Matt

I think the chance he goes back to Edmonton is slim to none. Seemed like far too many bridges got burned in the hours leading up to that trade. Exclusive rights until July 1st. It's easier to re-sign someone when you're the only ones talking. If Smyth likes his situation there they'll re-sign him. I don't think he's a guaranteed goner after the 1st by any stretch.

Who's to say they won't re-sign Smyth, anyway? I wouldn't call it a "waste" until he inks with another NHL club besides the Islanders.

Anaheim, Calgary and Edmonton (to a lesser degree) won because they physically manhandled the Red Wings and kept players out of the neutral zone by, as you mentioned, closing off the passing lanes. What's that do? Fudges up your transition game. Bull-rushing the line with the puck isn't going to do anything against 2+ defenders when they close on you. All it'll result in is turnovers and a quick opportunity for the opposition. If the neutral zone is being effectively clogged up you MUST dump and chase -- adapt to what the defense gives you and don't try to impose your will on them (because, as the last three playoff "runs" attest -- it hasn't worked). If you can effectively recover the puck on the forecheck on a consistent basis it should create a bit more space in the neutral zone as the defense can't cheat high in anticipation of the Wings trying to dipsy-doodle through the neutral zone AGAIN. You are *vastly* underrating Zetterberg's skills in the corner here.

Not quite sure why that has any real bearing on the situation at hand. (Other than it screws over my fantasy team.) DiPietro, though inconsistent out of the gate, has been very strong this season and the glue that has kept the Isles playoffs hopes stuck together. If he plays like he did the 2nd half of this season during the duration of the contract it'll be a fantastic deal. (That said, 15-year contracts are borderline insanity). Besides, if he goes Tim Connelly on the Islanders he goes on LTI and the contract is, for all intents and purposes, "off the books".

It's not as simple as that. I would strongly prefer to keep that top line together when Zetterberg is healthy. It was unstoppable for a large portion of the season and there's no reason to believe it won't be the team's best line come the start of the playoffs. I don't think that it's in the Wings' best interests to spread their skill guys out over the entire four lines -- it dilutes the talent too much. Holland said he wanted to improve the 2nd line at the trade deadline and he did exactly that with Calder and Bertuzzi. Those guys are your wingers for Lang. (I don't think Bertuzzi playing with Datsyuk is indicative of where he'll be when we've got a full compliment of forwards. It's more along the lines of balancing the top two lines due to Zetterberg being out.) After that you've got a third line that will play physical, defensive hockey against your opposition's top line in Maltby-Draper-Franzen. They'll even chip in the odd goal. The 4th line with the kids won't get huge minutes but they'll bring a spark with high energy play, whether it's Filppula-Cleary-Hudler or Samuelsson in one of those spots. You've got your energy lines and your skill lines -- and those skill lines come at you with two distinct styles. One with proven chemistry and on-ice vision with players that compliment eachother and another with fantastic size and skill to boot that won't be adverse to digging the puck out of the corner and cycling it.

If we've got a healty lineup you keep Holmstrom on the top line. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If the line struggles you've still got the flexibility to put Bertuzzi there. I think Bertuzzi is a good fit on the 2nd line with Lang and Calder. There are some potential speed issues there, of course, which could mean plugging in Cleary here and there (while bumping Calder back a line.)

Any Red Wings' fans "MUST-HAVE" item: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002WZRUO?tag=le...QGJB4GHWC0&

FSN didn't even exist yet. It was on PASS.

The biggest injustice in that game was that Dave Strader wasn't calling the game and Mickey was heading down to the tunnel for the 1st intermission interview. Mike Goldberg was HORRIBLE. He repeatedly made my ears bleed. His UFC play-by-play isn't any better today, either. I vividly remember my friends and myself just screaming at the TV while on our feet, high-fiving and shadow-boxing while yelling expletives left and right.... Basically jumping around as if we were there. What a crazy night! Blasphemy!

Had friends over to my house because I *knew* something was going to happen during this game. It is still, to this day, the only time I've yelled myself hoarse watching a game at HOME.

Wrong. Watch it again. You'd think if Lebda actually saw Nieminen coming he would've at least protected his face from getting slammed into the partition, wouldn't you? He didn't see him coming -- he was focused on the Blues player coming in from the left. Ask Lecavalier, Joseph, etc., how "rough" the hyena is. He's been doing this type of thing (hitting from behind, to the back of the head, etc.) for a few seasons now.

Campbell's a joke. Neiminen's a repeat offender. Ask Lecavalier. Practically the exact same play: Both players were digging at the puck along the boards, and in both instances Neiminen went in hard with the forearm up and drove the head of each player into the glass -- and both got cuts from it. So, basically, Campbell's telling me that in the Stanley Cup Final that play deserves a suspension, but not in a regular season game? The rules are followed much stricter during the regular season than the playoffs, so this makes absolutely no sense to me.

You're kidding right? Lebda never saw him coming -- he (Lebda) saw the Blues player coming in from behind the net to his left and turned to help protect himself from *that* player coming in. If it was a "clean, good check" then Nieminen wouldn't have been given a 5-minute major and game misconduct, would he? He had plenty of time to hold up on Lebda after he turned, but that's not his M.O. He was dialed in and followed through with it, anyway. Wrong. As soon as the hit was laid Marouelli (who I believe was in that end) was standing in the opposite corner and his arm rocketed up as soon as the hit was laid. It was going to be 5-minutes regardless of the severity of the injury. Absolutely!

I. The Prize II. Contest Details III. Rules I. The Prize This LetsGoWings.com Trivia Challenge prize is a pair of center ice tickets for this Monday's (March 26th) game at Joe Louis Arena against the high-powered Anaheim Ducks! These tickets have been generously donated to the site by vladdy16! II. Contest Details & Guidelines - 23 Available Entry Spots / Number Assignment The LGW.com Trivia Challenge uses the Mega Millions ( http://www.megamillions.com ) "Mega Ball" to determine our contest winner. The number (1-46) is randomly drawn as the 6th and final ball in bi-weekly drawings that take place on Tuesday and Friday nights at 11pm ET. Correct Trivia Challenge entries will be granted two numbers that are determined by the order of the e-mail timestamp. The first correct entry will get #s 1 and 24, the second will get 2 and 25 and so on until all 46 numbers are reserved. NOTE: In the event that all spots are NOT filled by the 10:00pm deadline on 3/23 (see next rule) the remaining open spots will be defaulted back to the original ticket owner. - Contest Start Date/Time This contest officially begins at 12 Noon on Thursday, March 22nd. At this time the TRIVIA QUESTION will be posted in this thread and correct entries will be accepted from only LGW.com Community Supporters for the first 24 hours. On Friday, March 23rd at 12 Noon the contest will open to ALL members. Entry for this contest will promptly end at 10:00PM ET on Friday, March 23rd. This time is intentionally selected in order to have the Entry List posted in this thread so eligible members can see their numbers on the posted list prior to the drawing. - Community Supporter Early Benefits LetsGoWings.com wants to give back to those members that have generously contributed to the support of this web site and forum over the last several seasons! For this contest all LGW.com Community Supporters (CSers) will be given a 24-hour head start in this contest. When the Trivia Challenge Question is posted only correct entries from CSers will be eligible. Any other entries are ineligible and will be deleted. Once the 24-hour deadline has passed all correct answers will be eligible for entry. - Members that enter MUST have at least 25 posts This will help prevent cheaters from registering multiple accounts. (Suspicious user accounts will be ineligible from the contest. This will be determined at my discretion.) - How to Enter! Members must submit their answer to contests(at)letsgowings.com using the same e-mail account that is attached to their LGW username and include the following: - Trivia Answer - LGW Username (only registered members may enter!) - Your Name A listing of all 23 eligible members will be listed in this thread once all spots have been filled. Members will be contacted by the Private Messaging (PM) system here on the forums with a notification if their answer was correct or incorrect. Members with correct entries will be given their entry numbers at this time. Members with incorrect answers will be directed to enter again if they wish to do so. (Note: Members may not be notified immediately on whether their answer is correct or not, but will be notified as quickly as possible.) - How to Win! The MegaMillions (http://www.megamillions.com) drawing for Friday, March 23rd at 11pm ET will determine the winner. The 6th (Mega Ball) number in the drawing will be used to determine the winner. The member that has his/her number selected will be contacted by myself so that arrangements can be made to pick up your tickets! III. Rules - One Entry per LGW Member - Entries MUST include your trivia answer, your LGW username and your real name. Entries that do not include this information will be disqualified - The e-mail account used to submit your answer must be the same one associated with your LGW username - Members attempting to circumvent the 1 entry rule will be disqualified - Members caught helping another member submit a correct answer will have both members' entries disqualified - Members that enter must have at least 25 posts - Only correct answers from CS members will be accepted during the first 24 hours of the contest. ---------- Good luck everyone! If anyone has a comment or question, please feel free to PM me or contact me at webmaster(at)letsgowings.com

Tonight's MegaBall is 36 -- congratulations, timothy1997! You've won two tickets to Monday's Red Wings/Ducks game!

As far as I know, it's not something done live. MegaMillions.com isn't the swiftest in updating after 11pm. Usually 5-10 minutes after 11pm this site updates: http://usamega.com/

I. The Prize II. Contest Details III. Rules I. The Prize This LetsGoWings.com Trivia Challenge prize is a pair of center ice tickets for this Monday's (March 26th) game at Joe Louis Arena against the high-powered Anaheim Ducks! These tickets have been generously donated to the site by vladdy16! II. Contest Details & Guidelines - 23 Available Entry Spots / Number Assignment The LGW.com Trivia Challenge uses the Mega Millions ( http://www.megamillions.com ) "Mega Ball" to determine our contest winner. The number (1-46) is randomly drawn as the 6th and final ball in bi-weekly drawings that take place on Tuesday and Friday nights at 11pm ET. Correct Trivia Challenge entries will be granted two numbers that are determined by the order of the e-mail timestamp. The first correct entry will get #s 1 and 24, the second will get 2 and 25 and so on until all 46 numbers are reserved. NOTE: In the event that all spots are NOT filled by the 10:00pm deadline on 3/23 (see next rule) the remaining open spots will be defaulted back to the original ticket owner. - Contest Start Date/Time This contest officially begins at 12 Noon on Thursday, March 22nd. At this time the TRIVIA QUESTION will be posted in this thread and correct entries will be accepted from only LGW.com Community Supporters for the first 24 hours. On Friday, March 23rd at 12 Noon the contest will open to ALL members. Entry for this contest will promptly end at 10:00PM ET on Friday, March 23rd. This time is intentionally selected in order to have the Entry List posted in this thread so eligible members can see their numbers on the posted list prior to the drawing. - Community Supporter Early Benefits LetsGoWings.com wants to give back to those members that have generously contributed to the support of this web site and forum over the last several seasons! For this contest all LGW.com Community Supporters (CSers) will be given a 24-hour head start in this contest. When the Trivia Challenge Question is posted only correct entries from CSers will be eligible. Any other entries are ineligible and will be deleted. Once the 24-hour deadline has passed all correct answers will be eligible for entry. - Members that enter MUST have at least 25 posts This will help prevent cheaters from registering multiple accounts. (Suspicious user accounts will be ineligible from the contest. This will be determined at my discretion.) - How to Enter! Members must submit their answer to contests(at)letsgowings.com using the same e-mail account that is attached to their LGW username and include the following: - Trivia Answer - LGW Username (only registered members may enter!) - Your Name A listing of all 23 eligible members will be listed in this thread once all spots have been filled. Members will be contacted by the Private Messaging (PM) system here on the forums with a notification if their answer was correct or incorrect. Members with correct entries will be given their entry numbers at this time. Members with incorrect answers will be directed to enter again if they wish to do so. (Note: Members may not be notified immediately on whether their answer is correct or not, but will be notified as quickly as possible.) - How to Win! The MegaMillions (http://www.megamillions.com) drawing for Friday, March 23rd at 11pm ET will determine the winner. The 6th (Mega Ball) number in the drawing will be used to determine the winner. The member that has his/her number selected will be contacted by myself so that arrangements can be made to pick up your tickets! III. Rules - One Entry per LGW Member - Entries MUST include your trivia answer, your LGW username and your real name. Entries that do not include this information will be disqualified - The e-mail account used to submit your answer must be the same one associated with your LGW username - Members attempting to circumvent the 1 entry rule will be disqualified - Members caught helping another member submit a correct answer will have both members' entries disqualified - Members that enter must have at least 25 posts - Only correct answers from CS members will be accepted during the first 24 hours of the contest. ---------- Good luck everyone! If anyone has a comment or question, please feel free to PM me or contact me at webmaster(at)letsgowings.com

Registration is now CLOSED! Scroll down to view the entry list! Trivia Challenge Eligibility List: 1/24. Schneids_is_Awesome 2/25. rwfan007 3/26. DraperFan MN 4/27. hockeycrazy3033 5/28. cincywngsfan 6/29. lint123 7/30. hoogs 8/31. alowicious 9/32. SuperCalaFilppulastic! 10/33. evil204 11/34. Elshupacabra 12/35. redwinger4747 13/36. timothy1997 14/37. Wingtastic 15/38. hckypete96 16/39. YzermanForever 17/40. Winged Scooter 18/41. Heroes of Hockeytown 19/42. Cruiser008 20/43. Yzermania19 21/44. chelios4eva 22/45. tubaguy 23/46. Bluedevils_13

Registration is now CLOSED! Scroll down to view the entry list! Trivia Challenge Answer: Aaron Ward Trivia Challenge Eligibility List: 1/24. Schneids_is_Awesome 2/25. rwfan007 3/26. DraperFan MN 4/27. hockeycrazy3033 5/28. cincywngsfan 6/29. lint123 7/30. hoogs 8/31. alowicious 9/32. SuperCalaFilppulastic! 10/33. evil204 11/34. Elshupacabra 12/35. redwinger4747 13/36. timothy1997 <-- WINNER! 14/37. Wingtastic 15/38. hckypete96 16/39. YzermanForever 17/40. Winged Scooter 18/41. Heroes of Hockeytown 19/42. Cruiser008 20/43. Yzermania19 21/44. chelios4eva 22/45. tubaguy 23/46. Bluedevils_13

Three spots left! Yes & yes.

Note: I'll make a post here when all of the positions have been filled. Shortly after that the list will be posted. Good luck!

The contest is now open to all members!

Considering the short time frame, they would have to be picked up at an arranged meeting sometime over the weekend or on Monday prior to the game.

Honestly, that would be shocking. I'm expecting a high-energy team that's going to be playing some physical hockey. Bertuzzi in the lineup will be a nice shot in the arm but don't shouldn't lessen the return of Cleary, another high-energy guy that's a 20-goal man on our 4th line now.

REMINDER: Only Community Supporters (CSs) are eligible to enter at this time. Entry into the contest will expand to ALL members at 12 NOON tomorrow (Friday). If there are non-CS members that would like to enter the contest immediately you can do so by becoming a Community Supporter. ____________ Regular members submitting answers today will be informed their entry is ineligible for entry at this time and it will be deleted. Those members can re-submit their answer again after noon on Friday (3/23). Thank you!