Jake Ryan

It's NOT just you. It's like Lidstrom doesn't mentor ANY of our defensemen. Lidstrom shoots with his head up and does NOT fire the puck into oncoming players. Lost-bda and Kronwall do it almost EVERY time. It's annoying. I'd rather have Datsyuk man the point than Kronwall. Datsyuk can at least play with his head up.

He was neutral tonight, in my opinion. The ice was horrible. The Wings were horrible. There's NO WAY the DETROIT RED WINGS should only score ONE freaking measily goal. They are getting hooked so bad out there, it's pathetic. The officials really decide the game based on whether or not they want to let Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Hossa get slashed, hooked, and held all game. That's what sucks. This series is in the hands of the officials and not the players.

Ninety-SUX. Enough said. Coach Babcock has a stiffy for Holmstrom for some reason, who is ABSOLUTELY WORTHLESS in series against a big team like the Ducks or any team tough for that matter. When Holmstrom is removed from the HART TROPHY NOMINEE'S line, the HART TROPHY NOMINEE will play better. Babcock needs to lose his Holmstrom hard-on first, though.

1) Do not resign Samuelsson, Conklin, Chelios, Downey, and McCarty 2) Trade Holmstrom and Lilja to whoever for low draft picks 3) Resign Hossa to the same deal Zetterberg got (6.1 mil per year cap hit) 4) Restructure Lidstrom's deal to 5 years, 6 mil per season 5) Sign Kopecky to .75, 1, 1.25 three year deal 6) Sign Hudler to 2, 3, 4, three year deal 7) Sign Leino to a 1 year, 1 mil deal Set Line-up like this: Datsyuk (6.7) - Zetterberg (6.1) - Helm (.63) Hossa (6.1) - Filppula (2.5) - Franzen (3.96) Cleary (2.5) - Draper (1.65) - Hudler (2) Kopecky (.75) - Leino (1) - Abdelkader (.71) Lidstrom (6) - Rafalski (6) Kronwall (3.25) - Stuart (3.75) Ericsson (.9) - Meech (.5) Osgood (1.45) Howard (.6) Lebda (.85) Maltby (.75) Larsson (.5) That leaves the team number at 59 million. If the league adjusts for inflation (.0415), the cap figure should increase to 59 million. That's how I would do it. How would you do it if you were Kenny?

I think the fans make more sense. In order for the Hawks to get to the point where they're ready to hoist Sr. Stanley, they have to prove they're the dominant team. They might have to lose to the Wings a few times before that day arrives, just like the Wings had to lose to Colorado and New Jersey (both cup champions) before they were ready. The Hawks need playoff experience. No better place to get it than at the JOE BABY!!!!! LGW

Here's the one rule I would like to see added to hockey: the ability for the linesman to put both arms in front of him or wave both hands in a foward motion to acknowledge that a player is offside but that the linesman is not blowing the whistle because the player was pushed offside. The referees seem to have a hard time calling interference with this play, and I HATE the fact that the attacking team gets DOUBLE screwed by an offside whistle. Soccer has this signal when a player is fouled but the attacking team is better off not having the play blown dead. They call it "advantage". I wish the NHL would put something like this in as well. It could be used for the player who goes in feet first, as well. The linesman acknowledging that the player has put himself offside, but puck control is determining the continuation of the play without a whistle.

The Wings need this game bad. It's for the cup, if you want my opinion.

This made me laugh. What an ass!

Regular Season: NHL TOTALS 811 189 235 424 Post Season: NHL TOTALS 138 38 40 78 He's a 36 year old guy who scores about a point every other game. For a first or second liner who gets his fair share of power play time on the Red Wings, this isn't enough for me. I'm sorry, but I would much rather have someone else on the ZD line.

Again, we've still got the reading and comprehension problem!!!! "What would you do if you were Kenny Holland?" I don't mind a little criticism over what I would do, but the real purpose of this thread for me was to see what everyone thought would be possible. For instance, I am glad someone pointed out that we can't restructure Lidstrom's contract. I didn't know that. I thought that if a player signed an extension ala Henrik Zetterberg, the cap figure would have some sort of averaging effect and make it possible for the team to keep more good players. Good thing to know. However, I don't see why the other things are so far out of the question.

"That's how I would do it. How would you do it if you were Kenny?" How does this translate into "***** about everything I've posted WITHOUT saying anything about how you would do it"? I don't get it. That's where the real FAIL is.

I agree with this. Phoenix is not wealthy enough to have a hockey team yet. Had they put the arena in SCOTTSDALE and made a commitment to spending for good playerrs, I bet that team would have had a better chance of success. I'll be glad if the Coyotes go back to Canada.

I'm not saying Holmstrom hasn't been valueable to the wings in the past. Quite the opposite. I'm just saying that he SUCKS as of right now. Instead of bagging on the players that are actually in their primes and playing LIGHTS OUT hockey (Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Hossa), why don't Wings fans point out the REALLY, REALLY, REALLY sore thumb of the team and start to question his value? It's sad that a guy like Holmstrom gets to skate around with world class players and still can't get it done. Robitaille always got to play with a good center, but that guy could score. Same with Shanahan. Same with Bossy. These guys weren't the best skaters on the planet, but they could put it away. I'm not saying that Babcock needs to kick Holmstrom off the team. Homer certainly has his role to play on the PP. But someone else should be given a chance to see what they can do with Zetterberg and Datsyuk. Dan Cleary stepped it up when he got to play on Z's line. Get someone in there with some speed (cough cough HELM cough cough), and let's see what happens to Datsyuk's shadows. The only reason the opponents are able to stick a forward AND a defenseman on Datsyuk and neutralize him is because of Ninety-SUX. It only takes half a player (meaning, the defenseman has his eye on Holmstrom and will cover him when he catches up with the plaly 2 seconds later) to shut down Holmstrom. That's where Datsyuk's problem lies.

My parents are from Trenton. I watched all the teams my dad watched when I was growing up.

I'm fine with the Wings resting Raf and Drapes for game 6.

Dats: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5BuBNM9tJc...feature=related And Now Z: These guys are both just sick.

This is one of the black aces and his chick.

Preaching to the choir, dude. And Pavel's being followed around by Ninety-SUX all playoff long. As soon as Babcock pulls his head out and demotes Homer to the 4th line and brings up Helm to add some speed to the Datsyuk/Zetterberg line, it's lights out for all opponents. Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Helm Hossa-Filppula-Franzen Hudler-Draper-Cleary Holmstrom-Abdelkader-Samuelsson Come on Coach. Make it happen.

Precisely. And their other "A" yaps all over the ice at players 100 pounds lighter than he is. "Come on, Hudler, don't go down after I hook the crap out of you." Hudler did dive on that but it was AFTER the official COMPLETELY MISSED the legitimate hook that Getzlaf put on Hudler 2 seconds before. The officiating in the Wings/Ducks games is always a joke. It should be 5 to 2 power play advantage ratio for the Wings, but in the playoffs, it's always 6/5 due to crappy officiating.

I've seen Samuelsson take enough shots he shouldn't take already. There are a few certainties in a Wings game: 1) Samuelsson is going to shoot if he has the puck past the red line. 2) Lost-bda is going to slap shoot the puck into the defenseman's skates right in front of him 3) Cleary is going to fall down all over the place while hustling 4) Helm is goiing to hit the sh!t out of anything without a Winged Wheel on it and 5) Chelios is NOT retiring

Some things you left out though: Toughness = Datsyuk Durability = Datsyuk Most Difficult to Knock Off Skates = Zetterberg Clutch Factor = Zetterberg Datsyuk's regular season gear is phenominal, but if he could show that he has another Helm-like gear in the playoffs, he'd leave no doubt in any Red Wings fan's mind that he is the best player on the team. So far, his invisibility on the score sheet in the playoffs has hurt his rep. A lot of fans see through this and see that he is drawing double teams and getting marked every shift by the Ducks' best players. A lot of fans don't. It's a good debate.

Jessica wants the Wings to win.

Yah, putting that 8 up there on the win notch list is just as good as putting #16 up there. Wings got one more victory to make sure they get done, and this cup run is in the bag. They better nut up in Anaheim and make sure they don't leave it to chance in Detroit. Because chance never favors the Wings with the sh!tty ass officiating.

Ericsson Cleary Sobotka should sucker punch Pronger. Now Really Fixed.