PavelValerievichDatsyuk

LA has done pretty well taking team's cast offs: Richards, Carter, Gaborik, Muzzin and now Lecavalier.

Show me a comparable trade for a player whose been a scratch for almost half the year and carries something close to Kindl's caphit (2.4 mill for this year and the next - 3 mill in real salary next year). If Kindl's gone it's through the waiver wire. I do think Marchenko has earned a spot on the team, but I'm not sure that he'll play once Q is back. And if he's going to be the 7th guy than it is still better for him (and GR) if he goes down and plays in the AHL. E is probably the most deserving of the healthy scratch out of those who would be left in that situation (Kron,E,Q,DK,Green,Smith,March), But I just don't see that happening.

Or... no one wants to trade for Kindl and we don't want to trade the other Dmen.

From my experience, most of Canada has a certain dislike for The Leafs and also often Toronto as a city. Toronto and the GTA is just the largest concentrated population so they do have the largest 'local' fanbase. It's also the center of the Canadian media world so they cater to the large Ontario market.

His father traded him from the Spitfires to the Guelph Storm and his points were just as good or better (his OHL playoff 32pts in 20gp were definitely better than his playoff #s with the spits) on a team where his father had no influence. I'm not sure if that happened after he was drafted, but it still discounts those claims.

His nose?

Disappointing. haha

Correct me if I'm worng (i haven't watched much over the holidays), but wasn't this E's first game back? If so, I think whatever he did wrong, he should be given at least a little slack

You've said Zetterberg needs to sit and a couple other and now Kronwall. They're the leaders and captains on the team - you don't sit them. They're vets - they know they're not playing up to snuff. You can talk to them, but if you sit them, you rob them of their authority. With this young team (and getting younger) we'll need them to show the way.

We have Pulkkinen and Glendening with right-handed shots. I don't think it's a big deal. Pulkkinen would help the PP, but I feel we have the weapons - we should be better with what we have. Green should be on the first PP unit.

I like that he's wearing the magic man's jersey. Maybe Tatar borrowed the invisibility cloak last night. Any more bad Harry Potter/Wings jokes? and....go!

Luke Skywalker must be a Habs fan. I think the puck was going to hit the post anyway if it stayed straight.

So Nosek is more worthy of a top 6 spot than Abby? Abby's been good. The piano puller quote shows that Datsyuk would agree with your lines. Also, I don't think Replacing Helm with a player in his 4th NHL game is going get Datsyuk going (as seems to be a main goal for people in this thread). I just think you took the struggling line and made it worse.

Z-Dats-Abby Rich-Lark-Ny Jurco-Shea-Tat Helm-Glen-Nosek or these top 2 lines would be good too since I'm not sure Rich Lark-Ny would work: Ny-Z-A Lark-D-Rich

I don't get this. Both goalies have been very good this year. Howard has just recently hit this bad patch with 2 bad games. Mrazek has had about 2 or 3 bad goals, but I haven't really seen him have a bad game. His save percentage is tied for 6th in the league. His GAA is 16th - just behind Quick and Schneider. He's played pretty much as good as anyone can realistically expect from a goalie in their 1st full season. If you're not excited about him I don't what to tell you. He was inconsistent last year, but I think all goalies not named Lundquist need time to get used to the league and be solid consistently. The much vaunted Price struggled 08-10 and many (idiots) here in Montreal wanted him gone (The Halak story). Holtby's develop is probably closest to Petr's since they both were eased into the league. Holtby only took the full load last year after 4 years (14g, 7g, 36g,48) If Petr continues to mirror that path, then he would take the full load next year. Anyway, with Howard around we have a safeguard as he gets to that point. 70 games is high for a starting goalie. Only goalies like Price and Lundquist do that as their usual year load. From a quick incomplete search: Fleury, Scheinder, Niemi, Varly, Bishop have never played 70. Crawford, Bobrovsky have never even started 60. For an undisputed #1 it's around 60.

Smith's been good recently, but not so much last night. He got beat for that first goal and also was responsible for giving a breakaway. Edit: Oops, Grand rapids thread. from our call-ups I do think Mantha will be next. We've seen AA, Nosek, Tangradi time for big Tony.

People said the same thing about price early in his career. Also, Petr's been pretty consistent this year - just a couple bad goals (the one mistake handling the puck). I've heard a number of commentators say that Mrazek could be for the wings what Price is for the Habs. But that is about potential and I don't think anyone is calling Mrazek elite at this point. For LeftWinger, nobody's arguing that Howard's the guy after he wins. It's more arguing for Howard's solid play and his place on the team. It's clear in this discussion that the board is largely in favor of Petr, I think the discussion is more for those that like the duo vs. those that want Mrazek to play every game as the outright #1. Howie's really played well except the one game so I don't see why we'd pile the load on Mrazek where we could tire him out before playoffs, injure him, or bring out some of the inconsistency that we saw the second half of last year (when we rode him when Jimmy sucked). And I agree with e_prime - goaltending is definitely not an issue with the team.

He's really good at stepping forward for an unexpected one-timer. Sadly not many of the shots go in. Really Blash? Glendening Helm and Datsyuk. I know we're trying to protect a lead, but haven't we learned that sitting back on a goal lead isn't that best idea. I do like that we put the kid line back together, though I know it's only because Larkin is out. Hopefully they impress and Larkin or Nyquist go on Datsyuk's wing when he's back Edit: Actual Glendening is the goal scorer and Richards hasn't been great so I changed my mind. It's fine.

If you're looking for a budget jersey, apparently there's a blowout sale on Weiss jerseys here: http://www.fanatics.com/league/NHL/team/Detroit_Red_Wings/category/8011/browse/featuredproduct/1626218/partnerid/10436/source/fb-social-FF?utm_campaign=RET-NHL-DetroitRedWings&utm_content=RET-NHL-DetroitRedWings&utm_term=ProductViewers30days&utm_medium=social I'd be careful wearing the cursed #90 jersey, though. I think your chances of getting hit by a car or falling down a flight of stairs would rise dramatically.

Hate is when posters were saying they'd rather lose with Mrazek than win with Jimmy. Hate is when people were dissing Jimmy when he had the better stats. I'm sure the previous poster was referring to those people, who attacked him without any ammo. Now they have ammo and you know they're going to run with it. I don't think anyone said you can't criticize Jimbo. He deserves some criticism, but it is one game while he's been solid otherwise (except shootouts, of course).

tehnically we would have still been behind the hads because of ROWs, but i know you mean and we still have 2 games in hand. No one's really talked the surprises in the division. Who would have thought that Florida would be in play for the top spot and Tampa would be struggling so much. Also, I thought Boston made too many dumb moves to be doing as well as they are. Edit: Though Tampa's not that far below us and have been improving. It's going to be tight in the division.

DK is a RFA so his caphit won't be astronomical, but probably on the following deal he will have a larger cap hit than Kronwall or Ericsson. Those deals were signed a while ago and they will always trend up. I do think he's a top pairing defensemen (but I like us keeping him on the 2nd pair for depth reasons). Anyway, he's only 25 and I see him developing his game more. He hasn't been great this year but I think that's due to the fact that he's been experimenting more. Lots of times you'll catch him up with the rush of even down below the goal line in the O zone. That hasn't been his game in the past. Also, he's been switching partners a bit this year which doesn't help.

I think Green's been great. He hasn't put up his usual numbers, but I think he's been among our best D men. Getting a player of his age and achievement at that contract and term on free agency was out of the norm of giant contracts and 7+ terms. I don't see how anyone can complain about that contract.

That's not new, though. He was diagnosed about 5 years ago. He did comeback with the Ducks and the Blackhawks and he was nominated for the Masterton trophy about 4 years ago. He was great for the Ducks and Blackhawks, but he wasn't for the Flyers (where goalies go to kill their careers). He is 33 so I doubt he'll make a second comeback. His story is inspiring anyway. He does seem to be a jerk. I remember when he was in Ottawa there was a bunch of stories about him being a problem. He fought teammate Brian McGratton (no need for pictures GMRwings) in practice and I think Chris Neil too in another incident. There were other controversies that I forget the specifics of, but they lead to them buying out his contract and he went to the KHL since no one wanted to sign him due to his reputation. Then he had an incident in the KHL where he fought his team's trainer after the guy put a hat on his head after he was pulled. And, yes, the Holtby incident was classless.

If you're big, and not a goon, people turn on you. Even if he doesn't hit, fight, scrap, etc. size is still an extra asset. It's hard to move big guys. They have extra reach, etc. People seem to miss this and just say "he's big and doesn't use his size." Not every big player should have to have an edge. If they're a goal scorer I don't see why it matters as long as they score (which Franzen did).