dobbles

I think everyone acted as they should. del zotto got way up high on kopecky with that cross check that knocked off his helmet. so i think the punch was warranted. in that same vein, thats why he got tackled and then pummeled. though i am with you guys in wondering if rupp will get disciplined for going after a guy that was already being restrained by an official.

what an awful call. the hawks have been beneficiaries of good calls ever since their resurgence. they get over-hyped by the league just like cindy and company, so when they don't score everyone assumes it was because the other team committed a penalty.

great to see mrazek with so much passion as well! he was really enjoying himself out there.

oh i agree with what you are saying. i just think our dmen should be expected to stand up for him. a huge dude like ericsson should be expected to protect howard and if he doesn't he should get called out by babcock, teammates, holland, fans, ken and mick or whomever... same goes for stuart and kronwall. both are guys that are physical players. they can't be shying away from after the whistle stuff. the defensemen we have are good players, i just think they should be expected to stand up for their team. and the people that matter don't hold them accountable.

or perhaps you are just an idiot? regarding the issue, i agree with the folks that just an enforcer isn't the answer. we need defensemen that will make guys pay for driving the net by either tackling them and/or punching their face in. aside from lidstrom, every single dman we have should be willing to do whatever it takes to protect howard and drop the gloves at the slightest hint of taking liberties.

i agree about commodore perhaps not having much left in the tank. and i agree that we have to know what we have. i don't think people see kindl as untouchable. however, you have to reward young players that are exceeding expectations. sitting him for mike commodore would be the absolute opposite of that.

aside from getting rest which might be important to the team if conklin continues to blow chunks, the biggest reason to not vote him in to me is to give him a couple days to go home and spend time with his wife and baby. i can only imagine having to be away from home so much with a newborn. sure being in the allstar game in an honor, but theres plenty of years left for that.

i think kindl has played very well both statistically for a 6th dman and by watching him play and make good things happen in both ends. under no circumstance should he sit any time soon. i do think ericsson could use a couple games on the pine to try and get his head straight. he has been pretty underwhelming so far this year. personally, i am fine with commodore sitting until needed. he is a veteran; its not as if he can't step in tomorrow and know what he's doing. and while his legs may not be there to start, its not as if speed and agility were ever his strong suit. thats why you bring in veterans like him; they can step in at a moments notice and not skip a beat.

i like the taunting. hockey needs some more enthusiasm, passion, hatred, etc... i think downie should be disciplined for leaving the bench. if he wants to get back at him great, but do it when your actually on the ice.

if he continues to play bad, i think that would be in the teams best interest later in the season. getting smith significant games this year especially with lidstrom still on the roster would be huge for his development as he could really hit the ground running next season as an experienced guy. and with how bad E looks at times, the short term trade off would be negligible which is why the long term benefits would be huge. now i doubt it does happen. but to me it might be what should happen if things continue. as wings fans its in our best interest for E to play better. so i have no reason to root against the guy. but we have to be realistic and see that he continues to not improve after several years in the league. his contract makes it so he cant just be the guy you dont notice. he now has to contribute in a positive way to earn his pay. i just dont see that happening on a regular basis.

i think ericsson deserves to sit for commodore for a game or two. there needs to be consequences for bad play.

we could paint the number 52 on a pylon and pay it 3 million and it would be more effective.

i think nashville makes the most sense because they can slide into the southest the easiest. however making the most sense rarely has anything to do with what will happen.

kindl is having a great year! i hope he continues to get better!

thank god! thats a rarity for games on nhln

i am so ******* sick of games on nhl network. nhln's studio show sucks ballz ever since they brought in jamie mclennan. that guy licks *******.

i love how everyone loves to rag on drew miller, yet the guy is +7 this year! i am not about to say plus/minus is everything. but think about it at the most basic level, if the bottom 6 is such a weakness, then wouldn't they all have bad plus minus ratings because they are giving up too many goals against? yet none of them do. bruunstrom is -2 in 4 games and bertuzzi is -1 in 11 games. thats it for bottom 6 guys. everyone else is even or plus. and heck, bertuzzi was last on the entire team 2 years ago so -1 ain't half bad for him! i know people love to rip on plus minus, but to me it points to this basic premise: what games out of the 8 losses can be attributed to bottom 6 play? i would argue none of the losses have really been their fault nor have they even been significant factors in most losses. also, if having a more physical bottom 6 is essential, what games were lost because of a lack of physical play? the wings losses are because they are s*** on the PP and have not gotten solid play from their top 6. i really don't think a bottom 6 guy making some big hits is going to get dan cleary's head out of his ass... i would love to imrpove the bottom 6. i would love to improve lots of parts of this team. but they aren't the problem. i dont even think they have underperformed. i would love to see a guy like brandon prust on this team, but i really don't think it would have improved the wings record at all.

last i checked kids dream of raising the cup as a player not a coach. sure torts has his name on the cup, but so does harry boyd who was a scout for the islanders in the 80s... does that make him also more credible in the hockey world than a guy with 1000 points?

thats the bigger point here IMO. while we all know joe is a ******, lets be honest here, he is 1000 more relevant in hockey than john freaking tortorella! joe thornton is one of the best players of his generation regardless of his lack of playoff success. tortorella is a coach. i could give a s*** what he has to say. he had one good year as a coach. in his other 8 years as coach, his teams have won 1 playoff series. its not as if his teams are exactly playoff beasts. i am sure joe has more playoff wins as a player than torts does as a coach. (too lazy to verify though)

i've seen Fred L'Ecuyer referee a couple dozen games at the ahl level and he was by far one of the worst and inconsistent officials i have ever seen. its no surprise this game was so poorly officiated with him involved...

this thread is stupid. the assumption is that we dont draft first rounders that turn into point per game players. and while true, its not important. the wings draft their point per game players in any round of the draft. detroit has an amazing amount of guys drafted and developed on their own. many more players that were traded in return for other assets that were drafted and developed. not to mention a pretty good track record of finding other peoples diamonds in the rough and turning them around. the team is 5 and 4. its october. we all have our own reasons for why the team has been losing. but lack of good drafting or player development is the LAST place anyone needs to look as to why this team has been in a funk the last week or two. bad drafting and development is a long term, large scale overarching problem. to imply that it is an issue would be to imply that the wings have been having trouble for a while. thats just not the case. as disappointed as we all were the last 2 springs, there were only 4 teams that made it further than the wings. and i am pretty sure the wings have played more playoff games since the lockout than anyone. they are obviously doing just fine without any first round picks that were point per game players.

its not realistic for the ahl to span america. the travel costs incurred by teams would be enormous. nhl teams can manage to fly all over. how are ahl teams going to afford it??? before i go any further, i think we need to once again talk about how much bulls*** this excuse about needing players close for callups... lets look at the abbottsford heat for a second. while the flames/heat may have closer callups than the oilers/oilers, how many times a year is that even needed?>??? additionally, how many times are both teams at home when a callup is needed? say the flames are playing in Minnesota. its just as easy to get a guy there from the midwest or Texas than it is abbottsford. lets say the heat are on the road in the midwest and Calgary needs someone. then its just as long of a trip as when they had their farm team in the midwest. lets look at the other side though. right now abbottsford has an insane travel schedule going back and forth across the continent all the time. so the players are constantly fatigued and unable to get any sort of rhythm established. so when Calgary does need a callup, they are totally f-ed because they spent the last week traveling around the midwest on one of their extended roadtrips. so in order to save 2 hours on the callup flight, they spend all season exhausting their players with unnecessary travel. its too small of a reward for too big of a sacrifice. now lets look at travel a bit more. when calling a guy up or sending him down, he will be flown. when coaches or scouts need to see the other team, they will be flown. whats the easiest part of flying??? the part in the air. you can relax, do work, or whatever. its the getting to the airport, getting to the hotel, getting to the arena, etc that is difficult. so really, whats the big deal about 1 long flight? when the wings need someone they call grand rapids. he hops in his car and drives across the state on 96. it takes several hours. so how is that any different than minnesota calling down to houston and putting a guy on a direct flight there? both trips will take the same amount. additionally, the ahl is still a league with concerns of its own. if it spreads out across north america, all of a sudden rivalries lose steam. no longer do you have fans that can carpool to away games. no longer do you have rivals because of close proximity. costs go way up for teams causing further relocation and turnover. the ahl does not have the resources to fly teams all over the country. no way could they even afford it. if they expect teams to have that sort of budget, then they will need to change how the ahl work. it would have to work more like minor league baseball where the parent team covers all the travel and other expenses.

i also still have all my HD games. i can watch on either the fsd channel or the CI channel with no issues.

i disagree. i think they have looked just as bad as saturday. only difference is the jackets are nowhere near as good at capitalizing. conklin is up to 10 goals in the last 5 periods....

honestly, i dont think it makes him a scapegoat. but that first line as is, is not very good. and unfortunately, the next 2 lines are working pretty well, so that means down to the 4th. i think it could be a good swap between holmstrom and cleary. cleary makes that 4th line way above average and maybe ZDH can find some old magic.