Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[froot loops]

During the series it was reported in Detroit that the Wings were much closer to a contract than previously thought. You can list injuries all you want, but they were up 3-2 in a series in which they had home ice. I remember how mad I was at Hudler and Stuart.

As far as it was being the last hurrah, I don't remember anyone saying that at the time. They had some good years after that and nobody reported how much Babcock turned off the rest of the players in the league. We only heard about that in retrospect.

It would be nice if they could get back to the playoffs. People were dancing in the streets when Yzerman came back. Time to start doing something, it's so annoying.

[Mike]

That 2009 team was 19th in the league in goals allowed. They had the corpse of Chris Osgood and Ty Conklin in goal. The following season ushered in the Jimmy Howard era and the core of the team was one year older and more beat up. Hossa was gone to a division rival who had a great young core that was ascending. 2009 was the Alamo and that’s why I was so gutted. Still am.

[Hannibal]

They signed Hossa to that one year deal because they had a very short term hole in their salary cap that was soon going to be filled by some big-ass raises and contract extensions. It's the modern NHL. You get elite and then you have to make decisions about who to let go when your young players' rookie contracts expire. It has happened to just about everyone. Although I will say that if you have an ultra-elite pair like Crosby and Malkin or McDavid and Draisaitl, you can rotate the parts around them and still succeed until they get past prime or get injured. With Zetterberg's bad back and Datsyuk getting past prime, the Wings weren't in that position to do that by the time that 2010 and beyond rolled around. Still, they did make the second round 3 out of the next four years and they lost a couple of one goal Game 7s to fall barely short of beating some really good teams. There's no shame in falling behind teams like Pittsburgh and Chicago during that span. Some teams have gotten lucky with being able to draft a few franchise players within a short span, although Edmonton had to be really bad for the better part of a decade to get to where they are now. And some teams, like the Coyotes, have sucked forever.

Where the Wings went wrong badly is in mortgaging their future to keep their playoff streak alive, and saddling Yzerman with some shitty contracts. Awful luck in the draft lottery hasn't helped.

[Hannibal]

The Wings have increased their point total four years in a row after that abysmal bottoming out year in 2020. Time to take that next step, and they should be combing the free agent market while knocking on folks' doors to see if they have any overpaid guys that they would like to trade away to alleviate some salary cap.

[Hannibal]

Some great series going on in the West. Dallas and Seattle Game 7 tomorrow night. Hopefully Game 7 for the Oilers and Kings Tuesday.

[Hannibal]

Welp. The Oilers are going home early again.

[WingsFan]

Ken Holland

[WingsFan]

Damn so ESPN - On the Weekend - ON THE WEEKEND - lol Would not move the only game ---- Oiler/Golden Knight elimination playoff game--- from a 10 PM start to 8 PM for...



"Sunday Night Baseball" (to ESPN 2)


Nobody gives a fuck or even knows what semi-final teams are still alive. Eat shit Bettman.


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[crashcourse]

glad Im not a die hard carolina or florida fan

watched until 10 our time til the 4th OT--after one am on the east coast--didnt look like any carolina fans left except that moment they thought they lost and it got reversed for goalie inteferance

[AlabamAlum]

.

[Hannibal]

glad Im not a die hard carolina or florida fan

watched until 10 our time til the 4th OT--after one am on the east coast--didnt look like any carolina fans left except that moment they thought they lost and it got reversed for goalie inteferance

i'll bet you're very glad that you're not a die hard Carolina fan today.

[lineygoblue]

Alabama and Hockey...

That goes together as much as Michigan and boiled peanuts.

[Mike]

“Glide Tide”?

[Dr. Strangelove]

I completely forgot that Alabama-Huntsville dropped their program. That's too bad.

[Hannibal]

There will be a new Stanley Cup champions crowned this year for the first time since 2019. Scoring came down considerably in the Eastern conference Finals (only 16 goals in what essentially amounted to five games of action). Florida has been a fun team to watch though so far this year. For some reason, they were benching their $10 MM per year goaltender until they were on the brink of elimination against Boston and he has been dominant since then, putting up a .935 save percantage and a 2.21 GAA. Adin Hill, who came in in relief of Laurent Brossoit for Vegas, is 7-3 now with a .937 save percentage and 2.07 GAA -- against Edmonton and Dallas (two teams that can really score). Although Vegas does a better job than just about anyone at making the goaltender's life easy.