dat's sick

Bummed I missed the second half (damn New Years celebration) but what I saw was awesome. What a lineup of greats. Lidstrom, Raffi and Fedorov look like they could step right back into the NHL. I thought Shanahan looked really good too. Yzerman did seem rusty but it was awesome just to see him in a Wings jersey again. And how good was that Redmond assist to Feds??? From his skate to his stick and perfectly on #91's blade. That's the kind of stuff that make these alumni games worth watching!

You can't blame this one the D. Just can't. The worst defensive breakdown was probably on the 4th goal and that was a rather weak shot along the ice, one that most goalies in the NHL excel at stopping. Gustavsson for example is great at taking away the bottom of the net. It somehow got under Howie though. Then there were a couple of unscreened wrist shots. At least 1 or 2 HAVE to be stopped by a #1 goalie. The Classic could get ugly if Howard is indeed starting.

We need wins so bad, can't be having games like this where we'd win 4-2 with mediocre goaltending.

Everyone of our best players have been bad/invisible tonight. Definitely feels like we need at least 1 goal this period to even have a flicker of hope in this game.

Alfredsson was a late scratch.

We're 1 winger short, guys get rotated.

Too long.. next A realistically available is 3 seasons from now when Datsyuk leaves. That A will probably go to Ericsson. But I think both Dekeyser and Nyquist seem to have the qualities to wear a letter.

Sutter is a terrible junior coach. Benched Mcdavid after he took 2 penalties. I mean...he's a 16 year old! He's supposed to make mistakes! He's also extremely talented and will probably want to make up for those mistakes. Benching him accomplishes nothing.

There was one game early in the season where it happened I think. But it's really amazing how comfortable I feel when this team has a 2-goal lead.

No risk.

I'd assume Tatar takes Eaves spot in that equation. Would much rather see Nyquist with Z than Abby.

If only Jurco could stay and Bert and Cleary go. That would be a lineup... Z-Dats-Alfie Jurco-Helm-Nyquist Abdelkader-Andersson-Tatar Miller-Sheahan-Glendening But I assume they stay and Jurco+Eaves+Sheahan go.

I don't understand this comment. I haven't been following Canada's roster too closely but my understanding was always that Mantha is one of their biggest stars this year. Seems to be a lock on the 1st line and scored a hat-trick in the first game. Was there actually a chance that he would get cut?

Anytime I feel like I'm done with Andy he goes and has a great game or couple of games. The guy works hard, you gotta give him that. He reminds me a little bit of Holmstrom in some ways. There's not a lot that stands out about him other than his faceoffs but I think he could carve out a nice career as a 3rd/4th line center. Just not sure it's going to be for the Wings.

Exactly! They're completely missing this aspect. Well they had the Leafs playing pingpong so that's something. But no showing the Wings pre-game routines? And no Franzen yelling at the ref in Tampa? They need to show more of the casual stuff and less stilted interviews. Smitty and Abby in the car was great, I always enjoy finding out who are really friends off the ice. Good thing is the next 2 episodes should feauture some Red Wings wins and returning players and hopefully be a bit more upbeat for our team, maybe they'll be a bit looser and let the cameras get closer. Love the show but certainly think they're doing a bad job at getting close to the Wings.

I hope this surgery is what he needs in order to be the player he used to be. Will give him the benefit of the doubt and look forward to him hopefully returning as someone who can make an impact.

Toronto overachieved in the beginning of the season. The give up tons of shots against, they have the most giveaways in the league, they have awful center depth... even when they were winning a lot there were many people who said it wasn't going to hold up. I wouldn't be completely shocked if they end up missing the playoffs as there are some teams starting to heat up while the Leafs look like they're out of luck. Wings are easily a better team when at full strength.

That was an amazing game. Most entertaining one of our season so far imo. We dominated the first half, then somehow let them back in it (Gus was a bit shaky), but just got back to it and started playing and managed to get the extra point. Speechless at how great Jurco is. Ken Holland has a chance to redeem himself by finding a way to keep him up even when we're all healthy. Kid's got moves, but I'm mostly impressed by how solid he is in his fundamentals. Taking his responsibilites defensively (the assist was a perfect example), doesn't look outmatched physically, seems to know when he can pull out some moves and when he needs to keep it simple. For someone who has never been impressed by Sheahan, the guy raised my eyebrows tonight. He looked strong on the puck and made good plays all game long. Maybe he has a future for the Wings after all. Had a good feeling going into the shootout. Sooner or later we had to get it done and you could see from the reaction of the team that it wasn't just an ordinary win. This was big for them.

Lashoff doesn't make many mistakes, he's very steady and does his job for the most part. Kindl and Quincey have both been liabilities this season. Wish we could scratch both but Kindl's probably been the worse of the two lately so I'm fine with it. Great to have Danny back, should make a difference. Now we just need some forwards too. Winning this game would be great for 24/7.

I usually play the "hate Canada, go SWEDEN" game in the WJC, but this year I'll have to actually keep a somewhat unbiased eye on Canada and root for Mantha. Hope the kid does well. And Sweden still ends up winning

That's insanely great news. I was really worried Hank would miss the classic. Now he better not re-aggravate anything on Dec 28.

Haven't seen any defensive errors from him. He's been making solid decision all around imo. Difficult two games to make a great impression but I like what I've seen.

Hate to say it but I'm glad Danny boy got that goal. He had an okay game tonight, which is more than can be said for almost anyone else on the team.

Yes exactly. We have 0% Zetterberg and maybe 70-80% Pav at best.

This turned out exactly as bad as one could expect. Sucks. Wish Datsyuk would step up in these games but he's obviously not 'all there' after his concussion. That also sucks. I hope Gustavsson can find his game again because we really can't have him suck right now.