GoWings1905

Friday: NY Rangers @ New Jersey Ottawa @ Washington Toronto @ Buffalo Boston @ Atlanta Detroit @ Dallas Chicago @ Colorado Florida @ Calgary Saturday: Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia Minnesota @ Los Angeles Atlanta @ Boston Washington @ Montreal Tampa Bay @ Ottawa Buffalo @ New Jersey Carolina @ NY Rangers NY Islanders @ Columbus Dallas @ Nashville Detroit @ Phoenix Vancouver @ Edmonton St Louis @ San Jose Sunday: Columbus @ Chicago Minnesota @ Anaheim Florida @ Vancouver

Red Wings: 4 (Cleary, Datsyuk, Franzen, Lidstrom) Stars: 1 (Ribeiro) Let's Go Red Wings!

I never said Babcock didn't know what he is doing, or anything remotely close to it. I said it was an interesting decision to start Conklin against Dallas when Ozzie has played very well in his career against the Stars. Considering the Red Wings are playing back-to-back games, it figures Ozzie was going to start one of the two games anyways.

Unless they decide to go after Fuentes from the Rockies, it will probably end up being someone like Brandon Lyon. The rumor was that the Mariners wanted at least Larish and Joyce for Putz. I don't really like the idea of Hoffman as a closer at all. He's more washed-up than Todd Jones at this point.

That's the first thing I thought of too when I read Conklin was going to start. It's back-to-back games anyways, so I was almost certain Ozzie would start against Dallas with his past success. It's an interesting decision to say the least.

Do the Red Wings NEED an enforcer? I would say probably not. Would it be nice to dress Mac or Downey over Kopecky? I would say absolutely.

Yeah, the Tigers starting pitching looks like a minor league staff compared to what the Yankees may start with next season: Sabathia Burnett Wang Chamberlain Pettitte? I hate the Yankees, but my goodness what a pitching staff.

18 of 27 according to Ken Daniels.

IMO, these should be the lines to start the game on Friday. They worked great after Babcock made the changes to start the second period against Calgary. Franzen - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Cleary - Zetterberg - Hossa Hudler - Filppula - Samuelsson Kopecky - Draper - Maltby Lidstrom - Stuart Kronwall - Rafalski Lilja - Chelios Ozzie

I generally agree that Conklin was solid tonight and he did make some timely saves. However, he had horrible rebound control tonight. The first goal was a direct result of a big rebound and Phaneuf had a great scoring chance off a rebound that would have made it 4-3 with about a minute left. The Moss goal was pretty weak too. Again, I am not trying to start a goalie war, nor am I saying Conklin was bad tonight. Overall, Conklin was pretty good. The defensive coverage was awful, especially in the first period. There were far too many quality scoring chances for Calgary because the Red Wings were out of position on defense. Babcock really needs to keep using the defense pairings he went to at the start of the second period. The Red Wings could be so damn good if they focused all of the time, instead of turning on the switch when they get behind. It's a bad trap to keep falling into - luckily the Red Wings have enough skill to bail themselves out on most nights. I keep waiting for the defense to come around and yet ... still waiting.

Edwin Jackson for Matt Joyce? Are you kidding me DD? Don't we have enough mediocre starting pitching already? EDIT: Ken Rosenthal also mentioned in his blog that the Rangers inquired about Gary Sheffield since they are going to lose Milton Bradley. Please Dombrowski, take ANY deal you can get for Sheff.

^ This might be my favorite post ever. Absolutely hilarious.

Yes. I hope Babcock keeps those lines on Friday. Cleary has been amazing lately.

I sense a blowout tonight. I really want to see how the new forward lines look and hopefully Babcock gives them some time to gel. Red Wings: 5 (Datsyuk, Franzen, Sammy, Z, Filppula) Flames: 1 (Lombardi) Let's Go Red Wings!

I don't know exactly. My best guess is because they are both natural centers and it allows each of them to center their own line. I would also presume that with the amount of depth the Red Wings have at forward, nothing is sacrificed by not having Z and Pav together. It's a matchup nightmare for other teams. It's incredible really - there is no dropoff either offensively or defensively between the Red Wings top two lines. Hossa adds a whole new dimension to the attack.

I doubt it. Hossa is a top six forward, just like Z and Pavel. It wouldn't make much sense to sign Hossa and stick him on the third line with Filppula and Hudler.

Minnesota was the Lions last chance. 0-16 is going to happen.

Probably. Franzen will still be on the power play and spend time killing penalties.

The Tigers also signed shortstop Adam Everett today. The left side of the infield will be great defensively, but what a trainwreck at the plate. We're almost giving teams three free outs with Inge, Laird/Ryan, Everett/Santiago at the bottom of the order. I am happy though that anyone but Renteria will be playing shortstop next season. Maybe JJ Putz will be next. That would be very nice.

I really like Rolston, but Brian Rolston as a Red Wing means no Marian Hossa.

I really like the changes to the defensive pairings. Rafalski has been awful even with Lidstrom and Stuart has been really good defensively so far this season. I actually think Lilja and Lebda have played quite well together recently, so keeping them as the third pairing makes sense. I am not crazy about the changes to the forwards. Cleary, Datsyuk, and Hossa were working awesome together as a line. They dominated almost every shift in the Chicago game. Maybe playing with Datsyuk will spark Filppula offensively, but I hate to see a line get split up that was working so well. Z, Franzen, and Sammy definitely needed a change of direction, but I would have just tried Homer with Mule and Z and moved Sammy down to the third line with Hudler and Filppula. Babcock has said before though that he prefers to keep Homer with Datsyuk if the Euro Twins are separated at even strength. We'll see how it goes against Calgary. Changes were needed - the team needs to realize that winning is great, but the way they have gone about winning isn't acceptable. Babcock knows this and hopefully the team will respond with a hard-working, 60-minute victory on Wednesday.

Marty Turco. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

I like the trade for Laird. I would have preferred Saltalamacchia from the Rangers instead, but I would guess his asking price was higher. Good start DD. Go fix the bullpen. Start now - it will take all winter.

I don't have any clue if he would want to play for the Red Wings, but I always looked at Shane Doan as a very Red Wing-like player.