Frozen-Man

Excellent point :clap:

Yet you love Crosby? I'm not one to say that Crosby is not talented, he is exceedingly talented BUT in my mind there is doubt he is a whiner. Remember when he asked the refs to make an announcement for people to stop throwing hats onto the ice after Ovechkin's goal?

I'm not sure if Babcock meant his statement as a knock on Ozzy or not (without more context to the statement I'd give Babcock the benefit of the doubt), however your comparison with Miller is ridiculous. You said Babcock complimented Miller and ask if that means he is slamming the rest of the wingers. Reread the quote by Babcock, he did not merely compliment Howard but rather specifically compared him to the other Red Wing's goalies since he has been here and said that he thinks that is as good as they have been in net. The one constant goaltender the Wings have had is Babs came is Ozzy. It clearly a comparison of a very select group which could easily be seen as a knock on the others. There is a vast difference between Babcock saying Miller has played really well and saying Miller is the best that we have had since Babs has been there.

QFT Every Wings fan needs a copy.

Maybe it is just me but I wouldn't buy a jersey (see the Toews jersey from an eBay seller whose auction said "IMPORTANT**** After purchasing this item, please include a note while paying threw PAYPAL stating what size you need" Doesn't inspire a lot of confidence in their quality control.

And the only one making up rumors about Osgood is Mindfly.

According to an MLive link to an ESPN insider report (which I can't read because I refuse to pay ESPN anything) "Wings unlikely to outbid Chicago, Dallas for Olympic star." Bare in mind it is ESPN so take it with a grain of salt. If anyone is an ESPN Insider let us know what the actual article says, Thanks.

I couldn't agree more. Even with a bust like Leino we were out nothing to acquire him and got a pick when we traded him.

Excellent point.

I'm not saying that the Wings won't get to the 5th or 6th spot but it seems like a pretty steep hill to climb. Currently: Detroit: has 80 points, 34 wins, and has played 69 games. Colorado (5th): now has 86 points, 40 wins, and has played 69 games. LA (6th): has 85 points, 40 wins, and has played 68 games. The problem is not just that it would take 6 points to tie us with Colorado but also that because they have one 6 more games than the Wings they win the tie breaker. So in essence we have to win at least 6 more games in the final 13 games than Colorado (at which point it would be decided by who has more points in games between the two teams which Detroit wins) or get 7 points more than Colorado. It is incredibly unlikely that we win 6 more games in the last 13 than Colorado so in essence we need 7 more points in the last 13 games in order to get ahead of them. While 7 points more than Colorado in 13 games is not impossible it is a tall order. Regarding Los Angeles we have the same problems discussed above regarding having less wins and have the additional problem that they have a game in hand as well. Therefore we have to gain 6 points on them but we have to accumulate all our points in 13 games whereas they will have 14 games to accumulate theirs. Again, not impossible but a pretty tall order. I do however, see 7th place as a realistic goal. They are only 3 points ahead of us (and have 5 more wins than we do) but on the plus side the Preds have also played one more game than the Wings and unlike the other two teams we still play them twice more. This to me is our most like advancement.

Too true. I hope that they will have gotten over that and realized that this is crunch time and they can't take even shift off. Anyway, I hope they realize it.

My understanding is that it can't happen. He had to be on the roster at an earlier date I believe. QFT

I agree no one is 100% consistent throughout an entire year and also 10 games is a pretty small sample my post was in response to this one: All I was saying is that it is out of the ordinary for a guy to have streaks like that and be a 40 point per season player, its not impossible but it is out of the ordinary. Again, look at the numbers he has a 10 game stretch where he scores .2 points per game and then for the other 72 games has to average .527 points per game to reach 40 points. Impossible . . . no not at all but definitely not ordinary.

Franzen has the hands to create and score on his own much more so than Homer does so it would surprise me if they implement him for large portions of games in a Homer type role.

Good point and I agree some guys reach their pinnacle when there is less pressure on them. They are not expected to produce near as much so no pressure, not to mention that you have a whole lot more energy when you play 13 minutes rather than 21. I'm not saying Huds wouldn't produce more with more time I just don't think you can project it out from what he produces with less time.

I like Jiri a lot and would be glad to have him back on the team however, you can't prorate out what a player would have if he had been given more minutes. Who knows if the would have been more worn down, less energetic than he was when his time was limited, would have meshed well with other players who also got those big minutes. There are just to many variables to say for example that if a player scores 1 point averaging 5 minutes of ice time he will automatically score 4 points when given 20 minutes of ice time. It's not a static situation and therefore not adept to static numbers.

2 points in 10 games comes out to 16.4 points for the season so it really is fairly out the ordinary for a 30 to 40 point player.

Good point +1 for you from me. I don't agree with that statement -1 for you.

I usually either look here or here. Hope that helps!

I think that the concern is that no where else on the ice is a player regularly down and in such a close proximity to the blades. Having his face and upper body so close to the skate makes it much more likely for there to be an injury. As for most of the other kicking that goes on I agree that it is kind of a contradiction (although what isn't in the NHL lately i.e. Cooke) all I can think of is that when you are kicking to put the puck in the net your blade will be swinging toward the net and thus usually toward the goalie as well. This would not usually be the case when kicking to keep it out or (to a lesser degree) when kicking to pass it to a teammate.

Havlat's head may have been on the puck but it sure looks like he knew Kronner was coming at him. Look at the replay and you'll see Havlat look up the ice right where Kronwall was. Kronner also went straight at him face to face and hit his whole body not just his head. Very different hit.

I like the new layout pretty good. It will take a little getting used to but seems like a great upgrade. Thanks guys.

No I agree and have never said Heatley was a chocker but it is pretty well concensus that he has been a cancer on locker rooms in the past and I was merely stating that Kane might have been chosen over him for that reason.

Not a choker but definitely a cancer. But perhaps the are not together long enough to worry about that.