Yellowknife Redwing

That was an absurd save. Hiller showing why he's the #1 in Anaheim.

You're right. Top line was Z/D/Bert and second line was Homer/Flip/Clears.

Jack Edwards is a jackass and a terrible announcer, but while we're making the list I find the Blues FSN crew (Kelly & Pang), Penguins FSN (Errey & Co.), CanucksTV (Garret & Co.), Hawks CSN (Forslund & Olczyk), MacGuire & Emerick, Loubardias (Flames), Remenda (Sharks) to be as annoying as Jack Edwards. And that's just off the top of my head. Call me a homer, but it doesn't even feel like a real Wings game if it's not Ken, Mick and Murph.

Wow, Scotty is a -16. I'm a total stat-monger and I can't believe that escaped me. This one could be instrumental in getting us on a roll, good to see Jimmy in between the pipes again.

While we're giving people their due credit, Lebda was also very good last night. That was one of our d-core's better performances of the season as a whole. It helps that San Jose doesn't forecheck against us, mind you, but I'm not going to get into that.

WHERE'S HOWARD? :sarcastic emoticon: If you didn't pick Brodeur, you're thinking too hard about the question.

It's not that I don't like Cleary, it's that he's not consistent enough offensively to occupy a 2nd line role and he's too expensive to justify a 3rd line role. Ponikarovsky would provide a much greater offensive punch at $2.5M than Cleary does at $2.8M and I think this team would be better off by cutting the combined $5.1M cost of Cleary, Williams and Leino and adding an excellent goal scoring forward with size who might be capable of reaching 70 points on a line with Z and Mule. I'm a big Cleary fan, but in the overall sense of making a trade to make the team better, this is one of those deals that works for both teams. Detroit wins for the reasons above, Toronto adds a prototypical Burke player in Cleary and another skilled forward to a depleted lineup who may benefit from a change in scenery. Williams heads to the unemployment line, but I don't see Williams sticking around anyway. Fact of the matter is this: in a cap world you can't keep everyone and if I had the choice between Poni and Cleary I take Poni.

I would much prefer To Det: Ponikarovsky To Tor: Cleary and Leino and jettison Williams in the off season Bertuzzi/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Ponikarovsky/Zetterberg/Franzen Draper/Helm/Eaves is a very compelling 3-line punch

Poor folks in MTL just can't catch a break this year.

It's not so much the volume of turnovers as the egregious nature of the turnovers. Every player has turnovers, it's the nature of the game. Lately Ericsson has been guilty of having his passes picked off in prime scoring locations and making very poor decisions on defensive zone breakouts. I don't think there's a single person here that doesn't want JE to succeed and become the future of D in the D, but to think that he has been playing any better than Lebda or Meech lately just isn't right. He's easily as much of a defensive liability as either of those two at the moment, so hopefully watching the game from the pressbox tonight will be just what the doctor ordered.

I think this is an important message to send to Ericsson after his last half dozen games. Normally he's capable, bordering on good, but he's been really bad lately. Hopefully this sparks him.

Canada d. Russia in the gold medal game Sweden d. USA in the bronze medal game Crosby will be tournament MVP

+1 I'm really starting to hate the majority of poster on this board

Living in Calgary for the past couple of days has been really entertaining. People are absolutely furious and all I keep hearing is "he has to be working on something big...there has to be Kovalchuk or Lecavalier...there HAS to be something else!"

No shooters on that line, hate it.

Henrik Zetterberg? $6.08M cap hit for a top line player that's going to finish the year with 66 points...overpaid? Pavel Datsyuk? $6.7M cap hit for at op line player that's going to finish the year with 65 points...overpaid? Of course not. You guys need to get real and understand that giving up 50 shots 3 games in a row and getting shut out 6 times so far doesn't rest on one player. The team as a whole is playing sub-par hockey. I know there's a common need to overreact and throw guys under the bus around here when things aren't going well, but this is downright embarrassing. I guess the next thread is "the official is Lidstrom overpaid" thread. Give me a ******* break.

Nah, I don't know why I typed wrist, meant elbow

Years of battling tendonitis in his wrist are probably taking their toll.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself for being so ungrateful. Rafalski's decline in production has mirrored every single other member of this team. Not even one year ago Rafalski's stats were 78gp 10g 49a 59pts (that was 5th in the LEAGUE, in case you weren't keeping track) +17 and he added 18gp 3g 9a 12pts +11 in a playoff run that got us to game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Brian Rafalski is a premiere offensive defenseman who, despite the way this season has gone, has still managed to be top 40 in defenseman scoring in the league with 23 points and have an excellent +/- rating of +14 while on one of the lowest scoring teams in the league that has been crippled by injuries. This is just more "what have you done for me lately" crap that devalues a player that has actually been playing pretty damn well as far as I'm concerned. I bet 90% of the teams in the league wouldn't have a moment's hesitation making room for Rafi's 6 million dollar cap hit if he became available.

If the grace and favor of the lord shine upon us I might be swayed into shedding a tear of joy should Brett Lebda be departing. This does seem like the surefire solution as it stands right now.

What a completely and utterly worthless contribution to the conversation.

Can you do me a favor and remind me which part of Brunnstrom's 31GP 2G 8A 10PT -2 season is making Leino's 42GP 4G 3A 7P -10 season look so appealing? I seem to have misplaced my rose-colored glasses...

Jimmy Howard and it isn't even remotely close. At the risk of overdramatizing, without the play of Howard this team could be a stone's throw from a lottery position. Don't think it's true? We're only 5 points above 13th place in the West and you can thank our able, young netminder from Syracuse for stealing those 5 points from LA, Nashville and Pittsburgh in the last month alone with 51, 48 and 47 save performances respectively. We owe our playoff chances to Howard right now and I don't see how anybody could dispute it.

Part of me thinks that any thankfulness on Holland's part will be curtly interrupted by regret over the signing of another highly coveted, late blooming European free agent. At this point any Wings fan that laughs about Brunnstrom's lack of success ought to wipe the smile from their face and take a look a little closer to home.

He didn't just have 2 giveaways last night, he had 2 pinpoint on-the-tape passes to the other team in a good scoring position. In the neutral and offensive zones he looks fine, but he's struggling with the rudiments of the game in the defensive zone. I can't remember the last time I saw Ericsson make a breakout while retrieving the puck along the boards where he didn't get trapped or just make the simple play. As stated above, his size is a waste. He could be an absolute behemoth of a defenseman but he very rarely uses his size effectively and relies far too much on his stick when fighting for pucks in the corner. He'll get better with time and getting off a pairing with Lebda is imperative because it's just a recipe for disaster.