CrimsonFlame

The Wings generally play better as a team when Dats and Z are split up. At least it seems that way to me. Your bottom two lines are good but I would move Z to center and switch Datsyuk with Franzen. Oh and I would switch Sammy and Tatar.

True but not using a free agent you signed is a dumb move.

One thing that really bugs me. I don't know if no body has ever noticed but we NEVER EVER have ANYBODY in the slot. Ever. We always have two dmen back at the blue line corners and a forward behind the net. And that's it. The other two forwards are never even on the screen. Triangle offense only works if someone is actually in the slot to you know shoot the puck at the net. And I personally hate triangle offense anyway. I'd much rather just crash the net every damn time. That's how you get scoring chances.

Lol thanks I was doing that while taking notes in class simultaneously.

Two things I need to point out. One "We could be 15-0 right now". Yes and we could also bey 0-15 right now. That kind of argument doesn't work because the opposite is just as likely. Two, we're not being debbie downers. We're being REALISTS. It's easy to sit up and say that your favorite team looks good and is just having bad luck It's a lot harder to try and look at the situation objectively. The fact is, Holland's plan the last four years has been try and mimic the 09 success and that we are right there and maybe only a small piece or two a way. Look where that's gotten us. 13 playoff wins in 3 years. That's 3 games a year. Right now the Wings are suffering from Pistons syndrome. The 08-09 course has run it's course and the rebuild needed to be started a while ago. IF not two off seasons ago then last off season for sure. And Holland hasn't which is a big mistake. *edit* 4.33 wins per year, not 3. I apparently suck at math.

It's not his age. It's that he's only played 16 games so far. Let's wait at least a full (half lol) season at least before we start declaring people young stars. He could very easily fall off the map for the next two months

I think it's a little too soon to call Brunner a star player yet.

No surprises here.

I would argue that what needed to be done last off season was to blow up the team. Or at least partially. It would have been the perfect time to do it too with Lidstrom leaving.We've stagnated for too long and the window is closed now. As much as I love a lot of guys on the team it's time we stopped grasping to 09. We're 4 years away from that with only a dozen or so playoff wins to show for it.

If 10 goalies are "elite" then they aren't really elite after all...

The problem with this then is that the league then sees that it's ok to lockout when ever they want because the fans will come right back because they just want to enjoy themselves. Thus the vicious cycle will continue. Sometimes you need to sacrifice in order to make things better later on down the line. I would definitely boycott this season and not go to any games, except I'm already on a tight budget and wouldn't have been able to afford to buy tickets anyway.

If we were going to trade Filppula I think last year would have been the time to do it. The problem now becomes if he stays the way he has, which is primarily a complimentary player, I don't think teams would be willing to give us much in return for him, especially considering he could easily not sign and walk away during free agency. And I don't think cup contenders are really looking for a filppula level rent a player. Otherwise, he could have another huge (half)season. And if the guy has two very good seasons (or 1.5 lol) in a row do we really want to trade him away?

The NHL lockout for the third time in how many years, ticket prices go up, and nobody in charge has any idea why hockey is losing popularity faster and faster every year? Gee I wonder why. The NBA is far more popular that the NHL on a national level. And I'd even argue that it's more popular even here in metro Detroit. The reason why pistons tickets are so cheap is because the team is garbage and nobody wants to pay to go see garbage. That and the economy is worse here than almost every where else in the nation. I'll try to find some numbers

To be fair it's still very early and only 3 points separate the 4 seed and missing the playoffs entirely.

We can't keep giving away the easy points. I have a bad bad feeling that come late march we're going to be wishing we had earned a lot of these points we are dropping.

This

I heard that this kid went to the Titus Young Sr. Academy of Sportsmanship.

I still think it would be a lot easier to just move Winnipeg into the Northwest, bump Minnesota to the central and Nashville down to the southeast.

Terrible attitude the kid has. If he wants to be the starter he needs to earn it. Not throw a tantrum when he doesn't get his way. This a reflection on the state of society today.

I don't like any situation at all where there are an unequal number of teams in divisions or conferences. It's not fair and it should not be encouraged. If they want four conferences they need to either add two teams or get rid of two.

Joe Buck has never had a good call ever.

Sad to see Jmac go but maybe he can do some good over there rather than sitting as a third string replacement over here.

Goalies in my opinion that are without a doubt better than Howard: Jonnathon Quick Tuukka Rask Carey Price Marc Andre Fleury Tomas Vokoun Jaroslav Halak Pekka Rinne Henrik Lundqvist Roberto Luongo Ryan Miller Martin Brodeur Cam Ward That's 12 goalies, putting Howard 13th at best which is by definition, average. Middle of the pack. Again this is my opinion but that's where I'm coming from.

To be fair the kings offense is also the worst offense in the league.

Looks like Doughty should have hit him harder.