Datsyerberger

It's mainly Pee-air that talks constantly about Crosby. If I had a dollar for every time Pee-air said Sid, Sidney, or Crosby, we'd ALL be friggin millionaires.

Haha @ Maltby stirring s*** with Crosby.

Yea, and Keith Jones is Barney. I always crack up when I see those two together.

So what they basically just said is that Crosby is a great leader, but he sucks at it when there aren't people around who can lead?

Lol, Fred Flintstone.. er Milbury... absolutely dominated Pee-air during that 3 players discussion.

It's funny to listen to these clowns boo Hossa like he's their version of Fedorov.

Some high scores tonight for sure. Det - Edm: 8-3 Van - Chi: 7-3 Car - Puh-honicks: 7-2 Tor - Booers.. er, Mtl: 5-2 Large sample size, I know, but increased goal-scoring is definitely on the rise.

He was pretty popular there when they had him. A good fit for Rags fans. Edit: If he plays to his skill level, instead of just yapping, ~2mil/yr for Avery is actually a pretty good deal for the Rags.

Good luck getting Cleary to waive his NTC to go to the Panthers.

Definitely agree. Is it possible the Wings' biggest problem is simply fatigue? Consistently one of the worst travel schedules in the league year in and out, the longest team playing in the POs last year (besides Pittsburgh, which isn't exactly looking up to shape either), the most back-to-backs in the league this year.. the list goes on. Not an excuse, but rather a void which needs to be filled... a void in which I would replace a redundant (and young, because that's what failing teams value) player like Flip with some energetic, gritty players like Neil.

I don't disagree that Conklin has been overall better than Osgood (with limited use! This is very important for Conklin to be effective, as the past has proven over and over again). However, I think you should be examining the quality of scoring chances, and their frequency, in addition to the PPs:PKs ratio (rather than looking at how Detroit is one of the least penalized teams in the league, look at how many penalties they take as compared to how many penalties their opponent takes against them). Regarding the PKs:PP ratio, it isn't great. You could go conspiracy theory route on this. OR, you could also examine the huge scoring chances the Wings are giving up in addition to this fact, and come to the conclusion that it's poor/sloppy team defense. A combination of giving up large scoring chances, not pressuring the puck in the defensive zone, failing to clear, and taking ticky-tacky penalties that could be avoided is a recipe for disaster.. both for a team and for a goaltender's stats.

The thing the Wings need most right now is a gritty, energy forward (fighting as a bonus doesn't hurt).. someone who goes out and thuds and bangs and nails d-men on the point every shift. Neil does indeed fit this bill. The problem is, we don't have anybody of equal value to Neil.. that is, any of our 3rd/4th line players who we could trade either aren't worth him, or worth more. I don't think we trade a defenseman.. 3 of the top 4 have an NTC and the other 1 is a steal value-wise. The problem hasn't been the defense itself, but rather, team defense (blame coaching, a lack of grit, or whatever is your preferred strawman). I blame a lack of grit, and thus, I see a young, redundant player (like Flip, unfortunately) being traded for someone like Neil and a mid-round pick or prospects. Not that I think a struggling team wants to ditch their picks or prospects, but an already NHL proven, young player is worth more than a mid-round pick or prospect (plus a veteran grinder they won't be going to the POs with). Such a move would additionally free up more salary in the off-season to maybe squeeze in Hossa, or others....

Awesome! Another thread on this is just what we needed! Seriously, I could make 10,000 threads on the poor team defense, which is the much greater problem at hand here if you examine the quality of scoring chances rather than SV% alone, but it wouldn't make the situation any less irritating. I'm not saying goaltending shouldn't be discussed, just that this could go in one of the pre-existing threads (Some on the front page!) which have already gone over these same points 2939282190 times.

I think it's more a matter of they know that if Lidstrom has his head up (it's a rare occasion in which he doesn't), he's going to avoid their hit and set someone up for a nice pass due to the lack of coverage, and thus make them look like a fool. Datsyuk gets a similar reaction. Most players make a sloppy or early pass if they see Pavel swooping at them.

He probably didn't say anything, or atleast not anything direct, because that's just how the Wings org works (and we're better off for it). That's why I know a diverse array of profanity to sling at my TV.

Officiating in this game was god-awful and was the only reason the game's score was as high as it was. Without some of the horrible calls, I'm feeling something more like 3-1 / 4-2 / 3-2 out of this one.

To be honest, I was wishing Babs would have been standing there bitching with him at the end of the game. It was horribly officiated, one of the worst I've seen in a while.

I'm calling BS on this one entirely. Lidstrom is untouchable (duh), Rafalski is a 1m/yr cheaper Campbell, Kronwall is a beast at 3m/yr, Stuart has an NTC, Lilja has been solid.. and after that, we have Lebda, Meech, Chelios.

Just to reinforce that: Osgood career playoff stats with the Wings: SV% 9.20 GAA 2.00 Brodeur with Devils: SV% 9.22 GAA 1.96 Conklin: (It's not pretty)

Hell no, we're @#$@ing geniuses.

Give me a fantasy draft and I take Ovy 10 out of 10. Some people say "Well mimimi, Crosby markets better because a Canadian.." but ffs, have you seen a Caps fan who doesn't love Ovy? Normally, I'd draft a #1 d-man first, but even though there are some impressive young d-men out there, I don't think any of them are quite up to the level that Ovy is (within that age range). I'd settle for a 2nd tier out of the young d-men to take Ovy 1st (in fact, for my first defensive pick, I'd probably go for a great, but not 1st tier, veteran middle aged d-man like, say, Jovo). But Ovy? He's hilarious, has personality, he pots goals all over the place, he hits, he passes, and as someone pointed out, Ovy on a roll is damned near impossible to stop. If he improves on his defensive game you have a modern day Gordie (albeit on the wrong wing).

Ow ow ow ow. s***ty way for Langer to go out, hope for the best for him. Atleast now when he sucks, it's not because he's lazy. :/ On another note, I thought those Habs jerseys were prisoners uniforms when I first saw them.

Holy crap, poor Langer. Didn't care much for his play as a Wing but the guy has always been a good hockey player. He was doing well for the Habs, too. What a s***ty way to go out...

Problem is, the Wings org isn't going to ditch 2 of them because they wouldn't be the loyal Wings org if they did, and the other is housing one of our first liners.

I like Neil, but we don't need new players so much as we need half of our current ones to wake the @#$% up.