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Sabres (5-9-4) @ Red Wings (9-8-2) This game day thread brought to you by... The Good Guys... LW C RW ANTHONY MANTHA HENRIK ZETTERBERG GUSTAV NYQUIST TOMAS TATAR DYLAN LARKIN ANDREAS ATHANASIOU JUSTIN ABDELKADER FRANS NIELSEN LUKE GLENDENING BRIAN LASHOFF DARREN HELM SCOTT WILSON DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS JONATHAN ERICSSON TREVOR DALEY XAVIER OUELLET MIKE GREEN NIKLAS KRONWALL NICK JENSEN GOALIES JIMMY HOWARD PETR MRAZEK INJURIES JOHAN FRANZEN TYLER BERTUZZI DAN DEKEYSER MARTIN FRK The Bad Guys... LW C RW EVANDER KANE JACK EICHEL SAM REINHART BENOIT POULIOT RYAN O'REILLY KYLE OKPOSO SETH GRIFFITH JOHAN LARSSON JASON POMINVILLE ZEMGUS GIRGENSONS KYLE CRISCUOLO JORDAN NOLAN DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS MARCO SCANDELLA JUSTIN FALK JAKE MCCABE NATHAN BEAULIEU JOSH GORGES VIKTOR ANTIPIN GOALIES ROBIN LEHNER CHAD JOHNSON INJURIES ZACH BOGOSIAN JACOB JOSEFSON RASMUS RISTOLAINEN TAYLOR FEDUN MATT TENNYSON In other news: Riley Sheahan scored a goal... an empty netter. Boooo Pens Nothing fancy this week... blah blah blah too busy with work...

The best thing that happened during the commercial didn't seem to be picked up on TV at all. The LCA had an overhead shot of Mantha laying on his guy in the Red Wings bench just laying punch after punch on the dudes head. It was crazy. When I got home I check my DVR and all the best stuff happened in the commercial break and they never replayed that. But they replayed the Mantha moment on the screen at the LCA several times. Looked like Howard was taking on three guys at once while their goalie was trying to get his attention. No commercial break on this broadcast..

I’m with her.

Yep David Clarkson did something very similar a couple years ago and got suspended. That said, I love the energy Witkowski can bring and he’s actually a good fighter.

Not for 10 games. Coming back onto the ice is a major no-no it's an automatic suspension* *unless it's a star player then the league will uncover some obscure rule that lets them keep said star on the ice

And my comments too were directed and said fans at the same time backing my boi up

Let’s be honest Red Wings aren’t dumb enough to give a guy captaincy just because he scores 30 goals and fights lol. As much as I think Toews is overrated, you’re not giving Patrick Kane the “C” even though Kane is a much better player, if not one of the best of this era.

I really don't care who fights or who scores 30 goals etc. when it comes to being the next captain, what matters to me is who is that guy in the locker room, that when he speaks EVERYONE listens. That is who the captain should be. More often then not it ends up being the guy who scores the most goals because that guy earns the respect of his teammates, but sometimes that guy just isn't "captain" material, and that's ok. The guy I dont want to be captain, the guy that speaks and people just turn their head because they dont want to hear them.

Duuuude, was literally just about to post this: https://twitter.com/cmoresport/status/931247220963209216/video/1

Rasmus. Dahlin.

MANTHA/KIDS HYPE! More important than the melee: Anthony Mantha showing signs of greatness [The Athletic] Anthony Mantha a budding 'superstar' with fierce edge [The Detroit News] Resurgent Dylan Larkin, burgeoning Anthony Mantha give Red Wings reason for hope -- eventually [ESPN] Fantasy buzz: Mantha must-own player; Schmaltz thriving on wing [NHL.com] I like Emily Kaplan's take in that ESPN piece: This week, I spent time with Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz for a larger project I'm working on. We began talking about the challenges of sustaining success, and Wirtz said this: "I always looked at Detroit, the 25 years straight they were in the playoffs. That is the hardest thing: consistency. Because that's the ebb and flow of sports, you draft low when you win and you draft high when you lose." Consistency, we agreed, can be achieved through stability. It's about resisting knee-jerk reactions when there's a small blip in the plan. It's about trusting the culture you built. I believe in the culture Detroit has built over the last three decades. I believe that system has staying power, even given its current state. Red Wings GM Ken Holland has been on the job since 1997. He's the second-longest tenured GM in the league (but, it should be noted, Nashville's David Poile beats him by a mere nine days). Mike Babcock (10 seasons as coach) and Pavel Datsyuk (14 seasons) have moved on from Detroit. Last season, it seemed like the Red Wings stumbled without Datsyuk's leadership. As Wirtz noted, Detroit found itself without elite homegrown talent after picking at the bottom of the first round for so long. In the hard-cap era, teams rely so much on the draft. Even with some late-round gems, the Red Wings just don't have the talent to compete with the NHL upper class -- immediately, that is. I'm encouraged by the resurgence of Larkin and also very intrigued by the potential of Andreas Athanasiou. If the Red Wings end up stinking again this season, they might be just one or two elite picks away from competing again. They just need to plug in the right guys, because the framework for success has already been built. And I'm hopeful ownership don't impulsively knock it down.

Fun fact: Matthews / Nylander / Marner - combined 44 points in 54 games. Larkin / Mantha / Athanasiou - combined 43 points in 47 games. The kids are alright.

Intelligent Response

First

Sounds like a top pairing I could live with

Srsly tho. It's gonna be Erik Karlsson.

Do the players vote for captain? Thought the management and coach decide

Right, that's what I'm saying. We'd have to throw in a sweetener and/or retain salary. No one would take him "clean." Would it be worth it? Possibly. But I'm pretty sure the Wings have no interest in moving him anyway, so it's probably moot.

Yeah, probably would have been a healthy scratch for half of them (or more) anyway.

Eh, I'm not sure this is a thing. In hindsight, it's pretty clear that the public criticism from management was a simple motivational ploy -- and as far as I can tell, Larkin and Mantha both knew exactly what was up and embraced it. I think Larkin and Mantha are both going to be Wings for a long time. I'm not so sure about Athanasiou. Maybe it's just the way he is, but his body language is giving me a "Counting down the days until I'm done here" vibe. As for who's getting which letters...Larkin probably does inherit the C from Z and Mantha could inherit Kronwall's A. Wouldn't rule out DeKeyser for an A. I know the Wings are really high on Rasmussen's character. He's been favorably compared to Jonathan Toews in the way he carries himself. Putting the letters aside, though, Larkin and Mantha are cleary taking over as this team's leaders. That's the important thing.

another full view of the festivities...

Well, damn. 8 butt pats for all! or is that OVER 9000?

this tweet

Lashoff, Kronwall, Ericsson, Ouellet. The most mobile group ever assembled.