VM1138

Fights are so hard to judge. I don't usually count "falling down" as winning or losing a fight. You just lost your balance. I like KOs. So, in my book, Pronger didn't beat Cleary, as they both fell down, and Downey didn't really win his fight. That's just my outlook, though. I'm kind of demanding in what I expect from fights.

I've decided that I want Datsyuks only career fight to be with Pronger and I want Datsyuk to give him the slip and pile him into the boards. How awesome would that be? That reminds me of....man, must've been 2001? Pat Verbeek nailed someone twice his size right off the faceoff. So it can happen.

Lebda is back, so that's a bullet we dodged. I really hate Anaheim. The only team in the league. Everytime I see them I get angry. They fight hard, but that also means they fight cheap sometimes. Pronger, even Giguere got a little jab in after the goal (or so it looked like on the replay), they're all infuriatingly cheap. Gotta love these games though. Just wish they would stop breaking us and we'd break one of them for once.

I like it when they're on NBC, it's the only time most of the country would see a hockey game. I think they should be on more, have a Saturday Afternoon Hockey day every week or something.

The only players that I'm lukewarm about (not that they're bad players, just that I never felt like a fan of them) are: Maltby Drake Samuelsson Kopecky Franzen The only one I dislike (most of the time): Lilja. Everyone else is A-OK in my book and I'd consider myself a fan.

I agree, there's no reason to lock up Lilja long term. He's easily the weakest defenseman (though he has his good moments), and Quincey is in the Wings, eager to play considering he's already displayed NHL caliber ability in the PLAYOFFS no less. I don't know how possible this is, but I say we get a rental defenseman, someone who doesn't make mistakes but can throw his body around (don't worry about offense, obviously), and to get a long-term scorer locked up, preferably someone who can throw his weight around, and then have him replace Franzen. EDIT: Could we get anyone for Lilja? Would anyone even want him? Maybe we could convince a team hurting on the PK he'd be good for them, and thus get someone halfway decent who's maybe not so great on the PK but better at something else? Perhaps from a team already brimming with physicality?

People, people. I know sports fans love to quote stats, but they mean nothing. upsets are frequent in hockey, so stats mean absolutely nothing, especially in Red Wings history. ANyways, Anaheim is playing much better, and if Selanne comes back, all they have been ridiculed for all year will be gone. They will be essentially the same team (only with Schneider and Bertuzzi added to the mix and each contributing), so I'd dare say they stayed the same or improved. Now, I'm not going to ***** about losing defesemen in the playoffs last year. Anyone who really watched the games knows that the Wings did just fine without injured players. What finally caught up with them, was luck. This is not to say that Detroit owned that series. It seemed Anaheim and Detroit split the games as fara s playing goes. But there were at least two games when Detroit outplayed Anaheim and lost, and one game when Anaheim outplayed Detroit and lost. And a lot of goals were flukes, mistakes, etc. Those mistakes are not represented in stats. We can talk about "If Jiggy is injured, they're screwed." But who's to say he gets injured? It's much more likely he's healthy come playoffs, and we all know Jiggy is only good in the playoffs, and by good I mean amazing. I'd say that a rematch in the Western Finals will happen, and it's either teams' series for the picking. The teams are about the same, talent wise. Last year was defined by flukes (for both teams), freak plays and luck. It all depends on how those flukes fall this year.

I can't believe people think Hossa is good enough to replace multiple players on the Wings. I'd hate to see Cleary go, but to think we could lose him, Hudler, and God knwos who else just to get Hossa is ridiculous. Hudler has been one of our best players and is developing nicely. I know you have to give up talent to get talent, but this is ridiculous the talk that goes on around here.

Feds adds nothing really to the team. I like him and all, but virtually every player on the Wings right now is the same type of player. We need someone who is a little better offensively.

I'm suddenly kind of concerned about Cleary. His re-signing is not a given. I never thought of this before, but in the articles I've read and the comments everyone has made, they don't seem to be the generic "no worries here" type attitude they have for most of the players. I have no real information, but the gist I get from the articles by reading in between the lines is that there is a little hitch somewhere in re-signing Cleary. I'd hate to lose him, he's becoming our heart-and-soul guy.

Chelios has also been one of the key players for this team. He was invaluable last year in the playoffs. He plays a small role on the team until the Wings are in a critical spot, and then they pull him out. He's like their secret weapon. The guy makes less mistakes than most defensemen, and against most of the players in the league he's great. I don't think he catches a lot of "breaks," because he's been so critical for this team at the right moments.

A few turnovers don't outweigh the tremendous skill Rafalski has brought to the Wings. He was a great acquisition and I hope he stays with the Wings for many years. Not every player can be like Lidstrom, in fact, he's in a league of his own. Out of all non-Lidstrom defensemen in the league, I'd say Rafalski is the best out there.

I'm a little nervous about facing them, just because no matter how bad they are they always seem to give the Wings a hard time. Not to mention that they're defending champs, beat us last time (and thus have the psychological edge). Despite being the extraordinarly better team, I think Detroit is at the disadvantage until they steal a game in the playoffs. The onus is on the Wings. That being said, I think this has the opportunity to develop into a really good rivalry if we keep facing them in the playoffs and it stays as contentious as it's been. All it takes is one incident now to elevate it to a full rivalry.

Maybe at abusing babies.

I think people are taking this whole "they couldnT keep up that play forever" a little too far. Ozzie has outperformed all expectations. One or two bad games and it's suddenly "Well, it's not like he was ever seriously contending for the Vezina." Um...I still believe (and I'm far from a blind fan of anyone on the team) that two bad games doesn't take you out of the running. I mean, my God, it's like the team and Ozzie just suddenly dropped to the bottom of the stats or something.

All I remember about women hockey back in 2002 was that they were slow, they really FREAKED out whenever anyone came within a foot of them, let alone touched them, and the skill simply wasn't there.

I was at the Colorado game where Chelios got the standing ovation. It was one of the coolest things I've seen while actually at a hockey game. The fame Chelios has is well-deserved, and considering many think of him as one of the greatest American hockey players, not even considering his special circumstances (age), you'd think a Detroit paper could churn out a new 100 word article that most half-talented writers can pump out in 3 minutes.

Only players worth getting rid of for Sundin: Kopecky, Howard, Meech.

Don't forget Christmas presents. Lots of people get tickets for presents and will be going to games for the next month or two. Also, the Wings are playing more interesting teams in the next few months. Colorado this Tuesday (I'm going) will probably be a sell out, at least, a gut feeling tells me so. Plus, we've got games against Anaheim and other more interesting teams. In the first half of the season we've played Nashville, St. Louis, and Chicago a bunch of times (teams very few people go out of their way to see, there is no urgency since we know there will be more games in a few weeks mostly) and a bunch of weak, uninteresting teams. But the second half of a season is always more intense than the first, so I would expect the noise levels and the crowds to get bigger as the season goes on.

Babcock is the best coaching acquisition for the WIngs since Bowman. The guy has been one of the best coaches in the league since he's entered it, and he's got a long, promising future ahead of him. I hope he stays with the Wings, Cup or not, because his work ethic is passing onto the players. The WIngs would not be known as the hardest working team in the league if not for Babcock.

It might just be that the Central is more talented this year. Standings may not show it, but they've got a right to feel like they should be higher in the standings. And the WIngs are a big target. That felt a little like a playoff game and I hope that the WIngs can figure out how to win in situations like that. The third period was the worst hockey I've seen them play this season.

Since when does a losing streak equal adversity? That's retarded. They don't need to lose any games. THey need to have CLOSE games. They need to fight and scrap for every opportunity and pull games out that they have no business winning. That is how you prepare for the playoffs. Fighting from behind (like last night versus Phoenix) is how they prepare. Gritty games like against the Avs the other night is how they prepare. Losing is how you lose confidence and make bad reactionary decisiosn that affect the team long-term. There is a danger in being overconfident in the playoffs or feeling invincible, but there's an even greater danger in not having faith in your team and forgetting how to win.

Well, Osgood played different back then, and the Avs were an equally talented team. I say Osgood pretty much has to be our starter next year, if he can perform in the playoffs. Bigger risks have been taken in the past. Howard could be our number 2, or we could trade him for someone else, because from all I've seen Howard is another bust like Grigorenko.

It's not overplayed. He's not a good coach. From what I've seen he can't keep up or adapt, he can't inspire his players, and he's not very good at coming up with an overall game plan. They have some talent on that team, and it IS starting, ever so gradually, to turn around for Phoenix, at least slightly, but little of that can be attributed to Wayne. He's been coach for what...three years now? And he has nothing to show for it. Even coaches destined for mediocrity have shown more with what they're given in their first three years.

The Wings seem to be enjoying themselves even more than usual this season.