GMRwings1983

How can you be so sure?

Typical Osgood. Makes some big saves, and then makes up for it by giving up a soft one, which totally demoralizes his already deflated team. Everyone always talks about the leadership on the Wings, but I haven't seen these leaders step up this season. Maybe we should give Franzen the captaincy when he comes back, because apparently we're nothing without him.

Pavel and Hank on the same line and we still don't get scoring chances. When will people here finally admit that Datsyuk has sucked since the playoffs began last year. Not the linemates, not the injuries, he's just plain sucked and hasn't been playing like a top 20 NHL player.

I think we should trade Babcock for a better coach.

Didn't he get injured at the end of the last game? I saw him getting helped off the ice, but was wondering what the latest was on him? He's been disappointing and a pylon at times, but we can't afford another injury right now.

Thanks guys. It's good news and far better than what it looked last night, when he couldn't put any weight on his leg. If I'm not mistaken, he had another leg injury this year, and was able to come back the next night despite being carried off the ice. I think it was the same game where Franzen got hurt.

A big strong defenseman who can fight, block shots, clear the crease and lay the lumber out there. Basically, the opposite of Meech and Lebda.

No. I'm a glass completely empty kind of person.

What's wrong with that? They're pretty good this year, you know.

The Wings struggles began even before all those guys got injured. This team has struggled all season, even when Franzen was the only guy injured. Much of it is injury related, but I'm not going to excuse the entire team for games like that Edmonton debacle. Lots of teams have injuries right now. If before the season you told me how many points Datsyuk would have at this time, I wouldn't have believed it either. Same with Bertuzzi and Lidstrom. They're supposed to perform more consistently and they haven't.

Pavel Datsy...............Oh wait nevermind. Crosby will probably win it, unless he suffers some horrific injury which could potentially threaten his career and life.

Yeah, his point shot used to be deadly, but now he can never get it through. Maybe he needs glasses or something. He's just too proud to admit that he has vision problems.

Meech and Lebda could fuse together into one player by combining all their strenghts, and they would still SUCK! At this point with the injuries, we can't do much about these two rejects, but they're complete wastes of space. I'd rather have Draper playing back there than either of these jokers. They better not be back after this season. I'm actually holding back on how I really feel in this thread.

Too many of the players who are healthy and in the lineup are not playing well. Also, there's no excuse for scoring twice into your own net in a game. The Wings are playing through the injuries because they have no other choice. As for how they're playing, like Doc said, they're still underachieving.

Because that's what happens when one team keeps winning, while other teams get disappointed every year. One team loses hunger while the others gain it. Just like the Wings in the late 90's, who finally overcame playoff disappointments and won the Cup. Last year was a breakout year for Chicago. This year they'll want more. Two years ago was a breakout year for Pittsburgh. Last year they wanted more and were hungry enough to win the Cup. (insert injury excuse here) That's why it's been 25 years since a team went to the Finals three years in a row. It's not that no team during that span had the talent to do it. Fact is that many teams had the talent in the last 25 years to make it three times in a row. The fact that no one did it, further strengthens my argument. It's hard to want to win every year more than any other team does. That hunger and willingness to sacrifice is hard to repeat. As for the injuries, yes I'm psychic. The hockey gods hate the Wings recently and have made no secrets about it. That's why we were so unfortunate with injuries last year in the playoffs, and this year has been the same.

I wonder how many Canadian cities Bettman could name off the top of his head? I say he could probably name around 6 cities. What do you guys think?

Ballard would likely destroy Foote in a clean fight. Anderson has been the MVP for Colorado, so if he's injured, then I'm more than grateful to Ballard, whether he did it intentionally or not.

I don't like our chances of getting back to the Finals. On paper, this Wings team isn't that much different than the Cup winning team of 2008. Everyone talks about Hossa, but he wasn't here then. We don't have Sammy and Hudler, but have added Williams and Bertuzzi (although that hasn't resulted in a wash like many people hoped). The rest of the team looks virtually the same. The difference, however, is that Lidstrom and Rafalski were better players back then. Also, Datsyuk was great for us in those playoffs, and he hasn't been himself since last year's playoffs began. Also, there's no telling whether Ozzie is geared for another Cup run. Will Franzen be back to playoff form after missing the entire season? Furthermore, the injuries keep piling on, and look like they'll continue throughout the season. Lastly, it's been over 25 years since a team made three straight Finals appearances. It's very hard to get back there every year. San Jose and Chicago will both be hungrier and more ready for a long playoff run. I just don't like our chances to get back to the Finals, all things considered.

How could Triple-H not be on the list? This is outrageous!

Where's Barry Melrose at? He coached in this decade if I'm not mistaken.

Funny how just about all these guys were fired at some point in this decade. Shows you what life for an NHL coach is like. Being good and being fired aren't that much different from each other.

Warning to anyone. Don't put any of Keith Ballard's teammates on your fantasy teams.

Haha! Ovechkin is being treated like a goon.

I don't get it. If Ballard was so angry, why didn't he go swing the stick at the other goalie's net?