Nev

Playing the 2nd half of a back to back on the road, away to the BJs is just about as perfect as it gets (famous last words no doubt)

Just checked, our bottom six only has 2 points all season! Good job Pav and Hank are on fire really.

Difference with Emmerton is he never had anything to start with. Cleary has nothing left because he's spent it all on the ice for the time, the guy has been an absolute warrior for us, especially in the playoffs. I feel sorry for the guy, his body is totally trashed and his reward is scorn from the fans and a release in the summer.

Well, you grew the pie, but the more it grew, the more you fought over it Gary. And you ran the business aspect so well we've lost 2 full seasons over the course of 3 lockouts, whilst enduring a decade of stifling clutch and grab. So much for the game taking care of itself.

The first half of the fight it wasn't going well, but then he got a second wind and started really creaming Dillon, good job the refs stopped it when they did. Anyways, I always knew that as soon as he'd dropped the gloves a few times Wings fans would love him, the real questions are going to be if and when he crosses that line he so often crossed in Nashville.

Same as I was before the season started - We can finish anywhere between 6th and 10th depending on form and injuries. We have enough talent on our top 6 to win us games, but a lack of talent in our bottom 6 and on the blue line that will cost us games. So right now I'm trying not to get too high when we beat an average team at home who are on the 2nd game of a back-to-back, and trying not to get too low when we lose at home to said same team. Which team is the real Red Wings, the one that beat Dallas at home or the one that lost to Dallas at home? Both, probably.

Ned Stark playing politics in Kings Landing

It was, 2 amazing assists from Datsyuk as well. As others have said, the return of Bert and Helm gives our forward lines a lot more balance.

Did Brett Hull ever do much fighting in the corners though? My memory of him is hanging round in the slot whilst Zetterberg and Datsyuk dug for the puck in the corners. I'm pretty sure Babcock will be working on the defensive aspects of his game though.

On a serious note, I've noticed for several seasons that opposition teams seem to target him for after-the-whistle rough stuff more than any other player of ours. Clearly they feel like its a worthwhile tactic.

lol, its pronounced "sha" though, as in Tasha. Linconsha. By someone, you mean Franzen, right?

OK, I'm totally digging the Spinal Tap reference, but I'm completely missing the significance of it! Smell the glove? Hello Cleveland? How-much-more-black-can-you-get? None, none-more-black?

But back then who knew that Franzen would spend most of his time laughing all the way to the bank? Hossa cost more in the end too.

The Hossa boat sailed a long time ago guys, no point swimming after it. Holland said all season long he could only sign one of Franzen or Hossa, and Franzen got in there first.

Well, I know that arguing with you is a complete waste of time since your opinions are never ever wrong, so really I should give up, however I would like to point out that neither the OP or myself have said "This team is definitely a disaster! It needs to be blown up now!" We, like many others on this board see this team as a borderline playoff team, and a team slowly in decline. And that without a major infusion of youth and talent, it is indeed going to get worse before it gets better. You insist on mocking anyone who expresses such an opinion as a hysterical chicken-licken worthy of your scorn instead of offering a constructive answer to the paper-thin defense, aging stars, unmotivated players and lack of blue-chip prospects to replace them.

Every wing looks promising in their first game, from Kyle Calder to Derek Meech. I remember someone here saying Lebda was going to be "elite". None of which takes away from the fact that 3 games is still a bigger sample size than 1 game, especially when it's more like 3 seasons that the Wings have been in their slow but inexorable decline.. About the same length of time that you' 've been in denial.

Says the man who created a Lashoff thread based on 1 game of data. Difference then was we had Datsyuk and Zetterberg ready to step into their shoes, and the likes of Filpulla and Hudler and Kronwall to fill secondary positions. We also had Z and Franzen and Flip and Hudler and Sammy and more on really cheap contracts which gave us plenty of cap room to sign the Rafalskis and the Stuarts.

His problem isn't that he doesn't fight. His problem is that he is lazy, soft, lazy, doesn't use his size, lazy, doesn't skate, lazy, doesn't use his stickhandling ability, lazy, takes soft wrist shots from the perimeter, lazy, is signed for another 8 years, and last but not least, lazy. Fighting doesn't even come into it. Homer never fought, but he was the best net-front player in the last 20 years.

I guess it would be like in the olden days when we used to cruise into the playoffs, then come up against a 7th or 8th seed in the first round and struggle the first couple of games. It wasn't that we had "forgotten" to play in the playoffs, just that the opponents had been scrapping for their lives every night just to make the playoffs and didn't need to flick a switch or anything. Same thing often happens when 1 team goes through 4-0 and their opponent 4-3, the side that won in 7 often starts the series better.

Sorry I guess it comes from turning 40!

And with the 210th pick the Detroit Red Wings select Henrik Zetterberg

No it won't. This will only go away when we have a good run in the playoffs and prove we're a legit team again. We've been going backwards since 2009 due to players aging/retiring/leaving via UFA/signing lifetime contracts and no longer giving a damn. So now we're relying on a D-corp full of 3rd pairing players, and hoping for a bunch of rookies to win all 3 Calder nominations. The signs have been there for all to see, especially in the playoffs. 2 successive losses to the Sharks where only Dats and Jimmy made it look respectable, then the Nashville series were even they couldn't hide the teams issues. Its still to early to predict were we'll finish, somewhere between 6 and 10 IMO, but I keep saying it, we're stuck in the NHL Poverty trap. Not good enough to challenge, not bad enough to rebuild through the draft.

Ericsson? If you're gunna do it, do it right and hire Lilja as fighting coach.

1) Its LGW, we've always had our share of chicken lickens, just like the rest of teh interwebz. 2) No, we have a team with an aging core of stars and a whole bunch of question marks through the rest of the roster. The layoff is no excuse, it was the same for both teams, and the guys on our roster who have their game legs (Dats, Z, Brunner, Smith) did just as little as the rest. As others have said, this is a team in transition and I think we'll see plenty of Jekyll and Hyde from this squad the rest of the season.

What the hell set that off? Looks like the Griffs got pounded too, everywhere I looked I was seeing guys in white eating fists.