Leaderboard

Whoa, take it easy! my bad. I've been wrong before, no big deal.

Kirk Maltby has as many as the Chicago Blackhawks franchise.

A) I don't think Howard was "yanked." If it was "yanking" as you put it, they obviously just did it, but I think you're taking that angle to a bit of an extreme. B) It's a new season. While Howard is 1a without a doubt and certainoy the guy you're expecting to be the starter of the future, don't be shocked to see Osgood played like a 1b so long as he keeps his game up. C) The last time the Wings developed a starting goalie that actually ended up having a successful career, he took a backseat in his first few seasons at times and learned from a successful veteran. That same goalie is 3 wins away from becoming the 10th goalie in history to hit the 400 win mark. Moral? Sometimes you learn from watching and mature into a starting position gradually. D) Howard's in his second year. He's coming off a great rookie season but he was quite shaky in the playoffs, rarely reaching the level of play he achieved in the regular season. No big deal, but clearly, he still has some things to learn. He knows it. Osgood knows it. Babcock knows it. They're all getting along pretty well these days. I've got a sneaking suspicion that he'll be okay however it goes. Either way, the bottom line is that after a lackluster playoff performance and this being his 2nd season as well as a contract season, Howard's not going to get an overabundance of leeway this year. Babcock will not let Osgood go cold again and Howard is going to have to prove that he's not a one season wonder. But until he gets sat for weeks to months on end like Osgood last year, it's incredibly premature to get worked up about this and refer to it as Howard being "yanked."

I didn't know Campbell and Hjalmarsson were part of the CORE. As far as I know, Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, and Seabrook all played tonight.

Give it up, Doc. Every goal last night was deflected, including the one in the shootout.

Yep, it won't be good if Osgood keeps up his strong play. Won't be good at all.

Cool pants bro! esteef

Can't we leave the goalie controversy for mid-season, it's game 4! Last year everyone complained about Ozzie not getting a chance to start. If we end up rotating goalies all that means is they are both playing well and that's a great thing for us.

Howard certainly didn't play like a number 1 goalie in the last game. I'm glad Babs is allowing Ozzie to pressure him by giving Ozzie some time between the pipes.

Game 4 of 82VS. Stars 4, Red Wings 1 Final Stars handle Wings in home opener From: American Airlines Center - Dallas TX TV/Radio Tonight's Stream http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.php/topic/65010-wcsf-game-4-gdt-sharks-1-at-red-wings-7/page__view__findpost__p__1977374 Game Preview: Mike Modano returns to Dallas as Stars host Wings Around the NHL Sens Foligno fined for check to the head Stars add Gary Roberts New additions bring immediate impact to Leafs Western Conference Standings 1. Detroit Red Wings............2-0-1, 5 pts 2. Edmonton Oilers..............2-0-0, 4 pts 3. Dallas Stars......................2-0-0, 4 pts 4. St. Louis Blues..................2-0-0, 4 pts 5. Nashville Predators...........2-0-0, 4 pts 6. Los Angeles Kings............2-1-0, 4 pts 7. Colorado Avalanche.........2-1-0, 4 pts 8. San Jose Sharks................1-0-1, 3 pts --------------------------------- 9. Vancouver Canucks..........1-1-1, 3 pts 10. Chicago Blackhawks........1-2-1, 3 pts 11. Columbus Blue Jackets....1-1-0, 2 pts 12. Phoenix Coyotes.............1-1-0, 2 pts 13. Calgary Flames...............1-1-0, 2 pts 14. Anaheim Ducks...............1-3-0, 2 pts 15. Minnesota Wild...............0-1-1, 1 pt Detroit 2-0-1, 5 pts Last Game: Lost to COL 5-4 (SO) Dallas 2-0-0, 4 pts Last Game: Defeated NYI 5-4 (SO) Last DET-DAL Meeting: 1/16, DET 2 at DAL 3 (SO) Recap Goals DET Johan Franzen: 3 DAL Brendan Morrow: 3 Assists DET Todd Bertuzzi: 4 DAL Mike Ribiero, Brad Richards: 3 Plus/Minus DET Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart: +5 DAL Six tied at +3 ---- DET Mike Modano, Jiri Hudler: -2 DAL Marc Fistric: -2 PIM DET Tomas Holmstrom: 12 DAL Steve Ott:10 Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi Hudler-Modano-Cleary Miller-Helm-Eaves Lidstrom-Stuart Kronwall-Janik Kindl-Salei Projected DAL Lines Neal-Richards-Eriksson Morrow-Ribeiro-Burish Wandell-Benn-Ott Sutherby-Petersen-Segal Grossman-Robidas Fistric-Daley Skrastins-Niskanen Chris Osgood 1-0-0, 2.00 GAA, .929 SV%, 0 SO ---- versus. ---- Kari Lehtonen 2-0-0, 3.33 GAA, .909 SV%, 0 SO DET Brian Rafalski (knee) out, Kris Draper (groin) won't play, Justin Abdelkader (ribs) won't play, Jonathan Ericsson (back) out ---- DAL Jamie Benn (concussion) doubtful On Deck VS. 10/9, Red Wings at Coyotes; 7:30 PM

Preds win 3-2 in regulation over the CORE

Bring the Force with you!

Go Oz.

Janik just texted me and said that goal was Jimmy's fault. esteef

Do you always resort to name calling? How old are you? Fact of the matter is, that goal was bad. Was it the worst? Nope. We can sit here all day and bicker over the many shades of grey when it comes to bad goals. I'm not interested. I think it was bad, you think it wasn't quite so bad... but still kinda bad. Whatever.

I don't think there's much to read into here for those upset that he's not getting a chance to bounce back or those upset about his subpar performance. Bottom line to me and probably team management is that Howard's a young goalie who had to carry more than was fair last year. This year, I expect them to get back to their typical methods of player development. Part of that will be learning about new kinds of pressure and part of that will be learning from less pressure to carry the whole load. Howard will learn from the pressure to perform or face sitting, and it's a necessary lesson for him to learn. And I don't care what was said in interviews in the playoffs, you better believe that Babcock isn't going to make the same mistakes again this year with goaltending. Howard's going to learn to play under pressure and Osgood is going to get a lot more starts. If Howard can't handle the pressure of alternating or taking a couple games off in the regular season, there's no way in hell he's going to make it as a starter for this team. I think he'll be just fine. I like the guy and want to see him succeed, but there are lessons to be learned when playing and lessons to be learned from sitting and watching. Just like Osgood with Vernon in the 90's, the developmental process will not always amount to Howard playing all the time. I think we'll see a lot more balance this year in terms of pressure, and I think it will be a good thing for Howard's development. I wouldn't be shocked at all even to see Osgood start in the playoffs if he's playing at a level at all comparable to Howard. Again, sometimes there's lessons to be learned from watching, and again, I think Howard will be fine however it goes. It's one game and this is just his second season. Think long term.

Everyone has got to get over the "offer a guy a contract because of loyalty" crap. Did Malts ever produce much at the nhl level? No, his career high was a 33 point season. Chelios was with us for 10 years, and has warranted just as much loyalty as Malts. Did they offer Chelios a two-way contract last year because it was the "right thing" to do? No they didn't. Holland flat out said that he wasn't offering Chelios a contract. Malts had a better season statistically this past season, than he did in the previous two, and he played his role of a 4th liner, penalty killer, agitator night in and night out. I'm not disagreeing that it was time for Maltby to retire and let the young kids move up and have their chance, but I don't believe Holland would offer any type of contract to a guy that he thought had no chance of fighting for a spot at camp. The point of my original post was for the previous poster to have a little respect for the guy, but I guess in this day and age, very few people have respect for others.

Don't know if this was posted already but I thought it was a nice read.

Just watched his retirement presser. I thought it was interesting that he even thanked the media for the privilege of getting to speak in front of them... really shows the amount of respect he has for people (I mean what kind of athlete thanks the media??). In this era of inflated egos he really was the quintessential team-player, and while Maltby was blessed to be part of the Wings for 14 years Detroit was blessed to have him suit up for the Winged Wheel for 14 years too. Anyways all the best to Malts.

Well I guess it comes down to whose opinion really matters, your boss' opinion of you, or a fan's opinion of you. Obviously Holland thought he could still do his job competently if he offered him another contract. If he hadn't, he wouldn't have offered him a contract at all. The day you stop posting here I'm sure people will be saying it's about damn time, because apparently you don't have the competency to make a meaningful contribution to any discussion.

I could watch Datsyuk clips all day

no point for discussion to me. Pominville had no chance to see the guy coming and was in vulnerable position. there's no discussion as to whether Hjalmarsson did this on purpose. he did it. and just to remind: league is supposed to be discouraging players from unnecessary (and it was not like Hjalmarsson was finishing something) checks of vulnerable guys. here we have a perfect example of guy knowingly targeting defenseless guy. 5 + game is perfectly just. whether this is subject to suspension... I don't recall Hjalmarsson being repetitive offender so he gets the benefit of the doubt but if he continues doing stuff like that, I'd rather see the NHL give him a game or two.