wings_fanatic

You must be a profession nhl 15 player because you clearly don't play hockey. Your posts are almost humorous ... even my little cousins understand hockey better than you. Pav is special in that he will still be magic when he's 40 but if he tries playing through injuries then that won't be the case. The best is as soon as pav is back and playing amazing this weekend you will turn around and talk about how amazing he is. That's the biggest problem with fans these days how quickly they turn on players. I get turning on Jimmy. .. he's consistently not got the job done for us. Pav on the other hand is consistently our best performer along with zetty. If your not happy with that then go become a leafs fan so you at least have something to whine about.

I think this is the last chance babs is going to give Howard. The fact that he had to sleep on it tells me he isn't confident in Jimmy. Imo whoever plays best this weekend is the one playing moving forward.

Stevie was also a shell of himself towards the end because of all the injuries he played through. Pav is still able to play at a high level but if he plays through injuries he will lose that ability.

Umm have you ever even played hockey before? This was probably the worst post I have ever read, Oh and Pav has an ankle injury not a shoulder injury fyi. Pretty hard to skate on a messed up ankle, so yah I think resting Pav is worth it. The team will be fine Ottawa got going too late they are not going to catch us so just take a chill pill and maybe support our best player rather than bashing him.

I completely agree. This late in the season, you gotta change things up to create a spark. Pav and Hank are always magic together and we can still have balanced scoring.

I still maintain he would be more like himself if Babs would play him with Pav. Pav is better at center and it would allow some pressure to be taken off Z and he could focus more on scoring goals. I mean Babs needs to change the lines a bit to get change. Z- Pav- Abby Cole- Sheahan- Tatar Nyquist- Helm- Jurco Miller- Glendening- Weiss I would really like to see those lines. Abby always plays well with Pav and Hank, Cole would add size to Tatar's line to create more room, the 3rd line would be nice and speedy. It would def help Z and the team as a whole and I think Babs really needs to look at this.

If Boston passes us I believe we would play the Rangers not the Habs. I don't really want to deal with the Rangers because not only are they a complete team but they have IMO the best goalie in the league in net. WE saw what King Henrik does for them last year in the playoffs and combine that with an excellent team, and it will be a quick exit for the Wings. I would much rather play Tampa Bay.

I was just taking into account the talk that Cole is worse off than we think injury wise. Otherwise I agree with you.

Save your thoughts for the playoffs. Z has an ability to pace himself over an 82 game season. The way he plays the game is different than Pav. Pav has magic and he is still able to use that to dominate the game on most nights. Z on the other hand has success by hard work, which is harder to do over such a long season. If Z played the way he can, as hard as he can, every single night, he would be burned out. So, whether he knows it or not, he paces himself during the season, along with the fact that he is streaky. Now having said that, you go back and look at pretty well every playoffs and look at the numbers that Z still continues to put up. He always turns his game on when it matters most and I have learned to never doubt Z as a player and as a leader. Pav is no doubt the most important player on this team impact wise on a nightly basis, but IMO Z is just as impactful, for other reasons. Look at the playoffs last year. Pav did all we could, but with Z out we were still lacking. Then Z came back, rusty and no doubt not 100% and he STILL put up better numbers than anyone on the team not named Datsyuk. What I am getting at is, yes Z is older and he has had to change the way he plays, but he still remains a very very important part of this team and fans need to respect that and him. Lastly, from a goal scoring standpoint, I do agree with you. I would like to see Z score more goals, but he is unable to do that while playing 2nd line Center setting up his wingers. If we want Z to go back to scoring more goals, the only option is to play him with Pav, something I would very much like to see. I think that change could spark the team going forward. Z- Pav- Abby Nyquist- Sheahan- Tatar Weiss- Helm- Jurco Miller- Glendening- Cleary Anderson is simply not getting it done for me, I would like to see what Cleary can offer as one last run for us since he is fresh. But the big thing is Z playing with Pav if we do that, I think Z will look more like what we are accustomed to.

The guy hasn't played in a few months.... He will be in form within a week. He actually wins series for his team in the playoffs.

If Jimmy can't get it done tonight then we need to switch to Petr... big game tonight and good news that Kronners is back.

Howard did not earn his money last season and is now not earning his money this season. Without Pete, we wouldn't be in a playoffs spot right now because we have not been good since he was playing while Jimmy was out and it was Pete winning us games. Jimmy has been so inconsistent that it is not even funny. The goals he gave up last night were laughable and he was the reason we lost that game. There is no denying that. He is not a terrible goalie, but he lacks consistency and he is hurting the Wings right now. If I am Babcock I would sit Jimmy for now and play Pete. If Pete plays good keep playing him. The team always plays more confident in front of Pete and they move the puck out easier too because of his puck ability. Simply put if Jimmy Howard starts for us in the playoffs if he is as he is now, we lose in 4 games. We have 10 games left and I am tired of betting on Jimmy to be consistent.

And I liked it. Allowing interference like that take place makes it safer to go back and retrieve pucks. That is why there have been so many more injuries the past few seasons because more guys are getting run because of the amount of interference calls. In my opinion, the refs let both team play today and the majority of calls made were clear calls. That is how it should be.

Besides Kronwall you mean. Kronwall is very much undervalued by some people on this forum. He had an awesome game today by the way.

Anderson with a lazy play in the last 10 seconds almost cost us on the Pk

Hard to score when the coach uses stupid lines consistently. Andy playing over Weiss is a laugh.

No way. Petr playedfantastic yesterday. Howard would have let in some crappy goal while we only had a one goal lead and the game could have been different. Howard simply has not been making the saves he needs to consistently.

Babs switched from ozzy to Howard in 2010 cuz ozzz wasn't getting it done. No reason not to switch to petr now if he's getting us wins.

That is Babs being smart. He didn't pull Jimmy because he knew he was playing Petr in today's game. There was no point putting Petr in and risking him losing confidence before today's game. He knows Jimmy has not been good enough much like Jimmy knows. I bet today's game sees a big from from Zetty leading the way like the captain does.

You obviously haven't been watching games closely lately. Smith has been one of our best players the last few games and most consistent. He is skating well, moving the puck quickly, joining in the rush, and playing pretty good D as well. Kronners has looked far more comfortable with Smith than Ericsson. Kronners- Smith Danny D- Zids Quincy- Marchenkio I would sit Ericsson for a game and keep that as my top 4 I really like that.

I am glad we got destroyed like that. IT has been building and I think it will provide the wakeup we need. - Kronners and Smith and Zids are the only Dmen I don't have a problem with. Danny D was probably our worst Dman today followed very closely by Ericsson. I like the new D pairings I hope Babs sticks with them. - The forward lines have got to change. Why does Z have 2 power forwards on his line? Cole- Pav- Tatar Nyquist- Z- Abby (Nyquist has been AWFUL since leaving this line, give it a go again) - Howard is flat out not good enough since he has come back. If Petr wins tomorrow I say keep going with him for a while.

They are lacking energy. Lines have gotten lazy. Switch it up for new energy it's not that hard. Knowing Babcock he will wait til 10 minutes left in the 3rd to change lines when it's too late. It's ridiculous just try new lines!!

I didn't realize how long it's been since hank scored. .. reason is cuz he has to be the playmaker... change the lines and put pav with Hann already. The team looks so slow with these same old lines

Why are these lines still being used?

I hate the jackets!!! They aren't even a good team yet always give us trouble! What a terrible effort by most of our team tn. Jimmy let in another late period goal that killed us but he wasn't the reason we lost. Pav and hank were off tonight. I thought Smith was by far our best player. I want him playing more minutes.