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In Russia Referee Punches you.

Guys like Tatar, Andersson, Lashoff, Emmerton, Kindl and Smith are seizing their opportunities and showing us they can play Red Wings hockey.

Samuelsson being out

I'll be posting the graphics soon. LGW.

Kronwall and Ericsson form an effective top pairing. If Ericsson continues to improve, he'll be a beast next season.

Tootoo. Love that guy. Energy, fists- he's all that and a bucket of cheese. The D finally starting to gel. It took some time, especially with the injuries, but they're starting to look good- even Kindl has been pretty good lately. Kronner seems to be settling into the number one position. It can't have been easy given changes in partners, and his expanded role and responsibility, but he seems to be getting there. Brunner has been quite a find. The kids stepping up. Loving the future. The first goal of the season scored by none other than Brian Lashoff. So much for betting with the odds. Jim-my How-ard. Patty Sunshine returning from concussion. Sure, there are still some things we need to work on, but I'm not at all worried about the season or the future.

Howard has now allowed seven goals in his past six games.

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

I think you're failing to consider the situation when those players were signed. Flip had played two full seasons, had a career high 36 points, was a RFA, and the cap was $56.7M. $3M for 5 years was generous. He was certainly a bargain last year, but he didn't sign his deal last year. The cap when Pav signed was $50.3M. He'd put up back to back 87 point seasons, but those numbers were only good enough for 17th overall. It was before any of his Selke wins. And at the time he had a history of disappointing playoff scoring (3g, 12a in 42 games). If you look at his salary as a % of the cap, and rate it to what the cap is today he'd get around $8.5M, putting him behind only Ovechkin, Crosby, and Malkin. Again pretty good all things considered. Zetterberg is in the upper-tier of the league in salary. He has a nice cap hit with the long-term, back-diving deal, but he's not under-valued. Same with Franzen. Kronwall a little, but his deal does dive a bit. Helm is probably the most undervalued deal on the team. While all of them probably could have gotten more as UFAs, that's mostly because the bidding drives prices up and guys get overpaid. Getzlaf likely could have gotten more as well. Point is, you can't directly compare contracts signed in different years. The circumstances when the contracts were signed are what matters.

Welcome to the champagne room Mr. Murry, we've arranged a seat for you right next to Chuck Fletcher in the VIP section for your enjoyment. I'd offer you a drink but we've been informed that you have no interest in holding a cup anytime soon.

The Dats-Cleary-Abby line is my only complaint about the team. With Franzen back, I don't know why Babs loads up a line with Brunner-Z-Franzen, then has Cleary and Abby with our best player. Abby should be on a line with Tootoo.

Yea I guess it's different isn't it? I guess I was just talking in a general sense on the ice, not just about this specific incident of players hitting refs. It's a lot more uncommon for a referee to get hit like that though, can't say I recall something like that.

I'd give that line a look.

I agree, Holland (too) often looks for "bargains" in his signings and contract extensions, but this contract is ridiculous! In my opinion 7.5 mil should be the MOST a player is paid - in ANY sport! And I'm talking elite players like Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Stamkos, Weber, Crosby, etc. It's not like that is an offensive salary to offer a player. I mean this isn't football or baseball where money is passed around like its nothing - to some of the most undeserving athletes. IMO this is the kind of crap that messes up a team. I was pissed when Weber signed that offer sheet from Philly, that was purely for money. I think that contract is really going to hinder their success in the future. To clarify, I am not one of those people who says players shouldn't try to make more money, who wouldn't? I just think this crap is getting a little out of hand, especially in the world of the salary cap. And, believe it or not there is such a thing as playing for the love of the game. I mean if I got paid millions of dollars to play the game I love, I would be pretty ecstatic. Its not like playing for 6M instead of 8,9,10M is going to negatively affect your life, I mean it's manageable. Look a Steve Yzerman, one of the greatest players in the game, he made 8 mil two times in his career and 7.5 mil one year (when there was no cap). Besides that his contract was for 6M, 5M, and lower. I know its a different time and those numbers mean different things now but my point is that Steve Yzerman was arguably one the most important parts of the Wings success and he wasn't demanding Fedorov money, even though he could have. I understand this is the real world and people are just trying to get as much as they can monetarily, but there are other real factors to consider like salary cap and the future of your team. I don't remember who, but weren't there some Wings players that deferred some of their salary to sign Hull and Robitaille? That's the kind of stuff, in my opinion, that makes a team stronger. Kenny has it right (sometimes) not dealing out the big bucks for some players. Do I think he underpays players? Yes. But I think our elite players (Z,Dats) are paid a very appropriate and reasonable amount of money. They didn't have to sign the dotted line, but they did, so they could play for the team they love and are a part of. Eh, I'm done ranting now.

If the players weren't employees being paid millions of dollars a year to work I'd agree that to some extent it's a personal choice. But let's be honest-- each of these guys represent a pretty sizeable financial investment by the individual owners and in the end it's reasonable to want to protect that investment. You can't tell your boss you refuse to wear a hard hat on the job site because it violates your personal liberty-- you're welcome to quit with your liberty intact but if they're paying you to work on site they have the right to require you to take reasonable safety precautions.

If the Wings are going to stand a chance in the 'bidding' process with a guy like Dekeyser, they'll do so partially by "guaranteeing" ice-time in general or even with a particular player. Otherwise, he'll go elsewhere. There is no lack of teams willing to give him a shot in the big-leagues right out of the gate.

Brunner is up there.

Wings started winning when White's garbage turnovers a general weakness left the line up. Chemistry is running the Wings blueline now and even Q is playing good hockey, aside from his brain fart against the Hawks trying to take a clapper in the slot on a bouncing puck to clear it. In the words of Ricky from Trailer Park Boys..... I f***in' toad-a-so, f***in' toad-a-so! As for his +22, a pylon could be +22 on the other side of Lidstrom's blue line. And Kindl may have just had his best game in the NHL, so White is baggage at this point that you couldn't care less if it was lost at the airport. Time to take trim the fat.

The fact that there is a season. Brunner. Tootoo. Big Rigs goal with 4 seconds left against the Kings. Hockey's best highlight reel - Datsyuk Z's stepping up to the Captain task Kathryn Tappen

One thing I remember growing up was there was a class or series of on ice sessions that taught everyone there on how to properly deliver a body check and how to take a hit. First thing you learn is if you are going to get hit, get against the boards. 9/10 times you won't get hurt. The moment you're even a foot away from the boards, you're vulnerable and risk injury. I know for a fact that I wasn't taught to engage a player before getting to the boards. Maybe this is a new teaching or it is just people being scared to be hit (and not knowing any better), but I see this play a lot now in the NHL. In this case, clearly, it isn't a wise decision.

Huskins-Datsyuk-Gustavsson

Grown men, playing a tough sport so it should be 100 % the players choice, if they want to wear one. Having said that, as with Kevlar socks I think after the first major injury if they still refuse to wear more protection like gear they should pay a bit of their insurance by themselves (based on their salary).

It should be 100% the athlete's choice. Look at Kronwall. He has a visor, but it couldn't be pushed up much higher. Players choice.

FWIW E said he took his visor off because of facial lacerations the visor gave him in the AHL. I like the current system in place. They are mandatory in the CHL and AHL, but optional at the NHL level. Therefore, each player is used to use a visor, but has the option when they enter the NHL.

I would love to see more use them but I don't like the Mandatory thing the whole big brother is watching you thing