wings_fanatic

Hopefully Smitty is not hurt we cant afford to lose another dman... especially considering he has been looking really good! Goood start for the Wings they were controlling play 5 on 5 til the penalties started... look for the Wings to pick it up again in the 2nd. But I don't understand why the Wings can't get shots on their powerplays... that is the problem and Babcock needs to address it. We need to start getting good shots from the points with traffic in front.

Yah it was a horrible call... that was a clean hit clearly. As a fan of hockey it pains me to see the officiating, not only in this game, but seemingly every single game this season. Every period I watch is DOMINATED by penalties... it is not even fun to watch. The refs need to put their whistles away and stop calling this garbage and let the boys play the game of hockey that we all know and love. While I feel the refs were a huge factor in the Wings win tonight, I am not going to complain because God knows it will even out sooner rather than later. I feel for the Blues and their fans... they played a solid road game after playing last night and probably deserved a point... its a shame the refs had to ruin what was an excellent hockey game. Anyways... go wings!

I would go: Zeterberg- Datsyuk- Bertuzzi Brunner- Kronwall AND Eaves- Filpulla- Franzen White- Smith (when White is back next week) I think that moving Bert up to the top unit will create more room for Pavs and Hank and Franzen with Fil will provide a shooter out there. I think this will balance things out more which is what the powerplay needs.

I wonder how long Babcock is going to keep these powerplay units before he realizes that they are not working.... Kindl has been horrible on the powerplay, and Cleary has no place out there. I cannot wait until White comes back so that we can have White and Smith back there on the point. Also I would like to see Eaves take Cleary's place on the powerplay because he has some skill and a good shot.

He is garbage he should not be on this team anymore.

Good start for the Wings... great to see Hank flying out there! - I thought Filpulla looked off that period - Kronwall, so far, has been a little disappointing this season... he is not doing good enough at manning the powerplay unit and he is rushing too many passes. I know he is going to get better with more games. - I don't like how Babcock played the 2nd unit longer than the 1st unit on some of the powerplays... our top unit needs to be out more then that 2nd unit. Also I want Cleary off of that unit... what the hell has he done this year to deserve powerplay time?! Why not Eaves? HOpefully the boys pick it up in the 2nd and the refs throw their lame ass whistles away.

These forwards lines only worked in the game against the Wild... fact of the matter is we are having too much trouble scoring goals... time to shake up the lines in the 3rd to generate some energy i think... I would like to see Brunner with Pavs and Bert.

That shift just exemplified how bad Cleary is.... he really has no place on this team anymore... he does absolutely nothing. That shift he made 2 obvious dumb mistakes that almost costed the Wings. He needs to go asap.

I thought the Wings played an all around good game. There are a couple changes I would like to make though. Franzen, in my opinion, is not cutting it on the powerplay. I would like to see him switch spots with Bert. - I would like to see Brunner play with Pavs and Bert because no one is really setting Brunner up on Hank's line with Franzen... he would be more suited to play with Dats - Babcock and Renney have to get our powerplay going. I think having Bert on the top unit is a start because he has his big body, can make some nice passes, and goes in front of the net. - I thought Smith was outstanding tonight. I think the wings will regroup and come out firing on Dallas

I thought Brendan Smith was fantastic that period (he has been really good all season but still). I love the way he skates the puck and he has a smart, active stick. He reminds me a lot of Scott Neidemayer in some ways... Also, as many have said, I am sitting here wondering what the hell Cleary does for this team to continue to not only get ice time, but to get POWERPLAY ICE TIME! IMO Cleary needs to be gone and my patience for Franzen is running very thin as well. Other than that, I think the team played okay during the first. Howard looked sharp again. There were a couple shifts where we could not get it out, but we also recovered and generated some scoring chances as well. HOpefully the Wings come out and outwork the Hawks in the 2nd and 3rd since the Hawks played last night and bring us home a "W".

No... Franzen is always useless playing on Pavs line... all he does is slow Pavs down. For now I would like to see what Fil can do on a line with Pavs and Bert. It is no secret that Fil is still feeling the effects of his injury so I think skating on a line with Pavs will help him out a lot and having a body like Bert out there will create space. If these new lines don't work, then I would like to see: Bert- Datsyuk- Brunner (I think this would be a really good line. For everyone against splitting up Hank and Brunner... get over it. I don't think Brunner will complain too much because he has been getting used to Datsyuk's plays just fine and Pavel is a much better set up guy than Hank. Bert would create more space... I think this could turn out to be a great line.) Fil- Hank- Franzen (Fil and Hank had great chemistry last year and Franzen typically plays decent on a line with Hank... could be a great 2nd line) Cleary- Helm- Sammy (Solid third line that is responsible on both ends of the ice) Toottoo- Abs- Miller/ Eaves I think eventually Babs will go to using these lines because i think they have the best spread.

This is Howard's chance to make some breakaway saves! COME ON WINGS!

Great overall game by the Wings thus far. They had a couple minutes near the end there that they slowed down, but overall I am impressed. They are flying out there, their passing is much better and they are generating lots of good chances. Sure the jackets got another breakaway goal but that was a long shift for those two on D that is why Smith got beat so easily. Howard is playing good tonight and I never blame a goalie for letting in a breakaway goal but he has to get better at them... he is 0 for 5 so far this season when someone comes in all alone... all he does is lays down on his stomach flat and hopes to stop it it seems... he needs to get better than that. Overall, great game by the Wings... lets hope for a solid finish. I want Brunner to score super bad.

You are asking the wrong question... the rest of us are wondering where the team was.

I don't understand why Babcock is only choosing to play Smith for 15 minutes... he is clearly better than anyone not named Kronwall. Kronnrs should be at 26-27 minutes a game and Smith and White should be able to handle around at least 20-24 minutes. Then Quincy, Ericsson and Carlo can play whatever is left.

- Ericsson was not good last night... he looks like a lost puppy out there. He follows the puck too often and leaves his position. There were at least 3 different times last night where he followed Kronners into the corner to get the puck, before realizing that that is Kronner's side. - I hate Babcock's new philosophy of spreading out the minutes among our Dmen... Kronners over played 20 minutes last night... that is what Pavel played and he is a forward!!! Quincy and Ericsson continue to be pylons out there and I think Babcock needs to establish Kronners as our CLEAR number 1 dman because he can handle it. Kronners should be averaging 26-27 minutes a game like Lidstrom and Rafi used to as our top pairing guys. - With that said, Babcock also needs to play Datsyuk and Zetterberg more... they are our top guys... rolling the 4 lines is not going to get us into the playoffs... we need our top guys to play. - Each of the Dmen combos sucked. Ericsson should not play on the top pairing with Kronners. I want the pairings to be: Kronners- Smith (Smith had a great game and we all know about Kronners... this can turn out to be great) Ericsson- White Carlo- Quincy Other than this I would say simply the Wings were not engaged last night and that is bound to happen when a team has not played together since April. Sure the Blues looked great last night, but any team will look great when they are 100% on and the other team is nowhere to be found. My guess is we see a much more familiar Red Wings on Monday night.

And then if I am not mistaken, we went on to win the Cup... But the difference is that this game showed that we need another Dman desperately... Ericsson CANNOT play on the top pairing...

This team looks LOST. Ericsson needs to come off the top pairing... he has been HORRIBLE!! He is never in the right spot... same with Quincy. I feel like this team needs to make a move sooner rather then later despite this only being the first game. One positive... at least Howie looks good.

Boy it feels good to be predicting a game again!! I think this (along with most other games) is going to be a high scoring game because the goalies are going to be rusty and likely will let in some softies after not playing for so long. I am going to say 5-4 Wings goals from Pavs, Hank (2), Kronners, Brunner. Obviously I think a big game from our new big line but i think our top line will have a HUGE advantage over the Blues since they have played hockey this season... Anyways... GO WINGS

I have said this since 2009 playoffs... Franzen is only good when he is playing Homer's role in front of the net. He is not some sniper like everyone makes him out to be... he is at his best when he scores the dirty rebound goals or gets tips from standing in front. That is how he scored a huge majority of his goals in 2008 at the end of regular season and during playoffs. Babs needs to put Franzen back in that specific role and I think he will produce better and work better.

The Penguins got their asses handed to by Philly AND lost their best defensive forward in Jordan Stall. Losing him is going to KILL that team and especially their PK. He was very good at shutting down top players on the other team... I think the Penguins have a hard time without him and will defs NOT be a number 1 team....IMO the Rangers are clearly going to be the hardest team to play against, especially with the King in net.

Well then you can be the "half" that doesn't go and we will be the ones that go to support our team. The fact that you are on these forums tells me that you care a great deal about this team, so don't pretend that you don't. Your attempt at playing hard ball will only last so long and then you will be right back to supporting the boys at the Joe.

I dunno where he heard that but from what I have read there was absolutely no question Pavel was coming back. Pavel himself has said that over and over since September that he would be back and so has his agent. Furthermore, this morning on my facebook Pavel Datsyuk's page posted to "Mojo in the Morning's" facebook page (a radio station show in Detroit) which stated that his flight was booked and he will be back in detroit later this week. So Aaron Ward got his sources wrong lol

I would keep Brunner and Z together to START the season. They have played together for a long while now and have been very good... no reason to change that. Start with this and see how it goes. With that said, these are the lines I want to see start the year. Filpulla- Datsyuk- Bert Franzen- Zetterberg- Brunner Nyquist- Helm- Sammy Miller- Abdelkator-Cleary/Tootoo Kronwall- Smith Quincy- White Ericsson- Kindl (since Carlo is injured) I think this would be the best balance. I NEVER want to see Franzen on the ice with Datsyuk because he frankly does not deserve it. Pavel never plays good with Franzen as he does with others and I really like the idea of Fil and Pavs together with a big guy like Bert.

The fact that they are being so careful and taking their time with understanding it tells me that the players and the owners understand that this is it... if these negotiations explode then that is the season. I think the players are relatively happy with this and are taking their time to understand everything before moving on to a counterproposal or bargaining in general for some tweaks. I think there will be a season ...