Oh yeah, the entire league turned a nice shade of green today.

Bend over and take it like a man, NHL.

Comment from Avsgirl in the Dater blog:

Detroit showed hubris in picking up Hossa.

Reminds me of a line from a movie: “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Ken Holland coming up live:
http://38.99.208.186/cjcl

Damnit Lilja4ever, I haven’t gotten anything done since about 12:35, and you are not helping.

is it over?

Nate, that makes two of us!  I’m not going down alone, damnit!

Interview over.

Apparently Mats was not very interested in coming to Detroit.  I guess his new girlfriend prefers Manhattan or something.

Kenny was hopeful in signing Wally.

Damn it, I missed it.

That made me smile so much.

Is it wrong that I don’t feel sorry for that guy at all? That I hope Sakic retires and Forsberg goes back into his hole until March? Then the dive get completey F’ed?

Sweet baby Jesus, I don’t think there is anything I enjoy more than witnessing the perennial misery of the Dive fan.

I chuckle.

HA!  I spit on your grave!!!

Best single season record:  DET 95-96, 62 wins.

Just saying.

Don’t care about 62 wins, I’m more concerned with 16 of them, and after the reputation-busting performance Hossa turned in last playoff run with the Pens, the signing goes a long way toward nailing down 16 of them.

“They just added a guy who can skate faster circles,” is an awesome line.  I also liked the “etc., etc.” from Dater.

Sorry, i’m a little slow sometimes, but who’s Wally…

(i feel like this is going to be similar to the scene in the Sandlot, when everyone just stares when the kid asks who babe ruth is)

one thing stands out in my mind about Hossa.  he was the only Penguin we didn’t completely contain.  even with the complete smackdown we put on them in the first two games, with the mental fold everyone expected, he didn’t.  he kept playing, kept fighting, and actually put up points against us.  if Pittsburgh didn’t have him it would have been an easy sweep - if they had even made the finals.

if I had the Photoshop skills, I’d make one of a bunch of buzzards wearing NHL logos picking apart a dead penguin…

Sorry, i’m a little slow sometimes, but who’s Wally…

Filpulla.  apparently Walter (Wally) is the closest American interpretation of Valteri.

I thought they were happy to go back to the days of Old Time Hockey 1996 in Denver?

I mean, hey, look at the bright side - they were able to keep Liles around for $4 million a year for the next forever.  That’s totally worth it!1!11!!

Ken Holland is clowning every other GM in the league right now and it’s not even a competition.

So much for taking the summer off as I anticipated.

Damn, I’m giddy.  It’s like Jennifer Aniston just called saying she’s willing to sleep with me for a year.

I can’t believe Ken Holland.  Stuart, Conklin, and Hossa...its kind of shocking that in this “cap” system he was able to do that. 

I was not a fan of the Conklin deal yesterday, and was promptly put in my place by several of you bloggers (most notably, Joe from Canton and Nathan) so I humbly admit that I may have been a little harsh on the guy. 

With the Hossa deal I feel like I will like it a lot more once we get Wally under contract.  I’m too cautious to be a GM, haha.

Thanks Paul, I remember that thread, just didn’t make the connection.

Do you think at some point Kenny will stop wanting to just maintain an already dominant team, and try to build one from the ground up? That worries me.

Everyone was really, really bored. 

http://www.behindthename.com/

VALTTERI
Gender: Masculine

Usage: Finnish

Finnish form of WALTER

WALTER
Gender: Masculine

Usage: English, German, Scandinavian, Polish

Pronounced: WAWL-tər (English), VAHL-ter (German, Polish) [key]

From a Germanic name meaning “ruler of the army”, composed of the elements wald “rule” and heri “army”. The Normans brought it to England, where it replaced the Old English cognate Wealdhere. A famous bearer of the name was Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832), a Scottish novelist who wrote ‘Ivanhoe’ and other notable works.

Hence a nickname of Wally Filppula. 

Someone needs to do a photoshop of Ken Holland in the old “Superfriends” Lex Luthor costume. He is officially the evil genius of the NHL. God help me, I think I’m going to laugh maniacally all day.

My how far we have come since that day, eh Baroque? Now we can all revel in the glory that is being a Wings fan once again.

I wouldn’t worry about that rwingscup19...Kenny Holland is proving that he is by far the best GM in the league.  He not only has the best team on the ice, but the best owner, and he has built the best management team as well.  This guy is great, and don’t kid yourself, keeping a team at the top in the salary cap world is very difficult.  The fact that Detroit can continue to do this, making it look easy, is a testament to his greatness.  I don’t think he will get bored any time soon, because keeping a team on top, is harder than getting there in the first place.

Still nothing official on Drake!

Is he possibly rethinking that retirement, with the addition of Hossa?

Drake should definitely go on top and retire...now is the time.

Regarding Drake - My suspicion actually is that he is waiting until his day with the Cup of after to announce his retirement.

Maybe he wants to have his day as an active hockey player instead of a former hockey player?  The same kind of deal as a player who signs with a team for the purpose of retiring as a member of that team - pointless in practicality, but of symbolic significance.

My how far we have come since that day, eh Baroque? Now we can all revel in the glory that is being a Wings fan once again.

No kidding.  Today was not boring!

Well, except for a few minutes when I looked up this little item:

MARIÁN
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Slovak, Czech, Hungarian

Slovak, Czech and Hungarian form of MARIANUS

MARIANUS
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman

Roman family name, which was itself derived from the Roman name MARIUS. This was the name of an early saint.

MARIUS
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Ancient Roman, German, Dutch, Norwegian, Danish, French, Romanian
Pronounced: MER-ee-əs (English), MAR-ee-əs (English)

Roman family name which was derived either from MARS, the name of the Roman god of War, or else from the Latin root mas, maris meaning “male”. Gaius Marius was a famous Roman consul of the 2nd century BC. Since the start of the Christian era, it has occasionally been used as a masculine form of MARIA.

Funny how the root is the god of war when it sounds like such a feminine name in English. 

Ken Holland coming up live:
http://38.99.208.186/cjcl

George James Malik with the transcript from the above interview, in case you missed it:
http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008/07/holland_fan_590_now.html

i agree. now is the time. His role will be greatly reduced next year.

Bummer. Orpik re-upped w/ the pins, 6yrs 22.5mil. I was hoping SJ or OTT would lure him away. The resulting mass Seppuku over at tpb would have been fun to watch.

ps. does anyone have any info on the relative location of Capt. America’s Malibu Beach House??? I may feel the need to beachcombing on the 4th for a photo op w/ the cup.

Conklin, Mars and Stuart...all great pickups...but while we’re on our collective knees in front of Kenny, let’s not forget his best move of the summer—locking up Uncle Mike. 

It’s pretty obvious to me which move made more sense, but just for argument sake, where does the 19 rank the Stu, Mars, Mike moves?  You want to immediately put Stuart at the bottom of that list, but he’s a second line d-man just like hossa’s a second-line forward on this team...and in my book, the D is what brings home the bacon in this league. 

Just throwing that one out there.  Debating which of these moves is the most brilliant is like arguing which chick at Hooters you’d bang first if given the opportunity.  It’s a good conundrum to mull over.

Debating which of these moves is the most brilliant is like arguing which chick at Hooters you’d bang first if given the opportunity

Kenny Holland would find a way to do ‘em all at once...which is we he is a god and we are mere mortals

We need an A2Y poll for Hossa!  I like Mars as used above.

Here’s another entry, inspired by Baroque and Behind the name and Wikipedia:

Roman family name which was derived either from MARS, the name of the Roman God of War…

From Wikipedia entry for “God of War”:

More than ten years in the past, Kratos was a young and ambitious Spartan captain. He became a servant to Ares, the god of war, during a battle against a barbarian horde. Realising that he could not win, Kratos offered his life to Ares in exchange for salvation. Ares heeded this plea, and subsequently saved Kratos and his men from massacre. He then instructed Kratos to rebuild his army and use it to conquer areas of Greece, as a display of devotion and piety to the god. He granted Kratos great strength, and also gave him the “Blades of Chaos”, short-bladed swords connected to long, whip-like chains seared to Kratos’s arms.

So here’s a question....

Doesn’t Hossa wear #18?

Can’t imagine Malts giving it up.

Notes from Kenny’s convo on WDFN a minute ago…

He’s expecting Dallas to retire...had HIGH praise for the veteran, talked about how he’d been a captain in the league, provided huge value to the team

McCarty/Downey - both have been offered 2-way contracts...a big factor for Kenny...if they have to go, the Wings might look for someone at the trade deadline to provide a physical presence

Wally—Kenny was talking like he was going to have him around next season

D-men—He didn’t give me the impression that Andreas was for sure going to be around next season; said that they’re going to bring all the kids into camp to duke it out for spots and that given the demand for D in the league and his relatively cheap contract, the Wings would have no problem moving Lils if he wasn’t a top-8 guy

Negotiations with Z will start in training camp when Hank gets back to North America with his agent; talks have already started up on a prelim level, but Kenny wants to “talk to the player about his vision...some buy it, some don’t;” he insinuated that Z might have to play here for less than he’d get on the open market.

So it’s settled.  The Franzen-Fil-Hossa line next year will be known as “Blades of Chaos”, coming atcha after the Flying Circus.

WOWOWOWOW.  I can’t believe it, something I’ve wished for a several years actually came true.  Hossa is a Wing!  Now if Fedorov would come back, I would truly faint (don’t kill me on that one people that don’t like Feds).  WOW.  My good friend in Michigan called me up and said, “My radio is very full of static and I’m not sure I heard right, did they say that Hossa is a Wing?” We just laughed about it for many minutes.  WAHOO.  MERRY CHRISTMAS TO WINGS FANS!!

It would be epic to see Detroit go down in the first round to (insert sucker team - St Louis, Vancouver, Colorado) similar to when the Pens ruled the world in 92-93 and lost to the Isles in the first round going for their 3d cup.

Yzerman’s Balls, huh?  Well, that is where you belong.

Hossa gets #39!!!

“Blades of Chaos” sounds like “Lilja on skates”

You know, I don’t think the Wings will repeat. I am an Avs fan, and while I’m disappointed the Avs didn’t sign Hossa, I’m not that sad or mad at all. We were never supposed to sign him anyway. (And Dater is way overreacting).

Now, follow me here: this is not the way the Red Wings have done business, this is not the way they’ve achieved success since the lockout. They did not go after big-name free agents and throw money at them. No. What the Wings have been doing is drafting good players, letting them develop into great players in the minors, and getting players that are perhaps a bit underrated (i.e. Rafalski, Drake (who reportedly taught Datsyuk how to hit)) who turn their games up a notch in Detroit. Going out and signing the biggest name available on the market is not reminiscent of what the Red Wings have been about, and I think it will lead to them not winning the Cup.

I know how you Wings fans feel right now. You are on a high, thinking about how great the line combos will be, etc. etc. But, this is exactly how Avs fans felt a couple years back when the Avs signed Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. Those were also very high profile FAs, as high-profile as Hossa. And we signed both. The Avs were already a pretty good team, and those additions were supposed to make us go pretty much undefeated, hehehe. I think we all remember how that turned out (very bad). There is such a thing as having too much good players on your team. Think about the numerous teams over the years in all of sports who signed great players and had superb, all-star rosters, yet didn’t win championships. Or, look at team USA in basketball, they always have by far the best team, but they seldom win. That’s not a very good example, but you guys know what I mean (after all, the Detroit Tigers have had a great lineup for a while now with no results).

So, yeah, you guys might be happy, but don’t get too happy. The Wings certainly should win 60 games again, but I think it’s a bit early to be guaranteeing a Cup, like the headline of the previous post states. I don’t expect you guys to take me seriously, because I am a “dive” fan, but we shall see what happens at the end of the season. I’ll remember this post too, and the guarantee, just in case the Wings lose, lol.

PS: Why do you call Avs fans “dive” fans? I will admit, Forsberg dives. So tell me who else on the team has a diving reputation? I mean, the Wings have their own divers, like Osgood who dove a couple times during the playoffs, and Filpulla who dives once in a while. It’s just not a very fitting nickname. And it sure doesn’t roll of the tongue like “Dead Wings” lol

Good luck to your team this season, cheers!

btw, I have no affiliation with that “Yzerman’s balls” douchebag. I hate the Wings, but Steve Yzerman was one of the best captains and one of the classiest players ever in the NHL. Him and Joe Sakic are very similar. While you can hate whatever players on any team you want, if you actually find it in yourself to hate Yzerman or Sakic, then you are just an idiot.

I don’t like it when fans of other teams come here and are respectable. I don’t know how to react. It’s uncomfortable.

You know you’ve gone off the deep end when an Avs fan rips on you for disrespecting a Red Wing.

Yzerman and Sakic are both class acts, no question.

Let me get this straight- the Wings led the league in GAA, were 3rd in GFA, won the President’s trophy, the Selke, the Norris, the Cup, then basically kept the whole team together AND added Marian Hossa?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAH
BWWWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

HA

Hey, Mike from Denver:

Stop stealing my cautious-no-guarantees-Detroit-Tigers-offense-and-poor-start points from the other thread!

‘Diques + Avs = Dives

That’s how I thought it came about anyways…

And Mike from Denver, you don’t have to tell us about all star rosters and not winning a cup.  Go back to the pre lockout days when Yzerman, Hull, Federov, Robitaille, etc. graced the Wings lineup, there was a year in that era when the Wings didn’t win it all. 

But forgive me if I am incorrect on any of this, my head is still spinning from a seven point whatever deal that occurred earlier.

HAHAHAHAH HAHAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHA HAHAHHAHA

Eat your livers, you bastards!  Eat your livers!

Buzzkill.

The Highlander has reported earlier today that the Wings still had over $4mill of cap space after signing Mars, the God of War. Highlander later revised that down to $3.5 mill.

Well, Hockeybuzz.com is reporting that the Wings now only have $2.5 mill in cap space. And they have the salaries of all the roster players here:

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/cap-central/team.php?team=DET

Sorry, I’m too lazy to look up the method for posting links. It was in the faq, but the link to the faq disapeared.

Well, Hockeybuzz.com is reporting that the Wings now only have $2.5 mill in cap space. And they have the salaries of all the roster players here:

Yes, HOWEVER:

The team can exceed the salary cap as long as they are under it by the first day of the season.

If they can still manage to sign Wally et. al. they can sort out the mess over the summer.  See how it looks in training camp and decide who to trade then.

Buzzkill.

With Chris Chelios, Aaron Downey, Dallas Drake, Darren McCarty, Jonathan Ericsson, Valtteri Filppula, and Jimmy Howard still looking for contracts?

Gah.  Howard and Ericsson can still sign minor league contracts I assume.  Drake is looking at retirement.  If they cut bait on Downey they still need to work out deals with Cheli, Wally, and DMac.

They’ve actually got about $8.1 mil to play with right now as they can go over by 10% in the off-season, but still…

In Kenny we trust.
In Kenny we trust.
In Kenny we trust.

Kenny will make it happen. Period.

My biggest concern is that Hossa buys into Uncle Mike’s work ethics.  Shanny couldn’t or didn’t want to, Bert - well he’s just a panzyass and I won’t even bring up the Enigma.  There is a reason why Sammy and Lils aren’t gone.  They work Babcockian.  And Uncle Mike likes that.

I imagine Kenny calling up Little Gary and asking him to raise the cap $10 million in exchange for a replica mini Cup and some free pizzas, and Gary accepting.  He then signs Sundin for a year and brings back all the other RFA and UFA players.  And wins the Super Bowl.

The Wings certainly should win 60 games again, but I think it’s a bit early to be guaranteeing a Cup,

Disagree and Agree.

I don’t want to see this team have too easy of a regular season. They and we can suffer a low 50 win season and be fine with it. The Cup is never guaranteed, of course, but your comparison with the Avs team of yore is misplaced on a couple of crucial levels…

1) We’re NOT THE F#$%#$ DIVE!!!  That is, ahem, there is an organizational atmosphere and on ice veteran coach/player presence that no one can match.

2) We’re NOT THE F#$%@# DIVE!!! By which I mean, of course, that Babs is too intense to let anyone slip. If he smells the stale beer that is the dreaded “Stanley Cup hangover,” you better believe heads will roll, including a new blond one.

My biggest concern is that Hossa buys into Uncle Mike’s work ethics.

No worries Slinger. I think we all agreed that he was the most Wing-like non-Wing out there until, ya know, WE SIGNED THAT MOTHERF#@#$$ (!)

^See point #2 for why he won’t lag.

Now, follow me here: this is not the way the Red Wings have done business, this is not the way they’ve achieved success since the lockout. They did not go after big-name free agents and throw money at them.

Mike, I nearly shoved my junk through a meatgrinder reading all the crap about “hubris” on that Avs blog, and now I have to read this crud written here.

Do you realize what you guys are trying to convey?  You’re trying to suggest that Detroit is somehow setting itself back by getting itself more competitive against better competition this upcoming season.  That is exactly what you’re saying.  You’re saying Detroit is somehow shooting itself in the foot by signing one of the 15 best players in the game - a guy who always plays hard, two-way hockey and hasn’t let up no matter what team he’s played for.  He carried a shiddy Atlanta team two years ago - 24 more points than Kovalchuk, for Godssake.

And yet, what some Avs fans are arguing is that his “presence” is somehow going to affect the teams “chemistry?” I’ve never believed in that sort of baloney and I wish some of you would read firejoemorgan.com to rid yourselves of this intangibles BS you all buy into way too much.  Hossa making 7.4 million dollars does NOTHING to disrupt team chemistry.  NOTHING.  What, you think players are going to compare salaries in the locker room and scoff at him for daring to play for Detroit?  What a crock of shit.

Hossa accepting less money for the sake of playing with this group of guys says A LOT about his willingness to contribute in any way possible in hopes of winning a Cup.  Considering his elite skill level, he absolutely has a place on this team.  He has a place on any team.  He’s fast as hell, plays defense, and he wants to win the damn Cup.  He’s EXACTLY what this team - and what the guys in the lockerrom - want.

And Avs fans trying to compare this to Selanne/Kariya are ridiculous.  Hossa is just entering his prime and had a 100 pt season on a crappy team just over a year ago.  Selanne and Kariya had both seen their best days and their nostalgic reunification in Colorado would have made more sense if it happened in, say, 1997.

Osrt’s totally right about Hossa being the best fit into the Wings system, better than Sundin, Jagr, or Rolston.  The reason people didn’t talk about him more seriously as a Wing is because everyone figured he’d have to be crazy to take the kind of contract Detroit would offer over the contracts other teams would offer.  And people were right about that...they just didn’t realize Hossa actually is crazy.

And I think when you get right down to it, most reasonable fans will tell you that Detroit probably won’t win the Stanley Cup next year.  With so many teams in the league, and so many making the playoffs, and so much that can happen between now and then, it’s basically impossible for one team at the start of the season to have a 50% or better chance of winning it all.  That said, most reasonable fans would have picked the Wings as a serious contender, if not the favourite, even before the Stuart and Hossa signings.  After those signings, you’ll struggle to find a legitimate argument that any other team has a better chance of winning the Cup.  The words, “absolutely no weakness” come to mind.

It should be noted that some web sites have both the BlackHawks and the Flyers ALREADY over the salary cap, the BlackHawks already $1.9 Million over and the Flyers $1.1 over.

If you’re a bit squeamish about spending $7.45 Mill on Hossa, matching Lidstrom, and still Wally not signed, just think of the BlackHawks with $12.4 Mill on 2 goalies and $7 Million on B Campbell.

I’m sure they can drop $2 Mill easily.

“absolutely no weakness”

You must not be familiar with Blades of Chaos.

Well, yes, the Blackhawks and their strange dealings are amusing and all, but, you know, we need something to fuel the Stress Train now don’t we?

Huss: I never mentioned anything about Hossa’s “presence” hurting the Wings’ “chemistry”. I merely think that with Hossa on board, perhaps the Wings will feel that the Cup belongs to them, or that they will win it easily. They might lose focus or something like that. I don’t know, we’ll see.

Ryan from Laffland

they just didn’t realize Hossa actually is crazy.

We’ve had more than a few, they actually like it here...just like home.

I merely think that with Hossa on board, perhaps the Wings will feel that the Cup belongs to them, or that they will win it easily. They might lose focus or something like that. I don’t know, we’ll see.

There’s no point in waiting to see it.  I’ll debunk it for you right now:  What you’re saying has no basis for analysis whatsoever.  Considering we have a coach who barely smiled and looked like he couldn’t wait to get back to coaching for the upcoming season, complacency will hardly be a problem for these guys.  These are grownass men.  If the Wings lose, it’s not because of Hossa’s presence and their lack of focus due to winning.  It’ll be because of injuries, better effort from the opposition, and tangible things like that that can actually be proven.  What, you think the Redwings are traveling with Cup, pissing all over it, and saying “Ho ho ho! We got Hossa!  And we won the Cup.  Noone can stop us! LOLLERSKATES WE RULE THE REST OF THE NHL DROOLS!!!?”

Please.  Give the intellect of hockey players a bit more credit than that.

Huss: I never mentioned anything about Hossa’s “presence” hurting the Wings’ “chemistry”. I merely think that with Hossa on board, perhaps the Wings will feel that the Cup belongs to them, or that they will win it easily. They might lose focus or something like that. I don’t know, we’ll see.
Posted by Mike from Denver on 07/02 at 09:57 PM

Do you see what I have to put up with living here? This passes as “hockey smarts” in this town. Worse yet, he probably knows more about hockey than anyone living within 5 miles of his home. It’s almost completely impossible to have an intelligent hockey conversation in this city.

Damn good thing there’s 300+ days of sunshine a year or I’d have to move.

I actually had one of the Stars fan in the office try to say he wouldn’t want Hossa as a Star. “He doesn’t fit...”
He walked away when i started the liar liar pants on fire dance.

They might lose focus or something like that. I don’t know, we’ll see.

See point #2 and Huss’ comments.

We’re not invincible or cocky, just scared shhhless of what an angry Babcock would look like. Did you see him celebrate? He cracked one smile then his face went back to its normal ‘I will eat your baby’ scowl.

As someone already pointed out, lost amidst all these other fireworks is the first and perhaps most important signing of the summer: Babcock.

HOSSA HOSSA!
i can’t get this song out of my head. love the comments on youtube from the bitter Pens fans.
unexpected and so sweeeet!

<object width="425" height="344"></param></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Tnzo0ZYWgmw&hl=de&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

*grr* didn’t work,
Rex Gildo does his magic here:

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=Tnzo0ZYWgmw

My bitter, bitter Pens fan boss said, ‘I hope the Red Wings play the Penguins during the regular season so Orpik can crush Hossa’s skull!‘

I just laughed.

Hah!

Dear Rest of the NHL,
Suck it, bitches!

Just a couple points I’m pretty sure about (but not absolutely positive):

1.) Hossa’s nickname is “Hoss.”
2.) At one time (in Ottawa, I believe), he wore #81. Maybe he’ll go back to that here.

(Now returning to non-stop, all-summer-long dance of Stanley Cup joy.)

The signing of Hossa was this year’s HOLY SHIT move by Kenny H.  The last time he made a holy shit move was when he siged Hasek, Hull and Robitaille.