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The zombie is obviously Weiss, you can tell by the way he's sitting there not doing anything.

No matter how often that gets repeated, that doesn't diminish the accomplishment. Who was the last coach to win the Stanley Cup without a very good team? Not to mention Babcock made it to the finals in 2003 with what was far from a stacked team. And it wasn't just because of goaltending. I can understand not agreeing with his coaching decisions, but the downplaying of his accomplishments here has gotten a little silly. In the NHL he's won 1 Stanley Cup, made the Finals two other times (with two different teams), and made the conference finals once. Not bad in 11 years as head coach.

Todd bertuzzi?

Never mind Hef-Tats look at the Bunny-"tats"...

This is so good it almost deserves a thread of its own How many caught that Z is mocking Nyquist a little??

Haha, I just mean Bud Light tastes like piss, I didn't think people drank it for pleasure, just a cheap drunk.

This is a good thing. He can now get in game shape so when he cracks the lineup now he won't have to play so much catchup and be limited to 8 minutes as a result.

I still think they'll hold him back another week or two, just to be safe. Then off to the GRG he goes. Sucks he was injured...he could be sitting in Nestrasils spot right now (not a knock against him or anything).

I feel like Smith has the tools to put it together offensively. I mean, you can see it. The instinct is there. But he hasn't found all the tools in the box with that aspect of his game yet. Defensively, however, he has seemed to put it together, for the most part. He'll likely refine his game the next couple years defensively. He and Dekeyser have good offensive instincts. I think overall, Dekeyser is ahead on both fronts. Dekeyser seems to know when to slap it at the goalie, or off a stick, or off the back boards. Not Lidstrom level, but you can tell he's smart with his shots. Smith has explosive moments, only to get robbed by the goalie. You can't teach those moments, as you just have to be that type of player. Kronwall plays like that as well...but he knows how to capitalize. Smith, from the blueline, tends to just grip it and rip it. His shots never make it to the goalie, let alone a teammates stick, or the backboards. Overall, I think he'll surpass Dekeyser in points once he puts it all together....that IF he ever does. If anything, he's getting to be a stud defensively.

Is this because Franzen is back? Will be nice for him to actually play real games and get more minutes

Playoffs for the Wings last year was a miracle. 2003 was a miracle. And no other team, stacked or not, has made back to back Cup appearances recently except Pittsburgh.

Well, I rarely drink to get drunk anymore, so that's why I stick with the light beer. If I'm drinking to get drunk, I'll get on the liquor...

I guess I better not tell you I use to drink PBR......hahaha j/k I hate HATE beer.

I don't get the American fascination with "lite" beers...

well then uncle Gary will just have to step in and lock out the coaches until they agree to a salary cap...

My post has nothing to do with the poster Barrie. You made a comment about a topic on a "discussion board", I gave my opinion on the topic. I'm not defending anyone, simply giving my opinion. If this was a private convo between you and Barrie that you didnt want anyone else entering, PM him/her.

All that money they make and they drink Bud Light?

How many people here are from out of town? Flying am I right?

Wow, I didn't realize you and Barrie were so important to one another. No need to defend the guy so rigorously. He's a big boy. For the record, here's a collection of Barrie's posts regarding Holland's rebuild plan and signing UFA's. "I'm still not really sure what Holland could have done since 2009 to make things any better. We're rebuilding through the draft. With the Cap, and how over inflated the UFA market is, it's the way to go. We haven't missed out on a thing by not signing guys like Ehrhoff, Clarkson, and Wisniewski, or Suter or Parise to 13 years." "I guess I was in the huge minority this offseason thinking we had a very good hockey team. Holland, stayed away from overpaying for UFA's, and built a team with a lot of depth. I'm not surprised we're 4-1-2." "No worries they'll sign. Holland doesn't sign over priced UFA's for this reason. There's more then enough cap room to sign Tatar and DeKeyser, then Nyquist and Smith next off season." "I'll take Kenny, who's building the team with the draft, isn't signing any over priced UFA's, and actually knows how the cap works." "I think it's obvious Holland is building through the draft, and won't overpay for UFA's. Teams that build through the draft win Championships, teams that sign over priced UFA's don't." Barrie's entire premise is based upon the false notion that Holland has refused to "overpay" UFA's since 2009. But it isn't for a lack of trying. Holland has made big, competitive, sometimes overpayment offers (Suter & Parise) to numerous players that haven't signed. That isn't Holland refusing to overpay. That's players rejecting his offers.

From the "Things You Can't Unsee" file, the Bruins go as a Frozen ensemble.

It's zombie Datsyuk... Well Nyquist is from a fairly well off family in southern Sweden where they have a small mansion and land and horses and stuff so Nyquists nickname within the Swedish group of the wings is Horse polo Gustav!

Krsmith its hard to be wrong when you're advocating for change in a powerplay that's currently sitting at 6.7%. I've been a big supporter in Smith seeing some powerplay time, but after giving it some more thought I wonder if we're overestimating his ability. I'm going just off memory so I may be way off-base, but it seems like most of Smith's offensive chances are generated on stepping into a play where a turnover occurs and leads to the opposition being out of position, or if the other team's defense over-commits to one side of the ice and Smith steps into the soft space at the opposite faceoff circle. Smith is a very opportunistic player. Those opportunities don't pop up on a powerplay, because the shorthanded team is obviously playing conservatively. Having said that, I'm still eager to give the kid a real chance at the powerplay, because he clearly has an offensive mind, even if it doesn't necessarily show in his statistics. Quite frankly, what we need is someone who can score from the blueline. Other teams know after Kronwall, the chances of our defenders putting one in the back of the net is slim. You can see how their penalty kill is set up, with a lot more pressure down low, while our defenders have the time and space for a one-timer, but other teams are fine with that risk. Adding a howitzer from the point keeps the pk more spread out and opens up more space down low, because now the opposition has to respect our D. This, I don't think Smith will do (or anyone on our team, save Kronwall, for that matter). Maybe there's someone in the pipeline that can fill this void, but until then, the Wings need to get more creative.

Let's just agree to disagree on this one... I don't think a defenseman in the middle of the diamond makes sense at all, that is the last place I would put Smith. The player in the middle is who you want directing traffic, and can make the quick one touch passes and can also be a trigger man. I also disagree that Smith wouldn't be capable of manning the point, even if he were the last man back in the diamond. He has improved his defensive game immensely and is much smarter with the puck. Even if he does make a mistake, he is our fastest defenseman, so the chance of him recovering is much higher than any of the other d, in my opinion. Either way, I'm done with this. I just want our power-play to improve. It's clearly not getting it done now, whether that's on the system they're using, the coaching strategies or the personnel, who knows...

Nope, no potential in our defense at all... DeKeyser and Smith are what they're going to be. There's no way they're going mature or improve in any way, I mean 24/25 is usually when defenseman tap out on potential isn't it?... Not to mention we have a few stud prospects that if were in any other organization would be playing in the NHL right now... Also, Kronwall is a top 15-20 defenseman in the league and Howard has been playing lights out... You're right, completely mediocre with no room to improve...

As already mentioned, with Smith and Nyquist up for new contracts, I'm not sure how we can fit Myers under the cap. Unless we can get rid of Kindl and Weiss's contracts, we've don't have room.