Matt

I've got this wild image in my head of a caged and pissed off Tiger stalking the penalty box. He's about to go all San Francisco Zoo on poor Ian. (At least I hope so, and sorry if the SF Zoo was in bad taste, couldn't resist.)

It'd be short.

I wouldn't say that at all... Kinda hard to have a rivalry when it's so ridiculously one-sided. This is a whiny ***** (Colorado) trying to get their shots in after being bitchslapped across the ice all season by Detroit.

Said it in another thread: Babcock would kill lil Tony. He looked like he wanted to eat his head. As long as Lidstrom isn't out for long at all this is a GREAT GAME for the Wings... Not just the score, but goddamnit, this is what fuses a team together. Thanks Colorado for knowing your role.

Babcock would kill lil Tony. He looked like he wanted to eat his head.

The one game that sticks out to me that I watched was Howard's game in the 2004 Hockey East Championship (INHD -- when it existed -- had it in glorious HD) against UMass. He stopped 64 shots in a 2-1 Maine victory. (edit) Found it: http://www.insidecollegehockey.com/7Archiv...afinal_0229.htm

We'll nip this right in the bud: None, unless the Wings suffer another rash of injuries. You've got a 23-man roster limit that you need to adhere to. The most recent example of this is Niklas Kronwall being moved to IR... He wasn't at first, but when Hasek's hip flexor flared up they needed to bring up a goaltender, but couldn't because they were at the roster limit. Hence Kronwall being put on IR retroactive to 1/30 and Howard getting the call up. Once the regular season is over teams can expand their playoff rosters to whatever they see fit.

Honestly? Yes. Since when has McCarty even played a wink on the PK? At least Drake does that, and at least he's more prone to the bigger hit. I certainly don't have an axe to grind against McCarty (I think it's FANTASTIC what he's done up to this point), I just don't see a fit for him on this team. At all.

1. No. 2. The Wings would have to sign him to a contract. 3. No, he wouldn't.

Two words: f***. That.

The way I look at it is this: If the Wings were going to have a slide like this during the season, I'd rather have it now. To kick off a slide like this on Feb. 27th when you're locked in.... well, you're up a creek. At least now Holland can assess the team's shortcomings (even though injuries are playing a large part of it, it exposes the club's depth -- or lack thereof) prior to the deadline and address them if there are fits out there on the market. I'm glad they ARE having a streak like this, quite frankly. It's nice to see the team face some adversity during the course of the season since the entire run up to this point has severely lacked it.

The Red Wings have no intention of rushing him... At this point I would expect a 50/30 split between Osgood and Howard next season as things stand now.

I think the progress he's made over the last couple of seasons has been fantastic. I recall watching a few games of his while he played for Maine and he was a wall... There was some adjustment in the AHL (hence the slow start when the Griffins had an average club) based on the speed alone. Thinking of previous appearances with the Wings prior to this season he seemed to fight the puck a bit and wasn't as quick laterally. He woudn't challenge as aggressively, etc. I look at him now and see a different goaltender -- well, almost: He's a quicker version of what I saw play in Maine, when his confidence is there and the fundamentals follow that up. Over the course of this season I think he's really asserted himself because he knew this was a big season for him (in which he had to prove his worth). He's taken the bull by the horns in his time with the club this season and really put in a great effort in Dallas against the 2nd-seeded team in the West. Not too shabby.

I was kind of surprised how he and Milbury were beating the "Holland has to make movez!!" drum during the 2nd intermission. While I agree with their point that the Wings need to keep up with Anaheim (who, right now, is the Cup favorite IMO), I'm not sure how Dallas, even with the win today, is in the class of Detroit or Anaheim in terms of playoff chances. IMO those two clubs are above the rest, with the second tier consisting of Dallas, San Jose and Minnesota.

Nope. Babcock's system is built on speed and tenacity and McCarty doesn't possess both of those qualities. You can get a pass during the regular season (Downey, Ellis) but you won't see the ice in the playoffs. The Wings rely on a shift-after-shift relentless attack (though that hasn't been present lately). Besides, I'd expect the team to pick up at least 1 more forward prior to the deadline via trade and it won't be a player that would see the pine. I honestly don't expect Hudler to see the ice much after the 1st round if the Wings advance that far. --- As for today's game, the effort was definitely there out of the gate. But I think it was very obvious that the team was getting frustrated when chances weren't going in -- Kopecky's shot off the post and Datsyuk's pair of pseudo-breakways -- considering they were getting better ones than Dallas. They got an outstanding effort in goal from Howard and couldn't capitalize on it. They were noticably deflated when Hagman gave Dallas the lead early in the third.... and the beat goes on. Obviously this team is missing their injured players very much (Cleary more than I think people admit, just for the little things he does).... and for the "ain't broke, don't fix it" talk I was hearing on the Detroit sports radio last week, well -- they're getting a refresher course on depth in light of injuries AGAIN to the team's No. 2 and No. 3 defensemen. IMO, the onus is on that scoring forward had tough defenseman. I'd love Sundin and Stuart, but those will likely be some HEFTY price tags... I can dream though, right?

You do realize that he's property of the Griffins and NOT the Red Wings, right? He hasn't signed a contract with Detroit (and likely won't, anyway.)

No, he's not. Not even remotely close. At this point in time I would consider acquiring Fedorov a "fall-back plan" if a better deal/player isn't a good fit price-wise for the Wings.

QFT.

I want the team to win the Stanley Cup -- not host the NHL's version of "I love the 90s".

The only reason Kronwall went on IR was to make a roster spot for Howard since the club is limited to 23. He can be moved off it at any time (provided Howard is sent back down) since it was retroactive to January 30th.

As YoungGuns noted, he definitely plays with an edge and does lay the wood on guys at times (i.e., Zetterberg's back)... He's (obviously) younger, is a good shot-blocker, etc... I don't think he'd be asked to do a lot offensively (maybe spot duty on the No. 2 PP unit), but would be more of a Lilja-type with less pylon. Also, Blake's more of an injury risk with the ankle issue. If his injury wasn't in such a precarious spot I'd feel better about him, but it's not.

Of the two I'd rather have Stuart.

I'd love to see Stuart and Sundin. Won't hold my breath. (Hossa would be my first choice at forward, but considering I think the Wings would HAVE to sign him to an extension I think it would potentially bork the cap situation in 2010 and beyond.) Stuart is exactly what the defense needs, IMO, and I couldn't help but envision Sundin helping coordinate the 2nd PP unit on Sunday.

The look in Zednik's eyes says a lot about what was going through his mind in the moments immediately after that. Pretty scary. The looks on the faces of the fans in the one photo says a lot, too.

Get Lebda out of this ******* top six IMMEDIATELY! (Well, after a trade move preferably.) The Minnesota goal has been the one shining moment outside of complete suck on the blueline for weeks. Absolutely pathetic that Tyler-*******-Huskins turns him inside out like that.