Drew Doughty

maybe we can get some sort of frankenstein's monster right fielder. babe ruth's left arm and andre dawson's right arm and adam dunn's eyes (not because he's good at walking, just because they're dreamy) and barry bonds's steroids and so on.

I agree, this team will win no more than 67 games. FOR [expletive]'S SAKE 20000th post! *throws confetti* this feels like the 2009 version of the cubs. not any other version because mark prior isn't rich harden and ted lilly isn't kerry wood and carlos zambrano is only barely carlos zambrano.

you don't become probert or getzlaf immediately upon reaching the NHL, and grimson probably played 2 minutes a game in the playoffs. also, probert, grimson, and getzlaf are like...entirely different players. grimson's career high in points over an entire season was 6. probert had enough skill to play a regular shift pretty well, but is nothing like getzlaf, who's a franchise center. well yeah, i just think that as far as playing a role, probert actually could influence the game more than grimson. but yes, getzlaf is far more talented than probert, who was better than grimson. regardless, it's inane to suggest that calling up beach would have a huge impact on the series. i agree with you about grimson. i was just pointing out that his comparison was weird. i think beach can be called up but i'm definitely not 100% sure. i think brad winchester recently played his first career games in the NHL with the oilers during their cup finals run, but i don't remember the circumstances of his apperance.

you don't become probert or getzlaf immediately upon reaching the NHL, and grimson probably played 2 minutes a game in the playoffs. also, probert, grimson, and getzlaf are like...entirely different players. grimson's career high in points over an entire season was 6. probert had enough skill to play a regular shift pretty well, but is nothing like getzlaf, who's a franchise center.

To be honest, Kronwall does have a rep for leaving his feet. Yes that hit was clean, but his rep probably got to him. Perhaps, but he got called for interference, which makes me think the ref just wanted to call a penalty because the hit looked bad. Great game. On that shot, I was thinking, "hey I saw someone on that far side where did he go?" Then Sharp comes into frame and buries it. Awesome.

just going to comment real fast since I haven't been able to to this point. Kronwall's hit was clean. His elbow came up and his feet left the ice...after the contact. I hate to say it, because I really think he's a dummy, but Olczyk was right. Great game thought. Physical, fast pace, just fun to watch. Unless you're a Blackhawks fan. Then it's probably nerve-wracking every time Detroit has the puck. Huet looked pretty shaky but the Hawks tightened up in front of him pretty well.

if he has says 10 words in the last 2 innings of this game, I'd be stunned.

that is not the makings of a dominant team. the forwards you listed contain no top 6 guys most likely, although kronwall is a very good player and ericsson is a good stay at home guy on the backend. as long as datsyuk, zetterberg, lidstrom, and to a lesser extent franzen and rafalski are playing at the level they are the wings will be contenders though. Filppula and Leino easily have top 6 potential.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. Isn't the Hawks system in the top ten? What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a Toews, Kane, Seabrook or Versteeg someone that young and that good, if they can keep their them together I believe they've got a good chance to surpass the Wings. The Hawks don't currently have a Lidstrom or Rafalski (Keith is close) or Datsyuk, Hossa, or Zetterberg (Havlat and the two kids are close, but Havlat is possibly gone after the season and the other two aren't there yet) either. The Wings do have some strong young talent, though. As I've mentioned, I'm a big fan of Ville Leino. They also have guys like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm already contributing in the NHL. Then on defense they have Jakub Kindl and Jonathan Ericsson close to making an impact (or, in Ericsson's case, already in the NHL). The Wings aren't going away from the top of the West any time soon and the Hawks have a long way to go to catch up. As has been mentioned since the start of the season, the Hawks are going to run into contract issues sooner rather than later. It's going to be very interesting to see just how their finances play out over the next 3 or 4 seasons. That doesn't mean anything for the rest of the series though. The Hawks have played two very close games on the road. They can definitely come back and win the next two at home and I would not be surprised to see them do so. The Wings, as great as they are, aren't immune from contract issues either, sure plenty of their players may agreed to cap friendly deals. But, sooner or later, someone is going to go where the money is prestige, etc. be damned. Perhaps, but they have the depth to make up for it. Datsyuk is under contract until 2013/14, Filppula until 12/13, Cleary until 12/13, Zetterberg until 20/21, and Franzen until 19/20. eta: Stuart, Kronwall, and Rafalski are under contract until 11/12.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. Isn't the Hawks system in the top ten? What offers me encouragement is the Wings don't have a Toews, Kane, Seabrook or Versteeg someone that young and that good, if they can keep their them together I believe they've got a good chance to surpass the Wings. The Hawks don't currently have a Lidstrom or Rafalski (Keith is close) or Datsyuk, Hossa, or Zetterberg (Havlat and the two kids are close, but Havlat is possibly gone after the season and the other two aren't there yet) either. The Wings do have some strong young talent, though. As I've mentioned, I'm a big fan of Ville Leino. They also have guys like Justin Abdelkader and Darren Helm already contributing in the NHL. Then on defense they have Jakub Kindl and Jonathan Ericsson close to making an impact (or, in Ericsson's case, already in the NHL). The Wings aren't going away from the top of the West any time soon and the Hawks have a long way to go to catch up. As has been mentioned since the start of the season, the Hawks are going to run into contract issues sooner rather than later. It's going to be very interesting to see just how their finances play out over the next 3 or 4 seasons. That doesn't mean anything for the rest of the series though. The Hawks have played two very close games on the road. They can definitely come back and win the next two at home and I would not be surprised to see them do so.

Their farm system is still top-half. Zetterberg is 29, Franzen is 29, Draper is 28. I'd love for them to be bad, but unfortunately, it's going to be awhile. And they still manage to get free agents to take cheap deals to play with them and try to win a Cup. I'm going to assume you mean Datsyuk... And the Wings are still going to be very good for a very long time unless something very strange happens. They don't even need the free agents to sign with them, either. They are so good at drafting, it's unreal. I don't think any of their higher quality players were picked in the first two rounds. Kronwall is the only one I can come up with off the top of my head. Then they sign someone like Ville Leino, who has top 6 forward potential, and was relatively unheralded when they plucked him from Finland about a year ago.

Ummm....Aramis Ramirez, Matt Clement (pre injuries), Michael Barrett (pre-Zambrano TKO), Mike Fontenot, are a couple along the same lines as the trades for Versteeg and Sharp. Ramirez wasn't a prospect, already had one very good season in the majors, Clement had 2 full seasons in the majors before being traded to the Cubs, and Barrett had 5. Fontenot is the only worthwhile comparison, and I think most of us believe we got screwed value-wise on the deal at the time and that Hendry handled the Sosa situation poorly. Sharp had about a season-full of games spread out over 3 years before being traded to the Hawks. Versteeg made his NHL debut with the Hawks last year. Tallon and Hendry are nothing alike. Tallon built this team through drafting and intelligent trading before making big splashes through free agency last year (excluding the Khabi signing and Havlat trade). He did have an awful start to his career as a GM though. The way each built his winning team was entirely different. Ladd was an unheralded player in Carolina that came to life in Chicago. Versteeg and Sharp were already mentioned. Bolland was a pick, Toews was a pick, Kane was a pick, Keith, Seabrook, Barker, and Byfuglien were all draft picks. Hendry made bigger acquisitions. Lee and Ramirez were intelligent pickups, but not quite in the same category as anything Tallon did (at least anything Tallon did that was a positive). Still, though. Harden, Soriano, Lilly, Bradley, Fukudome, and Gregg were all intended to be impact acquisitions. Going to the starting 8 fielders, starting rotation, and the best 3 relievers (the core of the team), that's 6/16 acquired in the last 3 years as a "splash" type acquisition. In the last 3 seasons, you can point to...Campbell and Huet? Say the top 9 forwards, top 4 d, and starting goalie (since I cut down the roster for the Cubs, only fair to do it for the Hawks too). Pahlsson, Campbell, Huet. 3 players out of 14. Even then, Huet isn't even a starter and Pahlsson isn't near the level of any of the acquisitions Hendry made. So I'm not really seeing the comparison. I'm bored though, and I like reading about hockey and baseball, and this killed time pretty well.

Hendry has never ever made trades like that. Maybe Derrek Lee, but that's a huge stretch. Tallon traded for prospects and they turned out awesome. Also, Havlat has only been on two teams in his career.

Hahha... Sorry Alex, it was an awesome game because it was one sided and not physical... awesome hockey game to watch. where have i said anything about the quality of the game? i'm just wondering why anyone would expect fights at the end of that game/series.

It's not like there isn't bad blood between those two teams. I don't see why the guy has to be given a hard time for lamenting a non-entertaining game. he's being given a hard time because lamenting a lack of "goonery" is dumb Well, that wasn't the only thing he mentioned. He said it was a boring game and not even a fight to spice things up. Then you insulted him for no good reason. i specifically quoted the part about goonery because he posts about that stuff all the time and it's nonsense.

It's not like there isn't bad blood between those two teams. I don't see why the guy has to be given a hard time for lamenting a non-entertaining game. he's being given a hard time because lamenting a lack of "goonery" is dumb

i don't think you understand how hockey works. Please enlighten me, father. Most goonery is to set the tone for the next game. I know that... and I've also seen frustrations show after a shellacking in the playoffs when your season is finally going to be over. when have you seen that in the last 5-10 years? even better, when have you seen it from a series that had 0 fights in the first 6 games (i think, too lazy to check to make sure, but i don't remember one off the top of my head).

i don't think you understand how hockey works.

98. Got all of MLB and NHL (took way too long in the NHL, should've gone by division like I did for MLB), sucked in NBA and NFL.

Refs whiffed on an interference call right before the GWG, but still. Caps breakdowns lead to odd-man rushes lead to them having to take penalties lead to them having to win two straight to advance another round. Just awful defense again.

Really think the winner of this one might win the series. It's always easier to win a Game 1-5 on the road then Game 6 or 7. Going out on a flimsy limb with that prediction.

Pronger has a longer history of dirty hits, so probably. I think it was also worthy of a major and no suspension. Gonchar didn't just go into the zone unchecked, Jurcina screened his own goalie in the process. Terrible. Pittsburgh is at least somewhat sound in their own end. They're prone to breakdowns on transition but they block shots pretty well. (I think Darryl Reaugh said it best, "Pittsburgh and Washington have a totally different level of committment when it comes to blocking shots.") Varlamov finally was shaky, but he still made some big saves to keep them in it. The breakdowns are what really sealed their fate.

Washington's defense is horrible. My god, how many odd-man rushes were there in that game and in this series so far?

Oh man Olli Jokinen pics, I forgot about that thread

I figured you meant someone else, but had no idea who... lol