wings_fanatic

I can't wait for this team to be fully healthy so that Dan Cleary will be gone because he is just awful. The highlight of the game was him running into Tatar who had a great scoring chance had the retard not hit him. There is just no place for Cleary on this team. Honestly, lets be real, this team is much better when they have their actual team.

Holy hell 9 year olds can do better in a shootout then that. Every last one of them shot the puck right at Bishop. Monster was the 1st star for us and gave the team every chance to win that shootout and no one took it. They better practice their shootouts because that was just pathetic to watch.

There are many many reasons for this. The main thing being that almost every game, there are guys moving in and out of the lineup because of injuries. This is ridiculous how much it happens to us, and I am not just talking this year. Ever since the start of the year where we didn't have Helmer, then we lost Ericsson, Smith, Franzen, Weiss, Alfie, got Franzen and Weiss back, got Ericsson back, lost Danny Dekeyser, lost Pavel Datsyuk but Alfie came back, lost Hank Zetterberg. IT is extremely hard to maintain consistency when you have so many moving parts in and out of the lineup and almost every game, guys are having to adjust to new lines. The fact is that this is a team of professionals and they do rise to the occasion when they play the league's best. But over the long haul of an NHL season, when you are constantly having to juggle everything, you will not be able to maintain that consistency. The fact of the matter is that had last night not been Pavel's first game back, he doesn't lose the battle that led to the tying goal and we likely go on to win the game. Given the amount of injuries that the Wings have sustained, and the time that it took the brass to start playing Nyquist and Tatar, I am pleased with where the Wings are in the standings. Howard has not been playing great, and we have had a ton of injuries, but yet we are just a few points back from 1st place in this division. I find it hard to be upset over that. Eventually, Howard is going to find his game, and when this team is finally fully healthy, I truly believe that other teams will have a hard time keeping up, especially with what we have seen from what Nyquist and Tatar add to this team.

If Howard blows another two goal lead then he needs to sit on the bench for a good week or so. He needs to have a very strong finish.

If Jimmy has another game letting in 4 or 5 goals, then he needs to sit out a good week or so and just let Monster play during that time. I suspect Jimmy will have a good game tomorrow night, but in the event that he doesn't, we need to roll with Monster. Also, I HATE it when Franzen plays with Pavel. I would really like to see: Nyquist- Datsyuk- Alfie Franzen- Weiss- Tatar Abby-Anderson-Bert (not the greatest 3rd line, but they can be decent enough until we get the regulars all back)

Great win for the Wings. Nyquist and Tatar continue to impress, and Franzen is just surprising me more and more. It is great to see him playing like we all knew he could. But, the story for me is Monster in net. The guy, despite only getting 11 shots, was great again tonight. Not only is he making the big saves, but he looks so calm in net and, honestly, the team plays so much better in front of him, which is a sign that they trust him more. I think he needs to continue to get starts because he continues to earn it and we continue to win. On a side note, that call against the Devils was awful, just awful. Even if Scheider did play it out of the trapezioid a bit, which he didn't, that is still an awful call to make at that point of the game. The ref was not even position to see clearly, so if you are not in position you should not be calling that. I am sorry to all the Devils fans that had to put up with that, but I will take the win.

Good news is Babs confirmed Monster is in net Friday night.

It isn't that he is "letting in bad goals" its that he isn't making timely, key saves that he needs to to win us games. Like it or not, the job of a goalie is to make key saves to win games for his team. The numbers do not lie... he is failing to do that consistently this season. Like it or not, Monster deserves to be getting more starts here and to be honest, I feel much calmer with Monster in net then Jimmy, and I feel that the team feels that way as well.

I don't know what you have been watching lately, but Franzen has been fantastic since he came back from the games he missed. I agree with you about Cleary and Quincy, both of them are awful and need to go. But, while Babs does make questionalble calls, he got us within 1 win of beating the Hawks last year in the playoffs, and we would of had we not lost Danny D and had Helm. The fact is, that Babcock was not given a healthy team to work with last year at all, and is having the same issue this year. When this team is fully healthy, and all the young guns are playing like they are now, we are going to be good. I will be patient because, come playoffs, when this team is healthy and together, I trust Babcock will bring them far, especially for Alfie.

For me this was a learning game for the youngsters. Nyquist and Tatar were really the enrtance for the powerplay units since Pavs and Hank were not there tonight, and they had a hard time doing that. They also tried some plays that were too fancy for them. But that is all a part of their learning and developing. In saying that, both of them were able to contribute offensively tonight, but it is about learning the game as a whole. THere is no doubt both have bright futures. Some other notes: - Cleary is AWFUL. He is just so bad. I think I am going to give the hockey team of kids I coach a weekly challenge to come up with as many adjectives as possible to describe how bad Dan Cleary is. He needs to go - Kindl continues to piss me off getting Powerplay time over Smith. He NEVER knows when to shoot and is awful at passing. - Sammy actually had a good night. He was moving the puck and generating chances. - Jimmy Howard blew another 2 goal lead, for the 6th or 7th time this season already. That is unacceptable. He isn;t letting in many "bad" goals, but the fact is that he is not making key timely saves for the team to win games. The numbers don't lie. Monster has more wins then him in just 8 games played. Babcock needs to continue to play Monster as long as he continues to earn it. Simply put, if we were not missing our entire top line tonight, we win this game easy. The Flyers are an awful team full of goons, and have nothing on a healthy Red Wings team. Just think, a month from now: Datsyuk, Zetty, Bertuzzi, Danny Dekeyser all back playing, CLEARY WAIVED!!

This is like the 6th time this season that Howard has blown a 2 goal lead... that is just unacceptable. Monster needs to continue to get starts if he continues to earn it.

Gotta love pavs comments about the media maybe giving him headaches haha. Can't wait to have him back

Brendan Smith would make that powerplay unit so much better then Kindl

Quincy has no place on this team and I will be extremely disappointed if he is back here next year. I think Smith has a lot of potential, however Babcock does not utilize him properly. He gets no powerplay time for a guy like Kindl, who absolutely blows. Kindl is like a little boy with the puck- - never knows what to do with it once he gets it. 9 out of 10 times, Kindl decides to take a shot despite the fact that there is a guy directly in front of him, it gets blocked and goes right down the ice. Smith is a far better skater then Kindl, a better passer then Kindl and has better vision then Kindl. IF Babs would play Smith properly, and utilize his offensive potential, it would get Smith points and he would become more confident in himself. My point is that Smith has a future with this club, along with Kronners, Ericsson and Dekeyser.

Franzen will likely get the A. The way he has been playing lately, he deserves it, along with Helmer, Ericsson. I have read that Pavel is due back within the next week. Personally, I would take our chances with the next 3 games without Pavs in the lineup, even if that meant losing all 3 games, because we need to make sure he is fully healthy. To be honest, we are fortunate that the schedule is not too hard this week. I expect we will see Alfie continue to have a big impact for us, and he will step up even more.

Weiss is playing with 2 pylons... hard to notice him. I think playing with Pavs and Bert will do wonders for Weiss in getting his confidence back offensively. Weiss will benefit from the speed and skill of Pavs and obvs just from being on the same line as him. Different pieces of this team are coming together slowly and once all the pieces are in place, they are a team that can go the length.

Especially if we get Pavs and Bert back in the place of Cleary and Sammy!

He wasn't invited because he was not sure what he was doing yet. There is no doubt that Alfie will be playing in the Olympics now and as much as I love Hank, the Sweden Captaincy should go to Alfie...

No matter what lines we go with, the team looks much better with no #71 and 37 in the lineup

Great, much needed win bythe Wings. THe only complaint I have is Dan Cleary and Kindl. Fact is, after this game, I think Babs needs to realize to play Monster for the time being.... he is getting us wins. We all know Jimmy is good, but he has not been getting us wins. Jimmy has started nearly all our games, and has been limited to just 5 wins. Monster has started 6 times and has 5 wins... To me that says that Monster is doing his job and deserves to keep playing. Not only did he make timely saves, but I love the way he can come out and play the puck... it helps the team SO MUCH when retrieving pucks. At the end, he made a save with his glove, put it down and passed it out to allow the Wings to clear... that is stuff Jimmy can;t do and it helps. I just feel that it seems like, this season thus far, the Wings play much more confidently with Monster in net. Keep playing him.

Great period by Monster... the only reason that this game is still tied. - Cleary is awful. There is just no place for him on this team. He just gives the puck away and he can't even stay on his own feet anymore. - Kindl with one awful turnover and about 10 shots of his have been blocked. He really needs to learn how to shoot the puck with his head up, and this is why he should NOT be on the 2nd pp unit over Brendan Smith - Helm has had a couple turnovers, but ultimately another great effort and a nice goal. - Alfie doesnt seem to have missed a beat thus far, though I wish he would have shot the puck on the 3 on 1. Also, that is a joke that there was no interference call on the hit on Tatar. The Red Wings NEED to win this game. Anything less than 2 points is a joke.

This is why I truly believe Babcock needs to go. What an awful awful line. Why not: Tatar-Weiss- Alfredsson?

To say Ken Holland wasn't prepared for losing Lidstrom is not fair. The expectation was that, even after Nick retired, we would still have a few seasons out of Brian Rafalski, which would have been huge for us. We all know what Rafi was capable of. I mean what exactly did you want Kenny to do? It is not like he can just go to the store and buy a new Nick Lidstrom. Sutter didn't want to come here, Kenny tried that. Nothing he can do about that. It isn't like we had a chance to draft a guy like Erik Karlsson because the Wings have been getting late picks for a long time. So Kenny drafted Brendan Smith, who no doubt has offensive potential if Babcock would utilize him properly. Kronners and Ericcsson have formed themselves into a solid top pairing, Kenny brought in Danny D, who is going to have a wonderful career with the Red Wings. We saw the team come together in the playoffs last year. This season, for the most part, we have not had our entire team playing together. Face it, there was nothing Ken Holland could have done to prepare to replace Nick Lidstrom. Rafalski retiring caught everyone off guard and, to be honest, I truly believe if Rafi didn't retire that season then Nick would have. I think Nick held off one year solely because Rafi retired and didn't want to really handcuff the Wings. But none of that was Kenny's fault.

I have been saying this for a long time. Brendan Smith should be the guy manning the point on the 2nd PP unit... not Kindl. Kindl is like a little kid when he gets the puck... he never knows what to do and then just ends up making a stupid play. Smith has the offensive instinct and the ability to get points. Babcock is making a huge mistake not playing Smith on the PP

Thank God we are only playing Buffalo tomorrow... we should still be able to win that game without Pasha... I think Pasha will be fine come Wednesday I think it is just the team making sure, which I would rather them do. After viewing this game, it is apparent that the Sens are a bunch of hacks, and just take runs at our top guys the entire game... like honestly what a bunch of goons. I really hope the Wings get their fully healthy team back by the time we play in Ottawa so that we can just destroy them because, despite us losing both times, our full lineup, when on its game, is far far better then the Sens. Another thing, Howard isn't giving us wins. He is not to blame for us losing, but his stats don't lie... he hasn't been playing like we know (and he knows) he can be. Monster has won just one less game then Howard for crying out loud and, in doing so, one of those wins was solely because of Monster playing super good. So, if you ask me, Monster should be getting the start tomorrow and if he gets us a win, then Babs should continue to ride him. It is time to stop just letting everyone play as if they have earned the right and time to start to make these players earn their time.