15, let alone top 10. Though if we do end up being sellers, my fingers are crossed that it's Horcoff to go and not Stoll (encouraging part for me is that Horcoff is working his price tag up while Stoll's last RFA deal could turn out to be a bargain and he's not likely to be back to 100% until next season). What does scare me are the rumors about Pitkanen getting dealt because he's driving up his price tag. If they pony up for Horcoff and get rid of Pitkanen, well damn.

As much as I agree with this, at most you might see Cogliano out there. I still think he maxes out as a Marchant type and will be a very valuable PK guy, but with MacT on the bench, Pisani, Moreau, Stoll, Reasoner, Brodziak, Sanderson and Horcoff are all going to have to go down before Hemsky or Gagner get real PK time. That said, I'd be happy just seeing Gagner get quality PP time at this point.

the Avalanche tried a new tactic against the Wings last night: try to play to a 0-0 tie. They had 4 shots in the first two periods as they hung back and committed 100% to keeping the Wings off the board. It almost worked - Detroit scored with about 2 minutes left. oh well. back to the drawing board.

Yeah. That seemed eerily like a preview of Round 1 of the playoffs. The Wings will out shoot whomever they are playing 40-20 and it will all come down to a lucky bounce or goal.

I hate that. It's not good for my health.

I move that Colin White's new nickname be "bundle-dick".

Can I get a second?

Seconded.

Well, the Jackets tried to make a move to help their D by picking up Tarnstrom from the Oil (Howson and Lowe connection again). I don't know how he is defensively, but if he can help our transition game and/or PP, I think he'll be a good pickup for us. Right now, the Jackets probably have 1 D-man that can move the puck up the ice, which is rookie Kris Russell.

Seems like a low risk move, as LW Curtis Glencross went the other way in the deal, and we have a huge mess of LW in the system.

Tarnstrom was a healthy scratch most nights for a last place team with 2 rookies and a 2nd year player starting ahead of him...I'm not sure he's what you're looking for.

Oilers a darkhorse? I thought their D was brutal, how would a top-line sniper move them into the playoffs all of a sudden?

Our starting 6 is far from brutal. There is a risk/reward factor with a few of the guys (Pitkanen/Gilbert), but they're a very solid group at this point. I would love to see Pitkanen and Gilbert split up to spread out their offensive abilities to two pairings, but that's nitpicking.

The Oilers biggest issue (imho) is the lack of a true shooter (hopefully Penner can develop into one) to help both the PP and the consistency of team scoring. Right now Horcoff is our "top" shooter, and that's a much bigger problem than the starting 6 on D.

JP Dumont signs an extension with Nashville, $16M over 4 years. He seemed to be a hot name for the trade deadline. Was hoping the Pens would look at him if the cost wasn't too high. Now, they just need to concentrate on a defensemen, and wait for everyone up front to get healthy.

Riley Cote just got knocked the fuck out by Parros. I'm amazed that Cote was able to get up from it - give him credit for that.

Well, bundle-dick actually scored a goal tonight, so I guess I have to get off his case for a little while.

Yeah exactly....I thought he was going to be out for the count. Nice to see the Flyers bounce back from that 4-0 loss to the Rangers to beat Anaheim tonight 3-0.

Wait, so Parros is sticking woth the moustache? That wasn't just a playoff thing, or he lost a bet or something?

There's no offseason in porn.

Add Leafs rookie Robbie Earl to the list last night... looked good and picked up an assist.

As per Leaf team policy, he will kick ass for his first three games and then embark on a 15-game pointless streak.

Red Wings win their 7th straight last night vs Boston. They have now won 7 + games in a row three times this year.

WIP radio, the AP, ESPN and other outlets are reporting that Paul Holmgren is in Sweden talking with Forsberg.

Anyone else watching the Canadiens/Rangers game? The commentators have it right: really feels like a playoff game.

This is a great game. Lots of hitting and up and down tempo.

Definitely an enjoyable game to watch...but, why is Michael Ryder a healthy scracth??

No way! That 'stache is an icon. Parros ain't shaving it off. I think he privately still cusses out Colorado's team policy that forced him to shave it when he was there prior to coming to the Ducks last season.

Colorado's what?

It's stuff like this, the Wings have won 7+ games in a row three times this year, that seems to be setting the Wings up perfectly for a second round playoff defeat to Calgary.

Wow you are optimistic that the Wings will make it out of the first round :)