ogreslayer

I'm partial to Damien "We'll give you a nickname when you do something that proves you belong in the NHL" Brunner, or is that too long? Call him WGYANWYDSTPYBITN for short?

There were horses and a man on fire and I killed a guy with a trident.

"I drank what????" -Socrates As far as nobody being killed, I think chances are that Mursak just had his season killed last night: Ansar Khan‏@AnsarKhanMLive No word yet on extent of Jan Mursak's shoulder injury but his arm was in sling and Ken Holland said he is out for a while. https://twitter.com/AnsarKhanMLive/status/293004431195242498

So evidently Red Bird III took off an hour later than scheduled after the game & now the boys have had a practice added Sunday afternoon. Wonder if there's any paint left on the walls of the visitor's locker room in St. Louis now?

Better to be involved in that kind of mass beat down than in the one that occurred in St. Louis tonight.

Bruns of Steel

Think Jay Feaster would agree to that?

Will miss the first 3 games more than likely based on Kenny's comments. Back more than likely next Friday vs. Minny.

I think you're missing my point. With Helm on short-term IR right now, the Wings don't have to make a move. Once Helm's ready to go & the lines are "set" with him centering the 3rd & Abby back centering the 4th, the Wings will have to get rid of a forward unless there's another injury. Who gets sent down between Mursak & Emmerton, if that's the case baring a trade, might depend on whether or not Kenny & Babs are comfortable bringing Sheahan or Andersson in spot duty as a 4th line center instead of keeping Emmerton on the NHL roster permanently to fill that role. It's all about flexibility which includes the use of wavier exempt players that can move back & forth between Detroit & GR without risk. The question will be whether or not they think their two NHL ready centers in GR plus having Mursak on the roster provides them more flexibility than keeping Emmerton on-board & bringing up their NHL ready wingers (Nyquist & Tatar) in for spot duty on the 3rd or 4th lines if needed.

With Visnovsky officially suspended by the Islanders now, wonder if Kenny will kick the tires a little harder.

Might have been looking forward but maybe he didn't tell them "forward" meant joining them in March or April. Officially suspended today for no-showing: https://twitter.com/NYIslanders/status/292309406970961920

It all depends on the age the player was when they signed their entry level contract & the number of games they play in the NHL while they're waiver exempt. 2-way contracts don't impact waiver eligibility at all. All 2-ways do is differentiate the dollars a player is paid while they're in the NHL vs. the lower salary they would get if sent to the AHL.

After being pissed at the the NHL (both owners & players) for months now & telling myself at times that I was done with it all, I feel a little dirty about how excited I am to see the season start.

No, both became waiver eligible last season.

I think you may be right when it come to who gets put through waivers between Emmerton & Mursak unless Kenny & Babs feel good enough about either Sheahan or Andersson to bring them in for a bit if a center goes down again after Helm gets back in the lineup. Personally, I would rather see Mursak stay up & see one of those two get a crack at spot relief as a 4th line center then keep Emmerton up.

And that's because Eaves was just cleared to play finally this morning. Putting Helm on short-term IR, probably until next Friday, allows the Wings to delay making a roster move which more than likely means a trade or trying to sneak Emmerton or Mursak to GR on waivers.

And here supposedly is the official roster to start the season: http://www.freep.com/article/20130118/SPORTS05/301180117/1053/sports05?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreepDetroitRedWings+%28freep.com+%7C+Detroit+Red+Wings%29

Except that if he goes through waivers, clears, & winds up in GR the Wings are still on the hook for his $3m against the cap. 35+ contracts now count against the cap in full in the first year of the contract regardless & are discounted by a whopping $100k in years thereafter. Not gonna happen.

And it really doesn't matter now. Wings won't pursue Redden per Helene St. James: http://www.freep.com/article/20130117/SPORTS05/130117055/detroit-red-wings-wade-redden?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Detroit%20Red%20Wings

Ozzy regualar season stats...First run w/ Detroit 1993-2001: GAA=2.40 Sv%=.908 Avg GP/yr=53 (minus the shortened 94-95 season) Best year 1997-98= 64 GP 33W 20L 11T GAA 2.21 Sv% .913 (Won 1 more game in 98-99 with higher GAA & Sv%) NYI/StL 2001-2004: GAA=2.51 Sv%=.905 Avg GP/yr=60 Best year 2003-04 StL= 67GP 31W 25L 8T GAA 2.24 Sv% .91 Second Detroit run 2005-2011: GAA=2.68 Sv%=.898 Avg GP/yr=29 Best year 2007-08= 43GP 26W 9L 4OTL GAA 2.09 Sv% .914 Looks like fairly consistent numbers performance-wise for Ozzy between his first stint on the Wings to the jump to the Islanders & Blues for a few years when you start to break it down. If anything, the additional workload might account for the slight differences in numbers more than the team in front of him. That's why the whole "The Wings just made Ozzy look good" argument hasn't held much water to me over the years. Was it maybe responsible for a win or two during a given year? Maybe, but from an individual performance standpoint between pre-lockout Detroit Ozzy & pre-lockout NYI/StL Ozzy, there wasn't that big of a difference.

The margin for error for all teams is going to be razor thin in a shortened season. I wouldn't be shocked to see everything click into place for the Wings & for them to take the Central. Granted I wouldn't be shocked if the breaks went against them & they missed the playoffs entirely. As the OP mentioned, every team (short of C'bus who should just flat out suck again) is going into the shortened season with questions.

With some of the other potential top 6 forwards the Wings have in the system (Jarnkrok, Pulkkinen, Jurco, Frk, & I would add Sheahan as a tweener able to jump between centering the 3rd & 2nd ultimately) I wouldn't mind it if the Wings had to give up a Tatar or Nyquist for more defense. I still think defense is where the Wing's prospect pool is the weakest & like some people, I won't count on DeKeyser signing in Detroit in the off-season.

The "come to camp" piece is critical. I mentioned this in another thread but basically if you bring Redden in now, his "try out" is during the regular season & done an the expense of another roster player. (either try to send Emmerton, Mursak, or Kindl to GR & lose them on waivers or move Smith down as he's still waiver exempt) In my opinion the Wings can't afford to burn regular season games to see if a guy who hasn't looked any good since 2007-08, shortened season or not, in a year where there are legitimate concerns that they may not make the playoffs.

Just a little more difficult taking on reclamation projects like this in a salary cap world & in a shortened season to boot. Plus you don't have Lids back there to make his d-partner look like a potential all-star. Pass...

It's good to see that owners are going to rein it in on the whole overspending thing after losing half the season to the lockout.