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Becauae he's been good.

Samuelsson being out

Really liking Tatar's hustle.

The fact that they seem to win in spite of the absurd lineups Babcock seems to favor.

Our third and fourth lines look immensely better in the offensive zone than our top two lines.

Kindl has a very underrated shot.

Tootoo = end of the shift Brown = fresh Wait for the 2nd round

Meh game so far.

Cleary and Abdelkader on the second PP unit. Is this real life? Down goes Brown, you mean

I'm only upset by the helm filp and smith injuries mostly and partly the Bert one

Your subject line is true for 96% of the league, so, nice prediction. Dynamite. I do agree with your sentiment about the Wings staying put. I think that as fans, across any sport, we love to play GM and draw up all these hypotheticals that most of the time are simply pipe dreams and just will not happen. Especially trades. If you want to get rid of all these players, you're assuming that other teams will them. Like Sammy, Cleary, White, you can't just move them at will. You can't just implode the team and automatically stay competitive. The Wings are competing right now. They're doing what they can with what they got. Do you have to ask for more? IMO it is not realistic in this salary cap age to think your team will just be lights out every year. Take a step back and realize, like the title implies, your team cannot be above average every year. There's no reason to overly negative about it.

Who are you guys? Nostradamus?

Huskins-Datsyuk-Gustavsson

Surprised Datsyuk's line isn't producing...I blame Datsyuk I mean he is centering two future hall of famers....unbelievable wake up Babcock...play Tatar, Andersson, hell Quincey could probably score with Datsyuk as a line mate.

The development of our young D has been awesome!

I wonder if babcock is doing this as an elaborate middle finger to Holland... if you give me a s*** roster, I'll give you Abdelkader on the second line

Let's Go Wings!

I have to admit, the thought has crossed my mind, especially as of late. By no means am I glad players were injured or think we wouldn't be better with some of them back, but it has definitely been eye-opening. Tatar and Andersson are further developed than I thought coming into the season, and Lashoff in particular has been a revelation on the back end. Kindl has even started to come around as of late, showing some brilliance on the rush and settling things down on the defensive side, too. If our back-end was completely healthy all season, chances are Kindl would have seen little ice-time, continuing to go game on, game off as he has the last few years. Hell, it could even be argued that with a healthy Filppula, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, etc. all season Brunner may not have gotten prolonged opportunity or consist enough ice-time to get comfortable like he has. Overall, getting Bertuzzi, Filppula, and Helm back at 100% improves the team, but I'm not complaining about what I've seen from the replacements or the way the team is starting to mesh (minus the CDA line that won't die).

lol.... sometimes my fingers betray me.......

I disagree with a lot of what both of you are saying. I legitimately think we are a piece or two from being as competitive as any team in the league. A big minute stay at home defenseman, and a top six winger like a Michael Ryder type (not him specifically) would improve this team a lot. Then with Helm back we'd have a pretty solid team. I don't like the idea of stock piling picks because that essentially throws this season away as well as the next couple (until picks and prospects mature). By that time Datsyuk and Filppula may be long gone, Zetterberg will be on the decline, as will Franzen and Kronwall. In two or three years we might find we're further away from winning a cup then we are right now.

Yes to visors and they should all put a chin guard, like yo see for those that play with jaw/mouth issues. That single bar would lower concussions with shots to the head. Laugh - I don't think Pat LaFontaine would care today, nor Lindros, Deadmarsh or many others who careers ended early by concussion or facial injuries. Bryan Berard, a NHL #1 nearly lost his eye at 23. He played with 20/400 vision in that eye. Visors are mandatory in the AHL and 68% in the NHL wear them today. http://deadspin.com/5988850/will-the-nhl-mandate-visors-before-someone-loses-an-eye-and-a-career I JUST do not understand how the players or owners do not move to protect the players with equipment changes clean up the dirty play. A guy like Matt Cooke is putting more than star players at risk (since the is not enough motivation) but organizational success, which translates to $$$$ lost.

me at the Lightning vs. Bruins game in Tampa Bay last week... I don't care about either team so I made my hosts happy and wore the shirt they bought me. Loo's toes in the sand, at the beach... featuring my signature "Al the Octopus" purple toenail polish, of course!

Islanders of course.

My hope is that the Wings can get to the Conference Final and play Vancouver. Then I can watch Kesler get Kronwalled repeatedly and then whine his ass off about it on HNIC. Then he will likely challenge Hudler to a fight.