evilzyme

I believe that's exactly why he's takening the 2-3 year contract over the 5. Prove yourself during the 2-3, hit your prime and cash in the big contract.

#redwings no datsyuk at this skate, let alone drills. Not unusual to skate later or earlier, if not playing. "Pasha" unseen, on ice, now. That was Gregg krupa's tweet from earlier. I don't think its scary or a bad sign

The other day during a broadcast they brought up that ovi was receiving calls from high officials and they were applying pressure on their performance. Hosting the winter Olympics means a lot to them and they don't want to dissapoint their home by getting anything less than gold. I can only imagine pasha is receiving the same pressure if not more because he's the captain and currently injured. I really just want to have him back healthy regardless

Just posted.... http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/five-outdoor-nhl-games-2014-yankee-dodgers-stadium-003823881--nhl.html • Ducks vs. Kings at Dodger Stadium, Jan. 25 • Devils vs. Rangers at Yankee Stadium, Jan. 26 • Islanders vs. Rangers at Yankee Stadium, Jan 29 • Penguins at Blackhawks, Soldier Field, March 1 • Senators at Canucks, BC Place, March 2

With all the key injuries to the top 6 other coaches have the pleasure of matching against zetterberg and singling him out as the sole threat of our top 6. He's getting shadowed all game long to the point of having absolutely no time and space. He doesn't have the linemates to help him create that space because they aren't as big of threats. Teams know the situation we're in. When you go against a deep team as the Blues you're going to be in for a treat when your top 6 consist majority of bottom 6 skill. None the less I think the vastly underrated element is how poor our D is right now. They're fragile and easily worked. They can't get the puck moved up for a smooth transition because teams know all they have to do is wheel it in and turn them around. Throw 2 bodies in deep against them and that puck isn't leaving the zone. We need our D to get some confidence and have the puck moving through the neutral zone with speed. The best asset to offense can be a puck moving defensive core. You need your d to make that quick transition. We can't do that currently and its hurting us drastically. All in all, it would be great if we got healthy ....and a top 2 puck moving d man

Did anyone else catch the interview with Holland concerning the Rafi situation? All he kept saying is obviously he has no idea where Rafi is going with it, but they wanted to support him in wanting to play hockey close to home (the arena they said is nearly 5 minutes away from his house). Holland stated that if there was a player to beable to come back at the age of 41 and have a good come-back it would be a puck-moving defensemen such as Rafi. At the same time, he said there's 20-30 year olds out there pushing the pace and he didn't really know. It seemed like Holland wasn't interested in bringing him back to Detroit due to our given situation and deep pipeline, but he wanted to make it happen for Rafi and give him the chance to make it somewhere again.

They said it via commentation last night that they thought he may be suspended for it. Balant chickenwing out to the head, can't explain anything remotely close to a hockey play in that situation. Clears lost his cool as did many of his teammates last night. For a change they showed some passion, but unfortunately in the worst way.

Really good post and information, most of all, Semper Fi brother! I think numerous people underestimate the true impact of brain injuries and how much they do effect daily life. It really can change your opinion when you or someone apart of your life has a brain injury. Once you see what it can do to someone...

Roose (I believe it was) sent out a tweet earlier after he talked with Rafi. He said he had made up his mind, or it was in his mind within the last month, before the alumni game. He also stated that god had sent him down this road, and he was just following his will. So he's still in the religious mindframe, he just believes God wants him to play hockey again.

Absolutely. The best coaches are the hardest to work with but the most rewarding because they know what they're doing. Julien, Hitchcock, and Babcock...isn't the famous quote about Bowman, "you hated the guy 364 days of the year and on the 365th day you received the Stanley cup."? Babcock's a very smart man whom has a degree in sports psychology. He knows how to use it.

I think it has to deal with Tatars defensive game. Nyquist is well rounded and has played in tight situations in the league already. Babcock is more familiar with him and has more trust in him than Tatar. Tatar is great and he's proven to score goals when given the chance but his defensive play would get eaten alive against top skilled players he would be against in the top 6.

As much as it hurts, we can't help the Goose situation. If he plays the 2 games and loses waiver exemption it only makes it harder for Holland to pull of roster moves. Teams already know he's handcuffed and will have to waive worst case scenario resulting in the possibility of a free pickup for them. Holland's stated numerous times that he's been attempting to make moves and open space but there simply isn't grabbers right now. It could be him lowballing or it could be a dry market, who knows but he is trying. In other news, the boys gave Goose a stick tap when he arrived in Detroit this morning and joined them for practice. There's a picture of him getting hugged on while getting the taps via twitter.

I feel like Andersson really needs consistency between his wingers. He showed much more with consistent linemates last season. This can be showcased when he's with Tatar; immediate chemistry. He's been the victim of line switching while still being a rookie. Put him with linemates he knows and work hard and he really shines. Babcock does love him and his defensive side of the game. He does rock out on the PK also.

Babcock was talking about this. Not specifically with Miller but he said that he'd move glendening to the wing when helmer got healthy. I'd anticipate down the middle... pasha, Weiss, helmer and andersson. Also, Holland the other night on 97.1 that he'd ideally like to make at least one move but hoping on at least a couple.

I wouldn't go to town on Martin really. Holland was the one signing the contracts and most likely went to Martin and said, "Can you make it work?" I imagine capologist have the role of fixing problems that others have made or try and prevent them from happening. I guess I just want to say that Martins probably the guy there to find loopholes for Holland. He's not the one putting us in horrible positions.

You're right with Big Rig; he was drafted as a forward and became our defensive project. Smith normally excels at the offensive side of things. I think its Babcock that has strained him confidence/development wise. When he first came up he played his game a lot more. Nowadays he's stuck trying to analyze where he should be defensively within the structure and its made him start thinking about things. As a defensemen you shouldn't be thinking but rather doing. You need to trust your instincts and make the right move. The more you delay the messier things get.

NTC(trade clause) isn't the same as a NMC(movement clause). I believe he is able to go on waivers but wouldn't provide much cap space if at all due to his 35+ contract. CBA guru's help me here.

Yes re-entry waivers should be gone. I was referring to if we sent him back down to grr once he came back up to the NHL. If we wanted to send him down once more, that's where I was confused if he would be exempt from passing waivers again and technically on a two way contract from that point on.

I'm almost positive but someone may have to clarify this for me also; it's to my knowledge that the new CBA allows players to get called back up to the NHL without re-entry waivers. This move would give cap relief for the franchise while allowing them to use Tootoo as a 2-way contract(?). If they do want to re-use him now, they don't need to pass him through waivers again. Again, this is what I believe the new CBA allowed, but i'm not a CBA expert by any means. I do think that if he comes back up to the NHL though... he has to re-pass through waivers. THey must likely tried to move him over the past few weeks, got nothing and then decided to let him to go waivers in order to relieve cap space.

Abby's a work ethic type of guy. I think when he see's Tatar's speed personally on his line it encourages him to find another gear to keep up and push the pace alongside Tatar rather than just allowing him to set the pace. Abby's grown on the team and his role has been increasing game after game. From something we thought was absolutely asinine, him being in the top 6; it's honestly allowed him to grow into a much more efficient role player and gave him more confidence in his shot. With his responsibilities growing it seems like he's taken it and ran with it. Now he's trying to spark lines and what not. This is all my speculation though, so who knows. The Abby-Andersson-Tatar line was very good last night though.

Pasha had some words for us via Twitter following tonight; "@Datsyuk13: We have some work to do. Appreciate you all sticking by us! We will practice and play harder to restore your confidence and support."

I was gonna post this yesterday but work called and didn't get to it. Yesterday Holland had an interview and malik had stated this; "@georgemalik: And Holland told Matt Dery that the team does plan on making moves necessary to bring Nyquist up sooner than later." And apparently goose is injured right noe and won't be playing this weekend

Ozzie has always been awkward and stumbling over his own words. Makes me further believe that it wasn't Murphy just stumbling over his words that made em go bye bye

I had stated it in another topic but Weiss has admitted that he's not used to playing structured hockey especially one as structured as Babcock's. It relies heavily not only play with the puck but also thinking without the puck. When you go from playing free style basic hockey to a structured system that requires you to be thinking 24/7 you aren't thinking directly about scoring goals. You're making sure you're in the right spots and playing the system that others are counting on you playing. Once he gets more comfortable with the system you'll see how much of a player he really is. I'll agree with the others that stated that his board play is much higher than Filps. He's a good ol Canadian boy. He will cut into the dirty hard spots in the middle and force his way into it. He'll go play hard in the corners and work for the puck. Sometime you wouldn't see from Filp all the time.