GMRwings1983

I saw it too, and King is the real deal. The only person that beat him last year was Boogaard. I'd like to see more raw power from King, but he's definitely got size and strength. He surprised me last year by beating guys that I didn't think he'd win against, but people will be gunning for him this year.

I think the "pain train" should have his own site too. The leading caption at the top would be "It wasn't my fault"

I think a lot of the attendance problems have to do with the popularity of this team. When guys like Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanahan, McCarty, and others left, that created a huge void in the popularity of this team. All those guys played for us for many years, and the young guys on this team will probably never be as popular as any of those players. The Wings for the longest time had all the talent, and even though this team is still good, we're not nearly as talented as the teams of the past. I don't think that fans are overjoyed to go to games to see our 2nd line which consists of Sammy, Hudler, and Flip. Likewise, even though many of you don't want to admit this, not having any fighters on your team doesn't help the crowd's enthusiasm either. Many people go to hockey games to see physical play and fights, and the Wings don't offer that whatsoever.

I'd be more interested in Van Damme than Van Ryn.

Dude, a rented mule couldn't do any worse than what Kopecky has done so far in the NHL. Speaking of that, does anyone know how Langfeld's doing in Nashville?

Great Post. You pretty much summed up what I'd say on this topic. It's tempting, but I don't want to see a grind line reunion in Detroit.

Carolina is much deeper at forward than we are, so they just want to get all their top players out on the powerplay. Hopefully, the only reason Sammy was on the point was because of the injuries last year. He doesn't belong back there.

As I said last night, even though Lang and Bertuzzi were lazy out on the ice, they gave us much more of a scoring threat on the 2nd line than what we're bound to get from Fillpula, Sammy, or Hudler. That is why I wanted us to get a top 6 forward in the offseason, because now with our big line back together, I have a hard time seeing any other line being a valid scoring threat.

Oh no, we have a divealanche fan on this forum! And we thought that Blackhawks fan that always posts here was annoying. Let me guess, you probably think that Sakic is the best captain ever, and that Scott Parker can't be beaten by any man on Earth?

I agree, and I don't think that it should count for the team's total goals scored on the season either. It doesn't make sense to give a team an extra goal for the season totals, if no player actually scored that goal.

If Kopecky has so much potential, then why does he get no icetime? As I said last night, we might as well call up Downey to fill those minutes.

Well, it was a good bounce back win from the letdown 2 nights ago, and here's what I took out of this game. 1. I thought the Hudler-Fillpulla-Sammy line was pretty good tonight. It'll be interesting to see if they can develop more chemistry, because it's obvious that Hank and Pavel will be playing together. It's just not something that Babcock can resist considering how crisp they are together. 2. Our backchecking is still lazy. Both goals tonight came off of plays where no one picked up the man coming off the puck. Not to mention, it was Cleary and Drapes who made those mistakes, both of whom are great defensive forwards. Go figure. 3. What's up with Drake tonight? I thought he was going to drop the gloves every night. Well, we'll probably have to wait for January to see another fight. 4. Why not dress Downey if you're not going to play Kopecky or Ellis anyway? I'm glad Babcock doesn't have enough faith to give either of those guys much icetime, but why not put it somewhere more useful. 5. Say what you want about Lang and Bertuzzi being lazy, they still gave us more of a scoring threat on the 2nd line than what we have now. 6. Lilja looked solid tonight. There I said it, and with that I'll close.

Excuse me, but that was one big goddamn mistake to make at that point in the season. There's no reason to talk about this now, but I don't see how you can blame anyone here for being upset with Lilja over that mulligan he pulled. We might have won the cup if not for that play. Sports history is laden with screwups like Lilja that will always be remembered for one idiotic mistake that they made in a big moment. We can't just pretend on this forum that it never happened.

Good. You're finally getting the hang of it.

Wow, Ellis and Kopecky on the same line! I think the Oilers should forfeit this game with those bruisers out on the ice for us.

So, Ellis is back in the lineup again. I can't wait to see him and Kopecky play their "dump and don't chase" strategy while they're on the same line. God, if only Langfeld were still here.

Since Holland said it, it also means no Downey tonight. How about an Ellis-Kopecky-Samuelsson line.

I'll make a bold promise now. If Samuelsson fights Boogaard, I'll never say anything bad about him as long as I'm on this forum.

I didn't say we had to call up Downey to score. I said we needed other guys to score, and we need to call up Downey to fill Franzen's roster spot since someone has to do it anyway.

It didn't take us long to pick up where we left off with all the injuries last year. Somebody's going to have to step it up, and so far through the first 2 games, we only have 3 forwards that can do anything offensively. Hopefully Downey will be called up so we can se what he can do. We already know that Ellis amounts to nothing.

Kopecky is about as useless as a bag of beans out there. Anyone who thinks that he should be in the lineup instead of Downey has their head up Kenny Holland's ass.

You mean you're not impressed by those spin-around moves where he takes the puck on his backhand and then turns it over on the blue line? Maybe Babcock needs to put him back on the point to boost his confidence.

Well, we deserved to lose this game. I knew there's no way in hell we'd win 2 straight shootouts. Here are my thoughts on the game. 1. We gave up too many odd-man rushes, and our backchecking was horrible. That's not a very good combination. The guys looked a little lazy tonight. 2. I told you all before the game that Robert Lang = Mr. Clutch, and that he'd score a big goal late in the 3rd. Damn me for always being right. 3. Drake is going to get murdered by game 10 if he keeps this up. Time to call up Downey, especially if Franzen is hurt. I'm sure you all saw the way Koci was running at our players. 4. The lines combos look bad so far through 2 games. I don't see any chemistry out there whatsoever unless Pavel and Hank are creating it. 5. Rafalski looks like he's fitting in well, but he's got to cut down on the turnovers, especially on the shorthanded goal we gave up. 6. It's stil difficult for me to accept the fact tha Samuelsson is going to get a lot more ice time. I'm tired of his idiotic spin-around moves which are destined for turnovers.

As I've said before, Lang and Williams will carry them into the playoffs.

That's a good point, especially since we've already matched our fight quota for the season. However, with the "pain train" in the lineup, other teams are forced to dress enforcers against us.