bonan78

Of this season's signings/pick-ups, I'll say this: Williams, wasn't a big fan of his when he played here before, and not a fan of retreads in general, but before he went down he was playing better than I expected, and was looking forward to seeing his chemistry with Flip and Leino continue. Bertuzzi, was on the fence about him, he was definitely one of the elite power forwards in his prime, but his last stint in Detroit led me to believe that he was well past his prime. However, I was impressed with how he stepped up his game this year, he has not been the defensive liability many made him out to be, and we would have been in a whole world of hurt if he hadn't had that 8 goals in 8 games stretch, he basically carried the whole team on his back. Eaves, I was probably the most excited about this signing, I pictured this being a similar situation to Cleary's arrival, a high first round pick who didn't live up to his scouting report, but who still has what it takes to play and be a solid contributor, and he has done nothing but impress since he cracked the regular line-up. May, his contributions have not been as tangible, but then again he was not brought in to be an every day player, rather someone who is rotated into the lineup when we are playing a team with goons and "enforcers". Miller, I thought he would end up being the 13th forward, but as more and more regulars went down, he was able to step in and play solid hockey, killing penalties, finishing checks, providing energy, and most importantly chipping in timely goals. That being said, I could care less if May or Williams are back (in fact, I think Williams should have to earn his roster spot back given how well Miller and Eaves have played in his absence), Miller should be offered a contract, Bertuzzi will most likely merit a modest raise and a 2 to 3 year contract, and I think Eaves should be given a multi-year deal at around 2 mil per, similarly to Cleary's deal.

I just watched the replay of the no-goal (and the ensuing review), and I did not see any other official on the ice signaling goal, the only one who signaled anything was Martel, and his face was about 3 feet from the puck, so the only thing that should be able to overturn his no goal call would be conclusive video evidence showing that the puck had completely crossed the goal line, which none of the FSN broadcast angles could do. We are never going to get the full explanation of what happened and who ultimately made the decision to allow the goal, and that quite frankly reeks of impropriety. I am not jaded enough to believe that there is a conspiracy against the Wings at any level, but the fact is that officiating has been very inconsistent and downright awful this season, and the league has made it abundantly clear on multiple occasions that they have no intention of holding the refs accountable. All it would take would be for someone to come out and say "OK, we reviewed the play and the referee made the wrong call, and he will be fined/suspended or disciplined in some fashion, but instead the league turns a blind eye, and when someone has the guts to call them on it (i.e. Burrows), they fine the player and sweep the controversy under the rug. The refs are human, they do make mistakes, and as with any other place of employment, any mistakes need to be acted upon, incompetence should not be tolerated, and corruption and personal agendas have no place in any job that is supposed to be impartial and unbiased. /rant P.S. regardless of the actual explanation of what occurred, the fact remains that the wrong call was made and it is not "overreacting" to point that out and voice displeasure about it.

Lol @ Keating: "Lets' see if Trev takes a swing at Steve Ott, he's standing by..." How priceless would that have been, no refs to hide behind, and you know Trev would whup on him ghetto style

They should have let them go, I would have loved to see Bert mop the ice with Ott

What a big hit by Flip there! Someone needs to pimp-slap Ott before he hurts someone

Good to see Mickey on the road, Happy Birthday John Keating Go Wings

Yes, but hopefully this time it won't look like a staged fight, I mean the last one was pretty pathetic IMO. Besides, we seem to play better as a whole with May in the lineup, whether he fights or not.

Which team do you WANT to win? Finland Which team do you think WILL win? Canada Which team do you think will be a surprise? USA or Germany which team do you think will ultimately choke? Russia My Favorite current Wing and some of my fave non-Wings (Mikko Koivu, Jussi Jokinen, Tuomo Ruutu) are from Finland, and more importantly I like their system and how everyone plays within it, kind of like the Red Army teams of the 70's, although less dominant offensively. Canada is simply too deep from top to bottom, I mean their 13th forward is likely going to be Jonathan Toews, that's some serious talent. Their only undoing may end up being the pressure of playing at home, if they can handle that, the rest shouldn't be too much for them to handle. I picked USA for most likely to surprise because on paper they look much better than any USA team I have ever seen, lots of young talent, and Ryan Miller has the ability to single-handedly steal games, could end up being the MVP of the tourney if they make the medal round. Also, Germany won't medal, they may not even make the playoffs, but they have a pretty decent lineup of NHLers, more than I realized, and they could make life difficult for Sweden and Finland in Group C. Russia is probably the most potent offensive team in the tourney, but they also have the most suspect defense and goaltending of any of the medal favorites. They are literally going to have to outgun everyone nto have a chance to win it all, but I don't think they will be able to do it, and they will end up a disappointing 5th or 6th IMO.

Yours was WAY better, I don't actually laugh out loud very often at things I read online, but I did at this.

I vote for "Red Cross"

If either Selanne or S. Koivu can't play, who would take their spots?

OMG, Flip nearly took Ward's head off!! That kid needs to shoot more

Much props to Eaves, 2 blocked shots up high, then takes a high stick that somehow wasn't called

Shame on Lidstrom for being greedy and not giving Miller a better shot to redirect Just kidding, let's go Wings

My mom re-married in 1985 and we moved to Mt. Clemens from South Carolina, and although my limited sports cheering interest at the time was torn between my Mom's New England roots (The Celtics were at their peak, the Patriots had just come off a Super Bowl appearance, and the Red Sox had the Rocket) and my new step-dad's Missouri roots (KC Royals won the World Series, the Chiefs were competitive at the time), I was looking to branch out and form my own loyalties. Enter a birthday present of a AM/FM boombox, and discovering a game called hockey on the radio, I was immediately drawn to the exciting fast-paced play-by-play announcers, the roar of the crowd carried over the 2" speaker, but mostly the exploits of Steve Yzerman, who I was convinced was the greatest hockey player in the world. Moved overseas in 1990, lost track of hockey for a couple of years, but then in 1993 my family moved back to the states and with the advent of Cable TV (something my Mom did not allow until then), I was immediately drawn back to hockey as the Great Wayne Gretzky was leading his team into the Stanley Cup Finals against Montreal and some guy named Roy (pronounced 'Waah'). Well, it didn't take long before I was re-acquainted with the Red Wings and Steve Yzerman, along with his new (to me) teammates like Fedorov, Lidstrom, Coffey, Ciccarelli (sp?) and Konstantinov. I broke my foot in 1995 due to repeated kicking of the coffee table during the Finals, and celebrated like a madman in 1997 when the drought was over. Now, living in Florida, I have been able to educate my wife (who had never seen snow or ice before meeting me) about the great game of hockey, and she has become a rabid Wings fan just like me. Also, got to take my son to his first hockey game last season when the Wings came to Tampa, something I will always remember, and he will have to look back at the pictures because he was about 3 months old at the time. For me, Red Wings hockey is a part of life.

The link in the OP is for the TSN story, there's video there

He must have started reading this board

Best of all time, hard to say, especially when (as others have pointed out) guys like Ulf Samuelsson and Esa Tikkanen (sp?) were just as good at getting under the opponents skin, but also played the game at an elite level. Avery, while he has decent skills and could probably have developed into a respectable offensive threat had he not elected to become a walking side show, but there's definitely no one in the game today that is more hated for his antics.

I was just looking at the stats for this game, and they have only credited the Wings with 15 blocked shots, it seems like twice that to me.

Lol, Cleary still had one glove on

Fight!!!!

Am I the only one who's looking forward to that Tooth Fairy movie?

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG Who slipped the roids into Helm's waterbottle? What a play!!!

It's people like that that piss me off, obviously the guy doesn't like Flip, but for crying out loud, he has such a hater hard-on he won't even acknowledge that the last goal doesn't happen if Filppula doesn't clear the crease, and whether he skates down and buries it himself or passes to a temmate who nets it, it still wouldn't have happened but for his heads up defensive play and ability to hold on to the puck. I've let it go on long enough, I'm just going to block the poor schmuck.

He cleared the crease, then carried it down and dished to Cleary for the goal. Seriously, can't you even give the guy some credit for making a good play? Wasn't it you who was calling out everyone playing in front of Howard for not clearing rebounds, well he did just that and it led directly to a goal.