lets go pavel

Gotcha. Yeah, Lilja is pretty much the only one who blocks shots on a regular basis, so I don't really expect to see that anymore.

link “All of us in here appreciate what he does, for looking after our backs,†captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. “What he brings to the table, almost no one in this locker room can do, and that’s why he is so important to our team. He’s got to be ready every night for what he’s doing. He should get a lot of credit for what he’s doing.â€

I don't recall seeing that at all, but I guess we all have our different perceptions.

Yes I did. I didn't see a conscious effort to not get injured, and am not even sure what that would entail.

Huh?

Here's the difficulty I see ... if you take the top players from the women's team, they are players used to playing on the top lines. They are scorers and playmakers. Can they compete with the Datsyuks, Zetterbergs, Hossas, etc of the league? If not, they are likely fighting for 3rd or 4th line time, and this means a different skill set. Now you're talking about defensive specialists, PKers, checkers, grit, enforcers. While some of the female players may have more skill than a Draper or a Maltby, can they fill their specific roles as well?

I don't think you'll get much of an argument from anyone over that, but coming off last seson Ozzie was considered solid at the least. He had a great year and a great playoffs last year; who would have thought he would struggle as much as he has this year? On paper going into this season, with Ozzie coming off of the season he had and Conklin as backup, our goaltending looked pretty good.

Going into this season Ozzie was not considered a back-up. Going into last season, Hasek was not considered a back-up. When we had Manny, he had earned a shot at being a starter. You talk as though Holland's MO has been to always sign back-ups, but that's not the case. True, we haven't tried to sign the $6M goalies like Luongo or Kipper, but we've hardly gone with career backups and scrubs. The only complaint I can see is that Holland didn't get anyone at the deadline, but realistically I'm not sure who he could have gotten.

This: was in response to this (note the bold): The implication is that Holland has knowingly set us up for failure and then plans on bailing out, a la Brian Burke. Do you have any evidence that this is in fact his plan? Because you are talking about a guy who has helped build the Wings into the most successful NHL franchise in recent memory. It's one thing to disagree with Holland's decisions, but it's another to suggest that he's intentionally harming the team.

Very true ... and of course the flip-side to that trend is that those who are defensive of the team or its players in a given discussion are often labelled "blind homers" or they "blow (insert player name here)", etc.

Doesn't sound like he's "dissing" enforcers, Shoreline, but I guess if you want to stir s*** up you can run with that ...

The defense will look equally bad giving up the kinds of chances they have whether Ozzie stops them or not, that would just make the scoreboard look better. They have ALL played poorly at times ... the difference is that there are 6 defenseman and only 1 goalie, so naturally the goalie gets blamed all of the time whereas the defenders get to take turns f*%^ing up. And honestly I'd lump most of the forwards in there too. Regardless of how you feel about Ozzie, you can't honestly say we've seen a lot of 60 minute games from teh Wings this year.

I agree wholeheartedly ... as much as the goaltender gets bashed around here, and deservedly so to a certain extent, it has been a TEAM problem. Unfortunately, I think OsGOD is probably right, we're probably not going to see a whole lot out there. I'm ready for the playoffs ...

With all of the skill we have on this team I don't think the absence of any one of those players makes a significant difference, and other than Homer, there isn't much of a sampling size from when they're injured. I wouldn't put much stock into those numbers. The only players who I think might cause a drop-off if they were hurt are Lidstrom and maybe Datsyuk, and even then we have so much skill that I don't think it would be significant.

Aaron Downey makes the power play better! Seriously, it's fine. It cracks me up when every time the PP hits a dry spell everyone thinks "they've figured out our PP, time to change it up". Figured what out? We've been running basically the same PP for years, I'm pretty sure the other teams have "figured it out" long before now. It's not the element of surprise that makes our PP good, it's the skilled players we put on the ice and the effectiveness of how those players work the PP together. Just like pretty much everything else in the game of hockey, a team's power play goes through hot streaks and dry spells. It's nothing to worry about.

Edmonton wins the tie break and is in 8th at the moment ... same # points, same # games, same # wins, head-to head EDM earned 8 pts compared to 2 for STL ... imagine if this was the end of the season, what a s***ty way to miss the playoffs. Glad it's not us!

Looks like the Ducks and Blues have the fewest games against playoff/playoff hopeful teams, and they've also been playing the best of the 5 teams lately. In their last 10 games: Anaheim 6-3-1 Nashville 4-2-4 Edmonton 4-3-3 St. Louis 6-3-1 Minnesota 4-3-3 As for who I'd like to play ... I'd prefer to avoid Anaheim, Giguere just seems to have a habit of finding his groove against us. I'd probably also rather not play Minnesota, mainly because I hate watching us play them.

I think they're going to reach 300 tonight.

Brad Stuart has a NTC this year and next, he can't be moved until summer 2010.

Yeah, not sure I understand Maltby on the 3rd and Cleary on the 4th ...

Jeff Bridges, Tony Danza ... who's next, Bela Lugosi? I want to know what Hollywood has against Hank ...

The numbers would suggest otherwise ... On the season, Ozzie has a 3.18 GAA and .884 SV% In his last 10 starts, he has a 2.86 GAA and .899 SV% If we throw out the Columbus game, he has a 2.27 GAA and a .919 SV% I'm comfortable going into the playoffs and next season with those numbers.

Do you want a debate or do you just want everyone to agree with you? As others have said, they are both great but different players. There are things that Datsyuk does better, and there are things that Z does better, and these things can't all be quantified using statistics. You can build a compelling case for both, and in the end it boils down to personal opinion. Datsyuk has been my favorite player for years, but prior to this season I probably would have given the slight edge to Z. This year Pavel has been more consistently excellent and really stepped into his own as a force every time he steps on the ice. If this year becomes the norm then I'll agree that Datsyuk is better, but I wouldn't be surprised if Z bounces back ...

Let's see, I'm between 6'1" and 6'2", weigh about 160, and can't skate. I guess I could be Ryan Miller, but that would mean I have some goaltending ability, which I don't. I suppose the best I'm going to do is Josh Tordjman from Phoenix ... 0-2-0, 4.07 GAA, .871 SV% ... looks like I'm heading to the minors!