GoWings1905

Not gonna lie, usually by now I'm pretty bored with the regular season and itching for the playoffs to start. This home winning streak has created all kinds of excitement though. I'm guessing the buzz at JLA will be pretty special tonight. I know the players have downplayed it (as expected), but this opportunity is incredibly special. I don't care about the different eras or shootouts -- winning 21 consecutive games anywhere is remarkable. The Red Wings generally get everybody's best game too, so to come away with this new record would be quite an accomplishment. Truly an amazing organization we are blessed to be fans of. Let's Go Red Wings! Make it 21! :octo:

Weekend Picks

We've had this discussion before among your endless anti-Cleary posts, but have you ever considered the type of game Cleary plays might be a factor to his health? Many people here like to give Cleary crap about not being a top-six forward (which I agree with mostly; he's not ideally), but he's a perfect role player and that requires killing penalties and going into tough areas of the ice which isn't easy physically. Sure, Cleary doesn't have great hands nor is he the best skater, but does he ever take a night off? You can't just find players that have a work ethic like Cleary's to match a very respectable and valuable skill set to a team. Just for the record, Cleary has never played fewer than 63 games since joining the Red Wings. I guess taking a puck in the face or a shot off the ankle is a player's fault though. When he plays you just rip him anyways, so this week or so off should be a relief for you.

I'll never get the bitter taste from 2009 out of my mouth. That was a nightmare. I would love to see Crosby back in June for a rematch and a beatdown.

Not much to say really about that snoozefest of a game, but does anyone else here think Datsyuk is playing hurt? I have this bad feeling his wrist is causing him trouble again. The ice definitely was beyond awful tonight, but Pavel has just looked a little off lately controlling the puck and making his typical magic. I noticed Z took the faceoffs too when they were together on the powerplay and even Franzen was taking the draws on Pavel's line. I hope it's nothing really, though it has caught my attention more than I want the past week.

Back at it for the stretch run... Weekend Picks

While I agree there have been games/times when the team has left Conklin out to dry, the scenario works both ways. It's deflating for a team to not be able to count on their goalie to make even routine saves. Look at what happened when MacDonald came in last night. His ability to make stops gave the Red Wings a chance to stick around and make something of the game. Conklin is a backup goalie. I'm basically to the point now where I can't accept the excuse it's rust for Conklin when he goes out during games and gets lit up. His role is to be prepared when called upon and quite frankly besides his first start, he hasn't been capable even for a backup's standard. Maybe with more starts he would find more of a groove, but the Red Wings aren't in a position right now to be throwing points away so Conklin might eventually look like a respectable goalie again. 3.40 GAA, .878 save percentage. Maybe the team in front of him hasn't shown up at times, but those stats alone show Conklin hasn't done a whole lot of showing up for them either. I don't expect him to be Jimmy Howard all of a sudden, but right now it appears even Joey MacDonald is a stronger option in net than Ty Conklin.

That third period reminded me why I love Z. He always works extremely hard, even if the results aren't there, but it was nice to see his determination pay off with some well-deserved points last night. Completely took over the game in the third period. Despite the recent strong run of success for the respective lines, I still think Filppula is a better fit with Datsyuk and Bertuzzi with Zetterberg. Z had been very good previously with Franzen and Bertuzzi on his wings. I don't really care where Franzen plays right now -- he's going to take most nights off until the playoffs anyways so he's basically going to look like a warm body for either center. Really hope Z can build off that period and get back to being a dominant 1-2 punch with Pavel.

It seems like the initial injury estimate with the Red Wings always turns out to be longer than expected. I never really bought the two games speculation with a broken finger, but anything close to this 4-6 weeks talk would be devastating. I'm rooting for Conklin to come up big with this opportunity, but this has the potential to go south real quick for the Red Wings. Please heal quickly Jimmy.

Disappointing news. I really like Eaves and what he brings to the team. Best PK shot-blocker for the Red Wings and probably second best penalty killer overall after Helm. Seems like Eaves might be done for the year. Even if he hopefully gets healthy enough to skate, it's going to take some serious time to get his conditioning back. The Red Wings could really use someone like Brendan Morrow or Travis Moen to strengthen the PK especially.

I miss Jimmy already.

I wish there would have been a picture of all seven of them getting fired up.

The baseball concept is one of the worst ideas in sports history. It would be even worse in hockey because home ice means more than in a baseball game. Like most people here, I have no interest and won't watch tomorrow. I wouldn't care if they got rid of the ASG altogether and just gave the players a weekend off.

Exactly and I agree entirely. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say someone like Morrow could put the Red Wings over the top. They play strong defense (most nights), have excellent goaltending and solid depth at forward. I still think a natural goal-scoring winger would be quite a welcome addition, but between the asking price and lack of those available at the deadline, that may be difficult to address. Imagine what Morrow's game brings on say the third line paired with Helm and someone like Cleary. Definitely makes the Red Wings a tougher team to play against.

Between the video clip and the gibberish alignment and font mess, I was cracking up. It all meshed together so nicely.

^ I can't stop laughing at this post.

Looks like you pretty much nailed it judging from Leyland's comments at the Fielder PC today. Sounds like the plan is to play Cabrera every day at third this season, provided he's in the right physical condition come Spring Training. I don't mind this too much -- Cabrera is going to have to play third with Martinez back in a year. It might be ugly, but I could see it turning out better than expected. Cabrera works incredibly hard and it's not like he doesn't have any experience at the position. It appears left field may now be the most contested spot. Leyland mentioned Dirks/Kelly/Thomas today implying Young is likely going to DH most days. I like Dirks quite a bit. Decent with the bat, solid defense and a little bit of speed. The outfield may be pretty busy with all of the balls getting through the infield. Interesting Leyland also used Raburn today at second base and not Santiago batting 9th. Obviously this can all change, but it kind of clears up Leyland's initial plans surrounding the positional questions.

This is true, but Emmerton doesn't even center the 4th line right now. Abdelkader has been lately with Emmerton and Homer on the wings. I don't like Abdelkader at center for the most part, but if he's going to play there, then I would much rather see Mursak dressed than Emmerton. Nothing against Emmerton either; he has been decent enough -- I just don't see what he brings to the team. Mursak is fast and a relentless forechecker. I suspect they are just giving Emmerton an adequate shot to prove himself as Mursak is obviously more valuable when the playoffs roll around.

Another HUGE plus if Cabrera is indeed moving to third base this season: no platoon of Brandon Inge and Don Kelly. That in itself adds another element of excitement to getting Prince Fielder. However, I will believe the Cabrera at third talk when it actually happens. I wouldn't be surprised to see Cabrera and Fielder just alternate at DH until V-Mart is healthy. Sure, the Tigers defense is beyond terrible (even more now) but does that matter when you are going to score a ton of runs and have Justin Verlander and Doug Fister pitching twice every five days? Jackson - CF Boesch - RF Cabrera - 3B Fielder - 1B Avila - C Peralta - SS Young - DH Raburn - LF Santiago - 2B I still can't believe this happened.

WOOOOOOOOO! I can't believe this is fricking real. How bad does Mike Ilitch want to win? This was such a dismal off-season and then DD signs Prince Fielder out of nowhere. I've had my fair share of complaints about Dombrowski before, but he killed it today. He plays everything so close to the vest -- I think everyone fantasized about Fielder coming to the Tigers, but no one truly expected it to happen. How sick is the nucleus of this team now? Verlander, Cabrera, Fielder, V-Mart in a year again, and Fister. I want April here tomorrow.

Weekend Picks

Definitely agree. None of the three are anything like what V-Mart can do to protect Cabrera, but Young is the worst option of them IMO. I like Boesch hitting third way more than second. He has some power and the ability to drive in runs should Jackson and whoever bats second ever get on base. The only part I really like about possibly getting Damon back is he fills a need to bat second and despite declining, still has some speed to be the Tigers best option there. Just a random January idea: Jackson Damon/Santiago Boesch Cabrera Avila Peralta Young Santiago/Raburn Free out from Inge/Kelly That's not a powerhouse lineup by any stretch, but it's probably decent enough to win the Central still provided the Tigers get strong starting pitching. There are about five players there that could turn the offense into really good or very bad depending on their production. I have very low expectations for Jackson and Young. Pretty confident in Boesch and Avila being reliable. Peralta is going backwards from last season based on his career, but he is still going to hit. Maybe it all balances out and the offense is as mediocre as it looks on paper. As far as the DH rumors, the only real scenario I would be happy with is signing Cespedes and moving Young to DH. Even then, from what I have read, Cespedes may need some time in the minors to start. All of the other DH options being mentioned right now are all the same to me. I won't be upset if the Tigers sign any of them, but none will excite me either. I'm fine with the Tigers filling the 5th spot in the rotation internally too. If Turner isn't ready, then there's also Below, Wilk, Oliver (among others I'm probably forgetting) to start until Turner comes up for good.

Damon doesn't excite me in the least. I would rather Dombrowski just throw everything at Oswalt and see if a bat or two is available at the deadline to upgrade. The offense has gaping holes with or without Damon, but adding Oswalt gives the Tigers arguably the deepest starting rotation in baseball. I think at this point Leyland really needs to consider moving Avila and/or Peralta up in the order. I would feel much better having one of those two along with Boesch on either side of Cabrera than Delmon Young.

What a horrible looking roster. That defense for Columbus is downright pathetic. I hope it doesn't happen but the Red Wings could probably play hard for about 10 minutes and win this game.

If the Rangers get Fielder which seems pretty likely, the AL has some really good teams. Yankees rotation is significantly better, the Red Sox are still very talented, Rays have strong pitching and then both the Angels and Rangers had huge off-seasons. Even with V-Mart, that's some tough competition.