Broken 16

That was awesome. That kid will be telling that story to his grand kids. Great stuff. EDIT Yea what he said. ^^^^^^^^^

You can... that's why people do it. Back to back shutouts for Jimmy... Wings win 2-0 (Eaves and Homer)

The Wings played 10X better when Doan was in the game. At least that's kinda how it looked to me.

The line looks great. They will give Phoenix fits if they can keep flyin. Flip was flying last night. Can't wait to see that line on good ice.

Teams like St. Louis, Colorado and Calgary (and probably Chicago) come and go in terms of competitiveness. Nashville is ALWAYS a pain in the ass. I've always liked the way that franchise handles business. I hope they stay in Nashville for a long time.

Hmmm... a scenario where Rutuu is the good guy. The Crosby hate has reached a new low.

Best part about this time of year... the playoffs. Worst part... reading stupid s*** from super nobodys.

DO IT FOR MICKEY!!! That phrase has been around forever.

I distinctly remember reading a lot of hate from Chicago.

Cleary's play makes me very excited about the playoffs. Yotes aren't gonna know what hit them. Lol. One of my highlights from last years playoff run was going to other teams message boards and reading all the Cleary hate. It was awesome.

Speak for yourself. I never doubted. Great game. Love to see the Wings spoil it for Chicago.

Meh, who cares if Burrows doesn't like the city of Detroit. We don't like him. The feeling is mutual.

Actually, I only insinuated that he was here for the money in response to your direct question. In fact, you were the one that insinuated it in the first place. Long story short... he was lazy for an entire season, he had no confidence for an entire season, little of both, whatever. He's gone and good riddance. And I wish him no luck.

He was offered a contract based on the fact he had offensive tools. That's a no brainer. We didn't sign Hossa. He looked good in spurts and his goal in his first game was amazing. There is obviously potential there. As long as he has the tools, there will always be potential. It's a matter of not putting in the extra effort to use them. If a carpenter shows up at your house to do some work with all the tools he needs and accomplishes nothing... he's lazy. My definition of lazy is not making the little extra efforts needed in order to get an advantage. I've watched Leino closely, he doesn't really bother with those little efforts. No... I think he thought he was the s*** and wasn't going to have to work hard in order to produce. I don't know if he could do it or not. I just know that he didn't appear to try very hard. When the Wings needed him most, he chose not to grind for a win.

Exactly. He's paid a salary to fulfill a role. If he would have scored 15 goals, he would have been a bargain. What did he have with the Wings in 40+ games? 4 or 5? He was being paid to hustle. 800k is 'work hard and earn a spot' money and he basically refused to do it. He knew what he was getting in to and I highly doubt that anyone in the Wings braintrust mislead him about what was expected. He was a decent backchecker when he decided to do it, which wasn't often. He was pretty good at faking it, but unless you make an attempt to lift the stick and dig in, you may as well just get off the ice. It appeared to me that he was simply faking it most of the time, hoping that a HOF defensemen would pop it free and hit him on transition. In other words... lazy. That's how I saw it anyway.

I see. So no player is to be held accountable for their work ethic. It all falls on the person stupid enough to offer them a contract and believe in them. Talk about some backward ass logic... wow. Just because you are Finnish doesn't mean you have to defend him. It's ok to admit that he was useless while he was here. We won't hold it against you. There's really nothing you can say that will make me think that Leino wasn't here for just an easy paycheck. I'm sure he had visions of himself parked and waiting for a Datsyukian Dish game in and game out... what he didn't envision was the work required to get to that point. Lmao! What a moron.

I said it's about laziness. Not money. But yes, if given the opportunity, I would probably take 800k to be a useless pylon. Disappointed? Sure. Mad? Not a chance. The only person who should be mad is Ville. At himself for being such a lazy ass.

The injuries are besides the point. The opportunity was there. BIG TIME. He could have been a hero, like Howard. Instead, he's poisoning the Flyer bench. Heh. Maybe... just to get the money. Kinda like Leino did. Lol.

It doesn't take an eagle eye to spot laziness on the ice. Backchecking and winning battles for the puck have more to do with tenacity than confidence. He said himself that he's no Darren Helm, he doesn't muck and fight for the puck. Right now, he's weak on the puck. Everyone in the NHL can knock him off it. He won't get any stronger unless he decides to start fighting for the puck more. No desire to fight for the puck = laziness, imo. As far as the silver platter, he had an incredible opportunity to establish himself as a top 6 forward and see first line minutes for huge chunks of the season... instead he rode the bench. If I were him, I'd be kicking myself in the ass.

It's not like he was dealt a dirty deck and everyone is wishing him ill will. He was given every opportunity to take what he wanted. He basically demanded that he play on the big club and he did. He was given a chance with every player to develop chemistry and didn't. Aside from the early season chemistry he had with Flip and Williams. But that was lost with Flips injury and never found again. He was consistently outworked and often gave up on plays way too early. He made stupid comments to the press. He was prone to trying the same move over and over, even though he only got worse with each attempt. He had a golden opportunity to establish himself with a depleted line-up and was simply TOO ******* LAZY to take advantage of it. Which is as much a slap in the face to you, a fan, as it is to the organization that handed him a silver platter. The guy is a slug. Get over it.

I appreciate that Ville finally left so we could get to the business of actually having a win streak this season. Thanks Ville.

It wouldn't end it... it would even it. Phoenix is the only team that really creeps me out from the West. Too many question marks there. And a boring defensive style to boot. No thanks. Personally, I'd love to see another Wings/Pens matchup.

I flip-flop on this every day. Half the time I feel like what Howard has done is impressive enough despite his age. Especially since expectations (from the fan base) were pretty low. He is a massive reason why we have clinched a berth. On the other hand... It's been a long, long time since a rookie has come into the league on defense and made such an impact on their team, especially at his age. And it's not just impressive numbers, he plays well in all situations as far as I can tell. Today I like Howie. Tomorrow it'll probably be Myers. Both are deserving. I'm just gonna call it a dead heat and not give a s*** who gets the trophy.

Hockey is not a sport where players can just 'be great' whenever they feel like it. There are a ton of factors (team mates, coaches, expectations, pressure, etc, etc,...). Sure some dudes can be great no matter what. You know who they are. Like I said, I blame the Calgary locker room for most of that crap. The locker room is obviously s***... look where they are right now. I'm sure Phaneuf made his fair share of mistakes, but I would welcome him with open arms to the Wings.

So he's a loser for life because he ripped apart a weak locker room? That's silly. If he was that bad in the locker room, then that is more a symptom of a weak locker room. As Shoreline and I mentioned, he has a lot of tools and a mean streak when properly motivated. All it will take is the right situation or organization. Calgary and Toronto offer neither, imo.