Nev

If he Babcock isn't the right guy going forward, you need to come up with a serious, realistic option of a better coach who is available. We're 5th in the west with no 3rd or 4th lines, a bunch of 6/7 guys on defence and a bucketload of injuries. What more do you want?

For a guy who was picked up on waivers, I don't think you can complain. The Roy trade, I have seen before a list of what Montreal supposedly wanted, and it didn't include Fedorov, it was a bunch of depth players who would have been easily replaced. Look at what it cost Colorado for Roy (and Keane as well) - Thibault, Rucinsky and Kovalenko. I'm going to throw in as my selection picking Keith Primeau with the 3rd overall pick in the 1990 draft ahead of Jagr. Primeau was a decent player who helped get us Shanahan in the end, but he was Jagr,

Lidstrom too, he got 60-odd points but lost out to Bure. Still can't believe that Zetterberg lost to Jackman....

Whilst delighted that we got away with 2 points, I do feel bad for the Kings, they'll go a long, long time before they play better than that and come away with 0 points. NHL.com have Ericssons goal down as unassisted btw

wow, what a bitchslap of a period. We could barely get it out of our own zone, let alone get it in theirs. Forget keeping it in their zone.....

Getting beaten to every puck

How many icings have we given away this game???

I think the problem is it takes him so damn long to get it away. There was a situation yesterday when he got the puck and was wide open, by the time he wound up and got it away the lane was gone. I've been impressed by his snarl as much as anything. Giving guys a little cross-check, shoving them to the ice when the puck has gone etc. I've been crying out for someone to do this for years.

I remember an article from 10 years ago in the Freep, where they interviewed Yzerman, Hull, Robitaille and Shanahan (so over 2000 NHL goals then), and they all said the number one reason for the decline in scoring back then was goalie equipment. Hull admitted to actually trying to hurt Hasek in practise once, and Hasek didn't even notice. I also remember one of them saying that there was a time when you could score with a really good slapper, but with the big equipment it was impossible without a screen and/or deflection. You can have a stick made out of kryptonite, but if the goalie equipment is so big that the entire net is covered, you ain't gunna score.

It was after an offsides call, I think he said something the linesman didn't like. And only 15 pages for a GDT, where is everyone??

To be fair, we were ready to throw him under the bus because he has been atrocious at times in his career. I still have nightmares about his play in the last Sharks series. Definately

Good hard fought game, enjoyed that. Pavel was more awesome than lemony-lemon cakes, and Ericsson looks like he is finally starting to be that "Chris Pronger without the crosschecks" that Babs promised us

How could I forget the Ginger Ninja!

Whilst I can't say we didn't deserve that goal with our play this period, gotta feel sorry for EDM on that 5 on 3 - massive embellishment by Brunner, then a real unlucky D-O-G

Ah Pavel...sweet, sweet Pavel... And is it just me, or does Andersson look taller than 6-2?

You can always go back and edit your post to Man City or Chelsea to make me look stupid I would say Arsenal, but they haven't won anything for 8 years

Not really - Jones, Smalling, Ferdinand, Carrick, Cleverly, Young, Welbeck, Rooney off the top of my head. Certainly more than most EPL teams.

I agree with the OPs general premise. TL:DR version = good top six, average bottom six which lacks identity (but lets wait till Helm and Sammy get back first), OK goaltending, lack of quality on blue line. And thats the hard part - how? Free Agency is weak, year after year now. Any half decent player gets a lifetime contract and bucketloads of cash thrown at them - and even that isn't enough as Holland found out with Parise and Suter. Asking prices for trades are often ridiculous. Holland has patiently spent years re-stocking our pipeline of prospects, 1 or 2 trades (each costing 2 or 3 prospects) are not going to suddenly propel us into a powerhouse again.

Well I guess we all know who's going to get a starring role in Coaches Corner on Saturday...

LOL, the 2013 Detroit Bi-Polars in full effect 3 & 4th lines 1 point in 9 games, combine for 8 points in this one

To be fair, I think he was using "blindside" in the sense that Meyers was looking the other way when he got hit. That doesn't make it a blindside hit per se, and he did seem genuinely shocked that it was a major.

Exactly what I was going to say - for as long as the refs stood around talking about it, they could have just looked at one replay and gone "clean hit"

Best get used to that, we're going to see a lot of it this season

Famous last words indeed. Ladies and gentleman, welcome to your 2013 Detroit Bi-polars! Interesting quote from Howard Their second goal was absolute garbage. Is he blaming himself for it, or throwing Kronwall under the bus? EDIT: Nevermind, found a more complete quote on Mlive, Howard totally blaming himself “Awful, with a capital A,'' Howard said of his performance. “Just wasn't there. I just didn't feel comfortable. Second goal was absolute garbage. It took the wind completely out of our sails.''