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yeah watching Franzen is ridiculous sometimes a 10 year old girl can knock the puck off his stick

I agree. Kind seems to be taking step backwards the second half of the season and I'm not sure why. when given the opportunity, he's had some brutal gaffe's like turning the puck over on the blueline for a clean breakaway. And Ericsson has steadily improved this season. He's stepped up his physical play and has had fewer brainfarts. In general looking fairly poised. As I said in the GDT, you'd never guess that Kindl is actually 10 lbs heavier and an inch taller than Quincey because he plays so soft. Hopefully E and Kindl will get healthy and can learn some things from Quincey. Smith has looked very good so far. It was unfortunate to lose him for 5 minutes when the D was already shorthanded, but he really didn't have a choice since Shaw jumped him. And he handled himself well. I can't wait until he's a regular in the lineup. He should leapfrog right over Kindl and Ericsson. Here's the fight.

The worst part about this game? MacDonald getting thrown in after the Howard injury wasn't an issue. The defense played pretty damn good considering they were down a man or two for 90% of the game. The problem was the forward unit that was the same that lit up Minnesota just two days ago. Too many passengers.

When is the last time we scored with the goalie pulled? Calgary last season?

I'm not, they are beyond cocky now

Patrick Kane?

-->insert obligatory post complaining about everything imaginable and how there's no chance we're going to beat team x/y/z in the playoffs<--

I am disappoint, but it's just one game. I just hope Jimmy's okay.

'atta boy Smitty! Keep it up

His career as an nhl coach is 405-203. He was third fastest to the 400 win mark of any NHL coach. He has a playoff record of 63-39. In his 8 seasons as an NHL coach, he's gotten his team to the Stanley Cup finals three times, won once. Conference finals once.

Really annoying to watch. He just gives no effort sometimes on the ice, Patrick Kane should not out muscle him for a puck... ever. But then he comes down the ice and lights up Stalberg and leaves you saying "why can't he do that all the time?" I just want to merge him and Helm together.

Watching Franzen lose physical battles along the boards to guys like Kane and Keith is pretty frustrating. They're great players, but with his size, he should be tougher to handle. Just looks like jelly out there.

They didn't have them on the ropes, but I think the Wings were dictating play through much of the game. They may not have been lighting Emery up, but they were definitely limiting the scoring chances by the Hawks and rang multiple shots of the posts. That started to fall apart a bit in the third, but I'm sure the shorthanded defense had something to do with that.

I'd expect you to know this. He can fight, but he's not great at it. However, this one was good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aSUfNd6E1wU#!

Keith total douchebag, multiple gloved hand punches.

Me too. I've had to deal with Blues fans before, and they act like their team has won something before. It's pretty funny actually. f*** their organization and the players. I hope they lose in the first round.

Kind of off topic but it has some lawls, the first 5 minutes at least. The last minute is very sad... God bless that family.

That's a bad decision by the state athletic board, they should re-do the 3rd period. I'd even consider disqualifying the winning team so some other parent doesn't try it.

My only comment about Smith so far is that this kid should never play another game in the AHL.

I have, but I am not so sure she is totally innocent. She hangs around with us, after all. The person below me has a new member of their family.

If we could somehow lose Ericsson our D will have the potential to be a long term (affordable) unit with youth. Considering Jimmy, Kindl, Smith, and White need to be re-upped after next season it would be wise not to spend right up to the cap this offseason. If we pay big money for Suter I'd like to move Ericsson's contract as I don't see him garnering over 2mill more cap than Kindl for the play he brings. This leaves 40mill in cap space for forwards and signing Parise in around 7-7.5 mill with room to spare for raises next season for rookies. CAPGEEK.COM CAP CALCULATOR DEFENSEMEN Ryan Suter ($7.500m) / Kyle Quincey ($3.750m) Niklas Kronwall ($4.750m) / Ian White ($2.875m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) / Brendan Smith ($0.875m) Doug Janik ($0.512m) GOALTENDERS Jimmy Howard ($2.250m) CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $64,300,000; CAP PAYROLL: $23,395,833; BONUSES: $0 CAP SPACE (8-man roster): $40,904,167

Drunk posting! Friends don't let friends post drunk (without saving a copy to throw up in their faces later). The person below me has seen a picture of the person above me lying on her back with her legs in the air. (Totally innocent- check the members photos thread.)

He said the defense was better without Ericsson. Lidstrom has been out both of those games as well. But I guess this isn't just more baseless Ericsson bashing and you can somehow determine that the defense actually looks better overall specifically because of Ericsson's absence and not Lidstrom's? It used to be that Kindl>Ericsson, which was wrong. Ericsson clearly outplayed Kindl, who couldn't hold his spot in the lineup over Commie. When that became obvious, you guys shifted to complaining about Ericsson's contract. Now that he's out of the lineup, somehow you can tell the defense is better specifically because of his absence. You guys hate him. That's fine. Certain players are just going to get bashed. But it's not about what's actually happening on the ice, it's silly to pretend otherwise. As for Smith, I'm glad he's finally getting some playing time. I know it's probably for the best, but Holland's "overly ripe"philosophy can be frustrating. I can't wait until this kids a regular in the lineup.

And Lidstrom apparently? They've been out of the lineup the exact same games. We should get rid of both of them.

Burke puts to much pressure on this team with what he says to the media. A team build around Kessel-Phaneuf-Reimer isn't a playoff team, no matter what Burke says.