Red Wings

[froot loops]

I know they didn't like his conditioning last year. They have a few goalies behind them I think they like better. It sounds like his time has come and gone.

[Tom]

The Wings don't seem like they want to try going with a young goalie considering they are usually a contender. Then again, maybe they haven't had that "can't miss" prospect in their organization.

[froot loops]

They have no choice now with the salary cap

[FCRhodes]

With Detroit among a half-dozen teams expected to be in the market for a goaltender during the offseason, it might take at least a $22 million, four-year deal for the Wild to sign unrestricted free agent Niklas Backstrom. It also appears that the Wild could end up with nothing in return for unrestricted free-agent winger Marian Gaborik unless he returns from hip surgery before season's end and proves his market worth. Then the Wild might be able to trade him for a midround draft pick, conditional on how well Gaborik performs for his new team.
St. Paul Pioneer Press

[gjdodger]

Jesus, they should print the programs in Swedish if that happens.

[jaadam4]

We don't have the money for Backstrom but it sure would be nice. I don't think the Wings are all to keen on Howard. There hasn't been any rave reviews since we picked him really. I'm really glad they signed Conklin, he's played really well especially with Ozzie struggling.

[jaadam4]

Nice contract for Z. It's amazing at how much money he and Dats passed up in FA to stay here. You've gotta love it. F the NHL and Bettman for trying to keep the Wings down with their salary cap. We don't need no stinking FA's!!!

[Rocky Bleier]

I know they didn't like his conditioning last year. They have a few goalies behind them I think they like better. It sounds like his time has come and gone.

I just read an article somewhere that said he was playing pretty well in Grand Rapids. I think it said he shares time with another kid who is also playing quite well.

[froot loops]

I had heard he was plauing well, but just by listening to Holland he really talks up the 3 other prosects and he's not that effusive when talking about Howard.

[FCRhodes]

I guess nobody cares about hockey in February.

[gjdodger]

Well, it's a good day to talk about it. Wings racked up 5 in the 1st against Edmonton and lead 6-0 in the third. Conklin only faced 13 shots the first two periods, and the embattled Ozzy is in in relief. Hossa got his 29th, Datsyuk his 20th.

[CGVT]

Play offs start in June, don't they?

[gjdodger]

Manny heads up the Interstate.

Manny Legace went from All-Star goalie to a step from the AHL on Friday as the St. Louis Blues put the goaltender on waivers. He will be assigned to AHL Peoria.
Legace, 36, is in the final year of his Blues contract and admits he hasn't been good this season. He has lost his starting job to Chris Mason, whom the Blues signed in the offseason.
Normally a happy-go-luck sort who refers to himself as "the little fat kid," Legace sounded sour after Friday's announcement.
"I'm still in shock," Legace told Norm Sanders of the Belleville (Ill.) News-Democrat. "This is unbelievable. I figured they would try to ride the storm out with me and obviously I was wrong."
If another team doesn't claim Legace on waivers by 11 a.m. Saturday, he likely will be assigned to Peoria.
"It's extremely tough," Legace told Jeremy Rutherford of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "You play your heart out for a team, and the minute you hit a little bit of a rough patch, they dump on you.
"It was very hard to hear."
The Blues recalled Chris Holt from Peoria to serve as Mason's backup. Holt, also signed this season, has appeared in one NHL game -- in 2005 while with the New York Rangers organization. He was recalled earlier this season but didn't play, and will be in uniform for Saturday's game against the Colorado Avalanche.
Legace is 13-9-2 this season with a 3.18 GAA and an .885 save-percentage. In what might be his final Blues appearance, he allowed three goals on the first eight shot Feb. 2 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Blues pulled him, and then rallied behind Mason to tie the game before losing in a shootout.
Legace was named to the Western Conference All-Star team last season and was the Blues' best player during the first half of 2007-08. But he has had knee problems the past few seasons, including an operation this offseason.
A 10-year veteran, he was a backup goalie on the Detroit Red Wings' 2002 Stanley Cup team. For his career, Legace is 177-92-18-18, with a 2.38 GAA and .912 save percentage.
This season has been a struggle, and a bizarre injury didn't help.
On Oct. 24, Legace slipped on a strip of carpet placed on the Scottrade Center ice for then-Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was dropping the ceremonial first puck. The carpet slid as Legace stepped out on the way to the crease, causing a hip injury. He missed five games.
He was kneed in the head in the first period of a 4-2 loss at Anaheim on Dec. 10. He also had what the team described as a lower-body injury, believed to be in his groin, during a game Jan. 19 at Boston.
He is in the final season of a contract that pays him $2.5 million this season. There was little movement on a new deal with the Blues. Reports from St. Louis suggested Legace had been upset when the Blues signed Mason, who will receive $3 million this season in the first year of a three-year deal.
Team president John Davidson, the Blues' normal spokesman on all transactions, sounded optimistic for Legace's future in speaking with Rutherford.
"We know that Manny has played better. He's a guy who has had some great times here with the Blues, some other times that weren't so good. He has not had a good season. We just need him to find his game," Davidson said.
"I'm hoping if he clears waivers, he will go to Peoria and really play well -- and I sincerely mean that. And if he does play well, he'll have a chance at playing here or somewhere else, and the other thing is that if he doesn't clear waivers and somebody picks him up, I hope he goes and plays well for his own future and his own life."
But Davidson also said: "Manny may think the book's closed and, well, that's his business." Holt, 23, has played in 13 games for Peoria this season, going 7-5-1 with a .932 save percentage and a 1.70 goals-against average.

[gjdodger]

Well, it's a good day to talk about it. Wings racked up 5 in the 1st against Edmonton and lead 6-0 in the third. Conklin only faced 13 shots the first two periods, and the embattled Ozzy is in in relief. Hossa got his 29th, Datsyuk his 20th.

LOL, forget all that. Conklin never came out; he gave up the three goals in the 3rd. I obviously can't read ESPN's hieroglyphics. Well, at least today's game is on TV and I can see for myself.

[FCRhodes]

Wings are currently in audition mode. Leino really looks good and Helms deserves to stick around. Ericsson will get some audition time when he heals up. When playoffs start, we don't have to worry about the cap.