VM1138

The Red Wings could break out of this slump. The team we've been watching, I doubt it. If a big shakeup is coming, they can get back inuto the swing of things. They're playing good enough to get a point, but they need more than that right now. EDIT: True, we're only 1 point out of the playoffs, BUT other teams keep winning. It's not a 5 team race for spots 7 and 8? So we need not only one team, but multiple teams to start losing while the Wings string together a winning streak (something they have yet to do all season). I sincerely hope they can, and as always I'll be rooting for them, but it's getting harder and harder to just assume they'll win games now.

Trade him while his stock is high. I hope there's a big trade, jiust for a shakeup. I'll be sorry to see pretty much anyone go, but at this point, I wouldn't be willing to accept missing the playoffs, even if it is a "transition" year. On the other side, couldn't the scouts have been there just to see who they should pick up off the waiver wire instead of actuallyt rading for?

He'll be back and unless he's picked up bad habits over in the KHL he'll be a big help for the Wings next season.

Don't get your hopes up people. Every night we've needed the other teams to lose, they win. Every time we've needed an Eastern team to beat the Western team, the West wins. Every time the Wings have been in position to take advantage of a rare loss for the teams ahead of us, ew lose the next game. And the laws of averages say San Jose is due for a win tomorrow, unfortunately. Oh, and we need to beat Eastern teams, so I have doubts about the Ottawa game as well.

Zetterberg's shot was the most pathetic attempt I've ever seen in a shootout. Not only did he do his predictable move, but his shot was weak. He didn't even try to snap it to get it there faster. He just sort of gently passed it to the goalie. On second viewing it looks 10x worse.

I expected him to come back with at least a point and keep it up over the stretch, and he did play physical and took dangerous shots. He played par for what he usually plays, we all just half-expected him to suck like everyone else has this season when we expect them to do good. Props to Franzen for being one of very few players that didn't disappoint us this year.

Meech is starting to grow on me. Early in the season he was brutal but he's stepped up his game and really made a case for him being better than Lebda and thus the one that should stay. We all know Lebda won't ever get any better, but Meech just might improve a bit to be a reliable 6th or 7th defense man. But I do see Williams being traded. Everyone talks about him being good on the powerplay, but our powerplay sucks. Everyone talks about him scoring, but he isn't scoring. He's in a slump just like everybody else and since he's always been widely considered useless, he's a goner if we can get anything for him. They will not, however, give Williams up for nothing just to clear space. After all, he might still start scoring again and we can't afford to lose that.

I agree that Franzen should tell them publicly to go screw themselves, but on the other hand an athlete only gets so many chances to play for his homeland. I guess Sweden realized being completely whiny douches doesn't help when you end up needing some roster filler, huh?

All you people who relentlessly rag on Rafalski as being the worst hockey player ever are retarded. Nothing else can be said.

So good, we can all stop arguing over when it's okay to be supportive of your home country, and stop thinking the American Revolution was terrorism, and stop arguing about liberalism vs. conservatism. Let's all just agree that Cherry is only made for Canadian audiences (or so this thread seems to be saying) and that he's not an outdated clown who is there for pure entertainment value. I'm sure even Pierre has some insightful things to say once in a while, but it doesn't make him not a ******.

Then you would be mistaken because we've had Dastyuk and Zetterberg while Franzen was injured and had very little offense. Have you watched this season at all?

What are you talking about? You've got to be the only person I've ever heard call for the WIngs to get a third line center. We need a scoring winger more than anything else. We have all the role players we need. Whether or not it's possible, the only sensible move would be to acquire a proven top 6 scoring threat. Again, not saying it's necessarily possible, but there won't be a move for a role player. We're already stacked in that department.

Stuart has moved around too much in his career. I don't see him wanting out unless this team completely collapses. He always said he was looking for stability.

His mobility might be a little subpar for a few games but I think he'll still get a point tonight. He just always seems to catch fire right after an injury.

Maybe they saw Leino in practice and realized he has no work ethic and he's a healthy scratch already?

Community. Best new sitcom since Arrested Development.

How anyone can get anything out of that video is beyond me. It's grainy, short, and the camera pans away as soon as aything happens. There's no way to tell if there actually WAS a fight, why it started, who was involved, or whether it was play or not. It clearly didn't get any bigger than that or else it would have made news.

As long as Lilja blocks a few shots, he'll be worth the money, even without fighting.

I don't know if this has already been said, but here I go: The reason this team has been so successful is that Holland doesn't have knee-jerk reactions. He's very calculating and usually knows exactly what to do to keep this team competitive. If the Wings miss the playoffs, he won't be looking at superficial fixes (i.e. firing Babcock), he's going to find out why we didn't make it (lack of scoring, stupid defense) and fix accordingly. This season was ALWAYS intended to be a sort of interlud. They told us what to expect. The cap pretty much forced Holland's hand this year, and he's evaluating the season based on HIS expectations, not ours. Considering he was pretty much forced to sign Williams, Bert, Eaves, Miller, and call up Helm, Ericsson and Abdelkader I think he's probably only slightly disappointed. Holland doesn't take a hack saw to fix things, he takes a scalpel. Changes that we might be able to expect: With some cap space freed up, he will be more picky about who he adds and removes from the team. Depending on Lidstrom's move, expect defensive moves and obviously offensive moves. Howard is set in goal for next year, as is Osgood. He may put pressure to fire McCrimmon and try to get Babcock to find someone (if that's how it works) who actually can make the Wings play decent defense, but he won't fire Babcock who has made very few mistakes in his tenure. Fans here take so much for granted. They think a defensman of Rafalski's caliber is just waiting to come in, they think coaches like Babcock are a dime a dozen. If these people ran a team it'd look like Toronto the last decade.

Yeah, we should all know by now that if Holland denies something he's really going to pull off twice as much as the rumors say. I can definitely see Williams being part of a package. The guy has done nothing in his career and has continued to do nothign while he's here. Are there are teams that desperately need whatever it is he provides that might offer up a hard-working gritty forward who can score goals?

Anyone know what role Leino will be playing in Philly?

Filpulla MIGHT be. I think he's probably the most obvious choice if the WIngs were angling for a real scoring threat, but they probably think FLip is developing nicely and they're not likely to hurt the team long term, so Flip would probably only be traded for an extremely talented younger player. Which, let's face it, isn't going to happen. Other than that, I don't know what combination could land us anyone significant. Lebda will be gone, and May, too probably, I do agree with that part of the article.

I would imagine it's probably a bit intimidating to come upt o the NHL where the guys are huge, experienced fighters. I know there are some good fighters in the AHL, but it just seems like he wasn't expected to play that role in Detroit. It'd be cool if he became a fighter with top 6 ability.

I think he just came back too early, thus all the issues with it in the games following. Just give it some rest, Kronwall, better safe than sorry.

Their hfboards forum thread only has 9 pages to our 19. But I think Hfboards has a lot fewer members. At any rate, they seem (judging from the last few pages) to be HAPPY about the trade, and all think that Kovie will go back to Atlanta in the offseason. I understand thinking he'll go back, but to think Atlanta actaully improved by losing a superstar for a couple of role players? Yikes.