VM1138

He was already offered a GM position, I don't think he has any interest in leaving the Wings. In sports, we're so used to guys who are super competitive and always wanting to advance, but I think Nill has found what he's good at and is comfortable doing it. He knows that if he's patient, he'll get the job in Detroit, so what difference does a few years make?

Well, we've lost the most man-games in the league. Missed the game, but it sounds pretty typical. I heard on the radio a few bad plays that involved Cleary, believe it or not.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=655407&navid=DL|NHL|home Well, well, well. Columbus is doing a little house cleaning. Howson has been a pretty bad GM, there's really no doubt about that. Replacing him can only be good for them, right? Columbus has a little bit of talent, nothing great to build around, and the next GM is going to have a heckuva time rebuilding. On the one hand, it could be fun, but on the other, the job would be so difficult starting from scratch, I don't envy whoever the replacement is.

I get frustrated with Babcock's handling of players and I'm not sure he knows how to utilize young guys, but he's still the best coach in the league. Most of our troubles can be traced to the departures of McClellan and Maclean, and the total collapse of our special teams. I think we just haven't found good assistant coaches yet. And Babcock has shown a lot of faith in Brunner and Tatar and Lashoff thus far, so I think he's improving in the handling of young talent.

The NBA isn't as popular as the NHL, I don't think. I don't have hard numbers but I've heard a great deal about struggling teams outside of big urban centers like LA and New York, and I think their TV audience is on par with or smaller than NHL games most of the time. It just gets an inordinate amount of coverage in sports shows because of the strength of the NBA in New York and LA, which happen to be two of the biggest radio and TV markets. I heard PIstons tickets were selling for DIRT cheap as recently as last week.

Classless.

Not familiar with their lineup enough to know who would help us, but it definitely sounds like Flip would be a good fit with them.

Wings don't need another project at this point. And besides, at this stage of his career, he's not a "project," he's just on the decline. Changes of scenery can help, but it doesn't always. As people have pointed out, there's just nothing left that he can do effectively. The Wings need some game changers, not just filler. EDIT: I got him mixed up with Ray Whitney age-wise. So he's not old, but he's still not effective.

He might be all right someday, but right now we have other NHL ready players in Tatar, Nyquist, and Lashoff. Mrazek is probably close, too, but I'd rather he get playing time.

Marleau always does good in the regular season, but disappears once the pressure is on.

Ignoring their mediocre record, I love a lot of things about this team. Zetterberg and Datstuk returning to dominance, Brunner scoring goals off wicked wristers, Tootoo, even Lashoff. Plus, this game is fun, high tempo and skilled on both sides. Feels a bit like a playoff game.

The Isles are a very poorly run team. It's really embarrassing. Their ownership clearly has no desire to field a competent team. They must have some sweetheart deal worked out where they can spin a profit off of this failure with Brooklyn. Put as little money as possible, just to get to the cap floor, put no thought into the signings, sit back and cash the checks until you need to get to the floor again. I would be furious if I were the Islanders fan.

This sucks. Excited to see him, but against St. Louis? Made much more sense to play him last game. With no axe to grind, traditionally lazy play and Mrazek in net, this could be a long night...

Howard hasn't been stellar this season, but that's okay. He needs to steal an odd game but the defense is terrible. The players, .the strategy, all of it. We don't need an elite defense but a good one would help Howard immensely.

I was under the impression that Ferraro had disappointed. I looked up his current season stats, and while they're good for the AHL, I don't see them as spectacular. 33 points in 44 games, 0 +/-. Previous season 56 games, 20 points, -6. I know stats don't tell the whole story, but I haven't heard anyone talk about him as a future Wing, other than a few odd call-ups. I don't think he'd add anything to our lineup. We already have a bunch of wingers. Sheahan, same thing. I've heard his potential is a 4th line player for the Wings, but his grit would be helpful. I don't follow the prospects closely, though, so I might be missing some intangibles. Although his +/- looks good.

Suter is the only NHL defrnseman on his team, which makes it harder to keep his stats up. Haha. Weber is probably just off to a slow start thanks to Nashville struggling.

I don't really know much about his kids, but I know a couple of people who have met or worked with them briefly and they all say the Ilitches are down to earth people. Now, that doesn't necessarily equate to competent ownership, but it seems like they will continue the style of ownership Mike Ilitch has used, which is good.

I don't think anyone has said Emmerton is bad, he just adds nothing to this team. So people aren't sentimental about seeing him go.

The Selanne comparison doesn't work. Corset isn't just in a scoring rut. He is visibly struggling to play the game. I'm not anti-Cleary, but if his body needs a rest, bench him and use him on a rotational basis. Whether his decline is real or just a rut, he cannot currently hang with the opposition. He trained all year and conditioned himself, but it doesn't appear to have worked. I dont mind if he stays, but he isnt doing us any good playing every game.

This illustrates the fact that we have become too reliant on plugs. I hate to sound like I am part of the negative parade, but Cleary is like Scott Gomez out there. It sucks to bench a guy who is trying hard, but Babcock needs to be realistic. Out bottom 6 lacks an identity, and this team doesn't have lines. It's a problem. For six spots on the bottom two lines we have: Cleary, Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, Eaves, Tootoo, Emmerton, Nyquist, Sammy. Most play similar styles. Get rid of Cleary and Emmerton, drop one of Miller or Eaves (I hate to say it, its nothing against them, but they've always been similar on what they bring to the team) and bring in a faceoff specialist. And Babcock is pretty bad at assembling lines. Datsyuk and Bertuzzi should never be separated, neither should Franzen and Zetterberg. Those lines are tge closest to having a reliable identity. Flip is a goner, I think. He nets us a decent return. Not ideal, but he's the only roster player we have who anyone might want and who we could find a way to survive without.

This has got to be a win. It would put us right on the heels of Chicago and St. Louis in the standings. But I'm nervous. There are so many reasons to expect the Wings to slip up here. Hopefully they realize how close they are to being back near the top of the standings.

Basically, in most cases 2-way contracts coincide with being waiver-exempt. But it's a coincidence and doesn't mean a 2-way contract IS waiver exempt all the time.

Let's not forget the league has shown a willingness to get rid of conferences altogether in tgeir realignment plan.

I agree that we don't need another puck-moving defenseman. The media people are just stuck in the "Replace Lidstrom" mind set. Kronwall, Quincey, Smith, and White can all move the puck. Ericsson can, too, but he usually moves it right into the opposing team's sticks. What we severely lack is a defensive specialist as good as Stuart was. I mean, hey, if you can sign a top offensive D-man, then great, it will help, but the real problem here is our defense is a defensive liability. That's why people are so impressed with Huskins. He doesn't do anything other than make sure things don't get out of control. If you can bottle that up with some higher level playing talent, that's the guy the team needs for starters. EDIT: And as for the NTC, well, it's up the player. A No-Trade Clause just protects the player from being moved without his approval. It just complicates matters because the player could want to stay or cause trouble and demand certain ideal circumstances that severely limit the teams he could go to.

Yes, it will be. I said in Game 1 that this is a playoff team, but it's not a Cup winning team. Does anyone know when the trade deadline is this season since it's shortened? Buckle up, there's going to be a lot of ups and downs, but hopefully the ups will outweigh the downs.