wings5gal

Per http://wild.nhl.com it's Harding getting the start tonight. It's the second night of a back to back for the Wild, and the last time, Backs ended up getting pulled against the Oilers in favor of Harding. No word on scratches yet from the MN camp. But my gut is telling me (since I'm a fan of both teams here), it'll either be Gillies per the norm or Boogaard after his 3 penalties last night as 2 of them were pretty dumb penalties. And Jaques was giving him the death glare. So Colton may get in tonight. Also, Kurtis Foster is still out. He has started his conditioning stint with the Aeros to rehab his broken leg from last season. (He's the one who had it snap in two and pierce his clothing), and is looking to join back with the Wild later this month. @ mindfly - the low GA is the only thing keeping the Wild where they're at. God knows they can't score. I'm predicting the Wild score 3 tops. So, I'm thinking my final prediction will ultimately be Wings 5, Wild 3. Wild Goals - Nolan, Clutterbuck (to atone for last night), and Brunette Wings - Datsyuk, Hossa, Rafalski, and Hudler...either Dats or Hossa with 2

*Ponders* Harding starting in net tonight. Was looking forward to the Angry Finnish Goalie after the last few games he's had. Chances are after last night, JL may be scratching Boogaard, which means Gillies may be in the line up instead as Weller is still out. Hmmmmm...Really not sure how to call this one. I'm thinking similar to the last game. Another one goal game for Detroit though. Not entirely sure if it'll come down to a shoot out again. I vote it'll be interesting though. The Wild are getting angry. Detroit needs to shut them down in the first and third to win. And if Boogey's not playing, Clutterbuck'll fight. And Happy Birthday Owen Nolan.

Madison? Green Bay/Appleton? Outside of Milwaukee, those are the other two main areas that could support it. Not sure if there would be room in Green Bay, what with the Pack and all, but, there's gotta be somewhere in the state.

Nope. They are playing Minnesota tomorrow at the same time.

I still don't understand why WI doesn't have a team. From what I hear, talking to people in WI, and from what I know of the UW system, hockey is Huge there. There would be, eventually, a fan base. It might take a year or so. But it would come. I know the AHL team gets support, and Badger hockey is a big thing, but then all Badger sports are. Even people that aren't really hockey fans that know I am will talk me about the minor league teams and the college teams in WI. I hear a lot about the Green Bay Gamblers. And well, the Wild could hate them on principle. In MN, we already get border-battle going with football. I wouldn't mind seeing it hockey either. I believe there is a similar Packers/Bears rivalry that could concievably transfer over in the off season. And sponsorship, I doubt would be an issue. I'm not really sure who sponsors would be, but I'm sure there'd be more than one company willing to step up and take a chance.

Watch him when the Wild play the Coyotes. After the whole incident with Clutterbuck and Yandle, Gretzky HATES Clutterbuck (or at least he appears to from his expressions)...I don't think I really want to get close enough to ever ask him. Last game they played, Clutterbuck scored, you could read Gretzky's lips from the bench when they showed him, and yes, he was red faced and swearing. The Coyotes lost that game, 3-6. I've only watched him at the bench on Wild games or Wings games, so I can't say what he's like for anything else.

Maltby. And finally something happened. Just as I was ready to give up and switch to House.

I know. For a few minutes, I thought it was.

Actually this one is Finnish. The center on the Capitals is the Swede.

Not easily. We'd be sacrificing a lot of other players to get him. His current contract was for 2 years, 6.2 million. However, with his performance the past two years, and his UFA status, price is going up. Although, he hasn't even started contract talks with the Wild yet, per numerous articles in Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press. They're far too concerned with the lingering hope that even though DR isn't exactly saying the nicest things about Gaby to the press and all right now, they still might convince him to stay. Despite the fact that Niklas has said he would like to stay in MN. Yes, DR knows his priorities.

Hudler would have been trying to top AO for the best showman award, lol. He would have had the time of his life there.

Ok...purely hypothetical situation here, as mlive does say that they both practiced today, and this would be more likely to be true for Datsyuk than for Nick... But suppose the injury kept them out of the line-up for Thursday night as well? What would that do to Betteman's "suspension" then?

As a Wings fan...No, I don't like that at all. Gaborik has played in 6 games this season, he is out until the end of March or early April...best case scenario. He is fragile, fragile, fragile. There's always a chance that this hip surgery may have fixed it, but I'd rather give him a year to test that before signing him. Plus, he also (despite the injury status and missing the majority of the season) want more than his current 6.3 million. Zidlicky has potential, but nothing that we don't already have. Bergeron makes Lebda look amazing. Backstrom is the best thing in this, but again, he's going to be looking for more than his current salary (and deserves more than that). And well, locking up Conklin long term may have the same effect for less money. As a Wild fan....Hell, yeah. I'd be all over that except for one thing. DR (the Wild GM) is an idiot. He'd never go for it. At times, one has to wonder if he was sent to sabotage the Wild. Seriously, he'd be looking at that trade, and probably go, "hmmmm....that Rafalski guy....don't want him...can I get that Ledba fellow instead? And instead of that Holmstrom, can I have that Kopecky?" Yeah....nope. Not a good trade for either team. The Wings get screwed in the original. And DR would screw it up somehow for the Wild.

Well, actually, Lidstrom shouldn't be going to the meet n greets. He's having problems with his elbow. All that hand shaking and autograph signing can't be good for it. It's Betteman's evil plot to keep him injured.

I think they've got about a million left under the cap or more. Yeah....there's room for Kopey. Gaby's gone after this season though, IMO. I doubt they could offer him anything that would keep him, short of Hossa. And yeah, they'd have to seriously dump someone to get Hossa for next year...and seeing the way DR does things, it'd probably be Backs that would get the axe. I'm actually not even betting money that Gaby will return to finish out this season. He's set for a late March return, but who knows. He's not happy in MN. And I have a feeling it'll take more than Hossa to get him to stay.

I have to second this. Backstrom is doing very well. And I am sick to death of hearing about Marian Gaborik. (Who by the way has received 2200 votes or something like that for the all star game, despite the fact that if he doesn't start playing soon, he will be totally ineligable). And I did think Burns did a nice job as forward last night. But I do get very frustrated watching the back and forth with no score for 2 periods. Does make for rather dull hockey. The fight with Staal and Backstrom's save on Crosby in the shoot out were about the only exciting bits for me. And DraperFan MN - The Twin Cities is about the only place in MN where you can get Wild games with any regularity. Elsewhere in the state (I'm in the southeast corner by WI) they are occasionally on FSN-N or VS. Otherwise, we can't get them. They do not broadcast that much outside of the metro area. Which is kinda stupid for a team that brags to be a team of 18000. But that's my side rant there. As of right now...I pretty much watch when I can for Backstrom. That's about it.

1. Mikko Koivu 2. Niklas Backstrom (the goalie) 3. Brent Burns 4. Brenden Shanahan 5. Manny Legace

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What brought me to the Wings? North Stars left MN for Texas (still bitter) and they made us wait 7 years to have hockey in Minnesota again. Just was watching and the Wings drew me in and I was hooked. (Signing Rouse didn't hurt things either). Just something about them. Never came back to MN hockey...once the Wings turn you, you can never go back.

Does anyone know if they've made him any offers? I thought at this point we were the only ones offering him money to still play. I'm just going to close my eyes and when I wake up it will be October and whatever's been done will have been done and I won't have to handle the angst of it anymore. Because yeah...going a bit nutty here.

I can understand his reasoning for going there. The part that irks me is that he was saying he was happy where he was and wasn't leaving and all that. I guess I wouldn't be so upset about it and all if he just hadn't said anything about the whole thing after turning down other offers. That being said, good luck with the family stuff Scotty. I won't wish you luck on the job though.

Maybe this is where they need to get Yzerman to sit down and have a little talk with him about how retiring doesn't make you any less of a person and that it's ok to do it. Part of me wonders if Cheli is just sort of afraid to leave. But I'm sure they'd be able to find something for him to do that isn't playing...have him work with the kids in GR or something...that way he won't feel like he's all useless and washed up they could learn from him there. But (and as much as I'm one of the ones who would love to see him stay one more year and will be sad when he does retire) at this point, with as tight as we are to the cap, we really can't spend the money on a d-man that we're not going to play all that often and are just going to be keeping around for the the "depth." If they really want him for the depth, I'm sure they can find a non-playing way for him to do that. I mean, it's Holland, he can do anything.

I know. I was beaming with pride, going my Pasha actually Hit someone. I mean, yes, I love everything else he does, but I never thought I'd see that. And yes, I know there was a ref between them and all that, but, I honestly Never thought I'd see Pasha fight. I had to go on YouTube after the game and just keep watching. I've never been more proud.

Exactly. It's too soon to tell how this season it going to play out. Granted, where we stand on paper, we have an amazing team that is capable of winning again. However, it's July. We don't know what's going to happen come October. We don't know who we're going to be up against for the playoffs, how badly they're going to want it and just how badly they're going to fight for it (and how much they're going to literally fight for it). We don't know who's going to stay healthy. At this point on paper, we're solid. But there's too many factors that go into it that only the season is going to be able to tell. Although if we just lay down on the ice and let the other teams walk all over us with our roster and give up soft goals and all that, then yes, it will be a failure. But I believe that as long as you try and as long as you work hard for your goal and can honestly say you gave your all, then it wasn't a failure. We'll have to wait and see if they do that.

Bye Dallas. Thanks for all your hard work and all the memories.