Red Crazy

As much as this pains me to say I think after this season that the Wings need to do something about goaltending and forget about signing Hossa. Sign Hossa and your looking at Osgood/Howard sharing the duties. I love Hossa but Franzen and a goalie might be better for the long run.

I don't think that there is much wrong with the PP. Maybe a couple of small changes but I think that the real problem is the teams lack of effort as of late. I am not sure when the last game was that they played a full 60 min. Makes me wonder at times if all the UFA talk is starting to effect the team. Nobody knows who will be apart of the team next year. Could this be it???? I have a hard time believing that they are simply not playing because they can and still make the playoffs and they are just going to flick the switch and play hockey again come playoff time. What ever it is please fix it Babs.

I like this. Not sure about Oz/Howie but looks great otherwise.

And your plan is???? I agree this may not be the best plan but you will lose players of great talent either way. One thing that you are not considering is that we may lose BOTH Hossa and Franzen. I am NOT hating on Flip or Kronner I was simply picking two roster players that have high salaries that could be moved to make way for Hossa or Franzen and replacing them with young players with low salaries that are currently part of the team. Hard to say that anybodys plan sucks when we don't know the numbers involved. This was a suggestion. And I agree I would make a tremendous GM. Thank you.

The Wings will never ask Stuart to waive his NTC after the first year. So I think Kronwall has to go. Ericsson has proved that he can play the same role as Kronner and for a way less money. Flip can go too. He is a good player and we might regret it in the future but we need his cap money. Leino or Helm are much cheaper and again we need the cap space. The Wings are luckey to be in this position they are in, they have so many great players ready to come up and they have a chance to keep two very gifted forwards long term by making a couple of minor moves. I don't see that moving Flip and Kronner would be that hard on our depth when you consider their replacements.

Best post ever! LOL I needed that, Thank you!

I like this but I think that both these guys will get a raise in pay that will still make it too expensive if we resign Hossa. I do like this alot better then the Ozzy/rookie idea. If Ozzy keeps this up I wouldn't be surprised if he was to retire after this season.

Ozzie had a very bad outing, maybe his worst ever. This is not good news for his confidence going into the playoffs. He was looking at the bench after the second goal almost begging to be pulled. With Ken Holland set to meets Hossa's agent in Edmonton does the state of Detroit's goaltending make it hard to fill all cap space with forwards? I am guessing that if Kenny is up in the air about signing another player long term that this dosen't make it any easier.

Agreed. I find it very funny that people on here act like they are so much better then others! Maybe we should drag Marty by the heels across North Dakota for being such a beast! Damn Cheater! lol Those who write this kind of BS on here should get a life. He is a hockey player not a God. Do you know the whole story? Must be true if the media said it right?

Note to Red Wings- you may want to cover Rick Nash this game. Thank you. p.s play defence, help Ozzie , and play for 60min and we should be fine.

I don't think that our 5 on three pp is brutal but I will agree that Lidstrom and Rafi need to switch sides quicker and more often. I still am not a fan of Sammy playing on the point on the second unit with Kronner though. I would use Kronner with Nick on unit one and let Rafi and Sammy be the #2 pairing. Raffi can move the puck up the ice better then Sammy and can make the break out pass run much smoother. Sammy tends to bring the puck up the ice with his head down and then trys to make a short pass that usually ends up in someones skates.

100% Agreed!

Penner? This must be a joke right? The reason that he is being bought out is because he has been the biggest mistake the Oilers have made in a long time. Just imagine that you are luckey enough to make it into the NHL but you are too lazy to stay in shape and the coach has to call you out about it and on top of this you are making 4m/yr! No sir, I'll pass on him.

I agree 100%. this is not a goalie VS goalie thread it is a question about a coaching decision.

First of all I want to say that this is not a slam against either Babcock or his coaching staff. I want to know why they think that it is a good idea to not change goalies after a start like they had last night? Don't get me wrong I do not in anyway blame Ozzy for the outcome. Hear me out. The team came out as flat as they could be and it looked like it was going to be a long night right from the first goal. Now I want to know why not try a goalie change to wake the team up after the 3rd goal? or 4th? Clearly by leaving him in it only does more harm then good. Ozzy has shown he has very little confidence this year and it is not going to help by leaving him in a game that is only going to get worse. I do realize that giving a goalie the hook can also be hard on their confidence but not in this case. What do you all think? What would Scotty have done? Two blow outs in a week to teams that we might face in the first round is not good.

At 15:45 of the third period Gretzky throws a fan on to the ice and gets a penalty for too many men and his head explodes. Wings win on the PP 4-3 and nobody hears from Wayne again.

I agree. Scotty would have ripped ass for sure! He (Babcock) has his own style that is for sure. He will not hook a goalie before the game is all but over and he dosen't call many time outs to re-start the team. He seems to me like he is such an intense coach that this really has surprised me since he came to Detroit. I was at the game in Minneapolis when they lost 5-2 and came out real flat, I was right behind the bench and all the coaches didn't react at all. It is almost like the coaches and the players are like " oh well we will make the playoffs who cares it's just Columbus or Nashville or Minneapolis" . But on the other hand there is more then enough expierence in the dressing room that a coach shouldn't have to kick there butts.

I thought he looked good too. Just needs time with the big team now and to get his cast off and he should have a roster spot next season. I just hope that he has some grit for all that size.

Welcome! I agree, I think that they should shop Flipper. I like him but the 3m he takes up could be used to help sign Hossa and Mule. I think that Sammy will stay till the end of the season as he would not give us much cap space anyway. I don't know much about Moore but I can't see the Wings going after another forward as a rental with Helm and Leino I think that we are in good shape. I can see the Wings looking for a d-man as a rental but no big names as the cap is to tight.

Have you guy's not watched the Wings play in anybody else's barn? Every team in the league likes to beat the Wings and an 8-0 ass kickin is their dream game! I was just at the 5-2 loss in Minnesota and their fans were crazy! Yelling at the Wings players all night. But in every rink in every town in the world there are fans that take it too far and there is probably Red Wings fans that are just as bad. Nashville, Minnesota, and Edmonton have some of the most loyal fans in the league as does Detroit so why bash Nashville? All teams have bad fans. Get over it.

Can I say the Wings defensive play? Last year they were shutting down teams every night by limiting shots on goal to half of what the Wings were getting. I think that every player on the team is guilty of crappy defensive play at times this season. But if I had to pick I would say with regret, Ozzie.

Lilja. He has been at times one of our best D-men.

Crosbys fault....NO. They had a good team last year before the deadline. They bet the farm on Hossa and lost when he didn't sign with them end of story. And now they fire the coach? hmmmm.

A very interesting post! Though I cannot see the Devils trading Marty, I wonder if bringing in Clemmenson would be a cheap answer for the Wings? He has played very well this year and looks like he has what it takes to be a starter. The boys on Sportsnet have suggested that this could be a deal for the Wings. It seems like every sports channel out there is saying that we need goaltending help and I tend to agree. Ozzie just dosen't seem to have any confidence this year and I worry that with six weeks to go till April that he will not find his old form. With the way Leino and Helm are playing I think that it leaves room to move a UFA such as Franzen, etc. to get a goalie.

The Wings were flat all night. Osgood HAS to be MUCH better, two of the three goals were soft. When your team is flat you need a big game from your goalie and we didn't get it. Was it all Ozzie's fault.....no but he needs to get his s*** together soon cause the months are going by with very little improvment in his play. Some say play him all the time and he will get better, well that may work but if he gets shelled night after night he MAY get worse if his confidence gets shattered. I think that Babcock needs to be a bit better at picking his goalies games. Back to back games with a struggling goaltender and a tired team don't fit well in my book when you have a back up that is playing well.