HelmFan

Anybody load up their playoff pool with Flyers players?

Poor guy. I miss him already.. slightly off topic, but does anyone regret having Kris Draper retire? after our top two guys (or 3 counting Val), he was better the last two years than anyone that we have now.

The blues fan might need a refresher.

It sounds like Helmer is back! the mvp of our bottom 6 BOLD PREDICTION: there will be Helm for Conn Smythe talk this year

Wings embarrass the Preds and all the hockey experts 7-2. Suddenly, Wings are legitmate contenders again.

People forget that "fan" is derived from the word "fanatic" meaning : "marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion". A term which, lately, is used negatively when we talk about terrorists. i.e.: religious fanatic. My Point? now think about what terrorists do for their "team". Me, as of right now, I'm committing my unwavering optimistic support from now until the end of June. I really do think we can make it to finals.. Here's how: our boys would love nothing more that a short travel schedule and we're not going to have to play one series outside of the central conference. 1st round: Wings over Preds. Stl over SJ Chicago over Phx Van over La 2nd round. Wings over Stl (who are battered from a long tilt over SJ) Chicago over Van (hawks have done it before) 3rd round Wings over Chi town. (no problem there, chicago is just a half ass version of the wings) That's how it's going to go down. Bank on it

It always seem like a lot of guys score their first career goal against the Wings. That's who I hate: the guys with no career goals, because you just know that they're going to score.

This. Imagine how many goals Zetterberg, Datsyuk, would Flippula score in the playoffs if they got to take the first 82 games of the season off? When we excuse Franzen's lazy play we say "just wait to the playoffs". Well, that's just lip service to the 08 and to some extent 09 playoffs. He's been average since. does Franzen have a no trade clause? This guy is the total anti-redwing. We have to get rid of him before the next generation of Wings pick up on his work ethic. Trade him to Anaheim for Selanne. then in the off season, go hard after Parise.

it's not just you, I've noticed it too... he is trying to play physical and leads the team in hits, but i find he often puts himself out of position to make a weak/late hit on a guy who has already gotten rid of the puck. There was a thread about this recently though, most people aired their grievances about him there. note: you know things are going well in Red Wing land, when the only thing to complain about is our 4th line winger

I think the Wings have a very hard time against a quick aggressive fore-check. I'd say it's our biggest weakness. I really like Commodore, but he is so slow; exposing us more to said weakness.

Abby almost got a reverse-Gordie Howe hat trick that game: he lost a fight that swung momentum and scored on his own net!

I made the same mistake as everyone else. That was a good shock to get me going on a saturday morning.

I'm sorry but saying Abdelkader is better than Helm is completely asinine. This make me think you 1) don't watch many games and judge players by what you see on the game sheet or 2) Abdlekader's moher. I won't waste my time trying to prove why one player is better than another with someone who is so blatantly ignorant. I can guarantee you that no one in the hockey world agrees with you on that one. You might find some posters who might agree that Abby > Miller. You should start with that. And I can guarantee that nobody in league goes into a game worried about being roughed-up, hit, or fought by Abdelakder. I would bet most players haven't even heard of him. Don't worry about him getting traded, he's not worth a 3rd round pick.

The problem with Abdelkader is he is not good enough to play in the NHL. Not on this team anyways. If the waiver situation was reversed, we would be seeing Nyquist, and Tatar instead of Emmerton and Abdelkader. Abby got most of his points and that big +/- playing with Cleary at the beginning of last season when Danny was scoring every time he shot the puck. It drives me nuts that he get preferential treatment from Babcock because of his size. Anyways, I agree with everyone about the lack of depth at centre being the bigger problem. In previous years, the Wings have had plenty of depth at centre, but now that Draper is gone and Filppula is playing wing, we've found ourselves with a serious hole up the middle. We need to acquire a Nhl caliber centreman. If he's better than Helm and can take the 3rd line spot, Great! but if not, I'd be happy with any step up from Emmerton. With a good enough centre I think Abdelkader can be a serviceable 4th line winger, sort of a "Mcarty light" type guy.

Has anyone who has seen all three games against Chicago thought that they've spent an usually high amount of time discussing the play of Jimmy Hayes?

I agree. Jimmy's puck handling has always been very weak.

Yeah, she's awful

The best part about getting the other teams feed is watching that region's local commercials. You can usually tell right away what feed you're going to get by what commercial is playing.

I'm done watching this game. The wings don't give a s***. Why should I?

I hope we don't meet these guys in the 2nd round of the playoffs.

I strongley disagree that Franzen can consistenly score goals.

+1 I was getting negg'd earlier in the year for suggesting abby wasn't good enough to be playing on the first line ! (how dare I). Now you're getting pluses for saying he's not good enough to be on the team. Crazy!! ( I agree, and have thought so for a long time)

since 96/97 the blues have only won 5 playoff series. since 96/97 the wings have only won 4 stanely cups. suck it, blue troll

I think it's a little too soon to be getting excited about our 3rd line. They have only had 3 really good games together, and two of those games were pretty much blow outs. There's going to come a game or two when the first two lines "phone" it in and we're going to need our bottom 6 to step up for us. Untill then I'll be cautiously excited for them. I'm also going bet that now that Cleary is scoring again, it won't be long untill he's put back up in the top 6; ruining the chemistry on all 3 lines. When, Eaves and Mursak come back, Emmerton and Brunnstrom will be in the ahl and the remaining 4th liners will all be put on rotation, just like last year. and since we are talking bottom 6, I'd like to point out that IMO Drew Miller has been fantastic this year. They should give him a shot at centre before putting him on bench rotation because he does not deserve to be sat.

I think Fabian is unproven. And I don't have much of an opinion on him, as he has played and looked ok in what 2 games? my beef is with Abdelkader. I don't think Abby has proven he is a third line player. I believe he was our worst player during last year regular season, and during the playoffs he was horrific. It also sounds like you think he could become a Cleary type player. Which implies he's not as good as Cleary right now. Well, if Cleary is not working out with Datysuk right now, why would someone who's not as good as Cleary work out? doesn't make sense to me. in his defence Abdelkader has been better this year, and I hope he proves that he deserves a chance on that first line. I'd rather be wrong and have a winning team, than to sit here and say "told you so" go wings. I wish the game would start already.