VM1138

If the Wings play the Sharks it'll be a race to see who can get swept first.

Just glanced through who the Wings have signed through next year. There isn't a forward spot open and one defensemen spot open. Someone has got to be traded, because the lines are essentially the same and clearly relying on so many role players isn't working consistently. I don't know if Nyquist will stay another year in the AHL, but I'm assuming he stays up, as well as Smith. As of right now we have something like this: Franzen-Datsyuk- Bertuzzi Filppula-Zetterberg-Cleary Eaves-Helm-Nyquist Miller-Emmerton-Abdelkader ???-White Kronwall-Quincey Ericsson-Smith Kindl Any turnover is going to have to be forced. Of those remaining Emmerton needs to go, we need more depth at center. Honestly, though I'm not too bummed by the bottom two forward lines. It's just that the top two lines have been too inconsistent and need to be changed.

"Bigger, tougher" is the go-to solution, yet that's not the problem this team has. It's no hustle, no heart, no scoring depth. Having a team full of 9 goal scorers may keep you up among the top in team scoring, but it doesn't win you a lot of games. More than anything else they need fresh blood (more than just one mid-range player) to change the forward corps dynamic. Bigger and tougher wouldn't hurt, but that's not what's stopping them from playing good consistently.

There's really no excuse or explanation that justifies what they're doing lately. I've never seen them play this terrible this close to playoffs. The only exception would be in 2002, but they were so far ahead they had nothing to play for. What the hell is wrong with these guys?

Our road record would beg to differ. If we don't finish in 4th or higher the Wings are in serious trouble come playoff time.

Jeez this last month has been a nightmare. There's only a couple of weeks left, these injuries have to stop.

The PP is an embarrassment. I never thought I'd see the Wings so inept on the PP, not only in lack of scoring but in allowing shorthanded goals. I imagine we would have won a ton more games had the powerplay been even average. THAT is what frustrates me the most, because we've spent a decent amount of time on the PP this season. Clearly the team still has offensive problems. I don't know if it's the offensive coach, or if it's the players, but next season, regardless of whether the Wings win the Cup this year, is going to see a pretty dramatic change on the forward lines.

No kidding. This decision doesn't change anything for me unless they play them on the national NBC network. It doesn't really make it more widely viewable. Not to a significant degree. They need to designate a weeknight and the weekends as hockey nights on NBC so they can get a national audience and introduce the game. They wouldn't get any worse ratings than what NBC is getting now.

Winning the division isn't all that unlikely, really. The Blues have lost two straight I think. Runs like the one they've been on don't last. And the Wings are getting healthy and should be going into playoff mode soon. It'll be close but I think the Wings will probably leap frog the Blues again as they hit their own patch of adversity.

I disagree that this is "adversity." Generally, adversity has been when injuries plague you (which is the case here, admittedly) or something happens to you. The Wings' biggest problem this season has not been adversity, it has been lack of heart and drive. That is of their own making. I hope they can get it in gear for the playoffs.

I don't think they would have been anymore liable than if a regular kid slipped and fell. It's an accepted part of the game and should be covered by insurance. On top of that, a wheelchair basically physically cannot tip over on flat ice.

If there's another lockout, the NHL won't recover again. Goodbye NHL, time for some teams to form a rival league.

Agree about the effort, but they're missing the top players in every position, essentially (Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Howard is probably rusty and still hurting a bit). Plus extra depth injuries. It's more than just a few random pieces missing.

You know, it does make sense. We have one contract spot left open, right? We are a bit shallow on the defense prospect pool, and it does seem like we would be frontrunners (unless the kid just hates Michigan or Detroit). Yeah, I'd say this is pretty likely.

I seem to remember Datsyuk wowing everyone even in his first season. He may have come out of nowhere but people took notice right away.

Not sure if that's a total dick move by Columbus or a remarkably considerate one toward the fans who may have recently purchased Carter's jersey. I'm going to go with dick move.

This is garbage. Radulov isn't amazing, and he MAY suffer from KHL syndrome...but what if he doesn't? What if he's their missing piece? This seems like a really back-door chintzy way of giving their roster more depth that breaks in spirit if not in letter, the rules of the NHL.

Haven't followed them too closely, but I've heard a lot of people talk about how St. Louis lacks defensive depth. If true, that will cost them in the playoffs. Honestly, the Wings are one game out of 1st in the league, I'm not too concerned yet.

As it stands the only teams that really pose a threat to the Wings are San Jose (mostly due to psychology than skill now), St. Louis (for pure upstart underdog value) and maybe...just maybe Vancouver. None of which we'd play early in the playoffs anyway, except for San Jose. Honestly, this relentless pessimism is getting to me.

The Flyers are retarded. In several post-game comments they essentially admit it was clean, but call Kronwall a ***** anyway. “Dirty or not, I think it is frustrating for guys in this dressing room to see a hit like this,'' Talbot said. “Obviously, a lot of guys wanted to see Kronwall, and he didn't want to answer for his act. "It is something that he thought was a clean hit, so you can't blame the guy.'' So...on the one hand "he didn't want to answer for his act" even though said act was legal and required no answering. Then you turn around and say you can't blame him? You can't insult the guy and then defend him in two sentences.

Honestly, that's not even close to being borderline like some of his hits may have been in the past. He didn't even have an upward motion. Voracek shouldn't have had his head so low. If you can't make that hit every player will just start skating bent over so they won't get hit.

2010 all over again. They better be careful out there.

Wish I could have watched this game, it sounds like it was a fun one. I'm a wee bit concerned about their next game, though. Games following huge wins tend to be losses, and sometimes embarrassing ones.

Crosby. The kid is talented, but I hate how we shut him down every game and then he pops in for a game winning goal or some other important goal and then goes back to disappearing. Take the '09 series for example. I don't remember him being a factor until what, game 6? And didn't he score the game winner in that? Stupid.

This is the best one I've ever seen!