You know, ~S~, I agree with you - the Wings are "better than he is." I do trust, however, that with the young, gifted team that the Blackhawks are, he will not come up empty-handed in his persuit of a cup somewhere down the road.

Truthfully, I'm glad it went down this way; no, I didn't want to see him go to one of our biggest rivals, but, in order to keep him I think the sacrifice might have been too great to the team as a whole, and the philosophy of the Wings is basically not to base their success on one player, but rather, a collection of players.

Hey, am I late to get on the boat or am I seeing something no one else has yet? It seems to me, that with Buttman and the owners winning the lockout a few years ago and subsequently getting their salary cap instituted - are they not going for league "parity" like in the NFL where all teams finish at about the same place and interest in every team is carried on through the end of the season because almost everyone has a shot to make the playoffs right up until the last week or so? Just a thought, though not a pretty one.

Finally, I'm glad Ty Conklin made it to another team, too. I like him, but the Wings system dictated that Jimmy Howard "had" to be given his chance to prove himself. Good luck to Ty and Jimmy.
Cheers,.......................mwh