Icesurfer

helm with Z and Pav.... finally

As Babcock had just stated on the Wings/St. Louis post-game show the Wings do not have a natural goal scorer. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are good but they are not natural goal scorers. Just about every team in the NHL has a natural goal scorer. Except for getting Hossa, Detroit's strategy was to depend on their depth. Well, now that the depth is gone how do they expect to win? The salary cap has slowly eliminated Detroit's depth and distribution of scoring concept. But again, it is difficult to get a natural goal scorer if you are always picking so far down in the draft. Maybe the Wings should just finish last for a change and they finally could get a natural goal scorer????

Ponikarovsky is Ukrainian and his wife, Inna, is also Ukrainian and has dual citizenship..... Ukrainian and Canadian.... she probably can speak and understand Russsian anyway. And Detroit does have a large Ukrainian community.... :colorbounce:

OH... I guess she is.... her real name is Ekaterine.

Everything will be just fine next year when the Wings sign Alexander Frolov or Ponikarovsky to join Datsyuk on the first line!!! I don't know if Frolov's wife Kate is Russian though......LOL Frolov-Datsyuk-Franzen

The last thing a professional sports player needs is a controlling possessive woman.... Too bad sometimes it takes awhile before you really find out that is the way they are....LOL.

Professional sports players are married to the sport they love. If any woman truly loved her man she would understand that and deal with the sacrifices of the situation… that’s one reason why they make so much damn money. But my guess is that most of the women are probably after their money. Foreign women learn the “America way†very quickly…. Trust me on that one. Most professional player’s careers only average about 10 years or so. So for 10 years when you are trying to focus on the sport you love why would put up with a nagging ***** unless you desperately want to have kids right away. It would be less expensive in the long run and a lot less headaches if you had a surrogate mother and a nanny if it is the family you want. You could do what you want, go where you want when you want to, have the male and female friends you want and answer to nobody…… except the coach and management of the team…LOL

This thread is about the fact that the Wings do not have a Marian Gaborik, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, Dany Heatley, Jarome Iginla, Steven Stamkos, Ilya Kovaluchuk, Corey Perry, Zach Parise, Rick Nash, Marion Hossa, Daniel Sedin, Anze Kopitar, etc.. Right now the Wings DO NOT have someone who can score AT WILL when he gets open. Babcock said it, not me, I am just agreeing. So I am thinking maybe the Wings should get a natural goal scorer (or at least another one when you consider Franzen) and the easiest way is to finish last to have a chance. The top draft pick next year will probably be Taylor Hall.... from Windsor Spitfires.... very fast center/LW and excellent scorer. Here is a link for the scouting reports on some of the top prospects.... it looks like a good pool of players for next year's draft. 2010 Draft scouting reports What is one bad season when you could have 10 great ones to follow. Isn't it worth it? How far do you expect the Wings to go in the playoffs (if they make it) this year anyway? Do you think Franzen will come back in March and magically turn into the same goal scorer he was in last year's playoffs? It may happen and I am hoping it does but I don't think so. Coming back from that type of injury is going to take more than a month.

From MLIVE: Wings looking for more from Leino How about putting Leino on the fourth line with Abby and May until his skating improves? ..... he is minus 8. Eaves on the other hand is a team high plus 8. As much as I love the DHE Express Line why doesn't Babcock try Eaves with Datsyuk? Babs tried Leino with Datsyuk. With Datsyuk's passing ability maybe Eaves can regain his rookie season scoring touch! Wouldn't that be sweet! It may also get Datsyuk going 5 on 5... no other line combo worked yet.

In comparing Ericsson with Kronwall, they both have had very similar starts with the Red Wings. Both played some games at age 23 and age 24 with the Wings (27 or less). In their third year at age 25 they both were given major roles. However, I do not remember Kronwall having this many "growing pains" and "learning lessons" as Ericsson has been getting this year. Kronwall has always been a PLUS in the plus/minus category. Ericsson by contrast has always been a MINUS. The problem is that Ericsson seems to be making the same mistakes over and over..... especially in terms of coverage. When Kronwall made a mistake he certainly did not repeat it in the next game. In listening to Ericsson talk about Lidstrom he seems to be trying to mimic what Lidstrom does.... he said as much in his post-game interview after the Rangers game. I am sorry, but there is only one Lidstrom and if anyone tries to copy what he does forget it. Kronwall plays his own style. He is more aggressive and obviously not afraid to hit. Between the two of them, Kronwall and Ericsson, I would guess that Ericsson should be the one pummeling guys.... he certainly has the body for it... especially around the net where he seems to make the most mistakes. Is it because Ericsson is given more responsibility??? There is no doubt that Ericsson will be a fine defenceman. However, I don't know if he will ever become close to "Lidstrom" status as predicted by some.

I totally forgot that Ericsson was converted from a forward! OK.... I will have to give him 2 more years.... so he is probably like 2 years behind Kronner in terms of development..... so it makes sense now.

Ericsson had been paired with just about everyone at some point this year. He is starting out very much like Kronwall did..... in terms of games played at the same age. And just because Kronwall got injured does NOT make him a bad defenceman. And don't forget Ericsson is 25. At age 25 Kronwall was already a top 4 defenseman... playing on specialty teams also. Kronwall was NEVER a minus player. PLUS players are generally not making a lot of mistakes on the ice. And when Kronwall started he was playing in Detroit's "rebuilding" years after the lockout.

Learning from Lidstrom and copying his style are two different things. Of course, you want your D men learning form Lidstrom..... you would be foolish not to learn from him! But does Kronwall PLAY like Lidstrom?.... NO. All I am saying is that I think Ericsson's style should be more physical. But first he needs to get to the gym and put on 20lbs... LOL

Frolov will be an unrestricted free agent..... unrestricted free agents can go anywhere they want. He would get a very nice raise and ANY hockey player in the league would be stupid not to want to play for Detroit. And I am sure Stuart can tell Frolov the difference between playing for a team that WANTS to win badly every year vs a useless team that has trouble making the playoffs plus the benefits of playing for Detroit. If Hossa wanted to come here just to try to win a cup I think Frolov wouldn't think twice. Frolov could be a first line player and if has a chance of playing with Datsyuk I think he would grab the opportunity in a second. Datsyuk and Frolov together would be dynamite.... fellow Russians. Ponikarovsky would also love to play with Datsyuk.... he is Ukrainian....

The one quality UFA forward the Wings can target for next year (from the available UFA's only --- RFA's not included) would be: Rene Bourque - Calgary Alexander Frolov - LA Kings Tomas Plekanec - Montreal Alexei Ponikarovsky - Toronto Matt Stajan - Toronto Wings would be able to sign any of them with the cap space they would have. Mind you.... the pool of UFA's is slim pickin.

IMHO these are the players the Wings will have for sure: FORWARDS Pavel Datsyuk $6,700,000 Henrik Zetterberg $6,083,333 Johan Franzen $3,954,545 Valtteri Filppula $3,000,000 Daniel Cleary $2,800,000 Kris Draper $1,583,333 * Tomas Holmstrom $1,500,000 * Darren Helm $1,000,000 * Justin Abdelkader $1,000,000 Ville Leino $800,000 DEFENSEMEN Brian Rafalski $6,000,000 * Nicklas Lidstrom $5,500,000 Brad Stuart $3,750,000 Niklas Kronwall $3,000,000 Jonathan Ericsson $900,000 Jakub Kindl $883,333 GOALTENDERS Chris Osgood $1,416,666 Jimmy Howard $716,666 CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS ROSTER SIZE 18 SALARY CAP $56,800,000 PAYROLL $50,587,876 CAP SPACE $6,212,124 The salaries for Homer, Abby, Helm and Lidstrom are estimates. The Wings should have AT LEAST $6 mil (if the cap stays the same) to get 3 forwards & 1 backup defencemen if needed. Or TWO forwards and ONE player who can play both forward AND defense. IMHO the Wings will get one quality forward on the free agent market for 4.5 - 5 mil. The others will be fast skating 4th line players.

Player â„– Team GP G A PTS +/- PIM PPG SHG GWG SDS SOG %SOG FO %FO TOI/G Sft/G S/G Weinhandl Mattias80 DYM 31 13 19 32 5 24 5 0 3 1 67 19.4 2 0.0 17:29 19.4 2.2 Hudler Jiri 26 DYM 31 11 17 28 0 10 4 1 2 0 69 15.9 535 46.7 18:17 19.6 2.2 Omark Linus 67 DYM 31 11 8 19 -4 16 3 0 3 0 62 17.7 6 66.7 16:00 17.6 2.0 Kaluzhny Alexei 71 DYM 31 6 8 14 -6 12 2 0 0 0 54 11.1 101 55.4 17:47 19.8 1.7 Yachmenev Vitaly43 DYM 31 2 9 11 -5 10 1 0 1 0 38 5.3 10 50.0 15:19 18.1 1.2 Yepanchintsev Vadim8 DYM 29 2 8 10 -1 30 1 0 1 0 28 7.1 339 49.3 14:58 16.9 1.0 TOP 6 Forwards for Moscow Dynamo's.... just for comparison. Dynamos Stats

Moscow Dynamo Stats

Considering what players the Wings lost they are still in striking distance of making the playoffs. So yes it wasn't a total collapse but the work ahead of them will not be easy. Being "above" .500 does not really say too much as 13 of 16 teams are above .500 if you are talikng POINT PERCENTAGE. In terms of WIN PERCENTAGE the Wings are actually BELOW .500.... (13 wins and 14 losses). And being below .500 in win percentage means you win 40 games or less. In the past, generally teams who win 40 games or less do not make the playoffs unless they have a lot of overtime losses..... and those teams most of the time do not do well in the playoffs. Personally, I would like to see the Wings get the 8th seed and upset the Blackhawks in the first round.... now that would make my year. Wings may not be one of the first 8 teams to 38 points.... those teams made the playoffs the last 2 years. So the Wings may just break the trend. The key will be how the injured players perform once they get back. Given that it may take some time for each to regain what form they had before they got injured ... and even then for some of them their form wasn't at the top of their game. So while I maintain my optimism for making the playoffs, who knows what injuries are looming. Basically the Wings have to get healthy ASAP and MAINTAIN that health to have a good chance of accomplishing something this season. What I am encouraged by is the fact that this has all been valuable experience for all the youngsters on the team and next year the Wings will be a very good team.... with hopefully better depth than they have this year.

I predicted Howard would have better stats than Osgood in the beginning of the season and everyone gave me grief! :hockeysmile:

Living in Hawaii the only peeps on the streets I can talk hockey with are the Canadians who moved/retired here.... but then again ice doesn't exactly grow in Hawaii.... Seems no one else knows what a power play is..... I always wondered how many non-Canadians living on the islands actually subscribe to NHL Center Ice....

I like Abby..... he can be an agitator like Maltby with more skills to score. Anyone notice how often he is in the offensive end???.... fighting for the puck, digging it out of the corners.... not afraid to go to the net.... can retrieve the puck... A killer line would be Abby-Datsyuk-Franzen. I sure hope Abby doesn't go down to GR when players start coming back.... but I guess their won't be much of a choice unless someone else is injured once Franzen gets back. Put Datysuk with faster, younger, aggressive skaters and he will start burying the puck 5 on 5..... Helm, Eaves, Abby..... even Draper.

We have 4 months of INJURIES to go!!!! Do you really think the injuries are just going to magically stop?????? You must be kidding..... waste of time to predict this..... cause it all depends on who gets injured and who can recover fully from their injuries. Who could have predicted what is happening now???

When there is no one hounding him, checking him or making him hurry his shot he is fine....... unfortunately those conditions don't exist during the game. Because he is old, slow and no longer has the good hands, he simply will not be the player everyone is expecting. All it takes is one skater checking him and he turns the puck over immediately and NEVER gets it back..... you see it over and over and over again. And if fans can't see it they are blind. I have never seen a TOP line being this bad for this long... 5 on 5. At least he will get time on the shoot out....LOL. He will end up with about 12 goals..... far below what anyone expected.

FIVE Wings standing around while the Blues take target practice..... this is so hard to watch......