Broken 16

This is just stupid. A feeble attempt from you. There is no such thing as '110%'. If you are perfectly healthy, you are 100%. If you have an injury, you are somewhere below 100%... depending on the severity of your injury. Saying a player is below 100% is strictly based on injury. Lebda is 100% (as far as we know) and he still sucks compared to Nick. Consider me completely unimpressed. HE'S ******* HURT!!! Good lord... get of the decline subject already. I never said that, you keep trying to put those words in my mouth and I never said that. Let it go already. He's hurting a little. We all know this. Accept it already. Cripes. The Wings have bigger fish to fry.

Huh? That makes absolutely NO sense. Try again please. Consider me indifferent. If the first quote above is an example of you poking holes in my analysis... you might want to head back to the drawing board. I'd like to see him traded too. I've never been a huge Rafalski fan. I just suspect that the Wings like his game too much to trade him before the playoffs. I would love to be wrong.

The Wings just came off a pretty chunky winning streak, you pinhead. This is not a panic thread in any way. It's simply an attempt at discussing the state of the Wings defense. You must be part of the "Everything is Grand" contingent. There is always room for improvement. With the obvious glut of talent up front, I don't see why an upgrade on the back end is so far out of the question.

You could have a bad elbow and not be 100% perhaps? Lol... Just a pre-emptive reassurance from me to you. You come off as personally hurt by this on many levels... which is, frankly, kinda strange. Rafalski is too good at moving and controlling the puck. He's not going anywhere. He wasn't brought here to be a defensive defensmen.

First off... I never said Nick was in decline. Those are your words. Secondly, seeing Nick at less than 100% reminds me that he is human and how fragile our defense is without him. This thread isn't about how Nick is a liability on defense all the sudden... so put away the weapons. I just think the defense could be our heel in the playoffs (not because of Nick... take a breath). I wouldn't be suprised if Holland wasn't thinking about possibly making a move for a decent upgrade on D somewhere.

Wrong. I'm just not so blinded by love that I'm unwilling to admit when Nick is, obviously, not 100%. Besides... if you had bothered to fully read my original post, you would have realized that I'm not even blaming him for anything. I'm more concerned about Kronwall. But we can continue to beat a dead horse and discuss the greatness that is Nick Lidstrom. Do you think he looks better in his whites or his reds? For the record... I'm not a liar. As a Red Wing fan, I fully appreciate a staunch supporter of any Wing..

I appreciate your passion for Lidstrom...

It's not a "sky is falling" thread... EPIC FAIL C'mon... Dominating? That's going a little far. He's coughed up the puck more this season than any other season I can remember. Again... this isn't a knock on him. He's still better than 90% of other d-men. Also... I'm sorry, pain in his elbow is ABSOLUTELY affecting his game. I'm sure he would tell you the same thing. So you think he can just turn it off and on at will... I hope you're right. We'll see. I'm not concerned about his point production. The Wings are really gonna need his physical game for the playoffs. I hope he can turn it on whenever like the above poster implies. I'm skeptical.

The only reason I mention Kronwall is because his physical game has all but disappeared and he has trade value. I find it alarming that I've watched almost every single Wings game this season and I can honestly say that I can't remember a single bone-crushing open ice hit from him. I'm sure there have been some, but nothing sticks out... at all.

Hypothesizing about the Wings is one of my favorite past times. I don't want anyone to get sent down. I want to see a trade. Does Kronwall have a NTC? I wouldn't mind seeing him get shipped at the deadline. <puts on flame retardent suit>

Can't wait to see what Hudler and Hossa will do.

Even if he is a system player... being a talented player on the best two-way system implemented in the entire NHL looks pretty good on a resume. Same could be said for Quincy and look at him. He's flourishing.

He's been hearing stuff like that for his entire career. All he's ever done is prove people wrong.

Every time I hear of an Eastern Conference team whine about travel... I view it as a direct insult to all Western Conference teams. Seriously... could the league spoon feed that conference any more? On the bright side... I suspect that the insane travel that the Western Conference teams have to endure actually give them an advantage in the playoffs. Adversity makes you stronger. Wether it's adversity through getting your ass handed to you by a better team or adversity through a ridiculous travel schedule. It all helps bring teams together and create chemistry. That's the way I see it, anyway.

Ya... I thought about that. That would sooth the sting a little bit. It would be interesting to see the Wings with a glut of high drafts picks.

Over something someone else said, no less. It must be getting late...

Actually... they rarely talk about how they were unaware of it. The canned response usually goes a little something like this: "Ya... it's nice to reach 1000 points but thats something you can enjoy later in life, right now the team is most important." Or something to that effect.

He's right. Nick is looking a little longer in the tooth this season. I do think he is overlooking Nicks defensive play in favor of Rafalski's offensive play. But the fact remains that Nick is definately a little off. If you can't tell that by watching him play then look a little closer. I took what he said about playing for his 1000th point as a statement that he's looking a little older. Maybe he meant it the way you think. No clue.

Who said anything about making risky plays? I didn't see anyone even remotely come close to implying that Nick would make risky plays to achieve a personal goal... you just making s*** up now?

Why wouldn't he? Have you ever played an organized sport?

Are you implying that Nick Lidstrom is completely unaware of how many career points he has? I find that highly doubtful. Nick is looking a little off kilter this season. Could be his age. Could be his elbows. Could be both and more. The great thing is... even a little off kilter, Nick is still amongst the very best defenseman in the world.

I can see how my initial comment could be misconstrued. I salute the Train's staunch defenders.

I've been a fan of Lilja for a long time. I had a feeling he would squelch most of his silly mistakes eventually. My initial comment was sarcasm aimed towards the 'new' Lilja fans.

What in God's name are you talking about?

Allow me to rephrase... Who is this Lilja cat playing D? He's awesome... [/sarcasm]