bonan78

I Love It. “It’s our 18th straight trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs … Here we grow again!†~Steve Violetta, Red Wings Senior Vice President of Business Affairs I actually started my playoff beard last month, so it's gonna be gnarly come June. Go Wings

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Filppula/Hossa Hudler/Helm/Cleary Samuelsson/Draper/Leino -Downey, Kopecky, Maltby reserve in that order Lidstrom/Rafalski Kronwall/Stuart Lebda/Lilja (depending on his health) or Ericsson -Chelios, Meech reserve Osgood, Conklin (the job is Ozzie's to lose, just like Dom last year) It was a tough call between Sammy and Cleary on the 3rd, I went with Cleary because they don't need two shooters on that line, Hudler will take the majority of the shots, Cleary will crash the net, and Helm will be able to make plays and set up his wingers. Samuelsson makes the 4th line more dangerous offensively, and Leino can play on either line, too, but I don't think Babcock will put him on the 3rd in favor of any of the veterans ahead of him.

I'd have to say I'm Marty Lapointe. About the same size (a little taller than him, and during my prime about the same playing weight), decent hands, not afraid to lay a big hit on anyone, can drop the gloves if the situation calls for it, just enough scoring touch to keep me off the 4th line and maybe earn some power play time on the 2nd unit. Also, sadly like Marty, my hockey career went down the tubes when I left Detroit.

Thank you, thank you. GWG for Flip, win for the Wings in a game they should have dominated. Next up, the Kansas City, I mean, New York Islanders. Rest up, come out hungry boys.

I am so freakin money. It wasn't empty net, but I'll take it

Yeah, Mule to Hoss Now all we need is an EN goal by Filppula and I can go to bed happy

About Freaking Time...tip in by the Mule He's nasty on the crossbar-high deflections Now they're giving it to Ericsson, Way to go

Do my eyes deceive me, or is the ZDH line finally out?

Finally, a penalty. I guess that one was too obvious to let go. Let's get a PPG

Kid Rock is a joke. He almost makes me embarrased to tell people I'm from Detroit, that's all people down here associate with our fine city. I would rather listen to Kopecky, Hudler, Filppula, and Datsyuk singing Ricky Martin then hear Kid Rock's lame butchering of other people's hits. P.S. Go WIngs, get back in this one

Dang it!!!!! I miss Kozzie, we should bring him back so he can finish his career as a Wing

Nice goal. BTW, don't hate on Gamecenter, it works fine, plus it pays my bills

It's at ATL, that's why

I broke my foot in '95 when I kicked the coffee table, thank goodness that has never happened again (in the SCF at least)

I laughed so hard, a little pee came out.

Tough break, back spasms suck, I get them all the time. He must have thrown his back out from all the shooting he's done lately. Here's to a speedy recovery and hope he can stay hot when he gets back in.

If you want unpronouceable, try Indian or Pakistani, plus it's a completely untapped demographic.

That was intended to be silly, can't hate me for being optimistic. Jeez, another GA and a penalty to boot, just kick me in the nuts and get it over with

I smell a comeback, 6-4 Wings, Zata and Dats each with the trick

Thank you for that information, I wasn't aware that Hudler played center at GR, I was basing that on what I've observed during his time with the Wings. Also, I don't necessarily think you have to be a natural centerman to play center, I was just pointing out that usually the line combos have someone at center who normally plays there. It just seemed that people were throwing any 3 forwards together and calling it a line. My point was that with the depth that the Wings have up the middle, it doesn't seem likely that Babcock is going to put someone at center who isn't used to playing center in the current system. The main thing is faceoffs, and when you look at the numbers, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Draper, and Filppula have taken 86% of the faceoffs for the team this season, they seem the most likely to be centering lines come playoff time, with Helm being the next most likely candidate if they decide to put any 2 of those 4 on a line together.

Friday: Calgary @ Carolina Phoenix @ Buffalo Montreal @ Atlanta St Louis @ Tampa Bay Dallas @ Anaheim Saturday: Chicago @ Boston New Jersey @ NY Islanders Minnesota @ Los Angeles Edmonton @ Toronto Buffalo @ Ottawa Nashville @ Philadelphia St Louis @ Florida Columbus @ Detroit Carolina @ Tampa Bay San Jose @ Vancouver Sunday: Boston @ NY Rangers Phoenix @ NY Islanders Pittsburgh @ Washington Calgary @ Atlanta Colorado @ Chicago Montreal @ Dallas Minnesota @ Anaheim

Just a general observation, there a lot of posts featuring lines with no real centerman. Leino, Hudler, Samuelsson? I don't think I've ever seen any of them play center. I could be wrong, maybe Hudler has played some center, he's listed as a center on NHL09. We basically have 5 natural centers (6 if you count Franzen but he doesn't play center much anymore) and a lot of wingers that can play with any line combination. Again, this is not pointed at any particular post or posts, just a general observation.

I agree, I actually would rather see Ericsson than Lebda, but unless Lebda gets hurt or stinks it up badly, I think the brass will go with him as a regular. What I posted was what I think they will look like, I would actually rather see Filppula playing winger to either Datsyuk or Zetterberg rather than centering the 3rd line, but again, I think they are going to put ZDH back together for the playoffs, so that affects every other line combo. Also, I forgot to put Chelios as another alternate on D, so I don't think we'll see much of Meech (that almost rhymes).

WHat I think it will be: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Hossa-Filppula-Franzen Hudler-Helm-Leino Samuelsson-Draper-Cleary Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Lilja-Lebda Subs: Maltby, Kopecky, Downey up front, Meech and Ericsson on D That way, our top 2 lines each have a good net presence, our 3rd line has 2 motor guys and a playmaker, and I think that 4th line is pretty potent offensively and responsible enough defensively to match up against an opposing 1st or 2nd line occasionally. I'm so stoked for the playoffs and the repeat.