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Not only were the Wings the first to use the quote, theirs is properly punctuated.

I don't mind him staying on long term, I don't think there are many coaches who could of gotten more out of this team the past 2 years than what Babs got.

vs. Start time: 7:30 EST Joe Louis Arena - Detroit, MI Projected Lineup Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco Miller-Andersson-Cleary Porter-Weiss-Callahan Abdelkader-Nosek-Nestrasil Petr Mrazek (first two periods) Thomas McCollum (third period)

I'd rather he not sign until we see how the season turns out. Coaches have a shelf life and while I don't know if Babcock has reached his...it's certainly possible. Why not wait to see what happens? We've got a team that should be pretty competitive. Lots of good veterans and young up and comers. If the team stays relatively healthy and still underwhelms, I'd take that as a sign that Babs' has taken the team as far as he can and I'd hand the reigns over to Blashill. If they play above their heads, or are Cup competitive, re-sign him.

LOL, only here would this even have to be said. I get that this freaking out over a few minor injuries is simply a conditioned response to the past few years. But at the end of the day, we have only had 1 real injury which was to Datsyuk, and it should only keep him out around 4 weeks. Its not like Zetterberg broke his leg, Datsyuk tore his ACL, and Howard suffered a hernia. People are getting worked up over nothing. I also don't think that Colton Orr (or someone like him) is the savior for this team. You have a guy like that, people still will hit our our top guys, someone will just also fight Orr afterwards. Its the NHL, guys who hit are going to hit regardless of who is on the other team. If people were scared to fight guys like Orr, they wouldn't be fighting so much. People have referenced Darren McCarty. Its not like having McCarty stopped Lemieux from smashing Draper face into the boards, all it did was create many fights afterwards. Having Todd Bertuzzi and co. did not stop Steve Moore from throwing an elbow at Marcus Naslund's head, it just led to a fight, and obviously the incident. Philly being one of the toughest teams in the NHL did not stop Scott Stevens from knocking out Lindros over and over again. My point is, guys are going to hit. I dont believe having Orr or someone like him on the Wings would have stopped the hit on Datsyuk, or other normal hits being thrown.

Do you really thin that other teams run each other in practice? Hits in practice lead to more injuries, not fewer.

I think the shelf life argument is true to an extent but I don't know if it's really applicable for the Wings, at least right now. Many of the players on the Wings squad are fairy new to working with Babcock, so I don't see how his message would go stale on them. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Kronwall, Franzen, Cleary I could see the argument being more valid because they've been around for a while, but the above players seem to buy into the system pretty well (maybe not Franzen but who knows what's going on on his head half the time), so I don't think Babcock has lost his swagger in the lockerroom.

TIS I, THE GROIN ENFORCER I AM HERE TO ENFORCE GROINS AS MY NAME SUGGESTS

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/09/red_wings_darren_helm_says_fac.html Helm says his groin is feeling good

Another one of these ridiculous threads.... everytime Babcock farts there seems to be more speculation that he is not happy (even though he says he is) and he is going somewhere (probably Toronto because they are already planning their Stanley Cup Parade). The other hilarious thing is that folks believe that replacing a battle tested and proven winner/veteran/warrior/genius (Mr. B-cock) with a green eared but eager rookie (Blashill) is somehow going to ward off massive debilitating injuries to key players, improve goalie consistency, prevent hall of fame legends from ever retiring, strengthen backup goalie's groinal area, add testoterone back into the balls of mules AND be that which attracts every key free agent to want to sign up for all of this (deep breath) will undoubtedly improve things. Babcock + Holland + Health + Experience = Success wait and see

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, WILL SOMEONE PLEASE SIGN AN ENFORCER!

I agree, and I'd be really reluctant to see him go. I like his system. He believes in team defense, but he seems more amenable to offense than Babs does. Babs seems to want to win every game the way the Canadian Olympic Team did. Which would be fine if you were winning those close games, but we don't. With guys like Dats, Z, Franzen, Nyquist, Tatar, Weiss, and hopefully Mantha and Jurco (by the end of the season) there's no reason not to have a pretty good offense. So hopefully we won't be hearing "we don't have the skill to play like we used to", because this team has a good bit more skill (on the front end) than the 2008 team did.

Regular pre season stuff, more worrisome if it carries into the regular season.

I think you might be underestimating the skill level of Torres, Tootoo and Asham slightly. They put up much better totals in juniors than Callahan and had they stayed in the AHL they would probably been on the PP too. It is true that they have a limited role in the NHL but there is certainly more to it than the skill variable. When comparing Callahan to Maltby I was trying to convey his "weight class". I know you dont care much about that stuff but that was my intention.

Mac usually stayed away from the heavys and let Probert or Kocur handle them, but I agree he wouldnt back down from a challenge. I dont think it is fair to put Callahan in the fighter category though. He is like a Maltby that will fight.

Maybe he should change his name to "Overman". Ha. Ha.

Too small and too weak

People seem to think this only happens to us. And there are many comments about our players being weak pansies who are made of glass, etc. It's kind of understandable since most here focus on the Wings and don't follow other teams to the same extent. The whole league is like this, though. I think it's just the effects of the faster, bigger league. Here's some other teams' current situations to give some perspective: Pens: Malkin still not skating, Crosby missed the beginning of camp, Beau Bennett has a knee injury, Robert Bertuzzo possibly has a significant injury Kings: Derek Stepan out with broken fibula. Philly: Giroux (lower body), Timonnen (blood clots) Couturier, Emery injured, Bellemare as well (who's he?), Leafs: Bozak, Robidas (leg), Clarkson all injured. Tallinder also (PTO) Rangers: Malone out(hip flexor) Carolina: Jordan Stall (broken leg) Bruins: Cambell still hasn't skated, Camara (illness), Pasternak (probably wouldn't have made the team) Lightning: Druin (fractured thumb) Avalanche: McGinn, Bordeleau (both had back surgery) minor injuries to Gabe Landeskog, Max Talbot and Ryan O'Reilly and Jan Hejda Columbus: Horton will miss start of season (back pain) Canadiens: Eller injured plus a lot of prospects: McCarron, Grimoire, Connor Crisp, Dalton Thrower, Stefan Fournier and Jack Nevins Wild: Harding out indefinitely (foot injury) Ducks: Palmeiri, Shea Thodore

Nyquist had a knee on knee collision. Should they start practicing knee on knee collisions in practice so they are ready?

"They're bigger! They're stronger! They're faster! They've got more facial hair!"

If you're looking for an "elite winger" why would you look to an average center? And if we've got so many high end prospects and middling centers, why don't we package a few of them up for an "elite winger". Putting Helm on Datsyuk's wing isn't going to give Helm hands all of a sudden. It will just take the spot away from someone who does have hands...like Jurco, or Mantha, or Tatar. As for your Filppula comparison. I agree, his best year came on the wing with Zetterberg. Now go look at his career numbers. His goal scoring didn't improve much that year on the wing. His assists, on the other hand, went WAY up. So while he did have better number on the wing, it's not because he was scoring many more goals. It's because he was passing to better finishers (notably Zetterberg). Edit: I get your point, "it's worth a shot". But this is a professional sports team. I would hope we'd have a better strategy for improving our team than "it's worth a shot", or "it couldn't hurt", or "meh, what the hell". The fact that we've got the wrong personnel to address our needs, and keep trying to put bandaids over bullet holes may contribute largely to the dismal result our team has seen since 2009. Sure, it probably wouldn't kill us to try Helm there. But isn't there at least one or two other options with a higher probability of success?

Helm rode an unsustainably high shooting percentage to the best numbers of his career and then fell off completely. He'll never post numbers like that again in his career. Take it to the bank.

Not that I'm arguing that the Wings necessarily need a meathead, but the last Cup win the Wings had Aaron Downey in the lineup. And Babcock played him in 56 games. It's not just an outdated concept from 17 years ago. With Tootoo I think it was more that he could never really hit effectively without taking himself well out of position. And as admirable as it was that he'd drop the gloves with anyone, he hardly struck fear in the hearts of anyone except when he suckerpunched them. Most of what he did on the Wings was staged fights.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it not uncommon to hear people say they believe that the fight night at the joe is the night that team solidified the Cup win?

While looking for this I found this Which is even more hysterical.