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Which is hilarious considering no one thought Nestrasil would ever be a Red Wing during the 2013-14 season. All of the sudden he plays 13 games and suddenly we've lost a great prospect. gimme a break.

There's a lot of people upset that "we lost him for nothing..." attached to damning of Holland in GMing abilities. There was also a few comments saying that it seemed that the Wings have lost more players for nothing than others. That got me thinking and I was bored so I did some research on Wikipedia. Here's all the players that have been claimed off waiver from each team since the beginning of the 2010-11 season. It shows that we are right in the middle of the pack and it happens to all teams (except the Bruins, apparently). Penguins: (7) B.Strait, T.Kostopoulos, Z.Boychuk, S. MacIntyre, D. Jeffrey, M. D'Agostini, Nick Johnson Kings: (6) T. Hickey R. Clune, Marc-Andre Cliché, Keaton Ellerby, Adam Cracknell, Marco Sturm Blues: (5) Anthony Peluso, Nate Prosser, Taylor Chorney, Marek Svatos, Kyle Wellwood 4: Panthers: James Wright, Mike Santorelli, Ryan Carter, Michael Grabner Flyers: Niko Hovinen, Tom Sestito, Blair Betts, Andreas Nodl Lightning: Adam Hall, Richard Panik, Antti Miettinen, Curtis McElhinney Oilers: Corey Potter, Taylor Chorney, Gilbert Brule, Ethan Moreau Islanders: Jack Skille, Blake Comeau, Tim Wallace, Rob Schremp Ducks: Brian McGrattan, Ben Maxwell, Brendan Mikkelson, Troy Bodie 3: Blackhawks: Ryan Stanton, Michael Kostka, Nick Boynton Predators: Zach Boychuk, Taylor Pyatt, Marek Svatos Red Wings: Joey MacDonald, Andrej Nestrasil, Mattias Ritola Sabres: Joe Finley, Corey Tropp, Craig Rivet Hurricanes: Zach Boychuk, Patrick O'Sullivan, Brett Carson Canadiens: Aaron Palushaj, Jeff Woywitka, Blair Betts Wild: Zenon Konopka, Colton Gillies, Brad Staubitz 2: Maple Leafs: Keith Aucoin, Darryl Boyce Devils: Bobby Butler, Alexander Urbom Coyotes: Brett MacLean, Cal O'Reilly Rangers: Jeff Halpern, Dale Weise Stars: Luke Gazdic, Kevin Connauton Capitals: Roman Hamrlik, Alexander Urbom Jets: Brett MacLean, Ben Maxwell Senators: Kaspars Daugavins, Cory Conacher 1: Flames: Niklas Hagman Avalanche: Brandon Yip Blue Jackets: Grant Clitsome Sharks: Frazer McLaren Canucks: Aaron Volpatti 0: Bruins:

Why are people comparing Nestrasil to Cleary? Cleary isn't the reason Nestrasil got exposed and claimed on waivers. Cleary wasn't going to be waived, nor should he have been. Cleary brings so much more than what he shows on the ice to this team, the experience and leadership he provides, on and off the ice, can't just be replaced, and certainly not by a 23 year old kid. If not Nestrasil, Jurco would have been sent down, and maybe in hindsight that would have been the better choice. But where is all of this upside that everyone sees in Nestrasil? I just don't get it. He was a body on the ice for 13 games, a big body sure, but that's about it. He could barely crack the Grand Rapids line up last season and to be honest should have never cracked our lineup this season. It would have been nice to see him clear and provide some support down in Grand Rapids this year but in reality he probably never would have cracked the Wings lineup on a full time basis, not this year, not next year, not ever. We have a ton of more skilled guys knocking on the door, he will not be missed. We even have a player that we signed in the offseason who is similar in stature but much more skilled, in Tomas Nosek. Good luck in Carolina Nestrasil, unfortunately you will probably end up down in Charlotte after 30 days...

Its definitely going that way and I don't want to make it seem like I'm "pro-fighting". I'm definitely "anti-enforcer". I'm just curious how certain scenarios would play out... Your team is fighting for a playoff spot and a guy on the other team (also playing for playoff spot) viciously runs your star player from behind and knocks him out cold. I don't see the victimized team doing nothing. So they punch him in the head with the gloves on? Start swinging sticks? There is no comparable major sport where you can inflict a large amount of damage with a weapon at any time against an unsuspecting player. Again I'm not pro-anything. I just don't think it's that simple of an issue.

Hindsight is 20/20. Foligno was starting to take liberties against our players in an already decided game. Smith stepped up to defend himself and in doing so took himself and Foligno off the ice for a good deal of time. Had Smith not stepped up, Foligno could have continued taking shots at guys and possibly injured someone else. Now I'm not saying fighting some how makes players afraid to take cheap shots. But it does take those guys out of the game.

I kind of felt like he was never "ours". Having guys like Yzerman, Lidstrom, etc stay for their entire careers, I feel disappointed that he had to leave Ottawa. That it only turned out to be for one season makes it especially unfortunate.

I can see us with easily 3 more points so far had we a healthy Alf.

There have been plenty of quotes coming from the Wings staff/players talking about Cleary as a locker room leader, this isn't fan fiction. Putting him in management is different. When you are a leader and "one of the boys" its a different type of leadership position then someone on the coaching staff/management.

Hell, I'm not convinced we don't stand a chance to make a stink in the playoffs this year, even if we don't make any deals. We're certainly more poised than we've been the last couple of years with this roster playing as well as they have been. If Babcock can get them to elevate their game for the playoffs and Howard really locks it down, they just might surprise a whole lot of people.

To me, this is a transition/development year. We're not really looking to balls-out contend quite yet. We're setting up for next season, two seasons from now, three seasons from now. Case in point: we've got all of six skaters who are solidly in their prime years, and they are Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, Quincey, Kindl, Ericsson. (Woof.) And, just as tellingly, we're carrying ten skaters who are 25 or younger (i.e. not yet solidly in their prime years): Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan, Jurco, Andersson, Glendening, Smith, DeKeyser, Lashoff, Ouellet. And we've got Mantha, Pulkkinen, Sproul, et al. on the horizon. When you look at it that way, and you consider how well this team's done through these first 18 games (23 points, 50 GF, 42 GA, strong possession numbers, top-end PK, six players with ten or more points), I think you have to be pretty happy with what's going on and pretty excited about what's to come.

Scores 30 goals again? Again? Try never as in 0 30 goal seasons for weiss , had one 28 goal season and after that his highest is 21 .... At this point I'd be happy with a 40 pt season from weiss till he takes a hike He was overrated when we signed him and will continue to be till he leaves ... I'm counting on mantha/pulkkinen/athanasiou and others coming down the road to help this team , not weiss

This I disagree with. There was nothing the team could have gained by Smith getting into the fight The game was already comfortably under control in the Wings' favor. Smith, on the other hand, could have repaired his own damaged ego (or his mother's if that's the case), or seeked retribution for a hit he didn't like, but those are personal reasons to fight that have nothing to do with the team's odds for victory. So in this case, the only one who's getting any potential benefit out of this is Smith, and its an entirely emotional benefit. As for risk, well there is always a risk of injury when getting into a fight, and everyone should weigh that risk against the potential benefit when choosing to partake. There is also the guarantee that your team will have to play without you for the next five minutes, which is a more serious situation when the fighter is a defensman, becuase there's only six of those total to begin with. If you're one of the folks who believe that fights can be a rallying point to boost team morale and get everyone more engaged in the game, then there's also the risk of firing the other team up, and potentialy losing a game that your team was winning. So in terms of risk, Smith is risking his health, he's risking his team losing control over the game, he's putting Babcock and his teammates in a tougher spot because they have to pick up his slack while he sits in the box, and if he happens to get injured in the fight (which he happened to get injured), then Babcock and his teammates are in a tougher spot for the next several days, instead of just five minutes. So lots of risk and disadvantages that the whole team has to carry, so Smith can resolve a personal vendetta that he has in the waning minutes of a game. I'd say that's quite selfish.

Most people hadn't even heard of Nestrasil a year ago and now he has all this "potential" and mentioning him in the same breath as Pulkkinen and other prospects. Gimme a break...

I love how everyone hates plus/minus until they can use it to bash someone they already hate. If it's a stupid stat, it's a stupid stat always.

wings1940, you clearly haven't been watching Cleary the few games that he has played, and you are just going on blind hate from the past couple years. He has been playing great so far this season, and definitely better than Nestrasil, and Andersson too in my opinion...

Haters gonna hate

Am I the only one that thinks Cleary has looked fine so far this season? Better than Nestrasil even?

Look how long it's taking Helm to get back into his former playing shape after missing so much time. Khan just did an article on it the other day where he quoted Babs as saying something to the effect of "he's barely played for two seasons, it's going to take him a while to get back into form". Now apply the EXACT same thing to Weiss. Only make it more complicated because he's learning a new system, has a coach that doesn't think he's "earned anything", and he's often asked to play the wing (which he already stated he hasn't done since he was a child). Yeah, I'd imagine it will take a little while. Well, that or he sucks and wants to sit back and collect money. Weiss sucks! Weisps Sux! Werps Sercks! Wasps stung! Durka dur!

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=739978&navid=DL|NHL|home Big blow to the Pens but more importantly I wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully he gets back to full health soon.

Fedorov is far superior to Forsberg. Not many forwards can be placed on defense and excel.

A Pearson and a couple Selke's too.

Gretzky had longevity over Lemieux and Orr, who both had health issues. That's why he'd be a better pick to start your franchise with.

Only 70% of my posts are sarcastic bud. Do your homework and get your facts straight before commenting on the nature of my LGW posts. You're hyperbole is at a point where I can't take you seriously anymore.

Chelios, the guy is a leader through and through.

So if he makes it through this time he will be back in the lineup. Hopefully he gets more than 9 minutes of ice time this time.