PavelValerievichDatsyuk

Very sad day. Interesting to hear the story of his ankle surgeries. Maybe we can give him a Masterton trophy to send him home with? Well, lets go on a playoff run for Pav!

You seem to have gone over the deep end with your pessimism. Z was 1 of only 3 of our players to play the full 82 games this year. Anyway, if you're really concerned about this possibility and Illitch's pocket book, Z's actual salary does the big nosedive after the next 2 years. Then those last 3 year of his contract he makes, 3.5, 1, and 1. If, for some reason, he doesn't play those years, it wouldn't be a huge dent in the owner's coffers. Anyway, It's pretty certain we would pay over the cap if it wasn't there. Without even considering inflation. Our current cap (74.1 mill) isn't up to what Ilitch paid for the 2003-04 Wings (77.85 mill). I'm sure Ilitch wouldn't mind paying a few million extra. I've always assumed that these long contracts were signed by both sides with the knowledge that the final years possibly wouldn't be played. Also, your point doesn't apply to the Howard discussion because I'm pretty sure that retained salary still marks against the cap so it wouldn't be Ilitch spending more money - just wasted cap space - which would be weighed against benefits of the capspace created be getting rid of the rest of Jimmy's contract

First of all, Abby has 18 goals, so he only needs 2. Maybe you meant he needed 3 12 games ago? Could score Saturday. Second, Abby has definitely shown his worth recently. He's been one of best guys out there. Third, Abby is 3 points short of last years point total. It's in 10 more games, but in the context of a team that's transitioning to new coaches and has been offensive starved, I think that's fine. To look at this context, he's our 3rd highest goals scorer and 8 pts. from leading the team in points. Fourth, for your complaints about spending efficiency - his caphit is still 1.8 mill and that's a steal for what he contributes. His contract is too long and he'll probably be overpayed caphit-wise for some later years, but It should be considered that we've had a surprise top 6 player this year and last year paid like someone in the bottom 6. In the larger picture, that should counteract some later over-payment when thinking of a player's worth. In the context of our team's total payroll, we'll have a couple entry contracts that will be "steals" (Larkin, AA...maybe others) for a while, so I don't see Abby's contract inhibiting us.

Hello Mrazek

Can't tell if you're joking. I'm guessing that you continuing to function doesn't involve playing one of the most physically demanding sports around. It is a disadvantage, but the guys had 3 days off before so they should have plenty left in the tank. If the legs aren't as fresh, though, You have to play smart and let other parts of your game compensate

Great game by the secondary guys out there tonight! Helm, Glendening, Athanasiou. Some great energy and coverage. Also, Abby was grinding out there. And, of course, Howard was great! Liked pretty much everyone, though. Ericsson usually gets dumped on around here so we should acknowledge he had some important shot blocks and cleared a couple of dangerous rebounds out of the crease.

Gang of Four - Blood Free

I'm Never Gonna Tell It - Funkadelic

He had a stick blade to his face (unpenalized) in one of the last games. I forget which one, but that was probably the cause. He had to go to the trainer to stop the blood and missed part of the game.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/red-wings-datsyuk-leave-russia-season/ They started the segment saying: "how many stories you have?" "8." "how many are true?" "I'll settle for 2" Maybe that was just a joke, but I'm guessing they didn't trust the "sources." or it's more speculation. They have said that he's going back for a few years. It would seem very out of Datsyuk's character to leave the Red Wings hanging like that. The cynical side of me thinks it could even be a planted rumour in an attempt to get the Wings distracted from the playoff push.

That's a forced argument. He says we went with the kids and then we got scared with adversity and went with the vets. We actually added Athanasiou and Mantha during the period of adversity. We also rode Mrazek well into his period of adversity (and many around here have said too long after he struggled). I do agree that AA should be getting more playing time, but not because of team trajectory or for the future - he should because he's been very good. Just like Larkin got a lot of time because he demanded it. Just as Nyquist's role grew with their success. Just as Mrazek took the vets job. We are moving to the future. Dats and Z have played a lot, but Larkin and Mrazek have played maybe as large a role in our success. The article ignores the fact that Dekeyser's been playing more minutes than Kronwall the last few games and their ATOI is about the same over the full year (K:22:11, DK: 21:47 hockey-reference.com). The transition has been gradual over the past 5 years. I do think one misstep this year was signing Richards and I think it was overly conservative and unnecessary and I wish Jurco or Pulkinnen was in over him at times.

Sense of reality check here: Wings have played 3 games in 4 days - It's not surprise that they looked out of gas in the third. I know it's desperate times and everyone wants them to "show heart" and get it done, but you can't ignore that fact. We just have to beat Boston here and they've been 3-6-1. I believe! p.s. Price is probably best goalie in the league and amongst the leagues' MVPs - there's few players in the league as good as him.

The Sabres gave up a 1st rounder for Lehner. I think that points to them believing in him. During our game against the Sabres, the play-by-play guys were saying that he was brought in to "solidify the goaltending position." But that's all about intent - Of course who knows what he turns into. I was thinking that Calgary was a good spot for Howard since Hiller has some pretty bad stats this, but I guess Ramo took over for him. Does anyone watch them enough to know if they'll likely re-sign Ramo? They were paying over 8 mill for goaltending this year so Howard would actually be a cost savings for them, haha. (also, anyone want UFA-to-be Hudler back in a possible deal, haha?)

Do they? Reimer is leading the league with his save % and is 2nd with GAA. I don't watch them so I don't know beyond the stats, but that's impressive.

I'm a JImmy supporter and I think he's nowhere as bad or "average" as many say on this site. But with Mrazek so emphatically grabbing the #1 spot I do think it will be increasingly important to get rid of JImmy's contract. I was originally fine with Jimmy sharing for this year and next year and then being an overpayed backup for the remaining couple of years of his contract, but the transitioning looks to have already taken place and I think Mrazek will demand a heftier price accordingly when his contract's up. The longer we wait, the more other teams think of JImmy as a backup goalie and the less attractive he looks. It may be the offseason or next year, but the sooner the higher the value he'll have i think. Finding a backup isn't that big a problem and I'm sure we could get one back in the deal or pick up someone in the offseason.

Huh, those are some difficult ones. After thinking about it for way too long, I came up with Territories by Sepultura, but then we get stuck again with the same word. Even though the word is slightly changed, I'm going with: Territorial Pissing - Nirvana And it's dedicated to Kipwinger because I remember his anti-nirvana rant from a while ago.

Yeah, It was a nice move, but the goalie looks like he's diving out of the way. Brunner's celebration was kind of funny - not sure how to read the expressionless face with the arms up: is it saying "I'm the greatest and you all know it" or "what the hell that was that".

Well we will be feeling the absence of Kronwall, but our D should be able to cover for him. Of course everyone is going to blame Jimmy, but I don't think he had a bad game at all. We gave way too many good chances.

Ducks announcers were sooo annoying: Redwings don't have a defencemen on the....oops Green is on the ice. Watch Gibson drop his stick....sorry no he never dropped his stick. He said a bunch of other similar mistakes earlier as well.

DK!!!!

...and the dark side of Smith

My prediction is Beef Jurco with a goal. My other prediction is that Perry will do something douchy.

There's a bleacherreport article on this that says he's had 245 fights since junior. Tough way to make a living. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2609368-the-horrific-side-of-hockey-fights-on-display-yet-again-in-brutal-ahl-brawl?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial Hearing the crowd continue to cheer like that when the guy is out in such an alarming way is pretty gross. Seems like this could have been pretty bad with the way his head hits the ice.

I don't think that's right. FLA has 57 pts. We had 54. I hadn't noticed that Tampa has gone on a winning streak and are tied with us. Too bad, I was enjoying seeing them flounder and I was hoping they would miss the playoffs and Stamkos would head to free agency.

How Soon is Now? - The Smiths