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If ONLY we had an enforcer to keep that herniated disc of Z's in line... ...and to make sure that pesky groin of Weiss' would be held accountable... ...or that Howard's knee wouldn't dare tweak itself... For the record. Detroit (as of yesterday) sat at 10th in the league in terms of Man-Games-Lost-To-Injury, at 110. The #8 team, Montreal, is at 122 games lost. Yet, Montreal currently ranks 3rd in fighting majors at 22. Columbus is 5th in games lost to injury, 130, and 7th in fighting majors at 20. Tampa Bay is 7th in games lost at 123, and 13th in the league with 17 fighting majors. Toronto leads the league in fighting majors at 26, yet is only 2 spots back from Detroit with 97 games lost. I just did the math. The average # of games lost to injury by any team this year is a smidge over 93 games (93.066666667, etc). Detroit's at 110, which is above average, but not astonishingly so, especially given that Detroit is tied for dead last in the league at 4 fighting majors. As it stands, the statistics don't necessarily agree that having players who are more willing to "enforce" (a.k.a. willing to drop the gloves) translates into less games lost due to injury...

You mean like how Orpik thought twice about hitting skilled winger Loui Eriksson because of all the big, bad, enforcers that Boston has? Or perhaps how James Neal didn't even consider kneeing Marchand in the head during the same game for the same reason? And certainly nobody would consider taking liberties with Phil Kessel with Orr and McLaren on the ice for Toronto. I completely agree with everything you just said.

As I recall, we lost 10 games out of 11. We called up every defenseman we had in GR, and had to borrow Stafford from them even though he wasn't technically signed as a Wing. We went a game with: Cheli-Lilja Lebda-Quincey Meech-Stafford Then in the first period, Cheli broke his leg. Hasek (our #1) was injured, but at least Osgood was a fabulous 1a. Cleary was also injured during this time. He was a productive cog in the Red Wheel at that time. Like you said, we won the Cup. This gave us unlimited sound bites in which we could use the standard cliches involving "adversity" and other such watch words. At that time, we were fortunate enough to have won games early on so we had a bit of a cushion. Now the injury bug is kicking us earlier. The last few games I've seen the effort needed, but between called-off goals and posts and head-standing goalies and just plain bad puckluck, we're not winning. Things are bound to turn around. I'll worry in April.

Oh Sheahan called up? Better put him on the 1st line while keeping one of our best players (Tatar) in the bottom 6...smh

So you go from my claim on hits per game to fighting majors. Cool. Enforcers dont necessarily have to fight they also put aggression towards opponents through hits. And it's a known fact in hockey (if you play, which i feel doubtful seeing your reactions to a basic aspect of hockey; aggression, aka what the sport is KNOWN for) fighting and hits can curve momentum. Hits can send messages to opponents. Hits make people think twice before opponents go after your star players. Hits are a non-verbal way of saying " you hit my guy, i'll hit you and embarrass you." Case and point http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLX3299cVEg Laperriere hit Lidstrom. Downey took revenge. Lappy was a mouse the rest of the series. Wings went on to continue dominating.

At least Mrazek's Winter Classic pads are awesome

Samuelsson and Cleary are both substantially less valuable than Tootoo, Eaves, and Glendening. Scratching them both on a regular basis would be an improvement.

Could anyone stop the 2005-2006 Red Wings?

When we have Zetterberg, Helm, Weiss, DeKeyser, Howard, Franzen, Abdelkader back in the lineup, in addition to the other players who have missed significant time due to injury like Ericsson, Datsyuk and Bertuzzi, and we still aren't scoring and are losing consistently, then I will get concerned.

So in other words, Downey neutered Lapperrierre. Thanks for proving our point. Also, don't forget that McCarty and King Leonidas played for us in those playoffs.

I want John Scott for Christmas.

Prior posters have said it well. The team is missing three of its normal centers (Helm, Weiss, Andy), and what amounts to three of its nominal top six (Franzen, Z, Helm). That's an entire scoring line, gone. Add to that the extraordinary significance of missing Dekeyser on an otherwise weak defense corps, and it's no surprise that the team isn't generating offense. Find me another team in the league that could handle losing that amount of firepower without missing a step or two. You won't, with the possible exception of Chicago and Pittsburgh. This team iced a power play line the other night of Eaves-Tatar-Cleary. That was the #2 power play unit. Consider that for a moment, and wonder why a goal wasn't scored. Things will turn around when bodies start coming off the IR list. There will still be a glut of talentless, worn-out fourth-liners like Cleary and Sammy, but at least there will be some firepower to help balance it out. I'd rather see the team styled after the Ducks/Bruins former cup-winning squads and have some proper grit on the bottom six as opposed to this can't-score-but-can't-hit-either mashup of soft players without offensive acumen. It's not in the cards this season.

2 threads about enforcers. Its official. Its mid-season for the Red Wings. This happens every......single......year...... lol

That's awesome that Lucic didn't fight back, especially based on how drunk he appears lol

Ericsson "went" after McL right after his hit on Kronwall... and after that game he was out with the shoulder injury... He has no balls and this team is really missing some muscles. I don't expect Kenny to trade for the size and muscles... he will "adressed" it during the summer with FA's and in september, we will have the same team without BALLS... Good luck with staying healthy

The wings are one of the few teams without any players who are "mean". Hockey is a sport where hatred and animosity grow especially in the playoffs however there is no one on the wings who is truly a mean player. Tootoo is guys like lucic clarkson Matt Martin pronger etc are. They engage after the whistle they hit to hurt they cross check you in front etc. I am a believe in an enforcer but at the very least I think the wings need more guys who can be nasty

Father Time is currently kicking their ass.

I wanted a youth movement, but not in this fashion. It was supposed to be prospects playing instead of Samuelsson, Cleary and Bertuzzi -- not at the expense of our best forwards.

I haven't seen anything from Shehan that's been impressive but I honestly haven't seen him much. Hope he can give a good impression. Detroit Griffins next game, huh?

I am still confused as to how Orpik was injured. I have watched the play 20 times. He doesn't hit his head on the ice, he doesn't get punched by anything more than short rabbit punches and his head doesn't appear to snap back at all. I don't think Orpik is faking it but what happened ? Also, if he gets 15 games why did Emery get zero ? That was an attack in my opinion.

Wonder what Mario L., Sindy C and the rest of this ***** organization promised Bettman and Shanahan for only giving Neal 5 games? If you giveThornton (first time offender) 15 there is no way that SOB named Neal can get away with 5. Can't wait, till some tough teams are going to take this crybabies by the horns and run Sindy + Malking out of the building. This coupled with the non suspension for that Flyers thug just makes so happy again knowing, that Shanahan will never ever hang at the in the rafters at the Joe. Guy completely sold himself out, no integrity at all.

Too much and Neal didn't get enough.