Nev

I can't deny Jimmy isn't playing well right now, that doesn't make him a bad goalie. He was outstanding last season, easily our MVP, carrying us night after night to points we didn't deserve. This season, he isn't playing so well at the minute, but he's gone through rough patches in the past and always come out the other side playing well. Unlike a host of other players on the roster (Quincey, Cleary, Samuelsson etc), Jimmy is capable of better than he's giving right now. A healthy Monster will help as it will give Jimmy more games off, and more time in practise to work on his game.

I've had enough of this top line scoring 2 goals, shutting down opposition top line, but losing 3-2 malarky. And so has Pavel. Tonight he has a goal and 13 assists as the Wings win 14-3.

But what we do with those extra prospects is a separate issue again. The tactic of trading mid-late 1st round picks for extra 2nd round picks has proved successful - we have lots of quality young players because of it. The tactic of burying those large numbers of quality young players in the minors is proving un-successful. If we'd kept those mid-late first rounders and not traded down, those mid-late first rounders would still be stuck in the minors. But hey, at least its brought us a Calder Cup I guess....

Why? Its been one of his most successful tactics. It got us Ferraro, Tatar and Nestrasil in 2009. Jurco, Oullet and Sproul in 2011 in what may turn out to be our best draft since 1989. And this summer, we still got Mantha after trading down, plus Nastasiuk and Nephtuzzi. Just because Kenny re-signed Cleary and can't bring Nyquist up because he screwed the roster up so bad, doesn't mean that everything he does is wrong.

I confess I really like 4on4 OT, and because both teams are certain of a point, it means they both go for it. It leads to fast-paced, open hockey with chances at both ends, so I'm all for extending it to 10 mins. 3on3 I'm not so keen on, seems even more gimmicky than the shoot-out. Failing that, no OT, both teams get a point. I don't understand the North American obsession with the idea that sporting contests must end with one side winning, and one side losing. But then again, I follow cricket, a game that can last 5 days and still end in a draw

Sucks for Eaves, but this was always going to happen once we re-signed Miller. So, if he clears, we'll have Eaves, Emmerton and Tootoo in Grand Rapids......Grand Rapids who are already overflowing in prospects, who had to send Frk to Toledo because there was no room for him on the roster.......now a couple more guys are going to have to make room. So even our prospects in the AHL can't get a game because of Kenny's poor roster management and unwillingness to cut ties.

I'm 3,967 miles away from Detroit, and even I can see that Andersson needs speedy wingers to perform.

But the guys he's fought - Dan Cleary, Michael Handzus, Jiri Slegr.....Pronger is half-man half-sasquatch, and these are the guys he chooses to fight?

He should get it tattooed on his back like The Nameless One

He is unquestionably HOF material. The 2nd best D-man of his generation after Lidstrom. Dirty, cowardly, and a spot-picking cheap-shot artist who if he wasn't a star would have racked up many many more games suspended. But nevertheless a HOFer.

Indisputable fact? You have scientific studies with, y'know, graphs and everything? And if I'm not qualified to speak, I guess you aren't either? What I do know - from personal experience - is that when you've got a good team of people, who are good at their jobs, and want to do well, they can also be difficult people. Strong characters, opinionated, argumentative, think they're right and everyone else is wrong. But you know what? I'm willing to put up with it because they're good at their job and they want it done right. So I disagree that less is always better. Claude Lemiuex was a POS who once ripped a team-mate to bits in front of the rest of the team so hard that he caused him to burst into tears. That team-mate never played for the Avs again, whilst Lemiuex won 4 cups. Nice guys don't always win. It's better if winners are nice, but they're often not.

So, so true.

Very true, but that means we need to give Holland credit for the things we've done right as well though. Holland didn't completely blow the off-season - Alfredsson looks like a good signing, Mantha a great pick etc

Newsflash - not everyone on successful teams are best friends. As far as I can tell, Bryzgalov's biggest crime is to be honest with the media. Unless someone displays Sean Avery levels of doucheness, the ONLY thing that matters is what happens on the ice. If Bryz goes in and gives them half decent goaltending, who cares if his team-mates like him. Dan Cleary is hugely popular with his team-mates, the anti-locker room cancer. Doesn't make him an effective team mate though.

I so hate that phrase, and how beloved it is of hockey fans. So over-used.

If he stays healthy and plays till the end of his contract, Pav should get to 1000 points and finish 2nd. Obviously Malkin and Ovechkin will push him down to 4th. Z should end up 6th.

Both Tatar and Nyquist have shown far in the AHL and the NHL so far than Mursak or Ritola ever did. The reason Goose can't get in the line-up is because of Kenny's poor roster management the last 2 off-seasons.

This is exactly our problem up front, not enough decent middle six players - suddenly Hudler, Filpulla, Sammy 1.0 and non-broken-down-Cleary don't seem so bad. Just like only now are people realising what we've lost in Stuart and Rafalski.

Ritola and Mursak were never given a proper shot because quite frankly they weren't good enough.

I called them the Detroit BiPolars last season, I see no reason to change that this season. The team that completely soiled the bedding against Ottawa and Winnipeg, is exactly the same team that won in Boston, shut-out the Sharks and gave Colorado their first defeat. We have enough high end talent to win games, but not enough mid-level talent to carry us through on the nights when the big guns can't.

The more I think about it, the more I think the "mental health issues" theory has legs * Doesn't fly out for start of road trip, but flies out for 2nd game. * Zetterberg and his "when Mule comes back he's going to be amazeballs! We love ya big guy!" comments * Plays 2 periods but leaves feeling "nauseous" * Dropped from line-up, team says he's injured, but continues to practise * No-one knows when he's due back * No-one knows what the injury is * Tame questioning by local media (who have probably been briefed off the record) * Babcock's refusal to bench him or criticise him beyond "He can be as good as he wants to be" Of course, I could be putting 2 and 2 together here and getting 5, but if true the best thing for him and the Wings is to LTIR him for the rest of the season, send him back to Sweden and compliance buy out in the summer.

OK, you;'ve got me proper LOLing with that one

Meh, remember when the Central was Detroit and 4 bad teams? It's all cyclical.

From a roster managment point of view, Tootoo is the obvious player to be waived first. From a who-deserves-to-be-waived-first? point of view, clearly he isn't. Won't we have to re-assign another player from GR to Toledo now as well? They already sent Frk down to the ECHL cos there was no room for him on the Griffs.

"The gentleman who was looking...quite refreshed"