uncle ovipositor

It just seems like the more important question than who won over the last year+. If I miss a game that's what I wonder about first.

Hey guys - I didn't catch the game last night. Who got injured?

And at least 6 of the trades in that chart are for Samuelson. The Wings have done pretty well as a team focussed on drafting, not trading. The last couple of years they've needed some trades, but they haven't pulled it off well - I mean, I'm sure Tootoo was a bargain, but he's also still Jordin Tootoo. Legwand seems like a good deal to me, and even if he's not a fix for everything that's wrong with the team he might be a sign that Holland's getting better at that part of the job. Having a cap makes where players are willing to go a bigger factor (see: Edmonton), and while a lot of players might not want to live in Detroit, this is the sort of hockey team that can make a move worth it just based on that. That said, missing the playoffs would adversely affect that formula.

I can see this getting 1 game arguably. It was an NHL hit that ended badly, and they decided that it was a hit that shouldn't have been thrown. Not sure I agree with the basis for making decisions there, but I can understand it. 3-6 seems severe to me, however. Reputation's probably part of that, the injury is... unfortunately it seems like one of those things you just have to take if you're Torres because he's earned his rep over the vast majority of his career. But anyone who thinks Torres was headhunting should know that the 2 are best friends off the ice. No way he was trying to decapitate him.

"If we go back to look at the series, we've been called cheaters after Game 1, we've been called embellishing Canadians after Game 3," said Sharks coach Todd McLellan, whose team leads the series three games to none. "If the series goes any deeper, we may even be accused of biting eventually." http://www.mercurynews.com/sharks/ci_23190849/san-jose-sharks-fed-up-vancouver-canucks-whining Game, set, match.

I'm always glad to see MAKAVELI719696 put up another one of these long, well-edited videos. It means he's not out in public, where his social awkwardness might damage his sensitive ego. It takes an amazing amount of work to portray the Nucks as the wronged party in most situations, and he makes a valiant effort. A time-consuming, no-mom-I'll-just-microwave-a-hot-pocket-when-I-get-hungry-right-now-I-need-to-keep-working sort of valiant effort. Salut, MAKAVELI719696, Nucks ****** of the month.

Lou playing well makes their organization look terrible. I'm in favor of it. And now they have to decide who starts game 4 - the better goalie or the chosen goalie. At this point, both options are bad. Even if Schneider plays well (unlike this game) nobody's going to trust him one game to the next. Everything they do is gas on the fire. Couldn't happen to a better team. In the post-game interview, Thornton said, "We're just really happy we didn't have to face Luongo again." Perfect. Meanwhile, the Nucks have pretty much played 4 D for the whole series. They're not in this to go long.

For the last few years I've gone out of my way to watch Hawks/Wings games and they've always been worth it. I'm going to miss them.

Couture's the real deal. In a few years, he'll be the big-toothed face of the Sharks and you'll hate it even more, but he regularly scores some beautiful goals.

I would love to see a first round series against Chicago. Not sure the Wings would win, but it would be great fun to watch and a good way to end an era. From a coachig perspective, the regular season's all about your team and the system, the playoffs are about the other team. And Babcock's a good series coach. Chicago's deep, confident, strong, and on their game, but their D and goalie aren't great and can be exploited. I'd like to see what Babcock comes up with. Doesn't mean I think they'd win, but if they make it in I'm not going to write them off just yet. I hope it happens.

Terrible call, changed the game. It happens. The linesman who insisted it was a hit to the head, Jonny Murray, caught a hard shot in the back which put him on the ice later, almost causing him to leave the game. It was unfortunate. It happens.

Interesting signing. Having watched him as a Shark and when he was with the Ducks, I would be okay with him as 6-7, and based on yesterday's game the Wings need someone back there with a touch of experience. He's positionally good, is 50/50 on outlet passes, and plays a conservative game. He'll dependably take a hit to make a play. I'm told he's big, but his game along the boards isn't much and he's not going to clear the crease. A grinder he ain't. He was either good or awful on the PK - never tepid, never great. He's not going to take the D to the level it needs to be at, but he's better than your average plug. I wouldn't be surprised to see him stay on the roster for as long as the Wings play this season but hope they can make him irrelevant by this time next year.

Not a great game by any measure (I'd say sub-AHL), but it's nice to see ESPN get to stick it to Bettman. I'll turn the TV on just to make sure that Gary sees good numbers he's not getting.

Not only older than the Red Wings, he was older than the Cougars! I'm sorry he's gone, but if I live half the life he did I'm gonna be pretty happy.

Here's the thing: earlier in the game, Torey Mitchel was taken out of the game with a crosscheck from behind after carrying the puck into the King's zone. No call, he left the game. Losing one of the best PK guys from the team had a much bigger impact on the game than Clowe's play - enough so that the 27th-ranked PP got 4 goals in the game. Or, there was the play where Clifford skated all the way across the ice to hit Couture from behind into the boards, taking him out for the remainder of the period (and I'm gonna bet out for Saturday as well). Clifford got 5, but they waived the misconduct at their discretion. Really? It obviously should have been 2 minutes, but it wasn't. The only reason people are paying attention to Clowe's stupid penalty is because we've never seen it before. And it's hilarious that he got away with it.

They've only ever managed to win one round in the playoffs, and that was last year, when they beat a mediocre Ducks team. I don't think they line up any better against playoff contenders this year. Series play is very different from regular season play, and unless a team has a lot of looks and an ability to adapt they just don't do well. Unfortunately, these shoestring teams that get by on a defensive style because they can't dependably mount creative offense usually can't adapt to the quick adjustments that define the playoffs. They've gotten where they are by doing one thing well. The same is true for the Yotes - they'll win in the regular season, by playing the same low-risk style game after game, but they'll lose in the playoffs because that's all they've got. The Wings on the other hand are extremely flexible in how they play, and stand a lot better chance. It's not just that they're well coached, it's that the players are smart enough to be able to play more than one strategy. A genius behind the bench is meaningless if the players can't follow. The same is true of the Pens, the Nucks, and sometimes the Sharks (assuming they make it in this year) - all of them are good at analyzing their opponent and adjusting.

I agree with this, but it will never happen. Lots of teams would kill for him, and he'd do a lot of good for some of them. And the Wings could get a serious return, which they're going to need to fill some holes over the next couple of seasons. Were I the general manager this team would be terrible, I wouldn't want to hold on to him for another year. True, he could have a major rebound next season. But I'd be wanting someone else to take that gamble.

2.5 years ago is a long, long time. They were old when they won it, and now they're older. No, the Wings are slightly worse than the Sharks and Hawks. The larger point is that you made up a stat regarding the scoring coming from everyone other than the top 2 lines to try to explain why it didn't matter that the top 6 aren't doing well. I pointed out that this is statistically false. Goals against only matters if it's consistently smaller than goals for. But what actually matters is wins. Which the Wings are behind both the Sharks and Hawks in. Winning 1 game 12-0 and then losing the next 11 0-1 doesn't make a winning record. Dats is a -4 with 11 points, Z is 0 with 7 points. They are both slumping offensively and defensively. What makes you say that it's an anomaly? I'm not convinced that it is. How long would it have to continue before you would be convinced that it isn't an anomaly? For my part I think the Wings still make the playoffs, but not very deep. Have they? This strikes me as magical thinking. I want that to be true, but I don't see the evidence.

Hello, and welcome to 2011. Gretsky is no longer the greatest hockey player in the world, and Detroit isn't the best team in the league. That they have been in the past doesn't prove anything. Abdelkader/Helm/Bert have the same # of goals as SJ's third line (5), and far fewer than Chicago's (11). Those #s basically hold up over the 4th and D (and the variations of lines), so that statement is not true. But it doesn't really matter, because the total # of goals is what counts, not which line they come from. The Wings, with 2 more games played than SJ, has exactly the same # of goals scored. With 2 fewer games played than the Hawks, the Wings have 20 fewer goals scored. I get that you want to support the players who have been so great in the past, and that's great, but it has nothing to do with winning.

It's not going to happen, but I think Zetterberg should seriously be considered for a trade. He has value to other teams (most of them aren't going to be interested in Hudler, sorry), he isn't working out (last season was pretty damn streaky, this one's flat), and trading him would let every other player know that this is serious (something that firing Babcock won't do). I think Z + 1st rounder could net Nash + Carter. That's a team that's looking to change in a big way, and they would kill to get a center like Z. The big down side is that they're in the division, but the other teams that are struggling don't have much to offer and probably aren't willing to do something like that. I know it's crazy talk and will never happen, but it should.

Zetterberg for Nash and Carter.

I won't try then, even though I disagree with your premise that the refs cost them that series. They certainly didn't choke and I don't think they were definitively inferior, but they did lose the series. Last year, the stats were so even in all of the games that either team could have won. If teams are evenly matched, either team can win a series. Even if they're unevenly matched, the lesser team often wins - a team that's 60% better is still going to lose 40% of the time, and a 7 game series actually makes those losses more probable. As far as the season to date goes, this is what change looks like. Babcock is trying to do things differently with the same players. Usually that's not a good formula, but this is a very teachable team so it can work. But there are some significant structural changes, and those don't just magically come together right away. Maybe they won't be at the top of the central, but they'll still make the playoffs, and we'll see if they've got it sorted out by then. Cleary hasn't been up to his new job, but I can see why he's getting a chance. If he can get it together he's fast and reasonably big and would help that line a lot. Ian White probably shouldn't be on the PP, but he's generally dependable. Put him with Stuart and let Stuart pinch and play more aggressively. It'll come together.

I've had my doubts about Howard being able to pull it off in a big game, but he did it in 7 of them. Nothing but respect for him as a goalie - he's absolutely earned it. What ever changes are coming to the Wings over the off season, Howard is a solid bridge to the future. I'm glad you qualified that the way you did because that makes it inarguable. Expansion era no doubt. Going back to Orr - yeah, I'm going to agree with that, too.

Yeah Abby has no part in that interaction at all. Like an innocent little lamb, frolicking in the grass he is. Dude's a hockey player, and an excitable physical one at that. Of course he's into it, even if he does have a girl's name. Complaining about things like this is why Wings fans are considered whiners by a lot of people. Chill - Abby's fine, the Wings won, all is good. With a year or two more experience he'll be ready for that scuffle and come out better. As far as Clowe's injury goes, I'd guess it's probably something like a separated shoulder. You don't get a concussion from a big hit, you get it from hitting your head, which it doesn't look like he did. The guy plays a physical game.

I realize that's the way people see it around here, but I want to suggest something to you: perhaps Abby was a willing participant in that fight. Perhaps the reason Clowe wasn't given an instigator was because Abby was up for the fight. That makes more sense to me - they're both big guys and game to throw down. Keep in mind that after the face-off, the camera cut away following the puck. Before the face-off, the two were jousting a bit and then leaned back away from each other, which is usually the way fights start - one guy says "let's go" and the other says "you got it," then they give themselves some room to swing. I doubt that hit is what put him out. He got up and played the whole game after that just fine and didn't miss a shift. Big hit no doubt, and I'm sure he's going to look around to see if Kronwall's on the ice going forward, but they're both physical hockey players, and that's something he's got to expect every game. But that's probably not what put him out. Of course we don't know. As far as him calling Kronwall out... whatever. I'm sure he's pissed that Kronwall's gotten the better of him a couple of times. He should be. I'm sure he'd love to get in a fight with Kronwall, and would probably come out the better of the two, but Kronwall's not going to take the bait like Abby did, so Clowe's going to continue being frustrated. That's probably why Babcock's putting him out against Clowe as much as he can.