Leaderboard

Believers may only apply. Here's to another year of playoff hockey and rooting on the team we know and love

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130311/SPORTS0103/303110350 "I go through this time and time again with the players, with the media, with everyone — the players decide who plays, not me. If you play good, you get to keep playing (and) if you don't …?" LIAR...YOU'RE A LIAR. Exhibit A: Dan Cleary Exhibit B: Tomas Tatar There is so much contradiction in that sentence, I want to throw up.

...ya ok coach...too bad the players don't decide which line to play on...that's all you baby. Get yer head out of yer ass!

It's late and to the head. Nothing "good" about that. Perry's got a douchebag rep too. Thumbs down. esteef

It's a sad day when we hail the second coming of Sammie as our savior over Abs and Cleary. But that's where we are....

Well when he says blatantly false stuff like this he gets what he gets.

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3tciva/

It amazes me that anyone thinks he's somehow useful. We could find a grinder out of the minors that could put up similar numbers and play just as hard on the forecheck. If he's waived, this team will lose nothing, even if he's picked up. Insignificant distinction. If he's talking about rewarding players by putting them in the lineup, the same should go for where they play in the lineup. Guys like Cleary, Abdelkader and Quincey have been rewarded with icetime they didn't deserve. Your second line should not be a primarily defensive (checking) line. That's what it was for about 6 or 7 games.

total BS. see Abdelkader or better yet, see Franzen. He decided to play in the playoffs 4 years ago. that seems to have earned him quite a lengthy leash.

You do know our biggest problem is not having a #1 Defenseman, right?

i want him regardless.

The fact is no division rival is trading with us. So let's look oustide the "current Central Division" for possible trade partners.

Easily pick(s) for each/together/etc, and that's something you can always use especially in Ken Holland's ways. He strictly believes on developing in-house and through the draft.

So if the players decide who plays, who's the idiot that plays Abby and Cleary in the top 6. I guess the players make that decision as well ? I never thought I would start hating Babcock, but this is starting to get ridiculous.

Let's see last year Samuelsson had 13 powerplay points in 54 games for .24 per game Lidstrom had 17 points in 70 games for .24 per game. Interesting, it looks like by all accounts that he does produce on the powerplay.

Come on Babs -- Justin Abdelkader would be in the press box every night if this were true.

He sucked on the PP point when he was here before. Are we to assume he's gotten better at it with age and less ice time due to injury? Maybe some here haven't watched Red Wings hockey long enough? esteef

huskins was doing good. not sure why he was even sat in the first place and why we have held on to Q for so long.

Since the shootout was introduced after the lockout in 2005-2006, about 13.24% of games have been decided in a shootout. That's 1 in about 7.5 games going that way. This season is just above that average, sitting at 52 of the 375 games played, or 13.87%. If you count overtime on top of that, or any game where the 3rd point comes into play, and you're looking at 95 of the 375 games played. That is more than 1 in 4 games! That is the real form of parity. Not the competitive on-ice product, but rather a mechanism in the standings which makes 25% of all wins and losses matter half as much. Getting back to the shootout, I couldn't agree more. Skills competition with 3 shooters should never decide a game. That'd be like ending NBA games with a game of pig or a jump ball (like it could get anymore boring). Might as well flip a coin, especially given how loose some of the interpretations are (spin-o-rama, Kane, etc.)

Only if we give him a new deal otherwise no thanks

Should be keeping Nyquist, Tatar, Andersson in the lineup. Franzen, Datsyuk, Nyquist Zetterberg, Fillpula, Brunner Tatar, Helm, Eaves Tootoo, Andersson, Miller Abdelkader That should be our lines. Speed down the middle, and scoring on the wing. The only thing they lack is size and hard physical play on the top 2 lines. in 82 games your top 2 lines should be responsible for at least 120 goals. Bottom lines should be responsible for at least 40 goals and somewhere around an even plus minus. The defense, goalie, and heart of the forward lines should be responsible for wins.

I can't remember who said it but pointed out that the loss of Lidstrom and Detroit's generally less talented blueline not only affects the defense. The forwards will struggle because the puck is not being moved up ice as effectively. It's definitely true. Defensively they've looked better, but they're still struggling to break out of their own zone and establish themselves in the offensive zone effectively. Lidstrom is obviously a huge loss in that department, but I think the loss of Rafalski was a huge blow that's now more visible since Lids is no longer there to pick up the slack.

Why do you always think that we need star players? When you have star centers you don't also need star wingers, you need quality wingers who can support Datsyuk and Zetterberg and provide supplemental scoring. James Neal and Alex Burrows aren't star wingers in their own right, they're quality wingers who have big success because they play with elite centers. That's what we need here. The equal but opposite is also true, if you've already got star wingers, then you can use quality centers to support them. In the salary cap world it's nearly impossible to have both of any length of time. Teams that have both, like Chicago, are an anomaly.

Babcock has to play the guys Holland signs, so I dont point the finger at Babs too much. We have a trio of old softies (Bertuzzi, Cleary, Samuelsson) that need to be axed. But the coach cant just make the GM look bad. Babs has to play who Kenny brings in. If Babs has a big part in those signings, then thats another story.