Datsyerberger

To be honest, I think carry-over hate from that gaff with Selanne in the previous playoffs clouded people's perception of him last season. Lilja is doing about how I would have expected this season. Hudler is far and away the most improved. He broke his previous year's scoring totals like, what, halfway into this season?

In before the grammar nazis! ...Wait, crap, I am one of the grammar nazis. Okay, anyhow: Osgood -- Was expecting a bit of a better year out of him. Zetterberg -- Hasn't sucked by any means; was just expecting a touch more scoring out of him. Kronwall -- Defensive play has been rather shaky at some points. D-Mac -- Wasn't expecting a lot, but I was expecting a little more push out of him in the games he did play this season. O'Halloran -- Hasn't denied enough Wings goals. Everyone else is performing at or above my expectations.

Mike Illitch changed up the sauce in the Little Caesars. I'm telling you, that's it.

I disagree, sir.

My order (leaving goaltenders out, it's hard to sort them among skaters) Lidstrom/Datsyuk Datsyuk/Lidstrom Ovenchicken Zetterberg Malkin Chara Big Joe Crosby After that point, it gets tougher for me. I feel that defensemen tend to get neglected too much in top 10 selections, though, and its likely my #9 and #10 would both be d-men. Datsyuk and Lidstrom are debatable on my list, but Lidstrom is still unquestionably top of the pack in d-men, from the play I've seen (pretty well supported statistically, too). Edit: This is how I would sort them by VALUE rather than CURRENT SKILL. (Some of these players wouldn't actually make my top 10 in value, but Im just comparing those 8 on put on my skill list, now). Ovy Malkin Crosby Datsyuk (Pasha gets the bonus over Z here because of Z's injury-proneness) Zetterberg (On the other hand, Z's leadership about evens it out) Chara Big Joe Lidstrom (good as he is, he's by far older than the rest here)

So the series ends with the record at 2-2. More interesting to look at is that the Wings heavily outscored the Sharks in the series, and that the Wings had a close game at the Shark tank whereas the Sharks got completely dominated at the Joe both times. I think that's a good showing of the Wings ability to play important matches. Our veterans really turned it up a notch tonight. If these teams meet up in the WCF, it's gonna be an interesting series.

Actually, I'm going to argue that San Jose needs home ice much more than we do. The Wings have put up a close game in the tank, whereas the Sharks haven't been able to do dick at the Joe.

Dude, a seriously-over-40 fight. This is one for the ages.

Kinda off topic, but in the south, we regard that as part of the midwest.

Without reading the thread besides the OP, I simply list the responses "none of the above" and "none of the below" as valid answers.

Right now? For me, it's unequivocally Datsyuk. Best overall player. Right now. The bolded parts are important. I do not regard him to be the most valuable asset right now, nor the player with the most potential.(though I still put him in top 5/10 for that). Simply the most complete and overall best player. Now, if we're talking longterm value, etc, give me Ovy.

Mispost. Kill it dead.

More or less.

Definitely time. First let's trade that overrated, overpaid Flip-poola guy for a pick or two. Let's also trade those Rafalski and Kronwall guys, because they don't play defense. And the Stuart one, cause he's injured. We'll stick Kopecky in one of these other deals because he sucks. Maltby too. And Sammy. Reasons obvious. And Lebda and Meech, because they're not future #1 d-men, which is a requirement for any d-man that plays on the Wings. Franzen, because he's a 1 year wonder. Osgood for some pucks. Howard because its obvious after 1 game he's the next Cloutier. Just waive Chelios. He's old and taking up a roster space. So, out: Rafalski Kronwall Stuart Lebda Meech Chelios Flip Sammy Franzen Osgood Howard in: Whatever, they all suck, amiright? Git r done, Kenny.

Hmm... let's see.. Anaheim: Loaded with cheapshotters Calgary: Loaded with big hitters Nashville: Tootoo Dallas: Underrated team because of their slow start; Ott Colorado: Giving us a hard time this year.. would rather face them in the 2nd round when we're warmed up Teams I would really like to face: Columbus: No playoff experience; division rival Chicago: Beating Quenneville = Stanley Cup; rival; O6 matchup. Though that might have to wait til the 2nd or 3rd round.

Been thinking about writing this for a while, but I wanted to wait and watch a few more games to make sure I felt solid in this analysis. As has been discussed every so often here, there has been one situation in particular we've seen a lot more this year: Opposing forwards parking in front of out netminders. The problem is, we don't have anyone that abuses and shoves those forwards like Holmstrom receives on a regular basis, except maybe Lilja. And in general, except the occasional incident, Lilja is a cleaner physical, stay at home d-man than what we usually go up against. Think of the amount of crosschecks we usually see within a minute on Homer. Other teams know they can get away with this more often than not, and we don't do it at all. Now, there has been another minor problem related to physicality as well. Our defense doesn't do a particularly great job of physically opposing forwards behind the net, and this enables passes across the slot that expose our netminders. Now interestingly enough, Osgood usually makes the big saves like that, including this year. Conklin has a little harder time with those, but he does a more than adequate job for a backup. I've said it in another thread, and I'll say it here: it's not the big stuff that's been getting by Ozzie this year. Plenty of highlight stuff out of him. It's the little things.. the ones that keep nibbling away at our leads. Tying this all together, I think this is a problem related to screening and Osgood. Due to both a difference in playing styles and a difference in stature, Osgood does not handle screening well as compared to Conks (Osgood's what? 5'10"? Shorter than the vast majority of NHL skaters). This is resulting in a lot of screened shots from the high slot and the boards to go in on Ozzie, as well as deflections and setups from right in front of the net. The latter part of that is probably partly that Ozzie is physically less imposing than Conklin, and the aforementioned front of the net problem. Mind you, I don't think this is the only problem with our defense (our goaltending), but I do think it is the most damaging of problems (and why Ozzie is playing like ass, or appearing to, and putting up highlight reel saves at the same time). It is a problem we clearly need to get worked out before the playoffs, whether we do a better job of clearing the net (and working behind it), Ozzie adapts to the situation, or both. Preferably both. Thoughts?

Surprised this didn't happen earlier, what with the cap space and all. Gotta give the frontrunner for backup (possible future) goalie next season some NHL playing time if you've got the space.

Interesting. When there's a defense/goaltending thread that's nothing more than a glorified bitchfest, it goes to 10+ pages. When it's intended to be an objective discussion with a (seemingly) valid idea, noone really gives a damn, and it goes off the main page with 3 replies in half a day. Does nobody really have any thoughts on this?

Probably something to do with Kovy. Or a wife. Edit: I'm a moron; shoulda read the thread first. Seems pretty serious if it's true..

When I think "enforcer" in the "new NHL" I think "goon that does nothing but cheapshot and fight in his 3 minutes of icetime."

This is more like it.

Kenny, please don't trade an asset on a skillless goon (especially when we already have one). Thanks.

Tavares. We're not really loaded with high-end forward prospects.

Quite so. The person below me is geographically above me.

I looked. I posted. Woohoo.