Holmstrom96

Thanks! Well, I guess if it wasn't a goal it wasn't a goal! Only the last goal was his fault. We need better defense. Pulling him was probably more of a mindset thing than a response to his performance.

100% Agreement.

Large group of girls in Section 203B with the sign, PLEASE PUT THE SIGN DOWN BEFORE THE PUCK IS DROPPED. I rarely go to hockey games and me, my friends, and family want to see the game, not your sign. Sure, dance around between plays, but please let me see the face offs! Also, it is not necessary to flick me off and cuss me out FOR TWO PERIODS because I told you to "put the sign down" as all the people around me cheer for sticking up for them and their view of the game. But thanks for the fake $10 bills. But one of the girls was secretly winking at me, and I wanted to let you know I am secretly winking back. #2 - The refs sucks #3 - Osgood should not have let the third goal by him, but the first two were lack of defence #4 - The refs sucks #5 - Calling back TWO goals that should have NOT been called back and then losing by two goals? Total bull #6 - The refs not only robbed the fans of a good hockey game, but they also robbed us of a fight between two willing participants #7 - Calling Holmstrom for holding the puck and then giving him an unsportsmanlike with two minutes left while down two goals is BULL #8 - Holmstrom was pushed into Turco and the goal should not have been called off #9 - The puck went in the net before the Dallas Stars player dislodged it, why did the refs allow the Stars to exchange a goal for a penalty? #10 - Girls of Section 203B with the sign, seriously, wink wink. #11 - Last but not least, the refs sucked and took away two good goals.

YES!!! This is the first Red Wings Game (not counting a couple pre-season) that I have ever gone to. I've watched hundreds and hundreds on TV, but this is my first real game. I bought four tickets (including food) for $22 each, I've got my wife, dad, and bro-in-law going. This is going to ROCK!

Hossa's great, but I think we've got enough young talent that can step up if we can't keep him.

I don't mind the suspensions, the rule makes sense, but the "Crosby Clause" does not. It's just another rule like "Interference" that seems to be selectively enforced against the Red Wings.

I like those lines. Hossa would have been a great addition in the pre-cap era when we just went out and bought players at the peak of their prime (Chelios, Shannahan, Hull, Hasek), but Hossa is too expensive for the team.

Some say they'd want Hossa over Zetterberg, I respectfully disagree. The Detroit Red Wings and Ken Holland have done a great job of finding and cultivating talent. I don't know how they keep gettings these great guys like Zetterbergh and Datsyuk, but it is very important that they keep them. The fans love being able to watch players have their whole careers right here in Detroit. Hossa is great, but make no mistake, he's just chasing a Stanley Cup, he has no extended loyalty to the Red Wings. I would favor getting rid of Hossa to get a rock solid young goaltender (get rid of Osgood) and use Conklin as a backup. Osgood has been good lately, but if the Wings are able to get a 2-3 GAA goalie they will be indestructible.

#1 - With the exception of the OT and shootout, the all-star game was BORING and SLOW-PACED #2 - The fact that they made a special deal with only Cosby so he could skip out is TOTAL BULL CRAP #3 - It's a shame hockey fans in Columbus who bought tickets already have to watch a game minus two of its best players I wouldn't upset if it were not for #2. A rule is only fair if uniformly enforced. It reminds me of other rules that aren't enforced uniformly such as INTERFERENCE.

I'm impressed with Datsyuk. He's simply one of the most well-rounded players in the league. I agree with others, his hits aren't the hardest, but many times those hard hits are dealt out at the expense of defensive position.

Bad idea.

Not true. There are quite a few teams that don't have a climate that could support a Winter Classic, so this would limit the hosting of the Winter Classic to northern teams. The fact that it won't always happen in your city and they your team won't always be involved is what will make it a special treat. Like the Superbowl; Detroit was lucky to have it a few years ago, but it will likely be a while before we get to host it again, perhaps decades. I like the Winter Classic, I think it's one of the good changes the NHL has made. I found it to be much more entertaining than an all-star game. Chicago was a great host and their fans were really into it, which made it great.

I'd love to see Toronto VS Detroit at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

We need a physical presence like Tootoo. However, I agree with others that Tootoo is a big wuss, always starting s*** but never finishing it.

Yay! Despite horrible officiating in the first two periods of the game the Red Wings were able to turn it on with 5 goals in a row. Conklin is much better than Osgood, we should stick with Conklin while we look for a rock solid starter to replace Osgood. This was a fun game despite the officiating. Someone suggested that they make the Winter Classic the All-Star game, I disagree. Keep it like it is, make it a regular season game between two play-off worthy teams. I'd love to see Toronto VS. Red Wings at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

ROFL. That's some funny stuff. Yup the officiating is more than a little off. Eager can rape our players, but if we *LIGHTLY PUSH* someone we get a roughing call.

I love FSN coverage of the Wings. NBC coverage just sucks. They're too busy pimping out Reebok and Bud Light to let us know why the hell a team is short-handed. The announcers spend too much time with useless chatter and product pimping and not enough time announcing the game. Also, the announcer lack enthusiasm for the game. Cleary got his world rocked from a sweet hit into the Chicago bench and the announcers didn't even seem to react.

My thoughts exactly. There has seemed to be a HUGE double standard all season long that the Wings being physical is a penalty, but if you want to anal gang bang Holmstrom in front of the net it's OK because it's just Holmstrom. The roughing call was pure horses***. The Winter Classic isn't "classic" if the refs call penalties for looking at someone the wrong way.

We need to develop lines and chemistry, and FAST. The established lines weren't cutting it, so Babs had to mix it up, now it's time to settle it down, establish lines, and get the lines to mesh together. We've got something that many other teams don't have; the capability to put together 3 top scoring lines and 1 mediocre line. Where most teams have one or two good lines, a mediocre line, and a checking line.

Agreed. Our fourth line stinks. However, I still think Draper is freaking awesome. Draper does stuff that statistics like "Goals" and "Assists" don't capture. If we put better talent with him (ditch McCarty and Maltby) we can make a good 4th scoring line. Or, move Draper up to the third line and get some people who can actually check.

Agreed. There would be potential problems with extending OT. I don't believe they resurface the ice between the 3rd period and regular season OT, so playing on crappy ice is an issue. They do a partial resurface for the shoot-out of just the center portion of the ice. I still like the idea of the 10 minute overtime. I would love to see the league experiment. Current: 5 Minute 4v4 OT + shootout Option A: 10 Minute 4v4 OT + shootout (this might take too long) Option B: 10 Minute 4v4 OT w/o shootout (this would keep length in check, but then would bring the possiblility of a tie back, although the possible is reduced because it is 4v4 and twice as long) Personally, I really like the current system because there are no ties and it makes a shootout a nice treat to see every once-in-a-while. I do agree that I don't like loser points. A three point system would make the loser points worth less (if the losers in OT\shootout only get one point and the winners get 2 points).

WOW. I have always taken issue with the "1 point for trying" system they have. It makes me mad because there is no penalty for losing in overtime, and there should be. The whole idea is that teams will take more chances to score in the 4v4 OT if they have nothing to lose, but it just shouldn't be that way. My thought was to make a win a win (2 points) and a loss a loss (0 points). However, I think your 3 point system is a GREAT compromise! Great job on thinking that up and articulating it!

I agree about like the fast play of Arena Football. That's why I love hockey, basically non-stop action. Football has too much stop and go, but I do like that scoring is special (only a few TD's a game). They play for 10 seconds, then you sit back while they spend 30 seconds regrouping and lining back up. Basketball is boring because all they do is score. There is nothing special about making a basket in basketball. Hockey is just the right blend of constant action and low scoring. In Football the officiating is MUCH MORE CONSISTENT. They don't always get thet calls right, but 90% of the time they do. In hockey it's starting to get WAY TOO INCONSISTENT. From game to game the officiating changes drastically and they seem to favor the losing team and seem to ignore infraction against players like Holmstrom and Cleary and ignore constant hooks on Hossa, Datsyuk and Zetterberg.

I don't know if I fully agree about Kopecky, but I haven't seen much good from Maltby except on penalty kills. He's like a goon minus the goon aspect, which makes him just a body.

What we need is a checking line that can.... check? I love Draper, Maltby, and McCarty. However, we need to get rid of McCarty. He's a goon that's too old to fight, so he does ZERO for us. Maltby is good at penalty killing and is a great defensive forward. However, Maltby doesn't check, and the refs don't buy his crap anymore, so he doesn't draw the penalties like he used to. We don't need goons, we need size. Datsyuk does a lot of checking, but he doesn't have the size. We need someone who can check hard and score. We need more Kronwalls! Don't pick on Stuart and Lebda for not scoring much, you have to remember they're defensemen. Stuart I think does a great job checking when he's out there. Unfortunatly the NHL is in no doubt somewhere in their HQ planning on taking fighting out of the game completly, and it will be a shame. I loved watching one of our best scores, Shanahan, drop the gloves when a team started getting scrappy. Fighting is a part of hockey. Is it barbaric and brutal? Sure, that's why we like it. But we need actual checkers more than we need a Joey Kocur or a Stu Grimson.