Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Hannibal]

Not exactly going in with momentum

[Hannibal]

I wonder if Boston's coach will get fired.

[WingsFan]

I’m thinking I go home after this season,” he said, in a long discussion at the Northville home of his agent and friend, Dan Milstein. “I may not be done with hockey, but — it is hard to say — I think I am done playing in NHL.”


While this may be a shock to fans, it cannot be to the Red Wings. The truth is, Datsyuk has been squirming to go home since 2012, the year he played in Russia during the NHL lockout. Last season he basically told Detroit he was finished, and only the length of his contract, terrific persuasion by general manager Ken Holland and personal involvement from Mike and Marian Ilitch convinced him otherwise.

[Hannibal]

There's apparently a clause in the new CBA that says that the Red Wings will still take the salary cap hit if Datsyuk plays in Russia.

[Mike]

That's bullshit.

[iam416]

I never realized how fucking stupid NHL seeding is. Wings-Lightning; Pens-NY Team.

[Mike]

They just went to that a couple years ago.

[paul daugherity]

It doesn't make sense to me. It ends up getting rid of good teams too early.

[Hannibal]

The point was to try and foster division rivalries like in the old days.

[paul daugherity]

Ok. That isn't something I agree with though. It still makes more sense to me to just do the standard overall seeding thing (e. g. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc.). As for divisional rivalries, it seems forced, and I'd rather see new teams outside of the division that I don't see as much on a yearly basis. But that's just me.

[Hannibal]

Ok. That isn't something I agree with though. It still makes more sense to me to just do the standard overall seeding thing (e. g. 1 vs 8, 2 vs 7, etc.). As for divisional rivalries, it seems forced, and I'd rather see new teams outside of the division that I don't see as much on a yearly basis. But that's just me.

I like the idea in principle but when the division includes Tampa Bay and Florida instead of Chicago or Columbus I kinda don't care.

[Mike]

You cared about seeing Columbus?

On a related note, I really loved that our important games down the stretch were against Philly, Boston, and New York rather than say, Nashville, Columbus and Vancouver. So glad we're in the East.

[Hannibal]

The schedule is set. Puck drops Wedneday night!

https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-playoffs-round-1-schedule/c-280159064

[iam416]

1v7, 2v4, 3v5, 6v8. There's really no plausible excuse for that.

In the West: 1v8, 2v3 (RoW tiebreaker), 4v7, 5v6.

I guess the lesson is: don't finish 2nd in points.

The Islanders were playing a game yesterday to determine if they face the red-hot #2 seed or the #3 seed. Unlike any other sport I've ever seen, a loss meant they played the worse seed!

Oh well...on to the playoffs.

[Hannibal]

The Wings will, indeed, take Datsyuk's $7.5 Million cap hit next year. What a dumb fucking rule.