Chief,

One of the things that seems to be inevitable every year is the Wings lull after they clinch a playoff spot. Year in and year out, they’re the first team to claim possession of a coveted x (or y) next to their name in the standings. While I agree Dom didn’t play very well yesterday, it wasn’t only his fault. Helm and Maltby were both a -3, and were quite absent on covering their men in their own zone. It’s easy to blame the goaltender sometimes because of the shots, but the shots lie. You can outshoot a team 100-2 for all I care, but if those 2 shots are of better quality than 99 of yours, then you lose, plain and simple. Many people get caught up in the shots, but they only shed so much light onto what happened in a game. Dom will be fine come playoff time, and we’ll all be singing his praises when he saves the Wings bacon in a game that they probably should end up losing, but indeed win.

Now, I’m sure you’re all asking (at least I hope you are) what it is that I can do to not be worried about the current state of Red Wing affairs. The long and short of it simply is that, you just gotta hope the Wings see April on the horizon, tighten things down and prepare for the long haul. Remember, this is a team right now that is being carried by 2 players, Datsyuk and Franzen, and is missing 3 important cogs in Homer, Cleary and Draper. Hank is slumping (maybe hurt?), Filppula has hit a wall, Sammy’s being asked to do too much and Hudler’s confidence is stuck in October.

Things will get better, they usually do by April 1st. Babcock and Co. remember last year, and know they can’t go into the playoffs playing their C or D game. We’ve seen what happens when they do, and if it does happen this year, heads will surely roll. So, kick back and relax the rest of March, get used to seeing the Jackets, Preds and Blues play the Wings tough, and the Wings likely letting them win. We’ve seen this act before, it’s showing again at a hockey rink near you, and all we better hope is that ticket sales for this act are pitiful and the act quickly leaves. We all better hope.

Posted by Jeremy from Bowling Green, OH on 03/17/08 at 08:24 PM ET

I have to say that Dom’s “So at least that was a positive” comment is troubling. He’s like the Bizarro World version of Legace. After a game like yesterday, the trainers would have had to hide the ropes, razor blades and plastic bags to keep Manny from ending it all. Dom? “I felt good.” Ugh!

Nine games left…and all against the (yawn) Central Division. Just get the damn games over with and hope the Wings find something along the way that motivates them to ressurect their “A” game ‘cause time’s running out for them to adopt their own oh-so-swell slogan: Fire on Ice.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 03/17/08 at 10:44 PM ET

Holland says the Wings are sticking with Dom.  I’m completely comfortable with that.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/08 at 02:52 AM ET

I’ve been wondering this for too long, and I have to think that more than a few people have been wondering as well but, like me, haven’t articulated that wonder…and that wonder is: why didn’t Kenny make a play for Bryzgalov when he was put on waivers?  At that time, there were still questions over the goaltending, and now they’ve only intensified.

I mean, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist of a GM to figure it out.  He’s acquitted himself well in both the regular and postseasons, is obviously an NHL starter right now, and if anybody has a reason to outplay ol’ Turtle-Head Giguere, it’s him.  A damn fine goalie with something to prove, a grudge against the guy who kept him from making the move up—tell me that doesn’t sound like Dom circa 2002.

Besides, it’s not like there was some prohibition against having three goalies, especially when two of you just can’t figure out.  Two years ago we had three when the management didn’t want to send Joey McDonald down on waivers.  They eventually did and he was snapped up, but it worked for a while with three guys, seven D, and twelve forwards.  Locker-room chemistry?  They didn’t want to upset the Czech?  There’s the little matter of the upsetting stuff he and his agent did last summer.  And sure an upset Dom is locker-room poison, but hell, if we had Bryzgalov’s current game between the pipes, who cares?  Take away his key to the Joe and send him home, whatever.  Sounds drastic, but now it’s March and with nine games left we have no frickin’ idea if putting an orange traffic cone in the net would be the best solution or not.

Maybe I’m being too harsh.  I mean, both goalies have won Stanley Cup rings as starters with Detroit.  So they know that they need to step up their game in order to give us any chance come April.  Every player ratchets it up in the playoffs—maybe they could give that crank one or two extra twists, because right now they both need it or we’re out in the second round and it’s back to the bottle of Night Train for me.

Hell.  I hate to say it, but there’s always next year.  If the right moves are made over the summer, and they’re minor ones easily made, then next year can bring a consistent defensive game and enthusiastic young blueliners, solid and dependable secondary scoring, a healthy D-Mac, and an armor-clad Jimmy Howard, riding down I-96 astride a white steed holding his Excalibur goalie stick aloft.

Gawd.  It’s Tuesday morning and I’m nursing a hangover, but I need a drink.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the wrong side of a pint of Smithwick's on 03/18/08 at 03:54 AM ET

Don’t claims on waivers proceed in order of horridness?

There is no freaking way he would have been sitting around for the Red Wings to claim him, if that is the case - someone would have blocked them by picking him up even if they didn’t need a goaltender.

I was actually shocked the Kings didn’t pick him up, as none of their six goaltenders this year have been as good as he has been for Phoenix.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/18/08 at 07:47 AM ET

No doubt Dom single-handedly cost them Sunday’s game (he looked like a block of Swiss with those pucks, deflected or not, dribbling through his equipment). But let’s just relax. If he’s healthy, he’ll be solid. Not great, but solid. And if he’s not healthy, he’ll stink.

Posted by Nathan on 03/18/08 at 07:51 AM ET

Don’t claims on waivers proceed in order of horridness?

Dammit Baroque, don’t make me think and fact-check when I don’t have two neurons to rub together due to my skull taking the day off, meaning my brain stayed in bed while I went to work!  And because of that, all I want to do is bitch and moan endlessly about the situation rather than look at it analytically and rationally.

If that’s the case, then okay, we didn’t get Bryzgalov and we’re stuck with what we have.  I don’t know about you, but I’m one bad goal away from praying to God, Jesus, Buddha, Zeus, Satan, anyone that’ll listen really, that the last few games mean some sort of gelling and restoration of the usual order of things.  Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from work, counting the minutes until I can sleep again on 03/18/08 at 08:25 AM ET

Wasn’t there a similar post last year about this time? Must we go through this EVERY year? How many times must this happen before you’ll just trust that the organ-I-zation’s crack psychiatric and medical staff will get the perfect cocktail of aresenic and benzyl chloroformate in time for the playoffs? The organ-I-zation knows what they’re doing; he’ll be fine once they find the right balance to put in his Kool-Aid.

Think of this as Dom’s pre-playoffs hibernation. He’s not as young as he used to be; let him peak too soon or he may rip off his mask and go Hannibal Lecter in game 79. Is that what you want? I didn’t think so. You want him a hair’s breadth away from a spree killing at the end of the Conference finals, and not a moment before. So please, allow the organ-I-zation’s abnormal psychiatrists, gregorian chanters, and neo-pagan consulting staff do their job without the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth.

Posted by wingsfanindenver from 'lanche land on 03/18/08 at 09:18 AM ET

I think this is a good discussion, and something that highlights a real weakness for the Wings since the 2002 Cup victory.  We usually run up against a hot goaltender at some point in the playoffs, and Chief’s analysis of the different quality netminders we’ll be facing is right on.  Hasek played well in last year’s playoffs, but when was the last time that a team really feared a Wings goalie?  When was the last time we had the hot goalie?  2002, probably.  So I vote for trying to get Miller over the off-season.  If it works, Miller-Howard is our combo, but I doubt that happens since Osgood’s signed.  If Miller doesn’t work out (I know it’s a stretch for cap reasons, etc.) then I say Howard-Osgood.  Howard has been “The Goalie of the Future” for a while now.  It’s time for the Wings to have something they haven’t had since Ted Lindsay, really:  a young, world-class goaltender.

With the return of Cleary and Homer, I like our forwards if Filpulla and Franzen continue to score.  A top six of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filpulla, Franzen, Cleary, Homer, Samuelsson/Hudler is fine with me.  Ditto for the defense.  But the goaltending for us is a liability.

Posted by TDeters on 03/18/08 at 09:21 AM ET

TDeters—
Unfortunately, Ryan Miller won’t be a UFA until after next season. Other than that, I agree with your thinking. (My one concern is where the money to sign him will come from.)

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 03/18/08 at 09:54 AM ET

Jimmy, Jimmy, Jimmy!  Hate to say it, but I see one sucking, and one getting hurt/staying hurt (Osgood, Hasek).  Stranger things have happened in the playoffs-stay tuned.  However if we win the Cup with either Osgood or Hasek, it will obviously be team defense that does it.

Posted by Jeff from Loveland, CO on 03/18/08 at 09:57 AM ET

The waiver claim system is indeed based upon the order of standings, so there’s no way in hell that the Wings could have gotten Bryzgalov.  If they could have made a claim, I have no idea what would have happened, mostly because Howard’s proving that he’s got NHL chops, Osgood will be around for a while, and Dom might be around for a while, too.

Miller won’t be a UFA until the summer after next, and it’s risky to try to pin the franchise’s hopes on a guy who may not even become a free agent.  Howard’s gone from a flopper who would bite on dekes like a shark on chum to a goaltender who’s showing an NHL-level toolbox of skills and a tremendous amount of untapped potential.  I’ve been pleasantly flabbergasted by his development, and invoking the “as a goalie” card, the kid’s the real deal.  He’s got to work on preventing the “soft goal” he gives up every other game, but most young goalies deal with that.  He’s worked really hard with Jim Bedard, and he’s totally redefined the way he plays to the positive.

I don’t understand the worries about Dom.  I thought that the Wings did a great job of ripping long-distance, un-tipped, un-screened, single shots against Norenna and then turning away from the net instead of going to the slot to pursue rebounds, while they left Hasek alone while the Blue Jackets had uncontested access to rebound opportunities in tight.  The goal that went in off Dom’s skate was a bizarre fluke; the first goal, I think he should have stopped; I have no idea how Malhotra’s whack-out-of-the-air could have been stopped, and I thought that the Zherdev goal wasn’t something you blame on your goalie.  He had a bad game, but his teammates had a really bad game, too, and it does happen. 

To me, the argument that Hasek’s still a locker-room cancer doesn’t hold water.  The guy would have gone absolutely apes*** about having to show up more than ten minutes before the pre-game skate, much less sharing the regular-season load with someone not named Dominik Hasek back in the day, and he comes in and does a 45-70-minute stretching routine before every game and practice, repeats it afterwards, and he and Ozzie are like two peas in a pod.  It took Dom 42 years to grow up, and yes, he’s still batpoop insane, but he’s started to become a team guy, and he’s starting to get over himself a bit, weird comments included. 

He had a rough game, but felt good physically.  I took that statement at face value—“okay, well, at least I felt OK when I had a rough game, and I guess that’s a positive to take out of this mess.”  Fair enough.  A little weird, but so’s Dom.  He’s the “Nut who can stop a puck,” and he’s still in his own little world, but he lets Babs, Ozzie, the Wings’ medical staff, and his teammates in these days.

I don’t mean to try to derail the stress train…okay, maybe I do…but Dom is intimidating at 80% of what he once was in the playoffs.  To me, the worries are, in order: getting Homer and Cleary healthy and in good net-front form, secondary scoring, developing a really solid shut-down line and a fourth line that’s safe to put out there, a consistent power-play and PK, and especially finding a solid third defensive pairing, because while Brad Stuart and Niklas Kronwall make a helluva second pair, Cheli needs a partner who will compliment #24’s rock-steady game with a similarly understated physical and puck-moving presence, and it worries me that Derek Meech has played much better than both Lilja and Lebda of late—and I might go with Meech right now. 

At this time of the season, three weeks is an eternity, and a LOT can happen between now and the start of the playoffs both in terms of injuries and getting players on “hot streaks.”  I think that Dom will get every chance to turn things around, and if he falters, Babs will go to Ozzie, which is fine. 

Let’s see whether the Wings can actually show up and play real 60-minute games while taking their Central Division opponents seriously and go from there, reassessing in four games.  I have a lot of faith in this group, but I think that they’ve got a lot to prove in terms of stick-to-it-ive-ness and an understanding that the last nine games are full dress rehearsals for the playoffs, not time to d*** around and assume that your talent, not your work ethic, will carry you through against opponents that you see as “lesser” than yourself.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/08 at 10:19 AM ET

Everybody’s got a liability this time of year.  The annual conniption is right on schedule.

But it doesn’t make for much of a story any more.

Posted by Chris from Born in Detroit, exiled in DC on 03/18/08 at 10:24 AM ET

Hell.  I hate to say it, but there’s always next year.

Poor, poor Andrew - What happened to you? 

Did you become an Islanders fan, looking forward to the debut of Kyle Okposo tonight?

Did you become an Edmonton fan, looking for positives in the development of all the kids tossed in to the fire this year and hoping that Brian Burke won’t get a lottery pick?

Did you become a Toronto fan, hoping that maybe with Sundin and Antopov out the team will stop winning games and have a chance at a high pick instead of juuuuuust barely missing the playoffs?

Before anyone throws in the towel, could we at least wait until the playoffs start and see who is the opponent for Detroit?

“Wait until next year” on St. Patrick’s Day is loser talk.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/18/08 at 10:26 AM ET

It took Dom 42 years to grow up, and yes, he’s still batpoop insane, but he’s started to become a team guy, and he’s starting to get over himself a bit, weird comments included.

George James…I like your State of the Goalie speech.  Many cogent thoughts.  However, the quote above was a joy to read.  Concise wording on the current status of the Czech Miracle of Insanity.  (Props for working the word “poop” in there too!)

Posted by Rumbear from Sandy Eggo on 03/18/08 at 10:36 AM ET

Bats*** sounds better, but I didn’t want to swear too often. 

Dom, our little spoiled brat, mostly grown up…sniffle

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/08 at 10:48 AM ET

Question for you George:

Who is more of a grown-up:

The elder Hasek or his son? 

(I cast my vote for Hasek the Younger.)

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/18/08 at 10:53 AM ET

All:
Sorry for not realizing that Miller wasn’t an FA until next year.  I guess that’s sort of important.

George:
Good analysis.

I’ve only been reading this blog for about a month, and I’m shocked at the reasoned, thought-out postings.  Since this is a forum on a sports team, we should be insulting each other for our divergent views, not rationally posing arguments!

On the whole “there are nine games left, here’s what needs to be done” front, I think that the personnel are there up front and on D.  One has to assume that after last year’s experience, guys like Datsyuk, Z, Cleary, Homer, Franzen will understand what’s required to succeed at playoff time.  On D especially, we should be envied.  Lidstrom, Rafalski, Stuart, Kronwall, and Chelios all are elite defensemen who understand the playoffs.  If our only issue is picking the right sixth man, we’re in good shape.  I think Meech should be that person.

But again, in goal is the place where I just don’t think that we can depend on our personnel.  I’ve little faith in Osgood as a playoff goalie.  I hope Hasek wakes up.

Posted by TDeters on 03/18/08 at 11:04 AM ET

Michael Hasek > Dominik Hasek Be warned, the boy’s college bound (U of M), so the Dominator might hang around the state for a while…

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/08 at 11:08 AM ET

Amendment to my earlier comments:

I should have said losING talk, not losER talk.

Any fan can be a loser fan, but only fans of losing teams can be losing fans.

I’ve only been reading this blog for about a month, and I’m shocked at the reasoned, thought-out postings.  Since this is a forum on a sports team, we should be insulting each other for our divergent views, not rationally posing arguments!

Sorry to disappoint you.  You can blame me if it makes you feel better! 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/18/08 at 11:53 AM ET

I was at the game on Sunday and jumped on the train in the second period when Dom let in the 3 goals in 5 some odd minutes.  Of course the all had to come when the BJs were attacking the zone I was sitting in.  Oh well.  But I think that the first game back from an injury against a team desperately trying to make the playoffs while you have your playoff berth in hand makes for some lazy players.  I was happy to see Franzen get number 20 though.  Secondary scoring seemed like it was there with Kopecky netting one and Franzen getting dos.  But man, Hasek looked lost to me.  That goal he kicked in was heartbreaking.  The one game I get to go to in a year (unless I get tix for Saturday) and they lose, mostly due to lackluster goaltending.  Stress train, here I am.

Posted by Bryan from Athens, OH on 03/18/08 at 01:01 PM ET

Well, I guess I’m glad I missed the game Sunday so I’m still upright in my seat on the stress train instead of curled into a little ball. 

I think I’ve made it well known how I feel about the CMOI and I’ve been uncomfortable with him in net since last season.  Ugh.  I hope things improve but I do agree with the Chief, Hasek is not a game stealer anymore.

Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 03/18/08 at 03:26 PM ET

I think both of them are capable of stealing games, even if they haven’t been lately. I also think we have the defensive and forward capability as well, which is why I am not too stressed.

Posted by C3091 on 03/18/08 at 05:14 PM ET

There must be something wrong with me, because I actually agree with Ken Holland, who suggests that veteran presence in the playoffs is like currency, and the more you have, the more your players are able to say, “Okay, so we’re down 2-0 going into the third period…Been there, done that, got a disease, we’ll be all right…”

The Wings need Dom and/or Ozzie to do what they’ve done all year long—keep the Wings in a game when they start slow, be able to not face shots for ten minutes of game action and then stand on their heads for five minutes, and then go back to waiting around for fifteen more minutes, and then withstand a furious assault for five more minutes. 

There’s only been one other goalie who could do that in the regular season and the playoffs for the Red Wings over the last 11 years, and his name was Mike Vernon, because while it appears that playing for the Red Wings must be ridiculously easy, from a goaltending perspective, there is nothing harder than never really getting the work necessary to get in a groove, and then have to suddenly play like a wall while your team goes through a “lull.” 

I’m really worried about our secondary scoring, about the health of Holmstrom, Draper, McCarty, and Downey, I’m very worried about Cleary’s ability to get his “game chops,” if you will, I think that we need somebody to step up and say, “You know what, I’m going to dedicate myself to being Cheli’s rock-solid partner” on the third defensive pair, and I want to see Hank score a goal before April so that he can get off his schneid (yes, his back is a bit sore, but everybody’s a bit sore at this time of year, because the stretch drive is when everybody is nursing some sort of nagging injury) and challenge Pavel for the team scoring lead. 

I’m not worried about our goaltending.  Dominik Hasek at 43 is a guy who has substituted two-pad stacks for “slinky for a spine” moves, Chris Osgood at 35 is the best technical goaltender he’s ever been, and it’s a bloody shame that their teammates have some sort of mental block about actually showing up for 60 minutes against teams named Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, and Chicago, because I thought that Ozzie was fine against Nashville, and Dom could have stopped one of those four goals against Columbus—the first one.  The second was a ridiculously bad bounce, the third was a baseball tap-in, and the fourth was shelf, and he’s rusty, but his teammates also refused to go to the slot, as if there was some sort of plague involved in getting near the crease, and Gord forbid actually attempting to hold the puck in to sustain possession and control instead of taking a shot, turning away from the net, and getting ready to pursue the opposition’s dump-out. 

I want effort, I want consistency, I want grit, I want the arrogance of, “Oh, we don’t need to take team X seriously” to go away, because it’s playoff dress rehearsal time, I want to see somebody knock Robert Lang on his giveaway-producing ass the next time the Wings play the Chicago Punkhawks, I want to see Manny Legace have to twitch his way to the bench in at least one game against St. Louis, I want to see Ken Hitchcock turn beet red in frustration with his own team twice this week, and I want to see at least one game where the Wings can keep Martin Erat off the scoresheet.

If we could get Filppula putting pucks in the net, too, that’d be good, and if Derek Meech ends up outworking Lilja and Lebda, that would be hilarious. 

Goaltending, I’m not worried about.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/08 at 06:40 PM ET

George James Malik, you ROCK! Lurker for a few days, and KUDOS to all for this fine blog (Chief, we’re not worthy!), George has identified the real problem… the whole team needs to contribute. It’s not just the goaltenders, or the forwards, or the D. They ALL need to get it together. That said, and has been mentioned previously, let’s see how the next nine games pan out. I’m definitely on the Train… and so are the Red Wings. It’s up to them to successfully pull it into the station. Full Steam Ahead!

Posted by Cwix from Roanoke, VA on 03/18/08 at 07:51 PM ET

because I thought that Ozzie was fine against Nashville

- Are you insane - what about his assist on Nashville’s second goal?!?!!?  Ozzie was fine early in the season - heck, better than fine, but right now neither of our goalies are playing very well.  And I don’t feel at all confident that we can even make it out of the 1st round with either of them if the quality of their play continues as is.  I still would rather have kept Manny Legace - suicidal tendencies and all!

but everybody’s a bit sore at this time of year, because the stretch drive is when everybody is nursing some sort of nagging injury

Unless your name is Teemu Selanne or Scott Niedermayer (I didn’t include McCarty since he hasn’t actually played any NHL games yet and he is already injured.  Also, as much as his pending returns warms my heart, I don’t think he is the same caliber player.)

I would also like to see more scoring.  Several people have suggested we need more secondary scoring.  The Wings need more scoring overall, not just secondary scoring.  The big guns need to step it up.  I would like to see Datsyuk get his first hat trick someday…

Posted by stuck at work from mid michigan on 03/18/08 at 08:39 PM ET

Stuck At Work—several medical professionals have questioned my mental state from time to time

CWIX—thanks for the compliment, but I’m not planning on stealing Bill’s Schnitzel.

He knows Karate.

Posted by George Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/18/08 at 09:00 PM ET

several medical professionals have questioned my mental state from time to time

That’s ‘cause you’re a goalie, George.  That’s NFAG (Normal For A Goaltender).

Poor, poor Andrew - What happened to you?

Sorry schätzchen.  Trust you and Malik to be the calm ones in this.  I don’t usually go in for the pre-playoff paroxysms.  But I plead hangover, moodiness, and the burning desire to complain about something since, relatively speaking, I have little to complain about.  Once I got home and got some sleep, soup, and saturated sugar solution in that order, I felt somewhat better.  And while I’m still uneasy about the goaltending, I’m not in the locomotive screaming “MORE COAL!” at the stokers.  I don’t like ambiguity, especially at this time of year.  We were supposed to have our starting goalie sorted out by this time, and we don’t.  This wouldn’t bug me if we had a tandem playing well, but instead we have a tandem playing pretty average.  And I’m not a natural optimist.  I’m relatively realistic, and as a scientist, you have to admit that there is very little empirical, rational evidence for either goalie’s play to pick up into the playoffs.  So this is where faith comes in.  Now I believe in Datsyuk.  I believe in Nick.  I believe in Cleary, and Franzenstein, and yeah, Drake too.  I even believe in Dom.  I believe that he’ll give one hundred and ten percent, which is statistically impossible.  But I don’t know if I believe that Dom giving it all is good enough anymore.  I hope.  That’s all I’ve got right now.  Heart against head.

If Dom can get back to 100% health and make a few key saves in the remaining games, it’ll go miles to restoring confidence in him.  But right now I can see that any potential playoff opponents see the goaltending as the weakness to go for.  Let’s see the whole team tighten up and stop playing like it’s the end of the year—and start playing like it’s the beginning of the playoffs, because it effectively is.  And somebody needs to explain to some of the fourth-liners and lower-pairing defensemen that being a defensive liability on Uncle Mike’s team isn’t going to cut it.  You don’t have to create any offense, but you DO have to keep the puck out of our net.

Still, regardless of what happens in April, you gotta admit things are looking good for next year.  You got one thing right though—I’m a loser.  Soy un perdidor, baby, so why don’t you kill me?  Put me out of your misery

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the farm, picking a fatted calf for an offering on 03/19/08 at 04:38 AM ET

Meant to say: with regards to Ryan Miller, it’s an interesting rumor that the Wings will pursue him when he becomes a UFA because Buffalo has such a hard time keeping their star UFAs, what with Drury, Briere, and Campbell, but I really don’t think the organization will want him and the cap hit he comes with to bring him back to Michigan.  Not with Jimmy Howard coming up.  Unless he takes a discount.  Then it could happen.  But I thought it’d be interesting to do a straight trade of Howard for Miller.  Hometown hero for hometown boy—Miller comes back to Michigan, his home state, and Howard goes to upstate New York, his old stomping grounds.  And Buffalo gets an RFA that they wouldh’t have to pay as much as Miller.  That would require our GM to take pity of Buffalo, though.  And this situation, like I said, is just a side point of idle speculation, because of the interesting connections.  Miller being signed as a free agent in 2009 is the one.  And that’s not going to happen.

And that’s not just speaking as a Wolverine about a Spartan.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Behind The Mask on 03/19/08 at 05:06 AM ET

Still, regardless of what happens in April, you gotta admit things are looking good for next year.  You got one thing right though—I’m a loser.  Soy un perdidor, baby, so why don’t you kill me?  Put me out of your misery

True, next year does look pretty good - nice to know the team isn’t going to drop off a cliff of goodness into a ravine of mediocrity.

And as for that suggestion - I have a pretty high tolerance for losers, so not a snowball’s chance in Hades. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/19/08 at 07:36 AM ET