If you had spent anytime in this thread you would know I ripped the Sharks more than anyone last year. I was always here win or loose and never make excuses.

2nd or 3rd? :-):-):-)

Dont be suprised if Howard is this years Mason. Rookie goalies often land on their face the second year.

I will Mock Clownshoes because as Tom notes its easy and he deserves it. Plus that asshat cost me 5 sticks to Tom last year.

As Tom noted if you are going to hang here you should have tough skin and stats to back up opinions really helps. Last dont make excuses or I will do my best to get under your skin. I love watching you Wings fans get jacked up. :-)

2nd or 3rd????? This is going to be a fun year. Either I will have to eat shiet or I am going to have a lot of fun. Man I want the season to start.



Tom how bad are the Sharks kicking themselve for not waiting to sign a goalie. They could of had Niemi, wonder if they will still try.

I think there must be a solar eclipse or something because I actually agree with you. We obviously disagree with my prediciton, but otherwise you're right on. Roookie goalies who have success often do not follow it up well the next season. I'm hoping Howard's age and experience will help in that regard. He is 26 I believe and had quite a bit of time in the minors.

One other thing though, I did support my depth argument with stats. Granted the source was a "homer blog" but stats are stats none the less. It clearly shows that the Wings got good production (at least in terms of points/wins) out of their non-premier players.

BTW mock Bert all you want. I could care less. He DOES deserve it. I didn't catch how he cost you 5 sticks though? Lose a bet?

That's a great story. It's a good example of how guys are. One minute they can be beating each other's brains in, and the next laughing about it and buying each other drinks.

Like I said as a fan it took a little getting used to, but man did I love how Chelios got under other guys' skin. I remember when Theo Fleury came back from rehab while with the Rangers. I think it was one of his first games back and Chelios said something to get under his skin. Fleury slashed him so hard he snapped his own stick on Chelios and got himself tossed from the game.

According to Fleury's book a lot of players gave him a hard time about this drug use. Supposedly Chelios was one of the repeat offenders, holding his finger to his nose (simulating coke use) and asking him if he was "due back in rehab".

Not that Theo was some saint. Apparently Mike Keenan (Blackhawks coach at the time) was arrested for drunk driving in 1990. That year during a game, Keenan was chirping at Fleury from the bench. Theo skated by and said “Hey Mike, do you need to borrow my driver’s license to get home?”

Now that I'm done with that little tangent....LOL. Gotta love hockey. It's not a game for the weak.

One of my favorite NHL trash talk stories involved Rick Tocchet and Kris King.

King was a 3rd or 4th line player, certainly not of Tocchet's caliber. He also ran a youth hockey camp up in Canada during the summers.

King and Tocchet were lined up next to each other on the wing for a faceoff. Just before the puck was dropped, Tocchet says to King "I can't believe you spend the summers teaching hockey to kids when you have no idea how to play the game yourself".

Puck drops, play goes towards the Rangers zone, but King says he is so dumbfounded he doesn't move for 5 seconds.

That's Priceless!

OUCH....:-)

i also agree that the canucks are the team to beat out of the west i bet Niemi goes to the sharks. not too many teams need/have the cap space to afford a goalie nowadays, and sharks can do both.

Hey Tom!

Isn't it time to move forward?

Why don't you roll out the brand-spanking-new "NHL '10-'11 Thread!"

(Although, I can understand why you would want to bask in the '09-'10 season as long as possible.) :-)

This would be so sweet.


Mike lets put it this way. A person can look at a set of numbers and develop one conclusion. I can look at a set of numbers and develop another conclusion. You look at the result of the numbers, I look at why the numbers exist. You see loss of points from injuries. I see a team who couldnt deal with injuries. Further everyone was healthy for the playoffs and it got you a narrow escape of the first round and a beat down in the second round which showed an old slow team which used their sticks instead of their skates and took frustration penalties cause they were getting out played. Until you can explain the playoff performance with a healthy club I will stand by my opinion.

The Sharks who whooped you didnt get any worse really and they may get a lot bette if they lock up Niemi, a lot of experts think the little tweaks the Canucks made will make them the team to beat. I think the Hawks are still much deeper then the Wings, they are younger faster and more skilled. Plus they have the experience from winning a cup. I see the Wings finishing no better then fourth. They just are not better then the top 3. They are also a year older and a year slower. Its just not going to happen.

It is nice to have someone in the thread who posts a lot though.

I agree stats can be interpreted in different ways. You obviously ignored the stats I posted. The Wings played 12 playoff games, as did Vancouver. The Wings posted better number in almost every category, yet they were too old. What was Vancouver's problem/excuse?


Chicago is a good team but they will have to figure out how to get through the Cup hangover. It may not seem real to towns that haven't won a Cup in a while, but trust me it does exist. Complacency is a killer.


Your Sharks lost the previously vaunted Manny Malhotra, Rob Blake, and Evgeni Nabokov.

If they get Niemi, maybe they are better off. But wait, isn't Niemi one of those good rookie goalies who is poised for a faceplant in his second year? Sounds like the argument you made against the Wing's goaltending applies to the Shark's as well.

Rob Blake is a big loss. He was a good defender, played a lot of minutes, an offensive mided defenseman, and the team captain. I know they tried to replace him with Niklas Hjalmarsson but ended up not getting him. They did drive up the price, which will make it harder for Chicago to fill other roles and might have cost them Niemi. As a Wings fan all I can say is thanks.

Lastly, without Malhotra, who's going to take a faceoff for the Sharks?


P.S. I have been a member since Oct 2008 and I only have 600 posts. This is the first time I've been accused of posting a lot. Although, I admit I do enjoy the "sparring" in this thread.

I still don't understand how you can say the Wings couldn't deal with injury? We had our top guys out and managed to stay in the playoff picture for the whole season. Once our players came back we made a charge and got a higher seed. A factor I think you're overlooking is conditioning. You can't expect players who haven't played a full season due to injury to just comeback and go at full speed consistently night in and night out. I think it was obvious the Wings just didn't have their legs especially after going 7 games against a emotionally driven Coyotes team.

I kinda hope Niemi goes to the Sharks only to be exposed as a average goalie. The Sharks don't have the talent the Hawks have on D to help Niemi like they did. If Niemi was worth the money the Hawks would have figured out a way to keep him.

I still don't understand how you can say the Wings couldn't deal with injury? We had our top guys out and managed to stay in the playoff picture for the whole season. Once our players came back we made a charge and got a higher seed. A factor I think you're overlooking is conditioning. You can't expect players who haven't played a full season due to injury to just comeback and go at full speed consistently night in and night out. I think it was obvious the Wings just didn't have their legs especially after going 7 games against a emotionally driven Coyotes team.

I kinda hope Niemi goes to the Sharks only to be exposed as a average goalie. The Sharks don't have the talent the Hawks have on D to help Niemi like they did. If Niemi was worth the money the Hawks would have figured out a way to keep him.

btw, capgeek.com is a cool website that looks at each teams salary cap situation.

Joe, I think that is a great idea. :-)