titanium2

Filppula-Datsyuk-Franzen <--I'd really like for Pav to get going. Cleary-Zetterberg-Hossa Hudler-Helm-Samuelsson Abdelkader-Draper-Holmstrom

He's played well in these playoffs overall. But his middle of the pack offensive stats definitely make it easier to let go of him. But there's still time for him to explode. Seriously, unless he will consider a ridiculous cap hit in the range of 4.5-5 million then I really don't think there's much to talk about. It hurts but that's the reality of the budget world.

I'm definitely excited. The Wings should be able to have a pretty set lineup and rotation with some coming back healthy. Filppula-Datsyuk-Franzen <--I'd really like for Pav to get going. Cleary-Zetterberg-Hossa Hudler-Helm-Samuelsson Abdelkader-Draper-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Lebda-Ericsson

No!!! You're wrong! He'll get all better by Sunday - You'll see. Yeah... Yeah... He'll be all better by Sunday... Alright that's enough overreacting but that's just too bad for him. He had a great year, by his standards. And having him back on the penalty kill would help a lot, imo.

Any hope for a playoff appearance from Lils? Or is conditioning too big a factor for him?

I'm not accusing anyone of doing so, but the Wings must not underestimate the Blackhawks. They're a hot team right now.

You sure it's not FSN plus? Or maybe the Wings will be on FSN plus? I copied that straight from the Snapshots blog.

I shouldn't have said "only." That was my bad. I really didn't mean that in a disappointing way. It's just little things which can be big things. Not to be argumentative, but I think that the things you mentioned, energetic checking, faceoffs, shutdown, whatever, pretty much go along with every other dime a dozen third line player on a contending NHL team. When I draw comparisons, I like to do so in terms of a uniqueness perspective. Although not in the class of Maltby or Lemieux, I think Draper has kind of a "pest" aspect to his game. Because he plays so much bigger than his size, he's just really annoying to play against. You had many forwards who were frustrated and said to themselves, "Did I really just get outworked by that guy???" That's one thing that made him quite special and I don't see that from Helm. I've seen fans of opposing teams get really annoyed by Draper while I've seen some who are rather impressed with Helm. I don't consider Helm a great shutdown player... yet. But his defensive anticipation will get better with time. The comparison is okay. Helm is a better playmaker while Draper is a better finisher. Draper got some time in the top-6 while it's still in question as to whether Helm will ever appear on a scoring line. But all in all, I just think that among the characteristics that make Draper unique, as well as Helm unique, the only one they have in common so far is the blazing fast skating ability. And I don't mean to knock Helm in any sort of way. I just don't want to miss something that could be really special about Helm because I'm trying to see Draper. For me it's kind of like the Yzerman comparison for Zetterberg. They both had a commitment to two-way play but come on? It's just a ticky tack detail within my crazy perspective.

According to Fox Sports' Tim Bryant, Fox Sports Detroit will re-air Game 7 of the Detroit Red Wings-Anaheim Ducks series at 12 PM EDT (i.e. "noon") on Friday.

I'll bet the Red Wings coaching staff will bear in mind how clutch Chicago has been in these playoffs. The Wings tend to sit back and play passively when they get a lead. They cannot afford to do that.

I'd switch Cleary and Homer. Or maybe give Cleary some of Homer's shifts on that line.

I would actually like to see the Datsyuk-Franzen pairing against Chicago.

What do you guys think of the Draper comparison? I actually think that the only thing those two have in common is their skating ability.

They might want to try the lines from the winter classic.

Boston?

I'm actually really concerned about the Wings defense. Lidstrom looked rather human in Game 7 and at times they just looked plain tired. I hope they sleep for the next two days. The might need it.

Barry Melrose said Wings in 7 before the series even started. I wonder if he's shocked that he got that right.

I like how many of the Red Wings players gave pronger as minimal of a handshake as possible; they had the body language of someone who just wanted to get it over with.

Yes... But he's supposed to score, no questions asked. But that's okay. They got Chicago coming up and Datsyuk plays well against them. Well, at least in the regular season he does.

Hahaha!!! Caps lock. Very cute.

Soooo nervous.

Tonight I hope for brains to triumph over brawn.

I just wanted to post a link as a reminder to how awesome Datsyuk is. Please credit CrossoverThrash or Jollymania for his YT channel. http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=stanaw...p;query=datsyuk Hits against the Sharks BEAUTIFUL MOVE SET UP FOR THE SCORE!!!

Many of the announcers and analysts are former players who may be flying on hate as they draw on some bad experience with either playing with or against Europeans.

Apparently Dick's coming to GR next year. Though I can't really read Swedish. http://vf.se/Sport/Varmland/Dick-Axelsson-...oit-090512.aspx