mjlegend

Did not expect to hear him sing. . .

They've responded so well to the four-day break, they're down 5-1 after 40 against Chicago, while getting outshot 30-19. Wisniewski is -3 for the night so far.

Still more exciting than watching the NBA.

It's rare to see you rip on Hudler like that.

Looking at their stats, you see some pretty shocking figures so far already. Kip Brennan: 113 PIM in 10 games. Jeremy Yablonski: 82 PIM in 5 games Alexander Sazonov: 39 PIM in 1 game. http://www.eliteprospects.com/team.php?team=201&year0=2012&status=stats Just no concept at all of how to play with numbers like these. They had Chris Simon as their leading scorer last season with 28 points in 43 games.

Old number 24 came into mind immediately. It`s not difficult to make a connection between sudden increase in muscle mass, drug and alcohol problems and on and off-ice discipline problems with a strong suspicion of steroids and HGH abuse. I wish Georges did name names rather than cloud the entire era. Also, THIS needs to change.

America! What a country! In Soviet Union, hockey ruins goons...

Does Burt really make the Wings that slow? (probably) Good to see the win but a 2-1 loss to Colorado would undo all of this magic and put them back to the drawing board.

We're in 'Second Generation Burke Guy' territory. Guys like Giguere, Caputi, Beauchemin, Hanson, Lebda, Boyce and Versteeg has been moved or buried in the minors and some of the other players he's gotten or drafted are now in the lineup and playing better than that first group of stiffs that he picked up and JFJ/Fletcher saddled him with. He's certainly not afraid of making a transaction if he thinks it will improve the team, and they have gotten off to a good start after finishing last year strong.

There is no facepalm pic with a frustrated Capt. Picard that is frustrated enough for my reaction to this right now. The Wings have been doing nothing but wilting for two weeks now and it's gotten them 13th in the conference. They either refuse to 'keep digging in' or are unable to. And it's Mike's job to try a different approach if this message isn't working.

And still the fewest goals against in the division. Not the goaltenders' fault the Wings can't score, although Osgood did score a goal once. . .

f*** you, Brian Rafalski, for retiring and apparently being irreplacable on the power play. Yeah, well f*** you for not venting at the team like the rest of us!!!!!

Their success this season has more to do with them setting fire to Brett Lebda and sending him off to sea.

Wondering if they`re just assuming there will be a salary rollback in the next CBA. You might aruge he`s worth about 40 per cent of that deal now, so maybe they think there`s going to be a 60 per cent rollback.

Let's allow ourselves to think of ways Scotty Bowman would have gotten the Wings out of the doldrums, or whose presence would have changed things this year. 1) Moving the most skilled stickhandler and puckmover (Datsyuk) to D. 2) Repeatedly bench an error-prone defenceman. (Ericsson). 3) Play musical goaltenders (Howard and Conklin, but somehow Manny Legace would need to be involved in a three-headed monster). Tell them and the media one will start the next game and then inexplicably change your mind just before gametime. 4) Keep a grind line together for a season rather than moving four guys in and out (Eaves, Emmerton and Conner would have been picked out of training camp). 5) The Wings would have gotten Jagr in July. 6) Exelby would be in for Kindl, who would be used as trade bait with Hudler at the deadline to get an old vet on his last legs looking for one last shot at the Cup. Looking at you, Ray Whitney. The team would hate him and he probably wouldn't be on speaking terms with most of them, but they'd be 7-2-1 at this point and they wouldn't be lacking motivation or jump.

Generally, and I'm speaking only in general terms here, even the best goaltenders are a much better risk before they turn 46 and have announced their retirement from the NHL twice (2002, 2008).

You guys remember the Hasek that played in the 2008 playoffs? He couldn't stop a beach ball against Nashville. http://m.espn.go.com/nhl/story?storyId=3433498&wjb He goes away, he comes back, he goes away, he comes back, etc. . . Good luck on the comeback, but please not with this organization.

Redwings lines at practice today from Brian Hedger: Hudler-Datsyuk-Cleary; Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi; Abdelkader-Helm-Filppula; Miller-Emmerton-Holmstrom From a healthy scratch to the first line, your 2011-12 Detroit Red Wings! :blink: http://www.freep.com/article/20111102/SPORTS05/111102032/Wings-Kronwall-OK-Datsyuk-Zetterberg-split-up

Ah, so Crymson is on the "sarcastic ******* martyr" mode. Surprise, surprise.

If he was GM, he would have brought in an NHL-ready, NHL-experienced 'special assistant/scout' like the Hawks did with Joel Quenneville late in the Denis Savard era. Possibly Ken Hitchcock. Babcock (enters Scotty's office abruptly): Did I hear right? Did we just hire Ken Hitchc... Oh, hi Ken. Bowman (wearing monacle, petting black cat): Yes, he's my special assistant to the general manager. I need some ... help, shall we say, with the ... on-ice performance of this team. Babcock: OK. Should ... I ... be worried? Bowman: I don't know. (pregnant pause as he briefly stops petting cat) Should you? Babcock (blinks twice, purses lips): ... If this is about the losing streak, I assure you ... Hitchcock (smiling broadly): I can't wait to see the next game. Bowman: Hitch is going to run practice today. You can have today off, Mike. Babcock: ... Hitchcock (lights cigars for he and Bowman): BUWAHHAHAAHAAAAA!!!!! Bowman: We're telling the press you have the flu today. I've left the secretary with a list of names of some good real estate agents. You know (pauses again) just in case. Bowman & Hitchcock (in unison): Bye, Mike.

He's the only person to whom Jason Blake can say: "Dude, you need to get some more sun." #albino

Defence = not the immediate problem. And Lidstrom and Stuart are the only two regulars not signed through next season, so unless you want to start looking at 2012-13 already (which may be wiped out with a labour disagreement), I'd focus on this year. 25 GA in 10 games is OK in my books - it's the fewest in the division and seven of those were in one night. I've no problem with the way the Wings have played in their own end and Howard has looked sharp most nights. It's clearly the goals for that is the biggest problem currently. The problem seems to be mental/coaching-related more than talent-related, although I feel there are issues with the team's offensive depth. There are 30-40-point forwards that would probably be available for little compensation (Ryder, Zubrus, Stajan, Stoll) if the Wings actually want to trade for a tire patch. Or they could replenish the talent in the franchise by dealing some of the under-performing vets for NHL-ready prospects and/or reasonably high picks. That, I think, is Plan C. Plan B would be to deal a clearly underperforming vet or two (Hudler, Bert) for another team's underperforming vet and see if a new face or three in the top six can work. Give it 20 games. If it doesn't work, at least they tried something. The solution is not certain, nor is it easy. But the problem was seen over the summer by many of us. As they stand right now, I don't think the Wings can make the playoffs with this roster.

The only 'remorse' that I would have for a guy that I didn't want them to sign in the first place is that he was supposed to provide a physical presence, and he hasn't done so at all. He has five hits in nine games - fewest on the D and one fewer than Lidstrom. He's an adequate #4-5-6 defenceman, but we needed something better than that to replace Rafalski.

And the Jiri Hudler watch continues. How many times have they been down this road with him? I'm not going to predict anything because they really should have won at least one of the last four (Minny, Columbus were winnable). But if there is a loss here, they're going to have do to a bit more to change things up than scratch the whipping boy.