VM1138

Well, those centers rae pretty much the ones we have to go with. You can't split up Datsyuk and Bertuzzi, for the reasons people have mentioned. You can't move Homer down because he's only effective with Datsyuk on the top line. Therefore you can pick from Helm, Zetterberg, or Flip to center the second line. Clearly Zetterberg is the best option. Next is Flip (thus the third line) and then Helm. Yeah, it may make Helm less effective, but better to make him less effective than Zetterberg or Flip.

I don't think this is real anymore. It's gotta be a hoax. Seeing Ritola on the second line just shows you how awful this team has been hit by injuries.

I know Hartnell is a ******, but isn't Carter a pretty good scorer? I'd take him. Of course, there's no one we can get rid of to acquire anyone, so pretty much all trades are not possible at this point.

"Critics" is always synonomous with LGW. Always good to see the goalies have a good relationship. Detroit has been blessed with this since Cujo and Legace left. Not to mention Osgood has seen it all, been on the winning and losing end, has been mind-screwed once or twice and come out on top. If there's anybody a rookie goalie should take lessons from it's Osgood. If Howard keeps up his strong play this mentor relationship could really help him become stronger mentally.

I don't know, a sports broadcast isn't really a time to be "edgy." This reminds me of that Family Guy joke "that's lamer than FDR's legs....What, too soon?" Except that FDR was a world-renowned, controversial politician (in which edgy jokes are sometimes okay), and Hobey Baker was just a hockey player who didn't do anybody any harm (which makes this joke tasteless, stupid and offensive).

I've got a gut feeling that Abdelkader will become the next Franzen-like scoring suprirse. He's got the talent, he just has to develop and be put in that position consistently.

Good to see Datsyuk up there, but the Malik goal is insane.

I agree with you guys, the team may be great when healthy, but even if they win all the time they'll still have to wait for several teams above them to start losing, which can't be counted on. The only way the Wings can influence is if they beat those teams that need to lose (coughBLACKHAWKScough). I don't want to say it's the end of the line if they don't win next game against the Hawks, but it's going to make it that much tougher to allow the Hawks to further their lead. Example: If we beat the Hawks next time, we'll be right back where we started points-wise relating to the Hawks. If we lose, we'll be behind where we were last week. This is where beating division rivals comes in handy. You can't juts beat crappy teams, you need to beat the teams above you. We're within striking distance of the Hawks lead, but we need to beat them every time we play them from here on out, really, on top of beating the random Western teams above us. Healthy might be too late. They need to find ways to win now, which they have been. I'll say this was inevitable and due to injuries and exhaustion, but they better have the cojones to beat the Hawks next game.

The thing with losing teams is that when they turn goon it never starts a winning streak. And once again, goonery won't prevent injuries from legal hits.

That injury report is brutal. Not to mention we only have one complete line or pairing of actual NHL players. Somehow...I still have a good feeling tonight. As long as Ozzie plays like we know he can the team will be in good shape. The one good thin about the AHLers is that they tend to work harder than anyone else. A combination of good goaltending and hard work is going to benefit the Wings greatly. And frankly, I think Ozzie knows what's at stake and he'll be in playoff form for this game. Unfortunately I have to miss the game, but I did wear my jersey that I wore throughout their winning streak. I didn't wear it yesterday because I had work in the morning until the game was over and they lost. I rocked out the jersey and so tonight the Griffins will win. So it is written, so shall it be done.

Sure, the Wings are depleted and this looks like 2 easy wins, but I have a gut feeling that the Wings team we know and love will show up, players missing or not, and steal at least one of these games. They seem to come through when things look the darkest. After all, we've seen that most of our AHL lineup can handle play defensively, so all we need is Bert Datsyuk and a role player to show up and score one or two and we'll be okay, I think. The Hawks offense isn't doing that much better than our own (I don't know about recently, I'm talking overall stats). I checked a couple of days ago and we were equal in goals for.

All signs point to a loss. So I'll call a dramatic, hard fought Wings win 5-4.

The beginning of the season was frustrating as hell, but it seems they've gotten into a rhthym where they care again about playing hockey. And considering what we're missing, it's amazing we're a mere 6 points out of 1st place in the West. Insane, really. Let's hope they keep it up. Looking at it that way (6 points out of 1st place) and considering we're missing our second line and a chunk of our defense plus half of our third line, this team is going to be scary good when they get healthy. If we make playoffs I feel like the Wings should be favorites to win the Cup, which I never would have called a month or two ago.

Babcock's quote is telling. Leino thought he only had to score, and that because he wasn't he was benched. This could explain why he was trying to do so much and force things, which can frustrate a young player and put them in a slump. If that quote was recent, maybe Leino will start focusing on the little things like Babcock says. Do all the little basic things and the scoring will come if you have a natural talent for it like Leino has had in the past.

They started winning once I started wearing my striped vintage jersey. Since they've been winning I haven't washed it and I only wear it on game days. My other jerseys were hit and miss. So I will continue to wear the striped one, I apologize for dropping the ball, guys.

Man, the next 5 games are crucial. We can't afford a loss next game or else Dallas will probably leapfrog us and we'll lose all the momentum. A win next game sets us up for only needing to win one of the Hawk games to still be chugging along nicely. But man, the next game, the Wings really need to win it.

Is this the first four game winning streak of the season? I don't remember them going beyond 3 games before.

You're right. It'd be great to have someone crazy out there, but they're not going to prevent these things from happening, or scare people away from making legal hits. Missed the game, but congrats Jimmy and Babs. I really like that Eaves and Bertuzzi have finally stepped up. I do worry, though, that when our players come back (namely Flip and Franzen) that it'll screw the system up and we'll have to sacrifice guys who are working and wait for those two to get their game back. With a little luck they can come back and not miss a step. Franzen never seems to have a problem returnign to form immediately after a long-term injury.

The Winter Classic has proven competitive with the college bowl games that day. Everyone thought people would ignore the Winter Classic but instead it was a hit. However, a second Winter Classic could potentially dilute the specialness of it. I'm not sure there's a big enough fanbase to spread over two games, though. Especially when one game will inevitably be inferior. Americans aren't going to watch a Canadian game, so you automatically cut that game audience in half or whatever. I just don't see how this is a smart move. It seems someone saw that the Winter Classic was successful so let's do even more! without thinking it through.

So give them one next year. Why do we need two just so the Canadians can have one? And the baseball diamond was cool and all last year, but sight-line wise it's atrocious, I really hope they don't do this every year. They should go back to football stadiums, or rotate once in a while. One Winter Classic (hence, having its own title), please. Winter Classics doesn't sound nearly as cool. It's bad enough that we'll someday have a Nashville-Phoenix Winter Classic, we don't need to double up on games to get there sooner.

I've been wondering this myself. Who can be sent down? How many extra players can a team carry? Abdelkader will (unfortunately) have to go down, because we'll need the space and I think he's one of the few that can be sent down. As for Miller, Eaves, May, Maltby? It'll suck but one of Miller or Eaves will probably have to sit as an extra skater. Don't know what to do with May, he's been good for us and I'd hate to send him packing, but he can't be sent down, can he?

Just my two cents: The only teams that might reasonably be expected to make playoffs that have even the slightest chance of going all the way in the West: San Jose, Detroit, Chicago. Everyone else is just the usual fodder for champions.

Osgood is the better goalie, but I feel more comfortable with Howard right now, isn't that weird? Go with the winning goalie.

It's a bit old, Detroit for one has racked up a bunch since then, not sure about the other teams.

He would certainly deserve it, but it seems like LA or some previously crappy team now making a go of things would have an edge.