Nev

But isn't Leino on a 1 year contract? No guarentee he will sign with a cap-inhibited wings next year if someone offers him more. Conceivably we could lose Sammy, Hudler, Maltby, DMac, Downey, Franzen and still not have enough to re-sign Hossa and only have Abdelkader and Helm to replace them. Personally, if its a choice of Hossa vs Franzen + 2-3 depth players, I'm going to take the latter. Franzen has a beguiling combination of beef and hands that no-one else on our roster has, and our depth has been one of our greatest strengths these last 15 years

Uh, technically, no he isn't Having said that, they probly should get some form of compensation.

To be fair Cleary hasn't been the same since he took that puck to the face - all that weight loss and vision problems in one eye has obviously affected his play. Before that point he was an absolute WARRIOR for this team. I said going into last years playoffs that we needed 18 Dan Clearys. The fact that you said you have never liked DC and never will makes your whole argument invalid because it shows that you lack reason and objectivity.

No, but I can see Kenny letting Franzen, Hudler and Sammy walk in order to keep Hossa

Shots 15-5 Wings. This is what I was talking about

Agree, they've got a Whole Lotta (man) Love for Lidstrom.

Thanks for that mate, working fine Last season I was able to listen to both WXYT & NHL.com at work, but no joy since they added the plugins/adobe ISTR that was quite a successful strategy for a few folks in the playoffs

GAH! It would appear that I will be unable to listen to this game (at work, night shift). WXYT & NHL.com both require plugins which are not on my works PC. Anyone know any other internet radio feeds I can try?

Question is, will we just be able to turn it on come playoffs? The last 2 regular seasons Babs has had this team playing playoff hockey all year round. I wanna get back to that hard working, smothering D that has been our hallmark under Babcock.

Like plenty of others in this thread I wanna see a return to Redwings Hockey. That means not 30+ shots and 3+ goals against. A solid defensive effort and a W please

The wings are struggling defensively because we don't have any fighters in the line-up.

Its too early to say whether or not the current defensive failings are due to the loss of McLellan or not. It may be that, or it may be the (and I hate myself for saying this) The Cup Hangover , or it may just be a statistical blip. Remember, the Wings were excellent defensively way before Babs & TM arrived. Also remember Babcock has done a great job wherever he's been previously, at every level. Having said that, in many sports a head coach is never the same once he loses his trusted assistant(s). Bottom line - too early to tell.

I've actually noticed a gradual increase in the level of Lilja respect this season - a lot less people on his case. Good on him for winning the fans over, if he keeps this up the Pain Train is going to actually assume full-on cult status Anyway, Lilja-Lebda is not even close to "worst wings D pairing ever". C'mon guys, there's got to be some combination of Yan Golubovsky, Uwe Krupp and Max Kuznetzov that could out-underperform them!

I'll be optimistic when we start holding opponents to 20 shots a game and 2 or less goals a game like last year. Giving up 30+ shots and 3-4 goals a game is not a cause for optimism. And comparing this to winless February is apples and oranges. Then we had 10 starters out injured, including our top 4 D. No excuses now - we're just not playing our suffocating team defence that has been our Hallmark under Babs.

Are, right now, Helm/Abdelkader/Leino better than McCarty & Maltby? The answer is undoubtedly yes, and they are all more deserving of a roster spot. However, as we all know, the Wings are in a real cap-crunch/roster space situation, which is the real reason why Helm and Leino are in GR. Come the playoffs, when the roster restrictions are eased I would not be the slightest bit surprised to see some of those young guns in the line-up. Helm and Abdelkader are perfect replacements for Maltby and McCarty.

No he didn't. He left because he wanted to get his foot in the door with the NHL and the TV companies. And his wife liked going to shows on Broadway. Give that man a cookie. FFS, the guy had 163 points in 162 playoff games. Not bad for a lazy player who only cared about money.

Fixed that for you. I was never on the Crosby-is-a-divey-whiner bandwagon, quite frankly I never saw him play enough. But after the 1st two games of the finals where Pittsburgh got totally pwned and he comes out and complains about obstruction that no-one else saw all year and says that line about "hopefully we'll get the calls"....

Makes it worse that they are from Sheffield, and the Steelers are probly the best supported Hockey team in Britain For shame, for shame.....

He said it before he was sent down - he is doing everything in his power to stay with the big boys. Now, if the Big Red Machine was rumbling along as normal he wouldn't be missed. But since the team is misfiring, its very hard to send him down given his strong play. Question is, who sits once Z comes back?

Anyone have the pic of Malking with Mule stood over him and Evgeni has a scared witless "please don't hurt me" look on his face? Absolutely priceless

I said it before the season negan, but I felt it was a mistake splitting up ZDH. You have the best line inthe league, with Rafa and Lids they make up a five-some that shuts down the opponents first line AND scores a ton of goals. Other teams are scared ****less when our big 5 are on the ice - why split that up. I'd go Dats-Zetterberg-Homer Franzen-Flip-Hossa Cleary-Draper-Sammy (this line was great in the playoffs and produced Sammys best play in a winged wheel) Hudler-Helm-Kopecky/Maltby On D I can see Lebda being dropped for Meech, and I do wonder if he'll mix up the top 4 given how brutal Kronner & Stewie have been. Memo everyone - this is NOT a panic post. Despite their poor play the Wings are currently on course for a 102 point season

Dammit, where can I get a radio feed for this? NHL gamecentre requires a plugin, WXYT requires a plugin, redwings site doesn't do anything.....aaaaarghghgh!!

Uk night shift reporting in for my first GDT of the year Alas, the WXYT "listen live" now requires a plugin which my work PC doesn't have.... Hoping I can get the NHL radio feed to work when it starts (but the sound quality sucks on there)

I've always said his new contract will be $7.45M for the first 2 years (same as remainder of Nicks contract), then $8M per year for the rest of the deal, however long that is.

On the one hand I am absolutely stoked to see the Wings back in action - always a pleasure, never a chore. On the other, I am so so sad the the 2007-2008 Stanley Cup winning season is officially over Seeing the big red machine in action was a sight to behold.