buddha

kane was probably a little more pumped up than usual (duh) because of the return AND the bedard thing. not only has bedard become the new hot thing in chicago (taking kane's place), but bedard also went at kane a few times. checked him against the boards earlier, and right before that scoring play in ot, bedard was on the boards muscling kane for the puck and winning the battle. kane might just have had a little more oomph in that celebration to tell the young fella that the old guy aint dead yet...

lions got screwed under the old salary structure. that said, mayhew still effed it up.

if we draft another french player del will have an aneurysm.

st louis is an outlier. and detroit doesnt play that physical game like st louis did. vegas has more top end talent than detroit. kane gives the wings that special player you need in the playoffs, but i'm leery that other teams will physically manhandle him in the playoffs and single him out in ways they dont in the regular season. when they physically target any of detroit's defensemen other than seider, the wings have a lot of trouble getting out of their own zone. think of ottawa last year. you'll see that more in the playoffs if they make it. with that said, they've built a really competitive team the only way they could without lottery luck: solid drafting and solid depth. they have -in theory- a lot of defensemen coming through to replace this old set they have now. if they get to the playoffs they'll need Lyon to continue to play very well. i can see them winning a couple games in round one but would be really surprised to see them take a 7 game series against any of the big teams in the east. they probably match up best against florida or carolina. i'd hate to see them get waxed by the leafs.

i'm more worried about the leafs getting the #1 seed and taking on the wings in round one than i am in the wings catching the leafs. the wings are not catching the leafs.

if cossa turns into even an average nhl goalie that trade will be a win.

patience is good. its been 4 years for the 2019 class. tuomisto is in grand rapids. mastrosimone is out of the organization. johannson is on his second stint in the grand rapids, but got some buzz last year and is still getting it this year. albin grewe is in sweden and i think he's out of the org. ethan phillips is still in college. cooper moore is in college. elmer is in grand rapids. tyutayev is back in russia. **** out of that list we have one star/superstar in seider. tuomisto still has a shot, but its an outside shot at being a depth defenseman. johannson has enough buzz that i think he still has a shot to be a solid nhl player or trade bait like sebrango was. elmer still has to grow into his body and improve his skating. he could be rasmussen with better hands. the rest arent going to be anything. like you said, still too early to tell but its getting to put-up-or-shut-up time for the class.

i still have hope for johannson and wallinder. hanas maybe as a 4th line guy. in other news, wheeler's prospect ranking countdown is on and he's up to #7 (blackhawks, even w/o bedard and korchinski). so the wings will be top 6 again.

i know they want to get perron going, but at this point he shouldnt be out there on the power play.

how good has patrick kane been for this team?

its still too early to tell and there is positive news on mazur, wallinder, johannson, augustine, and even gibson. next year will be a good chance to see if dylan james, or buchelnikov, or lombardi continue to grow.

all first rounders except soderblom. and soderblom has been a big disappointment this year.

roll four lines. sneaky under the radar story, yzerman hit on seider and raymond but has gotten zero contributions from anyone else in those drafts... patience? or misses?

that might be the best period they've played all year. blues came in red hot.

more points than any 21 year old player.

the pistons' record is 631-869. quite less than mid.

the "defending super bowl champs" are "defending super bowl champs" because they have the best qb in football. they also had to trade the best receiver in football to make room to sign said "marquee" free agents and now will likely lose either chris jones or l'darius sneed (probably jones because he's on the wrong side of 30) because they did so. look, i'm vary wary about nfl free agency. theyre all overpriced (see sutton, cam) and theyre all available for a reason. teams dont usually allow good players to leave unless theyre old. the lions could win the press conference by signing danielle hunter. it might cost them later. to your point, if he is the final piece to a super bowl team, then you have to consider it. i have my doubts.

hanging out with henry ellenson at rodney white's apartment. waiting for mateen cleaves to come over.

how many of those guys do you think will actually make it to free agency?

it is nice to know the days of us massively overpaying patriots is over.

nfl free agency is usually nothing but fool's gold. good players at premium positions dont usually become free agents. older guys do. guys at less premium positions do. guys with big time flaws or injury risks do. teams find a way to keep the good players. lions will build through the draft and find some good depth/rotation guys in free agency.

is he TRYING to get fired? its darryl rogers all over again.

grimes is hurt.

sure, but the phone calls are just as expensive.

the pistons are such a fascinating case of terribleness that people find it hard to look away. such a car crash of a franchise. and it will get better next year because the law of averages just says it will. and there is talent there. so the people in charge wont go anywhere and instead will trumpet that this was always part of the plan. well....this and all the community involvement. that's their real goal as an organization. that and making sure prisoners pay $25 per email.