Icesurfer

Stats updated through games of Tuesday, January 19th. Duchene had a good game against the Oilers but seems everyone else is having their good game against the Oilers....LOL.

I predict that Howie WILLl start the playoffs and he WILL take the Wings deep into the playoffs. Howie WILL win the Calder Trophy also!

Sunday's game against Chicago was the first game ALL year that Datsyuk and Zetterberg looked good playing together. Let's hope it continues. So is it because Bertuzzi is on that line instead of Homer?????

I am afraid May will be gone when everyone is healthy... to keep Miller Wngs have to let someone who was on the opening day roster go. Leino has another year on his contract. LIke last year Wings won't need a tough guy for the playoffs.... need someone who can offer more than a one dimensional game... someone like Miller.... who can play on any line and in any situation. And Abby wasn't on the opening day roster.... so he will down in Grand Rapids also when everyone is back. At any rate Wings will have depth... which is good ..... because they will not be able to acquire anyone at the trade deadline, unless of course someone else is traded away.

Stats updated through Saturday, Jan. 16th games. Howie deserved a better fate. Although his win-loss record is not bad it could have been a whole lot better with a full Wings team.

Toronto had NO replay that showed the puck crossed the line.

Obviously, it took so long to review the goal, you had to know the NHL was trying their hardest to keep Dallas in the playoff race and give them the win by awarding them the goal.

Yes, I was considering putting Varlamov on the list but he has been out with a lower body injury since Dec 7th. He is expected to miss another week after tweeking the injury. Unfortunately when players miss too much playing time they end up dropping out of contention.

Stats updated through games of Wednesday, January 13th.

I included Bergfors. Thanks for pointing him out. He is definitely noteworthy. BUT GO HOWIE!!

Roger Crozier

Miller-Filppula-Cleary line was very good tonight! See ya later Leino.... Wow... lines will look very good when all are back. Homer-Datsyuk-Franzen Williams-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi Miller-Filppula-Cleary Draper-Helm-Eaves BEST 3rd and 4th lines in the league

Zetterberg, Henrik $6,083,333 Datsyuk, Pavel $6,700,000 Cleary, Dan $2,800,000 Filppula, Val $3,000,000 Franzen, Johan $3,954,545 Jason Willliams $1,500,000 Patrick Eaves $500,000 Darren Helm $599,444 Todd Bertuzzi $1,500,000 Holmstrom, Tomas $2,250,000 Draper, Kris $1,583,333 Leino, Ville $800,000 Maltby, Kirk $883,333 Lidstrom, Nicklas $7,450,000 Rafalski, Brian $6,000,000 Stuart, Brad $3,750,000 Kronwall, Niklas $3,000,000 Ericsson, J $900,000 Lebda, Brett $650,000 Meech, Derek $483,333 Osgood, Chris $1,416,667 Howard,Jimmy $716,667 Lilja LTIR This was the roster that put the Wings under the cap at the beginning of the season and this is the roster they will have to go back to when everyone comes back..... unless someone is released or traded. Miller has a two-way contract and I would love to see him stay instead of Leino.

For the rest of the regular season Babcock will play the hot goalie until that goalie falters and then he switches. Come playoff time Osgood will start and play until he really falters. Babcock has no qualms about switching goalies or sticking to the hot goalie. At any rate this will probably be Osgood's last year with the Wings, but that depends on whether he falters in the playoffs.... if he does he is gone.... if he manages to take the Wings to the finals again they may give him one more year. Howard is ready to be top goalie in the regular season next year, regardless.

When everyone returns from injury I wouldn't be a bit surprised if the Wings decide to keep Miller and release Leino. Babcock has given Leino EVERY opportunity to prove himself. He has played on every line and with just about every player. He has received lots of ice time and has not taken advantage of it. Miller has done more and contributed more than Leino in a shorter period of time.

LOL..... I was right.... Good riddance Leino..... if you don't want to bust your @ss wearing that Winged Wheel, then you don't deserve to wear it. That's why players like Draper and Maltby have lasted so long..... they may not score a ton of goals but they give 125% effort. That kind of effort leads to opportunities.... if not goal scoring then at least drawing penalties and preventing goals against. I doubt if Leino drew even one penalty all year AND he was a team leading MINUS 9. Go back to Finland.

I think it is to scratch another player. Babs might be trying to get some more scoring punch. IMHO Leino is totally useless. He has gone downhill faster than a two ton ball of snow. Babs says that earlier in the season Filppula and Leino had a very good line. First of all, Williams was also on that line and scored some goals but that line didn't score that many goals ANYWAY! Secondly, they were only a "good" line because all the other lines flat out sucked in the beginning of the year. Leino is useless.... his skating needs drastic improvement. He is weak on the puck, can't win the battles in the corners and hasn't been going to the net..... so what good is he???? He is not a premier penalty killer. I really don't think the Wings resign him unless they get him for cheap and he is willing to prove himself. He is not playing with the energy and intensity required by the Winged Wheel.

At the current pace the teams are winning (or accumulating points) in the Western Conference the 8th seed at game 82 will have 97 points. That is INCREDIBLE. .... Probably because of the domination of the West over the East (West Conference has 73 wins and 52 losses against the East as of 12/13/09) but also because of the 3 point games. Last year there were 76 three-point games in the West. This year the West is on pace to reach from 96 to 102 three-point games. Needless to say this is not the year for the Wings to battle to make the playoffs. At this current pace with 50 games remaining the Wings will need approximately 60 more points.... which means close to 30 more wins. You may think 30 wins in 50 games will be easy for them but let me remind you that it will be at least another month before they have most of the injured players back again and playing somewhat with the energy and strength they had earlier. Wings can not let the foot off the gas pedal for one second if they want to make the playoffs! I just hope they are not totally exhausted by April. It actually may benefit them that some players have gotten some rest now.

Aaron Ward would have to be a two-way contract to be any use to the Wings. On July 24, 2009, the Carolina Hurricanes re-acquired defenceman Aaron Ward from the Boston Bruins in exchange for Patrick Eaves and a 4th-round draft pick in 2010. Ward has previously played with the club when they won the Stanley Cup back in 2006.

Eaves should be paired with Datsyuk..... with Datsyuk's setup ability and Eaves quick wicked wrist shot, Eaves could be a 30 goal scorer. They make a good defensive combination too. Datsyuk stealing and Eaves scoring.... both with good speed.

I, for one, do not like the 3 point games. The point system in the NHL, IMHO, really stinks. I believe more credit should be given to teams who win in regulation or win in overtime vs winning by the shootout. The shootout is not as thrilling for me as it once was. And actually when the teams are tied in the last part of the third period the game gets BORING. Why? Because teams want to be guaranteed at least one point so they don’t take chances and play very safe boring hockey. And to top that off those teams who know they have a good chance of winning in the shootout just play very safe defensive hockey in the 5 minute overtime as well. And if your team doesn’t do well in shootouts, it can be very boring. So it looks like some teams are playing for shootouts which is really ridiculous because it is of no value when you get to the playoffs. One way to change that is to change the point system. If teams are awarded 3 points for a regulation or overtime win and only 2 points for a shootout win you will then see teams battle to try to score every last second of the third period and every second of overtime. They won’t rely on the shootout. I don’t think the shootout should be given the same weight compared to a 60 minute battle or 65 minute battle. An overtime loss and a shootout loss would still get only one point. So the losing team is NOT given 50% credit for losing in overtime or in the shootout. It would make the end of the game more interesting and it will give more credit to the better overall team. If you want to make it even more interesting a regulation win could get 4 points, an overtime win 3 points, and a shootout win 2 points and the overtime loss or shootout loss only one point… talk about an intense battle.

The last two years the FIRST 8 teams to reach 38 points made the playoffs. So the 8 playoff teams were determined at the 38 point mark..... which is exactly where we are now. So if that holds true this year the Wings won't make the playoffs. I highly doubt that will happen but I also doubt all these teams will drop out like people are suggesting. The West is getting a lot of wins by defeating the East..... so the Wings should do the same..... hopefully..... but they have 4 wins and 5 losses against the East so far. Phoenix may drop down but Vancouver and Edmonton always seem to make a strong push at the end of the season and Dallas always seems to be there too. All I can say is it will be one heck of a dog fight this year so it will be very exciting at the end of the season and the hottest team at the end of the season will probably go all the way. I think the Western Conference champ will come from the 6th, 7th or 8th seed because one of those three may be the hottest team going into the playoffs. At least the Wings won't be bored at the end of this season.....LOL.

Well... I guess that means Z and Pav will not be skating on the same line anymore.... except on PP.

Are Lidstrom's shots just very weak so is it me?

looks like one goal will win this game