sureWhyNot

You are 100% correct. For a group that loves making excuses when our goalies GAA is hovering around 4.5 and their constant coddling of players like Leino I am blown away at the flak Bertuzzi has gotten on this board. He's been consistently one of our top three forwards, and has been creating opportunities all year - the bounces are finally going his way opposed to off the post. His defensive game is so much better then is was in the past, and this can be attributed to the hard work he is putting in. Babcock and his teamates have commented on how much they like him in the locker room, and how he is always the first one on the ice and last one off. But still the fact remains a lot of people don't like him - which is unfortunate seeing as though he is a Red Wing now, but what can ya do. I just wish they would say they don't like him instead of ragging on his game - because at 1.5 million a year and a guy playing close to 17:00 minutes a night I would say that is a pretty god damn good bang for your buck.

I hope the people around here that just bashed Bert relentlessly (and there was a whole bunch of them) are literally choking on their words. He has been playing like a champ the whole year, and while he wasnt catching breaks early on (how many goal posts) he is coming around now. I love it!

Hudler would have about the same impact Leino would have if in fact Leino did anything other then try his hardest to look invisible on the ice.

Ya he plays through a painful injury that drastically effects the mobility of his arm and doesn't say a word about it. Grits his teeth and gets it done, all the while putting up 15 points and being a +9. That's what you get with Hossa.

I think we could toss an A on Stuarts sweater. As for the C - I do believe my man with a plan Hank Zetterberg has dibs on it.

I think he was trying to point out the the absurdity of the "Bertuzzi sucks" post. Regardless of how ever much quasi analysis people want to conduct on Todd Bertuzzi facts are still going to be fact. FACT: he has been one of the top 4 forwards on the team this year on a nightly basis. FACT: we are paying him 1.5 million dollars. FACT: He has contributed more offensive production then Draper, Eaves, Helm, Abdelkader, Leino and Maltby and has one less point then Cleary, and two fewer points then Holmstrom. I suspect this will change after tonights game. FACT: He plays hard night in and night out all the while having to deal with sh*thead fans who will hate him regardless of what he does. Say what you want about his past, but it would become straining to play every game (even home games) in front of a crowd who really doesn't like you - or at least the majority of the crowd doesn't like you. I absolutely love the guy, and he has become my second favorite Wing behind Rafalski (Lidstrom is on a level above every one else, much like Yzerman was so don't think I am forgetting about him - he's more or less royalty then just a 'player'). It annoys the hell out of me when everyone dog piles on the guy for just about everything he does. I mean the way people have picked apart his stats is unprecedented. You want to get angry about someone? Look at what we are paying Fillipula and pick apart his stats (obviously not from this year cause he hasnt played much). Or what about Leino? A guy who has been worse then worthless this year.

Leino, ehh, I suppose he looked alright. I mean he didn't get leveled for once. He had an assist. That said, he did see 18 minutes of ice time with 9 PP's so I mean a secondary assist isn't that monumental, but hey, it's a step in the right direction.

Where's the crew who kept asking why Bert was playing top line minutes and whether or not he knew how to lift the puck. Well asshats, he answered your questions tonight didn't he? I love having Bertuzzi and am happy as hell to see his hard work finally pay off. Maybe this can get him going production wise.

You are so right. I have wondered about this for a while - but ya, you are spot on. We make the opposition goalies look like golden gods night after night. That said, Conklin has been good this year - hell he was good last year, F*ck it though, I mean passing him over in lieu of Howard sticks to the sweet move theme - second only to letting Hossa walk.

Funny you would make any comment about someone elses Red Wing watching habits. You just posted something about Bertuzzi never getting the puck of the ice. Maybe you should start watching - if ya did you wouldn't ask stupid ass questions.

Hahahaha, forget dropping the gloves, Meech won't didn't even drop his stick.

Best. Comment. Ever.

You are idiot bro. We get it you don't like Bert. Shut up. Start whining about Abdelkader, Eaves, Helm, Leino, Maltby, Draper, or Ericsson - all guys who have contributed less the Bertuzzi in regards to point production.

We should be taking penalty kill lessons from the Blues. They have pretty much shut down our pp.

Good god. We gotta score here. Please score.

Dude shut up. Did you jump down Cleary's throat any of the 4 plus times he didn't "bury" the puck on open breakaways? Probably not. ******.

Because he can. Do you blame him - the Wings let him walk after having a great season. He is now owning the Red Wings and chirping away. I would be doing the exact same thing.

How about we make Leino fake an injury and put him on the LTIR - He is absolutely worthless.

STFU, Dan Cleary has miffed about 4 different breakways this year and I don't see anyone jumping down his throat. BTW, it wasn't a goal. While it sucks bc we have has so many legitimate goals called back in the past, this one was actually covered up and more or less dead.

By last years numbers the Wings top three is definitely better (and alot better defensively indicated by the +/-) Dats (97 pts, +34) Zetterberg (73 pts, +13) Franzen (59 pts, +21) Total= 229 pts, +68 Hossa (71 pts, +27) Kane (70 prs, -2) Toews (69 pts, +12) Total= 210 pts, +37 Now, what would have been the best is Dats, Zetterberg and Hossa in the Winged Wheel, but that's neither here nor there. Kane and Toews are still crazy young so I wouldnt be suprised if they catch up rather quickly (like this year) in total output. But who knows. I would take any of Chicago's top 3 over Franzen. Just thought I would throw it in there.

100% correct. I don't know about scared, but any Wing fan who knows the slightest bit about the game of hockey realizes that Chicago is going to be a very tough opponent for years to come. Not really.

He isn't.

It was Campbell bro. If you are going to throw out an insult - which is a good thing in a debate such as this one - you should really know what you're talking about.

Nope, we learned that last year, the 06-07 year, the 05-06 year, etc. I don 't think anyone has ever claimed that we should win every year. We win more then anyone else, but i have never seen anything close to a claim that we should win every year. That said, there is no reasons expectations shouldn't be held higher then most other teams seeing as though we have been the best team in hockey over the last 15+ years. Do I think we should win every year? Nope. Am I going to sit here with that mindset? Not a chance. And you want to know why Detroit Red Wings fan have high expectations? Because: