VM1138

Very cool, wish more teams did it. It makes the players more accessible, and definitely more likeable than athletes in other sports.

And suddenly Holland not breaking the bank with free agents over the summer makes sense. At first I thought this was a pipe dream, but if he really is looking for a trade, I think it'd be hard for him to say no. Especially if you have Scotty Bowman and Steve Yzerman convincing you to come to a great hockey city that is one of the most likely to make it to the Finals this season. Especially when part of the attraction is to his ego, saying HE is the missing piece. That's a huge attraction for a player frustrated with a team. The only thing that works against us is he may be possibly looking to resurrect a team, much like he attempted in Phoenix. Just a better crappy team.

Kronner should get paired with Lidstrom. As well as several other younger players who aren't performing up to snuff. We should go back to pairing them with experienced players to learn from, even though 3 of our 4 lines are working great.

We could get some quality players for Flip, Hudler, and maybe Lilja tagged on to sweeten the deal (since no one would trade exclusively for him alone).

What's funny about this is that the goal is to make everyone faster. But if everyone has these skates, and the rinks get bigger, then the effect is neutralized and we're back to where we are now. What an expensive waste.

People's complaints are legitimate. No one is "throwing Hasek under the bus". He had a bad night, after his traditional slow start. People just want to find a way to get him into form without hurting the Wings too bad, which is why they're talking about giving Osgood (9-0-5 in his last 14 games) more playing time. It's not like we want Hasek traded or anything. He'll play amazing later on. But we need to get some momentum. The Hudler/Kopecky/Flip line DOES lack confidence. I hate to say it, but maybe it's time to break up Zetterberg and Dats? True, they are an unstoppable combo, and breaking them up doesn't always work, but someone with some experience needs to play with these kids. I was all excited to give them a shot but so far they're bombing, bad. Maybe even putting Cleary up there for a while, someone who drives to the net, plays hard, and makes things happen. It's kind of sad that to improve their line we need to hack apart the lines that are working for us. Maybe we should just drop them to Line 4 and bump everyone else up? Heh. Those kids need someone experienced or confident on their line to give them some quality. I know they're young, but they're not going to learn if they only play with other inexperienced kids. And our defense needs to learn how to spread out and not get caught in the offensive zone on a turnover.

Everyone seems to have the same opinion. Not much freaking out and "get rid of this person", but we recognize a few things now: Filpulla and Hudler are not living up to expectations. At all. We need to hedge our bets a little and either pick someone up or re-arrange the lines. I'm not going to exaggerate and say these two aren't trying, or aren't getting close, but something just isn't clicking. Hate him or not, Sammy puts points up on the board. So he's fine on a second line. Draper is fine where he is. Drake and Maltby are fine where they are. Cleary is fine anywhere they put him. He can grind and score on any line, I think. Flip and Huddles need to step up or step down. Right now, I hate to say, they're really setting themselves up as trade bait more than they are as the future of this team. We have depth, as I've mentioned, Cleary and Draper are scoring, the rest are contributing in other ways. But these two just seem to bring nothing to the table AT THIS MOMENT. As well all know, hockey is a sport that can change on a dime. All it takes is one goal and Flip or Hudler could start tearing it up. I personally feel the Wings are weakest on defense (Lilja could be potential trade-bait), which is bizarre, because all of their defensemen are great. It just seems that they keep getting into bad positions where they have to race back to catch up to a two-on-one. And goal. It's only been two games, but Osgood is really seeming to be a better top goalie than Hasek right now. I know, I know, Hasek starts slow. And he had all those short-handed minutes. But the fact is, he hardly ever stops break-aways, the goals he's allowing aren't exactly amazing, non-stoppable goals. I wonder what allowing Osgood to play more games than Hasek early on would do? Would this keep Hasek in his funk, or allow him to get his game to late-season form without hurting the team too badly? I just can't help but think that Ozzie wouldn't have let him a few of those goals.

I really hate to lay blame on anyone, but Hasek looked terrible tonight. Why is he so terrible one on one? And why is our world-class defense so stupid when it comes to positioning lately? I think the Wings have been on the wrong end of two-on-ones more times in the last 7 games than the entirety of last season. (Exaggeration, I know) Anyway, Bryz has another great game. Anaheim goons it up. And way too many penalties for this to be any good of a game. I'm really disappointed. Detroit plays sloppy. Seriously, how many times can the puck go wide/get deflected? it seemed that when there was chaos around Detroit's goal, Anaheim kicked it into high gear. When chaos happened around Anaheim's goal, Detroit didn't move quick and shoot, they held the puck and allowed themselves to set themselves up. They need to realize you can't beat a goalie like Bryz by setting up a play. You need to take advantage of flopping bodies, sticks, and chaos.

Wings won't be too tired. At least, not any moreso than a usual back-to-back. The time difference SHOULD be balanced out by tomorrow night, considering, as Murphy noted, the game ended well before midnight on their internal clocks. Tonight was just like a normal game for them, so I'm assuming tomorrow they'll only be the usual level of tired going into a secon dback-to-back game. I expect it to be close, but I hope the Wings pull out the win.

Yeah, I'm not even concerned about Hasek anymore. Osgood is a starter on any other team in the league. The guy has NEVER let us down. He had a bum rap (much like Legace and Cujo, who I wasn't fond of, either) for early playoff exits even though the team in front of him never scored. The guy has a perfect attitude, brings his A game every night, even after long breaks, and isn't easily rattled. His cool, collected level of play complements perfectly Hasek's erratic, passionate play. I can't think of a better two-goalie punch in the league right now.

I just find it amusing that all the critics constantly point out how the Wings are good because we're in a weak division and all that. Well, shockingly enough, as it stands right now five of the top nine teams in the West are the entire Central Division. Granted, it's early, but judging from what we've seen, every team has improved (except for Nashville, who manages to stay decent anyways). So when the WIngs win the Central this year, maybe we finally will hear the end of all that Weak Division garbage. Just thought I'd point this out in case people didn't notice.

God forbid a team has an offnight. God forbid they have trouble beating a single team. Lord knows nothing like this has ever happened to any other team, especially every team every season. I can't believe people want to throw half the team out five games into the season and bring back FEDEROV. I agree, something seems to be missing, but that's what trading is for. I think we can all agree the only ones likely to be traded are Lilja or Sammy. Everyone else is doing their part. I know Wings fans are insane with passion, but haven't you ever played any sports before? Some nights no matter how good you are, you just can't get it going. Everyone has slumps, so Datsyuk may be starting off with one. But you're crazy if you think he's not going to have a great year.

I've talked to a lot of people who used to watch the Wings. They don't know any of the new players. Some know Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, and Draper. But since Draper isn't productive anymore, that leaves 3 players (aside from Hasek) that people know. Lidstrom is not that famous because casual fans don't even notice him on the ice (which is the beauty of his style of play). So the problem is, we have no Shannys, Federovs, or Yzermans. That sort of loyalty takes years to develop. Those players came around at the perfect time. No other Detroit teams were any good consistently, so we latched onto the hope that those players brought. What do Datsyuk and Zetterberg bring? Nothing new. The team is already good, there's no hope and promise in these guys, we just expect them to continue the great tradition. They need to be part of a huge marketing blitz like the PIstons, Lions, and Tigers have all year long. The Wings players have little face recognition, no name recognition, and have no amazing storyline like the resurrection of a dead franchise to play. We are settling into a comfortable zone after years of peaking. It's only natural.

I like how baggy the old jerseys are. Any new ones I buy will be old ones, I'm extremely reluctant to buy the new ones. If I wanted a T-shirt or other tighter shirt, I'd buy a t-shirt. I have an old UofM hockey jersey, a Chelios red jersey, and one of those '92 striped vintage jerseys. During the winter I wear them all the time. Summer, not so much, I stick to t-shirts then. I've never EVER heard of someone rolling up sleeves on a hockey jersey. Do people really do this?

The 5-on-5 does concern me. The young guys are not playing as well as everyone had hoped. I don't understand why, exactly. Cleary, Drake, Draper, etc. should be scoring, or at least getting close. After all, our new style of play supposedly leads to goals. It certainly does seem like we only have two good lines, and the wingers (except for Homer) aren't good enough. Hopefully things improve.

It's clear that people are reading too much into the loss to Chicago. However, there are lessons to be learned. Hasek needs to be a little better, and our other lines need to start producing more. Cleary has had a couple of chances, and the other lines get close, but they need to finish the deal each time they drive the net.

All the lines did really well, though I don't remember seeing much of Draper's line. Which is a shame. I really like Filpulla and Cleary, I hope they step it up a notch.

As people already said, his name is awesome enough. However, my votes would go for: Kamikaze The Hammer Tex I REALLY like The Hammer and Kamikaze. In fact, regardless of what you guys decide I may still call him one of those.

Attaboy Sammy. You can't shoot worth s***, so hit somebody! Man Corey Perry is a jerk-off.

Well, not a season goes by he doesn't get suspended a few times.

You know, I never advocate the hurting of another person, but Pronger really has it coming. The guy is just a prick. I'm glad to see him get chipped in the face.

Homer!

I don't think anyone is turning on Dom. I'm a fan. And he IS a slow starter, he just seems to be a little off his game tonight.

I'm not so sure. If we kept him we'd be pushing him to get healthy and slim, no doubt. We have guys in amazing shape.

True. We won, what, 75% of our games coming from behind in the third? Still, though...this is raising some questions in my mind about Hasek. And I'm really not liking Bertuzzi being healthy again. So many people guessed this might happen.