VM1138

The only thing Mickey repeats are little old-time sayings. They just make it feel like you're hanging out with your grandpa watching the game. He doesn't repeat himself with longer phrases every few minutes, every game, that make him sound like he's reading from a script or stuck with a limited vocabulary. I hate Edzo.

The fact that Flip missed a chance like that is just representative of what is going on.

Howard is picking a bad time of the season to start the low end of his inconsistency streaks. Maddening, this whole damn game.

Honestly I'm not sure if this was an ass move by Kronwall or genuinely helpful because I've never seen it before. Eaves didn't look too happy. Funny, nonetheless.

You know what would be cool? A rule that allows you to stockpile disallowed goals. Since so many end up being legit goals called off, teams should be allowed to save up the ones that the NHL reviews and admits were legit, and use them at any point in any future game, haha. Down 7-1 in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final? Use your 7 disallowed goals to win 8-7.

Was that article poorly worded to anyone else? It talks about the danger of the mask but doesn't ever answer why he's wearing that one instead. I feel like it tried to explain but missed the "money shot" explanation, if you will. Anyway, I'm more interested in the line about Hasek wanting to play another year. Anyone know if he meant in the NHL or over in the KHL?

Nashville really took some liberties with Detroit. The no-calls were ridiculous. Anyway, Detroit played well. No real complaints as far as the Wings go. For whatever reason Nashville seems to be impossible for Detroit to beat. I'd hate to face them in the playoffs.

This is a character game for the Wings. The Wings have nothing to lose and Nashville has everything to gain. The Wings could go a long way toward preparing for playoffs if they can motivate themselves to play smart and beat Nashville, who is always a tough team. If they get stonewalled by Rinne there's a very real chance they're letting opposition goalies get in their heads, and that could be a bad sign come playoff time.

He's had such a weird year. It's weird to be so frustrated with a guy who scored 30 goals. On paper he's had a good year, but he's scored all his goals in like 5 games and needs to get more consistent.

Not even close to one. There's no real bad blood between the two teams, they're not really on the same skill level, and Nashville games are usually really boring.

Babcock has been pretty amazing since he's gotten here. Glad we've got him locked up for a while. Watching him coach you certainly get the feeling he's going to go down as one of the all-time greats.

I guess I'm referring more to Luongo's history of not playing too well in the playoffs, moreso than the team. But they "choke" in the sense that every year they are a favorite to win the Cup and when was the last time they made Conference finals?

I'm happy the Wings seem to have gotten the whole defense thing down lately, with a few exceptions. I'm not too worried about Datsyuk's injury. It didn't looke like anything too serious. He probably just tweaked it and worst case scenario he sits for a game or three to rest it Was it just me or was this a boring game? I DVRed it and skimmed through most of it (which I rarely do).

Wings have done pretty well with the goals against the last while. So let's keep it under 2 goals against, okay Wings? Also, I sense with Zetterberg getting his scoring going, Rafalski handing out assists like a sailor hands out cash at a strip club, I see the Wings putting in at least 5.

I have a strict "Don't Pick Your Poison" rule for playoffs. However, I genuinely fear for matchups against San Jose and Vancouver. Vancouver, even with their history of choking, has just been too good to completely dismiss this year. San Jose just seems to have Detroit's number. Chicago scares me, too, but for a different reason. I feel like we could beat them, even rather easily, but the WIngs have had such terrible luck and I'd hate for them to upset us and then have to deal with their rabid fans.

Just to re-ignite an old debate for old time's sake, Hudler and Flip are tied in points. Now, consider that Hudler struggled like crazy to start the season, assume he plays like he has been (how he's always played) for a full season, and he blows Flip out of the water points-wise. Flip continues to postpone his "breakout year" that we're all waiting for. A reliable guy who I have nothing against, but I don't feel he's an integral part of the team like others have suggested in the past.

I see him being a reliable secondary scorer: 20 goal average per year, 25 on good years. I don't see him finishing below 20 goals a year (aside from this year probably) for a while, now that he's found his hands. The key is not that he's suddenly scored a bunch of goals, but how he does it. This is a guy who can get to the net reliably and always makes something happen. It's not like he's just getting easy goals (though his breakaways are nice), he's making these happen, which is a trait a lot of "scorers" don't have, which is why they are often so inconsistent.

The "softer" boards are an absolute necessity. The others are a bit of "look, we're doing stuff" that won't accomplish much. Honestly, increased punishment and consistency for such hits is necessary. Smaller shoulder pads could go a long way toward helping as well. Also, allowing the players more leeway to fight could help, and I'm no enforcer junkie.

I think Babcock HAS to run a 50-50 split going into the playoffs. We don't want a tired Howard and we don't want a rusty Ozzie trying to salvage the playoffs if Howard falters. With 13 games left I want to see 7 for Howard and 6 for Ozzie.

Hm...well, let's look at it this way. If you're employed by a company for twenty years making good money, and the company has treated you well over the years, would you suddenly take a 80% pay cut just to help the company out? Even though you like the company and want to keep working with them, and are even willing to take some pay cut, I highly doubt you'd go for a MAJOR cut, either, as long as you felt you still worked well enough to earn more.

I don't think that's what was announced tonight. In fact, I specifically read articles saying the players weren't locked out yet. I think it's likely that the first couple games will be canceled, but does anyone really think the NFL, the most successful sports league in the US, is going to ruin everything with a total lock-out?

I don't know about the police getting invovled, or even if it was a dirty hit. It was a routine play. However, I never played hockey for a team, so I'm not sure if it's possible, but it certainly looked like Chara just tried to pinch him and shove him. It's totally reasonable to assume he wasn't thinking about the stanchion. Regardless, I doubt the cops find anything criminal in this, dirty or not. Nothing would stand up in court because of that question of intent. At any rate it's not an OBVIOUS intent to injure.

There's 16 games left for them. Using your calculations (5 losses) they'd have to go 11-6, not an outrageously ridiculous record, especially for a team playing solid hockey. The question centers around whether the other teams will just fall apart to pave the path for New Jersey. I don't think they make it.

It's funny that a lot of people (myself included) figured Helm would be the role player and Abdelkader had the hands, but now it's reversed itself. If Helm can keep improving, I could see him eventually being 2nd line material.

It really looks like that. Several teams seem to know exactly how to shut us down. It's not just the Wings not showing up, it's the other teams clogging center ice and not giving us room to use our puck possession style.