GMRwings1983

The kid that Lilja decimated in that photo is probably still asking if anyone knows the license plate of the truck that hit him.

Huggy-Bear is entertaining? Wow, that's something I never thought I'd hear about Brashear.

I think both those players are better than he is, but you're entitled to your opinion.

I didn't know that Roger Ebert has turned into 2 different people. That would explain why his reviews have been so lackluster lately.

Exactly, which is why you praised his play just now. You're seeing things I'm not seeing with Kopecky. The guy has never done anything here, yet some people actually defend him for his lackluster play.

So far Kopecky has been the invisible man like I thought he would. That's why I wanted Downey in the lineup. I knew he wouldn't be taking anybody's spot, because Kopecky is in essence a nobody. He only plays limited minutes and doesn't do anything in those limited minutes that Downey couldn't do. Basically, we might as well give Kopecky's spot to someone who'll fight back when Neil or Ruutu start acting brave out there.

I've never hated Brashear the way some other people do, but that was a spotpicker move on his part. I think he does stuff like this just so fight fans can hate him even more.

I guess the Leafs have our number since they've beaten us several times now in the last 2 years. I'm most disappointed about the PK, which is supposed to be a strong part of this team. They got totally outhustled by the Leafs on both of those PP goals. The line combos will probably need more time to gel. It's easy to give up on things now, and to put Pavel and Hank back together, but I don't think we should go that route yet.

Iginla is a visor wearing spotpicker. He's basically a smaller version of Chris Pronger and a guy that I will never like as long as he's in the league.

No he didn't. I married Scarlett. You need to get your facts straight.

Really? I thought she was a lesbian?

I agree with you. We need to start rebuilding like the Leafs are. Maybe then we can play as hard as they did tonight, instead of playing like some spoiled, pompous rock stars that have nothing to prove.

Exactly. From now on, we need to stop winning Stanley Cups in order to avoid such hangovers and letdowns.

What did they have to prove? The Leafs haven't shown up for many years now. If the Wings played average tonight, we would have won easily. I guess we now know which guys partied a little too hard in the offseason. Other than Maltby and Homer, no one really played well tonight.

Trade Lidstrom Trade Datsyuk Trade Zetterberg Trade Hossa Fire Babcock Shoot Sammy Promote Lilja as player coach, with full GM powers

Didn't Jean Beliveau win the first ever Conn Smythe trophy?

Lilja will score 2 goals in the third to pull out a win for us.

Right, because the Leafs have played together for years.

Wow, we're actually getting outplayed by the Leafs on opening day. Pretty pathetic so far, considering the Leafs are basically a farm team.

Because this is a message board where people constantly debate things over and over. This isn't like some contest where one party wins and the game is over. There are no winners or losers here, we're just arguing. It's either this or arguments about whether Sammy really sucks or not. Just pick your poison.

You never said Downey was detrimental to team toughness, but that was the general feel of your post to me. I want to see the Wings fighting more in the regular season, which is where a guy like Downey comes in. The regular seasons have become boring lately, since this team's success is always going to depend on the playoffs. I don't see how more fighting can do anything except benefit the entertainment value of this team for the fans. Also, you don't have to agree with me on anything if you don't want to. I don't make my posts to convince people, instead I just speak my mind.

Not that "team toughness" talk again. How is Downey detrimental to "team toughness"? Also, we could win the Cup with several 3rd and 4th liners injured, because that's how good we are. That doesn't however, mean that the player who was injured and not in the lineup wasn't somehow important to the team in the long run. Fight fans are always going to want the Wings to regularly carry an enforcer, especially if we always finish last in fighting majors. Whether we win the Cup and don't dress an enforcer throughout the playoffs isn't going to change anyone's mind. We want to see fights in the regular season, which is what we're talking about now in this particular discussion. The playoffs are a different story and are a long way away.

Now Gary Bettman will finally be able to follow the game.

Ludicrous statement? Both those guys were on the roster last year whether you like it or not. They were a part of this team and did contribute. There's other ways to contribute besides doing it on the scoreboard. Too many posters here (you included)apparently don't realize that, or else you would have never made that post to refute the obvious fact that I posted previously.

The NHL only tries to market one player consistently, and that's Sidney Crosby. They don't even make an effort with any other players, except for maybe Ovechkin. Everyone associated with the marketing of the NHL needs to be fired and replaced by someone who knows what they're doing. All in all, the league probably needs more guys like Sean Avery. Face it, the public likes dumb, selfish athletes who speak their mind and don't have much respect for anybody. In this country those are the athletes that everyone loves to talk about.