Red Crazy

I agree with this. The Wings may even be considered the underdog to win the Central. The problem is you have Chicago making great pick ups and their young stars will only be better this season ( Toews, Kane, etc.) They were good last year and they will be alot better this year. While the Wings have lost goalie depth, have lost 60+ goals off the forwards, and have too many guy's on the roster that can't pull their weight ( Maltby, Draper, Homer) and are a year older. I say the Wings will have a good team but not near as good as 07/08 or 08/09. And the thought of Ozzie/Howard is scaring the hell out of me.

Nice to see a young guy get a chance. However, the Wings backup goalie usually gets alot more work then other teams backups. With Osgood getting another year older and after yet another long playoff run the work will have to be split or Ozzie will be no good come playoff time. This is my concern, can you give Howard 25-30 starts? We all enjoyed having Conklin last year when Ozzie stumbled.

My favorite memory of Cheli was all the epic battles between him and Bertuzzi when the Wings played Vancouver. Thanks for the great memories Chris and good luck next season.

I would like to see Conklin stay. Ozzie needs a strong backup that can carry some of the load and I just don't think Howard is the man for the job. Conklin proved that he can come in a win a few games when Ozzie struggles. That being said, the money would have to be right on Conks.

I wish that Maltby, Draper, and Homer would be promoted to the video room for next season allowing the Wings to use some of the rookies that are showing alot of promise. Maltby and Draper have both lost a step this last year and have become replacable. Fourth lines need to be fast, hard checking, and have the ability to get the team going. We didn't get this from them this season. Due to loyalty, the Red Wings will never trade these guys. I just hope they know when to hang them up.

I will give you younger and cheaper but better......no not a chance. I have been a fan of Sourays for awhile and would love to see him in Detroit. His shot and his toughness would be welcomed.

I think that Kronwall needs to start being much smarter as a hockey player. He gives up the puck much to easy, he only hits when he wants to, and always seems to take a back breaking penalty. I like Kronner but I am too getting sick of his play overall. Hey why not Souray for Kronwall and Sammy? I guess we all can dream.

Call me crazy but I never think it is a good idea to mess up lines. The Wings seem to be more concerned about Crosby not scoring then scoring themselves. We need to get back to OUR game which is to control the puck and quit this chip in and chase hockey that is not working. Sure we are getting alot of shots but very few are good scoring chances. Next game wins.

After this game I don't think that it would be wise to change either ZFC or the FSH lines they seem to be playing great. But I think we all agree that something has to change with Pavel and Hossa cause we need these guys on the score sheet every night. So I will put out this question to the experts on LGW.... Who and why? But remember bring somebody up and you have to take one off. I say give Leino a try because he will be hungry to get some time and he has a scoring touch the line could use right now. On the down side I would say to sit Abby. Discuss.

HAHAHHA Sorry guy's! I didn't realize that my shortening of names at the start of this post would cause everyone such pain... I guess I was just being lazy and my spelling sucks.! Oh and FSH is Flip sammy and Hudler. And for the guy that called me *******, Get a life.

If Rafi dosen't return for game three or four playing with 5 d-men will come back to haunt Babcock. The defense will be getting tired and maybe this is why our PK is not playing well. Cheli needs to play more in the first couple of periods if they want to sit him if the 3rd is close. If Babcock has no faith in him why is he dressing him? I think the only problem with Cheli is that he has not played enough this year and his timing is off. Sure he is 47 but he is probably in better shape then half of the Wings. Blame him for the OT loss????? Why? I seem to remember 2 goals the Ducks scored on the PP.

Cleary is as tough as they get he will be back for game one. Kronners first hit of the year and he takes out Cleary, hmmmm he must be reading at the LGW hate about Cleary. lol

Dan Cleary like him or not is the hardest working Red Wing night in and night out. He may not fill the net but it won't be for lack of trying and that to me is worth keeping him. Brad Stuart is not having a great season but those who do not have blinders on will see that his partner Nick Kronwall has been out right Bad on defense this season. Sure he has some points but he no longer hits and is not much more then a pylon in our zone. And lets not forget how many stupid penalties he has taken this year because he was caught out of position. I hope that all three can have playoffs like last year. Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart both have a NTC and it is highly unlikely that Holland will ask them to remove them. Holland has too much class to do that.

I don't think it matters at all who the Wings play or don't. If the Wings are capable of going to the level of play that they played at last year they can beat anyone in this league. If they continue to play the way they have been all season it may be over in the first round. I believe that the Wings can play better and will but it will take a complete team effort and I hope it starts on game one not game four.

I agree 100%. I know that this game means nothing but this is a good time to start looking like your a team thats ready to defend the Cup. This team has been hard to watch for the last month, I hope that they get their act together soon because this is the last warm up.

I think it is also important to question whether Holland will go into yet another long term contract.

Hossa will be gone next year if Franzen is at 3.9m/hit. Sure Hossa has said that he would take less to stay but 7.4m this year WAS less then he was offered. It will take 7.4m or more to keep him even long term and I don't think Kenny will gut the team to keep him. I guess it is possible but it is not looking good.

Good News! I hope that by going such a long term for Franzen that it means a cap hit of 3m or less. Franzen IS worth 4m right now but in 9 yrs? no. 3m or less hit and Kenny IS GOD!

I would say Edmonton in the West, they have some great players but can't seem to take the next step. They should have got Smyth back at the deadline for some heart. I would say Tampa Bay in the East, they stacked there team with some key players in the off season but had problems with coaching, and lack of chemistry.

The only thing wrong with that check is we don't see them more often. Ballard was a bit low but Malkin jumped so whatever. Malkin got up and shook it off so why the fight? Crosby gets some press and we at LGW get to bash him= everybody wins! lol

Detroit is lucky to have the depth it has at defence with so many of them able to help out on the offensive side as well. Most teams would be in big trouble with guys like Raffi and Lilja out of the lineup but the Wings have guys like Ericcson and Cheli that can step in and play great. I think Kronwall and Stuart are both having seasons that they would like to forget. Kronwall is not playing the body and is turning the puck over way too much. Stuart seems to be coming on lately and looks like he will be fine for the playoffs. I think that Detroit might have a future Norris winner in Ericsson he has looked great so far and if he continues to develop he will be a top 2 dman soon.

I would never take anything away from Roy as a goaltender but as a humanbeing he is a nut case. He can't handle coaching in the juniors or his own kids and makes an ass of himself all the time how does anybody give him the nod to the NHL? I had alot of respect for him when he was playing goal but since he retired that all went out the window. NHL coach no thanks.

I agree. Cheli was a monster out there today. Makes me wonder when he plays like this if he still would make a cheap 7-8 spot dman for us next year. I think he is good for the young guys coming up and he seems happy with the role he has on this team. Great game by the Wings. I thought that Ozzie was BETTER but still needs to tighten up his game a bit and make better plays when he plays the puck. Nice to see him get the win and get some good saves behind him though. I like the look of the 1st and 2nd lines today. Both lines played well and I think Cleary belongs on the 2nd line, he had some pretty nice deflections today that would have gone in on most goalies. Good Game.

No leadership and no heart = yet another loss. It is time for something big from you coach Mike. Or you may be " Running back to Saskatoon" lol J/K

LOL What he ^said.