wings_fanatic

Babs said last night Z may be out tomorrow. There is no skate today, so the team will not know until tomorrow whether Z will play or not. Precautionary move. Lets hope Z can play against the Blues.

Babs said last night that he wasn't sure if Hank would be available Sunday because his groin was sore at the end of the game last night, so this must be precautionary in case Hank can't play tomorrow. My guess is Hank takes part in pre-game skate and makes a decision for as to whether or not he plays. If he can't play, Shehan plays. Lets hope Hank can play because I really loved watching Him and pavs on the same line again and tomorrows game is huge.

Quincy missed 10 games and has to get used to the cage. It is easy to blame someone so easily, but before he was injured he was playing much better than the beginning of the season. Personally, I would like to see Babs continue with the following pairings for the remainder of the season: Kronners- E Carlo- Smith (I think they have potential to be a solid 2nd pairing this season given more playing time together) Dekeyser- White (I really liked Danny D last night and I would not even mind him on the 2nd pairing. I thought him and White played extremely well together, and I like having a right handed Dman in the games so White gets my vote over Quincy at this point in time.) The fact of the matter is, with so few games remaining, Babs needs to decide on his 6 Dmen and play them so they can get used to their partners for playoffs. That is crucial.

Babcock just said Hank might not be available because he was favoring his groin at the end Lets all hope that Hank rests up and is good to go Sunday because that is a HUGE game!

s***sburg is by far the worst. I watched their game tonight against the Rangers... I had to mute my TV. I cannot count how many times they said Lunquivst got "lucky" making a save tonight, but when Fleury makes a save it is amazing. Also, they spent most of the game trying to convince listeners that Douglas Murray is some sort of a 2nd coming of Jesus or something. NO ONE is worse then them. Anyways, I am loving the effort from the boys in red and white tonight, and a lot of the reason comes from Babcock's line changes. Pavs and Hank look great together and are developing their chemistry as the game goes on. But the biggest thing so far is Babs's decision to play Franzen at center. I like this move because it essentially forces Franzen to skate and use his body more, which he has been doing... very smart move By Babcock. Now lets hope the Wings can put this game away in the 3rd.

I agree with Smith... give him a game off and let him regroup. But sitting Carlo is just stupid because he has played very well these past two games. He has been solid defensively (better than most of our Dmen actually) and has been moving the puck and getting shots to the net. Sitting him is a retarded move. I think Kindl should be sitting. But the main thing is, Babcock cannot continue to make this amount of changes following this game. We need a solidified group of Dmen... 6 regulars so that they can get used to a partner. That is quite clearly a problem with these D pairings... they are always changed therefore they are not used to their partners and therefore more breakdowns happen. So, Babcock needs to make his mind up after this game. Lastly, in the same article on Mlive, I read Babs plans on starting with his same STUPID forward lines. What the eff needs to happen for him to realize that THOSE LINES SUCK!? There is not another coach in this league that would stick to these lines as long as he has. Last night is a prime example that they need to change. He finally changed them last night in the 3rd and the Wings played significantly better once Pavs and Hank were together... why not start with that tonight for a change?! IF the Wings lose this game because of these dumb lines, Kenny needs to let Babcock know he wants changes, otherwise he will make them himself because it is just silly at this point how hard headed he is.

Babcock needs to make a decision with the D within the next couple games. We cannot keep switching the D up every game like this... we need the 3 pairings to play together consistently to develop chemistry going down the stretch. Personally, I think that making THREE changes to the Defense tomorrow is a very bad idea... that is just too many changes and is going to throw things off. So Babs needs to decide ASAP on what the eff he wants to do. As for forward lines: Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Abdelkator Franzen- Filpulla- Miller (I think he earned top minutes and I dont get why he was replaced by Cleary) Simply put, we need Pavel and Hank together because no other lines have worked consistently. Once Brunner is back, and if Bert comes back within the next week or so then we can see: Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Bertuzzi Franzen- Fil- Brunner Now that is a solid top 6.

Babcock waited way too long to make line changes. They were horrible in the 2nd, but he waited too late to make changes and did not even put Pavs and Hank together until 5 min left. Playing the Avs tomorrow night, Babcock should be able to easily play the Eurotwins together and I think that we need to see them together for the remainder of the year because we need more offense.

Besides that, Franzen just slows Pavel down. I know lots of people are complaining about Pavs playing with Abs, but I like the way Abs is playing. He is working hard, finishing his hits, hustling, screening the goalie and now scoring goals. I think he is a new version of Homer for Pavs and it seems to be working. Franzen on the other hand looks slow, gives up the puck too easily and is making too many mistakes overall. This is where I think Kenny needs to make an upgrade for a guy like Gaborick or something in that nature.

I have been saying for a long time that Brunner should be playing with Pavel... not on the bottom 6 and not with Hank... with Pavel. Brunner has proven he can score goals and, more than that, he competes which is something Franzen does not do. IMO Brunner deserves to play with Pavel much more than Franzen, and I think we will get better results as well.

4 periods and no goals. And Franzen is still with Pavel doing absolutely nothing, while Brunner is on the 3rd line... o and sammy has magically been put on the 2nd line with CLEARY! Babcock needs to do a better job with his forward lines! I understand having Hank out isn't easy, but that does not excuse Babs for playing Brunner on the 3rd line. How about: Brunner- Datsyuk- Abdelkator Franzen- Filpulla- Sammy Those look like a better top 2 lines without Cleary on them. The 2nd line has always worked when put together, and Brunner is one of the few forwards, along with Abs that looks like they are skating out there very well... so lets change these lines and get going. Call me crazy, but for some reason I have a good feeling about the Wings coming back.

I am wondering what Sammy has done to get on the top 2 lines over Brunner...

Doesn't mean we have to stoop to that level. Don't forget, not all Penguins fans are like that. Some choose to be fans that simply cheer for their team in the same way that we do for the Red Wings. You are deciding to be the type of Red Wings fan that goes out of the way to piss of fans of other teams the same way that those Penguins fans you described were doing... why stoop to their level? Furthermore, wishing a guy like Crosby to be hurt or to be glad he is hurt, is like a fan from another team being happy if say Pavel or Hank were to get injured and I don't think many of us on here would appreciate that. Maybe you should just enjoy the game.

Why the eff is Cleary now on the 2nd line with Hank?!? Jesus christ Babcock needs to get over his man crush for Cleary. Cleary is fine on his 3rd line but does not belong on the top 2 lines. Also Franzen is doing nothing for me on Pavel's line. I think Brunner has a lot of jump this game and is creating some chances and SHOOTING THE PUCK. Why not put him on Pavel's wing instead of Franzen? Abdelkator- Datsyuk- Brunner Franzen- Zetty- Fil

Babcock continues to do a questionable job with his lines. Cleary has done nothing to deserve top minutes. TO make matters worse, Babcock's approach to what he calls "trouble scoring goals" is PUTTING CLEARY with Zetty?!?!?! Great job once again Babs! Lines should be: Franzen- Datsyuk- Brunner Nyquist- Hank- Fil That would provide scoring.

Well most people picked them to win the Cup before the season began... they just underperformed all season. I am tired of people using that logic just because LA won the cup from the 8th seed... they were a top notch team that finally got their act together.

Not to fault Howard, but he seems off his game tonight a bit. When he is on his game, he has that 3rd goal and he controls the rebound that led to the 4th goal. Having said that, Lashoff should have been taking his man on that 4th goal instead of watching Howard. I am sick and tired of the Wings missing the freakin net and watching Zetterberg be in perfect shooting area only to try some dumb pass. I don't care that we won 2 games out west with these lines because I am SICK of these lines. Datsyuk and Zetterberg should be on the same line because we need Zetty being set up to shoot the puck on net. Down 4-1 Babcock would be wise to change up the lines. Then again, I guess that means he wont

I would love to see how many teams in the nhl would still be in the playoff race like the Wings are with the amount of injuries that they have sustained this year. The number of teams would be extremely small so Kenny was right on

I think Smith is having a great game... using his body, moving the puck well, reading plays extremely well. I think Miller is having a great game. Abdelkator has been having a good game finishing his checks, going to the net. FIl has looked very good for the 3rd straight game. I dont know what game you have been watching. My pants as well. And I would make a video of that and post it on fb with the caption "NICK LIDSTROM IS BACK" and I would be damn proud of it

This is so obvious what Kenny is going to say. He is going to announce the return of Nick Lidstrom! He has had it planned ever since Nick announced his retirement last year! One could only wish haha.

I am sick and tired of watching the Red Wings not able to generate offense or score goals. This has went on for about 12 games now and Mike Babcock continues to not change up the lines and yet we have yet to score again tonight. I think it is time to consider firing him because this is ridiculous!!! Any coach would have changed lines to spark something tonight since nothing has been going on but not him. He needs to go.

how the eff is that not called a penalty??!! He was clearly tripped! After the garbage the refs called against the Wings and to not call that is pretty sad. Having said that, what a shift by number 13

You should have saved this ridiculous post for April 1st...

If we have trouble to score goals again tonight, and again Babcock refuses to change the lines, then Kenny needs to strongly consider giving him the pink slip. Now more positively, LETS GO WINGS! I think Pavel is going to have a great game tonight.

Babcock needs to wake the hell up. These past dozen games since Pavel has had garbage playing with him, you can tell just by looking at him that he is frustrated and just not happy. If you want any chance of convincing him to sign an extra year or two even, then as a coach you need to start treating him like you should always have been treating him! Pavel Datsyuk should be playing with a goal scorer not pylons. Brunner and/ or Hank NEEDS to be playing with Pavel at all times so that they get going offensively and so Pavel enjoys the game. If one enjoys the game, they just might be inclined to stick around a bit longer. Imo, Pavel has not had a good line ever since Hossa left this team and Kenny and Babcock have not helped.