In a tense Game 3 between the Rangers and Capitals that saw the first triple overtime of the playoffs, Ranger's defenseman Ryan McDonagh played a staggering 53 minutes, a personal best that he probably won't ever top. In honor of McDonagh's accomplishment, I decided to chronicle some other recent achievements and personal bests in the hockey world.

Shea Weber – In a fierce and closely contested battle, Shea Weber emerged victorious after slamming Hulk Hogan’s head into the turnbuckle a record 17 times.

Ryan Kesler – Posted marks of 10, 10, and 9.5 in the most recent high-diving competition, a personal best, but it would have been a perfect score if the last judge hadn’t been Canadian.

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[Ed note: this is now the Official WIIM Rosterbation thread. It's still not brought to you by Capgeek, but if you've got one of those fun rosters you want to discuss, here's the place to do it.]

With the Red Wings' offseason upon us, we the fans delightfully undertake the role of armchair GM and begin building (what we fantasize as) next season's juggernaut Red Wings team. Certainly, the list of available free agents and trade targets make for a dizzying array of possible looks for next season.

Frankly, this is one of my more favoured times of year, when reality looks a little too much like the front-office mode of a sports video game. Upon whom do we bestow the right and privilege of wearing the beloved Winged Wheel? Which ungrateful, lazy, miniature beast of burden do we send packing? Does there exist one grizzled, savvy old veteran that has one last campaign in the tank?

Let's see them. What do the Red Wings look like in your mind's eye heading into the 2012-2013 season? Come with me past the jump (wait, a jump in a fanpost? Whatever.) to see what you fine folks at WIIM are coming up with.

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I haven't looked if someone's brought this up before, and I wanted to see what you guys think.

If the Wings can't get a guy like Parise, should we trade for Nash or would the asking price be out of our range? Who would you deal for Nash? Would it be worth it? What line would Nash play on? Would he better a better fit on the Red Wings than Parise?

Let's hear some interesting ideas/scenarios!

I know we have a rosterbation post already, so I'm not trying to create that here. What I want to dialogue on this post is needs vs wants, dreams vs realities. Tell WHY someone should be signed, how long they should be signed, what their cap hit should be, why someone will be let go, or whatever you can think of that is similar to that. I'll start after the jump...

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With last night's devastating (to me at least) goal by Adam Henrique to end the series between the New Jersey Devils and Florida Panthers, we bid adieu to the first round. After all the excitement of last year's first round which featured, if I recall correctly, 5 Game 7s, we've been treated to a 2012 first round filled with controversy about discipline and dread at the prospects (of lack thereof) for exciting hockey in the remaining rounds of the Western Conference playoffs. Tell the second round, "Not so fast," though, because I've still got something to say about the first round.

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This is my first Fanpost ever, for any site. This is mainly because my quick-and-to-the-point nature suppresses any desire to write at length about any idea I might have. Then the first round of the 2012 playoffs happened. For every goal scored, there seemed to be a headshot It got me thinking and I have two changes I'd like to propose moving forward.

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I've read a few articles about how far the Wings have fallen and how they are in total disarray but as much as I knew they weren't going far this offseason I feel like things aren't that bad. In my view the Wings are two players and two injured players away from being the team everybody dreads to play again. So here is what would I'd like to see on the ice next season:

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Nyquist: This line would have opposing teams chasing their tails in their own zone.

Franzen - Filppula - (*): As much shit as Fil took in the playoffs he is good at gaining the offensive zone and would be a great quarterback for Franzen and a new stud top 6 forward.

Cleary - Helm - Bertuzzi: All three of these guys are good offensive puck control guys and would be the back breaking depth every team needs now.

Miller - Abdelkader - Eaves: This is an extremely solid fourth line. They are capable of supplementary scoring and physicality.

Kronwall - (*)

Lidstrom - White/Ericsson

White/Ericsson - Smith

Quincey - Kindl

(*) denotes new stud acquisition.

Players that have to go:

Holmstrom - Too slow and after an entire career of being a pain in the ass other teams are finally regaining the top of their crease.

Hudler - Most guys have size, speed or both. Hudler has neither. When the playoffs rolled around he looked like a scared and lost sixty year old out there.

So add our two guys that were out, plus two new studs, get everyone else healthy and hope they stay that way, lose a couple guys that are ineffective and I don't think were just competitive in the playoffs, we will be scary. Remember early in this season before injuries slowed us down we took it to some good teams so we aren't as bad off as it feels after being ousted in five games but I do agree if we don't go all in on at least two players we may stall out early in the playoffs much sooner than any of us would like.

This is a cool look at the Wings. What's next: Wings player-by-player breakdown It includes a look at each player on the front line, defense and in goal, with their age, season stats and contract status. Who will stay and who will go? What are they costing against the salary cap?

Babcock said Sunday that the team had 'tons of money' to spend in free agency. This story helps you get a sense of where it's needed and where it might not be. Via Ted Kulfan of The Detroit News.

St Louis and Nashville have moved on. Philly, Ottowa, Florida, LA, and Phoenix have 3 wins and could move on. Unfortunately, our beloved Red Wings are done for the year. But playoff hockey is still playoff hockey. So who are you rooting for and why?

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I by no means consider myself a better GM than Ken Holland nor do I consider myself a better coach than Mike Babcock, but I wanted to put down my thoughts in an organized manner and get some opinions on them.

I left this open all night after the Red Wings' playoff departure, but didn't really edit it too much. I found that most of the thoughts weren't overly emotional or reactionary, but more a relic of the slow-burn out that the Wings experienced since the end of February (or perhaps even earlier). I did, however, decide to go more in-depth with UFA/RFA situations. Additionally, I'm trying my best to not complain about things that can't easily be remedied (so you won't read "TRADE FRANZEN, RAWR" even though that is something that I wouldn't mind seeing). I'm trying to find some solutions to things that I noticed throughout the season.

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