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Your cynicism is always such a ray of desperation around here

"Class" is a big reason Detroit was eliminated without so much as a whimper.

I like Gus, but Mrazek will do something you rarely see on this team. He will make a high paid veteran (Howard) nervous and play for his job every night. We need more of this - hungry young guys who have their sights on taking away other people's jobs. It is good for the entire team and organization. Plus, I am certain Mrazek will be our starting goalie in a year or two at most. Howard can't compete with this kids attitude or skill. Mark my words.

I've been a 'Wings fan for 33years. The Red Wings have played with class, dignity and style for so many years, and it makes me proud to be a wings fan! Watching this year's playoffs has been disgusting, from Duncan Keith's "wakey, wakey" taunting of the obviously concussed David Backes, after two, vicious, non called slashes, one of them on Backes(probably having him hear"footsteps", setting up Seabrook), and Matt Cooke, not much needs to be said there, how about Marchand and his "which leg did I hurt?" moment. There is no point to a regular season if it is no holds barred in the post season. I'd rather watch my team get bounced in the first round, than watch them play with no class and make it to the finals. Detroit has won championships by staying classy, and I'm OK waiting until they can win with class, not the garbage that Boston and Chicago feel fits their fans! I grew up in Ken Holland's hometown, my Dad was close with his Dad, all class acts, there is pride in winning with integrity, pride is nonexistent without integrity! STAY CLASSY DETROIT!!

Oh, so because of yesterdays turnover Franzen is now labeled as an overall turnover machine? Yeah, that was a bad give away. But it was also just one of only two give aways he had in the PO's. He also lead the team in take-aways during the PO's with 4. Now those stats do have some recording errors, but they still don't paint the picture of a guy who consistently gives away pucks. Sincerely, Guy who only reads boxscores

No, not in the way he was used. If he was moved up to be a #1 or #2 line center, OK, but he was used as just another grinder when he obviously has more skill than that.

Do you watch bball or football? Hockey is THE classiest.

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I'm not just making stuff up or talking out of my butt. For the past couple of years, when people would talk up our pipeline, Jarnkrok would usually be regarded as The One. He has a lot in common with Zetterberg. He doesn't have Mantha's size or mutant scoring prowess, he's not a goalie, he doesn't have Jurco's size or shifty hands, but what he does have is elite sense, very good all-around ability, that Zetterberg-esque knack for holding the puck and making plays out of nothing, and tremendous upside. I've seen him play. He's extremely impressive. (I have no real reason to be defending him. It's not like I'm especially biased about this. If I didn't think he was all that, I'd have no problem saying so.) Saying he wasn't even close to being our best prospect is revisionist history after the fact. Same thing with "He had no future here, he was never gonna crack the lineup." What if Nyquist or Tatar had been moved? People would be saying the same thing. Hell, some people were saying that neither had a future here because too small not enough room blah blah blah. Datsyuk won't be around much longer. Zetterberg is a warrior, but he's on the wrong side of 30. No one knows if Weiss will pan out. Legwand probably won't re-sign. Sheahan probably ends up a solid third-liner. Helm is a third-liner. Andersson is a fourth-liner. Glendening is a fourth-liner. Jarnkrok projects as a top-end two-way centerman, possibly one you can build a team - or at least a top-six unit - around. Guys like that are very hard to come by. I'm not talking mystical voodoo or rocket science here, guys. I'm saying we lost a guy who, a few months ago, was the face of the next generation. He struggled in the first half of this season, but he was adjusting to the NA game. He seems to have figured it out, and now I expect him to get better and better and better.

Only ended up at $12, but throwing in an additional $5 per dats goal and what the heck $3 for z for a $30 total. What a depressing finish :/

Uncle Gary sez: "It's playing within the rules (as long as you don't get caught)". Uncle Gary also sez: "We still have the best officials of any of the major sports". Uncle Gary, with his super sense of hearing, also sez: "What was that you said, I heard you. 'You wouldn't know there were rules by watching the officiating'. let me tell you something...we have plenty of rules, we just don't have anyone competent to call them. Damn, I promised myself I wasn't going to tell the truth in the Playoffs!"

He carried the team for 2 months is what happened. Not to mention he was given no space in the playoffs, and the line when he was scoring those goals was Franzen - Legwand - Nyquist which never played once together from the last 3 games of the year, and all into the playoffs. Babcock f***ed up.

Several things happened. 1. Less ice time. 2. Other teams adjusted to him. 3. he was shooting at a rate that nobody can maintain. Finished at 18.3%. Crosby and Ovie were around 13% just for comparison. He had to drop back to normal at some point. 4. Lines changed up again. 5. Keep in mind he isn't very big. Down the stretch play gets tougher and harder every game. I am sure he was a bit worn out.

Filppula: on pace for 63 pts Franzen: on pace for 62 pts Fil costs about a million more than Franzen, so Tampa should buy him out right? Franzen buy out a no brainer? U ppl live in a bizarre fantasy land Hudler: on pace for 59 pts and he costs the same as Franzen. Calgary definitely going to buy him out too *rolls eyes*

41 pts in 54 gp for $4 mill is fine by me. Expecting Franzen to be our teams goal scoring X factor in most games is unrealistic IMO. He's a $4 million dollar player, not a $6 or a $7 million dollar player like Datsyuk and Zetterberg. "But he could be so much better!" No he can't. He's good for 50-60 pts a season and that's it. Expecting more bc of his brief 08-09 playoff streak is unfair.

Griffins are getting back Sheahan, Jurco, and Oulette for their playoff run. I thought Glendenning was also a possibility, but oh well. Go Griffins!

I would imagine sometime mid way throughout the second or sooner. If he is available I would love it. One of Ritchie, Perlini, or Tuch should be available. If this series taught us anything it is that we need to get bigger and more physical. Doing so without losing skill, and those three guys accomplish that. The only way I would consider passing on them is if McCann or Barbashev are still available, and we cab trade down a few spots to acquire a 2nd.

Not even remotely. Experienced top-4 defencemen are the most highly sought after commodity on the market, and are paid accordingly when they hit UFA, as per the rules of supply and demand. Just watch how much Quincey will get on the open market this summer - most likely over $4M.

As I've said before, I'm fairly ambivalent. But its always easier to identify with support the guys who give it total effort every game while actually getting sweet FA done. There is no doubt Franzen is in decline and his health/personality issues are increasingly becoming a factor. Equally, I read the comments on here after and during games (not last night!) and wonder if people are watching different games. He's defensively pretty responsible, still makes good rushes and despite his finishing being all kinds of awful over the last month, he's still been getting chances every game. He's missed with too many, but he had as many decent chances as anyone in our roster not named Datsyuk or a speedster with stone hands. The criticism he receives online is not a fair reflection of his game, up and down and declining as he is. If he was getting paid 1m less, skated around like a lunatic and put up half the reg season points with a similar plus minus he'd be a lot more accepted. There are obvious concerns going forwards. But equally, he's still worth the money now. There is certainly an argument for buying him out, but how does Holland convince Chris Ilitch of that. "So Franzen,,,,we're worried about his cap hit 2-6 years from now. So what you should do is spend $24m of your money buying him out while we can, despite the fact that he still puts up 0.65 PPG in the reg season, and likely will remain above .5ppg for the next couple of years, despite the fact that not only do we have roster short of points scorers and very little with any trade worth AND the fact that we are finally losing the majority of the AWFUL contracts I've been handing out to FA's over the last 3 years. Oh yeah and Franzen's cap hit is still less than my latest FA signing who hasn't played most of the year, has been invisible when he has, and is still injured. And We'll have about 10-15m cap space this summer after signing our RFAs, depending on Alfie. Would love to be the fly on the wall for that one..... Getting rid of Franzen resolves a problem down the line, but adds to our current ones. If the playoff streak is as important to the management and board as the Legwand deal would suggest, I just can't see it happening. And don't forget, if things get as bad as people fear, there is always LTIR for his concussions or 'issues'. For me, it just doesn't make good management sense to buy him out UNLESS, there is more information regarding his injury or mental issues than we know of. It would also probably help if Babcock's line combo's actually encouraged chemistry rather than destroying it when its been established. Franzen plays a ton better with Nyquist or Zetts or both than he does with Dats or Helm. No problem with this....especially as heating up can get rewarded with more ice time. Seeing as its so visible when he hits beast mode, it should be easy enough for management to juggle. He makes a very good if slightly overpaid 3rd liner or a massively inconsistent and thus unreliable good-ish value second liner. Its also worth remembering that his cap hit was back loaded. Pay him less than he's worth for 2-3 years to pay him more than he's worth the rest.

Hind site is 20/20 right? He helped us make the playoffs, granted he then disappeared, most likely because he's just another declining 30+ year old. I think he was worth it, but Holland should have been able to get a better player for the price he paid, or gotten Legwand for less. But really I'm just done crying over a minor leaguer. If Jarnkrok becomes great-I'll tip my hat to him, but until then he's just another prospect and we all know they don't always work out.

Bruins play the man, not the puck on defense and throw guys down to the ice and don't get whistles, then on offense, they fall at phantom contact and get whistles. Embarassing. I am sad and embarassed I rooted for them to beat Chicago last year... guess my hate blinded me to their antics.

Comparing his game to Zetterberg is not the same as saying he will be another Zetterberg.

As I said in the GDT, how many points would Datsyuk score playing on a line with Miller and Glendenning, two players who arguably shouldn't be in the NHL?

Think he'll re-sign? I think Babcock burying him on the fourth line was a huge middle finger to him.

Franzen has 11 playoff points the last 3 years. Scored 1 goal the last 3 months of the year until our eventual elimination. Those 5 goals in 7 games is a streak he should have gone on 4-5 times in a year not once. Gus has 23 goals in 28 games. Now that's a real streak that got us into the playoffs, not Franzen's 5 goals in February