dat's sick

Alfie looks like he's been playing for the Red Wings all his career. Fits right in with his two-way play and smart decisions. Doesn't hurt that he's got that shot either. Defense looked very good, impressed with Ericsson in particular. Dekeyser was also good to see, he's picking up where he left off. Offense looked great the first half, definitely sloppy and slow the 2nd half though. Hard to tell which is the real deal but maybe it's somewhere in between. What we saw was that Cleary, Bertuzzi and Samuelsson are definitely not as useless as some people around here say, but at the same time I definitely want to see one of them out of the lineup in favor of Tatar ASAP. Just add some speed and creativity in that bottom 6, I think against better teams than the Sabres we'll need it. For a first game this was okay. Could have been much worse and showed a ton of promise. The thought of this team + Helm, Nyquist and Tatar... will be something when we finally see it.

Time for the PP to kill this.

Amazing that we could possibly lose this game.

He's looked beastly tonight. Hopefully a sign of things to come for him this season.

1st PP unit will be fine, but it's on the 2nd we could really use Nyquist and Tatar regardless of how good we look 5 on 5 with this lineup.

Sammy I've always loved you!

Nice, 2nd line looking good to start.

Howard is on. He's looked sharp all preseason and those were some great saves on the PK. Like what I'm seeing so far, keep it up. Except the penalties. Don't keep that up.

All teams who played yesterday had bad defense and goaltending, hopefuly we can do better. On the other hand most teams had good looking offenses. Watching Montreal's "kid line" play great was annoying. We were supposed to have a kid line of our own.. Still, I don't think our bottom 6 is necessarily terrible. I'll give Sammy, Bert and Cleary atleast this game to prove the deserve to be in the lineup.

I don't know what people see in Glendenning that's supposedly so much better than Emmerton. Would be shocked to see neither of Tatar and Nyquist in the lineup. If we're moving Abby down to the 4th line C, I'd want Alfredsson up there on the 1st line. Either try Cleary/Samuelsson/Bertuzzi on the 2nd line or, preferably, Tatar or Nyquist. Don't see Tootoo being in the lineup opening night.

Disagreed. The key will be putting on some muscle. He's playing well defensively, reading plays, keeping it simple, but he should be playing with more talented offensive players. Give him atleast this year in Grand Rapids before giving up on him.

I know these games don't matter, but I would really like to see a little bit of coaching here. Järnkrok being put together with Tatar and Nyquist for example.

"Tatar would have to clear waivers and probably wouldn't" ...probably? LOL. edit: Järnkrok with a nice chance to shoot, but he passed it. Looks like he's out on the PP with Tatar and Gus, hope to see some more of that.

Babcock made a positive comment about Tatar. First time that has happened, right?

Well Tatar and Nyquist are playing atleast. Hope Järnkrok can have a good game too.

What's the lineup? Who cares really, most of our main guys seem ready for the season. Let's just get the pre-season done without (more) injuries.

Not too worried, these guys are used to media and reporters. It will be a bit more intimate and invasive but we have a pretty level-headed group and guys like Z, Pav and Alfie will be quick to reel anyone in if they get a big head. Can't wait to get an inside look at Babs & Co. in the locker room, and for a guy like Pavel to maybe, maybe finally get that big spotlight on him that he deserves. HD, proffessionally shot footage of him in practice and game action? Yes please. If they can capture his humour as well he'll be the star of the show. Should be some good storylines with Alfie vs. Ottawa, us against Leafs of course and just our move to the East. In what should be a fun season regardless, 24/7 is the icing that will make it even more memorable.

Hope we can get off to a good start. Kids like Tatar, Nyquist, Dekeyser and Smith could gave great years if they get going early and build confidence. Alfie and Weiss will probably need some time to start being effective so the better we start the less pressure on them to produce early. We could be anything from 1-10 imo. I definitely see us having the pieces to be a top team, but it all has to come together. We're already looking pretty badly hit by injuries and that's one thing that could keep us from getting into the kind of early rythm that's usually needed to get some seperation down to the playoff battle. Will be an interesting season and honestly I'm more excited for it than I have been for a season probably since 09-10.

I don't think splitting Z and Pav is the first option. Moving Alfie up with them, putting Cleary/Sammy/Bert/Abby with Weiss & Franzen would probably the first change if it looks like the 2nd line won't work. Gotta give that line a chance though, they've barely played together. I think it could be a good line but it kinda depends on whether Franzen plays at 100% or 50%.

That "1st line" could happen if Babs moves Alfie up with Z and Pav, so will be interesting to see how it works. So far Weiss haven't really shown me much, but I've only seen him in 1 preseason game. Otherwise Oullet is the guy I'll be keeping a close eye on.

He's a veteran and a proffessional so I'm not sure pre-season is hugely important for him. I do however expect him to be more important for us later in the season and in the playoffs if we make it. Not like we don't have depth enough for him to be given some slack if he doesn't light it up in the first 10-20 games.

I hope the 2nd line gets it going in this one, they're the key to this season. Loving the 1st and 3rd lines.

Damn you had to remind me. Atleast they're not in our division!

No one is showing this game?? What is this, 2009?? That sucks.

I mostly think it's great because it means way less 0300-0400AM games for us in euroland. And getting to see less of the Blues/Preds/BJs/Wild and more of Sens/Leafs/Canadiens/etc will be fun.