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I'll just summarize the responses for you here: Crymson: "NO! The Wings are perfect and Holland had nice hair! They do not need a tough guy." Konnan: "You're all just xenophobic euro-haters. They score plenty of points with 'soft-euros'." Various: "Fighting in hockey is useless. You should just watch UFC, you don't even like hockey." Holland: "The right deal just wasn't available, but we're confident that some players will take that next step..."

Thankfully this Brian Burke team can't handle a playoff position either.

Let's rock!

Howard was brutal in Dallas, he was the first to admit it. But to blame him for tonight... come on. Yah, he defs looked bad on that 4th goal, but on the other goals he was hung out to dry. The Wings have been dominant in most games recently, the only problem has been WAYYYYYYYYY too many breakaways and 2 on 1s against us!!! The past few games, the amt of breakaways and 2 on 1s against us has been terrible. I really like White, but he needs to watch when he is pinching for the puck because its always Nick back defending on 2 on 1s... so Babcock needs to get that sorted out. Other than that I thought Pavel was our best player tonight, Cleary was our worst. I am also not happy Babs put Kindl into the lineup when Commie has been playing extremely well and we have been winning. If anything, Ericsson is pylon so let him sit. Hopefully Babs gets things ready to go tomorrow in Chicago so we can take over 2nd place in the west. One other little thing that has been bugging me is the lack of powerplays the Wings are getting. Tonight, for example, they DOMINATED the game since their timeout, but yet they only got one powerplay?! They drew at least 3 legit calls imo, but no calls were made. To top that, their powerplay tonight is their only powerplay in 2 games!? The refs need to do a better job and never mind calling bogus penalty shots against us, and start to call the game properly.

The Wings haven't won a Cup without an enforcer. We haven't had playoff sucess the last 2 seasons and haven't made many changes, I haven't seen the video yet but it doesn't seem to me as though Don is saying anything but true things. If he is sarcastically mocking Kenny then he can go on, but the toughness issue cannot be argued against.

Devils take a 3-1 lead.

Have to agree. Hudler at least showed some grit tonight, I'll give him that. I think we're getting to the point where turning a win into a blowout isn't really needed, but someone to turn a one goal deficit into a tie-game is.

Fact? Tell me one Stanley Cup they won without one? Sure they win in the regular season and give it a go in the playoffs, but where are the FACTS? I am not advocating an enforcer, just a tough guy who will fight when needed.

New Jersey takes the lead on Pittsburgh with two goals in a little over 3 minutes, the first being shorthanded. Bwahaha. That makes me happy.

The Wings have won 4 Cups since a Canadian team last won one. Their teams are a ******* joke. And so is their beer!

Possibly. But Bettman and the NHL made this move much more likely by not involving the NHLPA in the process until now. A while back in an interview about the realignment, Bettman was openly condescending towards the union and about how they'll check with them but don't really have to be consulted. The league went ahead with this process and by not involving the NHLPA from the start put them in the position of having to put the brakes on this if they didn't agree. Now they're painting the union as the bad guy for delaying things, which is idiotic. If there's a massive reorganization like that, doesn't it seem like they should have involved the people who actually play the hockey games BEFORE they decided to go ahead with the plan? The posturing has definitely begun, but it's not like it's only come from the NHLPA. Bettman has nothing but open disdain for the players union and sets a very divisive tone. If there is another lockout, he should absolutely be removed as commissioner. I understand he is representing the franchise owners but ultimately he represents the game, and sometimes his job means he needs to save a few idiot billionaires from themselves. A big part of his job is and should be diplomacy, which is where Bettman is the most lacking.

We should start a thread about how Holland should sign a tough guy.

i dont know, the guys played well but got mugged in the 1st really. out shooting a team in their barn 40-18 and not getting anything from it is tuff on them. i think that they will win in chi town, but im not sure about using a guy like nyquist only 6+ mins in what is a checking role, his got alot more to his game than that. helm conner and mursak could be a very handy 4th line for us, speed aplenty.

agreed. But sure needed him to put a goal in tonight, not when we are winning 5-0 already.

f*** this team on the road and now we have to play a rested hawks tmrw yeah good luck with that one

this team is incapable of making it to OT

Not a good moment for Howard to play like a mortal human. Got his mojo back on that last rush.

Boy, things must've really changed in the last 3 years, hahaha

Well, yeah, if you consider that Brad Watson is one of the refs and Mike Hasenfratz is the other.

Now would be a great time for our sniper to snipe away and score a couple...you hear me Franzen?

You really think I'm basing my judgment on one event? Have you missed the last 40 years where Philly has more than earned the reputation as a hive of terrible sports fans? In every sport? Yeah, there are bad guys everywhere, but show me another town that CONSISTENTLY shows disgusting levels of violence and disrespect as Philly. Even Ken Dryden in his 1983 book recognized Philly as the worst sports fans. They had that reputation ALREADY back in the early 80s. They've earned it. And, for the record, anecdotal evidence of your personal experience does not trump evidence gathered by news media for the greater part of 40 years. I hate that kind of defense. "Well I've never seen anything bad, therefore it must not be bad." I've never been shot or raped in Detroit but it happens. And, just to put icing on the cake: recently a women was hit by THREE cars in Philly, they all drove off instead of stopping.

Don't we have any people that know how to get things done.

I'd love to see what some of these Eastern Teams that don't travel would say if they were put in a Western team's position for a month.

f*** em. What needs to be done in a situation like this is, move Winnipeg to the West, move Detroit to the East, and just for s***s, move Columbus to the East and move the Penguins to the Pacific. That’ll teach them.