I vote for a Howard-Liv tandem throughout the 2008-2009 season.  I’m only half kidding.

Posted by TDeters on 04/07/08 at 03:19 PM ET

If Liv can live up to numbers even close to that in the NHL, seems like Howard would make good trade bait in the next couple years.  Let Osgood have the helm for a few years, with Liv backing him up and eventually taking over the #1 spot, and use Howard to fill some of the gaps we’ll have as the older players leave.  Methinks in a few years we’re going to need the kind of big, mobile goaltender that can take 40 shots a night and only let in one or two.  I think the years of doubling other teams’ shot totals are going to go away.  Bottom line: we’re screwed when Lidstrom retires.

Posted by PaulinMiamiBeach on 04/07/08 at 03:41 PM ET

If Liv’s performance has truly been as good as those numbers suggest… I’d mention that he wouldn’t be the first Scandanavian goaltender to be a late-bloomer. But that’s the optimistic Wing fan in me saying that.

Posted by Nathan on 04/07/08 at 03:45 PM ET

Anyone else see the anti-digger’s last quarter report card?  Really good sportswriting.  This guy analyizes stats in a way that would male Ted Kulfan’s head explode.  Interesting note on Sammy.

Posted by TDeters on 04/07/08 at 03:55 PM ET

We had Liv in GR last season and the AHL lit him up.  I hope he’s gotten a lot better since then and developed a much thicker skin.  He also had a tendency to do some pouting when the press was critical or he didn’t get his number of starts.

Posted by RedWings on 04/07/08 at 04:11 PM ET

What RedWings said.

Posted by Matt Saler from Grand Rapids, MI on 04/07/08 at 04:42 PM ET

So lets see, we have a goalie that’s looked NHL ready in his few starts and is widely considered a top prospect, and a goalie that couldn’t hack it in the “A” last year and you want to trade top prospect away for Liv who went crying back to a lesser league just because he had a good season.

REALLY?

Posted by moocat on 04/07/08 at 04:52 PM ET

Don’t forget about Daniel Larsson who also won the “Vezina” of the SEL. He finished with a 2.29 GAA and a .921 SV% playing for Djurgardens IF. The Wings look good in goal for the future.

Posted by Jeremy on 04/07/08 at 05:01 PM ET

Hat Trick Dick (if referring to Dick Axelsson of Djurgardens) had a less than stellar season for the most part. He was demoted to the fourth line towards the second half and hardly got any ice time at all in the playoffs.

Djurgardens had an early exit in round one.

It’s one of those typical rookie seasons that some experience, I guess. Up like a rocket, down like a stick.

Definitely agree with above comments about Liv. I don’t think he can make it in the NHL. Hopefully Detroit will prove me wrong.

Larsson on the other hand really is a top prospect goalie. One of the best to come out of Sweden in a very long time. Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s in the GR lineup next season.

Posted by lilja4ever on 04/07/08 at 06:19 PM ET

Isn’t all the talk about Liv moot if the Wings don’t re-sign him before this summer?

I can’t remember where I saw it, but I seem to recall Holland syaing something to the effect of Liv was not in the team’s plans for the future… Maybe this playoff performance changes things, but like some of the comments above indicate, he didn’t exactly do himself any favors with the aborted stay in the AHL.

My guess is Holland lets him hit free agency.

Liv’s head is shaped like a pear, too… Just sayin’.

Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 04/07/08 at 06:46 PM ET

Bottom line: we’re screwed when Lidstrom retires.

Why you gotta bring that up?  Can’t you see the stress factor around here is at an all-time high? An’ yet, you come off with something like that…

I guess there is one in every crowd. 

Posted by cementslinger from Midland MI on 04/07/08 at 09:17 PM ET

Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s in the GR lineup next season.

As I understand it, that’s the plan.  To sign Larsson and bring him to GR to keep Ericsson company and stop pucks when Jimmy Howard comes up.  I think there are also plans for Hat Trick Dick, depending on his play.  Of course, given that the braintrust likes to take a long time to develop goalies, and it seems to work, he may be there a fair few years before he figures in the plans for the NHL roster.  At that point, depending on his play and that of Howard and Osgood, one of them may become surplus and thus trade bait-- but not before, no matter how well Stefan Liv is playing.

The problem is that the organization is facing a roster crunch.  I think they also want to sign Pyett before his rights expire, possibly lock up Joakim Andersson, and there are a few others whose rights are on the tail end that they’re looking at.  Given the questionable play of some of the Wings roster, the need to restock the farm, the possibility of Home Keys and Helm sticking with the big club, Quincey needing a spot next year, and Lebda’s stock dropping faster than that of chili at an irritable bowel sydrome convention, I think we’ll see a few trades for picks or long-term prospects this offseason.

Now if you want more smoke blown up your ass, I’ll be here all day with a pack of cigarettes and a short length of hose.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Mystic Meg's closet in her vacant office on 04/08/08 at 02:34 AM ET

S-T-O-P with the Liv crap.

Seriously.

The kid wanted to go home.  He made that very clear in the Swedish papers last summer, he didn’t like the AHL, and after giving the NHL a kick (which he did suggest he might do again someday), he wanted to go back to Jonkoping and be “the guy” for HV-71, which is essentially his hometown team.

That’s what he did.  He took the confidence he gained from knowing that he could at least marginally hack it in North America, went back to the place where he’s most comfortable, and shot the lights out while playing for the Elite League’s best team. 

He’s going to be one of those goaltenders who won’t risk another kick at the NHL can unless he gets a guarantee that he’ll be playing in the bigs, a la Niklas Backstrom.  The Wings can’t offer him that.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 04/09/08 at 02:54 AM ET

That’s the idea I got from Liv’s comments, too.  He’s a homebody.

Smart of him to realize it and concentrate on playing hockey where he wants to and having a good time instead of being miserable playing where he doesn’t want to be.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 04/09/08 at 05:42 AM ET