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Howard is having a brilliant season so far. Applause!

Hello For all the fans of well trained wings. Lids has been interviewed in a swedish magazine called Café. He's on the front page, take a look: http://cafe.se/nickl...rom-oppnar-upp/

If you consider that Ericsson isn't as awful as most people make him out to be, his ice time pretty much makes sense. Ericsson's contract is another issue altogether. Back to the original point, it's not that I dislike Kindl. It honestly is that if Smith keeps playing well, it's more likely to take away from Kindl's ice time than Ericsson's. In his two games in the NHL, Babcock already gave Smith more ice time than Kindl. Kindl is better on the PP and more offensive minded than Ericsson, but he's not as good in that area as Smith. At the same time he's not as good as a stay at home guy and on the PK as Ericsson, and he doesn't have as good of a first pass as either one of them. So he could end up in no man's land. But all this is based on Smith playing as well as he has the past couple games, which seems unlikely for a rookie. He's bound to have his ups and downs, but he's looked great so far.

Hello Captain!

All this and producing offspring. What a man.

I saw this commercial during the first intermission of the Sharks game on 11/17/11. Found it on YouTube today (thanks weallbleedredd), wanted to share with the rest of you. That's an awfully smug lookin' Franzen at the end there..

He's been awesome! This is just an observation of mine, but has Howies puck handling skills improved? I mean, he plays it with poise now. Maybe he's learning from Ozzie (top 5 if you ask me when he as playing... very underrated.). I think that's helping too. I can't help but think when he challenges the shooter...he looks like Ozzie. Watch some 2008 Ozzie, then watch Howie this year. Very aggressive! And it works! Last year he would back in into the paint to early. Just a few little Ozzi-isms...Similar puck handling and, the way they challenge the angle/shooter (only diffrence...Howie has a better 5-hole lol).

His decision to give so much ice time to Ericsson is one of the few disagreements I have with Babcock's coaching style.

I like when we win. We should do that more often. It also helps when Pavel's putting the puck in the net.

Nice win. Jimmy was solid and Pavel is back!

And that body, folks, is NOT photoshopped

i love how everyone loves to rag on drew miller, yet the guy is +7 this year! i am not about to say plus/minus is everything. but think about it at the most basic level, if the bottom 6 is such a weakness, then wouldn't they all have bad plus minus ratings because they are giving up too many goals against? yet none of them do. bruunstrom is -2 in 4 games and bertuzzi is -1 in 11 games. thats it for bottom 6 guys. everyone else is even or plus. and heck, bertuzzi was last on the entire team 2 years ago so -1 ain't half bad for him! i know people love to rip on plus minus, but to me it points to this basic premise: what games out of the 8 losses can be attributed to bottom 6 play? i would argue none of the losses have really been their fault nor have they even been significant factors in most losses. also, if having a more physical bottom 6 is essential, what games were lost because of a lack of physical play? the wings losses are because they are s*** on the PP and have not gotten solid play from their top 6. i really don't think a bottom 6 guy making some big hits is going to get dan cleary's head out of his ass... i would love to imrpove the bottom 6. i would love to improve lots of parts of this team. but they aren't the problem. i dont even think they have underperformed. i would love to see a guy like brandon prust on this team, but i really don't think it would have improved the wings record at all.

Do you watch the games? Fil has been BY FAR one of our best forwards, and hardest working. Also check the stats page. 2nd in points, tied for first in +/- (I realize +/- is lame, but still makes a point). If you're going to make us read something that long, at least put correct information in it.

Dallas Drake

A trade for Parise or Semin is the only thing that would be big enough for the Wings imo. Those of you saying to trade for a goalie, that will make NO DIFFERENCE at all for the team's success because Howard has been playing pretty much lights out all season... the problem has been our big boys. Semin has not been great this season, just like Franzen, so I think some sort of trade between those 2 would be great for both teams, but a major move is necessary for the Wings imo.

The two goal scorers in this game combined for 16 shots (Cleary 9, Kronwall 7). That is good for Cleary, he understands that you have to shoot the puck to score. BUT WE DON'T NEED DAN CLEARY TAKING 9 SHOTS A GAME. Our four top forwards combined for 5 shots (Datsyuk 2, Zetterberg 0, Franzen 1, Filppula 2). I mean....come on. Datsyuk says he's been awful then takes 2 shots?! Zetterberg didn't even have 1. This is like the Twilight Zone. Nothing is making any sense.....

I've been annoyed when others jumped to this conclusion too early, but we're coming up on that all knowing 20 game mark and I think we've sene what we are now... I hate to say it, but this team needs a major shake-up... personnel has been too comfortable for too long and I think certain players are becomming complacent.... I still think we're going to see a blockbuster trade at the deadline... at this point, I really just hope it doesn't include Fil, as he's been our best forward this season and short of our bottom 6, he's the only one that's shown tenancity game in and out...

guys... we've got enough bottom six players under contract next year. helm, abdelkader, cleary, miller, eaves, emmerton, mursak, etc. what we need to add is a prime time player like parise. if he's not a stud or a fighter, i don't want to heat about him.

These are all problems which could have been addressed in the offseason. Our secondary scoring has been inconsistent the last few seasons, and we have aging forwards like Bertuzzi and Homer who were only headed downhill. Likewise, Cleary, Hudler and Franzen are known to be streaky players. Holland did nothing about it, really. We have a few younger forwards like Nyquist, Brunnstrom and Mursak, but it doesn't seem like they're going to be top 6 forwards anytime soon. This is basically the same forward group we had the last few years, only older. No reason to think we're magically going to be more consistent in our secondary scoring.

Another thing with Homer, is that he is more than his point totals. Because of his solid play in front of the net, others (such as the d-men) are getting pucks past the goalie. Without Homer creating chaos in there, those goals aren't happening.

Wow, this thread is a waste of space

Doan has 2 playoff series where he was an absolute force against the wings and some fans want to call him a cheapshotting scumbag...

http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8460743#&navid=nhl-keymatch 14 games, 1 goal and 4 assists for Tomas Holmstrom. http://www.nhl.com/ice/player.htm?id=8460743#&navid=nhl-keymatch 11 games, 1 goal and 2 assists for Todd Bertuzzi. I can't believe people will post "What's wrong with Datsyuk" and "What's up with Zetterberg" threads all day long and leave these two WASTES OF SPACE alone. Bertuzzi and Holmstrom are the biggest problem cases on the Red Wings right now, and imo, are keeping the team from developing the players they will need to make a run in this year's playoff. They are both 5-7 years past their primes, and 2-3 years past their effectiveness limit. Why is it that these two guys, who can't open up a square inch of ice, consistently see time with our big guns and drag them down, but a guy like Helm who can open up the whole rink can't sniff a shift with Hank? To me, this is the biggest problem with the Red Wings. The GM has invested in two guys who skate like they're on one leg, and the coach isn't willing to put them in the stands. "But Homer can't be effective without a top line center." HE ISN'T EFFECTIVE PERIOD. The Red Wings need to stop pretending it's 2002. Pavel and Hank need SPEED. They aren't 21 and 23 anymore. Get them some guys who can skate and open up the ice, already.

Kindl > Ericsson.