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One of the reasons I love hockey, miller and Howie skating past each other... A little head nod and a glove tap.

It's a real shame people here remember Franzen as soft when in reality he was our only too 6 guys with an edge. Other teams hated plying Franzen, in his prime of course

GDT updated. LGW!

Taking bets that we'll be seeing the usual people blaming Howard for this possible loss without having watched the game. Anyone? anyone?

Nyquist should have passed to Pasha

Crap I just remembered Howie is in net, please don't let this go to a shoot out.

That play a few minutes ago where he idiotically went to his backhand and got blocked, instead of shooting a clean wristshot on goal was really something to behold. Oh, and he's a minus 7 on the season.

Smith has the IQ of a rock. Thanks ud

I'm glad sheahans okay though.

How was he so out of position after the shot, too. Bad goaltending

LOL there we go. Lucky they got one back and are only one behind. Can still win this fiasco I guess. Anderson scored?!? Hahaha bout time you did something plug.

Just terrible out there. Miller is bored. And I do believe Helm is drunk.

Someone says this every other game haha

James Russell Howard III save

Vancouver edging Detroit in shots (10-3) midway the first Smith says GTFOTW Ref!

That's all we ask for, a W.

I voted for you, five stars, ND. Thanks for the GDT! You have been very very (Ozzie) good this year, so the Wings will wrap you up a W tonight. LGRW!!

Kip, I agree with most of what you're saying and I do believe that this is still a little premature. People still seem to forget that we are STILL in somewhat of a rebuilding phase. This is the youngest team we've had in forever and we're going to continue to get younger over the next few years. There are going to continue to be some growing pains. However, I truly do believe that in a year or two, without making any trades, just continue to develop the homegrown talent, this team will be at the top once again. The one thing I will disagree with though is the notion that Blashill is accustomed to laying back to protect leads. He's never resorted to a defensive shut em down style of hockey. Even when he coached in the American League he always stressed going after them. Don't sit back, go get the next goal type of mentality, whether his team was down by a goal, up by a goal or up by 3... That's what I've always liked about him and one of the reasons I was so excited to see what he could do with the Wings this season. I do believe he still has that same sort of mentality, it's just taking a little longer for the whole team to buy in. I think they'll get there, and when they do, look out.

It's just kind of sad he doesn't get the respect for the career he had. He pretty much willed the Wings to a Stanley Cup and 2 Finals appearances. Most fans would worship this manIf you watch our old playoff games it was always Franzen chirping in between whistles and getting into the headlocks. The dude played with grit and an edge, and scored

Find it kinda ironic on how Minnesota claims him and now we have snow..

Nice gdt by the way nerve damage. Real nice.

If you're big, and not a goon, people turn on you. Even if he doesn't hit, fight, scrap, etc. size is still an extra asset. It's hard to move big guys. They have extra reach, etc. People seem to miss this and just say "he's big and doesn't use his size." Not every big player should have to have an edge. If they're a goal scorer I don't see why it matters as long as they score (which Franzen did).

Oates is working as a "skills" coach, with individual players such as Stamkos, Parise and Purcell to name a few. After leaving NJ, he opened his own business and has individual clients where he watches their game shifts and advises them on individual aspects of their game. In the off season he meets with them and works on the ice with many of his clients. He was hired by the wings for a three day period to, like Blash said, Pick his brain. I believe this is the first time he has worked with any one team in any capacity since leaving NJ. Should be a good opportunity for Blash and the coaching staff to learn some things. http://oilersnation.com/2015/12/16/adam-oates-the-skills-coach

http://www.nhl.com/stats/team?reportType=season&report=leadingtrailing&season=20152016&gameType=2&sort=winPctgAfterLead2p&aggregate=0 I don't think the team has been playing bad overall. I mean they did just have a 13 game point streak, and are currently second in the division. But they are leaving a lot of points on the table, and perhaps just as importantly giving points to the opposition. If that .625 was the league median .900, that would translate to 4.4 more wins, or roughly 9 extra points, and a handful of points taken away from those teams who came from behind to beat the Wings. 9 extra points puts the Wings just behind Dallas for the league lead (who incidentally wins .933 of their games when leading after two periods). Edit: actually it would be less than 9 points, because some of those wins were converted from OT losses, where the Wings did get a point. So its closer to 5 points. So they'd be with Montreal (with a game in hand).