GMRwings1983

We do now that Franzen is back. What's the point of playing a guy who seems to be hurt and is only hindering the team? Just call up another guy from the minors if need be to take his place.

Whatever the reason for Cleary's downfall, if his play is hurting the team, he needs to be sat.

Because this organization loves putting young skilled players on 4th lines, with crappy linemates and limited icetime. Too many players seem to have immunity on this team. That's why they take so many nights off. Lack of motivation and no need for accountability.

Meh. Now you know how I felt when my savior Aaaron Downey was rotting on the 4th line all that time.

Yeah, but it's easier to find good 3rd/4th liners, than it is to find a great sniper or power forward who can score goals. If Holland wasn't sleeping this offseason or last, we could have acquired some good bottom liners like a David Clarkson or Eric Nystrom, both of whom are having great seasons. And they wouldn't really cost that much. Those type of players are available every year if we just act on it. But players like Parise aren't around that often. Last year, the only such player was Brad Richards. I think the idea of playing with Datsyuk or Zetterberg could entice Parise. Of course there will be other teams after him, but I think we should definitely throw our names in the hat.

Ovechkin hasn't scored many points this season either. That doesn't mean he's not miles above Erik Cole. You can't just look at stats and say this guy is only 10 points better than that guy. Parise in my book is one of the 10 best players in hockey. Especially when you put him on a line with a Datsyuk potentially. He plays harder than a Franzen or Hudler do on a nightly basis. And we don't have All stars at each position. Far from it. Also, Holmstrom, Bertuzzi and Cleary are old and none will likely be around in two seasons. If you get a chance to obtain a superstar winger for big money, and you have the cap space with Lidstrom and Stuart potentially leaving, then you have to pull the trigger. Holland didn't spend money in the offseason nor at the deadline. What's the point of keeping all this cap space around? I thought he was doing it for a Parise or Suter.

Bad example really. Colorado beat us in 1999 and 2000 (we didn't have to go through them in 98). Thank God for Ilitch giving out cash to Hasek, Hull and Robitaille to put us over the top in 2002. However, we haven't done anything in the offseason to improve our chances against San Jose. They made a few changes in the offseason to their roster, but we still had a hard time against them this regular season. I don't fancy our chances in that series. Just seems to be a bad matchup for Detroit. And if I'm not mistaken, they'd get home ice over us just because they finished as a higher seed. So we'd have to travel for the first two games again.

Ummm?.. .......yeah we do. Who doesn't? And I wouldn't use Montreal as a good example of what we need to do. It's poor salesmanship. And Neal was obtained in a trade. We don't have any assets to trade, in order for someone to give us a young goal scorer with high potential, like a Neal. No one wants our old guys and we already traded our top pick. Get a player like Parise at all costs.

Franzen - Datsyuk - Parise Nyquist - Zetterberg - Filppula Hudler - Helm - Bertuzzi Miller - Abdelkader - Parros

Franzen is lazy, but this team will need him in the playoffs. Putting him on the 3rd line makes him even more useless. Unless it's done just for the rest of the regular season in order to motivate him to play harder. Maybe then. But in general, I'd put Bertuzzi on the 3rd line. He doesn't hit people anymore, but he's still a better fit on the 3rd line than Franzen.

I wouldn't play Nyquist on the 3rd line. If you're going to keep him around, give him better linemates who can take advantage of his skill set. Put Bertuzzi on the checking line instead. Still not sure what we should do with Cleary, though.

Can we still play Columbus in the first round?

Indeed.

Why would any team want Emmerton?

I always forget that Larionov of all people started the brawl.

Basically, next year Detroit will pay 3.5 million to Ericsson, who'll likely be sitting in the pressbox a lot. Thanks for that Kenny.

I can see either side of this argument. In one sense, we've seen the Wings lose in the first round to many teams we thought they'd walk over. At the same time, I really don't want to see us play Chicago in the first round. That would be too stressful and too crazy for so early in the playoffs. And their annoying fans will come here to talk crap.

Can't believe no one mentioned the Florida Panthers. I thought everyone hated them.

It's time for Dan Cleary to be a permanent scratch.

How about an arena with "Hockeytown" in the name?

I've run into more Blues fans than you have from living in MO for some time. If they win the Cup, we'll never hear the end of it.

St. Louis

I bet if Charissa Thompson was interviewing him instead of Pierre, he would have been more friendly.

Yeah, it's pretty poor when a veteran like Kronwall gets burned so easily by Richards. With Lidstrom out, he has to step up and prove he can be a number one defenseman who can lead a team. Instead, he pulls that s***.

It looks like Datsyuk was brought back too soon. They better rest him if it means getting him healthier for the playoff round.