TheOwl

Whats funny about this is, the NHL is proud that fans voted "Often". It's such a joke. Montreal is 5th in the east, Pittsburgh is 9th in the East, Chicago is 4th in West, Anaheim 6th. Really, the only people who deserve to be their are Kane, Toews, and Malkin. It's a popularity contest. This sounds like the worst All-Star starting line up in decades. No Ovechkin, no Thomas, no Datysuk? I don't really care that the Wings aren't their (even though Lidstrom and Datsyuk should be starters), but besides Malkin, no one else statistically deserves to be their.

It was a joke guys! But seriously, he is the worst goalie right now. Conklin should be the #1. How long can the Wings really wait for Osgood to get his game together?

^ If Ozzy plays bad tomor night, he should be traded or sent to the minors for the remainder of his contract. He's the worst goalie in the league.

That Jonathan Toews goal isn't that impressive. You see goals like that all the time. And #1 is Tavares smacking it in in mid-air? The Franzen and Nash goals are by far the best.

Whats with these bulls*** calls? This is bad for hockey's image.

As far as I know he's had no points and hasn't allowed a goal while he's been on the ice (so +/- is 0). Seems just fine, doesn't really matter if he can score goals, as long as he doesn't let any in when he's on the ice They should keep him until he decides to retire.

^ Totally agree. But Zetterberg and Datsyuk played separately a lot last year, Zetterberg should be able to overcome his slump. Hossa on the other hand seems to be trying to hard. Too many fancy passes, shots missing way wide on the net.

I agree, I have a feeling Franzen will take something like 4 million a season. But really, losing Zetterberg is unimaginable. Detroit made this man, he's ours! Must keep the Swedes!

It would be stupid to sign Hossa and Zetterberg both for 7.5 million. Conklin could be our goalie for a few years. He's relatively young, relatively reliable, and cheap. Sign Conklin to a long-term deal, 1.5 mill a season or whatever, get rid of Osgood, and bring up a 500,000 a year back up from the minors. Either way, Flippula is extremely expendable. And Holland better not screw up this Leino thing. Get him on the ice. He has extreme potential, and only a small window to sign him cheap before he goes back to Europe never to be seen again.

Maybe the NHL will realize fan balloting is the worst way to pick all-stars. Might as well pull names out of a hat.

Seeing that Franzen has played 5 less games and has the SAME amount of goals has Hossa, and Hossa is making 7x more money. Franzen is THE beast. He'll also likely cost the wings millions less. A 7.4 million forechecker isn't exactly a good deal. Hossa hasn't looked good in weeks because he ain't playing with Datysuk. Franzen also had more goals last seasons play-offs. Franzen has proven he can get it done on any line with any players. Hossa needs great players around him to succeed. As someone below mentioned, Franzen and Hudler or Hossa. It's a no-brainer.

STREAM: http://www.ustream.tv/videoplayerpopup/channel/380052 PASS: wmoe

Sammy is old, Hudler is young. These guys probably will take 2-3 million a year each. Anyways, Franzen is a beast. Him over Hossa any day. Hossa been looking mediocre for a 7.5 million dollar player the last dozen games. If Datsyuk, undeniably the best forward will take 6.4 million a season, these other guys should take the same or less.

Most of Hossa's success was because he was with Datysuk. He hasn't looked good since the line got split up. If Hossa can only succeed on the Datysuk line, if he can't man his own line and play with other people, he's not fitting in. He's the highest paid forward, but he's far from the most effective.

When Datysuk retires he could have a long career doing commercials, that eye care ad is gold.

If anything theirs too much line juggling. Pick the lines, and stick with them, no matter what. Maybe we'll get some chemistry between these guys. No one will trade anything for Osgood, Maltby or Draper. Probably couldn't even get a 4th round draft pick for any of them. Holland should just bit the bullet, trade Flippula, send one of the D men and Kopetsky to the minors, and bring up some Griffins guys. At least they'll have the cap space to move people up and down from the minors, and a few million for next seasons cap. Flippula is the most over-payed red wing, expect maybe Rafalski, but you can't get rid of him easily. Hudler, Cleary and Sammy are all pulling their weight finally, but some guys are just enjoying the show.

The Cup hang over can only be an excuse for so long. The team is basically exactly the same as last year, and is playing substantially worse right now, and losing to some horrible teams. Wings have Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Hossa, 3 top forwards, and lose to the Avalanche. What good players do the Av's have? They haven't blown out one team other then San Jose. The problem with the bad play is simple, the Wings won last year partly on the easy play-off draws because they were ranked #1. Dallas took out the only other 2 cup contenders, we had basically bye's with Nashville and Colorado. But this year, we won't be #1. Look at the rankings, we've played 2 extra games and are only 5 points up on Chicago, who are blowing out opponents on a nightly basis. If Detroit can't start playing well now, and doesn't win the next 2 games versus Chicago, we'll likely be 4th when it comes around to the playoffs. We had the same team as last year, minus Hasek and Drake. Instead we had Hossa and Conklin and can't beat the same teams, who are WORSE then they were last year. It's pathetic. Their is no reason to think the Wings will magically turn this around. Because if we don't win the Central, it's over.

Franzen, Zetterberg and Hossa haven't looked good for a few games. Hossa and Datsyuk are always trying impossible passes to eachother, and Hossa is missing a lot of shots. Much prefered if Datysuk shoots more.

http://atdhe.net/ is the best for higher quality streams. But sometimes their slow/lag. Justintv.com is the best for lower quality streams, but theirs a chat window, and it usually doesn't lag. For the Justintv one just click on sports at the side, then hockey, and you can usually find a red wings game. If not, click on any of the games, and check out the other channels below the video window. At least one will say Detroit vs ____.

If Detroit doesn't win the division, we'll be screwed in the playoffs. We'll likely be in 4th spot, have to play the 5th spot team (could be Anaheim) then if we manage to win, we'll have to play San Jose in the next round (assuming their the 1st seed and win their opening round). Detroit needs that 2nd seed at least!

This is good news. But the Z/Franzen/Sammy line hasn't really looked good the last few days. Zetterberg has been missing the net a lot, and Franzen seems kind of lazy sometimes, just looking around waiting for a goal. This line really needs a play maker. Clone Datsyuk.

I hopped Dats would lead the team in scoring. He's the real superstar on this team, he makes everyone play better. And I hope it's a realization to Hossa and Zetterberg that Datsyuk is a big reason why these two have been succeeding. I think 6.7 million should be the cap for either of these guys to re-sign. Hossa would be an idiot to not re-sign with Detroit while getting to play with these guys. Even if Detroit doesn't win the cup this year, what team will be in a position to contend for the next 5 years?

Thank god, only Getzlaf deserves to be their anyways. Pronger and the rest of those 2nd rate players don't deserve a thing. One vote per fan. It's common sense.

^ What the **** is the NHL thinking. Letting the dumb bandwagon fans determine the all stars. Lidstrom has been passed by both Pronger and Scott N. Looks like San Jose and Detroit won't have one player in the starting line up. Giguere passed Luongo. Looks like it'll be Chicago and Anheim versus Montreal and Pittsberg. Not to mention the fact Vanek, Ovechkin and Carter, the leaders in goals, aren't even close to cracking the starting line up. Assist queens Malkin and Crosby, Montreal's two shotty defensemen, Kovelev who couldn't score for 15+ games, and all those stupid Anehiem players, will all be the starters as it seems today. The whole texting thing is a joke, the whole popularity contest is a joke. The NHL openly said "Vote early, vote often." How could they literally say, vote as much as you want. All-Star game won't be worth watching with all these overrated players getting starting spots. The Stats say it all. The stats are facts, their unbiased. Their fair. Use stats to pick who gets in.

On this hockey show, the experts were saying the fan voting should be 1/3, 1/3 for sports writers, and 1/3 for GM's. It makes complete sense. How can the league actually pick it's all stars through a popularity contest? It's a joke. They should do it based on stats, or some kind of system where fan voting is only a portion of the decision.