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I'd scratch Sheahan in favor of a cold mcdouble and some soggy fries.

Don't really think Ericsson has been as bad as last few years

perhaps he's an R.Kelly fan

All things considered, I'd say Sproul's been fine. Prior to his recent struggles, his CF% had consistently ranked among the best on the team -- and, watching him play, I don't feel that's a fluke. When he's on his game, he's visibly effective on both sides of the puck, especially in driving the attack up ice. (Dat first pass tho.) When he's not on his game, he looks like what he is: a naturally gifted 23-year-old offensive defenseman...with less than 20 games of NHL experience under his belt.

Right, I would be ecstatic if we ran 4 scoring lines that could do some damage (I.E not Drew Miller as Larkin's winger), but at least we're sort of moving in the direction. Now all we need is some guys to come back from injury and see if Blash actually is trying to run 4 scoring lines or if I'm just giving him too much credit

It's the being stuck playing with guys like Miller and Ott and the fourth line that rubs us folks the wrong way. If it is guys like Miller and Ott who get the axe when AA returns, all will be well. Though at this point I'll believe it when I see it.

Larkin was demoted to 4th line or whatever but he's still averaging 1st line minutes. Blashill's attempting to run 4 scoring lines but obviously people are pissed because they see it as a demotion for Larkin rather than a balancing of the lines especially with all the injuries we have. Not saying I approve of this, but this is the only explanation I could think of.

This is why there shouldn't be a team in Vegas. Hello NHL.

Beyond all that, his "spells of completely disappearing" are very much overblown. From his breakout year in 07-08 through the 12-13 season he was actually very consistent (for a hockey player at least). Really only had one big goal slump, and no major point slumps. Even smaller "droughts" like 6-ish games were pretty rare, maybe a couple a year, which is normal for all but the very best scorers (and not that rare even for them). In 13-14 he had a slow start, but was fine after that until the concussion. After that concussion he wasn't the same. 6 goals in his first 5 games back, but then only 8 in the 58 games he played afterward. I don't think he'd have been a 40g player, since he was aging anyway, but probably would have stayed around 30-ish for a couple years and still 20-ish today.

With Mantha playing the way he is, I would have to think that Bertuzzi or Miller would be sent down first. Mantha needs to be on the big club, he's a benefit to the team in the short term, and the long term.

Scatch Sheahan in favor of Helm

Z looks the best he has looked in quite a while. Hopefully the body holds up. Up front we will be just fine. With Helm, Abby and AA it will give us the ability to do whatever we want up front in terms of lines. Our D needs work like always and the only way to do that is a trade.

At least Larkin doesn't play all of each game on the 4th line. You could see him with Z and Mantha for a goal last game, with Vanek and Nyquist for another goal and plenty of other shifts. Maybe Larkin on the 4th line is just a strategy to give Larkin some lower competition to get used to the center position. Or maybe a way to double shift him.

Wow, that's awful. Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond are a huge part of the Wings for me. Thoughts are with him.

Blashill is dumb for scratching Sproul for Lashoff. If it were for Marchenko, I'd still be kind of pissed, but for Lashoff? Give me a f***ing break. I can't speak for everyone but I think for most people, we just want to see the kids play, and actually be given a legit shot to prove themselves. Make mistakes. Learn from your mistakes. I wasn't even that upset to see Sproul sit for a game (he wasn't great the past couple), but to be sitting his third straight, for Brain f***ing Lashoff, who has played just as poorly, is bulls***. I just wish the kids (Sproul, Ouellet, Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou, and Jurco) were all treated equally to the vets, when it comes to cutting minutes, demoting, scratching, etc. If you're going to scratch Sproul for consecutive games for playing poorly, you damn well better scratch Ericsson for the same reason. Same goes for Jurco, give the kid a legit shot in the top 9, he's played great, just hasn't scored yet. Meanwhile Glendening has been less effective in that role, but continues to play on the second line with Nielsen and Jurco gets demoted to the 4th line again...

You are awfully adamant about this name

We get it ami, you don't like Mrazek... for whatever reason. But you are the only one that wants to trade him. He is our future goaltender so either stop trolling or get used to it...

The kid as a senior cant get into the lineup this year and his previous 3 years haven't been anything anywhere near special. He doesn't have the talent to play in the NHL. I think he knew this when he chose to college instead of playing junior. A big part of his game is hard hitting and fighting. Fighting isnt allowed in college hockey and hitting is very tightly called so why go play their when in the end it will stunt your development other than you know you wont make the bigs and that college education will be valuable. A 36 year old Ott is twice the player McKee is right now. Hes been one of the best penalty killing forwards, the best faceoff % on the team, and his teammates love him. Add to that hes on a 1 year contract for only 800k and hes barely costing more than a rookie minimum. Would I love the Wings to have a guy McKees size in the lineup? Hell yes. Does that mean they should throw a guy whos game tops out at best ECHL standards into the lineup. Hell no.

Nosek has already been sent down to help clear cap space for Howard. I can see Bertuzzi going down for AA. But when Helm gets back, we will have another traffic jam. Sheahan stays in, I hope Miller gets waived before Mantha gets booted.

Probably would have got 40 goals

The thing is, Chychrun would be just another suppressed youngster. He wouldn't be here now, and with the Swedish pylons still signed for years, he wouldn't be here anytime soon.

No, I wouldn't say that's the case. Teams are being coached to play a slightly more passive kind of defense in their end, where you try to box out the other team's cycle and limit them to low-percentage shots from the perimeter, which you do your best to front/block -- but the Wings are taking that to an unholy extreme, i.e. they're waaayyy too passive. As for dump-and-chase hockey...I mean, dumping and chasing is a tactic that every team uses, but few teams these days lean on it as their go-to method of gaining the zone and establishing a forecheck and generating offense. As with the collapse defense, the Wings are leaning far too heavily on it and it's dumbing their game down and de-clawing their attack.

I'd rather the Griffins win hockey games.

You realize that A ) he's really not that great of a skater compared to NHL players and B ) you need to be able to do more than hit and punch to play in the NHL, right?