Miller Brew

Atleast Eaves should be back. I'd rather Eaves over May anyhow. Ritola has been great and Leino had his best game of the year last night. All is well. Besides, May won't be playing once the team gets healthy.

So you're not happy he's on there? Out of 450+ players from 22 teams that played yesterday, you're not happy for him? Interesting.

Helm is on NHL's front page as top star in all of yesterday's games. Good for him! Gotta get me a Helm jersey. I also want a Kronwall jersey.

It's usually easy to figure out who just started watching hockey this year.

Déjà vu. Heard the same thing from Chicago and San Jose fans last year. Regurgitated over and over; year after year. I'll be impressed when they do something, until then... 1961. If I got a penny everytime I heard 'this year will be different', I'd make Donald Trump look like a slum dog. btw, Don't get me wrong... I don't hate Chicago Blackhawks, I don't even think about them unless something gets posted here or when you come here to tell everyone how great they are. Other than that, they are pretty much insignificant to me. Just thinking out loud... Will someone please make the Blackhawks a message board! I mean if they are so great, why don't they have their own message forum? Even Islanders have a message forum. It's just kind of weird to me that they don't. Maybe you should make a message forum for your team. Maybe they are waiting for a Stanley Cup before someone makes a Blackhawk message forum? If so, could be a long wait... so just make one now.

Agreed. There's only one player in the NHL that'd I would be ashamed of having in Detroit and that's Sidney Crosby. Though he's probably considered one of the top 5 - 10 best players currently in the NHL... he is, in my mind, the worse player to represent your city or hockey club. I have no opinion about Markstrom.

December was a successful month 7-5-2, considering, on some nights, Red Wings iced a $28 million roster playing against $56 million rosters. And probably averaged a $32 million dollar roster for the month of December. Imagine what this team can do with a $50 - $52 million dollar roster...

How can anyone make a judgment yet? Neither goalie even made it to the NHL yet. Goalies take a while to groom and what you see today is not what you're going to see in 5 years. Start this thread in 5 years, it'll have more relevance. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised who the better goalie is when they actually play in the NHL. That said, Thomas McCollum is going to be a no.1 and with Howard playing so solid (and if he keeps it up) you might not see McCollum starting here. He may be trade bait, but who knows. That's a long ways down the road.

I didn't watch the game but it sounds like Canada was lucky they managed a win out of this one.

1961

Hawks lost the two key elements that got them there. And it's 2010 my friend, stop living in the past.

Indeed they did. He's their curse now

Don't forget Huet. Neither team is have the tools to go deep in the playoffs. Though I give the edge to the Sharks this year between the two aforementioned teams. They got Heatly and solid goaltending. Hawks took a couple steps back by losing Havlat and k`Bulin.

Sharks are the best team in the league right now with 59 points. 3-2 win over Coyotes tonight. Sharks #1 line is scary good... They're unstoppable.

What are you donging here then? Sounds like you should be planning a cup parade.

Didn't Devils just play last night? I think they did.

I'm not saying Osgood isn't a good goalie... but he did have some bad games this season. The point is Howard is the hot hand and you can't stop playing the hot hand because a veteran wants a turn to play, especially when Wings need to scrape every win they can. Like I said above, Babcock is cleary trying to rev Osgood up... and it's working. That's the goalie you want in net. So when Osgood does get his next chance, which will be on this road trip, I am confident he'll play lights out. After all, he has something to prove. I do remember Holland and/or Babcock stating on record that Howard gets to play as long as he's winning. Granted he lost the last game, he allowed one goal when his team in front of him couldn't close the deal in regulation. So unless Osgood can play forward position and score goals, there is really no point in playing him 'right now'.

After reading the complete article, it sounds like Babcock is making subtle pokes to rev Ozzie up. We all know a revved up Ozzie is the Osgood you want in net. He always plays better when he has something to prove. Kudos to Babcock, he ain't no dummy. I see this as friendly competition and superb coaching, nothing more.

It's hard to take anything from visual text on the internet. If there was a video you could at least read body language or listen to their voices. I do understand Osgood's bad game against Chicago; I knew on at least two of those goals was a direct result of not playing enough games -- Ozzie was solid as a mofo in the 3rd. However on the flip side, in this dyer time of scraping wins due to injuries, you can't take out the hot goalie so a cold goalie can warm up. Osgood should understand this. It's not a matter of "seniority" but a matter of winning.

Ouch, Ken and Mickey said Cleary should be ready for the Coyotes game on January 2nd. I was *hoping* Zetterberg to be ready by the Kings game on Jan. 7th. No word on Williams? I was predicting he would return by the 9th (Sharks) or 12th (Islanders). Probably not. Grrr, I'm getting antsy. Must.Wing.Games

Why waste a perfectly good 3rd rounder. Wings could pick up a Franzen, Lidstrom, Fedorov or a Dallas Drake type player.

Bettman probably thought it would be fun to see more penalty shots. Is this a testament to the remainder of the season? Could be.

NJ Devils are quietly winning games without getting much attention. NHL.com seem to like to constantly post/publish stuff about Penguins, Capitals and Blackhawks, but Devils are getting little attention considering their success. They should be a favorite to win the cup this year (if Wings don't get it going to stop them =). Devils just shutout the Pens tonight and face the Blackhawks tomorrow night. Back-2-back games are difficult but I still think they'll school the Hawks. 28-9-1 so far in the season. Respectable numbers. Needless to say, I respect the Devils, they are one of the teams behind the Wings that (imo) can extend their dynasty legacy. That said, I'm sure Wings could take them in finals

He's very young, only 25. Get well soon.

Semin and Tugnutt coached by Babcock.