Hank Dats 'N Homer

McCarty is the definition of toughness.....not the biggest guy but he plays BIG. Needs to be i nthe lineup. sit hartigan and sammy for this game and put in Downey and Abdelkader. Need toughness and size like you said, but McCarty stays

I dont know about changes that the coach will actually make but i for one have a few in mind. Lilja played so well last year in playoffs (minus the selanne goal) he really impressed me. But so far this year not so much. I dont know if replacing Lebda for him would make it any better, but it would atleast make us a bit faster. We would loose a bit of Grit which is something we seem to need, so i dont see a change happening there. As for Hartigan, hes a very good faceoff guy, so if we take him out we can expect to lose a few more faceoffs. However, by putting Downey in over him it helps our team play more physical which i think is exactly what we need right now especially playing in Nashville. The preds play a very hard and physical game, and it looked like it knocked us off our game last game, so having a guy like downey out there to push some of their guys around would be nice. Now the change i would ABSOLUTELY MAKE is take out sammy for a game and put in Abdelkader in. Sammy doesnt have any grit in him. He pushes a little bit but wont get involved or lay any hits. Plus he hasnt been really productive offenseivly. I think Abdelkader can help us both offensiviely as well as adding some nice hits and Grit. Hes got some speed, can play a physical game, and has a rod Brindamor type appearance to him so he has a good scoring touch. I think he needs to get experience in the playoffs and i think putting him in for one game is a good way to get him that. They made this kid leave college a year early, you might as well let him play! As for maltby, if he is back and fully healthy, you can scratch everything i said about putting Downey in for hartigan and replace hartigan with maltby! I dont think hasek needs to be replaced quite yet, but if he goes on another streak where he lets in 2 goals in 11 or 9 seconds again well then we have to put ozzie in. The tougest position in sports to play is to play goalie for the detroit red wings. Our fans expect perfection, and if we dont get it we want your head! haha. I know alot of the goals werent his fault and our team kind of fell apart, but man i cant wait till we can get a goalie like ryan miller or a roberto luongo or someone like that who can save the game for us if our team is playing terrible. Goalies like Miller, luongo, kipper, they win alot of games for their teams when their teams arent playing their A games. Im not saying Hasek doesnt do that, he has on numerous ocassions, i just wish he was a bit more consistent. But as of right now he is our #1 guy and im behind him.....for now...

Listen man, there is no right or wrong answer in this situation, we obviously both have an opinion on this guy. And like i have said before, i think Sammy has a very good shot, to me he just doesnt seem to know how to use it. We both exaggerate when talking about Sammys skills. You exaggerate at the fact that he is not a liability and i exaggerate that he never passes and never gets a shot on net that doesnt end up in the goalies chest. We both agree on one thing hownever, and thats the fact that Downey should not be put in his place. I just stated my opinion about Sammy because you did the same. Now i do apologize for coming at you so strongly and harshly, that was not neccessary, i was just upset at how you went after the maker of the thread. i didnt think that it was necessary to go after him for stating his opinion, but who am i to say what is right and wrong since i did the same thing to the opinion that you posted. I just dont value a guy like Sammy in the same way that you do. I think he gets to much icetime for the type of play that he puts out. i think he is a very replaceable guy on a roster like ours. I do not think that a guy like downey is the guy to replace him because they apply two different aspects of the game. I do however, think that Abdelkader could make a biggere impact withe Sammy's minutes. now that is my opinion yes, and it means absolutely nothing to Mike babcock, so its not like hes taking my word for anything. I can think of more bad things that Sammy has done than good for this team, and when that happens i think that makes that player expandable. Hes not very sound defensively and in my mind doesnt have enough of an offensive plus side to him to earn him 13-15 minutes of ice time. I think that could be 13-15 minutes spent more wisely elsewhere. Again this is my opinion and you have yours. Im not going to sit here and tell you thats your is wrong and mine is right, but thats my opinion and i think alot of people on these forums, as well as Wings and hockey fans all around beleive the same that i do. He doesnt deserve to be on a team like the red wings top 2 lines. Again i apologize for my rudeness, thats not what these boards are about, we are all wings fans at heart regardless of which players we cheer for most. As long as they are in red wings jerseys, i say cheer for whatever number you want! if that number is 37 than so be it! haha

Exactly! I rest my case. Im not saying downey should play over sammy, but a talented kid like Abdelkader should definetly be playing in sammy's place. downey and hartigan should be flip flopping everyother game.

WOW. After reading this post and the other post you have made on this topic, all i can say is WOW. I have to agree with you that there is someone "blindly biased" but i have to say that the person that is blindly biased is you. The fact that you can sit there and type that Sammy is not a liabilty on the ice is what is "absolutely Absurd". It is has if you have not waqtched a game in the last 2 years. This guy coughs the puck up more than Lilja from 06 and chelli from 07 combined. Ive never seen someone play with less effort in my life. Me and my girlfriend were commenting hte other day about how he has a great shot. So im not going to debate that fact with you. The guy can shoot the puck hard, but sadly he doesnt know how to aim it anywhere. The guy puts every puck right on the chest of the goalie, as if he is aiming for the crest on ther jersey in the hope that the puck will magically go threw the goalies body. Its down right ridiculous. Then there is the fact that the guy NEVER passes. The opposing teams know exactly how to play this guy. If he has the puck in the opposing teams zone, all they have to do is cut off the lanes towards the net and he will just sakte around untill he has a shot from 50 feet out that the goalie can stop easily. Even if a man is wide open he will take the shot over the pass. Which would be fine if the guy was a sniper like Dats or Z but he is not. There has been two instances just in the last 2 playoff games alone where Sammy was involved in a 3 on 2 fast break, and he refused to pass both times, and neither time did his shot reach the let because the defender knew exactly what he was going to do....shoot. So he just played Sammy and didnt worry about the pass, and what a shock that it worked. This guy has no talent whatsoever. he had a fluke year the other year, and its not going to happen again. The fact that Babs puts him on the point on the PP just baffels me. Yes he has a great shot to put through traffic, but again, its always when there is an open lane and the goalie has a clear view of him, that is when hes not coughing hte puck up on the PP. To mean, this guy is garbage, and im not just saying this because we got rid of lang and we need another scape goat. With all that said, do i think that we should replace him with Downey? Probably not. Downey should alternate games with McCarty, or take Hartigans spot (hartigan starting over Downey makes no sense to me either) I think Sammy should be sat and his minutes should be givein to abdelkader. This kid is going t obe something special, and its clear to see. The guy almost scored twice in his NHL debut, and hes not affraid to throw the body. Hes a guy that could easily take Sammy's 13 + minutes a game and be 10 times more productive with them.

Ill be there around 5:30 once i get out of work....its a tradition with me and my girlfriend.

a half hour wait for a 10 minute interview, i feel cheated haha

oh god no! Id rather dress Bab's son over sammy. If they both wanna play and you had to pick one please pick your son mike!

who is this guy and is he drunk or stoned? Does he know hes on right now live?

Yeah kopay out 6 months, so we need someone to step up. Id really like them to sign Abdelkader now so we have him for playoffs. Maybe its just me, but didnt anyone else see alot of Rod Brind'Amour in Justin last night? I've noticed it watching alot of hte state games too, but man he is a solid contributor. Hes good defensive forward with a scoring touch. He can hit with the best of them and a good sized body out there. Reminds me of a young Rod Brind'Amour, but they are both Spartans so maybe thats where they learn it! Sign him!

I was looking through some of our rosters and such, and i stumbled onto Jakub Kindl. I was looking at his game logs and it shows that he fluctuates between the kitchener rangers and the griffins and i was just wondering how this can be? I dont follow much minor hockey nor do i really know how it works so im just trying to figure out how the whole thing works out. I was also wondering why Kindl was even playing for the kitchener team if he is in the red wings minors system. The wings have no affiliation with the Kitchener team if im not mistaken. Im lost when it comes to this stuff, can someone try and dumb it down for me? Thanks

Do the OHL and AHL season play at the same time? When are the seasons? And also, i though all players under contract with the wings had to either be in college playing or in one of the teams minor league affiliates. Thats why i was confused to see him playing in another teams lineup. Again, i know nothing about the minor leagues haha can you tell? lol

Well i got up nice and early, got on the computer and purchsed myself some tickets to round 1 game 1 like i do every year now. I know the season ends on the 6th, but i was wondering 2 things. 1) who does everyone think we are ganna be facing in the first round. me, since im going im hoping we are ganna play vancouver or the AVs because they would be great teams to watch play. But as a wings fan i rather play a team like minnesota or something, since we know the first round seems to be our roughest over the years haha. 2) when do you think the first game is going to be? Being a college student, i purchased the tickets first, than thought about the consequences afterwards. I have classes mon/wed nights, and im hoping it wont fall on those nights. Anyone have any inside info or a guess?

well lets hope that the wings do it on the 10th. But if they do it on the 9th....well who reall needs a degree anyways?

HAHAHAA :rotflmao:

i know he had some sore ribs, but i want to see him play already. I saw him in grand rapids, but i want to see him back in the wheel and on his line with malts and draper. Luckily drake has been keeping his spot nice and warm. Does anyone have any updates on when he is going to be making his return and what line he will be playing on? I know there is a mccarty topic already, but noone said anything about his return. anyone?

wow if that is the slogan...i dont even know what to say.....just reminds me of oceans thirteen when the two brothers played by scott caan and casey affleck are trying to hack into the computer systems. Turk Malloy(Scott Caan): "Are you in yet?? Virgil Malloy(Casey Affleck): "I hate that question...."

hahahaha i need that link ASAP!

Alright, i just wanted to throw this stuff out there and see what kind of feedback i could get back. I was wondering if anyone knew how much longer rolston has left on his contract with the wild. I've read numerous posts about the wings trying to trade for him at the deadline the last 2 seasons in a row, and i havent heard anything about a contract extension or anything, so i was wondering when he was going to be a free agent or if anyone has heard anything about a deal in the works for the offseason. Ive always been a huge fan of rolston and im sure he would love to come play in his hometown, so just seeing whatever everyone else knows and feels. Also i have been hearing alot of talk of this fabian Brunnstrom kid. I know he is playing over in sweden but is he under contract by the wings or anyone for that matter? Also does anyone know anything about him? Is he a big guy? a scorer? forward? defensemen? I could look it up, but i am a really lazy person and rather hear it from the horses mouth.

goo read thanks for the post, i dont get the nashville joke at the end? Anyone?

Wow, it seems like that was yesterday....i miss those days. That video really makes me excited for Mccarty, and makes me love maltby even more! God i cant wait anymore....

I was waiting for someone to come out and say it, but i didnt think it had to be put so harsh! lol

i think the funniest part is i dont think its a kid. Look at the cloths and everything. Im pretty sure thats just a pissed off midget.... " he's an angry elf"

I was under the impression that he was still under contract by the Rangers....is this not correct? And if so does that means hes a UFA right now? And are there any rumors stirring about on this one? I know many of you dont like him and are glad hes goen, but i would love to see him back in detroit. If he isnt under contract with NY i dont see them resigning him now with the Gomez and Drury signings....just wondering if anyone has any information?

alright this has been bugging me for a while, but everytime i see dan cleary, and i mean EVERYTIME, whether its an interview on TV or seeing him on the bench, or at a fundraiser or something, the guy always has a fat lip, or a black eye, or new stiches on his face of an open gash and healing wound. I know this guy gets beat up and plays hard every night, but i can help but wonder.....Dan cleary, professional hockey player and semi-pro bar brawler. haha. The guy is always beat up, but i dont recall him always getting killed in games. Maybe his wife is abusive or something. Anyone else notice this?