hooon

Those are pretty bizarre lines. Obviously a bummer not getting to watch number 13 out there tonight, but we can all still get a little excited about number 14.

Good deal. I like that we have Big E and DD as our big defensive dmen. When/if Smith ever evolves into the player he is capable of being, the homegrown defense is looking pretty good.

Off topic: But what is going on in your avatar picture? Is that Kronwall giving Gus a low-five instead of a fist pound? If so, I couldn't approve more.

Considering this statement already applies to Dan Cleary... why not save 500k and get to see one of my favorite Wings back wearing the wheel? Feds all day, every day. EDIT: Too bad Cleary isn't currently in the midst of a "contract dispute" that would keep him out for half the season...

I agree that Howard has not been very solid this year overall. However, it seems like I am the only one who thinks Monster has looked pretty poor too? He got wins and made some huge stops, but a lot of the time he had NO idea where the puck was, was having a lot of trouble tracking the puck, handling the puck, and at times looked just plain scared. Glad that I'm in the minority, because it probably means I'm just wrong.

Cleary-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi??? Wasn't that a line like 4 years ago when the Wings were decimated by injuries? It didn't work then, why would it work now that Cleary and Bert are a million times less effective than they were then?

I always figured a million dollar raise was inevitable. Hoping 4 or 5 years at 4.25. Ahh, I remember the tender old days when we were all (myself included, if not especially) scratching our heads when Holland not only DIDN'T sever ties with Ericsson, but gave him over 3 million! (Most of us were reluctantly willing to accepting him at 1.5m or so, but never dreamed he would get over 3m, let alone be WORTH 3m). Would be glad to have him back as a Wing for a while. He is a solid top 4 guy who is quite capable defensively.

I agree that he needs to mix it up in the shootout and he hasn't been good.... but NO one on the team has been good at shootouts. What do we have, one goal in the shootouts this season? Its not just Datsyuk, it seems like the team's entire approach is off. This may have been mentioned in here - but I wonder if Gustavsson's injuries have impacted the shootout at all. I know it is a stretch, but often times backup goalies work hard with the shootout players to let them know goalie tendencies of various goalies around the league. With him missing so much time, who knows?

Christmas shopping = done.

Very disappointing night, yet again. Can't believe the no-call on the Okposo/Helm boarding. Dangerous incident and as clear as day. The officiating all night was pretty brutal, actually. Wish Howard could had played this game, I know monster ended up making some huge saves, but for the most part I thought he looked pretty clueless out there, and couldn't control a rebound or track a puck at all. Its nice that the Wings are getting some points at least, but if it wasn't for the overall awfulness of the East, they'd be in bigger trouble.

Interesting. Wonder if they'll have Abby center the 4th line.

So even though both Franzen and the team have come out and literally laughed off the suggestion that it was anxiety issues... we're STILL going to beat a dead horse here and claim this guy has a debilitating mental illness because it more conveniently fits into the "Franzen is lazy and he sucks," mode of thought around here.... OK, that's fair. I guess everyone else on the team not named Datsyuk and Zetterberg is suffering from some kind of mental illness too, because they aren't scoring either...

I think it will be before the playoffs. That may sound like optimism, but it is actually pessimism in disguise - the Wings have been insanely injury prone the past few years, and I while I hope that trend is over, it seems like the injuries are already piling on. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Nyquist get called up eventually when they hit some injuries and run out of waiver exempt guys to call up. The mythical and theoretical line of Nyquist-Andersson-Tatar just makes too much sense to not try at some point this season - especially when secondary scoring is the biggest problem.

Does the intent to blow rule come in here?

It would be completely against the rules if they were faking an injury just to circumvent the roster/cap crunch, I highly doubt it. Hockey teams have a very long history of not disclosing injuries, it happens all the time in this sport, doesn't mean it is some conspiracy. The Franzen hate on this board is ridiculous sometimes. Just because he's not scoring at the completely unsustainable pace that he was on for like two months back in 2008, people here expect him to be this 50 goal scorer all the time. You guys act like he's making Heatley money and scoring 0 points a season when the reality is over the years he has played and scored at an entirely appropriate pace for someone with his contract. Funny that everyone on here will ***** and moan endlessly about Franzen (who we now know to be injured in some capacity) but no one is saying anything about Weiss - who makes significantly more money, and is scoring quite a bit less with more games played.

Quincey is straight awful.

Its weird to think that I'm a little bit relieved that Smith won't be playing. Exciting day for Almquist, I would love to see him rip one in.

Build off these last few games, play hard tonight, then head back to the Joe with a lot of momentum. It will be a lot of fun seeing Tootoo on a line with Helm. I hope the recent trend of actually scoring goals continues.

Before the road trip I would have been quite content coming away with 6 out of 8 points. Now that we already have 6 in the bag, these last two points would be a great bonus. Some of these teams haven't exactly been the toughest competition, but what's encouraging is how well the Wings are playing throughout the game, quite a stark contrast to the 4 game losing streak last week. I'm very, very excited to see Tootoo with Helm, should be fun.

Definitely exciting to have a kid like this in the pipeline. We haven't had this kind of scoring talent in our system for a very, very long time. No idea how I can watch any of his games, anyone in here get to see him play with any regularity?

LOVED the Helm goal!!!

HELM IS BACK. Beyond excited to see him play. Stay healthy. Go Wings.

Seriously. He comes out and says he doesn't understand what he could do better? How about providing either one of the following: A. any defense whatsoever, or B. any offense whatsoever. At least Lashoff was fairly solid last season in the games he had, hopefully the break gives Smith something to think about, because he needs to be a lot better.

Agreed. Same thing with Nyquist - though at least there I understand there are some waiver/cap issues involved. But to not ice the best possible team when you have the players in waiting is just crazy.

I hear ya. Franzen looked terrible last night as well. If Tatar somehow wins out on the first line lottery, I would be pretty happy.