Shinzaki

Sproul and Marchenko are both RH Dmen. I'll bet Marchenko is on the 3rd pairing next year. Smith has done a nice job in this series...love to see him on the PP.

He's the Wings answer to Prince Fielder...a guy who just isn't playing up to his contact and doesn't seem to give a 3F about it. He is most definitely shying away from the slot in this series...I wonder if that concussion he took earlier this year is having an impact on his style of play.

Goal and an assist tonight in a SH loss...Saw a bit of the game on STO out of Cleveland. Athanasiou is going to be a good one...I give him a year in GR before he's ready.

The Wings were the tougher team last night. Won more of the battles in the corners and in front of the net. Any idiot can "chuck knuckles" so the Bruins can roll all the idiots out there that they want. Our hockey payers will continue to skate around Chara like he's a big goofy pylon.

Win the series and then send Corey and Trevor out to pants Lucic in the handshake line....

Picked up an assist for GR last night in his AHL debut.... Janmark and Backman also saw action

credit to Abdelkader for charging towards the cage....forced the D to stay with him and allowed Datsyuk to have more room to the outside to use the screen

This mock has Kempe going at 14 to Dallas... www.mynhldraft.com

At least Jurco was facing Emelin when he speared him in the nuts earlier this month....Lucic is a backstabbing coward.

Poked that bear pretty hard tonight. Glendening eating that hit to hold the puck in the corner and kill the clock was the kind of tough play that wins playoff games.

As are Backman and Athanasiou....

Top pair Dman? 1st, Mantha and Jurco or something like that would be the asking price

Makes his North American debut for Grand Rapids tonight!!!

I don't think sgning any of the UFA's makes sense because you're going to have to...more than likely...pay more for them than they're worth. I don't think it makes any more sense to dismiss players as "kids" than it does to just hand them a job. That said... I'd much rather go into camp looking at Marchenko taking a spot on the 3rd pairing than paying Quincey or his 37 year old equivalent 5 million a year to deliver similar results. I'd much rather give Oulett or Sproul a shot at regular minutes than Brian Lashoff. Lashoff is what he is..an extra Dman. Kindl? I don't know what to think about him. If a trade opens up for a top pairing Dman..great. I think the bidding starts with Anthony Mantha, another young forward like Tatar and maybe a draft pick. I don't see KH throwing those kinds of assets around when they have Dmen in the system that they think can mature into top 4 guys in the next couple of years

I don't really care if Sproul and Oulett are 21 and 20...if they can play at the NHL level, they should be here...if they need more time in GR, that's fine, but if Babcock and his staff think they're a better option than Kindl and Lashoff, bring them up and roll them out there. I think Marchenko..assuming his ankle is 100% is absolutely ready now and I would rather bring him up than overpay to keep Quincy..which given the thin FA market for Dmen is something we'd likely have to do. BTW..I'm not a Quincey hater, I think he's been a decent 2nd/3rd pairing guy for much of his time here. I don't think the trade that brought him here was a bad one, yeah we gave up a number one for him, but we got a couple of years of play from a top 6 Dman . That's not a bad return. I just don't think Quincey is worth the $5 mil or so someone else will throw at him.

Sproul and Marchenko are both RH shots...Sproul has a cannon. Marchenko is a steady, puck moving, responsible DMan. Pair him with Smith or keep Smith with Dekeyser and let Marchenko play with Kindl on the third pairing. If Sproul is ready...get what you can for Lashoff and let Kindl and Sproul fight it out for the 6th spot

Toughness in the playoffs is about winning the battles in the corner and limiting second shots off rebounds in front of the net. Fighting isn't an issue....

Don't forget Marchenko....I agree that we're almost to the point of having too many bodies on D. I wouldn't look for them to sign or trade for anyone on D that isn't a top pairing guy...I wouldn't be surprised if they did nothing on the D other than letting Quincey walk until camp rolls around and they see how far the kids have progressed. I think that would be the smart play

Way too early to slot Sheahan as a 3rd line C. I see him as a 2nd line C for us right now..he has a great set of hands , a very nasty wrist shot, and he really knows how to use his body around the net. I think his biggest mistake was going to Notre Dame. His time there stunted his offensive development and he's just now catching up. Jurco/Sheahan/Tatar is a combination that could really do some damage against the big, slow Bruins.

Sheahan is 6-2 and 212 lbs. Unless Jarnkrok starts using steroids or becomes a legit #1 C...something Sheahan may someday develop into himself.., he will never be valued as highly as Sheahan

I don't want to belabor the point...but I'm gonna. When you say he's not scoring like Mantha or anything..tht's like saying Andre Drummond isn't tall like Manute Bol or anything. Fine...Drummond isn't 7-5, but he is 7ft and that's really fricking tall. Maybe it's the "or anything" part that seems off. To me, 95 pts in an arguably tougher league is "anything"... Whatever the case, they're both exciting prospects with top six potential.

Not scoring like Mantha? He went 49-46-95 in 65 games....that's pretty impressive.

He's Maltby with about 15lbs of added muscle. He could stay stuck on zero goals and still be a key part of a cup winner. Re Folin...eh...we have two RH shooting Dmen on the GR roster in Sproul and Marchenko who are just about NHL ready from what I've seen and read. Haven't seen anything of Folin, but that one talking head on CBC said scouts thought he was a notch below Dekeyser

I like Andersson... I don't think his +/- number this year is a reflection of his defensive ability. He's a big body and he seems to know how to use it around the net. With the added space between the cage and the boards...having a big center that can control the puck and shield off a defender while working behind the net is a huge advantage. I see him possibly maturing into a 3rd...maybe 2nd line C with a floor as a very good 4th line C

The top search at hockeydb.com? Gustav Nyquist. In 1976 the Tigers had the Bird....today the Wings have the Goose