stormboy

*cough*

yeah, he's an emotional guy. i'd love to get a transcript of what he says during a game. it'd probably be hilarious.

random side note: 95 PIM in the first period of the chicago / anaheim game. go wings. go 'yotes.

fair enough. a lot of people are fairweather fans, and it bothers me.

yeah, it's a tough call because, as a previous poster mentioned, if you're in a really tough division, and win it, you should be rewarded because of the unbalanced schedule. (the other teams in the conference only had to play those other very good teams four times where as you had to play them all eight times.) on the other hand, whoever wins the southeast is going to be seeded third but be way behind the fourth (and possibly, fifth, six, and maybe even seventh) seeded teams in points...that's not because their division is tough but because, no matter how bad all the teams are, by default someone has to win the division. *shrug* it can be a bit of an annoyance but i don't see that it's such a huge deal that the system needs to be changed. i think this year is more the exception than the rule. if the playoffs started right now, none of the south east teams would be in the playoffs at all, but the 'canes are by default. generally, though, i don't think you'd have a situation where a division wouldn't have a single team represented. if that's the case, them being seeded third won't bump another team out of the playoffs who has more points than them. we'll see if that happens by season's end.

2.5-3 million is perfect. cleary is amazing, but i don't think we can afford 4 million over five season. 2.5 would be a great deal, but dan's worth three, i think. either way, five years is great. it's good to get players like cleary and kronner locked up pretty long term (obviously dats and z as well) so we don't have to worry about our roster falling apart at the end of every season. by and large, i really like the team as it is now, and i'd rather not see even guys like cleary and kronner, who are by no means one in a million but still an important part of our team, leaving town. i agree with this. sure, he has some turn over issues, but you obviously can't have six top-pairing defensemen, because you couldn't afford to pay the rest of the team. for that price, lilja isn't bad. yeah, he's no norris candidate, but we could do a lot worse. at the very least, he does block the most shots on the team and can hit from time to time. we could have a guy who turned over the puck as much as lilja but never blocked a shot or dished out a hit. anyway, this argument has been talked to death.

right, i agree. so maybe sammy needs to pass MORE while zetterberg and datsyuk need to pass less. i don't think anyone can really say that the wings as a whole need to shoot / pass more / less.

i agree. i hear a lot of people saying the wings need to shoot more. but they out shoot the opponent almost every game. people ***** about them passing too much, but it seems like if they are getting more shots, they must not be high quality shots. which maybe means it's not too much passing and not enough shooting. maybe.

please, please, please win tonight red wings. for some reason, i just can't see them breaking out of this slump against the sharks. we can't even beat edmonton. but, maybe with kronner and stuart, we'll actually be able to move the puck on the back end. hopefully hasek is sharp. 3-2 wings.

are you saying that smokers are stupid? *glare* *lights up*

agreed.

i think it's interesting that, with the prospect of getting kronner back, and although some people are already making cynical comments about him getting injured again, everyone realizes that we're a better team with kronwall than with out him. people have questioned his play at times, but let's be honest: we'd all (or most of us) rather have him on the blueline than lebda, lilja, or most of the ahl guys that have been playing with us recently. i, for one, am just glad to have him back. i hope he does something good tonight.

nice. : )

it seems like dallas has been a low scoring, low goals against team for the last couple of years. if they keep the GAA down, adding a big offensive punch is going to be great for them. they've surprised me with their play recently, and they got red hot right as the wings got ice cold. it'll be interesting to see how it shakes out. and, yeah, as great as all the president's trophies are, it seems pretty rare that a number one seed actually makes it to the finals. so as much as i love being the best team in the league, it'd be nice to have everying one gunning for a different team.

right. we actually had a lead to give up tonight.

oops.

that would be too much for us to give up, IMO. even if hudler and flipper have been weak lately, if we didn't resign hossa next year, who would we even HOPE would be our secondary scoring. at least now, we can always hope that flipper and rex will start playing well and scoring goals again. i wanted hossa, but i'm glad we didn't make that move.

0-20% -- at least for a non-cory cross type deal. if we include players that make no difference, i'd give it like a 60-70% chance. it seems like all the players that we talked about getting and who seemed at least somewhat available have already been taken or are not being traded (sundin, hossa, prospal). i know some people liked ryder but it sounds like he might be going in the trade for hossa. i'd love for something to get my optimism back up. we'll see...

true. i think that's somewhere in the red wings by-laws. or is it the NHL roster rules? one or the other.

for some reason i feel like he won't take it. don't know why. i'd love to see it, though.

oh, the mob is a fickle mistress. i think that's probably true, and it's interesting...if you're the team that loses, it's because you weren't playing well below your skill level. if you're the team that wins, it's because you were playing well. kind of funny. i guess there are games (like that edm / van game the other night) where both teams are playing well and it's just a hard fought contest. but i've felt like all of our recent losses (save for maybe the ana game) were because we were playing like crap...not because the other team was playing great. *shrug* just a matter of perspective, i guess.

f*** yes. i didn't get to watch the game, but i really wish i had after watching that. it's good to finally see some PASSION from the team. i love downey getting after people, i love babcock yelling...mostly, i love us scoring. clearly, we needed our skilled players to get back in the game...but downey's 29 PIM i think were a huge part of this victory. maybe this will be an object lesson for the boys. stop hatin' on everybody! these are the wings, and this is the game they play. they've found it again. let's hope they can keep it.

i have to say that this conclusion is a bit hilarious after all the drama. it's over....or is it? mainly, i was just impressed that the TSN article used the word "wonky." kudos.

jesus. yeah, all eighty-some of our points were all on fluke goals and lucky goaltending. god damn.