GoWings1905

Well said. I pretty much agree with all of your points. For as much flack as Lilja takes, he is without a doubt more valuable than Lebda is to the Red Wings.

Like it or not, Anaheim is still the team to beat in the Western Conference. Even with the horrendous start, and a lack of goal-scoring all season, they are now leading the Pacific Division. As mentioned before in this thread, the Ducks defense is the best in the league, in terms of depth and talent. We have all witnessed before that JS Giguere in January is not the same guy as the one in May. Anaheim has all the ingredients of a well-constructed playoff team. They have goaltending, a terrific defense, experience, and the possibility still of adding Teemu Selanne. Guys like Getzlaf and Perry are better now than they were even a year ago. Am I worried? Not yet, but I sure as hell don't want to see Anaheim come April or May. The Red Wings will need to do something at the deadline, because I'm not sure they can handle the Ducks in a seven game series at this point.

Hey Ron, I have a solution: try finishing ahead of the Red Wings in the standings for once. Nothing against Nabokov, he fully deserves to be an all-star, but this decision is not Wilson's to make. This guy is always whining about something anyways...

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

I really dislike that second line. I don't understand why Hudler constantly gets the shaft. What has Franzen done to earn that position? I won't even get into Sammy... Oh well, hopefully the Wings act like they want to play tonight. It's time to get back on track.

Hell yes. It's time now, after four "flat" games in a row.

Pascal LeClaire. That dude is real ugly, even with a mask on.

Seventh best? The Red Wings have some very talented players, but not quite that many classify as "better" than Hossa. Besides, I doubt Hossa takes a pay-cut in the prime of his career. Especially, when more than a handful of teams would be willing to pay him for market value.

The day Game 7 of a playoff series is determined by a frickin' shootout, is the day I stop watching hockey. It's bad enough we have to watch that garbage during the regular season anyways. The scary thing is, I don't doubt this is something Bettman would think is good for hockey.

Hell yes. I would prefer Sammy sit by all means, but realistically it would have to be Kopecky.

There aren't enough adjectives to describe this performance against the Knicks tonight...

When the Pistons focus and put their minds to it, they are a really good basketball team. The bench is going to be such a blessing for the long-haul, especially come playoff time. Time to show Boston on Wednesday that the Eastern Conference still goes through Detroit!

Great trade by Joe Dumars. It never ceases to amaze me just how well Joe D. knows and addresses the needs of his team. On paper, the Pistons robbed Charlotte in this deal. First, we no longer have to deal with the useless contributions from Nazr Mohammed. The only good thing Nazr ever did for the Pistons was get in foul trouble often, which got him the hell off the floor. Brezec gives the Pistons legitimate depth at the center position. Brezec isn't anything spectacular, but he can shoot the ball with range. I would actually prefer Brezec start, and McDyess come off the bench. 'Dyess just doesn't look comfortable to me as a starter. I really don't know anything about this Herrmann character, except that he looks like Fabio. According to the FSN guys, he is athletic and will get some playing time. We'll see... Either way, this trade gives the Pistons some very much-needed frontcourt depth. I think Brezec will be a nice addition to this team. Even if it doesn't work out, we didn't lose anything in the deal. Props again to Joe D.

Friday: Buffalo Carolina Toronto Anaheim Saturday: New Jersey San Jose Boston Buffalo Montreal Ottawa Pittsburgh Philadelphia Detroit Tampa Bay Colorado Vancouver Minnesota Sunday: Philadelphia NY Rangers Calgary Chicago San Jose

The Pistons need some serious frontcourt help/depth if they want to go anywhere deep in the playoffs. A three-man rotation at power-forward/center is not going to cut it when it matters. If the Pistons could get a real starting center, and move McDyess back to coming off the bench, this team would be real dangerous. Until then, I'm not sold on another gaudy regular season record. On a more positive note, Jason Maxiell is a beast. I always think he is going to break the backboard everytime he dunks the ball. I also can't wait to see Rodney Stuckey out there playing.

Jason Spezza

That wasn't pretty, but hey they won. Way too many giveaways and sloppy play by the Red Wings in their own zone tonight. Lilja was atrocious. Oh well, at least Borat was spectacular again.

Last time I checked, Hasek had the same team in front of him as Ozzie does. So what exactly is your point? The team only plays hard for Osgood and none of this is Hasek's fault?

I can't complain about the new schedule format. Any change was going to be a good one. Eight games against Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, and Chicago every season is a joke. Those games aren't creating rivalries, they are inspiring empty seats at Joe Louis Arena. I'm thrilled that we will finally get to see every Eastern Conference team at least once. That is the way it should be. I'm fine with six divisional games. The best proposal though is the Red Wings' 84-game schedule. Ideally, that would be the perfect schedule, with a home-and-home against the East. Hopefully, that will pass for 2009-2010. For the Eastern Conference teams to gripe about having to travel is complete garbage. That totally disgusts me that owners/players complain about having to go out of their time zone to play games. The Red Wings have one frickin' opponent from their OWN conference in the same time zone. I laugh when I hear Devils' fans whine about the nine-game "road trip" to start in October. Wow, that must be tough to never leave your own time zone. The Red Wings almost doubled in mileage what the Devils did travel wise in October. It was great during the Lightning game the other night when the FSN Detroit crew joked that New Jersey would like to bus to every game. All-in-all, the new schedule is a definite improvement. Sorry Bettman, but Detroit and Columbus/Nashville is not a rivalry even if you have them play each other 82 times.

Friday: Montreal Carolina Pittsburgh Minnesota Chicago Anaheim San Jose Saturday: Ottawa Buffalo Toronto Nashville NY Islanders Philadelphia Florida Detroit Tampa Bay St. Louis Calgary Colorado Sunday: New Jersey Minnesota Anaheim

Ozzie probably won't go to the all-star game, but his numbers certainly make him deserving of at least some consideration. I mean honestly, what would the Red Wings record look like right now if Hasek had played the majority of the games? Only Zetterberg has been more valuable than Ozzie so far this season.

Nobody with the Red Wings will admit this, but I would guess that the decision had plenty to do with the coaching staff not wanting to play Dom at home. The last thing Dom needs right now is to play at the Joe and have the fans get all over him, especially if he performs poorly against a team like Phoenix. It's better for everyone involved if Hasek's starts do come on the road, until his performance improves drastically. Besides, Ozzie gives the Red Wings the best chance to win right now. Dom should be given his occasional start, but I'm not keen to throwing away valuable points just so Hasek can try to find his rhythm again. For all we know, that very well may not happen.

As of right now, Tim Tebow should win the Heisman. 20 and 20 is pretty spectacular, especially with the speed and talent level that Tebow faces weekly in the SEC. However, I think there is a good opportunity for either Chase Daniel or Todd Reesing to make a run for it in the next two weeks. Missouri and Kansas play this weekend, and then the winner will move on to the Big 12 Championship Game. That is two straight games of national exposure for two relatively unknown players and programs to impress voters. Just my opinion, but I think Missouri wins the next two weekends, and Chase Daniel wins the Heisman Trophy.

Tough loss tonight. The Red Wings clearly were the better team and deserved to win, but they didn't. It's bound to happen over 82 games. Every break, bounce, and fluke play went Chicago's way tonight. It just seems worse because of the previous three losses to the Blackhawks this season. Nice part about it is that bad taste can go away quickly with a good effort tomorrow in Columbus. There is absoutely no reason to go overboard with a lousy, three-game slump in NOVEMBER. The over-reaction on here is rather pathetic. Do the Red Wings have room to improve? Of course. They have five months to get it right before the games become important. It's a very long season. Losing streaks are going to happen, even to the Red Wings. Giving up on the team, calling for trades, or suggesting that the Red Wings are in big trouble is irrational, and quite frankly, uncalled for. I hate losing just as much as anyone else, but you take the good with the bad. It's part of being a fan. In the realm of perspective, this mini-slump will seem very insignificant in April and May. Lastly, regarding the whole Dom situation, I have mixed feelings. The extreme calls for Hasek to retire, or be sent to Grand Rapids are absurd. It is very evident that Dom has had a very subpar start to the season, and is nowhere near the form we expect from him, or what he expects from himself. Calling Dom's re-signing a mistake after ten games is very pre-mature. Honestly, I have no clue if Dom will turn it around, or if he truly is "washed-up." However, I believe we owe Dom more of a chance than just ten starts to judge what he has left in the tank. Regardless of the need for people to have a scapegoat, those goals tonight were not Dom's fault. The defensive coverage in the past three games has been awful. I have no problem with Ozzie taking over the starting role since he has earned it, and is right now, the better goalie by far. I am torn though about this move because if Dom isn't playing, any chance of him returning to a high level for the playoffs is pretty much gone. Dom needs to play if the Red Wings are going to find out if he can make another run at the Cup, or not. If Dom isn't physically capable of doing it, we know Ozzie will be there. Better to lose games in November than late in the season, when momentum is of the upmost importance. It's not the end of the world, nor time to panic. The Red Wings will be fine. Looking forward to a win in Columbus tomorrow night!

Thank you Twins for the four-free outs in every game next season.