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I have absolutely nothing backing this up besides my own theories, but I wouldn't be suprised if Johan Franzen took roids. Think about it, that's all I'll say.

can you imagine having JMFJ, Kronwall, and Stuart (HM: to Ericsson if he starts using his body more) on this team? The opposition wouldn't even glance down at the puck in fear of being leveled.

Eklund e4ed him coming to Detroit. I'm down with it this trade, we already "stole" Stuart from LA, hopefully we can steal another solid D-man from them.

part 1 of their feud if anyone is interested:

I'm assuming the money goes to charity. Is that true? Otherwise, $15/$20 for a Filppula autograph is ridiculous. Nothing against him, but he's not a superstar or a hall of famer. I few years back I got Zetterberg's autograph for the price of a cheap ass smoke detector, that was pretty cool.

Way to stay positive. Like the article says, he's 1 of 3 guys to play in every game this season, that's a good sign. Zetterberg's had back issues too but people don't have a problem with him making 6+ mil 'til the end of time.

My ONLY gripe with his game is the infamous "he takes bad penalties" thing. I used to think people blew it out of proportion, but the truth is, he does. I think he might be a victim of "reputation calls" at times, but he looks like such a complete player right now, it can be overlooked. If the officiating in the playoffs is anything like last years, they won't make nearly as many calls, so hopefully that minimizes that "flaw" in his game. Regardless, I really hope he re-signs, he's looked a lot like the all-star player that he was in Vancouver.

I think the OP makes a good point. Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Bertuzzi should always shoot first, but I think there is a huge dropoff (on the breakaway) in skill after those 3. Helm's speed alone is intimidating to a goaltender, his hands aren't the greatest but he can score just fine.

Bertuzzi, he's been one of our best players and it's not often you get a top 6 guy for 1.5 mil. He's even better than people like to give him credit for. Eaves and Miller have been pleasant surprises but, Bert can be a game changer. Willams hasn't played enough games to be fairly judged in my opinion. May could be waived tomorrow and I wouldn't flinch.

What worries me more than the captaincy, is who is going to "replace" him. The Wings should try to get Thomas Kaberle, his value is at an all time low, and he's a great player on a TERRIBLE team. Burke says "he won't ask him to waive his NTC" but he never said he's not interested in trading him.

I'd rather see Abdelkader in GR than have him on our 2nd line, I'd put Cleary there, and put Drew Miller on our 3rd line with Fil and Williams. Abdelkader would be a great 4th liner but with Draper-Helm-Eaves, I think he's the oddman out. There will always be injuries though, and him and Maltby are great guys to have as reserves. And I wouldn't count on Lilja coming back, and Lebda > Meech. Otherwise I think those lines look good and that team should be damn good. Forwards #1) Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom #2) Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary #3) Miller-Filppula-Williams #4) Draper-Helm-Eaves DEFENSEMEN: #1) Lidstrom-Rafalski #2) Stuart-Kronwall #3) Ericsson-Lebda

Eklund posted this rumor, for what it's worth. I'm for it. I'm a fan of the Finnish Flash and you can't get a better power play specialist for the money.

Bertuzzi was our best player tonight, I think he was best UFA signing of the offseason. Ken Holland strikes again.

There's so much to complain about with this game, I wouldn't know where to start, so I won't even try. Not to mention it's pretty immature to do so. I just hope we make some changes on defense before the trade deadline. Of course Kronwall will provide a huge boost when he returns but I don't think Ericsson is big upgrade defensively over Lebda, but he can move the puck better than Meech, Lebda or Janik so he should help. I think the Wings need another solid NHL defenseman, I would love to see the Wings get Kaberle since Lidstrom is nearing the end of his career. edit: The way I sometimes look at games like this, and it might seem like I'm being a arrogant fan, but I truly believe it....this WAS the Islanders biggest game of their season, so you can expect them to play their hearts out. It's not an excuse for how the wings s*** the bed, just something to think about and help you guys sleep after witnessing this one.

If you're considering the type of contract Frolov would probably demand then I might agree, but Frolov has every bit of the offensive ability of Hudler, he's bigger and a better skater.

Injury proneness aside, I think he's an elite player. He was a beast in the playoffs last year before he hit the KronWALL. I think he's a better all-around player than Hossa but you can't blame the Hawks for choosing Hoss instead because of Havlat's injury problems.

Huh? I was asking mindfly about how he "ripped wings apart some months ago".

Just curious, what did he say that "ripped them apart"?

Ray Ferraro's interest in the Wings has probably increased 10 fold since we drafted his boy, regardless, I agree with everything he wrote.

This may be a little off topic but I wish they would just eliminate 4 teams, there would be more talent to go around, more favorable matchups (i.e. we would get to play more games against EC teams). I say Florida, Atlanta, Pheonix and Nashville should all be folded, this league has too many s***ty markets.

I was reluctant to write Leino off, but not anymore. He looks like an amature playing in a professional league. He simple can't skate and can't stay on his feet, takes bad shots, never makes a play. He's constantly looked like our worst forward on the ice, and that's not saying much when you got other rookies like Abdelkader, who hasn't looked great thus far but at least he's effective at times.

Well, I hope they acknowledge the fact that they stole this one.

I know the Games vs. Edmonton, Calgary, Buffalo and this week against Anaheim were bad, but I think this qualifies as out worst performace of the year. Howard has kept up in it so far, but they look pathetic.

this doesn't look like the wings team of years past but at least we've kept LA scoreless through 2. Howard is starting to look like Hasek out there, not pretty...but effective.

At least he can't demand a 2.5+ mil for scoring 30 goals this year. Pretty unbelieveable that this happened though.