wings_fanatic

I am quite confident gms will let him clear waivers in hopes of negotiating a new contract with him. Hopefully Kenny can get it done.

I wasn't a fan of that either, but I don't think I would have been complaining if it was Crosby he shot the puck at haha. On a serious note, the guy still has it and he could be a huge motivation factor for the boys to try to win the cup kind of like Dallas Drake.

Floater? Grabo does not float around... he competes every single shift. He had an off year this season, but if you watched him he competes regularly. Even in the playoffs, while he was getting knocked around he continued to get up and compete. He does NOT float around like Semin. Also, he is a very good friend of Pavs, so hopefully Pavs can talk him and Kenny into some sort of an agreement because he would be a great fit here

Well I hate to break it to you, but we do not have a 40 goal scorer to play with Datsyuk. Kenny let our 40 goal scorer walk so that we could keep Franzen. A line of Pavs, Bert and Grabo could see Bert getting 15 goals, Pavs around 25 goals and Grabo around 25 goals. A line of Hank, ALfie and Franzen would see similar numbers. Those are a solid amount of goals for the top two lines. Sometimes you have to use what you have to its best potential, and this would be the best option IMO.

Bert plays well with Datsyuk. Keeps his game simple, creates space for Pavs and is not afraid to go to the front of the net. He can get between 15 and 20 goals playing with Pavs when healthy.

Kenny would obviously have some things to fix up cap wise, but our top 3 lines could look awesome next season with a couple moves. Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Grabovski Alfredson-Zetterberg-Franzen Brunner-Helm/Anderson-Nyquist I really like Grabo and think he would be a great fit here. He competes extremely hard every shift, and he would have MUCH better talent to work with here than in Toronto. Even though he is a center, he could play on Pavel's wing if they split up the Eurotwins. He played on a line with Pavs in the KHL this year and they looked good together. Alfredson still has a scoring touch and has the ability to score some goals at the needed time. Playing with Hank would make things better for him, and having Franzen on their line to stand in front of the net and add goals would help. And we already saw that 3rd line in the playoffs... beautiful mixture of speed and skill.

I have read some rumors of this on the net the past few days. The Fourth Period said the Wings have inquired about Grabo. Personally I think he would be a good fit for Detroit. He is a lot like Filpulla, except he is NOT afraid to shoot the puck at all. He works his tail off during his shifts a lot like Fil. IMO, while the price is a little high, I would be willing to trade for Grabo because he is a slight upgrade over Fil in the sense that he can shoot the puck a lot more and score some more goals. Also, he can play on Pavel's wing or he can center the 2nd line depending on if Babs wants to play Pavs and Hank together. Before, when Babs put Fil with Pavs, it was 2 passers playing together so I think this will give Babs more of a dynamic. I say for for it.

No because he is going to demand too much money. Some dumb team is going to overpay for him you just watch. He had a good playoffs... he will come back down to earth.

I say we take Jagr if he is willing to sign for a little cheaper. I don't care what anyone says... the guy still has it. He was consistently creating tons of chances these playoffs, while playing on the 3rd line. He may not have scored a goal, but he hit at least 5 or 6 posts in the playoffs which were all wicked wristers. IMO if we can sign Jagr to a good deal for us, then he would fit right in playing on a line with Pavel Datsyuk. Jagr at age 41 will get more done playing with Pavs then Franzen half ass. On top of that, you can still sign another top 6 forward such as Horton, Weiss.

Here is something interesting I thought of today. Cup wins: 1997 1998--- 1 year between cups 2002--- 3 years between cups 2008--- 5 years between cups So if the trend of odd numbers continues, the Red Wings should win the cup in 2015. The chance of this actually happening actually has a much better chance now that we have Pavs for 4 more years

Lose Yourself- Eminem That has been my favorite pump up song for years... it ALWAYS gets me going. I always listen to it before my hockey games on my ipod. More than that, I was at game 6 this playoffs against the Ducks. The Wings had lost their 2 goal lead late and the arena went dead. But right at the start of the overtime, the arena played "Lose Yourself" and it got the arena going again... it really pumps you up and is my favorite song.

Proven nothing? I don't know if you missed the playoffs this year, but for those of us who watched it saw HUGE growth in our young guys from start to finish. Nyquist was fantastic. Brunner was fantastic. Smith and Kindl struggled at times, but also had moments where they showed growth. We all know Danny D is going to be a stud and I personally believe if we had him playing we would have beaten the Hawks. But to say that our prospects and young guys have showed nothing is simply ridiculous. Yes, Malkin has won an MVP and has put up a ton of points. But why on God's earth would you trade away guys who showed so much growth in just these playoffs? Nyquist is going to be a stud. In 2002, when Pavel Datsyuk showed signs of brilliance, should we have traded him to get a guy like Jagr? No, because we saw that he was coming into his own, much like our young guys now. Nyquist will not be Pavel Datsyuk, but there is no reason to say that we won't be something special for years to come. Have some faith, believe in the system because when everyone wrote the Wings off this year, they just kept coming because they believe in their system.

Lets take a look at the final 4 teams since 2007 playoffs: 2007: Detroit/ Ducks Senators/ Sabres 2008: Red WIngs/ Stars s***sburg/ Philly 2009: Red Wings/ Hawks s***sburg/ Capitals 2010: Hawks/ Sharks Habs/ Philly 2011: Sharks/ Canucks Bruins/ Lightning 2012: Rangers/ Devils Kings/ Coyotes TO me this shows that the idea of parity is VERY MUCH working. Each year there are different teams in the the final 4. From 2007-2009, the Red Wings made the final 4 each time, however since that it has been quite different each year. To me, this shows that parity is working along with the Ducks, Red Wings, s***sburg, Blackhawks, Bruins, Kings all winning the Cup during that time. Rewind to 1995. From 1995- 2003, all of the Cup winners consisted of 3 teams (Red Wings, Avs, Devils) except for one year. Since then, parity has become stronger in the league.

Pavs and Hank should be put together to A) Shut down the Hawks top unit of Kane, Toews, Sharp. and B) To allow Pavs to set up Hank to score some goals and get the offense going.

I think everyone needs to relax a bit. First of all, I thought the officiating was similar to game 3 in that the refs called us for garbage all night and let the Hawks get away with a lot and then we get pwoerplays at the end when the game is already over to even things out. On their 2nd and 3rd goals on their powerplay, there got away with CLEAR interference and the end result was two pucks in the back of our net. Now, officiating is not the only reason we lost, but it is clear that all of Toews's whining paid off. Also the Red Wings were lacking energy, particularly Fil and Franzen. Smith looked like he had lots of trouble controlling the puck and to me it seemed like Babs was not playing Kronners enough. Going into game 6 I think Babs would be wise to play Pavs and Hank together if the Hawks keep Toews, Kane and Sharp together and match them up. I expect the Wings will be ready to roll on Monday and close out this series with a lot more energy with the help of our leaders.

After the first two games, i think we will see a much tigher, even paced game where both teams play solid. I suspect the Wings will have the advantage from momentum and home ice and will win 3-2. My gut tells me Pavs has a great game today for the Wings and the Powerplay solves the Hawks PK. Either way... GO WINGS ill be at the joe cheering!!

Could you also send me a PM with the code? It would be much appreciated

Some of you guys are acting like children. Bench Eaves? He made one bad play... but he has been one of our best players this series... always providing energy, getting shots to the net. It was not Smith's fault that he got a bad pass at the blue line like that. IMO the only one to blame is Babcock. He should not have had the 4th line out there on the powerplay. IMO Nyquist has looked FANTASTIC tonight and there was no reason the 2nd pp unit could not go back out once pavs and hank came off. Having the 4th line out there is what led to the turnover, and t he resulting powerplay goal. Therefore, Babcock deserves blame. Besides that, the Wings played a great period. Dominated play, got good shots to the net, had scoring chances. They hit two posts. The nice thing about the Ducks scoring when they did is it allows the Wings 15 min to regroup and come out strong like in the 2nd. Have some faith.

I am wondering why Babcock is even playing Sammy. He looks AWFUL. Not only is he not even shooting the puck, but he cannot even receive a simple breakout pass. IMO bert looks great again, and was one of the few players that looked good that period... he should DEFS be on the top line over Sammy. Other than that, the period played out pretty much as I imagined. The Ducks do NOT want to go back to the Joe where the Wings can eliminate them and are going to play their hearts out in this game. Howard was fantastic, the rest of the team was mostly a step behind. I think the WIngs will regroup, focus and come out stronger next period. They need to be much much better in FO's, and need to get shots to Hiller and start taking the game over.

They already get a ton of monster cycles going because of Kindl.

Nyquist was good last night... one of the few who consistently had speed through the neutral zone. I agree Bert should play, but I think he should be playing on the 2nd line with Fil and Franzen... it would add more size to that line to compete with the big line of the Ducks until we are back at the Joe where Pavs and Hank can take them.

I would love to know what Kindl does to continue to get so much ice time by babs. Kindl is just awful. I counted at least 5 giveaways by Kindl tonight, some of which led to near goals. He took a stupid delay of game penalty when he had time to control the puck, he never knows when to shoot or not and pinches way too much. I have no big problems with any of our other Dmen but I cannot stand Kindl and I find it funny that he is out there in the last minute of play. I would like to see Ian White inserted into the lineup in the place of Kindl... we could really use a right handed shot back there. As for the rest of the team, they seemed to be lacking energy tonight. They always seemed a step too slow. Koivu's line was good, but I think Pavs and Hank will be better next game. Also, even though he was partially screened, I think Howard should have had Selanne's shot, but overall the Wings just were lacking energy. I suspect the Wings get a W on Thursday.

I agree. The WIngs have had a fantastic season and have been led in a great way by Pavs, Hank and Kronners. But I would just like to say the guy who deserves a lot of credit is Mike Babcock. I have openly questioned him a LOT this season and a lot of others on here have called for him to even be fired, but the fact is, he did his job and got his team into the playoffs for the 22nd year. We all questioned Abby playing with Pavs and thought Babs was a moron (despite Pavs wanting it). Now look how smart Babs looks. That top line has been UNREAL towards the end. IMO, given all the injuries the WIngs have had (after losing Nick and Stu and Rafi a year prior) MIke Babcock deserves the Jack Adams because there is not a team in this league that could have sustained the injuries the Wings have and still made playoffs. GO WINGS!

I would not argue that they have played playoff hockey all season. THe latter half for sure was FAR more intense... but the Red Wings do not play a physical style of "playoff type" hockey all season like the Blues do for example. The way the Blues play all season will wear them down. But the Red Wings will be fine. If anything they will benefit from these last few weeks because you can really see how this team has come together and has dominated games. This could be huge momentum for the playoffs, but it will not make them tired.

I love how it takes over a month of poor/ inconsistent play for Babcock to FINALLY put pavs and hank together on the same line. He does it, then they literally win us the game against the Avs. Then the Wings have a bad period, as seen yesterday, and Babcock already splits them up. I love the job Babs has been doing with the young guys, but the job that he has done with the top 2 lines this season has been poor. We need goals, that is a fact. In response to that, we have Brunner playing on the 3rd line so that CLEARY can now play on the 2nd line AGAIN?! If babs does not want to play Pavs and Hank together, then I think Fil should play with Pavs so that we can get Fil going. Filpulla- Datsyuk- Abs Franzen- Hank- Brunner That is what I would go with as of now.