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He's good, but clearly not good enough to have his name spelt correctly. Which, in fairness, is no small request.

Franzen benefits off the backs of harder working players. Without someone else to gift wrap them, he is more or less worthless. Effort is lacking and he is becoming more one-dimensional by the day; a far cry from where he started busting ass on the 3rd/4th lines. He hasn't stepped up at all with players out. ...s***... goal and Z goes down...

OMG FRANZEN DID STUFF

Whoever negged my last post care to explain why? Did you think it wasn't a snoozer? Did you think everyone played great? Do you think Nyquist played crappy? Don't just neg, explain why you disagree...

man did smith and nyquist look great. both regulars next season imo. nyquist on a line with z or dats would be awesome.

This is one of the worst hockey games I have seen in a long time. !

They are stupid because they wanted to trade a guy years ago? Idiots, we should have all known this year was going to happen

For the lulz during intermission, from a bar near Toronto:

feel bad for nyqvist playing with s***ty linemates

Considering the Wings have had by far the worst drafting position in the NHL over any time period, anything better than dead last is great. No question the prospect pool is the strongest it has been in a long time. Smith, Nyquist, Jarnkrok, Tatar and Pulkkinen all have performed very well as pros (against adults) already. Smith and Nyquist are already AHL all-stars. Tatar was the youngest player in the AHL. Jarnkrok just finished 14th in SEL scoring (despite losing a fair amount of games to injury) and Pulkkinen recently broke Teemu Selanne's rookie scoring record in the Finnish elite league. Jurco and Tvrdon put up a ton of points with their junior teams, while defensemen like Oullete and Sproul exploded to become all-star selections at defense (at very young ages). Even huge, lumbering Nedomlel just tripled his scoring from last year. Mrazek was the World Junior Championship most valuable goalie. Then you have Sheahan and Jensen playing very well in college and defensemen like Marchenko, Backman and Almquist who could really surprise in the next couple years (my money is on Marchenko - who was made the face of Russian junior hockey and already playing in the KHL). The prospect pool is the best it has been in 20 years, and it's exciting to keep up with their accomplishments... I'm very optimistic for the future. Apparently a lot of teams were targeting Smith and Pulkkinen at the trade deadline.

I understand why folks call for him to "answer" for his hits, clean or otherwise, but it is complete nonsense. More than anything its butt-hurt. Lets for the sake of simplicity call it Kesler-Clowe Syndrome (KCS): if a smaller guy, who has never fought before and seems in their mind physically inferior to themselves, all of a sudden puts them on tomorrow's highlight reel by folding them like a lawn chair, despite a few inches of height and pounds of weight, the knee-jerk response is butt-hurt and the KCS desire to redeem one's self. Kronwall will "troll", shrug it off and get twice his moneys worth with the hit and a penalty for your retaliation, which as a Wings fan is one of the best parts of watching Kronwall do his thing (though sometimes the refs jumping in front of him is a bit...well, you know). Its one thing to want to retaliate in the moment, on the ice, and for some, their pride is worth the two minutes (especially since the Wings PP is so flacid). Its another thing to carry your pout into the post-game interviews and say something as moronic as "you can't lay a hit like that without having to fight afterwards", like there is some unwritten rule that if you're hurt or embarrassed in play you get to even it out on my face. Its funny how moderators can be so ridiculously bias and still be allowed to lord over open forums. Even on HockeyStreams, hearing Wings fan and moderator Steve-O is a bit shameful. Every call against the Wings is unjustified, every hit on a Wing dirty, every opposition goal is either an uncalled penalty or would-be disallowed goal. The fates conspire against the Wings in everything and the opposition always has an unfair advantage. Me, I'm a "blame the Wings first" kinda guy, just ask Crymson, who is of the "***** about the bitching" persuasion

I blame Emma. But really, sometimes players have bad seasons. It is not a sign of irrevocable decline.

nothing more could have gone wrong on that shift. game over another 2 points gone

96 and 93 are just brutal trade 93 and hope 96 will retire

Our AHLers are playing well

Of course.

If you go by this system then Kirk Maltby would've been a top 3 forward

why ewww? They're having a lot of problems scoring goals this season and seem to have taken a step backward overall, but they're a fun young team to watch. Kopitar plays a lot like Zetterberg. great young goalie in Quick. Doughty is super-talented, if immature still. Good young defensemen in Martinez and Voynov. Young guys like Clifford who will grind, hit, fight and score some goals. Honestly I liked the roster more last season when they still had Simmonds. Their GM has made some panic moves at the deadline picking up Penner last season and now Carter (who will hopefully work out better than Penner). But they're still a fun team to watch.

Brad Marchand for me. Just seeing his face makes me angry, no wonder Tim Connolly hip tossed his ass last night

Not sure if that was sarcasm or not. Franzen's cap hit might be $3.95m but he is getting paid $5.25m, and given the security he was given with such a long-term contract, its fair to argue that he should be playing like closer to $6.0m. He got on the team by playing tough, physical, and responsible while going to the hard areas. He's been doing less and less of that since signing the contract. The production rates are down, but he has also made himself tremendously one-dimensional. Third year of an ELEVEN year front-loaded contract and he is already playing down to the cap hit. He better stay pretty damn consistent, otherwise I wonder how he'll be playing by the time he is actually making $3.95m (which will be in 5 years, for those wondering). Like GMRwings said, what happens when he plays uninterested and "bored" during the regular season (when everyone else is required to put in the effort) and he gets to playoffs and either doesn't perform, or like last year, gets injured? What are the Wings paying for then?

Bertuzzi and Franzen aren't going anywhere anytime soon. If Franzen fails to show up in the postseason, I'd really consider wheeling him out of town. He takes far too many nights off for what he is paid. I'd like to see us wheel Cleary out, but we know that won't happen.

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.

Some people take sports too seriously and it wasn't even professional