redwing77

Malone and Blood I believe are projected 3rd-4th rounders. Grieco is draft eligible, but I dont think he'll be drafted. Eidsness is draft eligible but if he is drafted, I think he'll get drafted late 6th round or later. Trupp and Marto are too old. Frattin won't be drafted, but is eligible. He's the same age, IIRC as Brian Salcido when he was drafted. Cichy and Kristo aren't draft eligible yet. I think.

Hey, in a few more years and a few more pounds, he could vie for a slot as a goaltender on an National Lacrosse League team.

I don't know if this is all of Canada. I think it is just Quebec. Quebec thinks they are a cut above the rest because they speak two languages and sympathize with the French more than with the British history of Canada. This was purely political. More against Shawville than against Murray because they aren't french speaking panzies like the rest of the province.

Meanie! Anyways, Siouxstudent1- If you said that about 3 years ago, I'd heartily agree with you. But the band has improved considerably. Maybe its because Brooks doesn't come to the games much anymore? Maybe it's because the band members actually practice. I don't know. In any case, good luck with that quest because you are now part of the minority.

I think he will be back next season. Just a hunch.

Dagies- This hits upon it. Bouchard was a scoring machine in the Major Junior leagues and, up until this year, he really hasn't produced like he should. Especially since in the past he was teamed up with Gaborik and Rolston at times. The guy couldn't finish. He is young. He has taken strides this year, for sure. But he's not the big time scorer the Wild hype him to be. At least not yet. He's doing ok compared to others drafted in the first round of that draft year, but I'm not so sure that draft year was a very strong year for scorers.

Perhaps. Redden is a big enough name that Ottawa would probably want a player and a draft pick or two to go with it. Ottawa is pretty stacked at Forward. So, what do you all think of this trade: Edmonton Gets: Wade Redden 2007 6th Round Pick Ottawa Gets: Matt Greene (D) 2007 2nd Round Pick 2008 2nd Round Pick (conditional) Of course, I'm using my imagination to dream up Ottawa's needs and what Edmonton would be willing to part with as far as draft picks. And I threw in the 6th rounder for giggles. For all I know it will be Wade Redden for a 2nd or 3rd Rd pick and cash.

Congrats to the Wild for prolonging this series for one more game. It's very nice of them to allow Anaheim to win the series at home. Some surprises: 1. I'm surprised that not only was Boogaard a factor offensively, he was paired with PM Bouchard. I don't like either player, but Bouchard potted it and potted it off of the most worthless player on the Wild's pass. Well, every dog has its day I guess. 2. They just now played with desperation.... That's good that they wait for elimination on the line to play well. Maybe that's the key? For the Wild, if they are beat on the first night, their series should be over, but if they go up 1-0, their series continues. Continuously facing elimination actually seems to make this team you know... PLAY HOCKEY. Anyways, Ducks in 5 and the Wild go home feeling good because they've at least done one thing more than the Twins have in the past year: Won 1 playoff game.

HA! Daddy Shep nor McLeod doesn't have the balls to do what Stern did. First off, it would admit that they don't have as much control or good enough accountability practices as they believe they do and it would admit that fact to the general public. Second, I don't think they truly are capable of seeing fault in their officials. Daddy Shep has the "Good ole boy" relationship going strong with these guys. Could you see Daddy Shep suspending sonny boy for anything? With this NBA ref, there are two different stories. The one that Stern says that Crawford told him and the one that the ref told the VP of the league. If Stern is correct, and Crawford did indeed tell Stern that he made a mistake, then honestly, I think the reinstatement should almost be automatic for next season. If he remains bull headed saying he was right, then the NBA will lose one of its most experienced refs. Oh, and by the way, replace Stern with either of the two dullnamic dunces and, if forced to take action, Crawford will sit out 1 month, maybe less. Maybe he'd miss the remaining regular season. Whatever it is, it would be a pitiful suspension if suspended at all.

Haven't been able to catch a Devils game yet. I did watch the third period of last night's Buffalo victory. WOW. I haven't seen a more poorly officiating game in a long time. For a while I thought.. HOLY CRAP Shepherd got promoted! I saw two obvious cross checking (one from behind on Yashin) missed calls, a few tripping/interference missed calls, and I think one boarding call as well that went uncalled. Then the official calls two tickytack penalties. I wanted Buffalo to win last night (I like Drew a ton!) but not like that. What an embarrassment.

I read a while back that he is some big shot hockey guy from the Massachusetts High School/Prep School circuit. I don't have any specifics, though. I read the information on Norton on USCHO a year or two back and it's fuzzy on the mind. He knows hockey pretty well, but really, he's New England's version of Doug Woog in the commentator box: Knows hockey, horribly homeristic at times.

Don't get me started.

Actually, VV's goals came on mopping up rebounds and garbage type goals. His real deal was those passes to set up goals or scoring chances and faceoffs. To that end, I think he'd be a great fit on the DO line. He doesn't have to be a flashy goal scorer on that line. He has Oshie and Duncan to do that for him. All he needs to do is win the faceoffs, get the puck to Duncan or Oshie and be there to mop up if Duncan or Oshie don't find the twine with their shot.

I think they're on tonight to celebrate the season that was as Anaheim finishes off the Wild tonight. It's like this guy on KFAN at around 12:30 this afternoon said to the Common Man: Minnesotans will back up any team that they believe in the system of. Basically, I like the way he runs the team so I'll support him. Me, on the other hand, I will buy into any system that promotes winning and gets those kinds of results. Endorsing a system that continually leads to mediocrity or worse is truly diehard and I appreciate those fans, but I'm not one of those when it comes to pro hockey. The Wild are good enough to make the playoffs. They are not good enough to win in the playoffs on a consistent or even semi consistent basis. That's why the year that they did go far in the playoffs should be cherished by Wild fans everywhere. A flukey flash in the pan like playoff run like that is going to be rare under LeMaire's system. Fire him? I don't know. The Wild isn't exactly a terrible team. But neither were the Levy-led Bills or the Hargrove-led Indians.

Yeah. If Lee has an agent, then the decision has been made.

I think Bruneteau and Hextall won't be in Grand Forks next season. I also have a sinking suspicion that Trupp will have a similar freshman year that Forney had. Both are going to be great players. Forney showed signs of his talent last season but he battled injury all season long. Any way you cut it this is looking to be a mess. Sure, talent from top to bottom, that's for sure, but no where to play them. And I do believe that at least for next season, Martens, Hamilton, Marto, and perhaps one or two others will be the odd men out.

First: Of those old guys mentioned: I think Detroit should dump all but Lidstrom. Including Hasek and Osgood. Seriously, losing Legace was a bad move. I think he would make a better transitional goaltender to Howard and the like than the Rascal specials currently rotating. Yeah, Detroit has gotten somewhat younger, but they still snatch everyone up they can when I think good drafting can do just as good without the monetary output. Every offseason Red Wings fans have to bite their nails wondering if we'll be able to resign Datsyuk or Zetterberg or Lidstrom because we're signing guys like Chelios and Schneider and Lang and Hasek. I like those guys, don't get me wrong, but I don't think the Red Wings would go down the crapper without them. Second: I think Blake will be a disaster in a Wild uniform. He's gritty sure. He can score, double sure. But he's a personality and personalities don't mix well with LeMaire. I don't see Blake buying into a defense first mentality as well. I DO agree that Cullen would have been a good fit with the Sioux though... but how many Stephane Veillieuxs do you need? Thanks to their system, now, I think the Wild are trapped with Nummelin and Johnsson. Skoula may be expendable. However, saying they need more scoring from the blue line is one thing, working it into the system is another. Right now, the way I see it is that LeMaire uses Dmen in the offensive zone to set up plays, move the puck around, hold the zone, and prevent odd man rushes the other way. They have very few plays designed for defensemen to produce the offense. We saw one of the few last night when Nummelin scored the goal of the night on the power play. Defensemen play defense in LeMaire's system. And LeMaire can walk on water so regardless of what anyone says, LeMaire can be like Glen Mason of the NHL but it won't matter. And you're right. Season ends on Tuesday. Best case scenario, though, is that their season ends in Game 5.

Not to be too complimentary to White Cloud State, but with the recruits they are getting and the coaching they have, I don't think they will remain one and done in the NCAAs much longer.

Heh. I agree. The one thing I tell my father (a big Wild fan whom I watched last night's game with) is that Detroit won't get much farther with Geriatrics. If they dumped or better yet traded as much of the old farts as they could (save Lidstrom) I think Detroit might have a down season or two but then come back even more dangerous. Youth is one of the strengths I see for the Wild. By the way, PM Bouchard should be on the line with Gabby. Walz has no scoring ability whatsoever. Bouchard has the passing ability Walz has PLUS can occasionally you know..score. Walz should go back to the one thing he does: Checking line play. I think the Wild are a LOT like the Twins. At the point where they are ALMOST a title contender but unable to take the last step because of rigid adherence to a bogus system and the inability to spend the money. Sure, the Wild signed a few ok players, but most of them have been defensive players like Nummelin or Carney. Parrish has underwhelmed. Demitra turned out to be a good acquisition. They're just one or two scoring forwards shy of a Stanley Cup run. Too many checkers and role players on this team. That's why they are so frustrating for me to watch. And Lemaire's "Defense to the point of boredom" approach has approved somewhat this year but not as much as it needs to. They're only slightly more fun to watch than Dallas (the UW of the NHL). Sorry if I came across as harsh, but to me, this team shouldn't be as bad as it is. If a team is just flat out bad that's one thing. But a team that is on the cusp like the Wild, it's hair raising how frustrating this team is to watch because they COULD be there if they only had one or two more scorers.

We're spending too much time on Lives to Play's opinion. He's wrong. He was proven wrong again this year. He'll progbably be proven wrong again next year. Let him and his overactive sense of disrespect spout his worthless opinion. Just ignore it. Most of us know what we'd lose if they all left.

Good win by the Wild toni...Oops. Hey, anyone see that last PP the Wild scored on? It was a great goal by Nummelin. Maybe next time the Ducks can try to contain the two Wild players with slightly less than the four skaters on the ice. Oh, and Radovojevic (sp?) did a great job of getting those two in the box. I agree with the ref's call on the Ducks players. I also agree that Rado's stick to the chin of Moen isn't a penalty...oh wait... it is. Oops. Luckily for the refs, it didn't matter. That SHOULD have been 4 on 4 or at least 2 offsetting. Wild TV commentators still suck. One minute they're rightfully berating Moen for interfering with Paulson and Rado and the next minute they are justifying it. Nevermind the Rado hit on Moen that started the whole thing. I also liked the Wild Live's props to Stephane Veillieux. It's the same crap they spewed last year when the Wild lost and had no scoring. They simply gave props to a guy that flew around a hit people (isn't leaving your skates to check someone a penalty?) and yapped at Ducks players. Really, the player of the game should have been Backstrom. With the craptacular offensive performance of the Wild scoring jugernaut (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) he made some unbelievable saves to keep it to only 2 goals against. Wild are DONE. Another successful year for Minnesota pro sports: The only state in the Union with a pro team that gives accolades for just making the playoffs.

I'm in agreement with popeye on this one. Not only does Kaip bring leadership to the team, he wore the letter last season as well. He has hardly done anything (except appear on Lives to Play's disrespect list) to warrant his losing the letter. He might not be the Captain, but he certainly should remain with the A on the sweater.

Notre Dame has had more success getting bigger recruits as of late. This Ted Ruth guy is supposed to be pretty good.

I have seen Hamilton only when he was with UAA. I've talked to some UAA fans on other boards and I seem to recall their viewpoint on Hamilton as being a streaky player. Good one moment, not so much the second. Yes, I've also heard that he was a grinder type player at UAA as well. I admit not knowing if all of this info is accurate, as the information comes from fans mostly, but I've taken what I've heard to be that he's a Martens-type player. Can score, can check, goes into corners, gritty. I've had more than one UAA fan tell me that Hamilton was inconsistent though... who knows. We'll have to see how things pan out.

Whitehead? Speaking of Whitehead: This is the first Frozen Four that I can remember where 3 of the 4 Head Coaches have had Fire (COach) threads in his honor the past few years.