VM1138

Have Datsyuk and Zetterberg ever been out injured at the same time before since they've become leaders on the team? Say 2007? This is horrifying. I'm sure they'll come out okay, but God help us if our secondary scoring suddenly dries up again.

What do you know, if Cleary gets waived he was the answer to all our problems after all, because he frees up enough space to make us cap compliant with DeKeyser and Nyquist both in the lineup.

That project he workes on sounds awesome. As a hockey fan and a historian I would love to have an opportunity like that. Digging through early hockey articles abd video is a lot of fun.

He's living in Florida? I thought he lived near Detroit. Random observation from those excerpts, I admit.

I just can't get over how certain players have just totally retooled their game from earlier this season. Franzen is in beast mode. Smith is attacking the net and making smart decisions with the puck, Even Quincey isn't sucking as bad the past few games. He's broken up quite a few empty net chances.

Franzen has been remarkably consistent since he came back from his mysterious injury. I haven't had a single complaint about him and he's been one of our better players. Consistently, which is weird.

I want to beat them. Humiliate them. Beating the snot out of them physically but losing won't teach them any lessons. Nothing is better than crushing them and have them lose their cool and then crush them a little more, showing how they can't rattle us. But if Cowen plays, I want to see personal retribution. too. Is that too much for which to ask?

He made a similar play the game before where he shook off a forechecker. He's not nearly as uneasy as he used to be. He's making smart decisions with the puck, is jumping into the offensive play and really using his skating to create good plays.

We've seen Helm heat up before. I think it's best if he eventually goes back to third line center. If he suddenly found a scoring touch he will make the third that much better. I don't know if he can keep up this pace forever. Tgough we've all wondered hiw good he could be if he ever learned how to score consistently. We may be about to find out.

What a beautiful pass by Smith! I know that was probably mostly luck but that is exactly what we expected from Smith. H

People give him a pass because he's not a 40 year old. I mean, come on people. What are we supposed to do with him? A player doesn't go from being effective year after year to just never being any good ever again. You especially don't judge a player only 25% into the season. Right now it's not the best signing, but it's far more likely he'll return to form than continue to do absolutely nothing. That's why he gets a pass. However, TONS of new kids burn out, which is why players like Brunner don't get a pass. Weiss has a track record of success. Thus, he gets the benefit of the doubt. And I agree with another poster, comparing Weiss to Alfredsson isn't right. Weiss is a solid two way center. Alfredsson is a Hall of Famer.

Last game helped boost the GF/GA. Hopefully they can keep it up.

I'll give him some slack because it's been a weird year so far. He leaves his home for the last decade, joins a team going through a historic slump where no one did anything right, can't develop chemistry due to line juggling, now has HBO cameras probably throwing the locker room out of whack, and now feels pressure because he's underperforming. He will come around and things will straighten out with the team as a whole.

Franzen is scoring consistently, Alfie seems to be filling Datsyuk's role as a leader and is assisting consistently. Weiss is the last one who needs to step it up. Everyone else is exactly where we expected them to be. The only underachievers left are Quincey, Cleary and Samuelsson.

Both. Boston just couldn't handle our speed and we had great passing and possession.

This was a perfect example what Helm, Nyquist and Tatar do for this team. Speed, accurate passing and heart. Enjoy it now. The Isles are on deck and those games never end well.

I'd just like to point out that Tatar has the same points (7 in 18 games) as he did last year, despite the teams troubles. He more than makes up for his defensive liability with his super-aggression with the puck.

I like how we play the good teams. We look like we belong. It's only when we play the bottom feeders that our mediocre-ness is exposed.

God Smith looks good when he gets up close to the net, doesn't he? Maybe he should be moved to forward. I haven't seen a Wing slide across the goal-mouth like that in a while.

No complaints here. Great price. Less than market value. Long-term contracts are always a little scary, but the cap should keep going up and values will continue to be inflated on the free agent market, so it's a steal. And it takes us right up to the next inevitable lockout, too, probably. This helps the Wings in the off-season, too. Saves us some cap space to aggressively target some higher level options. Plus, players will be more likely to come here if Kronwall and Ericsson are both locked up. That pretty much guarantees that the newcomer won't have to shoulder the burden of protecting the net themselves.

Smith had some wheels yesterday. I was really impressed with his skating under pressure. A couple of times he lost a forechecker with a slick reverse and zig-zag move. And at first I tgought he was playing forward because on an early shift he spent most of his time wheeling around in front of the net. I'll jump on the "Smith as a forward" band wagon. Babs won't do it because we need Smith to become a great defenseman and it might screw with his development.

I'm not concerned about Boston. We can beat the good teams. It's the other 90% of the league that give us problems.

Alfredsson made a great pass to make that happen. The guy is wise out there on the ice. Plus, Helm with a backhander? I'm glad we're getting some secondary scoring finally (Tatar, Nyquist and Helm) And Weiss has some slick moves. Sooner or later they have to result in goals.

That Tatar shot across the goal mouth was perfect if Andersson was in a slightly better position. Or maybe if he was Zetterberg or Nyquist. Even considering that Tatar isn't a perfect well-rounded player yet, you gotta love how he and Nyquist just automatically go for the net, whether with their bodies, their passes or their shots. When in doubt, put it on net. I think they're the only players on the team that do that.

Both teams look sort of...blah. Despite some decent chances for Detroit, Buffalo and Detroit both look like they're just going through the motions.