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I saw that too.

C-H-A-L-K. As in writing on a chalkboard.

i saw babcock at the lions game today. i complimented him on the new 5 on 3 power play. he completely blew me off. to his credit, i waas incredibly drunk.

Does anyone else know one of the players personally?

Which one, banged McCarty or lived next to a chick who did? Neither for me, thanks.

I could care less.

I dont think hes overestimating it really. He laid a beatdown on a kid thats usually in the top 10 for fighting majors right there, the fight wasnt really even close. If Ericcson did it more, he would get much better cause thats a part of the game you can only get better by actually fighting. Aint no practice drill helping you there. And I agree it seems like Babs is encouraging him to do it more often, he had similar words for Adelkader last season as well. I think hes a pretty good fighter already, he has the potential to be a pretty damn good one. Growing up in Sweden he didnt do much of it and hes already good enough to take on alot of light heavy weights. If he gets playing like aloose cannon a bit more he could really be a force. Bertuzzi is far from a sissy, hes 36 and fought 4 times last season including playoffs and preseason. Not a lot of guys wanna mess with him, hes earned his reputation (through his cheapshot and really tough player prior to that). Ever notice when he goes into a scrum and shoves a guy, people arent too quick to shove him back and the situationusually dies right off? And Ericcson has went Clowe (who is a heavyweight) and did pretty well, Clarkson (light heavyweight) but it was a bad fight and has man handled all kinds of punks like Perry, Dorsett and Ott. Why does he need to fight an enforcer? Those punks are the guys that need to be kept in check and Ericcson has dummied any agitator hes taken on. Sure it would be cool to see him take on an enforcer, but not just to prove something. He shoudl do it when theres good reason, and most of the times its those pests that are giving reason, not goons

I didn't see last nights game but I thought so far that Z has looked real good. Like other people are saying ZDC isn't working, put Hudler there and you'll see a sweet ass line. I was thinking during all previous games so far how good Z has looked to me so I question my own sanity when I read all these posts. I thought him and Dats have looked stellar together so far, great passing, great on the back check (obviously), and creating great scoring chances. I truly dont feel it's anything major just a case of being a couple weeks in and finding that mojo again, the only thing I think he needs to get back is his accuracy has slipped a tad...I hope to see a solid year from the euro twins yet again!

He's off to a slow start. That's where I'm gonna leave it. I bet he'll have 2 3-point nights in a row and everyone will be saying "there we go".

blow out

Pretty awful game. That's the thing with losses. When the team loses there is more to discuss regarding what needs to improve. In a win there is normally a couple pages of circle-jerking whoever played well and that's that. Shouldn't be shocking that there are a bunch of pages for a first loss, especially one where the Wings get brutalized.

Yes the NHL is boneheaded, the scheduling is ridiculous, yada yada yada. However, to state that you place the blame for the lose on the back to back games with travel is equally as ridiculous. You would not have been negged if you simply said "it didn't help" rather than being such a Homer as to actually place the blame. They played 12 to 22 minutes of hockey one night, then had a 1:27 flight from Detroit to DC and had to play again later that evenning, in the same time zone. Not to mention they've been playing back to backs every Friday & Saturday since they were 15 yrs old. Juniors is almost all back to backs. They're used to playing in Medicine Hat and then riding a crappy old bus to Kamloops for a game the next night, for crying out loud. Whatever you do, don't give any credit to the undefeated Washington Capitals and their new dedication to Red Wing style hockey, the Red Wing prospects they ended up with in thier lineup, the goalie that kept them in the game, the bad hockey bounces, etc. God, I hope no other team's fans are looking at this thread.

Go to NHL.com and click on "stats" and select "individuals". Sort to forwards only. Then select page six. Look at the bottom. That is the minimum offensive production for a top-six scoring forward in that season. Hudler has cleared that mark in each of his past three seasons (10-11, 08-09, 07-08) and was only seven points shy in his rookie year (06-07) despite the fact that he played a mere 10:02 per game that year and he has not played more than 11:24 at ES or 13:39 total per game in ANY season. Not a top-six forward my ass. He just as well as Bertuzzi per minute overall last year. Almost as well if you adjust ES and PP individually. And Bertuzzi played top-two lines all year, while Hudler played mostly on the bottom two. Bert is more physical, but no better defensively. He outperformed Holmstrom offensively, and I don't think anyone here would say Holmstrom does anything else better than Hudler except perhaps stand in front of the net. He was on the first line most of the year.That leaves the EuroTwins, Franzen, Flip, and Cleary. So unless you're saying the Wings are thin at forward, it's pretty clear Hudler is a top-six forward.

Put our second-highest goal-scorer from last season, a perennial 20-goal scorer, on the fourth line. BRILLIANT idea. I hope you can sense the sarcasm. Personally, I think you're just targeting Cleary so that you can have someone to blame. He's playing good hockey. Your statement that Zetterberg and Datsyuk would be better on their own than with him on the line is perfectly absurd and is the mark of someone reacting in a ridiculous fashion to his team losing.

Jeebus, guys, it's not like they are racing bicycles 135 miles through the Pyrenees and then have to do it again the next day against guys who are fresh! They're top level world class athletes playing 12 to 22 minutes of hockey!

Too bad. Sammy and the Sedins were a great line. The Homliest Swedes Line was fun. Seriously, I don't really understand this trade, but I don't follow Florida enough to figure this out.

Well he left Detroit for Vancouver in part because he wanted a bigger role. Seems like he'll get it in Florida.

Apparently his knock has been lack of grit and work ethic. Therefore, it would be unwise to give him any type of Prima Donna treatment by instantly inserting him into the top six, even though that is where his type of style fits. He needs to earn it , needs to prove he belongs. He will have to go the Danny Cleary route of busting his ass and learning to be grittier and then when Hudler is gone next year he may have a spot. And it's a long season, we always have injuries so space opens up. I hope he turns into atleast nearly what was initially hoped for back 3 years or so ago. Also, Babcock and Holland need to take a look at why Ville Leino didn't work and then was instantly successful in Philly. Was just the way it was? Was it something they could have done differently? Was it Detroit vs Philly systems? It would atleast be good to have an idea of the reasonning behind the experience. Edit: All I've seen of him was him getting knocked around by Toronto in preseason. Unimpressive to say the least. Just sayin...

Helm and Abdelkader as linemates are a waste of Hudler's talent. He's one of the better passers on the team and neither of those two are good finishers. Hudler needs to play with Datsyuk, Filppula, Franzen etc. to maximize his strengths.

57 last year is right up around 60, so is 54, the year before that he was on pace for 55. Those are all numbers that Hudler has hit once and only once in his NHL career while being a streaky goal scorer. Ruutu has consistently but up 55 points (or been on that pace) the last four seasons, and he is one of the most physical forwards in the game. If that trade were to come up, given that they are 1 year different in age, it should be a no brainer and I cant believe anyone would not take it and run. I said people must be not up to date on their hockey because the only way that trade isnt a steal for Detroit is if people were thinking it was Jarko Ruutu

There, their, they're? There the same!. Resigned or re-sign? Pshhh same difference. Affect and effect? You get the same effect either way.We speak American here, not English.

No big story or anything, and I wasn't real good friends with him but we did talk from time to time. I went to high school with him in Norton Shores. It's just that most of the other players on the high school team were cocky and rude while he was a genuinely nice kid. So he always kind of stuck out to me and I'm glad that people like him are representing our team. Plus I was just trying to familiarize myself with this forum being that it's my first time posting on this or any other site. And thanks uncle danny for the warm welcome!

Firstly, welcome to the board, bigbear! Secondly, though... you might want to reconsider the framing of your topic. Why is he a nice guy? Share a story or two, perhaps. I'm very glad you know and think highly of a player I respect from afar, but some more context for conversation would likely be smiled upon by the population here at large. Just tryin' to help

goalie stick slashes are awesome. It takes a lot of work to make it all go right.

don't care about the weight, he doesn't use his size and weight to his advantage. I do know for a fact he was a -3 last night