Leaderboard

What? You can trade to try and improve your team??? No way!!!!

Really? Wiess has basically been the Panther's #1 guy forever while Filppula, at absolute best, has been #4 in the depth chart, and more like around #5/6/7 for most of his career. And Weiss has only marginally more PPG than Filppula (.59 vs .53). Filppula also has a Stanley Cup and has never missed the playoffs. If I was a hockey player, I would much rather have Filppula's career over Weiss.

I'm still pissed off about last night's lost! Just saying.

Oh boy. So, I'm a first time season ticket holder who basically moved to MI for a great job and the Wings. I'm thrilled that I get to see most of the games and experience how much fun the Joe can be in person. But after two months these are my biggest complaints: 1) "f*** you, Howard." That was screamed by the large man who rented the seats behind me. I know he rented them because the season ticket holders never show up, which means I get to put up with a very entertaining group of drunks most nights. This man pretty much pummeled his knees into my back for the night, was upset that I wouldn't lean over to the row in front of me and steal him some extra purple towels (the "gift" for breast cancer awareness), and called me a ***** for looking at his wife, who leaned over the seat next to me, pretty much had her ass sticking up in my face and reached under the seat to get the towel that slipped into the crevice. And all this was during the warm up while they were stone cold sober. 2) Seat Poachers. My friend and co ticket holder is overseas for work. Nobody wants a single ticket as a freebie (they want both seats, go figure) so I had an empty seat next to me. But before the game started, this guy slides in and informs me that his friend is in the seat on the other side of my friend's seat and his ticket is way up at top, so he'll move when my friend shows up. Now I have a huge guy behind me, a sloth/stoner poacher next to me and another huge guy to the other side. It would have been nice to tell the guy to move because I technically have both seats, I possess two tickets and I want a space to put my coat. But I didn't know what the etiquette for such circumstances was and I hate being intolerant to a hockey fan, so I sat smushed. 3) "Who designed these seats, an anorexic model?" followed by "the AA center has cup holders and Wifi" (and the fact that you can't see the ice from 80% of seats is negated by cup holders?). I'm not a skinny person. But when I say that I mean that I'm a size 10 who wishes I was a size 8. It's interesting to listen to the people behind me (the towel stealers) complain about the seat sizes when they are huge people, who probably purchased close to 100 dollars in food. At the Joe. I'm all for having a good time but after eating dinner at the Joe for 4 preseason games in six days, I learned the value of not spending 5.50 for a chili dog. And I'm sure my cholesterol levels appreciate that awareness. The man patiently explained to the woman that the seat sizes were why we were getting a new stadium because the Joe was built in the 1970s when people weren't so fat. I'm not sure the new stadium has enough rows for the seat sizes some of these people need. It also doesn't help when people bring a ton of crap to the Joe. Huge purses, giant coats... I can't complain about the AA comment too much because my co ticket holder is from Dallas and that's enough punishment for any hockey fan. 4) Some of the elitism of season ticket holders. After showing up for three preseason games, the person next to me asked if I was a season ticket holder. I confirmed that and I was excited about the season. She looked confused and asked me why I had printed out tickets and not the real ones. I guess because I normally can't find my keys (or my pretty tickets) but I always have the ability to print off a ticket in a few seconds. She said that people would think I was a "renter" because I had paper tickets. It's like the high school lunch room hierarchy all over again. Except that who really cares? I've always traveled to see the Wings play and I've usually "rented" tickets from someone. Doesn't mean I was a bad fan, just one that didn't/couldn't have season tickets. 5) And the worst thing about going to a game, for me, is watching Dats and Z skate off the line while the national anthem is being sung. It's disrespectful and something I never saw on the broadcast at home. And seeing the young skater do the same thing, following Pavel's lead just makes me sad. Let's teach everyone that it's cool to skate while someone is singing the anthem. Maybe Karen could speed it up a bit, because they are so anxious to start skating before the game and we can't get them to skate DURING the game. So those are my complaints. But I'm still thrilled to be at games. I just wished people used some common sense.

Hey guys! My first time posting in a long time but i'm very excited to say i will finally be attending a game at the Joe. I'm coming all the way from Northern Newbrunswick Canada, and I'm just looking for some helpful tips and advice. Ill be at the Nov 15 game against the caps! What do you guys suggest for a pre-game spot for a meal or just to hang out? Is there a place to possibly wait for players to grab an autograph? I heard there are not a lot of bad seats but i was just wondering if anyone has been in around section 200 before? how are these seats? Any info will be greatly appreciated Thanks guys and girls!

True we have no cap room today, but what about last summer? before we pissed away 5.5 million of Alfie, 5 million on Weiss, and didn't use our second buyout on say Franzen? that is 15 million right there! Not to mention the 1.75 million on cleary. we could have traded for both Ryan and vanek and had to good scoring lines! but no......

Same here

Exactly where would he have located $7.2m of cap space?

I think it mostly comes down to familiarity. Babs and Holland are familiar with the vets and what they bring to the team. Additionally, the vets are familiar with the Wings' system, their role, and how the game is played at the NHL level. Skill can get you to the NHL, but experience definitely goes a long way as well. We see it with Tatar now. Its clear he is teeming with skill, based on his AHL experience, as well as his play in the NHL. At the same time, now that he's up here, he's also turning the puck over much more, getting closed on much quicker, and he is being read more carefully at this stage. He's getting better at responding to that, actually at a pretty quick rate. His first game this year IMO was terrible. His second was much better. His third average, and his most recent game I think was his best. Generally he is trending up. Smith his going through the same transition, albeit more slowly (as per tradition with Red Wing defensmen). Anyway, playoffs are expected around these parts, and I have to imagine its more comforting for the Wings' brass to shoot for the playoffs with a roster full of players who have repeatedly accomplished this feat, and slowly infuse the aging roster with youth at a very controlled rate. That's part of what made last year so exciting and nerve-wracking. The Wings had no choice but to turn to several GR callups and nobody knew what to expect, but by the hair of their teeth they made it into the playoffs, and I think Babs' stellar coaching really helped the team take off and get to game seven of the second round before bowing out.

Weiss has scored more and much more consistently. Sure he was a number 1 center, but he was also on arguably the worst team in the league all those years, while Fil has been on a championship caliber team his entire career. Funny how you talk about Fil and his success as a 2nd line center here, and now suddenly he's in a 6th and 7th role

If you asked me, I'd say that people resorted to idiotic hyperbole when they either don't have an argument, or aren't smart enough to make one. Which one are you?

Clearly, Filppula was the worst player ever to don the Winged Wheel. Never scored a single goal. Never had a single assist. Never played defense. Always floated. He stood there at the blue line and never moved. Every game we lost was his fault. Obviously all we had to do was get rid of him and our troubles would be over. No one with an ounce of hockey intelligence would sign a slacker like him with no offensive, defensive or hockey skills at all. Thankfully, the Messiah, Stephen Weiss has come to save us. Luckily he's so highly skilled, it should only take him half the season to learn that foreign hockey concept, back checking. Fortunately the Wings don't need scoring, as evidenced by the presence of Weiss, Cleary, Samuelsson, Bertuzzi, etc. The league has decided just to award the Wings points for our heart, grit and character. Warrior points.

I live in Columbus and have family in Toledo so I have a chance to go to many CBJ games and a few DRW games a year. I don't know about you guys, but when I end up going to games its because I wanted to go and made a decision to go. I love hockey so I always enjoy myself and don't really care if the guy next to me is doing a crossword puzzle or some vapid businessman not there for hockey, I am going to have a good time because there is hockey being played. Hockey games aren't the only place I have ever been where people lack self-awarness, I don't know about you guys. Shame on people for being so bitter about little things, and if I had good seats and an empty seat and someone wanted my extra I would most certainly give it up and not worry if my coat has a good seat. I can see getting upset if you have children and people around you are being belligerent but even than, you know you're going to a place where they serve alcohol. ENJOY THE GAME PEOPLE!!

It's tradition, and we can't sit around and sing 5 or 6 national anthems each game, so they sing canada and America cause that's where the league is based and the fans that are attending are from. Side note, I love love love the canada national anthem, think it's the best sounding (I'm American)

So true I mean, the Sedins spent millions of $ helping out with building a hospital for kids in Vancouver, to me this just shows how hockey players, coaches are just the most down to earth and classy guys all around.

I don't mind them splitting up for the time being, but I would prefer Zetterberg stay on the wing...since...you know...he's the only winger that seems to be capable of scoring goals.

Franzen 2 goals in 11 games (both on the PP and both against the Avs) Weiss 2 goals in 11 games Alfredsson 1 goal in 11 games Those are the top 3 guys the Wings need producing after Z and Dats, and they have 5 goals between them. Then throw in our $3 million fourth liner Samuelsson and it's more capspace that was supposed to be providing goals but isn't. As I mentioned in the GDT, Franzen hasn't even managed a shot on goal in the last two games. His last SOG was against the Coyotes.

A sore groin

Holy balls, somewhere Sammy is laughing at us while holding Ericsson and helm voodoo dolls.

In case some of you missed it, Kyle Quincey stepped up big time last night against a VERY good hockey team and played pretty damned well. Probably the best d-man on the ice aside from Dekeyser. I have no idea why people are saying he's the most expendable, or that he's holding back Smith's development. The only thing holding Smith back is lack of experience and dim witted decision making, not Kyle Quincey, he's been very good this year. Also, kudos to Jakub Kindl for his minutes last night. While I noticed him turning the puck over A LOT, I had no idea the kind of minutes he logged for the first time in his NHL career. Atta boy kid. Finally, Brendan Smith. Good game. Keep it up.

Smith is thus far a disaster. In addition to his petulant attitude, he makes very few good plays to go along with his persistent errors. As I've said before, I believe his mistakes are only a matter of nerves; but the end result is the same anyway. Hopefully he'll get better, but at this stage Lashoff is his superior by a wide margin.

I still think our best bet is to make him a forward. Package a forward and whatever For a good D man and move Smith upfront ah la Brett Burns. A couple years down the road you've got Smith Andy Mantha or Smith Helm Mantha He's got the tools and the skills and enough speed, he's just mis- cast as a defenseman.

Hes shown flashes offensively on what could make him a very good dman. Yes his defensive play is abysmal currently. Im not ready to throw in the towel just yet tho, they need to give him a big amount of games to get a rhythm going. Not scratch him the first sign of trouble for 7th defensemen in Lashoff. People need to remember he started to play better during the playoffs last season, and all while still playing with quincey. Yes they were both -3 which is not that great, but I blame Babcock if anyone continuously putting Smith with him, try something new babs please. Give him that PP spot that samuelsson wastes, if it doesnt work out it wont be like we took rafalski off the point or anything. Oh and this applies for Tatar as well Babcock! Cannot give him one game then go hmm he didnt score 3 goals better put back samuelsson!

An art poster seen at a site I visit.