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So are you saying that Abby should get "The Axe?" Eh heh.

It's a troll thread, that's why nobody is really commenting.

Just enjoy Howard playing well. I wonder just how much of an impact having a new goalie coach, coupled with the clarity of the situation of Jimmy being the backup maybe giving him a chip on his shoulder is factoring into his play. Maybe he had gone as far as he could with Bedard as his goalie coach. (Sort of like a talented student musician moving on from their high school director to a college professor for lessons). As has been said, worst case we have two great goalies if he keeps it up.

That would be a bit cruel, don't you think? The guy does have "Bill"s to pay....

So for my birthday this year, my wife not only got me the NHL package, but also a much bigger HDTV and i'm in hockey and gaming bliss. I'm finding that early in the season, as I always am, that i'm watching hockey regardless if the Wings are playing or not. NHL fans, not just Wings fans, who are you watching besides our boys in red this season so far? Any other teams you are finding entertaining and are playing at an entertaining level? I've been watching a lot of Florida Panthers hockey, they have a lot of great young talent in Trochek, Marchessault, and Jagr still doing his thing. They are a high energy squad and the games i've seen have been fast paced and fun to watch. The Rangers are another one that i've had fun watching, Pirri is a quality guy, and Vesey that they made such a big deal about in the offseason is coming into his own also. They are a fast, speedy squad, and it makes for a lot of good hockey. I watched their 5-2 W tonight against the bruised up Bruins. Also living in Tennessee, a couple co-workers are Preds fans and I get the local games here, and plan on catching the Wings when they visit here in February. Who is piquing your interest early this year? Any players or teams you are finding yourself watching when there is no Wings hockey on?

Did someone say my name??

Mabus -- Two years ago, I finally got "real" television after years without. Prior to that I did A LOT of really bad streaming that was terribly frustrating or I would hit the bar to watch games (...sometimes problematic in a completely different way... anyway) Initially I just had regular cable, but along with MSNBC, I had MSG network, as I was living in New York. I spent a lot of time with the Isles (love 'em) and Rags (hate 'em). ...neither the Devils nor Sabres gave me much interest at the time. (The Devils still don't.) I do still go out of my way to watch Isles games. They were my "hometown" team when Detroit was still in the West. Also, at the start it was also very easy to root for them because they were terribad and when they'd win it was a hell of a lot of fun. When they lost it was really easy to not really care about how they were doing because they weren't really my team. Two years ago, I had Center Ice and watched entirely too much hockey. Every night. Every team. Flipping between games and not really watching ANY game all the way through. I'm back in Detroit now and relegated to MSNBC and FSD for the time being. Trying to figure out how to stream CBC because I'd like to watch more of the Jets and Oilers. For now, I'll take what I can get, but I'm tending to watch/focus on whichever team seems to be "hot" just so I can see what's working for them and how different teams make their compliment of players work and matchup against other teams. Knowing how the league works, how other teams operate, and how they play on the ice has become part of my everyday hockey fandom. Wings still matter the most over everyone else, but they're not my end-all/be-all of hockey.

Happy Birthday, Mabus! I will end up watching Rangers and Sabres games since they are local to me. (I also have Center Ice). I am also curious to see how Vesey pans out. My best friend has two daughters living in Pittsburgh now, so I unfortunately will end up watching a couple Pens games with him (though I found a pro weight Zetterberg throwback jersey at a Plato's closet for 20 bucks so I picked it up for him trying to convert him). Florida is going to be an intriguing team to watch with some of their young talent, I agree. Sometimes if I have the spare time I might scout the next opponent on the Wings' schedule. Part of me also wants to see Subban do well just to keep the Habs fans upset, though Weber seems to be doing his part to ease the sting of that trade.

Nobody. Just the Wings when they're televised nationally or when I can bother with online streams. I haven't religiously followed hockey since 2004 or so (I guess the lockout did it for me).

There's also a certain amount of time needed to properly cool everything down and sequentially freeze the surface to be playable. Sometimes Ken and Mickey have pointed out how choppy the ice gets at other arenas when the Wings are playing the night after a basketball game or concert. But who knows, maybe the technology has advanced enough to make this a nonissue. Personally, I'd rather not risk it, particularly because I'm not a basketball fan and wouldn't be getting anything out of the Pistons being in LCA other than more traffic and potentially poorer ice conditions.

Depth. What a horrible thing to have!! I mean, realistically, if we can't get an upgrade on defense having two studs in the net can go along way to help propel this team pretty far.

Those events aren't every other night. Plus with a basketball game, that flooring gets pounded all over. With other events, it'll be a certain area mostly.

So crazy how all of the sudden so many people hate Abdelkader. I mean 2 weeks in to the season and now he sucks? Is all of the sudden supposed to be a 30 goal scorer? I mean we have a lot worse players to be complaining about with bad contracts.

Don't like the idea, mostly because of the potential impact on ice conditions and changes in the arena design to accommodate basketball games. Keep it hockey only. No hardwood over the ice please.

Abby makes too much for too long, but that's Holland's fault. He's one of the only guys on the team who plays hard every night, uses his size to his advantage, and is willing to drop the gloves. Personally, i'm happy he's a Red Wing.

Howard made the NHL 17's Team of the Week

"The 30 NHL Clubs must submit their Protection List by 5:00 P.M. ET on Saturday, June 17, 2017. The Las Vegas team must submit their Expansion Draft Selections by 5:00 P.M. ET on June 20 and the announcement of their selections will be released on made on June 21." https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-expansion-draft-rules/c-281010592 I'm waiting for that "Quick Protect" option to become available on CapFriendly's expansion tool. I could guess at which players each team will protect, but I think other team's fans will paint a much clearer picture with their choices, especially once CF collects enough protection selections/data.

Vanek In Detroit, I asked for an autograph He wanted to stay at the Joe, I wish someone would score Vanek in Detroit

He's an alternate captain now, he's here for the long run. Even beyond 7 years.

This. I don't agree with Dickie at all here, but I don't think goals for and against really tell whether or not the goals were due to solid team play or stellar goaltending. The more appropriate stats in my opinion would be shots, high quality scoring chances, save percentages, corsi, fenwick, and PDO... None of those stats we've been particularly good in, however I wouldn't say they indicate we've been bailed out in every game either. There's no denying though that both Howard and Mrazek have been great early on. We were awful against the Rangers, and Howard stole that game for us, but aside from that, I think we've looked good to really good...

Shanahan - Yzerman - McCarty Lidstrom - Rafalski Vernon

Why are people so shocked Howard is playing well? When he's not injuring himself he's generally an all star caliber goalie. I know he's pretty frustrating at times, but this isn't unusual. Didn't he basically pick up Mrazek's slack when Mrazek fell off last year?

After Gordi Howe Hat trick there is also PK Hat trick: 1. Goal 2. Turnover leading to goal 3. Stupid penalty at the end of the game

Offense wins games, defense (and a good goalie) wins championships. Holmström - Yzerman - McCarty Lidström - Murphy Hasek

this is pure Gold.