wings_fanatic

Some ppl on here are super annoying. Old, Bruins are better than us in every category? Come on, get a grip of yourselves and act like you know at least a little about hockey. It is super obvious that the boys are tired. They are behind 2 steps skating, their passing is off (EVEN PAVS!) and there is far too much puck watching going on tonight. BUT, this is their 3rd game in 4 nights... that is hard to start a season with because you are not yet fulled conditioned and add to that, we have some new faces getting used to the system. Long story short, imo, this game does not tell me anything about our team if we lose. When we are rested, I think the red wings will compete with the bruins and are pretty much even with them except our top line is better than theirs. Lets relax, the boys will have 5 days off to actually work on some things such as the PP.

Am I wrong to say that Pavs should have an assist along with Alfie on Hank's goal? Pretty sure Franzen never touched the puck after Pavs and Alfie...

I have no idea what some of you are talking about... I was at the game and the arena was full tonight. Quite a few ppl decided to leave towards the end a little early, but otherwise there were no empty seats. Crowd was great all night, lots of lets go red wings chants. It was a great 60 minute effort by the boys. I thought the officiating was awful, and really put our penalty killers to work. I do not know if anyone noticed, but one of the refs there tonight looked like he is about 20 years old, and he is the one that made most of the awful calls. Something tells me Bettman is training the next generation of refs, which is a scary thing. Pavs and Hank and Abby were fantastic tonight. They were flying (ESPECIALLY PAVS). I have not checked, but I bet Pavs has between 3 and 5 takeaways already. I thought Alfie was great out there. He husstled every shift, shot the puck, and he is a very underated passer... his vision is amazing. Weiss looks like he is still adjusting to our system (I think it will take him about 15 games) but he is for sure competing hard out there, especially on some of the penalty kills. Lastly, our defense looked really solid tonight. For the most part, all of them were in perfect position on both sides of the puck. One thing I really noticed is how Ericsson is really taking a leadership with the team, and I think that is making him much more confident with his play. The way Kronners played tonight, he could be a norris candidate by the end of the season... hopefully he can keep it up. Overall, great way to start the season, and the Wings will only get better moving forward.

Umm Pavs? But yah I know what you mean lol. Anyone know what is wrong with Weiss?

I went to the game tonight and I wondered, and I am reaffirmed once again that there is absolutely no place for Cleary on this team, especially at the expense of Tatar and Nyquist. If they play together with Anderson on the 3rd line all year, it will be one of the best 3rd lines in the league imo. Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Abdelkator Franzen- Weiss- Alfredson Nyquist- Anderson- Tatar Bertuzzi- Helm- Miller/Eaves/+++ I just have no clue why Cleary is on this team because there is simply no room. If Nyquist goes down, that is a JOKE!

Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Bertuzzi Franzen- Weiss- Alfie Nyquist- Anderson- Tatar Abby- Helm-Miller/Eaves/Sammy Kronners- Ericsson Dekeyser- Smith Kindl- Quincy - I think this will make the team as balanced as possible. - Bert, as long as he is healthy, is better than Abby on the top line with Pavs and Hank. Bert is a bigger body, and is able to create more space for the Eurotwins. Also, Bert is a very good passer, and can contribute with goals. I think that this can be a very good 1st line if Babs keeps them together given we still have a really good 2nd line. - I really am looking forward to seeing this 2nd line play. It has all the potential to be one of the top 2nd lines in the league, and Alfie is going to be super hungry. I see big things from this line. - In the playoffs, our 3rd line was fantastic and at times was our best line. We are going to essentially replace Brunner with Tatar, which is not a bad thing considering what we know and have seen from Tatar. Anderson developed himself into a solid 3rd line center last year, and Nyquist and Tatar will add a nice element of speed and skill. This will be a fun line to watch and could become one of the better 3rd lines in the league. - Our 4th line will see a HUGE upgrade this season assuming Helm is back and fully healthy. Add Abby who has some grit and knowledge of the game, and Miller/ Eaves, and you have a solid 4th line capable of doing their job well. - Kronners and Ericsson were great last year, no reason to change that. I would like to see Kronners shoot the puck more this season tho. - Danny D was fantastic when he played for us, and Smith could really benefit from having that solid defense presence playing with him... I would like to give this a try. - Kindl had a a developing year last season with his offense, but still needs to work on his defense. Quincy really settled down after the 10 game mark last year and played a solid season. I think this is a capable 3rd pairing. Overall, I think this is our best group of forwards since 2009 when we were STACKED and I am super excited to watch this season. Come on Oct. 2nd!!

IF the Wings sign Cleary, he seems to be the kinda guy will will ask Babs for a new number so that Alfie can wear 11. Time will tell what happens.

My expectation is that they compete on a nightly basis, avoid the injury plague that has seemed to decimate our team every year since we went to the Cup Finals in 09, and ultimately reach the Cup finals and win the Cup. My expectation will also be to once again here that the Penguins "are the favorites to win the Stanley Cup" for the 5th year in a row by the hockey experts. All kidding aside, the team learned and grew so much last year. We have a great mix of veterans who have been there before and young guys who showed so much growth last season and in the playoffs. We have what I believe to be the best coaching staff in the NHL, and Jimmy Howard will continue to stop that puck. More than anything, the Red Wings will be on a mission to win the Cup for Alfie. You can bet that Hank will be lifting his game, same with Kronners, Pavs and etc just to reach the objective. I wish October was here... LETS GO RED WINGS! :

Haha yah Babs is probably sitting at home playing NHL 13 with this new team and changing the lines every game while he waits for the season to begin

You guys are being silly... the Red Wings defense is fine and right on par with most other teams in the league. It is far better than s***sburg's for example, better than the Rangers, the Habs, the Kings, the Ducks, etc. Keep in mind, we will now have Danny Dekeyser for an entire season... look at his impact he had once we signed him. Even Babs said we did not make playoffs had we not signed him. Also, last year we had tons of injuries to our Defense so they were never really able to mesh with a partner. I think Smith especially will show much more offense abilities this year while he gets to mesh with a partner. This is the lineup I think Babs will look to start the season with and it looks damn good to me. Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Abdelkator Alfredson- Weiss- Franzen Nyquivst- Helm- Tatar (omg that 3rd line is just beautifully filled with speed and skill) Eaves- Anderson- Miller/Bertuzzi Kronwall- Ericsson Dekeyser- Smith (I really want Babs to try this out) Kindl- Quincy Obviously this means Cleary, Brunner walk, and Kenny trades Sammy and Tootoo for picks which I am more than okay with. I think this is a SOLID team.

Alfredson- Datsyuk- Zetterberg Franzen- Weiss- Nyquivst Brunner- Helm- Tatar Eaves- Anderson- Bert/ Miller Get rid of Sammy, Emmerton.

This is ridiculous. THere is NO DOUBT that the Wings will be icing a better team this season with the moves Kenny has made today. He has given Babs many different options, which is what successful teams need. Even the guys on tsn think the Wings have made moves to put them into the favorites category along with a couple other teams. Quit acting like spoiled brats.

But we already have too many forwards.

Under the new CBA u cannot bury guys in the minors anymore... which means it still counts against the cap

It would be a good signing but I would rather Grabo

And they can add to that if we get Grabo haha

Yah for sure. The best part is Cleary wants 3 million a year!! Bye bye Danny boy ... hopefully

Brunner is a lot younger thank Alfie and can continue to do that for us for years. Not jsut one. As long as we keep Brunner and sign Grabo, I will be happy with signing Alfie as extra.

Bye Bye Dan Cleary hopefully.

Did you miss the playoffs? Brunner scored quite a few goals for us while playing on the 3rd line...

If he wanted a Cup so bad, he should have come here when we still had Nicklas Lidstrom. I still like the signing as long as we still get Grabo.

Another interesting thing to take into consideration... apparently tomorrow Grabo is getting married to a chick from the Windsor area (for those of you who do not know, it is right across the border from Detroit). Maybe she will put her foot down and have him sign in Hockeytown

Your first article is something that happened 3 years ago. I do not blame Grabo for biting him how would you like a freakin glove up in your face like that. And the 3rd article proves absolutely nothing.

You sound like you don't know what your talking about. He is a great skater, can move the puck well, loves to shoot, and he had zero problems attitude wise in Toronto. Is he pissed now? Yah. His GM just told everyone earlier this week that he was not using a 2nd buyout so Grabo would be safe, then a couple days later he buys Grabo out. If Grabo had such a bad attitude, then he would have done this complaining to the media while he was still a member of the team during the season. Instead, he kept his mouth shut and kept playing and competiting. Furthermore, in his concluding comments he had this to say: ""I need to work harder," he concluded, taking time to thank his teammates, equipment managers and fans, "I need to be smarter, I need to play harder, need to play better and score a lot of goals and do what I do the best." To me, this sounds like a player who knows what he has to do to succeed and a good player who is ready to continue to work hard.

Well just last week Nonis said that he was not going to use his 2nd buyout, thus Grabo no longer had to worry. To me that is a ****** move as a GM to come back and buy out a player after saying ur not going to, so Grabo has every right to be ticked off like he is.